This week on Real Talk with Rachael, I'm talking with Tom Lane, Dallas campus pastor at Gateway Church about his book Tested and Approved: 21 Lessons for Life and Ministry. Tom Lane graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Prior to Gateway, he was in pastoral ministry at Trinity Fellowship for 27 years where he held a variety of positions, and prior to that, he worked in corporate settings in Omaha, Oklahoma City, and Amarillo. Tom joined the staff of Gateway in January 2004 as executive senior pastor. In 2015, his church oversight responsibilities moved to his son Todd, and Tom prepared to oversee the newly formed Gateway Apostolic Ministry. In September 2015, he also accepted the role of campus pastor to lead the launch of our Dallas Campus in March 2016.

Today, Tom serves as the lead executive senior pastor of Apostolic Ministry and is the campus pastor of our Dallas Campus along with serving as an elder of Gateway Church. Under Pastor Robert’s leadership, and along with Pastor Jimmy Evans, he leads in executing Gateway’s vision and developing strategies locally, nationally, and internationally, which impacts and influences the Church. As one of the elders, he also helps provide spiritual and fiduciary governance for Gateway’s ministries.

Key points from today's conversation:

• “Neither ministry nor life is fair and when you focus on fairness, neither one will ever make sense to you. Life must be based on faith no matter what you do.”
• It's natural to want justice, but it's more important to surrender to God's will. He sets our days, so there's no need to compare yourself to others.
• God is the secret to success. Every blessing, provision, and good thing comes from Him. Take each decision to Him and trust Him when He closes doors. His plans are to prosper you.
• Success means to fulfill the full measure of God’s plan for our life. It's a process that activates our faith.
• Hear, believe, and obey. You have to be willing to obey when you don’t have the assurance of the outcome. God will give you enough, but at some point, you’ll have to leap and trust Him to catch you.
• Prophetic ministry is not for the elite, it’s for everyone. It's a demonstration of God inserting himself in your life through others. People need to know that God is real, alive, and active in our lives.
• Resources mentioned - He Still Speaks; The God I Never Knew, Tested and Approved Mentor Playbook

Let's get real practical:

I have 2 simple action steps for you from this episode. First, write or think about your definition of success. Second, ask God if that lines up with His definition of success for you. 

Episode sponsor:

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