5 Ways Mike (Mic) Moses Sr. Impacted My Life and Ministry

On this last day of January, I wanted to share with a reflection of how Mike (Mic) Moses Sr. impacted my life. Earlier this month I co-led his memorial service and know for a fact that Mike would've loved this time with friends and family.  

There are five distinct ways that Mike influenced my life and ministry:

  1. Mike encouraged getting people out of the cities, busy-ness and outside among God’s creation. Mike loved the woods and would take people to his small house up in the foothills of NC. I share this desire and we too have a house in the foothills that we plan to use for retreat. :)

  2. Christ as Life emerges in real ways through our brokenness (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:1-4). Mike would kindly remind me that I didn't have to control life. Instead, I could watch for how Christ could reveal Life through weakness.

  3. To love a person is to listen really well. Mike was a patient listener and never jumped to solutions too quickly.

  4. You don’t always have to know what you’re doing as long as you believe God is in it.

  5. "Laughter is close to the grace of God" -Karl Barth. Mike had the joy of the Lord in him and loved sharing joy with others. His laugh reminded me of his humor and commitment to keep things light. 

Points 4 and 5 are wrapped up in a story I shared at Mike's memorial service.

In December 2014 and after 8 months of prayer and discernment, we decided to transfer Grace Discipleship from Mike's name to mine. The next step was to call the IRS and see if the non-profit, which had been dormant, was able to be re-activated.

So we got on the phone together with the IRS. This was something I wasn't looking forward to because there were so many unknowns. Mike reminded me: "You don’t always have to know what you’re doing as long as you believe God is in it."

An IRS agent picked up and she was very nice and ultimately said, "Yes, the non-profit can still be used and yes, it is easy to change the new director to be Mr. Freeman!"  

Right before hanging up Mike said to her, "You've been so helpful, tell me your name..." She said, "My name is Angel!" Mike said, "Of course it is!!" After hanging up, we both belted out with holy laughter. 

I won't ever forget that phone conversation and in some ways I sense an invitation to keep laughing and trusting that "God is in it" and we can be joy-filled. Thank you Mike for teaching me this way of living.

Mike has two wonderful sons and it was a great joy to reconnect with them at the service. Mike Jr. is the pastor at Lakeforest Church in Huntersville, NC and Matt runs an adventure sport & resort company in the mountains of NC. They're such great men and both reflect the love, wisdom and kindness of their dad.  

Thanks for reading! I plan to share more plans for Grace Discipleship in 2023 which will reflect Mike's legacy.

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Love,

John Freeman