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Gifts from the Storehouse

In the summer of 2024, I had the chance to be interviewed by my pastor about my experience transitioning from one assignment to another, one place to another, working with different people every time. I got a chance to talk about my books and my goals and dreams -- all in front of a crowd of people.

Everyone enjoyed the interview, but they didn't get to hear what I told him after our interview finished.

I told Pastor that I felt like I had a key to the storehouse of Heaven. And I run in and out and get things from there that blow my mind. I’ve gotten boxes out of there with ideas that range from video games and consumer electronics to economics and public policy. The storehouse is huge. God cares about everything, and has resources for every mission, and I got to see it. This is what Paul meant when he said no eye had seen, nor ear heard, nor has heart conceived the things God has prepared for those who love Him.

I'm going to tell you about a package I got to unbox. But not only that, I'm going to show you how God can move. This isn’t the only way God moves, but this is how God moved with me.

When you open a box with a new product inside, you encounter different objects in a certain order. For me, the first thing I saw when I opened this box long ago was this: a Jack Chick comic tract.

God's reasoning: Jamaal, you need some kind of picture of Me, some kind of Head Canon. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get you started.

Next thing I found in the box: A game idea – featuring God.

God's reasoning: Jamaal, you’re embarking on a new kind of path. Glorify Me through games—no matter what people think they are or represent. This is your purpose.

At the time I received this box (early 2000s), people thought of games two ways: kiddie games that teens would be embarrassed to play, and debaucherous games that glorified vice. For Christian games, people thought of Bible trivia games and reenactments of Bible stories. None of these appealed to anyone.

The next item I found as I opened this heavenly box was a Bible.

God's reasoning: For this work, Jamaal, you’re going to need a guide. You’re also going to have questions. You need this key resource to find answers to those questions.

The next item I found in the box was a notepad.

God's reasoning: Jamaal, you’re not a programmer. You’re a writer. Start practicing this to advance to the next stage.

When you get a box from the storehouse, you don’t just get the gift, you have to, in video game terms, level-up to them.

I spent years developing my writing skills and my theology. Worst part, the writing wasn’t the hardest part, it was the theology. It was relatively easy to get up to speed by just reading the Bible. But incorporating it into the games was far harder because games are interactive and the story is deep. I needed a deeper understanding of God. So God sent me this:

My church home: Zion Faith Center.

God's reasoning: I have a scholar who can teach you. It’s not far from you. But they start at 9, so get up early.

I saw a church on TV with a profoundly deep pastor. I watched for some time, but never attended, because they started early. But then I finally did, and felt at home instantly. I quickly got involved in the church, and stayed for years until it was time to go off to college in Michigan. Making Christian games was still on my heart, and still guided my choices.

At the time, I heard competing voices telling me that my best course of action was to go to x school, get my degree, put it to the side, and then go to seminary.

My thought: Not just any school would do. I needed to study business, so I could learn how to get my ideas off the ground, but I also wanted to learn it from a Christian perspective. There’s too much evil that’s insidious in the business world, and I don’t want to model them.

My other thought: I was not called to be a pastor. That's not my lane.

Why am I talking about this? When you know God’s plan for your life, you’ve got a compass. It keeps you oriented, so you don’t go off-track. Things that are good may not be good for you. Callings that are worthy callings may not be your calling.

When I arrived at Calvin University, I quickly encountered the next thing in my box from the heavenly storehouse: a Lecrae CD. Lecrae is a rapper, and a pretty good one at that. And his music glorifies God. He performs at clubs and ministers to people where they are, how they are. This guy understood the position I was in.

Some Christians would’ve told him not to touch rap music. They would've said rap music is raunchy and of the world. They would've told him that the best way to serve God was to use his passion to run the youth ministry for 15 years, and maybe someday he could aspire to be a bishop. (Because that's the pipeline we've built long ago. Why bother building a new pipeline?)

God's reasoning: Jamaal, I want you to hear this because you’re doing something different, in an arena people think is tainted, like I can’t enter it. Let me show you one of My servants doing the same type of thing.

The next thing I found in the box from the storehouse was an alarming report. I came across a white paper on the quality of life in the video game industry. This report detailed the exploitative conditions of those who work in the industry.

Game developers get used up and spit out. They love games, but their passion is used against them. They often work 60-80 hour weeks for months on end to reach development milestones, just to get the next round of funding.

They often are paid significantly less than they could’ve gotten in other industries, and for their loyalty they have absolutely zero job security, meaning they can’t plan for their futures. They sacrifice friends, family, and health to see a project through, and burn out after several years. Only a fraction of developers last 10 years in the industry, and then they take their institutional knowledge with them.

Upon being confronted with this information, I knew there had to be a sustainable way to run our industry.

God's reasoning: Jamaal, do you intend to bring light to the players, but not to the makers? I want you to seek Me more about corporate governance and leadership, not just game design.

So, I've got this vision to make games, and now I have instruction to seek God for more than just game design ideas. So this is big. But I still don't have enough money to make games, in the first place. Isn't there a way to start getting these stories out there? Isn't there a way to start building the capital needed to make a game?

Next thing I found in the box was a book. And I was not happy about finding a book.

My thought: But books are so boring! God, you remember those old, dusty books that I used to read for those summer book reports? The pages looked they just took it off the tree. I might as well have the papyrus scroll version, if we really wanna go back in time. And how were they hoping to make me like books when I had to do homework off of them? With no pictures?! It's like they weren't even trying to entertain me. And I'm stuck with this paper sleeping pill when Mario is calling my name? And that's what You want me to do?

God's reasoning: Remember that feeling. Now, write a book the way you wish you could've had it when you were a kid. This is how we start getting the characters out into the world. Be advised, nothing else will happen until you have completed this task.

The next few years went by without knowing how to accomplish this part of the task. I started writing the stories of the characters, sometimes completely separate from the plot of the game, just to do a good job at writing a proper book. But nothing quite brought the characters to life like a picture. Still, I didn't have an artist to help, so I remained stuck for several years until I found an amazing artist online -- from Indonesia: Inka Iskandar.

She brought the characters to life with nearly all the artwork you see on this site and in the books. It was critically important to me that the books have tons of art -- in color. As a kid, I wanted my attention to be held. Pictures certainly would've held it.

Together with Inka and a spectacular narrator from Ontario, Canada, Ardin Patterson, we brought the characters and story to life. That culminated in the release of 5th Grade Challenge, the paperback and the audiobook versions.

That has been my current unboxing for the last 20(!) years. This is just one gift I received from the storehouse of heaven. I continue to unpack the things God has sent me to do.

Perhaps you've also received a gift from the storehouse. Perhaps you are still unboxing yours. Perhaps yours will take longer or shorter to unbox. I just hope that you don't return it or throw it away. If it's from Heaven, it's needed on earth.

I want to share with you one thing that really gives me hope when things feel bleak. One thing that reminds me this is from Heaven.

The two Addison brothers. They were named Ted and Matt even before I became a devout believer. I sometimes forget how I chose those names, in the first place. But when I go back and look at what their names mean, this is what I find:

Matthew - Hebrew: Gift from Yahweh

Theodore - Greek: Gift from God

This is my reminder that this box I received from the storehouse is a gift from God. Let's make God proud and make use of the gifts He's given us.