Pastor Mike Signorelli knows what it means to wrestle with God’s calling, especially when obedience seems to come at the cost of comfort and certainty.
In a recent interview with Taylor Welch on The Deep End podcast, Signorelli opened up about a pivotal moment that led to the birth of V1 Church, a church now reaching thousands with a message of total surrender and bold faith.
“Christians… they act like the will of God is so fragile, as if they can derail God’s sovereign plan because they didn’t feel like it,” Signorelli said. “Actually, I think that’s Christian narcissism… that you feel that you have the ability to derail God’s sovereign plan.”
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That battle became personal when Signorelli was confronted with the decision to leave behind the security of his home and career in Indiana and move to New York City to plant a church, something he described as “going on a suicide mission” in “the most expensive region in the U.S.” to take on “the lowest paying thing you’re going to start doing.”
“I turned to my wife and I said, ‘You know what Julie, here’s the thing. I don’t know if I heard from God about this New York thing… I’m just going to quit ministry… and then we’re going to get a Disney Vacation Club.’”
But Julie wasn’t swayed. “She puts her hand on my shoulder… and she’s like, ‘No Mike, God did tell you to go to New York.’”
Still unconvinced, Signorelli walked into a church planters conference in Michigan with no intention of continuing in ministry. But what happened next changed everything.
A speaker named Juan Verin took the stage and shared a prophetic vision: “I was in prayer before the conference today and I felt like the Lord allowed me to hear a conversation before the conference started… It was like the husband was saying, ‘I’m going to give up on the dream, I’m not going to do it.’”
It was Signorelli’s exact conversation from just hours earlier. “As soon as it happened, I was like this is the Jonah moment where I’m like, I’m the guy who, I jumped out of the boat and here comes the whale to take me back to my assignment.”
Verin then spoke a phrase that would become the heartbeat of a global movement: “It’s time to go V1.”
Unfamiliar with the term, Signorelli listened as Verin explained: “‘V1’ is the point of no return… once you come down that runway, even if a tire blows out, even if there’s an engine fire, thrust and lift will cause that plane to take off. Like, it’s irrevocable.”
The message hit home.
“I had like a supernatural encounter. I grabbed my wife’s hand, I’m like shaking, bawling my eyes out,” Signorelli said. “And he was like, ‘Will you go V1?’”
Outside in the parking lot, the clarity of the moment sealed his decision. “I told her, I said, ‘Well, you know the name of our church now.’ And she’s like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘It’s got to be V1 Church.’”
Not long after, confirmation followed. “Some entrepreneurs that we led to Christ in New York reached out and said, ‘Hey, are you ready to start the church yet?’ And just started sending money, sending resources… it just all actually happened.”
Welch summarized the deeper truth beautifully: “The blessing and the liability are the exact same things… the thing that people don’t want to do because they have to commit 100%, if a plane would not get to V1, it would never take off.”
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For Signorelli, that message still rings true: “God’s will is not that fragile. If He has something for you, it’ll come for you, it’ll hunt you, it’ll stalk you.”
V1 is more than a name. It’s a declaration of surrender. A line in the runway. A call to step into your divine assignment without looking back.
And for those still circling the runway of indecision, maybe it’s time to go V1.
James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
