The Fellowship -- The "Craftsmen" are coming!

Again, prayer was awesome Tuesday morning. I was a little early, so I took the chance to read from my One Year Bible. The reading was 1 Chronicles 28:1-29:30. Basically, King David is coming to the end of his life. Solomon, his son is being made the new king of Israel. And David has prepared all the materials for the building of the Temple of the Lord. However, he is told by God that he cannot build, but Solomon will. Chapters 28 and 29 are basically David's prayer for Solomon and the people for the building of the Temple. That's a serious abbreviation of those chapters. Really, what is important, at least in regards to the prayer meeting and what touched me, came from verses 20-21 from chapter 28. It reads in the :

"And David said to his son Solomon, 'Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God--my God--will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD. Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and every willing craftsman will be with you for all manner of workmanship, for every kind of service; also the leaders and all the people will be completely at your command.'"

There are a number of truths here that struck me, relating to this kick-off in prayer for the College-aged ministry. First, God is with us! He will never forsake us, and He will be with us to the end. Second, in the New Living Translation, it reads, "Don't be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task." That encouraged me, because, truly, this is a huge project, but God is in charge. He is the one making the plans, and bringing in the people. Thank God for that! And third, there will be people to work this vision, from the "Levites" (like the musicians, pastors, etc...) to the "willing craftsmen". This was a great encouragement to me. Often, at least it seems so to me, it is so hard to get people to help and to serve in the church or in some particular ministry. I don't know if it is that people are just lukewarm or they're all looking for that "podium" or "superstar" position. No one seems to want to do the dirty work, or the behind-the-scenes stuff.

At least, that's how it has seemed with the worship team at my church. For the last four and a half years, we've been renting, and so we have had to set-up and takedown our music equipment and sound system every week. And pretty much the only people doing it faithfully and regularly are the guys on the music team (and not all the guys, mind you). The ladies help us out with takedown. We've asked people. We've invited them to be part of the team. But, in general, they have not stuck with it or stuck with any noticeable consistency. OK... I've taken a tangent... Sorry.

The point... God is preparing and bringing in all the workers and craftsmen that will be needed. It so awesome to know that, at least, this part is taken care of!

Anyway, to the actual prayer time. I don't remember specifics of our prayer. A lot was based on the above Scripture; some about specific people to be part of this ministry; and some on praying in the entrepreneurial and artistic spirit of this ministry.

Another great point that came out of the prayer was the idea that for the people involved, that this dream, vision, and ministry would not be something we fit into our lives and schedule, or fit around our work and other activities. But rather, that it would be our life's work, and that our lives, our work, our activities would fit into this dream! Of course, this is based on Matthew 6:33. Too often we worry about our needs and wants to the point that we forget about doing God's work and God's calling on our lives... Oh, we still go to church and serve here and there, but we're missing that special thing/job/work/place God has for us, where all other things, basically, become unimportant and taken care of!

Some words that came out of the prayer, that I think will describe this group of people, this generation:

RISK-TAKERS
WATER-WALKERS

Finally, as we were praying, I felt as if God was just downloading ideas for businesses or maybe just all the types of businesses that will be represented in and through this ministry. I even sensed that there would be a warehouse-styled complex housing all these ideas. Here they are in no particular order:

• Coffeeshop (that one's mine :)
• Radio Station
• Music Store (CDs)
• internet Cafe
• Bookstore & Resource centre (Christian books)
• Skate Park
• Skate Store (Boards and clothes)
• 24/7 Prayer & Worship Centre
• Production Studio
• Recording/Sound Studio
• Snack Bar
• Art Studio
• graffiti Area
• Theatre (for plays and concerts and conferences and movies)
• Lighting Company
• Sound Tech Company
• Graphics design company

And there were just some random thoughts with all these business ideas:

• TV in the coffeeshop, which would show programs and movies we would produce
• Ministage in coffeeshop for concerts and "open" mic-styles worship times
• Comedy nights :)

That's it! It's a lot. But God is in control. Hallelujah!

The Fellowship--Prayer ... The day after!

I just wanted to update you on how the prayer time went on Wednesday morning. It was great... As if that is a surprise :)

Really, there were two words that came out of that prayer time that stirred something in my heart and spirit. One was that this college-aged ministry is anointed with an entrepreneurial spirit. What does this mean? I don't fully know yet... But certainly, this will not be a typical youth ministry that meets Friday evenings, does some worship and has a guest speaker... Not that we won't be doing that as well, but I believe that there are young people with dreams, looking for a place to dream and grow in faith to step out into those dreams!

Nuff said on that for now.

The second word was about the arts and creativity. I strongly feel that the arts will be a big part of this college-age ministry. I also saw a production studio, producing films, shows, music, etc... In this.

OK, so there's obviously a lot of "work" to be done. And as I have mentioned, we will not start anything without spending lots of time in prayer.

The Fellowship--Prayer

This is an edited excerpt from an email I sent out to a specific group of people, essentially kicking off our youth/college-aged ministry. We'll see where God is taking us!

As you may or may not know, I have a great passion to serve the College age and youth. I have been in this area (both in the secular and in ministry for the past 10 years, which does not include my own studies at CEGEP and university).

Also for the last two months, Cindy and I have started a cell with this age category in mind (about 18-25)... And I think it has been going very well. However, I know that this is not the final "product" (if I may use that term) of the college/youth ministry.

I don't know what is... It may revolve around some business ideas I have... Or it may revolve around some more traditional idea of a youth ministry. However, I do believe that worship will be involved greatly, as well as some form of 24/7 prayer.

Having said all this, why the email? Well, for any work of God, prayer must be its driving force. And in fact, often before any work of God is birth, it is through prayer that it is born. So I am calling a weekly morning prayer meeting.

I feel strongly that the prayer meeting needs to be a morning prayer meeting. This is going to require sacrifice. If for some of you this cuts too close to work, we can move it earlier (say 6:00 or 6:30am). But for the time being, I feel we need to stay away from the evening/night prayer meeting... That's "too easy" for this age group... Though I am not saying we may not have some all night prayer before the summer is over. :)

Ultimately, I am asking each one of you to go to God prayerfully, and find out if this is something He wants you to be a part of. And if it is, then be quick to obey. These morning prayers will help set the foundation for this ministry... A foundation of prayer, self-sacrifice, servanthood, faithfulness, love, and obedience.

I would just ask everyone to reply back to me... Let me know if you are interested, if this ministry is something that burns on your heart, if you feel called to this age group, or if none of this appeals to you.

I really want the next two months or so of prayer to help us establish a strong vision for this ministry, which will overflow onto the campuses, into the new neighbourhood our church is moving to and into our own congregation.

God bless you all.

Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat--I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. - Luke 9:23-24 (the Message)

Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. - Luke 9:23-24 (NKJV)