From Sender To Sent
On March 7, 2020, I was able to enjoy my daughter’s wedding, which was immediately followed with two weeks of full societal lockdown. The pandemic forced many people to consider their lives in a different way. By April 1, 2020, I began asking myself, “How can I take this time in quarantine to grow as a person and not waste this opportunity?” Thinking this time would last only a month, it was this day that I wrote the following questions:
How do I come out of April noticeably better than when I started the month?
How do I fall more in love with Jesus?
How do I trust His (God’s) sufficiency more?
How do I focus on the provider?
How do I serve my wife better?
How do I serve my grown children better?
How do I serve my team (work) better?
How do I serve my accounts better?
Put systems in place to make the most of this month.
Little did I know this desire for more of God would help change the trajectory of my spiritual life. A few years prior in 2018, I had committed to finishing my life strong. This was an attempt to go from metabolically unhealthy to metabolically healthy through feeding my body properly and a commitment to weight bearing exercise to build and maintain lean muscle mass to finish my life strong (see www.finishingstrong.co). The goal was to live a life with the ability to play with my future grandchildren and be of service to my church and neighbors. Mission accomplished and ongoing. I’ve been able to become metabolically healthy and build muscle, but it wasn’t until this God appointed pandemic that I considered what finishing strong looked like spiritually.
Like many of us, I was a bit shaken by the world’s reaction to the pandemic. Providentially, I saw a John Piper YouTube reaction with his, Coronavirus and Christ advertisement. I bought and read the book and bought several others to give out. This was the beginning of a great understanding of God’s sovereignty and providence. I was comforted knowing that God is completely in control. He said, “Knowing that the same sovereignty that could stop the coronavirus, yet doesn’t, is the same sovereignty that sustains the soul in it. If God can stop the coronavirus and doesn’t, he’s allowing it to accomplish his purposes.” I felt God’s comfort in those words. This began a larger appreciation for Dr. Piper and a deep dive into his teachings. It is said that one of the best modern-day sermons ever preached was Dr. Piper’s, Passion 2000 sermon. So, I watched it over and over. This was a plea to thousands of college students in a packed football stadium to not waste your life and don’t buy what the world is selling you. He juxtaposed 2 different scenarios to the students. He posed the question, which is a tragedy? There were two single women around 80 years old from his church serving the poor and sick people in Cameroon for many years. One day while driving their brakes failed and over a cliff they went and died on impact. He asks, “Is that a tragedy? The students yell, “NO.” Piper says, “You’re right, that’s not a tragedy, I’ll read you what a tragedy is.” He reads another scenario from a Reader’s Digest magazine. Bob and Penny took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, golf and collect shells.’ He said, “That is a tragedy!” He went on to say, and I paraphrase, there are people and businesses that are spending billions of dollars to have you buy this American dream, a spouse, a house, 2 kids, white picket fence, nice cars and an early retirement. And I get 40 minutes to plead with you—don’t buy it! With all my heart I plead with you—don’t buy that dream. This is the line that hit me right between the eyes, “As the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account with what you did: ‘Here it is, Lord—my shell collection. Look at my golf swing and look at my beautiful boat.’” I was undone. I began reflecting. When I meet Christ, what will I have to show for my life, the gifts he’s given me and how can I make the rest of my life count in this twilight season of my life? At 59 years old, I thought my life trajectory was just fine. I tithed, served at church, and supported a handful of people at various ministries. I love my wife, grown children and putting away money for a modest retirement like most Americans, but had I bought the lie the world is selling us? I began to realize, I’m in the last chapter in life and what am I going to present to our Lord who gave it all for us? My future eternity and joy in life was missing something and I had this opportunity to finish strong spiritually.
With Covid-19 in full swing, by the grace of God, my business flourished, and I felt a bit of “survivor’s guilt” with unemployment skyrocketing, protests, rioting, and civil unrest dividing our country. I was realizing that the country was looking for answers. I then began to watch YouTube videos of Randy Alcorn who spoke about heaven. As a believer since 1988, and a seminary graduate in 1994, I hadn’t fully considered the future events of heaven as closely as I needed. Randy spoke of the new heavens and new earth and he spoke of rewards for believers. What I heard him say, the phrase, “We can’t take it with us,” but then he quipped, “but us believers can!” How is that possible? By storing up treasures in heaven now and create a better eternity for myself for doing so. I was better understanding the final home for believers. We have a way to impact our future eternity and it has nothing to do with playing harps and floating aimlessly in heaven. Selfishly, I want to invest as much as I can in my eternity since we’d be there forever and ever, what a command from Jesus! Understanding that we have 2 bank accounts, one here on earth and one in heaven where we can invest in Kingdom work on earth and store treasures for our eternal future at the same time. My mind was blown!
I was then introduced to the book, Gospel Patrons by John Reinhart by a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) director and ministry partner. He gave me the book to read, and I devoured it in one night. It tells the stories of some of the great movements of God in the past, William Tyndale and the translation of the Latin Bible to English, the Great Awakening with George Whitefield and William Wilberforce and the British abolishing slavery. Behind each of these mighty works of God are “Gospel Patrons,” those that supported and financed these works of God. These patrons were able to finance these events and have a huge impact for the Kingdom and found tremendous joy in it. I found my identity; He gave me 5 books and I ordered 10 more to give out. I am a gospel patron, and I became an evangelist for others becoming gospel patrons as well.
