Africa is a vast continent. This month we have several reports on Teen Challenge's progress in bringing hope to the addicted in Africa.  

Jerry Nance is sharing the need for leaders to hear from God.  

May God bless you and your ministry.    

No strategy, no guideline, no "how to book," no advice from the most influential person we know is as important as hearing the voice of God. 

The dream God gives you during prayer and the call that comes from God are what keep you afloat through the storms of problems that will turn up to confront you. The call of God will keep you firmly founded in the face of doubters. The call of God will keep you when the ministry finances are at an all time low and the pressure is on you as a leader to raise them.

Your call is foremost and at times is your only surety; and before launching out into some endeavor, be certain that He is indeed the one who has called you. Investing time on your knees and on your face before God, clearly waiting for His direction, is where He will confirm the steps to attaining your dream.

Throughout my experience, God has allowed my dream and visions to be challenged in ways that made it appear impossible to accomplish. God brings into play all types of situations to get us to trust and depend upon Him, and He often strips us of all our pride and brings us to a place where we are broken, ready to totally give up, a place where we are finally ready to completely rely on Him.

Paul Yonggi Cho said, "Never trust a man who doesn't walk with a limp."  Dr. Cho's statement speaks of the brokenness we experience as we encounter life's difficult situations, God never puts on us more than we can handle. In the midst of all the conflict, chaos and confusion, God protects us and we survive.  Our survival speaks of that quality within a person's character that is developed and polished through the pain. We learn, but we walk with a limp, a little bit wiser and a bit more dependent on God.  I began to walk with a limp.

Leaders often endure difficult challenges while pursuing their dreams. Sometimes it may seem your vision or dream has died, and then, at just the right moment, God comes on the scene and brings your dream to life. Let me share with you how God called me to the work of Teen Challenge back in 1991. 

Have you ever received one of those phone calls that seemed to totally change the direction of your life? A call that challenged you with a seemingly impossible task? A call that asked you to give up everything you had worked for years to build? A call that you deemed in the beginning couldn't possibly be God?  But a call you just couldn't feel a release to bypass altogether?

While serving as pastor of a church, I received just such a call.  And that call began a series of the most challenging yet opportune experiences of my life. From these core challenges, God proved Himself in ways I had never experienced or imagined.

My secretary buzzed me one day and said, "Pastor, you've got a call on line one. It's a Mr. Bob Manderscheid." Bob was a member of the Board of Directors of Teen Challenge of Florida. "Jerry, I'd like to ask you to consider serving in the position of executive director for Teen Challenge of Florida. I believe you're the man for the job. Every time I pray, I feel God directing me to you."

I responded, "Bob, I do appreciate you believing that I would make a good executive director, but I'm not even going to pray about it. I don't feel the timing is right, and I don't feel God is in this kind of a move for me right now. Thanks, but I am not your man."

Years earlier I had worked with David Wilkerson, setting up crusades in large auditoriums, organizing outreaches in inner-city areas around the country, and teaching in his staff training school.  My wife and I had also opened a home for women with addiction problems in Miami.  So, I had a heart for Teen Challenge, but I didn't feel the slightest interest that this position was for me.

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Jerry Nance