Micah E. Davis is the pastor of teaching and vision at The Sanctuary. He believes the written and spoken word are mediums to elicit heart change and life transformation, and he has committed his life to using words for good.

Micah is also the author of Three Strikes, You’re Forgiven: Encounter a God Who Wants to Redeem Your Past, Restore Your Present, and Transform Your Future and Trailblazers: A Journey to Discover God’s Purpose for Your Life.

He lives and writes inside “the loop” of Indianapolis, Indiana, with his wife, Rylei, and their son Ezekiel.

• Book link: https://mediacenter.tyndale.com/p/three-strikes-youre-forgiven/9798400501401
• Website links: www.micahedavis.com // www.sanctuaryindy.com

Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.

As we continue the mission of the 12 Minute Converse with Jesus Believers podcast, we invite you to help us share more stories of faith, hope, and transformation.

Your donation helps us produce new episodes, reach more listeners, and continue meaningful conversations with Jesus Believers around the world.

Every donation helps.

Hit the donate button at 12minuteconverse.com.

That's 1-2-M-I-N-C-O-N-V-E-R-S.com.

God chose us to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you Pastor Michael.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

For those listening, what part of the world are you in today?

I am in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is sort of in the heartland of the United States of America.

How did you come to meet Jesus?

So I'm the son of two pastors.

My parents have been in vocational ministry most of my life.

I just recently stepped away from that a couple of years ago.

So I grew up in the church and came to know Jesus from a very early age.

I was baptized at age seven.

And man, just most of my childhood and formative years were spent in and around the church.

But it wasn't really until college after enduring a season of pain that I sort of came face to face with my shortcomings and my sin.

And I would argue that around age 19 is when I really encountered the Lord and felt like I was truly following after him.

Was it pressure being the son of the pastors or was it not?

It's a great question.

I think in some ways there certainly was pressure, but I never felt it in a way that made me not want to be a pastor's kid.

I think in some ways I relished the attention and the privileges that came with the office.

And of course there was certain expectations and things that came with my parents being who they were, but my parents never made me feel pressure or like a burden for acting out or falling short.

I think they gave me a good amount of space to be human and to grow and mature just like every other kid.

The only difference was some of those things took place more publicly, you know, when they were shared in a sermon illustration the following weekend or something like that.

Coming into being a pastor, what was the story leading up to that?

So I mentioned, you know, it was around age 19 when I felt like I really encountered the Lord for the first time.

And that sort of cross tracks with my entrance into vocational ministry as well.

I had been in a season of disorientation and distance from the Lord.

And March 16, 2016, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to open up my Bible for the first time in months.

And I did so begrudgingly and by happenstance opened to Exodus chapter 3, which is the story of Moses and the burning bush.

And as I was reading that passage, which was a passage that I was intimately familiar with, I mean, I grew up reading it in church all the time, right?

And it fell afresh on me that night.

And I felt like Moses's story was my story, that here I was giving God all of these excuses for why I couldn't follow him, why I couldn't pursue the call that I felt like he had on my life, why I couldn't step into the vocation that it seemed he had clearly gifted and fitted for me.

And I felt like as I offered all of those excuses, he said, okay, now, as I said to Moses, I will say to you, go and I will be with you.

So he gave me space to, you know, hear out my excuses, but he didn't let me stay there.

It was still that invitation, come follow me.

And, you know, that was 11 years ago now.

And so I've been stepping into that vocation ever since.

One of the things I've seen is a pattern where how you're called is then correlated with the type of ministry you have.

So for example, because you were running away or in the wilderness or in your 40 years time, right, of being put out, how are you seeing that with the people that resonate the most with you, where when you speak to them, that's the testimony that helps your ministry.

That is such a profound insight.

I've never thought about it that way, but it's almost like a light bulb just clicked on in my head.

You know, we planted a church here in Indianapolis three years ago now.

And our mission statement is to establish a haven for broken people who can learn how to practice the way of Jesus, participate in community and permeate the world.

And I've always wondered where that conviction came from to establish a haven for broken people.

