One Size Does Not Fit All

I couldn’t sleep last night so I followed my own advice and got up to pray.
Sometimes I like to go downstairs to our living room, but most times I go into our bedroom closet. It’s a walk-in closet, so it’s perfect for seclusion.

Lots of things have been on my heart. I feel like I’m burning bridges with some of my pastoral colleagues. I don’t mean to, but I’ve spent so much time trying to be accepted and understood in the church community of Harrisburg, that I stopped being who I really am.

Part of accepting who I am has meant accepting the role God has given Carol and me. Since I work in the Department of Education, I’ve gained a very important perspective about the role that we play in the church community.

Since I’ve been in this position, I’ve learned that all children are not educated the same way. Some children, because of their mental or physical disabilities, are placed in the Special Education system. Within the Special Education system there is an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that designs an educational plan specifically for that student. Other children, because of behavioral challenges, are placed into the Alternative Education system. Still other children, who do not speak English, are placed into the Limited English Proficiency (LEP) or the English Language Learners (ELL) systems. Parents and students can also opt for Charter schools or Cyber schools for their education.

I guess what I’m getting at is that there is no one size fits all method in education. So, I think I’m struggling with the one size fits all approach to ministering to people that attend church gatherings. In the last couple of years, Carol and I have come to realize that Urban Life is like a Special Education version of the church. Sometimes we’re like the Alternative Education system or the LEP.

Many times we have been asked to bring our church family to attend other events and conferences being hosted for ALL to attend, but they don’t understand. You cannot always bring Special Education students in to the “regular” education system. You cannot readily bring Alternative Education students into the regular classroom. You certainly can’t expect Limited English Proficiency Students to understand what’s going on.

We love the people whom the Lord has led to Urban Life. They are vibrant and excited about being there. We are excited about them being there. Our ministry is completely different. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. I can hardly wait, from one week to the next, to see what God is going to do. It’s just hard to explain why it has to be THIS way in the life of this church family. The education diversities came to me in prayer and now I understand a little better why Urban Life is so different.

There is often a stigma placed upon the students who are not part of the “regular” education system. I guess that’s also why we’re so protective of our church family.
The problem is that the same kinds of people are in the “regular” church setting and they are dying there. Their need is not being met, but they don’t want to be identified as a special needs student or an Alternative Education student. But the truth is that they need to be in that kind of setting so they can get healed and delivered.

Lord, help the church leaders to see people where they really are.

Sent to Build People

Almost five years ago, my mother called me from St. Louis to share a dream that the Lord gave her about us. She told me that in the dream, Carol and I were leading a small group of people through a heavy, thick forest or jungle type area. She said we led them to the bank of a river and I told everyone that we were going to cross the river and get to the other side. She said Carol and I went out into the river and stood in waist deep water and kept encouraging everyone to come on and cross the river.

Two things stood out to her in the dream: First, the water was very clear. It was so clear that she could see our feet on the floor of the river. Secondly, we stayed in the river until we were able to get everyone across. There were some who were very hesitant to cross, but we kept encouraging them until they all made it.

When she woke up from the dream she said the Lord brought to her remembrance the story of Israel, crossing the Jordan River to come into the land of promise. She said the Lord made her to know that we were in Harrisburg to bring this small group of people out of bondage and into the land of promise, more specifically, into their deliverance.

She wanted to know if I thought the dream represented a literal or a spiritual land of promise, and if this was our true assignment in Harrisburg, to lead this small group of people out of the bondage they were in, or even possibly out of Harrisburg. She said she did not recognize the faces of the people. She only knew that she had never seen them before.

Mom shared the dream with my brother (Bishop Raphael) who told her to share it with us because it would be very encouraging to us.I cannot answer the questions that she asked because I honestly don’t know. I only know that what God showed her was very accurate. It is, indeed, a small group of people and I know we are standing in the middle of the flow of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We are trying to live what we are teaching, so that we are presenting more than lip service, but a life service.

We are no longer assuming that we were sent to build and establish a big church here. What I mean by this is: I believe God sent us to Harrisburg to build a group of people, not to build a ministry. The best part is that I'm at peace with that. We just know that we are to stand in the river and lead this small group of people out of the jungle they are familiar with, and to cross over into the land of promise.

Mom wanted to know if we are going to return to St. Louis one day. Again, I don’t know what the future holds. God’s reason for sending us to Harrisburg, PA has been manifold and a big part seems to have more to do with our personal restoration, family reconciliation and emotional healing, than anything else.

