In Honor Of Legacies I Will Remember

It was 11:05AM on a typical Sunday, about five years ago. As was the norm, I was running around from one end of the church building to the next, catching “hellos” and saying “goodbyes.” We were preparing to start our third morning service at Mt. Zion Church (where I was serving on staff). I had ten minutes until service started and was about to get positioned on stage when the familiar, Texas-branded voice of Leta Calcote called my name. We all called her Sister Leta formally, but I called her Yoda at home, because if there were ever a Jedi Master in the church, she wore the title well. What I didn't know was that this beckon was a moment that would awaken the next season of my life. She had never prayed for me personally or given me a prophetic word, but everyone who was somebody in this community of believers honored her as a seasoned prophetic matriarch in the house.  

She began to prophesy over me with great authority. The level of impartation had my body trembling. The words she began to declare were things that I was scared to utter from my own lips. They were secret hopes and dreams that I felt would be laughed at if I made them known. It's not that they were embarrassing; it’s that they were so lofty that people would have told me to take a hike. I couldn't believe the words she was uttering. I have received personal prophetic ministry countless times, but this was one of the few times it engaged the destiny for which I was born. It was precise, wise, and extravagant. I had never had anyone say such encouraging things and have them backed with personal belief from the one delivering the word. God was using this woman to elevate my perspective of myself according to who God had made me to be and it was one of the most affirming moments of my life to that point. Tears streamed down my face and after about five minutes, she said she would need to pray about the rest of the things she was seeing because she wanted to make sure they were accurate. She was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing, too. We both sat quiet for a few moments. She then committed to be my prayer partner and promised that she would intercede on my behalf everyday. Once again, I was beside myself. I've never had anyone back up his or her words with actions that communicate I really believe in you (and it not come from my family). As I glanced at my watch, it was 11:13AM.  Those eight minutes would radically propel me into a season of discovery and ultimately birth the greatest season of my life.  

Fathers and mothers are anointed to promote and to elevate.  

This moment not only marked Melissa’s and my personal journey, but also the way we saw how prophetic ministry can impact a person’s life. This experience motivated me to seek out greater understanding of God’s thoughts toward prophetic ministry and how I could grow in my gifting. I remember feeling so honored that this saint would commit to be a personal intercessor on my behalf and also believe God’s thoughts toward me. My thoughts hadn’t changed. I had been thinking like this since I was five-years-old, but having someone like Sister Leta, with her honor and anointing, bestow honor on me elevated it all to a whole-notha-level. That’s what fathers and mothers do; they elevate things in a manner that a son or daughter could never do in their own strength. The timing of bestowing such honor is crucial and discernment is needed at its best in these moments. Fathers and Mothers know precisely when it’s time. It’s that time to release a blessing over the next generation that they could become the best God had designed them to become. Obviously, the choice to live in surrender as sons and daughters is foundational for this wonderful reward to produce life and not confusion. Jesus taught that whoever receives a prophet in their own name receives their reward (See Matt. 10:41).

There is a great responsibility on sons and daughters to honor and multiply.  

The recipient doesn’t earn inheritances; the giver earns them. Honor positions sons and daughters to receive inheritance, but their works could never produce the level of the reward they are given. Great responsibility comes with inheritance to multiply it and use in a manner that it would become greater when given to the next generation. I feel like the Lord, through Sister Leta, gave something to me that day. Something was imparted and it was an inheritance. Sister Leta and I were able to spend a considerable amount of time together after that experience, and she continued to sow into my life and help shape some of the things that she deposited. I received reward and now I have the responsibility to multiply it. Years and years of service given to the Lord built-up as a deposit into the people she gave herself so willingly, and there were many. In early-2013, Sister Leta Calcote went home to be with the Lord.

When sons become fathers and give a multiplied inheritance, legacies are birthed.  

Legacy is a word that has been highlighted to me often over the last decade, considering the season of life I’ve been in. A close friend of mine started a company with the word legacy in its title, and I remember asking myself if I really understood what a legacy was. Melissa and I were close to beginning to start a family and the whole understanding of what impact I would have on the generations after me began to ring in my mind. What was I going to leave to my seed after my life ended? My experiences with Sister Leta (and now many others) have radically shifted my understanding of the impact I have on those around me. I want both my natural children and spiritual children to do greater things than I do. The inheritances that I’ve received and committed to multiply will resource the advancement of the Kingdom of God. I’m responsible to represent and honor the deposits in my life.  I’m forever grateful for every person who sacrificed his or her life to birth something that I benefitted from.  

