(At least, our best understanding of the vision that we have for Fisherman's Robe.)
Since January, 2002, we have been waiting and praying for direction. It seems that the time is coming for some form of the ministry to begin. God has been clear that we are not to despise small beginnings, and I don't honestly feel that this is a problem. God has been faithful to bring to us a dear new brother, all the way from India, to speak the word to us that it's time to begin. For now, my task as I understand it, is to minister to whatever people God points out to me as I go along. He has promised that He will make the appointments and I will just need to be prepared and attentive to see those people as I go. Our Fourth Sunday meetins are the other part of the ministry for now. I understand that we will be creating a place, a retreat place. That retreat place will have the mission of being a place of restoration for Christian Leaders. The vision for that place is enormous, and God has been preparing me for it throughout my tenure at Seminary. I am confident that this smaller ministry will provide the setting and preparation now that will lead perfectly into the bigger vision for the future.
This is the background that I feel is a great part of the preparation for that ministry.
For quite some time, I have been feeling a burning
sense that the church today, the Body of Christ, has been looking and
acting more like a self-tortured, smelly, foul tempered, pitiful,
victim, than the Church Victorious that we so often perceive
ourselves to be. We make excuses for our weak faith; we charge
on with our own natural plans, and act just like the world, all the
while begging and pleading with God to follow us around and bless OUR
efforts, as if they were His own. When I was looking for a
wife, I would never stop to pretend to consider taking as a
bride, a woman who had even some of those characteristics. My
natural sense of beauty and hunger for someone that I could relate
to, would never have been able to overcome my repulsion.
I firmly believe that the Creator of the Universe,
the God who loves us, Jesus, who died for us is being essentially
repulsed by the state of the church today. Yes, He loves us
individually! Yes, He wants to shower us with His grace!
But, God is Holy and Just and He will NOT bend His standards because
we are weak or unwilling to become like Him.
So, it is in the knowledge of this that I feel God
has been preparing me to speak strongly and directly to whomever will
listen with a call back to repentance and a living faith. I
don't believe that I am the only vessel that God is using, but I have
made the choice to obey His call. This then, is the starting
place for this new ministry.