Written by Pastor Les Beauchamp

When I became the lead pastor of Lifegate in 1996, I had a lot of growing to do. Although I had elders and other pastors on our team, there were aspects of leading a church that they couldn’t help me with because it wasn’t necessarily their gifting, experience, or calling. I did, however, have a relationship with someone who had been part of our fellowship and ministered in another state. His name was Tom Lane.

I respected Tom as a leader, not only in a church executive role but also over an association of churches in Texas and beyond. Each year he would visit Omaha to spend time with family, and every time he flew in, he met with me, listened to how things were going in my life and ministry, and spoke encouragement, wisdom, and blessing into my life.

I was experiencing a modern-day expression of the Ephesians 4:11 equipping gift of the Apostle. I realized this because of the growing fruit his presence, prayers, and words were producing in my life and our fellowship. Tom was a gift to us from Christ.

You can imagine my surprise when, after 20 years as lead pastor, I was invited and led by the Spirit to invest in churches outside Omaha—not only as a speaker, but in most cases through prophetic investment in the pastor, elders, and people of each fellowship.

As relationships with pastors and churches expanded and God’s fruit in their lives increased, I was asked to prayerfully consider becoming one of their apostolic overseers. In almost every case, these invitations were coupled with gratitude for God’s gift of my life as a “father figure.” God was inviting me to invest prayer, time, love, a father’s heart, and wise counsel into the pastors He was bringing to me. I am now honored to serve as an overseer for eight churches.

Do I think of myself as an Apostle? In truth, I try to think of myself as little as possible. However, it appears God may be using me as an expression of His apostolic gift to the church, and if that’s the case, I’m at His service for His glory.