The Next Wave Magazine June 2013

THE VOICE OF APOSTOLIC RESTORATION | VOLUME 81 ISSUE 6 JUNE 2013

IN THIS ISSUE: LEADERSHIP ROUNDTABLE Raising 1st Century Churches Out of the Ashes of the 21st Century Church

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE THE IMMUTABILITY OF HIS COUNSEL

THE NEXT WAVE www.icof.net PUBLISHER International Circle of Faith (ICOF)

LEADERSHIP ROUNDTABLE Dr. Bernie Wade

The Immutability of His Counsel Dr. Barney Phillips

The Next Wave - Contributing Editors David Tait, Lea Bates, Derrick Day, Bernie Wade, Robert Straube, Barney Philips, John Rogers, Doc Burkhart and others.

Bishop Derrick Day Raising 1st Century Churches Dr. Robert Straube

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A CALL2TO PRAYER

When we speak of Apostolic reformation we are not referencing any of a plethora of groups or movements that have used (or use) those words as a wall to keep others at arm’s length. What we are speaking about is the restoration of all those things Apostolic. In other words, those things that were believed and taught by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and practiced by the New Testament Church during its initial 100 years. A time before the loss of the key tenets of doctrine were replaced by the edicts of men.

LEADERSHIP ROUNDTABLE

An open letter to those entrusted with leadership in the New

Apostolic Reformation

Testament Church in 2013

The concept of Apostolic reformation has been the rally cry of a plethora of historic reformation efforts. The most notable of these restorations was aptly named the Apostolic Faith. This movement began as a Bible college and was organized by Charles F. Parham.

Parham is credited with being the father of not only the Apostolic Faith movement but also subsequent movements including the Pentecostal movement and the Charismatic movement. It was Parham’s call for the restoration of the Apostle’s doctrine that was the catalyst for all of these movements and reformation efforts.

by Dr. Bernie L. Wade

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Praise the Lord!

For some time now we have been discussing with key leaders how we might work together to bring Apostolic reformation to America and beyond.

Those who were drawn to these movements primarily came from denominational backgrounds. These often found themselves outcast from 3

their denomination because of the manifestations that were associated with these reformation movements. To counteract the void these adherents organized their own denominations (sometimes referred to as fellowships or ministerial groups). They used the systems that they were most familiar with in organizing these movements.

Those who are beneficiaries of these movements have inherited this same denominational model (ministerial organizations, ministries and other organisms) that those who participated in these early movements created.

Good, bad or indifferent these organizations have left us with no mechanism or method to bring us together. Rather, they have left us divided by man-made walls of separation. This has left the posterity of these movements segregated into a plethora of factions.

Borrowing from the idea of King Arthur and his Roundtable, we visualize a method to bring the various ministries and ministerial groups together to work toward our mutual goal of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What we propose is a collaborative effort to develop an Apostolic leadership roundtable. This would be comprised of key leaders in the Apostolic Church (Apostolic used here in reference to those who preach/teach and live the Apostles doctrine) regardless of their affiliation or organization; no titles at the table. We want to unite men and women of God who are hungry for a genuine move of God in our nation and world. These will work together so that we might usher in the greatest move of God that America has ever known.

The Challenge The problem of bringing those divided together is not a new one. This is the situation that King Arthur found himself when trying to bring the powerful men of his kingdom together. Realizing that they all needed each other he sought a resolution. His solution was the legendary Roundtable. As its name suggests it has no head implying that everyone who sits there has equal status.

Please note: We are not railing against your doctrine, dogma or creed. Unlike previous efforts of this type; this is not nor will it ever be another ministerial organization. Rather, those who need 4

licensure and the like can consult with one of the organizations participating in this roundtable effort. We have no interest in duplicating or replacing their effort.

earth, accomplishing His will and His way!

WE NEED YOU! I hope something we have written has captured your attention. No one of us has all the answers to the challenges that face America and our World. We need your help. The task of bringing us together is enormous. With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. It will take all of us to accomplish. What we initially envision is bringing together leaders of a plethora of ministries, ministerial organizations and others to form a national Apostolic leadership roundtable. We hope that this humble body will work together to cast vision, eliminate unnecessary duplication and help us all to better reach a lost and dying world. At the same time we expect to organize an effort at the grassroots level to accomplish the vision of bringing Apostolic leaders together in every locale; first in North America and then the uttermost parts of the World.

Vision We have pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor in the valiant fight against Spiritual starvation, poverty of the Word Incarnate, and the chaos of division. For too long now we have been divided by unseen walls that are more formidable than the Great Wall of China. We implore you to join hearts and hands with us in this effort. We ask you to pray for this effort.

