The Opportunity of a Lifetime | Drew Sippel, Chief Executive Officer Capstone Education Group

Friends, we are in for a treat today.

Our guest preacher is Drew Sippel.

And if you have been at this church for any amount of time, you are familiar with him.

He has been here his whole life.

He grew up here, has been an active member here.

He's currently a Sunday school teacher in the Foundations class.

He is the child and grandchild of charter members.

Any charter members in the room today, you've been here for 71 plus years.

One right here.

That's his dad right here.

Oh, they got a couple over here.

Yes.

All right.

We are glad to have y'all with us as well.

Drew attended CMDS.

His stepmom taught there for decades.

His children went there.

He is thoroughly entwined in the ministry of this church and has been.

He's been on staff here even.

He was leader of missions department some while back.

He is currently the director of Capstone Education Group, which is the organization that runs the Cornerstone Prep School, which was started by this church in what year?

15 years ago.

15 years ago.

So he is active out in the world, just as we sang, showing the love of God to this community.

And we are honored to have him here.

If you will come up, we will pray for you, Drew, and he will bring our word today.

Hey, Lord Father, thank you so much for my brother Drew for the word that you have given him.

Lord, may the words that come from his mouth be your words, Lord.

May they be words that edify the church that build us up.

May we respond in love and in faith and in trust, Lord.

And may we be not just hearers of this word, but doers.

All for your glory, all for the glory of your son, all for the spread of his gospel.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

Thanks, Justin.

Man, I'm honored to be here with you today.

As you heard, like God has done so much in my life through many of you and through Christ Church.

I grew up worshiping down the sanctuary.

My dad would do the sound.

And so I was up in the, you know, in the balcony with him.

And then I remember coming down on the floor of the sanctuary, standing up on the altar, waiting for my wife to come down and say I do.

So I was thankful for that.

Then I went to the other end of that long aisle and stuck my arm out and walked my daughter down the aisle.

So I'm blessed to be here.

I can remember dedicating all three of my kids right here to our king.

So thanks for being here and for giving me the opportunity.

And so opportunity of a lifetime is the name of our talk.

And I chose that because I hear that sometimes around my house.

I've heard it recently.

My brother-in-law is a bit old Miss football fan.

And of course, they made the playoff this year.

So I said, like, hey, you're going to the game?

And he's like, Yeah, it's going to be expensive, but you know, opportunity of a lifetime.

I got to go.

My daughter, one of my daughters lives in Nashville.

My other daughter lives in Houston.

And so my oldest daughter says, I'm flying to Houston and we're going to go see Beyonce.

It's like, man, really?

It's like, yeah, it's going to be really expensive.

You got to take time off, but opportunity of a lifetime.

And then a couple of weeks ago, I had a picture for my son.

He lives up in New York and he's in with like 85,000 people, and they are waving flags and they are chanting and singing.

And it's like he's at the World Cup, right?

And so as I thought about like, what's what's consistent about this?

It's like these are life-giving things to the people of my family.

And they're experiences.

Like you don't come back with a trophy or a lottery ticket.

Like it's an experience, and it was worth it to them to invest a great deal of cost for that experience.

And so, depending on your personality, you may think that's life-giving or not.

But what we have today is life-giving for every single person in this room.

And it's not based on your personality, it's based on the personality of the person who's offering you the opportunity.

And so this is the very reason we were created.

So let's see what's the opportunity of a lifetime.

So we're going to read the words of Jesus, Matthew 6.33.

He says, Seek first the kingdom of God.

A little earlier in that chapter, he says, he's teaching us how to pray.

And he says, Pray this, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So let's explore this.

What is it?

How do we get it?

So we'll start with the key words.

So if there's a kingdom, there's a king.

And I've heard that word king used a lot in the last 18 months, and it's usually around the powers of the president, right?

It's like, can he do that?

Can he say that?

Can he tariff that?

And like, does he have checks and balances?

And I would say there needs to be term limits and checks and balances on the president because there's not now, and there's never been, and there never will be a perfect president.

And so you need checks and balances.

You need term limits.

Our king doesn't need term limits.

Our king needs no checks and balances.

We worship the king of kings.

He's the king of all creation.

He's the king of glory.

He's the king of every one of us.

He's the king of every one of the eight billion people on the earth.

He's the king of every square inch of the earth.

It all belongs to him.

It was made by him and for him.

And so the first thing we have to realize if we're going to pursue this opportunity in a lifetime is there is a king.

And he is a good king.

Second word is seek.

