“Be delusional enough to call yourself something that the world hasn’t called you yet,” Queen Latifah said. “Be brave enough to walk down a road that no one else can see.” When I read the words that the legendary female rapper gave to the 2026 graduates of North Carolina A&T State University, I immediately screenshotted them so I wouldn’t forget them. It got my attention. It made my mind do a quick rewind of several decades.
The First Doubt
I remember two instances when I felt so alone, yet so confident. The first was in the early 1980s when I was in an elder’s meeting of the first church I pastored in Elmira, NY. I made a statement that I felt God was calling me to “plant” or start a church someday in the future. The overseer of our church responded,
“You will never make a church planter.”
No further explanation or reason for his words. Just a declaration that I wasn’t cut out for it, or capable, gifted or called. It was almost as if he thought I was delusional. Yet it didn’t shake me. I knew what I knew.
Fourteen Acres of Vision
The other instance that popped into my mind was a decade later, the early 1990s. I was attending a monthly ministerial association meeting. The group of pastors in the room knew that I had planted a new church in the city. Some knew we were starting to assemble three city blocks of property for a future church site. One of the pastors asked me how many acres the property would be when it was all assembled together. “Fourteen acres,” I replied.
Then his response caught me off balance. “What are you going to do with all that land? Build a university?” Maybe it was not intended this way. But, the way I heard it, it felt like: “Are you delusional? What is wrong with you? Who do you think you are? Why would you buy so much land when all the other churches in town have a third of that much land? I knew what I knew.
Now, decades later, I am so very thankful for the clarity of my inner call from God. It may have seemed like delusional faith to others. However, in retrospect, I knew the person God was calling me to become and I’m grateful that I didn’t wait for others to give me permission for the title of “church planter.” My wife and a few other mentors knew who I was called to be. They believed in what others thought was a delusion.
The Proof is in the Pudding
My dad used to say, “The proof is in the pudding.” Viewing the past from the advantage of the current hill I stand on. Yes, I planted a thriving church of thousands of weekly attenders and it has continued to expand its footprint into new communities. And we are using every square foot of our 14 acre campus, plus we rent additional acreage for overflow parking.
What about you?
- What vision that God has placed deep within you?
- What hidden road are you walking down right now?
- What truth do you know that you know?
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