The writer Ann Lamott says the most powerful sermon we can ever preach is “me too”. She is speaking to this special form of authority we carry when we see others living a story we intimately know, because it is our story as well. Our hearts are more open because of empathy. The people who are “just like us” may be of a similar background, either ethnically or nationally, but it may be that they share that same spirit that dominated our lives before we met God. They also feel isolation, or rejection, or unseen. Your Kingdom authority is not because you have read all the right books, or done the proper courses, or are an eloquent speaker, but because you are drawn in by sacred familiarity. This is almost always your first and primary calling in your life’s work. I had the honor of sitting down with my friend Johnny to talk about his years-long struggle with addiction, how God has moved time and again to bring healing to his story, and how it has opened him to his calling to his own personal Judea.