And so you might come down after the uh service and say, hey man, thanks for reminding me.

Like, I want to go talk to the president.

Like, I want to get to know him.

I want to meet him.

I want to hear like how he thinks and how he makes decisions.

And so I've got some good ideas too that I want to share.

I'm sure he wants to hear those.

So I'm going to fly to DC.

I'm going to walk to the gates.

I'm going to go knock on the door and say, I'm here to speak to the president.

You know what I'd tell you?

It's like, if you do that, you're going to make some new friends real quick.

They're going to be dressed in black.

They're going to have heavy artillery.

They're going to give you some new bracelets for your wrist, and they're going to give you free room and board for a little while.

Because, see, the president is the higher authority and you're the lower authority.

And so the higher authority decides if you get to come into his presence or not.

And my guess is he doesn't want to talk to you.

Our king's not like that.

Our king draws you in.

Our king wants to know you.

Our king promises if you will seek him first, you will find him.

He says, if you draw near to me, I'll draw near to you.

See, we have a king who's nearby.

We have a king who knows us and wants to be in relationship with us.

He's drawing us every day into this relationship because he is a God who's close by and he is a God who loves his people.

And so he wants us to seek him.

Next word is first.

Simples are Will Harrell fans.

Don't judge me for that.

Yeah.

And so he's an actor.

And so one of his, in one of his movies, one of the lines is if you ain't first, you're last.

So we say that around the simple household.

That's not really that true in life in general, but it's true here.

The word seek and first and king have to go together.

Right?

You cannot seek the king if he's not first in your life.

Right?

And my experience is most people want God around, but they put him in the servants' quarters because they're on the throne and they're living every day as the king.

And so, you know, they're pursuing what they think makes them happy, and they're trying to find entertainment and success and popularity and you know, contentment.

And what they realize is when you're your own king, you're not a very good king.

And so they'll call on God out of the servants' quarter and say, Hey, I need your help.

And then if he helps them, send them back into the servants' quarters and put themselves back on the throne.

See, he has to be first, and he has to be the king, and we have to recognize that he comes above everything else in our life.

And so we can seek him first.

So, last word kingdom.

I got a definition up on the board for us.

And so here's the deal: when God created the kingdom on earth, it was perfect.

The Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are perfect.

The relationship between each other was perfect, relationship with God was perfect.

The kingdom was perfect because God is perfect and everything he does and says is perfect, so the kingdom was perfect on earth.

Then Adam and Eve decided they wanted to be the king.

And so they disobeyed God and the kingdom was fractured.

And right in that moment, the king said, I'm gonna rebuild my kingdom and I'm gonna make it the way it was designed to be, and I'm gonna include my people in rebuilding the kingdom.

And so he invites us to be part of rebuilding the kingdom.

And so if we said, like, what is the opportunity of a lifetime?

It's to realize there's a king, he wants to know me, he reaches out to me, he changes me, and he invites me to be part of rebuilding the kingdom.

Sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime.

So, how do we get it?

If you want to turn to Nehemiah, we're gonna go through an overview of the book, but he's gonna show us how to seek the king and how to be part of rebuilding the kingdom.

Here's the context: it's about 455 years before Christ has come and walked on the earth.

He lives in Susa, city's going fine.

Jerusalem is not fine.

Jerusalem is where God had the temple built.

Uh, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple, he ransacked the city, the city's in ruins, most people are in exile.

There's a few people left there.

And so that's our context.

So let's watch Nehemiah seek the king.

We'll see if if you read through the book, there's three things he does kind of over and over again.

He reads the word of God, he prays, and he fasts.

And so when we think about the word of God, I think we got, yeah, we got a quote up here in the next next slide.

We'll show us a description and a word that uh someone said to describe the Bible.

And so I put the words in italics.

I said, like, is that true or is that exaggeration?

Because in our society today, I think most people would say, like, the Bible's fine.

You know, it's got some good advice, it's got some good stories, you know, you can teach your kids the stories, you can find a little inspiration in them.

You know, when you're having a bad day, like there's those psalms you can read those.

And if you need something to believe in, like, this is one option.

And I would tell you, like, if that's what it is, you don't need it.

That is not what it is.

This king who wants us to know us, uh, wants us to know him, reveals himself in this book.

This is the way we get to know him.

This is how we get to know ourselves, this is how we get to know like why we exist and why does the world exist, and where do we come from and where are we going to?

The contents of this tell us who the king is and how we can go to work building the kingdom.

And so it gives us all the truth.

