Pastor Chad Veach Offers 'Unreasonable Hope' in the Midst of His Toughest Battle (Interview)
Celebrity pastor Chad Veach is not letting life's circumstances keep him down. In his new book, Unreasonable Hope, the young minister uses his hardest life battle to encourage others to keep trusting God.
Veach and his wife, Julia, had their whole lives change in the course of a day when their 4-months-old daughter, Georgia, was diagnosed with lissencephaly, a rare, gene-linked brain malformation, also known as "smooth brain."
Since then, Georgia's seizure management has been the biggest struggle, at one point she was having 50 seizures a day. Although that's no longer the case, the couple still are facing a lot and are vowing to remain constant in their faith, ministry and family life.
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"People go through stuff and it's hard and I understand that," Veach told The Christian Post. With his new book, he and his wife wish to offer others hope despite the immense challenges they face.
"We've gone through something difficult, but let's try to inspire people: 'You're going to make it, you're going to be OK. The best is yet to come,'" he said. "For me, I wanted to get the message of hope out. I'd never known it before. I never really understood it. And once I got the realization of hope, I thought everybody needs hope, so let's get the message out there. We'll just use our story to get the message of hope into people's heart."
Some might be tempted to doubt or lose faith when their prayers aren't answered, but for Veach and his family, that is not the case.
"Once you see something you can't unsee it. Hope has a name and His name is Jesus, and once you realize Jesus is our hope, you're good. You don't have to keep mustering it up."
"Hope is not hype, hope is Jesus. Jesus is the hope of the world, He's the hope for humanity," Veach exclaimed. "So I'm not hoping that Jesus has an answer, I believe Jesus is the answer. So when you get Jesus in you, you get hope. And I guess I never realized that's who Jesus is in my life — he's hope."
In Unreasonable Hope, Veach offers practical tips on finding everyday hope in Jesus. The book celebrates Jesus Christ, the provider and protector, and the One who is there in the midst of every storm.
"The book starts out with saying, 'The struggle is real, and I think that all of us have to call a spade a spade. If we're going through a hard time let's just be honest with God. Let's just say, 'Hey God, this hurts, this is not easy, I never saw life going this way, I never thought I'd say this.' Let's be honest," Veach advises.
"Even though the struggle is real I have found the medicine to be just as real. Jesus is the reality. He is not only able but He is willing to help us. He is the remedy, He is the antidote. He's the solution. He is the hope. I just encourage everyone to turn to Him. He's already there, He's already helping, He's already by your side. He's already fully aware of what you're going through, just turn to Him and He will help you," he continues.
"That's why the Bible says that our hope doesn't disappoint. He may not change your environment or the circumstance, but He'll give you the peace that surpasses all understanding. He'll comfort you through the storm. He'll give you wisdom on how to navigate through. He is the answer."
Veach has had the support of many in the Christian community. His good friends Rich Wilkerson Jr., Carl Lentz and Bobby Houston have all rallied around him as he faces life's challenges head-on, and that is what he said has made all the difference for him.
"Stay in community and get around people who are going to point you to Jesus, because where the enemy really gets people to lose hope is in isolation," he advises for all who are in need of hope.
"When people start getting isolated that's when things start getting weird and they go bad. Then they start to get angry or they start to doubt. I think one of the keys for Julie and I was we just got in the right community; we got around the right people and that's what helped not just bring hope but continue to take hope to the next level in our hearts."
Veach has a letter "G" for Georgia tattooed on his wrist so that every time he looks at it he can pray for his daughter. The idea has become a movement, affectionately referred to as "G tats." Now people in their community, their celebrity friends, family and even strangers also have the tattoo. Justin Bieber, NBA champion Tyson Chandler, model Hailey Baldwin, actress Ashley Benson and PGA golfer Rickie Fowler have all gotten the letter "G" in her honor.
"For me, I think that the whole 'G tat' movement is just humanity. It's harder for us to celebrate with those who have success, it's easy for us to rally around pain and hurt. We like to fight for each other [when] we're down," the pastor explains.
"The G tat movement might have started from my daughter but I think somewhere it turned into a symbol of hope. Simple symbols are so powerful. I think that the 'G' is symbolic of grace, symbolic of hope, it's moved past Georgia a long time ago."
"I think people like Justin [Bieber] or people like my little sister that got it, they love Georgia, they love us. But I think they are also going like, 'We're standing up; we're raising our voice for people that are going through stuff, and if you're hurting I'm hurting with you.'"
As the Veach family gives hope to others, they are still not out of the woods. Georgia recently celebrated her 4th birthday and is about to start school in a couple of weeks, but she continues to face a daily battle.
"She has good days and she has bad days, but what I know about that little girl is, she is a fighter, she's resilient. Anytime I think, 'Well I don't know if she's going to make it through this one, she bounces back stronger than ever,'" the father shares. "We just have a real peace, if she does not get healed on this side of Heaven, I know she's going to be healed on the other side."
Although Veach might have never anticipated being a pastor to some of the biggest names in Hollywood, he insists that he is only in that place because those are the doors God opened for him.
"God opens the door for all of us, Paul said, and the door was open to me. I think you have to go where you have an open door no matter what the door looks like," he shares. "If it's a door at a public high school with a bunch of high school basketball players, as a youth pastor I used to walk through that door. If a door opens for me at a different school that was 30 minutes away from my church as opposed to a school that was five blocks away from my church, I always went to the school 30 minutes away because in life you have to follow your favor."
"Wherever God gives you favor you have to follow that," he explains. "I just think doors have opened for us. I've always believed God to open up the doors for the Gospel and wherever you're going to open up doors I'm going to walk through them and help spread the message."
The young preacher usually uses humor in his sermons, and his humor has not faded despite the battles he and his family have had to endure.
"I think joy is a weapon. If you want to really use a weapon on this planet, use joy," he emphasizes.
He maintains that there's truth to Bono's sentiment to Congress when he suggested this week that humor can be used to combat some of the difficulties the world faces like terrorism.
"Bono's up to something. I think having joy — which is not just humor but the joy of the Lord — everybody wants to love, everybody wants to smile through our pain. And for me, this is kind of been a way that I've always lived and a big value of mine, and we're choosing to laugh and have fun and use joy and smile through it all," Veach shares.
With the launch of Zoe Church in Hollywood, California, Veach is managing being a father to Georgia and two healthy boys, a husband, and a pastor, and admits that he has to be intentional about putting time aside to spend with God.
"It's a constant battle, it's a constant effort, it's a constant fight. There's no arrival we're always trying to find time for that. The last two days I read my Bible on the plane on my laptop," he shared. "I do a Bible reading plan. I try to do it everyday and that's been my holy habit for 15 years. I just find that it keeps me grounded, it keeps me sober minded, it keeps me in a place where I could really have something to say and have something to offer."
It's what he does to fill his tank and declares "you can't give away what you don't possess."
"If I don't have help, I can't give help. If I don't have a word, I can't give a word. I feel like as a leader my job is to take care of me. If I'm not taking care of me then I can't be a blessing," Veach concludes.
For more information on Veach's book Unreasonable Hope, visit www.unreasonablehope.org.