The purpose of this group is to draw on each other’s strengths to creating a collaborative effort that enhancing the work already being made. Our expectation is to create a groundswell using like minded men and women of God fuel by prayer and fasting and encouraged by the mutual fellowship. In the end we expect that together we can

Your participation in this effort is needed. We do not proffer the polemic platform of debate, nor do we desire to shed innocent blood in controversies, we just want to come together in one common goal and purpose and that is to be the Church of Jesus Christ in the 5

make it difficult for people in your locale to go to hell! To God be the Glory!

What we expect is that this leadership roundtable will help us bring us into dialogue with each other in an unprecedented manner. I look forward to joining with you in this effort! I look forward to meeting you at the Apostolic leadership roundtable.

I would love to chat with you more about this. Please contact me now!

Feel free to respond via email bw@icof.net, call my office: 502.410.4263 or mail me directly at Bernie L. Wade PO. Box 72, Sulphur, KY 40070.

Dr. Bernie L. Wade is the Chancellor of ICOF CSU (International Circle of Faith Colleges, Seminaries and Universities).

He is an author and church historian.

He serves on the Executive Board of Apostolic Archives and is a member of the Apostolic Historians Association.

He is the International Advisor for Global Evangelical Christian College (GECC).

This is simply not a task that can be accomplished without you! Pray about how God would like you to participate in this effort. There are no dues to pay, not fees or licenses, etc. This is simply a collaborative effort to bring us together.

Have you ever felt alone or isolated?

Have you ever wondered who else God is speaking to and what they are saying? I know I have. We read in the Word of God that Elijah (the great prophet) felt like he was the only one who was hearing from God. Yet, the Lord chides him that there were at least 7000 others who were like-minded!

As the Presiding Bishop of the International Circle of Faith Ministerial Association and President of ICOF Global he helps lead a global body of fivefold ministers.

Like you, I am sure there are many who are hearing from God; unfortunately, I don’t know all of them! However, I would love to know them, be encouraged by their labor and love and draw on their experience, expertise, knowledge and friendship to help address the challenges I face in bringing the Gospel to those who are un-churched and in ministering to the Body of Christ in general.

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Raising 1st Century Churches Out of the Ashes of the 21st Century Church

“How long? Not long. ’Cause what you reap is what you sow.” (Rage Against the Machine, Wake Up)

By Apostle Robert Straube I was at a Five Fold Roundtable Conference this last weekend and this came to me when we started comparing today’s church to Star Trek’s, The BORG. Controlled, no individuality, under the watchful eye of one all powerful individual. This was only one of many images and discussions I was involved. So, when I got home, my mind was on these images and I decided that I had to get all of these thoughts out onto paper.

“Size matters not.” (Master Yoda) As I watched his video, there he was, kicking down his radical manifesto to a crew of pastors who were very clearly not getting what he was driving at.

Francis Chan was speaking about his unconventional move to leave his thriving California mega-church, travel to the developing world, and visit the underground Chinese church in hopes of radically rethinking what church was meant to be. Free-falling into the hands of God, he was on a mission of discovery to scrape together some paradigm of ministry that he could believe in: something that nurtured discipleship, was less self-serving to the pastor, and had more practical impact. And that’s when it happened. He said he had begun to wonder if there was something missing in our current setup. Then he dropped the A-word (and it ain’t what you’re thinking).

Allow me to start off with some quotes and by saying...this is gonna hurt!

Apostle!

Paul wrote, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3

It’s the new A-bomb in church circles.

It’s a word that’s used in nearly every book in the New Testament, and yet twenty-first-century Christians dodge it like Superman recoiling from kryptonite. As it echoed in the vacuum of stunned silence, the hackles rose on

“Christianity has achieved apparent success by ignoring the precepts of its Founder.” (H. Richard Neibuhr) 8

the nape of my neck. I thought, Holy New Testament vocabulary, Batman!

This guy is going to blow the doors off the church if he keeps dropping the biblical A-bomb!

been involved in various forms of church planting and ministry. Almost immediately I slammed into two important facts: First, the secular ethos and post-Christian mind-set were swallowing churches alive like the mighty Sarlacc pit’s digestive juices slowly eroding Boba Fett’s mandalorian body armor.

Second, I was going to have to completely relearn ministry from the foundations up if I was going to get anywhere in this God-forsaken mission field.

Those two realizations made me desperate. In the natural world, desperation creates a fight-or-flight reflex. In the spiritual realm, it’s not too different. The second you realize that it’s either sink or swim, the adrenaline starts to juice you up, and you get radical.

About thirty years ago, the word apostle had become like the ark of the covenant to me, and I was feeling the contrast between the pastoral Dr. Jones’s mundane routine of charming the ladies with stuffy indoor academic type pulpit lectures, and the alter-ego adventurer Indiana Jones inside me, desperately trying to break out. When reading the book of Acts, I’d often ask myself, “Why does what we do in ministry today look so different from the way Paul did it?”

