Courtney Copeland gazed out the airplane window admiring the forests and sapphire-blue lakes that dotted the Uganda landscape below. Surrounded by her high school friends, Courtney thought, This trip is going to be just the getaway I need from the pressures of life right now, even if it is in a third world country. While most high schools offered a senior trip, few flew to Uganda.
Of course, their trip was also a ministry opportunity.
Courtney respected the fact that ministry to the world was the call of God to the Church. As the third-generation offspring of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, she loved her family, adored her grandparents and admired the way they gave their lives to the work of the ministry.
But that wasn’t exactly what she wanted to do with her life.
Courtney thought of her dad, John Copeland. She loved watching him work as CEO of Kenneth Copeland Ministries and knew she’d inherited his business DNA. The difference was she didn’t want to run a ministry. Her dream was to work in the business world, perhaps in New York or Los Angeles—some place big and exciting.
As Courtney entered her high school years, she was exposed to a world that was devoid of the faith and trust in God that she’d grown up in. She allowed herself to be pulled in a direction she should have never gone. Dabbling in the world’s system began creating a void that soon could not be ignored.
A Divine Connection With an African Pastor
The plane banked, making its final descent into Uganda. For Courtney, this was just going to be a senior trip. She didn’t have an expectation of anything more than a fun excursion where she would enjoy her friends away from the pressures of school and ministry. No one understood the unspoken pressure she felt being a third-generation Copeland.
BVOV : 11
