Wesley in Savannah

So, what’s on my mind?

This past week my family and I enjoyed a few days away in Savannah. If you’ve ever visited Savannah, you know that the city is full of history. One afternoon we wandered through the city’s famous squares and came across a statue of John Wesley. As a United Methodist pastor, I couldn’t help but stop for a picture and spend a few moments reflecting on why he was there.

Long before John Wesley became the leader of a renewal movement that would eventually become Methodism, he was a young Anglican priest who came to Savannah as a missionary in 1736. He arrived with high hopes and great expectations. He wanted to help transform the colony and faithfully serve Christ.

But things didn’t go quite as he had imagined. His ministry was met with resistance. Some people appreciated his devotion, but others found his expectations too demanding. His relationship with a young woman named Sophia Hopkey ended painfully, and the controversy that followed eventually led to legal trouble. Feeling discouraged and defeated, Wesley boarded a ship back to England after less than two years in Georgia.

As he sailed home, he reportedly asked himself, “I came to convert the Indians, but oh! who shall convert me?” At the time, his journey to Savannah must have felt like a failure. But God wasn’t finished. Less than three years later, on May 24, 1738, Wesley experienced what he famously described as his heart being “strangely warmed” while listening to the reading of Martin Luther’s preface to Romans. That experience deepened his assurance of God’s grace and became a turning point in his life and ministry. The lessons he learned through disappointment, humility, and dependence on God helped shape a movement that has led countless people to know the love of Jesus Christ.

Maybe you’ve experienced something that didn’t turn out the way you hoped. A job that didn’t work out. A relationship that ended. A ministry that seemed unsuccessful. A prayer that wasn’t answered the way you expected. In the moment, those experiences can feel like the end of the story.

But with God, they rarely are. Sometimes our greatest disappointments become the very places where God teaches us humility, deepens our faith, and prepares us for what comes next. What looks like failure today might one day become part of the testimony of God’s faithfulness. God is always at work, redeeming our mistakes, using our setbacks, and leading us toward the people he is calling us to become.

May God hold you,
Rev Chris Hester