Steve Alessi: Author of Alessi’s Angle, Pastor of Metro Life Church in Miami, Husband of World Renown Worship Leader Mary Alessi and Father of Four. Mary's Reflection
Well, actually I'm more exhilarated about my life than ever. When Steve and I started contemplating stepping out and starting Metro Life Church, we had no way of knowing that we would be walking into an incredible season of our lives. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. The "should we or shouldn't we’s" quickly faded when God's voice became clear – all roads pointed in the "we have to" direction.
Although it has had its challenges, there's never been one day that we ever wondered if we'd made the right decision. God's grace reminded us that He had called us to pastoring; we hadn't called ourselves. We knew this because even when money was tight or when struggles came, we never asked what we were doing wrong. God kept us focused on the call.
Over the years people have asked us, "How did you know pastoring was for you?" and we would say, "It's a call you can't silence. If you don't do it, you know you're being disobedient."
Yes, there's a "knowing" but I would be lying to you if I told you Steve and I "just knew" and so, off we went to start a church. Yes, our spirits knew, but we also had a great desire to be faithful where we were. The reality was that God had to push us out. Working with family in ministry is a special calling all in its own. Steve's mom and dad had mentored us, cared for us and provided jobs for us. It would have caused great pain to just pick up roots and leave, in order to do what then would have been perceived as "our own thing."
I never understood that term anyway – "my own thing". Steve and I have never been on our own in anything. God will always use other people to help you fulfill what He's called you to fulfill. In our case it was a prophet, Kathy Lechner. Backing up just a little in this story, Steve and I battled with "the call" for three years before we moved forward. And then, a prophet came to our church and spoke a word that would change the course of history for our lives. Wait … what??? Thank you Jesus … this is it … the prophetic release! I just knew she was going to speak over our lives, the good news of “go start a church!” But, she didn't do that. No, she prophesied these words: "Steve and Mary, you've been faithful to this work and God sees it, but it's not time to go. You need to stay a little longer."
Now, most prophets I know prophesy big houses, lands, territories, ministries to thousands of people, fame, fortune … “go out from here” kind of prophecies. But not Kathy Lechner. No, she prophesied a word that would put our obedience level to the test – “Stay, not go." We had to trust her, but more importantly we had to trust that this was a word from God.
She also prophesied that even though we were battling infertility, we would have more children, with ease this time. No more struggling. Her exact words were, "You've prayed to get started; now you'll pray to stop!" Boy was she right on the money with that one! She was also correct about staying. We stayed for two more years and were so grateful that we did. When we finally stepped out to start Metro Life Church it was perfect timing. All roads led to … go. Leaving any sooner would have been detrimental in our new beginning. I'm sure of that.
Maybe today you're in a place where you need God to confirm His word to you, and you wish you had a prophet that would walk into your life and prophecy over you. Well, the powerful truth is that the prophet Jeremiah has already spoken a prophetic word for you.
My favorite verse of scripture is Jeremiah 29:11 – "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. To give you a hope and a future."
There it is. There's the word for you. Wait on Him and don't be in a hurry. Rushing into a new season isn't always the answer. Wait on Him and trust His timing for everything.
Why don't you take a moment right now, and let me know how has this spoken to you so that Steve and I can be praying for you.
UFO or GOD Encounter
I never really got into the whole aliens craze because I don't believe they exist and it seems like those who claim to have seen a UFO are people I don't think would be my friends. Mary says the real reason is because I'm a sissy and afraid. Whatever. All I can say is when I was in high school back in the '70's, I was not one of those standing in the long lines waiting to get into the UFO classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
From what I understand, the whole premise of the movie was based on system of classification started by an astronomer and UFO researcher, J. Allen Hyneck. Evidently, in UFO-ology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object. Hyneck devised a classification for these sightings: First is the visual sightings of an unidentified flying object; second is the visual sightings plus physical effects on animate and inanimate objects; and third is the sightings of "occupants" in and around the UFO. (Really?) Can you guess what the fourth would be? You got it, abduction.
