We are pleased to have David Soper, wwwinspiredbythewordofgod.com, guest blogging today about last week's Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit. We hope you enjoy his personal reflections on this important event.
I thank God that Bill had the courage to chase that vision back then, and that he challenged leaders to do the same today. As I prayed along with 1000's of others to pledge my love, my heart, my talents, my energy, I was moved to the core and reminded once again that Jesus Christ is building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!
David Soper and his
wife, Connie, live in McAllen with their three precocious canines, Sonny, Oscar
and Happy. He works as a Sales Executive for a major IT company and often
travels around the globe for business. They both have a passion for
discipleship and ministry, and are active members of Palm Valley Church.
David is a graduate of Michigan Tech (engineering) and Trinity Evangelical
Divinity School (theology) and serves on the boards of Palm Valley Church and
the World Radio Network, which has 14 Christian radio stations along the
US-Mexico border from Brownsville to Yuma, Arizona.
Bill Hybels began the closing session of the
2012 Global Leadership Summit by saying that leaders need an "annual
recalibration, a vision infusion, a gut check".
(I love that Bill says things
like "gut check") For me, the gut check at this GLS was a
moment of profound gratitude. Bill went on to share his story of growing up in
a lifeless, loveless, powerless church, but as a college student being seized
by the vision of what the church was intended to be.
I'm so glad he was seized by that
vision. With tears in my eyes, I was reminded
of what God had done in my life a little over 20 years ago at Willow Creek.
Early
in 1991, I moved from East Lansing, Michigan to Schaumburg, Illinois looking
for a fresh start. At 31, I was a fairly successful young
engineer, but had struggled for years with drug use, and even though I was a
professing Christian, my heart was far from God.
I started attending Willow Creek
hoping to find my way back to God. What happened over the next year was
nothing short of a miracle.
I
came back to God, I met fired-up Christians, I fell in love with Jesus again,
and I soaked up great Bible teaching. As I worked through serious sin issues
and bondage, God was faithful and used my new friends at Willow to pray for me
and challenge me. And if that wasn't enough, God
introduced me to my future wife there. Earlier that same year, Connie had come
to Christ and was baptized at Willow. By God's grace we fell in love and one
year later we were married.
This
is the vision that Bill was seized by - broken people transformed by the love
of Christ and a healing community. My life has been permanently altered
because of that vision. Willow was not perfect then, nor is it now. But
God is perfect, and through the hands of faithful, trustworthy, and devoted
servants the church of Jesus Christ can be the life-giving, power-filled place
it's supposed to be.
I thank God that Bill had the courage to chase that vision back then, and that he challenged leaders to do the same today. As I prayed along with 1000's of others to pledge my love, my heart, my talents, my energy, I was moved to the core and reminded once again that Jesus Christ is building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!
David Soper and his
wife, Connie, live in McAllen with their three precocious canines, Sonny, Oscar
and Happy. He works as a Sales Executive for a major IT company and often
travels around the globe for business. They both have a passion for
discipleship and ministry, and are active members of Palm Valley Church.
David is a graduate of Michigan Tech (engineering) and Trinity Evangelical
Divinity School (theology) and serves on the boards of Palm Valley Church and
the World Radio Network, which has 14 Christian radio stations along the
US-Mexico border from Brownsville to Yuma, Arizona.
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