Today, Steve Roach serves on staff at NorthStar Church. But, his childhood friendship with Mike Linch changed his future – and eternity. Steve shares how God orchestrated their friendship and interactions to help shape – and change – his heart.
I was clueless. God was at work and I had no idea. It was 1976 and God would intersect my life with a second-grade classmate that would one day change my life. Mike and I developed a tighter friendship a few years later when we were in the same fifth-grade class together. We played on the same little league baseball team that year and the next. We only lived a mile apart from each other and ended up playing every kind of sport imaginable at each other’s houses through the years.
Our friendship grew through middle and high school until a pivotal moment when I said “yes” to Mike’s invitation to attend a 12th grade Sunday School get together at the leader’s house. I had never attended church in my life! I went to church with Mike the next day and heard the gospel for the first time in a way that completely clicked with me. I said “yes” to Jesus and my life has never been the same since.
In eternity past, God knew that he wanted our families to set up shop in Fayetteville, Georgia. He wanted us to attend the same schools so our lives would intersect with each other. He wanted Mike to help me find my way home to Jesus. Now, years later, my friend Mike is the Senior Pastor at NorthStar Church and I am the Pastor of Spiritual Growth at NorthStar Church.
What has happened in my life is the result of what happens when God intersects His followers with those who need to hear the good news. Here’s the amazing news for you – He wants to use you like He used Mike in my life. He can and He will, if you let Him.