That which was given for my benefit now demands that I give all for those around me.  

I’ve had the honor to witness and support the beginning of another new legacy through the life of Laura Kymla, another Matriarch in the Kingdom of God who recently went home to be with Jesus. Her story, so well documented in her new book, Even Though I Walk Through the Valley, is being carried as a reward and an inheritance to all that she gave it to. I’ve been humbled to witness her seed take up the momentum and mantle of her life and forward it with such vigor and commitment. While I’m not her natural son, she left something inside of me, and with that measure I will represent her well. Melissa, Christopher, and Carmen (Laura’s adult children) speak with great conviction about the impact of her legacy now in motion. This conviction and commitment is what is making it a reality. It will require their all. There is a beautiful exchange that happens when sons and daughters do for fathers and mothers what they could never do for themselves and that’s being remembered. Inheritance resources the dreams of the young, and honor fuels the legacy that the givers of these treasured deposits would be celebrated even to the fourth generation. These values sustain great cultures and family units. They also influence and nourish various spheres of society. It is a foundation of being a producer and not a simply a consumer.  

Scripture says the world groans for the sons of God (see Romans 8:19). Why? Because they remember Him. Today I remember Leta Calcote and Laura Kymla… and I give my all.  

Resurrection: The More Excellent Way

This past Sunday I shared on the life of Jesus and what impact He had on the culture of His day.   What was so important about that fact the He had to die and resurrect?  What impact does this have on how I become a follower?  These may be common questions but I believe there are answers in this message that will call you to a higher perspective and ultimately... a more excellent way.




2013-0331-Drew Neal- Resurrection: The More Excellent Way from Generation ONE on Vimeo.



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The Progress Of Vision

I have such a new appreciation of the responsibility that leaders across the globe live out their lives with.  Having influence is one thing, but compelling people to lay down their lives for the sake of a cause is another.    Many leaders struggle with getting to the point that the vision and culture of whatever they lead is healthy and truly represents the pure form of what inspired it in the first place. Ideas are great and can even inspire people in a moment, but vision requires a higher form of communication and commitment.  

A year ago I initiated Generation ONE as a local church.  It's the ministry platform that is being birthed by myself and a few others.  It represents a merge and planting of a new church in Rochester Hills, a school of ministry, and numerous global initiatives still in the research and development stages.  I shared some vision about Gen ONE with some friends/acquaintances at lunch today and they totally get it.  They didn't just agree that it was good, it resonated in their hearts. I could see it.  I've shared these things numerous times and I'm finding that lately something is shifting.  I'm either just getting really excellent at sharing my thoughts or my thoughts are just more impacting.  I began to ask myself if anything has changed in the language that I use to communicate this vision and my answer was no. I asked myself if the adjustments made in the last year would account for a different response and the answer was no.  So what's changed?

There's a level of sacrifice and commitment that comes as the undergirding of vision.

You'll find that even the same words can be used to share both ideas and vision but way less is expected when our words are surrounded by the expectations of "sharing ideas".  What it takes to see things change can be monumental responsibility at times and while most people have "good hearts", do they have good skills?  Do they have wisdom, character and virtue? As a follower of Jesus, an important question is do they value His presence over all things? Can they manage the tension of risk and security? What priority does God's will have in their decision making process? These attributes being developed and matured become the source of vision being believable when communicated.

I understand more today than I did a year ago about what it's actually going to take to make these ideas truly manifest on earth.  Not only have I begun to birth these things and take them on as commitments, but I continue to believe in the future of them as well which only requires increased responsibility.  I believe there is a partnership that is available with Christ that allows us to steward the dreams and inspirations He's placed in us.  While God initiates these things in the unseen place, it's our follow thru that allows them to manifest on earth.  I Corinthians tells us that it's God who brings the increase, but we plant and water.

It's an unprecedented time through out the world.  There's more insecurity for our futures than we've ever witnessed and it's demanding that those who can lead, do.  Leaders have a hope that is greater than their current reality because they see from this unseen place.  This hope, when centered on Jesus, is able to draw people not only into an encounter of believing something is possible, but also to compel them to lay down their life that progress would actually be produced from this inspiration.

So do your words just yield head nods?  Are you sick of your ideas being overlooked?  It's time to DO something.  Your commitment, sacrifice and follow through to what is in your heart will begin to bring the impact with your words you are looking for.  This will allow your vision to become a reality.  The progress of vision takes time and great commitment, but when others hear your heart and you've given up everything to see God's best...  they begin to see the best version of you, which is Him. He's hard to say no to.