What on Earth am I here for? It is the deeply-felt, but often unspoken question that is on the heart of every person I meet with throughout the week. What is unique about the question is that it is one that never goes away — no matter the money you make, the family you raise or the accolades you receive. I have heard it said that the two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you discover why. All the success in this world is never enough if you cannot answer that simple, pesky question. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
In November 2016, my family did what thousands of others do every year and relocated to Frisco. My wife, Kayli, and our 4-month-old son joined me for a cross-country move from the bleary winters of Chicago to the eternal summers of Texas. We moved here with a dream on our hearts to start a new, life-giving church in the fastest-growing city in America. There was just one catch: we did not know a soul in Frisco! We left behind comfortable jobs and great relationships to start over in a new city where we had no jobs and no relationships. And, as crazy as I know it must sound, we did it joyfully. We knew we were living in our purpose.
Over the past year, as I prepared for the launch of our church, I have met with hundreds of people around our city. Over breakfasts, lunches, coffees and everything in between, I have had the privilege of getting to learn from their stories and life experiences. I have met with stay-at-home moms buried in dirty diapers and laundry. I have sat with the C-Suite executive leading hundreds of people and the small business owner giving everything they have to make their business work. In each conversation, I have had a front-row seat to all different kinds of stories. What stands out to me, as I think back on those conversations today, is how different we all are in what we do, but how united we all are in what we need. We need to know what on Earth we are here for. We need to know our purpose.
One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Ecclesiastes. If you are not a big Bible person, heck, even if you are not a Christian, I bet you will still appreciate a lot of what this book has to say. It has some great one-liners you will know, like “there is nothing new under the sun” and “there is a time for everything and everything has a season.” There is a lesser-known verse in that book that has always stuck with me, above all the others, because it is a verse that points to purpose. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, Solomon writes, “God has planted eternity in the human heart.” I love that!
I do not know about you, but I feel the weight of that verse daily. In the deepest part of my spirit, I know my life is supposed to be about more than me. I sense I was made for something more. I want to be part of something bigger than I am. I heard a pastor say once that this is the reason no one goes to the Grand Canyon and brings a mirror with them. Because the deepest desire of our souls is not to behold ourselves, but to be part of something infinitely greater than ourselves. You need to know this. When God created you, He created you to make an eternal difference. Nothing less will do! That is what it means to live on purpose. Discovering your purpose means knowing your life is being used to make a difference of eternal significance in the world.
While I have always believed in the importance of helping people live on purpose, there was one moment in my life, from about a year ago, that I will never forget. It was a moment that solidified my belief that everyone needs to know their purpose. I had the opportunity, that day, to grab coffee with one of our city’s most influential leaders. This is an individual who many would recognize and those who do would think of him as extremely successful. He is a CEO and community leader, and I was so excited to get to spend some time getting to know him.
Within just a few minutes of starting our conversation, this individual asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. He asked, “What need in our city are you starting your church to meet?” What a great question! I knew this was an amazing opportunity to share some more about the vision we had for Lift Frisco, so I started answering right away. The focus of my answer was, of course, on this idea of purpose. I shared, that in my experience, our city is full of people who have had success beyond their wildest imaginings, but many of them still do not know their purpose. So many of them have built amazing businesses, but have not built themselves. Or, they have gained money and influence, but they have lost their family along the way. So many people in our city are living without purpose. That is what Lift Frisco is here for.
Can I be honest with you? The further I got into the explanation, the worse I thought I was doing. This person was giving me zero reaction — nothing to indicate that our vision was hitting home. As the moments went on, I started doubting myself. I started thinking that maybe this “start a church to help people discover their purpose” thing was a terrible idea. Maybe I had risked everything and uprooted my family for nothing. Maybe, when you make enough money and achieve enough success, that really is all you need.
But, then, something amazing happened. As I finished sharing Lift Frisco’s vision, this individual looked across the table at me and said something I will never forget: “Wow, Grant! I think God must be trying to speak to me because you just described my life.” Needless to say, he had my attention! He shared how he has done more than he ever thought he would and accomplished more than he ever dreamed he would. He felt he had made enough money that it does not mean anything anymore. “But, then, I get home on Friday night and the garage door goes down. The work week is over. I am just there in the quiet of my own thoughts. And, you are right. I do not know my purpose.”
In that moment, I knew we were on to something. I knew building a church to help people discover their purpose and the God who made them with a purpose would work. Since that moment, and since our launch just a few months ago, we have been blessed to help hundreds of people step into that journey of purpose. We are so grateful to be able to help people know there is more for their life, and that it all starts by discovering their purpose.
Grant Diamond is the pastor of Lift Frisco, which holds worship at Cobb Middle School on Sundays.