Like we're living in a time where it's hard to tell if somebody says something, whether it's true or not.

You can watch a video or see a picture, you're not sure it's true.

You need a firm foundation, as we were singing about.

You need a firm foundation.

This is God's firm foundation for you and me.

So the contents tell us who God is and how we can live this life.

But it's more than that, right?

This word is it, God claims that this is living and active.

And so if you look at it, it's like that's not really living and active, I can tell.

It's living and active when we read it because God is living and active, and through his Holy Spirit, he makes these words come alive.

And what happens is as we begin to learn who God is, he begins to change our hearts.

He begins to change our mind.

He begins to give us faith.

We begin to see that this life is not my home.

We begin to know that what's invisible is eternal and what's real and everything else is temporary.

We begin to want to learn to know who God is.

We grow in our love for him, we grow in our love for our neighbor, we grow in belief and faith, and we want to go to work rebuilding the kingdom.

And so these are supernatural things.

This is not a self-help book to make you feel better or to give you some reason to live.

This is the God of the universe, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, saying, I want to be in a relationship with you, and I want to change your heart, and I want to make your heart like my heart.

And so when we do this, when we open up this book and when we read it, we're transformed.

But here's the reality: like 90%, this is what research shows, 90% of the people, the adults in the United States do not read the Bible every day.

And of the 10% that do, it's five minutes or less.

And so what I'm here to tell you is five minutes a day will not transform your life.

Five minutes a day is not enough to reveal who this King of Kings is.

He is so much bigger than that.

And so here's my encouragement to you.

Will you take 21 minutes for the next 21 days to seek God?

So will you take this book, put your phone in another room, take this book, and just claim a promise that God gives.

It's like, God, you said if I draw nearer to you, you'll draw near to me.

I'm drawing near as best I can.

I need you to meet me here.

And I believe if you'll do that for 21 minutes for the next 21 days, that you'll begin to see that this king is real.

And this king is all you need.

And this king loves you and wants to be in a relationship with you, and he'll start to transform your heart and mind.

So I'd encourage you, take 21 minutes for the next 21 days and see what God does.

And so we see Nehemiah seeking God through the word of God.

We also see him through prayer.

Prayer is super rich, and there's so much to it, but it's not primarily, I think, the way we use it, which is telling God what we need him to do for us.

I mean, he does want to know, but the Bible tells us he knows what we need before we ask.

And so, really, what we want to understand is conversation with God is the best description of prayer.

And so here's one way I'd encourage you to do that.

Uh on your 21 minutes for 21 days, let God speak first.

Right?

So you read his word, and then we respond to what God says.

So if the Bible says that God is kind, then we respond and we thank him for being kind or we bless him for being kind, or we think back how he's been kind in our life, and then we recognize, you know, I wasn't really kind in my wife yesterday.

So you confess that you were kind, and then you realize, like, the through the spirit's kindness, like, God, I need you to make me kind, transform my heart right here.

So you are talking to God during prayer in your 21 minutes for 21 days.

And that is how we can get close to our God.

So we see that Nehemiah does that through prayer.

Well, we won't spend time on fasting.

He also does it through corporate worship.

This is part of how we seek our king.

So now we got to find like, how does Nehemiah go about building the kingdom?

And so we'll see that he had some friends who came, they were from Jerusalem, and he asked a question.

He says, How's it going in Jerusalem?

And so Nehemiah shows us like you have to be aware of what God's doing outside of your life.

And you have to ask the question, like, how's the kingdom going?

And a great way to ask that is, is God's will being done in this part of the world as it is in heaven?

It's being perfectly done in heaven.

So he's going to recreate and rebuild the kingdom through us.

So we should ask that question, like, how's it going?

And I would say there's probably three places we should ask.

One is, how's it going in your home?

Is God's will being done?

A little side road here for fathers.

If you've if you want to, like, what does it look like for God's will to be done in my home as a father?

You're to reflect your heavenly father.

And so he is full of grace and mercy and kindness.

He is right and true and loving.

And so you do that and you parent that way to your kids.

And why do you do that?

Because you want them to love and respect you and make an easy transition to love and respecting your heavenly father.

So the more you look like him, the easier that's going to be for your kids.

So in your home, you ask, is God's will being done here?

In your natural rhythm of life, you know, you're going to go to work, you're going to go to the games, you're going to go to, you know, church.

Ask God, hey, is your will being done on earth as is in heaven in my office?

And if not, how can I be a part of what you're doing?

And I would say the last one is a culture outside of your own.

Christ Church does a great job of helping us ask the question.