I started strategically looking for people and ministries I could support. With so many kids home in the pandemic, social media was going crazy. I felt the burden to get the gospel better represented on Instagram and Tik Tok to teens. I knew Dr. Sean McDowell was a guy who had great impact with Middle, High School and College kids. I didn’t know him, but I got his email address and reached out telling him I’d like to support his effort to have an impact on these social media sites. Shortly after, he graciously responded, and we spoke on the phone. I told him I was a gospel patron, described what that was, and I sent him the book. I began supporting him with the agreement that when he was self-sustainable through those sites paying him, my support would stop. He now has a huge impact and making a difference for the Kingdom on those sites and is a great guy and has turned into an amazing friend.
I was introduced via email to a godly Ugandan man who grew up supported by Compassion International. I told him about my passion to help people. He told me and emailed pictures of a village in Uganda that was recently swept away by a flood. It is the Kasese tribe that were in desperate need of food and resources. We found a way to get them food and resources. My heart was filled. I was then introduced to Agape International Children’s Ministries (AICM) and an orphanage in Uganda and started to support them. I began a relationship with them and told them about my friend who helped the Kasese tribe. We later started a sustainable poultry project at the orphanage to train women to raise chickens for themselves and their community. After a season of developing the chicken farm, 100 women were successfully trained and graduated from their poultry program for a sustainable source of income. My heart was full.
Locally, I knew there would be shortfalls in support for those in the ministry field. So, I started asking the local Director of FCA how I could help. He’d share who and what was needed to fill some shortfalls. I couldn’t say no. What an opportunity and an honor to glorify God and join in God’s work. My affections for God were heightened when I gave. I was intoxicated with giving! So instead of diversifying in the stock market, I was diversifying my giving portfolio by strategically picking different types of ministries I thought could have the most impact for the Kingdom. Besides giving to my favorite online podcasts, I began supporting a prison ministry, skateboard ministry, campus ministry, veteran’s ministry, the Bible Project, and a few other ministries. I desperately wanted to be used by God and diversify my giving. It’s truly hard to describe the joy it brings to give, being a conduit of God’s resources. It gave me a new outlook on work, the more I can make, the more I can give. This result has been humbling, especially when people would say to me, you’re an answer to prayer! Oh, that God would use this broken vessel.
I feel I have been in a special season of grace the Father has bestowed on me. There is no better investment than giving to His Kingdom here and for the betterment of our future eternal life in his presence when God calls us home. I long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
These are just some of the stories I have of giving, but for brevity’s sake, I stop.
The story doesn’t end here…
With the economy turning to a recession, the company that provided all these funds laid off the entire sales force, including me. At first, I was in shock and saddened knowing God took away my giving source and my identity as a gospel patron. I thought I could find a similar position so I can continue to be used by God as a generous giver, but the opportunities aren’t nearly the same. I was forced to really consider my life at 61 years old and how I wanted to finish my life. Who am I if I’m not a gospel patron? It didn’t look like God was going to continue using me as gospel patron in the same way, so I started to look for a different way I could make the most impact for the rest of my life. I heard of the book, Half Time by Bob Buford. The subtitle, From Success to Significance. This too was me, wanting to find the most significance in the latter years of my life.
I have supported FCA for the past 13 years, a local board director for them and for the past 3 years a major donor “Tom Landry associate.” My son went to their summer camp, was a huddle leader, played for SoCal Catch FCA baseball team. My stepson who was involved when he played baseball at Fresno State, his wife was involved when she played softball at USD. Needless to say, I love this ministry. They reach kids who wouldn’t normally come to church and give them the gospel in a sports setting. FCA wasn’t on my radar as something I could be a part of because I felt the positions I knew of were campus based and I am too old to be on campuses. But after meeting with several of the FCA reps I had supported just to network, word got back to the VP of the Pacific Southwest Region. He approached me with a position of Regional Director of board and donor advancement and asked me to pray about it. This position would allow me to share my experience, joy and passion as a major donor, and board member to inspire others to do the same. Like most faith-based non-profits, this meant raising my own support. Having never support raised to make a living, my wife and I prayed hard. We were at cross-roads, considering “do we take a safe route and get a salaried job elsewhere or trust God for supplying our needs through generous donors, like myself, by support raising?” I’ve always been on the other side, “the sender and not the sent.” With my passion for sports and Jesus and many confirming my calling to FCA and this position, my wife and I took the step to trust God. In this step of faith, we’re looking for a team of people like myself, who are gripped by the Lord with a vision to become prayer and financial partners who want to build God’s kingdom, find incredible joy in giving, invest in their eternal future. Ultimately, FCA is about changing the culture by helping coaches and the next generation of athletes through sports grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ and His church. If the Lord wills, I will continue to spread the message of generous giving, what it did for my life, my eternity and what it does for the kingdom and culture. I hope to inspire others to finish strong for the glory of God.
Join me in changing the culture through coaches and athletes here https://my.fca.org/stevepanayiotou
Finishstrong!