How Lisa Changed Thousands of Lives, and Still Going

We had planned to write about the value of a life changed this week. And what we call the “multiplier effect” when a life redeemed by Christ goes on to share the life-changing gospel message with others that are suffering, and then those people go on to share that hope, and on it goes until a community is transformed.

Nothing feels as poignant and aligned with God’s holy timing as honoring the life of my dear close friend, Lisa Merideth. It’s not really possible to put into words the significance of the love she and her family have shown me over the years, but true to her best known assertion, I’ll “do it scared.” Sometime after leaving jail and getting my bearings in Chester, Lisa and her family took me in to do life with them. A place to stay, hot meals, family gatherings, serving together at events. They adopted me into their family.

Time moved us forward. It was over bonfires and barbecues that we dreamed about what Greenhouse Project could be. We shared family vacations and prayed and pressed into the mission we saw God fashioning around our families. Lisa breathed life into the vision behind Greenhouse Project. Nothing was out of reach. I can trace the clear line between the grace of God at work in me to the prayers Lisa has labored over on my behalf.  

The truth is I am just one of hundreds, if not thousands, in our community who can complete the exact same sentence: “If it hadn’t been for Lisa, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” Those who know her have a significant “Lisa story.” She was for all of us a disciple of Jesus, nurturer, encourager, mom, leader, servant, friend, counselor, mentor, the heart of the party, and champion of the best parts of us. Everything she labored over was full of expectation that God would move.

The Lord called Lisa home this past week. As we navigate the heavy waves of simultaneous grief and celebration that she’s with our Savior, I reflect on the high honor it is to be her friend. Even more, it’s an unmerited honor to be in a ministry born of our time together. 

In the process of a mental brainstorm for this article I realized my team hadn’t planted the first Greenhouse. It was Lisa. I am one of so many lives changed by the boundless hospitality and time extended by her and her husband David to love those who are hurting. Someone getting off drugs. Another stuck in depression. Someone else trying to start over. It didn’t matter. They were there. Ministries and schools have launched thanks to Lisa’s persistent encouragement and prayers. She has been an incredible force for growth in God’s kingdom.  

So, what is the value of a life changed? When God is in it, it is everything. 

Be sure to take away from this that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. We can do all the things, but nothing will have the power, the hope, the eternal significance if Jesus isn’t at the center of it all. I am forever changed because of Jesus, and I am a stronger man of God for having done life with Lisa Merideth. I’m humbled and grateful to carry on the mission we dreamed of and the ministry God has birthed. 

There really is no limit because God multiplies it, just as He has in the lives of those who know and love Lisa as evidenced by our consistent stories.

The challenge from here, my friends, is to go be about Jesus and his people. Open your life to walk alongside others. Bring them in. Love them well. Dream bigger dreams at the foot of the cross. Let His Word and His work come alive in your life.

Thank you, Lisa, for the eternal impact you have made in my life.

In all our lives.

We love you. We miss you. We will see you soon with Jesus.