My Journey to here

Luke Rodgers

I had the incredible blessing of growing up in a Christian home with parents that were on fire for Jesus and modelled this very well for us.

I was a very outgoing kid, and once escaped home when I was little to go around the neighbourhood knocking on people’s doors and greeting them by saying “see you at church!!” Mum and Dad (Pastors Sheridyn and Jan) weren’t pleased I’m sure, but I reckon God was pretty stoked.

I grew up in Christchurch, and absolutely loved going to church for one reason - the drums! I loved watching the drummer so much, and if I couldn’t see the drummer I would cry and cry... so I had a big passion for music from a young age. I also had a music calling spoken over me when I was dedicated as a baby, which was reinforced repeatedly through different prophetic people as I was growing up. I joined the music team when I was five and haven’t looked back since.

Skipping forward a few years, I found myself at high school in Hamilton, and it was a very difficult time for me. I struggled a lot academically and this really affected my identity. I was in the lowest class where no one was expected to do well in exams. This caused me to believe the lie that I wasn’t very smart. This lie became a barrier in my mind that limited what I thought I was capable of, and limited my beliefs about how God could use me. The only thing I was confident I was good at was music, but there were no musical opportunities for me at high school. This meant I had no place other than church to do what I knew I was good at.

As I went on to do a music degree at Vision College I still had the mind-set that anything academic was something I couldn’t do, so I went in expecting to struggle with that part of the course. However, thanks to the encouragement of my wife Maria and the support of my amazing tutors, I completed my music degree in the assigned three years and started to gain some confidence in my abilities. I slowly started letting myself believe that even though I may not be ‘gifted’ academically, that doesn’t mean God can’t use me in that area.

The lies I believed for a long, long time made me put limits on myself and how God could use me. What really helped me move past my negative thinking and wrong perception of myself, was having positive Christians around me who constantly reminded me of God’s truth. I also gained more and more revelation about who God is and how He sees me by listening to many sermons and worship lyrics.

I now write songs, run workshops, speak, teach, lead the Activate Creative Team, and I’m consistently wanting to learn new things. This is also my 20th year serving in

a church creative team. I can now say very confidently that, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).