I’d been rediscovering the biblical role of the apostle for these thirty-some years, and I realized that men like Evangelist Leonard Ravenhill and Prophet David Wilkerson had been brought to my doorstep so that they could be used to deliver a divine kick up my backside by being so bold as to use that “A” word to speak into my life. The end result was me chaining myself to my Bible and writing about what I’d begun to witness in the church. For over a 3 decades I’d

Fighting isn’t usually my first instinct; flighting is. Nonetheless, I’ve always been the kind of guy who was willing to do anything, no matter how crazy it sounded, or how scared I was, as long as I knew God was in it.

I can relate to Gideon. I understand all of his hesitation and boldness in alternating steps. That’s usually the cadence of my footsteps as well.

Although I may not like it at the time, most often I’ll eventually drag myself to the electric chair, reluctantly strapping in with Thomas’s helpless, but sarcastic, words ringing in my head: 9

church planting and missional church wasn’t something new that plaid-clad, horn-rimmed-glasses-wearing hipsters had invented, but rather something that was inherent in the word apostolos?

“Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16).

I had been called by God to make an impact in a culture that saw a small percent of the population attending church—and I had to change. The way I did ministry had to change. So I started reading the Bible even more….Oh yeah, and I started paying more attention to the book of Acts.

Before the A-bomb sends you running for cover, screaming what a freak I am, let me assure you that I mean apostle with a little a. I don’t mean a guy with superpowers or somebody who still writes Scripture in his spare time. Nor am I a member of the Apostolic denomination. Bear with me.

Most people out there believe the term apostle belongs exclusively to the Twelve. True, the Twelve were “sent ones,” but the New Testament term apostle is not exclusively used for the Twelve. Once Paul used apostle to describe his role, there were thirteen, but did you know that the Greek word apostolos is used for nine other individuals in the New Testament as well? Oh yeah, it is, but the English translators rendered it as messenger or representative because it didn’t gel with their theology to translate it literally from apostolos to apostle.

The New Testament Word for Missionary

Let me ask you: doesn’t it seem weird that our missionary manifesto, the New Testament, lacks the word missionary in the English translations? Think about that. Can that be right? On the contrary, my dear Watson, the word you’ve been looking for has been under your nose all along. It is there. You just haven’t recognized it because of how it has been translated. It’s the word apostle.

“Apostolos” in the Greek means “sent one” and can be translated as “missionary.”

What if the church had a theological blind spot that was obstructing a biblical theology of church planting? What the translators fail to understand is that the New Testament knows two different types of apostles. The first group was known as “the Twelve.” They were capital-A Apostles and missionaries to the twelve tribes of Israel, and they were never to be replicated or replaced. They were handpicked by Jesus for a specific time in history. The second category— little-a apostles—was a lesser group of church planters who served under Paul.

He gave them the title of apostolos. The word apostolos is definitely used for the Twelve, as in Matthew 10:2, but not

Now what did the New Testament missionaries do? They planted churches. What if all the buzz about 10

for them alone. The word is also used for Paul, and he wasn’t one of the Twelve.

Here are nine other people called apostles (apostolos, plural: apostoloi) in the New Testament, none of whom were part of the Twelve:

2:8). He said to the Corinthians, “Are you not my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord” (1 Cor. 9:1–2).

A paraphrase of that could be, “If to others I am not a ‘sent-out one,’ a test I am to you, for you are a proof or validation of my ‘sent-outness’ in the Lord.” His apostleship was proved by the fact that the Corinthian church existed. Why? Because apostle = church planter.

The lesser apostles didn’t meet the same criteria as the Twelve. Instead, these lesser apostles operated as churchplanting missionaries. There may be a parallel between the lesser apostles and the seventy-two disciples that Jesus sent out. Although these disciples didn’t have special status or authority, their role was nonetheless to spread the word to villages and towns that needed to hear.

Paul was not one of the Twelve, but he was a kind of link between the twelve apostles who were there from the beginning and those who would take his place: Timothy, Titus, and the others.

This makes sense of why, in Ephesians 4, Paul said apostles (and prophets and evangelists) are necessary for building up the church alongside pastors and teachers. Paul spoke of them as if they were commonplace.

• Titus (2 Cor. 8:23) • James, the Lord’s brother, not John’s brother from Club 12 (Gal.1:18– 19) • Barnabas (Acts 14:14) • Apollos (1 Cor. 4:6–9) • Andronicus (Rom. 16:7) • Junias (Rom. 16:7) • Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25) • Timothy (1 Thess. 1:1–2:6) • Silas/Silvanus (1 Thess. 1:1– 2:6) Those are just the ones Paul mentioned.

Paul worked with a network of missionaries who were also sent out by Jesus on a frontline, life-or-death church-planting commando recon mission. In fact, Paul used the title of apostle for what he did in church planting:

True, there are those who say, as I once was told, that the roles of apostle and prophet faded into oblivion upon the completion of Scripture. In the modern church, however, we’ve managed to exterminate teacher and evangelist as well so that we’re left with the pastor-only model. What if, as a result of amputating these roles, the church were

“for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles” (Gal. 11

a dismembered quadriplegic? Would that explain why it isn’t moving? Would it shed light on why the church inchworms pathetically on its mission like a fat little grub?

