I wrote a master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation. By far the hardest part was to get moving, to get started! Once I got the ball rolling the pieces fell into place. How many great opportunities are missed because we fail to get moving?!

Three years ago my wife and I began to sense that God was leading us to plant a new church. Not wanting to miss God’s plan we went to a church planting boot camp, read books, and I was part of a D.Min. church planting cohort. All that was easy. But to actually plant a church I had to get moving. Not so easy!

Three Years Later… “Get Moving!”

Back in February of this year (2014) I attended the Velocity Church Planting Conference. My life changed direction at that conference.

Back story… years ago my youth group started attended the Dare2Share youth evangelism training conference. One of the speakers was Derwin Gray, a.k.a. the Evangelism Linebacker. I was blessed and motivated by Derwin’s talks and we connected via Twitter.

Through the next couple years I’d go back and forth with Derwin via Twitter. We met in person at the Exponential Church Planting Conference in 2012. Through the next year and half Derwin commented to me several times that he believed God was calling me to plant a church. And if that was the case I needed to quit talking about it and start doing it.

When I had the chance to meet Derwin again at the Velocity Conference this year he made it clear. “Ed, you just need to get moving!” He asked, “What would your wife say if I asked her what you should do?” Uh oh, now it’s getting a little personal!

I knew in that moment that the ball had to get moving. God was speaking to my wife. Now He was using Derwin to get me moving! When I called Laura later that day she confirmed what I knew to be true. She was waiting for me to get moving!

Thank you Derwin!

Three Reasons Why You Need to Get Moving… (if God is leading)

*caveat: For those who are quick to jump at something be careful. This is a process that requires seeking God in prayer and confirming with wise counsel.

1. No regrets… Get Moving

I’ll be 39 in December. On one hand I feel great, I’m healthy, and still have a lot of energy. However, the next 10 years are crucial. My stamina won’t be what it is forever. If I’m going to plant a church I need to do it during this season of my life. If I give 100% and it fails, no worries. I can live with that. But I if don’t try and give my best I’ll live with regret for the rest of my life.

You only have one life to live. If you sense God leading to do something out of the box. If you’re scared and want to play it safe. If you’re living for comfort and security. You might end up with a pile of regrets.

What’s missing isn’t the ideas… it’s the will to execute them. ~Seth Godin

2. Don’t miss God’s best… Get Moving

If God is speaking to you about something, leading you to do something, or nudging you to take a leap of faith, He has good intentions for you. His plan is good because He is good. We can choose to ignore Him and do our own thing. But that is a sure way to miss God’s best.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. ~Wayne Gretzky

The Christian life is not easy. Leadership isn’t easy. Greg Atkinson addressed this in his book Strange Leadership,

Whenever I teach on leadership at conferences, I find myself constantly saying, “Leadership is not easy.” It’s my go-to answer when someone says, “Yeah, but that sounds hard.” I just read this tweet today from @RealEricGeiger: “If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader. Go sell ice cream.” Ha! I love Eric. (p.326)

3. Don’t waste your life… Get Moving

The other day I met with a dear friend of mine who is wrestling with God’s calling on his life. He is 43 and currently an associate pastor at a great church. But he sensed God calling him to plant a new church. He said to me, “Ed, I’m wasting my life, right? If God wired me to plant a church and I’m not doing it then I’m wasting my life!”

Wow, that’s strong. But he’s right. And I know God will use him to plant a community-world changing church in the near future!

Every year we give graduating students at our church John Piper’s book, Don’t Waste Your Life, for this very reason. If you haven’t read it I encourage you to do so.

Finally… Get Moving

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live with regrets, miss God’s best, or waste my life! I’m moving forward. By God’s grace I’m going to get moving. How about you?

QUESTION: what are some other reasons to get moving when God speaks?