And I think you just named it.

I think that was my story.

You know, I encountered the Lord as a broken person.

And again, sort of similar to the woman caught in adultery in John eight, he did not leave me in my sin.

He said, go and sin no more.

And of course, I have not been perfect since that moment.

But I serve a God who picked up the shattered, broken pieces of my life, put me back together, and is using me in profound ways.

And I believe that is possible for any and every person who repents and believes.

Yeah, there's a power in truth.

It's one thing to tell you, I've read the book that tells how you can, how you can become better, or how you could do it better, or how you could continue to do it better.

But even with your voice, and when you're speaking, there's a truth that comes across to my ears, that you're someone who would listen, that you're actively listening to what I'm saying.

And then you're responding, but with the flavor or the seasoning of what God is directing you to say.

Yeah, I think that's something that I've increasingly attempted to grow in, is my responsiveness to the voice of God.

You know, a constant prayer that I pray is, Lord Jesus, would you give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that is open to respond to your still small voice.

And that is a prayer that I believe is being answered day by day, incrementally, three steps forward, two steps back, imperfectly, but passionately.

For you, I would summarize the prayer as, help me not to strike the rock when you say speak to it.

If we're carrying the Moses analogy forward, then absolutely, yes.

I'm certainly one who is prone to strike the rock.

I think, you know, the prayer that I pray every day to begin my day is Father Thomas Keating's welcoming prayer.

He has that line in that prayer, I let go of my desire for power and control.

That is something that I must surrender on a daily basis, because I'm prone to seize power and control in an effort to assuage my ego and my insecurities and my fears.

If you've had the opportunity to do missionaries work, and if so, how have you been received outside of the US?

My out of country work is limited.

I've been to the Dominican Republic a few times.

That has been the only space that I've been to, to do missionary work like that in my lifetime up to this point.

I've got some friends over on the continent of Africa, specifically in the countries of Kenya and Uganda, who I'm hoping to partner with in the coming years.

But for now, that's been my lived experience.

And I would say, you know, those were very formative experiences.

We were received with great joy and gratitude.

And the work that we did, I thought was really helpful.

It was painstaking.

We dug a well for a village to have clean water for the first time in their existence.

And so for four and a half days, we just dug and dug and dug in the heat and the sun and blisters on my hands and fatigue, but it was so worth it to see that community, you know, receive something so life-giving such as water.

And I think that's what a beautiful parallel to the gospel and the living water that is Jesus that we receive.

What's your favorite type of ministry?

I feel called specifically to preach, teach and write about Jesus.

And so I, of course, pastor people and do my best to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the streets of our city and our world.

But my primary vocation I feel is preaching God's word, specifically through the ministries of teaching the living word via sermons and then writing via books.

How many books have you written?

My fourth one just came out this past January.

So what's the title of the book?

It is The Forgiveness Way, and it is the third of a sort of a trilogy, a suite of books on forgiveness.

So the trade book, Three Strikes You're Forgiven, came out late last year at the time of this recording.

And then Bible Promises for Forgiveness is a little resource for churches and small groups to use to look up, of course, what the Bible says about forgiveness.

And then Forgiveness Way is a 40-day devotional that sort of walks people through the practice of forgiveness in our day-to-day lives.

Five years from today, you're listening to this conversation.

What's a message you'd leave for future you?

Make it your aim to pursue the joy of Jesus, knowing that as you do, as he says in Matthew 633, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you.

And I think in the current state of my life, joy is that kernel of the kingdom that I'm pursuing.

It's been an honor speaking with you.

Amazing audience.

Links to connect with Micah are in the show notes.

In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share?

I just thank you so much for having me and allowing me to interact and interface with those that you influence.

Thank you for the ministry that you're contributing to all over the world.

And I just pray blessing over each and every person who engages into this conversation that there is something in here, in this short little interaction that compels people to choose hope, to choose forgiveness, and to choose reconciliation and restoration in the places of their lives that are currently relationally broken.

Pastor Micah E.

Davis, a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired by 12 Mile Conference.