Posted on 12/10/2009 2:21:26 PM PST by DBCJR
In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17 ISV
The above passage is Peter quoting Joel 2:28 at the Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit most theologians mark as the birth of the Church. As such, the passage has unique relevance to pastors, especially those who are birthing churches or taking existing churches into new vision. In the above passage, "old men" can be viewed from our perspective as "elders". The If you are a pastor, you have a "dream church", an idea of what you believe church should be, at least under your pastorate. Used in this context, "dream" means that pre-contemplation before vision, an inspired hope. Vision is further down the continuum referencing that state just before, and leading toward, action planning. Hopefully, your idea of church is biblically based and Holy Spirit inspired. Yet each dream is unique to the pastor to which it is given by God.
I don't need to find my dream church because, in many respects, I am already in my dream church. My vision still exceeds our attainments, but we have indeed made some progress. The dream I have for Victory Christian Fellowship does not begin with me and some general vision I have as to what a church should ideally be. The specific dream I have for Victory Christian Fellowship begins with God. When I came to Audubon, Pennsylvania, sixteen years ago, my wife and I thought that we would serve here for five years, perhaps, and then head for the foreign mission field. We had no specific goals for the growth of the church, for reaching a particular geographic area or cultural group, or for equipping people to do any particular sort of ministry. You might say that I had something of a stepping-stone mentality, although I did have a very strong sense that God had called us to this particular church. The call of God to the Audubon/Trooper area was never in doubt. Within a few weeks of arriving here, though, God began to give me some specific goals.
In a word: schwarmerei
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