What if the church has lost vital biblical technology essential to advancing the kingdom of Christ? Like medieval Europe, we’d be scratching our scalps, wondering how they did it in the past, yet we’d be hindered from making real progress ourselves.

The church planting/discipling network that I run may be called Rock of Zion, but you’re probably beginning to piece together that we’re really kicking it old school. Like, two-thousand-years-old school. If the church recovers the apostolic-style ministry that made the first century tick, then it will jump-start the church back to the threatening force that it was two thousand years ago. Like Indiana Jones uncovering the ark of the covenant in the Well of Souls, we need to unearth the divine technology that has lain hidden in the depths of God’s Word all along.

If we ignore the biblical roles Christ gave us to accomplish the mission, then our structure will be wrong. If the structure is wrong, then the functionality will be limited. If the functionality is limited, then our mission will be compromised.

If our mission is compromised, we won’t be as effective as Jesus intended. We have been ignoring these important roles to our peril. The Western church is beginning to wake up to the reality that with all the sound and fury of our success, we’ve lost something. This has happened throughout history. Did you know that it’s possible for a society to go backward in its understanding? An entire civilization can devolve technologically and lose vital stratagems for engineering because they’ve forgotten certain methods. For example, the Romans knew how to make fiftyfoot-high hydraulic cement aqueducts that spanned valleys. If you go to modern Britain, you will still see their ruins towering against the backdrop of impossible landscapes. Centuries later, however, the engineers of the Dark Ages couldn’t replicate these feats because they’d lost the Roman technology to make structural cement.

Before we do, let’s look at the current weakened structure of Western evangelicalism.

Formulas for Disaster Francis Chan’s dissatisfaction with the current model of evangelical hierarchy is only the beginning of the shakedown that is happening in Western Christianity. It points to cracks in our foundation. The emergent movement began with disenchantment with the evangelical mega-church movement in America, where many of them ran like big-business enterprises. Here are the nuts and bolts of the machine broken down from the instruction manual: How to Build a Mega-church in Five Easy Dance Steps

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first-century landscape not face this same problem? Well, it almost did.

Picture yourself in Jerusalem at the dawn of the apostolic age, circa Acts 3.

You had given up everything once you discovered God’s Sacrificial Lamb. Now you sat at the feet of eleven guys who were ordinary just like you, yet extraordinary. Ordinary fishermen and tradesmen, they were transformed, like you, by an encounter with Jesus of Nazareth. Their ministry was so powerful that you never wanted to leave their teaching or the warm fellowship of the community, or the fear and awetinged miracles that buzzed the atmosphere with supernatural power.It had all the makings of a mega-church experience: thousands of people, money to do anything they wanted, and ministry coming out of their ears. There was only one problem. The kingdom couldn’t advance in a holy huddle. God had to give them a spiritual kick up the backside.

1. Get more people 2. More people = more money 3. More money = more toys 4. More toys = more ways to get more people 5. Get more people (rinse and repeat) This is the model that has been used for decades in America, but to what aim?

Many young men in leadership during the 1990s stood at the top of the megachurch pyramid, rolled their idle crowns on their index fingers, and muttered, “Now what?”

Enter Saul of Tarsus. Persecution smacked down on the church like Gallagher’s twenty-five-pound sledgehammer on a watermelon, splattering the seeds of the church to the far reaches of Asia Minor. If the church wouldn’t go out willingly, they’d be scattered unwillingly. That is God’s time-tested method of getting His people to heed the Great Commission.

As an example, in Britain today, postmodernism has been forcing churches to venture outside to reach the unreached. There is desperation in leaders who have realized that it’s either sink or swim. Pioneer third-world missionary C. T. Studd once said: “Some want to live within the sound Of Church or Chapel bell I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell.”

After the emergent movement dissed the mega-church movement, dissidents of evangelicalism flocked to these churches that put the “hip” in discipleship. When the emergent churches became “successful” in numbers, they simply reproduced what they had come from— except that now people did finger painting to punk music onstage. As history repeated itself, the emergent leaders sat on thrones built out of solid cool, forlorn with chin in palm, asking the familiar question, “Now what?”

Thus history “repeateth.”

Why did the early church that had seen so many conversions and changed the 13

Instead, the focus of Acts is on the smaller, nondescript churches that were springing up in the most remote parts of the map. The kingdom was clawing its way outward, fighting for every inch of pagan ground taken.

The churches that won’t heed Jesus’s call to get out there will die—and in fact are already dying from within. This isn’t just happening in the third world. The dry rot in America has already been set.

We’re just repeating Britain’s pattern fifty years later. In the 1950s in Britain, the churches were full, packed with families. Preaching legend Peter Jeffery recalls how on the streets of Britain in the fifties, an open-air preacher would draw folks out of their front doors, toting folding chairs so they could listen.