As odd as all this sounds to me, I'm fascinated that so much attention is given to this notion of humans having contact with an extraterrestrial being, yet when we speak of a person connecting with a loving God, the gloves come off and a fight ensues with an innuendo that's weird and claims of absurdity.
When I read stories in the Bible of people having an encounter with God, I'll admit that it can seem a bit odd. Yet, when I see the outcome of such events, I find those individuals have been impacted in a good way, which allows them to walk out their destiny, and at times even change the course of human history. And that makes me wish I had these characters in my friendship circle. Who wouldn't want a friend like David the Giant Killer, or Daniel the Lion Whisperer?
One story that really stands out to me is the encounter Moses has as an 80-year-old -- seemingly a washed up, wasting away fugitive tending to his father-in-law's sheep on the back side of a desert. He stumbles upon a bush that's on fire, and yet the bush isn't consumed. As he approaches the plant, suddenly a voice begins speaking to him out of the fire, and this encounter with God so radically changes him that he spends the next 40 years of his life leading millions of people out of slavery and into a national power house known as Israel.
Now you tell me, which classification of Hyneck's sightings system would you rank this encounter? From what I see it was definitely a four... abduction. And I would say it's the kind of encounter we all could use in life.
If you're ready for that kind of God encounter, then come join me tonight at Metro Life Church (www.metrolifechurch.com) as we kick off our 15th Anniversary Celebration Worship Encounter. For 15 years we've seen people's lives changed for the better. After all, having an encounter with the Almighty will have that affect on a person's life.
Fish On, Fish Off
It was nice getting up when the alarm clock went off at 5:15 AM. Knowing this was going to be a great day on the water, I didn't care that it was still dark outside. Within minutes I was up, dressed and loading the truck with the coolers and fishing rods. I could tell my buddy could hardly wait as well when he sent me a text at 5:55 AM letting me know I was late for our 6:00 AM rendezvous pick up. As I pulled into his driveway, there he was with his own cooler filled with week old sandwiches and cold water, and a fine collection of fishing rods. We both had that goofy, "we're going to have fun today fishing" smile on our faces and as soon as he jumped in the truck he was already talking it up..."Oh yeah, we're going to slaughter them today!"
We had a good laugh about the fishing rods because we had like twenty of them between the two of us, but we didn't care and figured we would need all of them just to haul in the mother load of fish. After we picked up the boat and almost went bankrupt filling it with gas, we were at the boat ramp in no time flat knowing the fish were waiting. Off we went, slapping high fives as we finally were able to do what we've wanted to do all summer and it was the perfect day. Waters were nice, boat's running great, and the croquets were especially tasty on this morning. Once we shot through the channel we were already feeling goose bumps and lots of water as the smooth bay gave way to some pretty choppy seas, but we didn't care and simply powered down to push through it. Before you knew it we were in 400 feet of water and there they were...the birds. OMG! The fish must have missed us!
So as not to disappoint the fish, we immediately threw out the trolling rods and within minutes had the nicest dolphin on the line. After pulling up the other line we had that baby up next to the boat and a huge school of dolphin who seemed to be so happy to see us. Now you need to know something about dolphin fishing. Since they run in schools, the goal is to get one on the line and keep him in the water up next to the boat while throwing other lines out to catch his friends. Sure enough, it was working like a charm. The fish frenzy was in full swing with one on the line and now we're tossing out more lines for the others. Only problem was, every time we would catch another dolphin the line would break. Either the drag was too tight or the line was brittle, either way our fish were not where they should be and that was in the boat. Instead they were swimming around the boat, snatching our lines and breaking them, and seemingly taunting us with a "is that all you've got" flash of their tail. Well, that first catch didn't end well and all we managed to do was get one in the boat. Off we went again and within minutes another hit. Fish frenzy all over again. Oh how we love second chances when it comes to fishing. But again, because we were so excited the first time the fish hit, we didn't pay attention to our rods and the same thing happened. Fish on, but no rods ready for the catch. And it was then that David turned to me and said; "Isn't that just like life? Here God wants to bless us and when He does, we're not ready for it."
