Chase The LionSample

“God’s Greatest Pre Moves”

For thirteen years, National Community Church met in the movie theaters at DC’s Union Station, where a hundred thousand people pass through every day. That not only put us in the middle of the marketplace, it put us on the map. Not many churches have their own metro stop, train station, or taxi stand that drops off at their front door!

That golden opportunity started with a phone call informing me that Giddings School, the public school where we met, was closing its doors because of fire code violations. My immediate reaction was fear because it put us on the verge of becoming a homeless church. But I soon discovered that some of God’s best pre moves are closed doors.

As I look back, I laugh at the fact that I was so scared when the doors to Giddings School closed. I even have the journal entry where I wrote that we had been “backed into a corner.” It felt like we had fallen into a pit with a lion on a snowy day. I couldn’t see a way out at the time.

And the same thing happened when I got a phone call informing me that the movie theaters at Union Station were shutting down thirteen years later. At first I was scared. How do you relocate a congregation that has grown into the thousands? Yet in the years since Union Station closed its doors, God has given us prime properties of our own worth more than $50 million. That’s unbelievable to me, and it’s no coincidence that it started with a closed door.

Think about Revelation 3:7: “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” I love the first half of that promise. The second half? Not so much. But you can’t claim half of God’s promises. It’s a package deal.

If you’re like me, you love open doors. But some of the greatest miracles in my life—and I bet in yours—have started with a closed door. So praise God for both!

Now let me shift the metaphor to give you some encouragement if you’re feeling worried right now:

Like a mother eagle that pushes her eaglets out of the nest when they are strong enough to fly, God might be stirring your nest. You may be afraid of falling. But God’s intent is to get you to fly.

Where do you hear doors clanging shut? Where might other, more promising ones be opening up?