In the sixties, however, the sexual revolution put the church to bed, and the youth slowly trickled out of the church scene. Nobody panicked. Do you know why? The churches were still relatively full. One decade, two decades later, and the silver heads woke up to the widening maw of an irreversible generation gap as they literally died off one by one. As the numbers in the church graveyard increased, the numbers in the pews decreased. When they woke up to the shrinking church— evidenced by the empty pews—the panic finally broke out. But by then it was too late.

The expanding church was apostolic, and that made it vibrant and dangerous.

Impossible to ignore. So much so that we still look back at it for inspiration.

But have we put its principles into practice?

I’m not opposed to mega-churches.

Please believe me. Overnight, God created the first mega-church in Jerusalem at Pentecost, but I don’t think we’re learning the lessons that God intended by studying their example. The mega-church model can be useful, but it can also provide a huge hurdle to kingdom expansion if the model is more concerned with bringing people in than sending people out. Let’s face it—that was largely the trend in the eighties and nineties.

Mega-churches in the book of Acts, like Jerusalem in the early days—and Antioch and Ephesus—were biblical sending agencies, mission powerhouses.

This is what God designed megachurches to be. Ever wonder who planted the seven churches of Asia?

When I began to look at the church through born-again eyes, the first thing I noticed was that we’d lost the youth on a Sunday. Nobody is worried; the numbers are still big.

Wait ten years.

Churches that depend on their size tend to rest on their laurels. That’s what happened in the early church. When the book of Acts closes, the Holy Spirit leaves us with an important message.

Mega-church Jerusalem had faded to the narrative background and ceased to be an influential presence in the world.

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Acts 19:10 indicates that Paul used the mega-church at Ephesus as a church planting hub while he trained the planters daily in the school of Tyrannous: “This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”

You have to be willing to lose your life if you want to find it.

Nobody Uses An Eight-track Anymore

Rick Warren models the right use of mega-church might by using Saddleback’s accumulated money, influence, and energy to establish gospel work in every nation on earth. In the past twenty years, Warren has become a multi-church planting machine, equipping and empowering young people to plant around the globe.

When I was a kid, people still had turntables for vinyl records (they hadn’t discovered mixing yet). They also had an eight-track. I just lost half of you.…It was supposed to be the next big thing.

The problem was that somebody came up with a better format that made the eight-track obsolete. The church keeps rolling out formats that are supposed to bring the next big wave of some kind of wonderful. Like the eight-track, they get dated, lose steam, and are forgotten.

Some of you reading this are actually saying, “Oh yeah, the eight-track.

Forgot about that.”

Eight-tracks didn’t replace vinyl, but they opened the door for other formats.

They gave way to cassette tapes, cassette tapes to CD, CD to digital mp3.

Likewise, the church has replaced one format with another over the years, seeking to reinvent itself without questioning whether the next big thing is biblical. The end result is always the same. We’ve changed the format without revolutionizing the church into a timetested format. As a result, we can’t even remember the previous formats that the

Likewise, there’s another pastor in Huntington Beach. A reluctant megachurch pastor and true missionary at heart, he vowed in the 1990s to break the trend and send his best guys to the mission field without fail. Anyone who stays behind is repeatedly told that they are left behind to—you guessed it—help send others out. The irony is that only leaders who have the priority of sending people out will foster the type of church that will continue to bring people in.

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apostles laid down for us. The church is trying to play the eight-track tape of church to an iTunes world.

often, praying, and so on (2:42). But it never goes any further than that in telling us how to have a church service.

Isn’t that a bit strange? That depends on your assumption of what Acts was written for.

What if there was a time-tested model in the Bible? What if it was laid out in the book of Acts, but we missed it because it doesn’t fit our church structure? What if the next big thing is going back to the biblical methodology? If God drew up the battle plan for us two thousand years ago, why do we feel the need to draft another one? It’s time for us to go back to the future.

Was Acts written to show pastors how to make church good, or was it written to show how the kingdom of God expanded through church planting? The more I read the Acts of the Apostles, the more I’m convinced that it’s the script of the first-century version of “How the West Was Won.”

Acts of the Church

Maybe God isn’t so concerned about what the church looks like on the ground as long as those things in Acts 2:42 are all present. Maybe what God is more concerned about is that we understand how the kingdom expanded effectively through church planting so that we don’t merely hobble along in obedience to the Great Commission. If the Holy Spirit chose to invest great detail in a record of how churches got planted in a pagan world (against impossible odds), we’d be fools to ignore His advice. Like I mentioned earlier, Rock of Zion isn’t very new. It’s really old school. It’s just not been done like that for a long time.

Rock of Zion Church Planting is using the time-tested method, tried and true by the apostles, abandoned only when the church became “successful” in the fourth century.

