Difference makers. We all have them in our lives. People who understand their purpose is greater than their careers, personal successes, and the things they accumulate. They are people who have vision and step up at the right moment. The success of most people is built on the shoulders of the unseen.
We get a glimpse of such people in the early story of the book of Acts. It’s a critical moment found in Acts 5. The church is growing, and as always, with growth comes difficulties. The issue of their moment was widows being neglected. It was problematic because the disciples are feeling the call to go, but recognizing that the ministry to the widows was vitally important. Through prayer and Spirit guidance the issue is resolved. Seven businessmen, full of the Spirit, one who is Stephen, step up and the crisis is subdued. The needs are met and God’s word advances.
Everyone needs others who recognize their purpose is greater than themselves. Where would many careers be without those key players who step up in our critical moments. Mary and I will forever remember such an individual. Someone who stepped up and secured the future of our ministry and the future of Life Connections.
Our “Stephen,” showed up when our church was in its infancy, fighting for survival, and we were struggling financially. Starting the church required that I step away from a 15-year career at Indiana Bible College and came with an open-ended severance. Unwisely, I did not ask for, and was not given, an end date for my compensation. For five months I applied for jobs, but had absolutely no success. I was either underqualified, overqualified or didn’t fit the roll they were seeking to fill.
It was an October morning in 2005 when I got the call that our severance was ending. In an instant I was spiraling, questioning my decisions, and filled with anxiety. Besides the church, the weight of a home and auto mortgage, a wife, and the responsibility for our eight- and six-year-old kids were leaving me overwhelmed. I was certain we were on the edge of losing everything. Then, just days after the first call, another came. God sent a Stephen into our crisis. It was an unexpected call from an incredibly successful businessman and longtime friend of our family, George Coogan. He offered me a job, but with conditions. He wanted my roll to be part time so I could continue developing what was happening in Fishers.
George, and his wife Loretta, have always been kingdom minded. They married early, started a family with very little, but lived with a God confidence. In his early years George served as a part of my church’s youth team. He was someone that I as a teenager had high respect for. They and their kids had become close friends, so close that arrangement had been made that if something ever happened to my parents, they would become our Godparents.
A lot of time and space had taken place between those early days and the phone call I received that day. George owned a regional janitorial supply company, was absorbing companies regularly, and was a highly respected businessman in Indianapolis. Yet, in all his successes and accomplishments, his heart had not changed. His successes never replaced his passion and priority for God’s kingdom.
I would spend the next five years working with George. He invested in me, allowed me to develop his web presence, and establish the branding for all his companies. Looking back, I’m sure he could have found someone more talented and knowledgeable. Though I didn’t appreciate it fully at the time, I now understand that he was more concerned about the development of a Spirit driven church in Fishers, than his business.
George, and his investment in us in our critical moment, was a major catalyst to Life Connections becoming a vibrant church. Truthfully, God could have made another way, but Mary and I feel that if it had not been for George’s vision, Life Connections may have never come to fruition.
Though they would never share it, Mary and I know we are not the only beneficiaries of George and Loretta’s kindness. There are churches that are soaring, ministers that are preaching, and businesses that are successful because of the way they live their lives. Say the name George Coogan around Indianapolis and you hear stories from a range of people, from those who were down on their luck to those in corner offices of skyrises. George quietly has made a difference in one person’s life at a time.
In closing, I wonder if there may be someone who has been blessed with successes but still feeling a tug that there is more. You’ve succeeded in business, in life, but sense you have a greater purpose. You do! It’s called the ministry of helps and its critical. It’s the ministry like that of six unnamed men in Acts 5, Stephen, and George Coogan. Go make a difference in someone’s life like George did in ours.
