The Venture of a Virgin

It's Okay to Have Never Done it Before

Photo by Jonathan Dick, OSFS on Unsplash

In the opening scene of the greatest story ever told, an angel appears to Mary announcing that she, an ordinary virgin girl, has been selected for the most extraordinary assignment, an epic venture beyond anything she has ever done before—to supernaturally conceive the Savior of the world.

Now, I don’t think I need to explain what a virgin is but to put it very simply, Mary had “never done this before.”

I can relate. Becoming a university vice president was my first time occupying that role. The same applied when I stepped in as a Campus Pastor, then Senior Pastor, and eventually a university and seminary president. At each juncture, I embarked on a new venture exceeding anything I had ever done before, just as Mary did the day Gabriel emerged in her quiet Galilean town.

Perhaps you know this feeling well too. The first day of a role that seems overwhelming—like an ant trying to push a bowling ball up a hill.

Despite her lack of experience and unanswered questions left dangling in the ensuing drama, Mary’s epic venture began with three simple yet powerful words—“Let It Be.”

Luke 1:38 (NKJV) - Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

This courageous response models surrender every ReLeader must embrace when an opportunity comes packaged in feelings of under-qualification.

Mary models courageous surrender in her daring "yes" to a calling that seems to eclipse her credibility. Her venture as an unlikely choice for an impossible task mirrors our own. Yet like Mary, the Spirit compels us forward through unwavering faith rather than worldly qualifications.

Jesus later affirms a key leadership principle - things impossible for man remain possible with God (Luke 18:27). Like Mary, we sometimes doubt our readiness. Our track records. Our giftedness to steward the ventures placed on our hearts and in our laps. But God specializes in asking the unqualified to carry the divine.

This liberating leadership truth appears throughout Scripture. Moses, a feeble speaker becomes God's mouthpiece (Exodus 4). Young Shepherd David slays Goliath with just a sling (1 Samuel 17). Gideon, a weak man from the weakest tribe, becomes the mighty warrior for God’s Kingdom (Judges 6). A wayward orphan named Esther saves a nation (Esther 4). Ordinary men turn the world upside down after Jesus' ascension (Acts 17:6). God routinely asks the unqualified to carry the extraordinary. Achieving the impossible and going on your greatest adventure starts by saying the same words The Virgin Mary uttered: "Let it be unto me according to your will."

An Unfathomable Assignment

Imagine the swirling thoughts in Mary's heart and mind after Gabriel departs. Pondering an unfathomable assignment surpassing her season of life. How can a child enter the world apart from physical union? Am I ready to be a first-time mother, especially to the long-awaited Messiah? Does Joseph understand this supernatural conception within our betrothal period? Overwhelming questions with few earthly answers.

As ReLeaders, we know the feeling when God-given visions eclipse visible realities. Expanding a mission field. Reaching the marginalized. Launching an initiative exceeding current capacities. Stepping into influential roles we don't feel fully equipped to fill. Like Mary, the path forward connects more to faith than fitness.

Somewhere Between “No Longer” and “Not Yet”

Holy assignments often require working and waiting in the fog of the not-yet, just as Mary lingered in the ambiguity between promise and fulfillment. But God-sized visions emerge in the fertile space between the "no longer" and the "not yet" as old realities fade and new horizons expand through Him. He specializes in using those ready and willing long before they're fully qualified. Because with God, our lacking never limits the possible.

I think of the early disciples called away from their career comfort zones. The bookish accountant named Matthew leaving his tax booth behind at Jesus' summons (Matthew 9:9). Simon Peter still smelling like fish abandoning his nets to follow the Messiah (Luke 5:1-11). Jesus sees beyond their current occupations into eternal callings requiring childlike trust to embrace.

The same God who called an obscure teenage virgin to deliver salvation calls us from unlikely places into unlikely leadership. Seeing latent gifts and graces we overlook within ourselves. No earthly credentials are needed, only receptive hearts willing to let surrendered visions grow.

Mary models a posture the ReLeader must adopt - resting in who God is rather than what we have or haven't yet achieved. Skill sets are secondary as God-sized assignments require perseverance more than mastery and availability over ability.

The Power in a Response: “Let it Be”

When the angel Gabriel returns to earth some thirty years later, it's to another obscure figure wrestling with God-sized plans placed on his shoulders. Young Mary's grown son Jesus paces back and forth under a starry sky, feeling the crushing weight of a redemptive vision exceeding human scope (Matthew 26:36-46) just days before enduring death's worst for humanity's best.

Besieged by anguish and uncertainty in his human frame, Jesus mirrors his mother's posture decades earlier, simply whispering "Let it be" (Matthew 26:39). Their shared humble surrender in BIG moments models the way of the ReLeader - letting surrendered faith, not worldly metrics of readiness define us.

The same Spirit who overshadowed Mary rests upon us (Luke 1:35). The same God who called a teenage virgin to change eternity summons us. May we lead boldly in response, believing His strength is made perfect through our surrendered weakness. No matter how unqualified we may feel on this side of eternity, may it be said of us as of Mary - "I am the Lord's servant, Let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38). ‬‬‬