Most of our modern books about church tell us how to do church. The book of Acts never does this. It never offers us a model of church that guarantees success if we follow the template. I would have thought that the basic “power principles” of church growth and dynamics would have been found there, not in a book by some author who lives in today’s anemic church culture. But Acts surpasses culture and time by refusing to provide a model and instead lists basic core components that every healthy church should have: breaking of bread, sharing with those in need, continuing in teaching, meeting together

In roughly ten years of church planting, Paul was able to say in Romans 15:19 “that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.”

Did you catch that? Paul considered that he’d fulfilled his mission in Asia Minor.

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Having fulfilled that task, he could now move on to another area where Christ hadn’t been named. Ten years, and a minimum of fourteen church plants later, and Paul was done. Why can’t we do this today? In trying to expand the kingdom of heaven, what on earth have we been missing?

discovered is in fact … the twilight zone.”

Duh duh duh duh duh duh dumb dumb!

This model has given church planting a bad name. Why do the eyes of so many pastors widen and twitch with fear at the mention of church planting? Planting that starts with Christians rather than nonbelievers strikes fear into the heart of any established pastor because it means that sheep stealing is afoot—and that’s a hanging offense in most churches!

Church Planting in Black and White

The error, however, is on both sides of the divide. Shame on the church planter who is church planting simply because nobody will give him a church of his own! Perhaps if he keeps at it for ten years or so, he’ll have a mega-church that resembles the one he left and be at the apex of his own pyramid. King of the Mountain is fun if you’re at the top.

Equal shame, however, is also due to the pastor who is afraid to lose people because he needs their money for fuel to keep the machine running. The church is in the numbers business now, baby, and as Keith Green once said at Jesus NorthWest, “There is money to be made in Jesus’s name!”

This is basically what church planting has looked like for a long time. Rod Sterling of Twilight Zone appears from the shadows and narrates what we’ve been watching for the past few decades: “Picture a man … a man who has nowhere to go up the pyramid ladder in his local mega-church … a man who is rightly dressed up for the ministry but has nowhere to go. He starts a home study in his living room, hoping to find others who are ready for change. Like attracts like, and soon he manages to reel in other cheesed-off Christians who attract even more dissidents. In his own twisted and distorted lexicon he will call it biblical church planting, never realizing that he is about to enter into what his forbears have already

Formulas for Failure (Remember the 1st formula from earlier? Check it in reverse:) Formula 2: Fewer people = less money = fewer toys = less ability to get people, which equals less money again. The people are just a means to an end after all. How have we let this happen to the church? How have we allowed this machine to grow into a giant Borg that 17

desires to assimilate all species into the mothership for world domination?

Ernest Hemingway may shed light on this. In Green Hills of Africa, Hemingway said that the writer only writes one pure book, and it’s always his first. The first book is written out of his heart, as an expression of literary art. After his first book gets published, and he gains popularity, he becomes accustomed to a certain lifestyle. The need to keep this lifestyle going becomes a concern, and thereafter he writes to get published so that he can continue to maintain that higher standard of living. Many are beginning to feel this way about the ministry.

When the success brings affluence and prestige, they leave the reckless abandon that caused them to go into the ministry in the first place. Once-daring pastors are waking up fifteen or twenty years later asking, “Is this what I signed up for?” They wanted to impact the world, serve Jesus, and grow in the process. But this isn’t happening anymore .Instead, pastors are reluctant to fulfill the Great Commission because their church would shrink, and with it their capacity to buy toys.

It’s building your own personal empire versus building Christ’s kingdom, and make no mistake, the world out there is watching.

Church can become a pastor’s own

Coming from a church that started out of the Jesus Movement, I’ve long rubbed shoulders with guys who saw miracles and witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a sex-crazed, drughazed generation. Years ago, there was a ceremony at a well-known Christian university where one of these ex-hippy pastors was asked to speak. He was known in the seventies as a countercultural, draft-card-burning, antiestablishment radical who’d do anything for Jesus, but his speech was a moralistic, right-wing diatribe that exhorted the students to “stay in school and get good grades” so they could be successful. When interviewed, a

personal tower of Babel in which he refuses to spread out and multiply to the glory of God. Babel teaches us that bigger is not always better. You can tell the difference between empire builders and kingdom builders: personal empires build upward rather than outward. The kingdom, however, is not of this world and always builds outward.

The size that it’s concerned about is global, not local. Why then is the current model all about keeping people in? And why does evangelism seem to be merely a way of getting people in so that we can keep them there?

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bystander nearby was asked, “What happened to him?” The reply was, “He got rich.” It explains a lot. We have more now, which means that we have more to lose if we invest it in kingdom expansion.

ready to change, then the church is going to change. It’s time for judgment to begin with the house of God. When we get it right, they’ll get it right.

Formula 3: Having more = having more to lose.

