One of our desires at BASIC is to be relevant and connect you with content that is going to best help you as you serve your campus and ministry context! In an effort to bring in fresh perspective and new ideas, we have asked a few student leaders and advisors to share their voice! We’ll get to hear from one of them each month. This week, we have the honor of hearing from Michael Polzella.
Michael has been involved in leadership at both the Suffolk County Community College and St. Joseph’s College BASIC Chapters. After transferring to St. Joseph’s in Spring 2012, Michael planted the BASIC chapter in Fall 2013 and currently remains active as the group’s Church Advisor.
Have you ever felt like there was something that you wanted to do or something that you felt like you HAD to do, or even, something that you felt that God wanted you to do but didn’t feel like you have the proper qualifications to fulfill the role? If you answered “yes” to any of the previous questions, then I want to remind you that you are not alone. If you answered “no”, I know you’re lying—or not human.
As leaders, it’s normal to sometimes feel inadequate in our own abilities. So, what do we do when we don’t feel adequate enough? Pray. Pray for God to show up in the situation… and He will.
Let me just take a minute to share a personal story of how God intervened in my weakness. After being involved with BASIC College Ministries at Suffolk County Community College and completing my Associate Degree, I transferred to St. Joseph’s College. At the time, I felt like God was impressing on my heart to start a BASIC chapter at St. Joseph’s.
I found out that the school currently had another campus ministry already there. When speaking with the club’s executives, I was told that the school wouldn’t allow a BASIC chapter there since its mission and vision is almost identical to the other ministry. That’s where the story ends, right? Well, not exactly.
I eventually got voted onto the leadership team at that ministry as the Secretary. When that term was up, I felt that God wanted me to run for President and make a few changes. Over time and prayer, the group ended up going in a different direction and became a BASIC chapter like I had hoped from the start!
At this time, I knew God was calling me into leadership, but I didn’t feel qualified to do it. Yes, I am a pastor’s kid; yes, I’ve sat through 100,000 sermons; yes, I’ve heard a million prayers — but I still didn’t feel qualified to do what I felt God was telling me to do.
While talking this over with one of my friends, Will, the vice president-elect for that school term, told me something that changed my perspective on the whole situation. He said, “God doesn’t call the qualified… He qualifies the called.”
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Steven Furtick of Elevation Church said something similar in his book (Un)Qualified (awesome book if you get the chance to read it):
“If you look at the great men and women of Scripture, you find one common denominator: they were all unqualified. God has a habit of picking people who have been passed over.”
Wow, that’s powerful stuff. So, what did that mean for me? It meant that I didn’t have to feel confident in my own abilities because I was confident in God’s ability. I am just the vessel that is used by God.
So, to wrap up this story, I ended up becoming president of BASIC’s newest chapter in the fall of 2014. Unbeknownst to me at the time, God was not only orchestrating my love for BASIC back in 2010 while I was a student and the ability to lead through the transition, but He also paved the way for me to become the Church Advisor for the St. Joseph’s BASIC group in the spring of 2016.
Through all of this, God has shown me that we must rely on His power and not on our own. When the time comes, God will give you the qualifications needed to complete whatever task He’s impressing on your heart to complete.