Leader's Insight: Mary Moments - Christianity Today

October, 1992. I was sitting with some friends at a restaurant in my hometown. In our Sunday evening tradition, we had jumped into our cars and headed over to the restaurant after the evening service at our church.

We were a group of 30-something couples who had forged some real friendships over the years. In our usual routine, we husbands sat together. Our wives migrated toward the other end of the table, of course taking with them the kids, who were sitting in their laps, high chairs or booster seats. We ordered our food, and were waiting for it, joking, laughing, and relishing the moments on the eve of the beginning of another workweek.

It happened during one of those moments of relative silence. You know those moments—the laughter had died down after a funny line from one of our group, and we were all waiting for someone else to come up with another line. I noticed that the youth pastor, who also doubled as one of my good friends, seemed to make it a point that night to sit next to me.

Just as the anticipated funny line came and folks around the table burst out laughing, my youth pastor/friend turned to me, almost directly in my ear, and began talking under his breath. I had a hard time hearing him, and had to ask him a couple of times to repeat his question. After the second repetition, I made out what he asked me: “Are you ready to take over?”

Even after I understood the words he spoke, I still had no idea what he was talking about. So I asked him what he meant, and he told me in a straightforward, though still hushed, manner: “I’m leaving this church to move into another position at a different church. God’s made that clear to me. And he’s made it pretty clear that you’re the guy to take over my job now.”

For a brief moment I considered his words, then gave him my response: I laughed in his face! But after I laughed, I realized that he had confided in me information that no one else, outside his family, had been privy to. I knew I also had to go into “hush-hush” mode as I talked to him a little further. After he assured me that he was as serious, I looked him in the eyes and said, “Gary, you know what I make, and I know what you make! There is no way!”

At that time, I was a junior executive with what was then AT&T. I have to admit that I really enjoyed my career in the corporate world. I had been there nearly ten years and had worked hard. The company had treated me well, and had given me great opportunities for growth.

I had felt for the longest time that my career had been a “God thang.” I had been promoted a few times, and was encouraged to move to new positions that would further challenge me. I really liked it. Still, in my mind I had been asking questions like, “Is there really something more out there? Is there something else that would be even more challenging for me?”

But, becoming a youth pastor?! I mean, this was the “low man on the totem pole” position in traditional churches, and Gary wanted me to move from being a junior executive to the position just above the part-time maintenance man?

As I sat there that evening at the restaurant, I felt sure that I wouldn’t give Gary’s words a second thought. But how was I to know that as I dressed for work the next morning, those words would come back over and over again. Somehow, some way, this idea had a weird sort of appeal. I couldn’t put a finger on it.

I didn’t realize it then, but I know now that that October evening brought a Mary Moment into my life. The Mary Moment is named in honor of a young teenage virgin who God had chosen to carry his Son Jesus, and to be his mother. Mary had her Moment when the angel Gabriel came to her with a strange proposition, one that really scared her (Luke 1:26-38).

My definition of a Mary Moment is this: a critical moment when God reveals himself in a way that challenges you to make decisions that have significantly life-altering implications. Mary was indeed faced with a decision that would have life-altering implications—not only for her, but for you and me, and the whole world!

Have you ever had a Mary Moment in ministry? It’s that moment when God gives you a message or call that is so unbelievable, so unrealistic, you either have to just laugh, or just give up and follow—or sometimes both.

Some of us are in ministry because of such a call. When you have your moment, your mind reels as you ponder the implications. In my case, I left the corporate world for full-time, professional ministry, first as a youth pastor, and now as a church planter and lead pastor.

Don’t let the Mary Moments pass you by. Yours may not have life-altering implications for the world, but then again, maybe it will.

Bud Wrenn is pastor of Integrity Community Church and director of the Innovative Church Community in Burlington, North Carolina.

To respond to this newsletter, write to Newsletter@LeadershipJournal.net.