When I was trying to fit into a traditional pastorate like a square peg in a round hole, I came across an article in the Ikea catalog that profiled twentyeight-year-olds. The article said this was the age when a man was most likely to disappear, change his name, leave his family, and drop off the face of the earth without a trace. Radiohead wrote a song about it: “How to Disappear Completely.” The article clawed fishhooks into my soul. I would guess that many pastors are feeling the same way, but not because they shouldn’t be in the ministry. They are called, but the church only has one caliber of bullet when it fires a man out of the barrel.

Once upon a time, a Franciscan monk visited Vatican City with a gift for the church. The pope took him on a personal tour, displaying the vast wealth of the Catholic Church. “Never again will the church be able to say, ‘Silver and gold I do not have,’” he said.

The Franciscan replied, “That may be true, but never again will the church be able to say, ‘Rise up, take your mat, and walk.’”

The more we think kingdom expansion rather than empire building, the less we’ll resemble CEOs and start looking like Neos; less businessmen, more radical revolutionaries; less pleasing to flesh, more threat to the Enemy. Are you ready to change things? Then you’ve got to be ready to change. And if you’re

Some of these guys who are church planting are biblical apostles (or missionaries) and, like Indiana Jones, were never meant to be Princeton lecturers. They were born to be templeraiding adventurers. But they’ve been 19

LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!

told they have to be pastors to serve God full-time. They’ve been tamed, castrated, stripped of their ability to fly. These guys either discover who they really are, and like Neo get freed from the Matrix, or they claw at the walls until they burn out, sabotage themselves, or get fired.

Correspondence from: Carman Licciardello

To:Bishop Bernie L. Wade

Thanks for the message! In case you missed it, here is my latest post.

Please take a moment to read and share this with your friends. Thanks and God Bless You!

Every once in a while one of them wakes up and begins to see the Matrix code behind the illusion. Then it’s kungfu-kicking-butt-in-the-subway-time.

So before you flip this page, let me ask you: do you really want to take the red pill? It could cost you more than you’re willing to lose.

LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!

And I warn ya, it’s gonna hurt like heaven!

2 Months ago I sat in a Doctors office and was told I had incurable Multiple Myeloma Cancer with a 3-5 year window of time to live. I felt like God had looked at me and said "Your Fired" with no explanation. I never even imagined I could ever feel so worthless or dismissed. After 32 years of dedicated ministry, winning

A Slave of Jesus Christ, Your Servant, Apostle Robert Straube

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souls and building the body...my own body now betrayed me and heaven went silent. Most of the members of my own immediate family wouldn't even call or write a text. I felt useless, past my time of value, my shelf life had expired and it was going to be a painful exit from this world. As a last resort I put up a simple post on face book just telling it all. What did it matter anyway.

and even said over and over again " What can I do to help"?

Well here it is. I'm going back into the studio to make a new record with new songs from a man who is staring down the angel of death and backed by the prayers of the saints. I'm getting songs and melodies in my sleep and at the strangest times. Like when I first got saved. God is giving me a new song and I need to record them, then make a video and a tour..just like I always been called to do. And "This Time" YOU " will be a part of it.

I'm asking you to do 2 simple things: 1. Click on this link http://bit.ly/CarmanKickstarter an d see what God would have you do.

Then the shocker of shockers happened. People began to post the most encouraging messages by the 10's of 1,000's. Just when I was calling my attorney to finalize my will, I looked and there was 10-20,000 comments saying we love you, stay strong, read this scripture, I have been through it too, and keep on ministering. I was so shocked I couldn't say anything but just stare at the page. And it has been YOU, my friends, my partners, my brothers and sisters in Christ who have rallied me back into the fight and prayed me back to my feet. You've kept me alive

2. Share this post on your page and with your friends.

I'm determined to not leave this world quietly and bring as many people with me when God does call my name. Will you join me?

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22

MEASURE

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

By: Dr. Barney Phillips

The ultimate purpose of ministry is the fostering of relationships among the body, to the world and with God. The ministry purpose of the body is a ministry that seeks to bring those in the world into relationship with the church and with God. As his body, at times we see dimly, and at other times, not at all.

As in gospel times, we often look for a kingdom that speaks more of earthly power, personal achievement, and material acquisition than one of relationship with the father and godly knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. (Luke 6:38).

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

I've been pondering on the word measure for quite some time now as it relates to Grace for gifting, relationships, God’s spirit, giving and faith. Then after further examination of the bible I have come to the conclusion that the measure of relationships is the pathway to everything. This seems to be our greatest struggle among ministry.

Therefore, explains why church has little concept of love, relationship and family.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what the hope of his calling is, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in 23

the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power (Ephesians 1:17-19).

RELATIONSHIP. There is no greater commandment of God then for us to seek relationship by love.

And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

There is none other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31) We need spiritual enlightenment and cease measuring and comparing ourselves among ourselves and walk in

The word Measure yph h ph h ay-faw', ay-faw' Of Egyptian derivation; an ephah or measure for grain; hence a measure in general: - ephah, (divers) measure (-s).