See, Nehemiah said, like, how's it going in Jerusalem?

That was 900 miles from where he was.

That's a four-month walk.

So we need to realize the whole kingdom belongs to our king.

And he's to be known and loved and glorified all over the earth.

And he wants us to be part of it.

But sometimes we have to ask.

And so Christ Church does a great job of helping us with that.

They send you to mission trips, they bring missionaries in.

And so, as an example, like in my life, like I've been praying and involved with people in God's kingdom work in North Korea and China and Mexico and Liberia and uh places around the world because Christ Church took me there on a mission trip, or Christ Church brought me here.

So for each one of us here, God wants us to seek to rebuild the kingdom in our homes, in our normal flow of work, and around the earth.

Right?

And so what happens when we do that?

We see Nehemiah asked a question.

He says, like, how's it going in Jerusalem?

And finds out it's not good.

See, the the walls are torn down and the gate is broken.

And in those days, if you didn't have a gate to close at night, like people came and stole your stuff.

You were at risk because they couldn't keep bad people out.

And so there's no peace in Jerusalem because the walls are torn down.

And so now Nehemiah's got a question asked, like, Am I going to stay in Susa where my kingdom is going just fine?

Or am I going to travel and am I going to leave my kingdom to go rebuild God's kingdom?

And he chooses to go build God's kingdom.

And so here's what we see: he gets to work.

And when we're going to be part of rebuilding the kingdom, you got to go to work.

And so he had to recruit people and he had to gather resources and he talked to politicians and he had to look at the wall.

And so he went to work.

And he also faced a great deal of opposition.

In fact, it was so bad that people wanted to kill the people who were rebuilding the walls.

And so he had to get people who were working on the walls had a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other.

Okay, so there was great opposition because you see, not everybody wants the king to rebuild the kingdom.

And so you're going to face opposition.

But here's what Nehemiah knew that we need to know: God is responsible for rebuilding the kingdom.

We join him in the work, we persevere, we work hard, we keep praying, we keep seeking him, but he's the one who's going to deliver the outcome.

And we see it in the passages.

The good hand of the Lord was upon me.

So when we go to work, we go to work building the kingdom, but we know he's got the outcome.

So what's our summary here?

The opportunity of lifetime is to realize there is a king.

And there's one king for the whole world.

There's not multiple religions, there's one king, and he is alive, and he's calling us into relationship with him, and he wants us to seek us and when seek him, and when we do, we're changed, we're transformed, and then we really want to build the kingdom around the world, and we ask him, like, where can I go to work for you?

And then we go with him and we work hard and we persevere, and there'll be some opposition.

And then here's what happens at the end: you get to see God work in a way that other people don't.

And so what happens when God does the work?

The people who are building the kingdom with you, they celebrate and they worship and they give God all the glory that he deserves.

But also the people who don't want the king to rebuild his kingdom, they see in awe and they're afraid because they know God has done that.

So here's what I'm inviting you to today: the opportunity of a lifetime.

Come know the king.

Let him change your heart, let him change what you believe, let him walk alongside you as you go to work rebuilding the kingdom.

You'll get to see things that you will never see otherwise.

You'll be able to rejoice, and the whole world will know there is a king.

And that king is the father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, revealed in the Bible.

All right.

So I hope that fires you up.

But I also recognize that you might say, like, that's good Sunday school stuff, you know.

But like I'm going to work tomorrow, and that place is crazy, and I'm afraid I'm going to lose my job because of AI.

And if you came to my home, like it does not look like anything that I think God wants it to look like.

And I'm not sure about the future, and my country's all split, and we're at war.

Like, I don't know what you're talking about, but I got real life tomorrow.

So here's what I want to do in our remaining time.

I want to take you through a story that included a lot of you.

It included Christ Methodist Church.

And you're going to see that the king rebuilds his kingdom through his people.

And here's what I want you to listen for as I tell.

The story.

I'm not doing, I'm not sharing everything that God did that would take way too long.

I'm going to try to highlight the places where God did something that was so dramatic you knew he had to be the one to do it.

See, all through the scripture, he does things in unusual ways.

Like his strategy for battle was, you know, walk around the city silently for six days and then shout.

Right?

Like that's a terrible battle strategy.

He also said, like, hey, your army is way too big.

I need you to get it down so it's so small, there's no way you can win.

Why does he do that?

So that when he comes through, we know he did it and we didn't do it ourselves, and we'll learn to trust him more.

So as I'm going through the story, I'm going to highlight those things that are obvious that God intervened in a way.

