If you know that God has given you a clear vision, a direction, for the church you lead and you are certain that you clearly understand it, do not let anybody or any circumstance turn your head to the left or the right.
From its very inception REUNION (www.reunionhawaii.com) has been challenged, questioned, misunderstood, and opposed. REUNION did not fit in anybody's mold. Our structure was unconventional, our ways of doing things broke tradition, and we defied categorization. Our roots are deeply planted in Wesleyan-holiness Pentecostal tradition but — as a reaction to the excesses of some of our Pentecostal and charismatic friends — we functioned so differently than our denominational sister churches that some people refer to us as “semi-costal.”
We have had people come to check us out and leave, realizing that REUNION was not a good fit for them. We have had people who never quite grasped the vision we were pursuing stay for a while and then leave. We have had people within our own denominational structure trying to figure us out, but through it all our pastoral leadership team stuck together, grew closer, and determined to hang on to what we knew was ahead.
For the past 6 months or so God has been peeling back the layers of junk and allowing the vision to grow, emerge, and begin to be reality. We still have our critics. We still have people who don’t get it. We simply refuse to pay any attention to them, because we know that the vision God gave us is being fulfilled right before our very eyes and we know that success is the best response to criticism.
While we were being criticized for not being demonstratively Pentecostal enough we were patiently teaching our way through Scripture, and putting in place leadership development and discipleship programs that have now led to a genuine move of the Holy Spirit. We still reject the kind of hyper-emotional flesh candy that some people seek as manifestations of the Holy Spirit, because we are experiencing the real deal. Our children and young adults are being filled with the spirit weekly, we are gaining new people who are bringing their friends along with them (new people bring new people), we are baptizing new believers and adding covenant members to our local church.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for us as leaders is to resist the natural temptation to try to manage it, to stay out of the way, and allow God to continually amaze and delight us with the ways he’s bringing this to pass.
Last night was a great example. After a long and pretty exhausting weekend during which many of the ladies from REUNION attended a retreat in Waikiki, our ministry center in Kaneohe was filled with life and laughter as some of our tech guys gathered to upgrade our audio system. I was in my office completing a seminary assignment and people kept popping their heads in the door to say hello. I thought there were only 3 or 4 people out there, but when I finished my assignment and went to check it out, there were more than a dozen people — men women and children — laughing, talking, and sharing food at 11 PM, because these folks just love doing life together. While we were in there, my cell phone rang and I heard the voice of a very excited father who could barely speak through his tears. He was calling to tell me that his 10-year-old son had just been filled with the Holy Spirit and was speaking in tongues and praising God in the family car. The young boy had been witnessing what was going on around him at REUNION and became hungry to experience more of God for himself. His mother reached over, laid a hand on him, and began to pray for him and he was immediately overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues.
Our DNA Discipleship Training School is in its 2nd session, with teenagers and young adults cramming into a small room in a house every Saturday and Sunday night for hours of teaching worship and prayer. We are watching their lives get turned right side up as they experience the presence and power of God, making them hungry for more.
That's the kind of genuine revival that we are experiencing because we refused to listen to the critics, refused to be bullied or intimidated by opposition, and kept our eyes firmly upon the direction and vision that we know came from God.
There is a pastor reading this today who is tired, discouraged and burned out, feeling “what's the use?” When you are surrounded by nothing but discouragers it is very easy to begin to believe it, to give up, and just go with the flow. Don’t. Don’t give up. Refuse to believe the lies of the enemy when he tells you your dream is too big, your vision too radical.
If you know that God has burned into your heart a vision of what can be, do not turn your eyes and in the other direction. Shut out the voices of your critics and the complaints of those who don’t understand what God has shown you. I seem to remember a story about a guy building a huge boat when it had never even rained before.
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