June 11th, 2021

Meet Gregg Mays

​Normally we would have a well-written introduction as the first paragraph of our Agape Letters.
Normally we would be introducing someone that many of you may never have heard from.
And normally, as I call him, Coach Mays would be writing this introduction and I would simply be doing the upload. (Hey, it’s me, Jessica!)
But this months Agape Letters is different because 1) It is the anniversary edition of the letter and 2) it is a letter written from someone very close to this organization. While he views himself as merely average, the impact that his words and actions do daily in the lives of his students at school, his peers that he works with and his family and friends, is notably more than average. He stands strong in his faith and I believe this letter is a prime example of how he does so.
So I am happy to announce, this weeks guest writer for Agape Letters is none other than the founder himself – Dr. Gregg Mays. We pray that this letter will touch your heart and will give you encouragement. 

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The Blessing is in the Waiting

In Galatians chapter five, Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit that stands out to me is “patience.” When I was a teenager, one of my favorite songs was “The Waiting” by Tom Petty. The chorus of that song says, “The waiting is the hardest part. Every day you see one more card. You take it on faith, you take it to the heart. The waiting is the hardest part.”
That chorus probably resonates with so many of you. We ask God for something, then He puts us in the waiting room, as if we are in the emergency room of a busy hospital. It seems like everyone else is being seen (God is answering their prayers), but we sit in the waiting room. 
My question to you, do you fully understand why you are sitting in that waiting room? Do you know what would happen in your life if you got everything you asked for without ever entering the “waiting room?” The truth is we do not know.
God tells us to wait for whatever reason He decides. Maybe we cannot handle the success at that point. Maybe the desired outcome is not what will happen, and God is sparing us from heartache. Maybe He has something better for you, but it will require you to develop patience. 
We cannot grasp what God has for us, but we need to understand that He always has our best interest in mind. The key is to remember that when He puts us in His waiting room.
I have an index card that I use as a bookmark for my journal. It is from January 1, 2012. Written on that index card are my plans for the year. One of the comments says, “This is the year that I work diligently on my school and the ministry, Agape Leadership.” The name of the organization has changed, but the desire to share God’s word and develop servant leaders in the workplace has not waned. From the beginning, I felt the Lord tell me to take it slow. I envisioned the process being slow, that I would have to wait as God grew the ministry.
On August 1, 2017, I posted on Facebook that Agape Leaders was now “officially open.” Ten months later, we published the first episode of our weekly content, Word Wednesday. We have not missed one Wednesday since we started on June 27, 2018. On June 12, 2020, we published the first article of our monthly content Agape Letters; this is the one-year anniversary issue. Finally on August 3, 2020, we published our first episode of our biweekly content, Monday Motivation. We have speakers booked through September of this year.
Here’s the thing. None of that content was in the original vision of Agape Leadership (now Agape Leaders). I spent about nine months in the waiting room. I knew God had placed this on my heart. I knew it was a way to honor Him and develop servant leaders who embody the pillars of Agape Leaders; Candor, Character, Commitment, and Competence. But I had no idea that God would touch so many lives with Word Wednesday, Monday Motivation, and Agape Letters. 
Even though the waiting is the hardest part, the blessing is in the waiting.
Interested in writing an Agape Letter or recording a Monday Motivation video? Contact us at greggmays@agapeleaders.org. We would love to support you in this way.

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