We said we were going left.

He said you're going right.

We said we're starting.

He said you're stopping.

So that we will know that he's the one who did it.

The second thing I want you to listen to is I'm going to say this phrase over and over again like a Christchurch member came to me.

Because this is not the story of one event.

This is all of you, a church, seeking to rebuild the kingdom.

Everybody in this room has a part to play in rebuilding the kingdom.

You all have unique gifts, you have unique relationships, you have unique skills.

He wants to use you to rebuild the kingdom, and he's counting on you.

And so we're going to see this through Christ Methodist that all these people came to be part of the work he was doing.

So the story begins 20 years ago.

As Josh said, I was the director of local missions.

I'm sitting in my office, I get a call, and it's somebody who's rebuilding the kingdom in Binghampton.

They're running a private Christian school, and they call and they say, hey, we want Christ Methodists to take over the leadership of the school because we're ready to retire.

And so, as we said, sometimes you have to ask about what the needs are.

Well, the needs came to us.

So we pray, and it's like, God, do you want us to do this?

And so, as you know, Christ Church has a long history in Binghampton, you know, launched Icon and SOS and BDC.

So, like, that all makes sense.

God might want us to do this.

And then, of course, we've got Christ Memphis Day School.

So, this is like a no-brainer, right?

So, we agree to take over the board.

We're going to take over January 1.

And between Christmas and January 1, I get an email and it says, We don't want you to take up, take over the board.

We changed our mind.

It's like, God, like, what are you doing?

Like, this was a no-brainer.

So we decide, like, it felt like God was trying to do something.

Maybe we misheard, so we're going to keep listening.

And so uh one day, Christ Church member comes into my office.

He says, I think I know what God was doing.

I was like, please tell me.

He says, God wants us to start our own school.

And I'll start the exploration of that and I'll start to pray and I'll lead that.

And so we form a committee, as all good Methodist churches do.

We pray, we seek, all good Methodist churches vote.

We vote right over here in Wilson Chapel to start a school serving the families in Binghampton.

I've probably been proud of this church a lot, but that was one of those because that was not going to do anything for the Kingdom of Christ Methodist.

It was only going to do something for the kingdom of God in Binghampton.

And so we agreed we were going to start a school.

And so my job was to go and find a place and to find a principal.

And so I think I found the place, right?

So I've been looking and I'm working with a Christchurch member.

And so there's this place.

It's right over by East High, which is great for older siblings and for our kids to graduate.

And it's, you know, it's one story, which is great for elementary.

It's open, it's available, it's for sale.

We get the, you know, our team who has a you know contractor and architect, and we go over there, it's like it's all fine.

So we agree on a price, we write up the contract, we're gonna sign the deal.

Like, this is where God wants us to launch a school.

And so I'm sitting out here, I'm gonna meet with the owner, come, we're gonna sign the paperwork, got the contract, and I'm kind of reading it just to make sure.

And I look at it, and the price is twice as high as what we'd agreed to.

And so I looked at him, I said, like, this is not the price we agreed to.

He said, Well, yeah, I know, but because you're gonna renovate it and it's gonna be worth a whole lot more, you got to pay me more now.

And so I so I called his attorney, I was like, that makes no sense.

He goes, I know, but he won't budge.

So I was like, Gone, I thought that was it, but clearly it's not, because that's not a dollar a square foot difference, right?

And so, so we don't have a place to start the school.

Right?

And so Christ Church member comes in my office and says, How's this search going for a building?

It's like, it's not.

He says, Well, I know somebody over in Mitchell Heights, they run a school, let's go over there and see uh if they got some space.

So go over there and they say, we do not have a classroom.

He said, But cross the street, we have a gym.

Underneath the gym, there's one room.

Let's go over and look at it.

So go over there, there's one room.

We want to start with a kindergarten class.

There's one room underneath the gym, there's one bathroom with one stall.

And I'm going, God, like, really?

Like, I think this is where God wants us.

So we start there.

One room, no kids, no teachers underneath the gym.

So it's like, God, you know, you gotta get some students.

So here's our sales pitch.

We go looking for students.

It's like, hey, we've never run a school before, we're gonna be underneath the gym, uh, we got no building, give me your kid.

Nobody's gonna do that unless the king draws them.

We filled every single seat.

Full.

So here's why we're doing that, because we believe that kids in Memphis who grew up in an urban environment can learn just as much as kids who live in Texas and New York or wherever you think smart kids are.

And so we go through the work for a year, but we're gonna have a test.