We recall that GOD called us catalyst for this community. I know from my studies in chemistry that catalysts never become a part of the reaction that they cause. The catalyst just starts a thing, but it never becomes a part of the substance. I see and understand, now, that it is possible that that's all we were sent to Harrisburg to do, as far as reaching the community goes. I’m beginning to accept that possibility.

Right now, I can’t concentrate on all of those questions and scenarios. I’m just concerned about getting this precious group of people to cross the river and come into God’s purpose for their lives.

When a Plan Comes Together

Today, parents across America are enrolling their children in kindergarten to 12th grade online courses, sometimes known as cyber schools. Higher education institutions and many progressive churches and ministries have been doing this for many years. In our view, we are still lagging behind the times. As a church, we should have been offering this a long time ago. We’ve been recording our sessions since we first started and we’ve been posting videos on our website since 2006.

However, only within the last couple of weeks did we begin to organize the various videos into teaching series and Bible lessons that our members can access like online classes to help them in their personal pursuit of God and His purpose. We are adjusting the ministry to help them search out the matters in their lives. (Proverbs 25:2) Online educators are adjusting their systems to help people reach graduation. We’re just providing a similar service. Finally, we have a seamless connection between our Sunday Café, the Friday night pastoral sessions, our books, and our online teaching.

Moving forward, we can add some of our guest speakers like John and Kerry Shuey of Kingdom Quest Ministries, to our online teaching series on prayer. Other guest can be included in online series about marriage or faith. We are very excited about the endless possibilities. For those among us who don't have internet access, they can pick up the weekly teachings from the FREE DVD's and FREE books on our display table at the Sunday Cafe'.

Sometimes we wonder why we didn’t think of this sooner, but we know the reason is simply because this wasn’t our plan. It was God's plan. All along, the Lord has been systematically guiding us, step by step. This strategy has come forth out of what we have been doing over the past five years. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

No Fame or Acclaim

A couple of weeks ago, one of our intercessors reminded me of a song the Lord gave me while I was a youth pastor, serving in obscurity, with no ambition or desire to receive notoriety and fame. I just wanted those inner city teenagers to know the Lord in a very personal way. I wrote the song from actual testimonies that were shared privately with Carol and me. The lyrics were:

A HUSBAND AND HIS WIFE AT THE HOSPITAL TODAY
PRAYED FOR HER UNCLE, HIS LIFE WAS FADING AWAY
THEY LED HIM IN A PRAYER TO LET JESUS IN HIS LIFE
SILENT TEARS SAID THANK YOU, THEN HE CLOSED HIS EYES

A CALL CAME IN ONE NIGHT, “SHE HAS SIX MONTHS OF LIFE.”
SO HE CRIED OUT TO GOD FOR HIS AILING WIFE
THOUGH NO ONE KNEW THE BURDEN, NEVER ONCE DID HE COMPLAIN
GOD HEARD THE SECRET PRAYER; RESTORED HEALTH AGAIN

WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE WORTH OF YOUR LIFE
AND THE CALLING WE HAVE IN CHRIST
IT CAN'T BE MEASURED BY TREASURE OR CROWDS
WHO APPLAUD YOUR NAME WITH GREAT SHOUTS
THE SPOTLIGHT IS IN YOUR HOME; LIVE CHRIST IN REALITY
THE STAGE IS AT YOUR BEDSIDE WHERE GOD REVEALS HIS GLORY

NOBODY WILL KNOW, BUT GOD WON'T FORGET IT
THOSE THINGS DONE IN SECRET; WITH NO FAME OR ACCLAIM
NOBODY WILL KNOW, BUT YOU WON’T REGRET IT
HE'S KEEPING A RECORD OF WHAT'S DONE IN HIS NAME

Carol and I still treasure those words in our hearts. We just want to impart that same kind of attitude and mindset to our church family: Be a faithful husband, wife, mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather, sister, brother, aunt, uncle or cousin. Be a faithful employee, supervisor or manager. Be a faithful friend.

I find myself drawn back to this simple principle. The Lord has been moving on my heart and the next thing I know, I’m in tears of intercession. I’ve been in church and around the ministry all of my life. I’ve seen one wave after another and one fad after another. I find it difficult to put into words how pointless the annual conferences, revivals and events really are. Nothing changes while families fall apart. I want no part of it. I’m desperate for the presence of the Lord.

I’ve had a message prepared every Sunday for the past four weeks, but every week the Lord moves in a completely different way. We haven’t recorded most of what happens and in many ways, that’s good. We’re not trying to capture, package or market what God is doing. I can’t explain it. You just have to come and experience it for yourself.