The brother couldn't have said it any better, and there we were living it out on the open waters. Finally, we learned our lesson and took the time to prepare our rods for the fish, and after 30 minutes we were in search of more dolphin. But sadly we didn't see another dolphin all afternoon long. Tuna, yes, but no dolphin...which meant we didn't use the ready rods for the rest of the trip. Lesson learned.
Next time you ask God for something, allow your faith to prepare you for it. Because if He brings it to you as an answer to your prayer and you're not ready to receive it, you may miss out on your blessing. And maybe, just maybe, it may never come your way again.
Are you asking God for something? What are you doing to be prepared for when He answers your prayers?
BTW, If you're wanting to enhance your prayer life, then join us on Wednesday nights at Metro Life Church (www.metrolifechurch.com) for our #WWFmlc Study where we're looking at Mark Batterson's book, The Circle Maker.
The Night I Became A Man
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| Pastor Steve and Mary at MLC's First Service |
Have you ever been guilty of confusing special days and events on the calendar? That's been a problem I've had my entire life when it comes to the month of September. The confusion stems from two very special days; my Dad's birthday, and my parents wedding anniversary. For some odd reason, my brain just couldn't get it right and I would always flip the two days around. Even though I would put it on my calendar, when the reminder would come up I would second guess if it was right. "Now which one did my mom say was their anniversary?" There were some years when I would call my Dad to wish him a Happy Birthday and he would kindly accept my wish, but then let me know I was a day early. That was until my Mom made it real simple to remember which day was which with these words I'll never forget. "Son," she once said, "just remember it like this. We were married, September 7th, and then your Dad became a man the day after our wedding on September 8th...when he turned 21." Oh yeah, that sure helped me remember, but it's also left me with an image I can't forget.
On the other hand is an event in September I'll never confuse, as it marks the anniversary of our very first Metro Life Church Service. This year, as we celebrate our 15th year Anniversary, I'm remembering our humble beginnings at the AmeriSuites Hotel in Doral. It was a Friday night launch and we had close to 80 friends and family join our small start up group of about 20 that night. Some of those in the start up group remain our closest friends and co-workers today, and now along with many new co-laborers who have joined us in the journey we're looking forward to celebrating all that's been accomplished and experienced in a couple of weeks at Worship Encounter 2012 (#WE2012).
I didn't realize it at the moment, but I think something significant happened to me 15 years ago after that first night's service in the hotel room. I too became a man. Though I was 37 years old at the time, I thought I had a good grip on what ministry was about. For the 13 years prior, I had served alongside my family in ministry at Grace Church of Kendall and had the opportunity to learn and develop wonderful ministry skills through mentorship and hands-on training, but something shifted in me and my wife Mary the night Metro Life was birthed. I can't say I immediately recognized what that shift was then, but I can say that I noticed a difference in the way the guys on our team made me feel that night and ever since.
Understand this about me...I enjoy seeing people happy and making them feel special and unique. You can ask Mary and my girls what's the one question I constantly ask them when we're out and about. "Are you happy?" I guess my Love Language is action...meaning if I do something for you, that's my way of saying I love you. When I moved Mary into our two-bedroom townhouse after we were married, I promised her I would get her a bigger house in 5 years. Thankfully, Hurricane Andrew came through almost 5 years to the date and I was able to show her how much I loved her. To me, to serve another is saying I love you.
And that's what I heard that first night when I drove into the AmeriSuites parking lot, as the guys on the team immediately met me and unloaded the sound and music equipment from our car. And from that moment on, I've never had to set up a chair, light or sound system, as the team that God has so blessed us with at Metro Life Church, has been showing their love week in and week out for the last 15 years, to not only Mary and I, but to our entire Metro family. I guess that's the reason so many continue to make Metro their church family as well. The place is full of love!!
Thank you, Metro Life, for a great 15 years!! I'm looking forward to a wonderful future of Impacting Everyday Life, Everywhere!!
If you've felt the love around Metro, why don't you share your experience and who it was that showed you their love.
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