Like we have to know how our kids are doing.

So there's this thing called the Terra Nova test, and it's a test that kids all around the country will take, and you can see how your kids are doing.

So we take the test, send it off, send it back.

I'm sitting in the office.

You know, we had a one-room office like me and the principal and two teachers and the copier and the fridge, like we're all right in there together, right?

And so we got the mail, old school mail, open it up, it's Terra Nova, and I look at it, and I I don't have education background.

I never looked at it.

It's like, I think I know what this says, but I'm not sure.

So I was like, I'm calling the dude.

So I call him at Terra Nova, it's like, hey, we're so-and-so school, this is our score.

She goes, Yeah, let me look it up.

Yep, got you.

What is what's your question?

I said, I think this says that our kids scored higher than 90% of the kids in the country.

Like, is that right?

She said, That's right.

I said, God did that.

Right?

God did that.

It's like, oh my word, like, I guess we're gonna have to have first grade because like this is working.

And we don't have a building because we can only say there's one room.

Right?

So, looking around, going with a Christ church member, like we find this space in Binghampton, friend, over on summer.

It's got two buildings.

It's great.

It's like it's available, it's for sale.

Take my team over there.

We can go.

Yes, we can renovate it.

And so I'm talking to the owner.

I said, like, hey, what's the price?

And I said, like, is that the real price?

Like, it's the price, right?

It's like, so oh yeah, it's the price.

So it's like, ah, now I know why God turned the other one down because this is where we're gonna be.

And so we're in the last meeting, everybody's going around, it's like, you know, the broker says yes, that's the price, and contract says yes, we can do it.

And we got the authorization.

We get around to the environmental people.

And he says, yeah, environmental is all fine, but just you know, one thing to remember is you can't let your kids outside.

Like, what do you mean you can't let the kids outside?

So, well, it's fine if you know it's carpool and you let them out and they walk straight in the building, but they can't go outside after that.

I said, We've been talking about school for six months.

Here's the playground, here's the drawing right here.

Said, sorry, you can't let them out, it's not safe.

It's like, God, what are you doing?

I go back to my stuff and I say this.

I say, God will not let us buy a building and I don't know why.

Christ Church member comes into my office, like, how's the search for the building going?

Terrible.

He's like, I bet you Christ Memphis would give you a room.

I think they have a room underneath Seabrook and underneath the um sanctuary.

I said, Do they bounce balls on top of that at any time during the day?

Like, no, it's like, we'll take it.

So we come over here.

We got two grades, K and one.

Still got no place.

Christ Church member calls me.

He says, Hey, did you hear about this thing called the race of the top funds?

Like, Tennessee was one of two states in the country who earned this grant to turn around the lowest performing schools.

And he says, So there's 69 failing schools in Memphis.

Guess which one is failing more than any of the others?

Who's the lowest performing school in the entire state of Tennessee?

It's in Binghamton.

Like, that's interesting.

He says, Do you think God wants us to stop our private Christian school and apply to be part of this turnaround district?

Now you talk about a question to ask.

And so our border is wrestling with that.

You're going to shut down private Christian and become a public charter?

Well, you know, God rebuilds his kingdom in a lot of different ways.

And our job is not to be in charge of that.

Our God is to, our job is to follow him.

And so we said, like, I don't know.

He said, so let's think about Abraham.

What did God tell Abraham?

He said, Go to a land I'll show you.

And what did Abraham do?

Next day, packed up and started walking.

So our board chair says, like, we got to start walking.

We don't know where God's going.

So we're going to pray and we're going to apply.

So we apply.

I submit that for us.

There's no way we're going to get authorized.

They are taking the best schools in the country.

So from Texas and California and Pennsylvania, and they're bringing them to Memphis to run these schools.

These schools have like 20 and 30 and 40 schools.

We have 30 kindergartners, right?

Like there's no way we're going to get authorized.

So we submit it.

We keep praying.

I'm at my son's football game.

He plays for ECS.

We're in Jackson.

We're playing USJ.

And I look down, it's old school.

I got my flip phone and the phones ring.

It's in the state of Tennessee.

So I'm like, hold on a second.

I got to go underneath the bleachers.

Can't hear you.

So I go under the bleachers.

I said, yeah, okay, now I can hear you.

Because congratulations, you've been approved.

It's like God did that.

So now I go back to the board and it's like, okay, we're approved.

Now what?

Well, we believe God has called us to rebuild the kingdom in Binghampton.

One school.

We don't want the other 69 failing.

