It's Coming...

God is moving at One Accord.

It doesn't look like it on the outside - the church leadership is ending our worship service and basically turning it into a Sunday school class, cutting out most of the older members of our ministry in favor of the college students, and in the process we have seen many of our best leaders walk out the door. Yet God has given a small group of people His vision for all this, and it's huge!

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." -- Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

Dare I even say what the vision is? God has been wanting to pour out the fire of His Spirit on our church, but it has been long contained in our little ministries and church "cliques". We have been the light of Christ, but only to those who already have it. Now He is stirring up the fire and kicking the sparks out into the open, igniting everything in its path. They want us to integrate into the church... but they don't know what they are asking for! There have been people praying - praying for over a year now - for one thing, and it appears God is wanting to answer that prayer. Revival. It's coming.

But this is something that calls for faith. Perseverance. This will not be immediate, and before we can even really start, we have to survive the transition between our worship service and Sunday morning classes.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”-- Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

God has really been burdening my heart for The River, our prayer team, during this time. We don't want to lose any more people than we already have, but this team also needs to understand that we are not playing around with this. Prayer is and has always been the heart & soul of our ministry, and if OA is going to be carried through this time of change, it will be through persevering in prayer. For the next few months, my goals are clear: (1) to call our people to TRUST GOD in all of this. This isn't a time to be bitter at other people. This isn't a time to run away. This isn't a time to hesitate or question or worry. God is in control. (2) In order to trust God more, we need to know Him more. Most of our prayer times I have been and will be focusing on who God is. No matter what, we need to keep looking and pointing to God. A few weeks ago some people confessed that they had let the One Accord service and the way they wanted it to look become an idol, and they had been more upset about losing that than looking at what God was doing. Praise the Lord that He is bringing these things out into the open and taken them away, so we can look at HIM alone!

"'Don't be afraid,' the prophet answered. 'Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' And Elisha prayed, 'O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." -- 2 Kings 6:16-17 (NIV) (I have been studying Elisha a lot during this time, after the illustration that was given when I was handed this ministry - see my entry from 6/7/08)

There is much more to come, I'm sure. And I'm already out of my comfort zone!! But God is good, God is faithful, and God is in control.