Stories of Influence- Police Officer is Called into Ministry

March 5, 2013

InnerChamberCome on in. Have a seat and relax. Listen to a story of how God is meeting men through The Journey and taking them to new heights. We are truly part of something special that God is doing, and we need to tell the stories. "Every man has a story and every story is worth hearing." In addition to the Influencers Weekly Devotional, you will receive a "Story of Influence" each week. Be encouraged. If you would like to submit a story, email it to [email protected]. A good friend handed Frank a "Journey to the Inner Chamber" book and asked him to read it. He knew Frank to be a passionate young man who had demonstrated a heart to serve the Lord through involvement in Young Life. Frank was an undercover police office, working the streets of Tulsa in the gang unit, one of the most dangerous posts. Frank put the journey book aside and let it collect dust, until one day, on a short flight to Dallas, he was prompted to read it. This little book captivated Frank in a powerful way, and he wanted to know more. He joined The Journey in 2007 and began to learn about "intimacy with Christ." He knew all about serving, but he knew very little about "abiding." When he was only halfway through The Journey, he bought some Journey books and began to hand them out to his neighbors. He started meeting with these men at his house, planting seeds for his next Journey group. He was on fire. Frank went on to lead several Journey groups in Tulsa and became a leader for the Influencers movement. When Rocky was approached by a Brazilian missionary to take The Journey to Brazil, he knew he had to take Frank. You see, Frank is an immigrant from Brazil and speaks Portuguese and Spanish. The trip was amazing and Frank was used in a mighty way. A few years ago, God answered Frank's prayer to lead a group of police officers through The Journey. It was a "divine appointment" as Frank was able to lead a few of these men to Christ for the first time and even baptized many of the men in a nearby lake during one of their prayer retreats. God was using Frank in so many ways in the lives of other men and in his family. Satan seemed to take notice, as he unleashed an attack on Frank through a legal battle with his ex-partner on the police force. Though Frank was never charged with any wrongdoing, the media seemed to take pleasure in dragging his name through the mud in the newspaper. Frank was heartbroken, but he kept pressing on and giving it to God. God delivered Frank through this trial and has now called Frank to join Influencers on staff. Frank sees God's hand in everything he's endured, preparing him for this moment and this step of faith. His wife, Julie, adds her reflection on what God has been doing: God brought us through several years of unsubstantiated legal threats, only to be spared in ways we thought impossible. He provided for every single one of our needs & repeatedly traded His peace for our fears...and there were many you'd hardly believe. In hindsight we know He was teaching us total self abandonment and absolute trust. "He told us so." We've also had an exhausting few years of sleeplessness with our toddler son. He hasn't slept a full night since birth and has been through a rough gauntlet of medical testing, poor child. If you've ever had a kid with sleep issues, you know what a toll it takes and how many of your nights are spent begging God to heal and calm your child. We've learned the hard and tiring way that some of God's sweetest, most healing moments happen during the hardest, darkest, most sleepless nights...literally & metaphorically. He's told us so. Our daughter started Kindergarten this year and is maturing so fast, thanks to Barbies & the Tooth Fairy. Frank realized many moons ago, how hard it was on her to not have Daddy home more often due to his work hours. It began taking a toll on her attitude at home and school, but just as Frank began humbly praying for God to provide a change that would afford him more time at home, the good Lord delivered. He's been able to catch up on some precious time with the kids lately & our daughter's entire demeanor has changed. Not a night goes by that she doesn't thank God for having her Daddy home to tuck her in since she was the one who prayed the hardest for such a change, and sure enough...as she would say, ...God told her so. Frank has been doing part time work for a prestigious auto group this past year. You wouldn't believe how God worked and moved through specific people at specific times to provide him that job. He landed that incredible blessing of extra income within a week of receiving his largest legal bill for an unmerited trial he was put through. We'd spent many nights unnecessarily worrying about how God would provide monetarily and sure enough, and in His perfect timing...He told us so. We put our house up for sale after feeling a nudge to give up unnecessary space and live more modestly. While it didn't sell, and we don't yet know why or what that nudge was all about from God's perspective, we have been given clear signs that He was, if nothing else, testing our hearts and willingness to be obedient to His every nudge...not just the "comfy" nudges. I feel certain He was setting us up for a good ole' fashioned test of obedience. Thankfully it worked. We've never once felt we deserved this home we call God's house and I still, to this day, feel like we're just house-sitting for Him. So I guess He will "tell us so" in the days to come...maybe He's going to use His house in ways we're unaware of now, but we'll be more available to His will in the future, for sure. The thing I love about Frank is that he's always the first to give God credit. He sees God in everything and in everyone, and has a unique way of helping others meet Jesus through his contagious energy and excitement for the life God desires for us all. Our past year has been spent asking God what in the world He was up to. In the past few months He's made it blatantly clear. We've surrendered our trust to Him & He's said, "I told ya so" about a million times, in a million different ways, and we're excited to see what He shows us in the coming years through Influencers. It's sure to amaze and teach us in new and different ways. We're trading predictable for unknown and comfortable for sacrificial. We know what we've come out of through God's grace...and we know, to some extent, what we're headed into, also by grace, in the near future...but we're most excited to experience more of His will...even if it's the hard way.