Tell them we only want one.

It's like, okay.

So I call them and say, like, hey, you know, we're interested, but we only want one.

So I said, okay, let me call you back.

I'll go to work.

So he calls me back in a couple of days and he says, that's not happening.

He says the people running the school said that's not an option.

Said, you can have any, they got a list of other ones you can have, but you can't have this one.

It's too big.

They got a new leader.

It's not happening.

So I go back to the board and it's like, man, I don't know what God's doing, but they said it's not happening.

What do we want to do?

Do we think he wants us to rebuild those 68 other schools?

Like, no, we think it's this one.

Call back's like, no, look, it's either this one or none.

So about two weeks later, he calls me back and he says, Hey, look, man, like if you won't take one of these other 68 others, like we're pulling your authorization.

Like this thing's over.

I gotta know.

I said, I don't know what to tell you, except our king says we're supposed to rebuild in Binghampton.

And so we say no.

He says, All right, look, I'll try to get one more meeting with him.

So we'll get one more meeting.

Me, Christchurch member, and the people who run the school.

And for 55 minutes, I hear the same thing I've heard for five weeks.

Not gonna happen, not open.

Here's some other schools that you could have.

They're, you know, the buildings are falling apart, and there's not many kids, but you can have those.

You cannot have this one in Big Ham to 55 minutes.

And so I'm just like, I put my pen down.

It's like, God, why I don't know what this is and why this thing's in there right here.

This is crazy.

So at the end of the meeting, the guy's leading the meeting says, all right, it's you know, it's time to go.

Let me tell you what we've decided here.

And so I just like I'm staring down, like, I don't know.

And he says, We've decided today that we're gonna give the school and being hamped in the cornerstone prep.

And I'm telling you, that room was silent.

That has not been mentioned one time.

And so I'm like, I'm gonna break the silence here.

It's like, I just want to make sure I heard you right.

Like, you said you want us to take the school.

He said, Yeah, I do.

I said, We'll take it.

The meeting room is kind of in the back of this building, so it's a long walk out.

If you've ever seen or experienced something you couldn't explain, like you don't talk, right?

It's like walk.

So we're walking in silent.

We get outside.

And the guys with who's our authorized says, What just happened?

I said, I can tell you what just happened.

There were members of Christ Methodist Church three days ago, and they came to school and they were praying for this meeting, and they were reading about how God told Moses, he said, I'll give you the words to speak.

And they prayed for God to give us the words to speak.

And then in that same story, he said, Look, Pharaoh's not going to let you go until I tell him it's time to let you go.

I'm saying, we just saw a miracle that's just as real as the parting of the Red Sea.

God just did something and we got to see it.

And then I said, and go sign that contract right now before they change their mind.

So I go back to my staff and I say, Remember when I told you like God wouldn't give us a building, He would not let us buy one?

I know why now.

We were gonna buy a building, spend a couple million bucks, renovate it, kind of compete with the neighborhood school, and hope we can get kids.

God just hand-delivered the neighborhood school for free, 600 kids.

Our God did that.

All right, so now we got to go to work because like Nehemiah did, it's like a go to go to work, so we go to work.

I do not have time to tell you all the opposition we faced.

It's the most miserable year of my life.

Teachers crying, we're getting attacked.

I was in a meeting with 300 people, I promise you, 297 were yelling at me.

And our teachers were like, why is this happening?

Like, we're just trying to help.

Why is this happening?

It's like, I don't know, but here's what we know.

We think God's called us to do this, and we're gonna respond with grace and mercy and love, and we're gonna show up every day, and we're gonna serve these kids, and we're not gonna get bitter, and we're not gonna get angry, we're not gonna point fingers, and we're gonna let God handle it because he's gonna handle the outcome, we're just gonna keep showing up.

So, fast forward 10 years, contract's over.

Okay, and you you can't extend it, except there's this one thing, it's called the parent trigger law.

And so, if 60% of the parents want you to stay, you can stay for two more years, no more than that.

And they have one week, and you have to get signed, you have to get signatures of the parents that they want you to stay.

So they're like, God, like this thing's over here unless you do something.

Contract's over.

And I'm thinking, and I remember 10 years ago, like they've been waiting to just say, get out of here.

So send out the survey.

48 hours, 93% of parents surveyed said they want us to stay.

God did that.

Right?

So now let's rewind 10 years.

So when we went to work, God gave us success, just like he did Nehemiah.

We're praising God.

