The Revolution Brigade

I’m going to risk being criticized by issuing an unusual challenge to the emerging voices of this young generation. Recent dissatisfaction with the Church (for whatever reason…) has caused a knee-jerk reaction of rejection of almost everything that represents corporate expression of faith with what previous generations have built.

Many contentions that lead to “railing against the machine” are probably valid, but the time has come to present solutions and actions that will lead to kingdom transformations. Many of the institutions that promised something that could not be delivered are crumbling (from politics to certain faith systems). Paradigms that were relied upon to sustain a particular way of life are proving to be false foundations that have left us empty and unfulfilled (consumerism, materialism, greed).

The hour we are in gives us no room for complaining and retreating into our fantasy world of virtual realities. It is time for a clear trumpet call! It is time for voices with answers to stand up and declare truth to their generation. It is time for prophets and evangelists to be released with a message of hope and enough anointing to back it up. It is a time to put it all on the line and prove what we have only given mental assent to in the past.

Young leaders, this is your hour! If you can be bold enough to come out of your place of obscurity and carry the burden of your generation, the stage is set and the world is waiting for you! Never in history has there been a moment like this. There may never be another one like it.

Previous generations have labored for their day. Many leaders are weary and ready to pass the baton and open doors that you could not open for yourself. In many cases there is no one to hand the baton to and no one ready to walk through the open door.

Let’s work together to see the greatest advancement of the kingdom that the world has ever witnessed in a generation. There are “opportunities of a lifetime” but there is a lifetime to every opportunity.

From the director of The Call, Lou Engle:

“Today, March 5th, one of the most significant court cases in America’s history will take place. The California Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the overturning of the vote of the people last year to pass Proposition 8, which defines marriage between a man and a woman. If this vote is overturned, not only will it set a major precedent of the court’s power over the will of the people, but it will likely be the flash point that will determine the future of America as liberal and homosexual agendas will disseminate throughout the educational systems and into the very fiber of American culture. The California State Senate just ruled against the peoples’ vote and asked the court to overthrow the defining of marriage as between a man and a woman. Senator Leno likened the people who voted for Prop 8 to the Germans who voted for the Nazi Regime.”

During these past three months since President Obama’s election, the voices of rage against Judeo-Christian values and against the church have been emboldened to use inflammatory language and pass bills and laws that are anti-Christian in their very nature. When senators use such language, persecution is close at hand. We are in a desperate moment in American history. Everyone is pointing to the severe crisis of our economy, but I am convinced it is only an indicator of a massive moral decline America has slid into. It is time to pray, humble ourselves, and rid ourselves of moral compromise in the Church. If the salt loses its savor, it is only good for being thrown out and trampled under the foot of man.

Today we are calling for the church to pray!

Take this moment and hear His call to humility, fasting and repentance. If we do this, God can deal with kings and judges like He haunted Nebuchadnezzar with dreams and removed Herod by the angel of the Lord. This hearing today will be followed by a 90-day period in which the court must make a decision. Pray for these judges that the hand of God will influence their minds and hearts, that the fear of the Lord would fall upon them, and that dreams would invade their world, their wives, their children, and their innermost thoughts.

Pray that God would restrain principalities and powers that have mustered their forces of demons to seize this nation through this door in California. Pray for an unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit in California and America. Pray that God would raise up righteous leaders and bring down the unrighteous ones. Pray for the cleansing of sexual compromise and divorce in the church so that she can reclaim spiritual authority. Finally, pray that the love of God would be poured out on those struggling with homosexuality across this nation. Oh that the power of God, the power of the gospel, would be released again to free the captives!

Leadership: Army Field Manual 3-0 identifies leadership as “the most dynamic element of combat power.”  It outlines the role of combat leaders, saying that their job is to focus the other elements of combat power and serve as the catalyst that creates the conditions for success.

In the military, leaders are charges with instilling values in their soldiers, ensuring their technical and tactical proficiency, and reinforcing their motivation.  It seems obvious that these duties easily transfer into spiritual parallels meant to be observed by God’s leaders.

Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

From this scripture, we can see that God has equipped leaders with specific gifts which are to contribute to the overall readiness of His army.  Verse twelve indicates that the overall purpose of these gifts is to “equip the saints for the work of service,” or, in my personal opinion, to equip the army of God for war.

These special ministers of God’s grace who possess special gifts, known commonly as the five-fold ministry gifts or the ascention gifts, are commissioned as leaders in the Army of God.  The authority to lead comes along with the ability to preach, prophecy, and evangelize, although it may take special effort to develop the gift to the level of proficiency required to effectively command in combat.

It is important to remember that verse thirteen above, referring to the “maturing” of the saints, also applies to the ministers of the five-fold graces.  One can expect a young person who is in the process of developing a five-fold anointing to be inexperienced and in need of training, much the same way as a Lieutenant would require professional development before he could perform at the level of a Colonel.  The common mistake is for senior officers, such as Pastors or Apostles, to refuse to allow young officers to partake in combat because of their inexperience, effectively forgetting that it is combat that helps to develop experience.

2) Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4) And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  (James 1:2-4)

For the purpose of this writing, the “combat” to which I am referring is the opportunity to practice the anointing with which these young ministers have been equipped by the Holy Spirit.  In the military, young officers are given many, many hours of instruction on the principles of war.  Then, in the event of an actual war, the young officers bear the brunt of performing those combat tasks which they have studied in actual combat.  The reason is two-fold:  first, the young officer is in need of practical application to cement their understanding of tactics and principles.  Second, and perhaps most importantly, the time of the senior officer is much better used to focus upon strategic objectives.

Case-in-point: a senior Pastor of a local church operates in an Apostolic anointing.  He has been charged with the development of several young people with five-fold giftings. In addition, the Pastor is developing a network of ministers who will engage in the work of the gospel internationally.  The pastor teaches several times per week in his local church and spends countless hours in preparation for those teaching engagements.

The most effective use of the Pastor’s time in this scenario would be to actively engage in the development of the young ministers, and to pour himself into the development of his international sphere of influence.  In this way, his Apostolic anointing becomes a force-multiplier which enables the Gospel to be spread farther and wider than would have been possible before.

The opportunity cost for this shift of focus is the ability to preach in every service that takes place in his church.  Fortunately, the Pastor has available several young preachers who are capable of administering the teaching and preaching in his absence.  In delegating some of the responsibility for teaching and preaching, the Pastor is able to achieve a two-fold objective:  to free up time in order to pursue the greater, strategic objective of Apostolic alignment for his international sphere of influence, and to partake in the development of his subordinates.   This is the essence of combat leadership.