New Pioneers

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spitit., teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
~Matthew 28:18-20

Several of us have mentioned the difference between us and others now. When we tell people about what we have found, we usually get either a "Huh?" response, a "That's nice," response, a "That's pretty cool," response, and eventually a "leave me alone" response. Thursday I took two of my three younger disciples in my youth group (I didn't know at the time, but the other was in the hospital, he's fine now). As I went through session one with them, they both listened intently, but there was no immediate reaction. I took one home and was driving home the other, whose name is Drew. I started talking to him about the things in scripture and ended up sitting in his driveway for an hour as we talked about all the things that were going on. I started to see in him a new reaction: I saw in him what we felt in Windsor. I could only describe it as the birth of a new pioneer.

Saturday God worked on my heart like crazy. He changed my dreams, who I wanted to be. I always wanted to be a hero, someone who was noticed. Now, I want to be nothing but a mapmaker, a pioneer. The name Sojourner that he gave me several years ago began to take meaning, and I understood why. I was born and designed to be a pioneer. My passion isn't to be out where I'm noticed any more. Now I want to be where if any see me it is only you other pioneers as we explore. I don't want to sit comfortably anywhere, I want to be on the frontier, always going deeper with God. I'm slowly becoming more and more introvertive, which is a huge deal for me. I still love to speak about God, but I'm loving alone time with Him more and more. It gets better everyday, and that makes no sense to my flesh. God's love confounds it to no end.

Saturday night (actually Sunday morning at 1-4 AM) I saw the next pioneer's birth. Jake, a friend that graduated with me and works with me. He told me that he truly wanted to live a good life, but no matter how hard he tried, he failed and he didn't know what to do. I was so amazed, all I could say was, "You see the problem of the law now, and God is giving you the solution tonight." I told him all God put on my heart and at 4:45 we prayed together and departed. The next morning he left me a message saying that when he woke up, the flesh told him it was just a last night thing and it wouldn't last (I had warned him about it) and then he said he prayed and thought of all we had talked of the night before and found himself just caught up into God again. This was the second pioneer.

I know now that not all will be pioneers. There will be less leaders than followers. But God has set apart many to lead the way into Canaan. God, if we are spying it out for others, let us be like Joshua and Caleb, and proclaim only victory to the rest of the church.

Yesterday after my college small group Kelly, the lead singer of the youth band, told me he wanted to talk to me. They had gone to a park the day before to feed and clothe the homeless there, and a man had been there who wanted no food and took only a coat, saying, "The Lord is providing all for me." He was a little short black man and when he saw Kelly he froze and shouted, "O brother you've got Him all over you, the Spirit's all over you! Do you know who you are?" "My name's Kelly." "NO! NO! You don't know who you are? You are a worshipper of God! A worshipper of God!" The man proceeded to tell Kelly all that Kelly had been praying about lately and what had been on his mind, stepping back every few seconds to shout a few words in tongues or pray for a spirit of wisdom that he may tell "This young servant what you want him to hear Lord!" What he told him made him sound so much like an old testament prophet or John the Baptist. He told Kelly that God was going to grant his prayers soon and give him a ministry, and to call him when it started and he would tell him more. One of the sceptical people nearby said something and the man turned and called him by name and told him a childhood memory of his that no one else would know. "You've got to believe brother, don't miss out! Don't miss out!"

After that I began to tell Kelly what I felt God was leading me to tell him, and in a little while I was talking to the third pioneer.

I just got off the phone with another guy at my church. He wants me to come talk to him at 2 today. He just told Kelly that he's been struggling with the Word, and doesn't know what to do. Kelly told him to call me and ask me to show him what I had learned about the Word. Just listening to him over the phone...I think this could be number four. Pray about it. My youth pastor told me he wanted me to teach all Eric taught us, and not to advertise it, but to pray and let God send me who all he wanted in the class. I never thought it would come like this, but he's sending them to me. Life has never been so adventurous and amazing! God is so good!

I'm working on a blog for all the pioneers we've found. This one is ours for our special fellowship, but I'm making The Fellowship of the Burning Heart as a place where all can be encouraged and blessed. I don't want to lose the intimacy we have with each other here, but I want these others to experience this divine fellowship.

Pray for me, that God would continue to give me the words I need to speak, and that I would stay off the throne and be only a megaphone. I love you guys. Grace keep you all.

~Josh (Fork)