We apply and get a new middle school, we get a school elementary school in Fraser, like God's doing work, and we think he wants us to build more of the kingdom, and so we're gonna go into Parkway Village and go to work rebuilding the kingdom there.

And so we we tell the cities like, hey, we'll help you, we'll go do this, we're having great success.

And they're like, we're not interested, we don't want your help.

Okay, God, we thought you wanted us to do this.

We'll appeal to the state, you're allowed to do that.

They generally don't overturn it.

We appeal to the state, they overturn it.

So now we're authorized to serve in Parkway Village.

But guess what?

We don't have a building.

Christ Church member says, let's go look around.

He says, Did you know that there's an open, empty elementary school for sale right in the middle of Parkway Village?

It's like, I didn't know that.

But here's some things like, you know, God, the first one's kind of hard, like, thanks for the layup here.

Like, this is awesome.

So we go and look, it's gonna be great.

It's for sale.

We offer them more than the asking price just to just to make sure we can get it.

Super excited, we're gonna open school.

And they say, uh, we will not sell this building to you.

So I'm like, God, what are you doing?

It's right there, it's empty.

You got us authorized.

What are you doing?

I have to call the state.

It's like, we can't open, we don't have a building.

They said, Well, you get one year, one chance, you can delay one year and then we're gonna pull your authorization.

So I'm like, okay, God, I don't know what you're doing.

Christ church member comes in, but hey, how's the building search going in Parkway Village?

Nah.

He says, you know, uh, I work for uh a group and we run pre-K in Parkway Village, and we got nine classrooms, and we we're thinking we might consolidate another place, and so we'll go to the church that we lease it from and we'll tell them that they should lease it to you.

Like God did that.

Now we can open.

So we opened a Parkway Village in this barred space.

Meanwhile, our other schools are doing great, but they're at the end of their contracts.

So they all got 10-year contracts and it's over, you can't extend.

We do get authorized to continue under the state's authorization, but it doesn't come with a building.

So we have the right to serve kids in Binghamton, we have the right to serve kids in Denver and Fraser, we have the right to serve kids in Parkway Village, but we don't own a building.

And in case you're not aware, like you can't really have a school without a building.

So I'm like, God, why did you do this?

Well, we have no buildings.

And so what we're gonna do is we're just gonna make offers for the other two buildings.

They're not for sale, but we've been in them for 10 years.

They hadn't been used.

So, like, clearly they don't need them.

People own it, don't need them.

And so we we send them offers, and they they don't respond.

And then I check in about once every four weeks, like, hey, would you even think about it?

It's like, you know, we're not selling them, we got a plan for facilities, we got a new direct, like everything, but no, we're not even interested.

And so I remember the board meeting we had, and it's like, I can't believe it, but I guess we're done.

After 10 years of seeing God do all this stuff, this thing is over.

We have no buildings, and we can't afford 60 million bucks to buy three buildings.

And so Christ's church member says, look, let's let's just go talk to him one last time.

So we go, it's a person I've been emailing for two years now on some of the buildings.

And I says, No, you know, it's not really any interest, but you know, the only thing that's different now is I got kind of a new title, and you know, maybe I can just ask that they consider it.

I'm like, you what?

Like, okay, let's pray and fast about that.

Like they said they consider it.

So I get an email and she goes, Well, you know, I weren't that really interested, but they're willing to send it to the board to vote.

We're praying and fasting.

God, you gotta take people who have told us no for two or three years, and you gotta get them to say yes.

The board voted to sell us all three buildings.

God did that.

Today, what we thought when this church launched and said we need to rebuild God's kingdom, we thought one school, 180 kids, Binghampton.

God thought four schools, three neighborhoods, 1,200 kids, all for my glory, you will see me work, and the city will see that there is a king, and he is alive, and he is rebuilding the kingdom.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime to know the king and to go to work rebuilding the kingdom and to see things that other people can't believe and they can't understand.

But the king is alive and he is working, and he wants you to join him.

And so I'm asking you today, will you take advantage of the opportunity of a lifetime?

Let me pray.

Father, thank you that you're the king of kings and you're the Lord of Lords, and you rule over every square inch of this place.

And one day you're gonna rebuild this kingdom, and it's gonna be just like you designed it.

But in the meantime, Lord, you give us a chance to come to know you.

And so I pray for every person in this room and every person who sees this podcast that they would know that you are drawing them in and that you are real, and that you want to know them, and you want to transform them, and you want to put them to work, rebuilding the kingdom.

It's the greatest opportunity.

So, Lord, may we respond with our yes to your offer in Jesus' name.

Amen.