Merriam Webster dictionary says, Measure is an adequate or due portion The Kingdom of God is manifested in three levels or measure of relationship.

The Kingdom cannot be overcome but is itself a mechanism that brings forth change and order. Like leaven, it rises to saturate all spiritual manna (spiritual bread or the Word by which we live). As Kingdom consciousness rises in our minds, it influences and becomes part of every thought.

Love one to another; which can only come through a love relationship with the father and each other. The fulfillment of the Old Testament is found in these two commandments. WE WILL NEVER RECEIVE OR WALK IN HIS LOVE WITHOUT SEEKING

Abraham was seeking this full measure of relationship in all levels, when he instructed Sarah to take three measures of meal and cakes (bread) in response 24

the visitation of the Lord in the plains of Mamre. Likewise, the apostle Paul speaks of a measure in the fullness of Christ to which we are to attain. One becomes increasingly aware of the fact that our ability to find relationship is in large part dependent upon our ability to see and respond to the Jesus in others.

love for Jesus.

Sign-seeking will never produce relationship because it is the result of people desiring the gift rather Than the Giver. There is an adulterous generation---a generation who is willing to enter relationships amiss and change loyalties for personal benefit or dislike.

Like a child in a game of marbles who loses and or does not like how the game is going takes his marbles and goes home. Unfortunately, if we are really honest with ourselves, we are like children when it comes to relationships and getting OUR WAY.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. (Luke 6:38).

There is also a generation being birthed who seeks the Father, not out of personal benefit, but out of desire for order, obedience, and relationship.

When Jesus walked on the earth, most did not see anything more than a man possessing tremendous power. Some attributed this power to God and others to the devil, yet most saw only a man---a gifted and unique man to be sure, but yet just a man. Jesus’ purpose was to reveal the Father to mankind. To those with eyes to see, it becomes very apparent why father/son order is the key

There is a longing on the part of most to experience the supernatural, to see tangible manifestations of Heavenly power via great miracles and demonstrations of spiritual power.

These desires were likewise Present in the masses who followed after Jesus. In large part, they followed him to receive bread, to see Miracles, and to witness a demonstration of God’s power. Jesus warned of an evil and adulterous Generation who sought after signs. All true signs point us to a greater with and 25

to relationships in ministry.

wise enough to dig it out. The kingdom is within the body. We are not going to find relationship by seeking after miracles, or boosting of the miracles GOD has worked through us, or by pursuing gifted Christian ministries and personalities to mimic, or by searching the stars for Heaven’s location. If the Church is to find true relationship, it must begin to see and fellowship with the “Jesus” within the Body.

This brings new understanding to the following Scripture

Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20).

known me, ye should have known my Father also (John 8:19).

The Mystery of the Kingdom was never hidden from us but for us. Those that are born again (according to New Testament order). See Acts chapter 2.

The Kingdom was hidden within Jesus.

Only those who could see beyond the man, beyond the miracles, and beyond their own prejudices, could see into the kingdom. There were people who desired relationship. We like wise need to learn to experience the kingdom resident within the members of the body of Christ---to go beyond our FEARS and FLESH and our PRECONCEIVED IDEAS and see the treasure that is hidden within each of us.

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).

Dr. Barney Phillips serves as ICOF Vice President of Missions http://www.icof.net

"If the Lord tarries, there may yet be a grassroots awakening that will overflow all sectarian barriers. There are a host of good people... who long for a visitation from heaven in old-time power. The kindling wood is scattered all round in all the churches. May God help us to rake off the ashes, uncover the live coals and may He blow upon us with the breath of His Spirit!"

-Vance Havner

A unique part of God is hid in the soul of each member, to be revealed by those 26

JOIN FIVEFOLD CONNECTION

http://fivefoldconnection.co

Ephesians 4:11-14 "And He Himself gave some [to be] apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ"

Dr. Teddy Dones has launched an amazing new network! Fivefold Connection.

FIVEFOLD CONNECTION is like Facebook without the distraction of unwanted content allowed on Facebook.

Dr. Dones is an alumnus of International Circle of Faith Colleges, Seminaries and Universities (ICOF CSU). Looking at the success of social media, he has had a burden to create a place where those who enjoy social media can interact without the rudiments of the world dominating the conversation.

Dr. Dones and his wife Janet are the leaders of Messengers of Fire a powerful ministry located in the Ohio valley (USA) but doing ministry all over the world. Join Fivefold Connection for FREE!

27

day. • Mid Day - Before or after lunch take time to pray wherever you are.

Encourage those around you to pray with you (co-workers, peers, clients, etc.) • Evening - pray with you family, your friends, neighbors, etc. Encourage places of business, church buildings, malls, etc. to designate a place for daily prayer. Pray for God to give us space for REPENTACE! Pray for your family, friends and others who are not committed to Jesus Christ.

Pray for healing, renewal, deliverance and more. Prayer is communication.

The key thing is to STOP what you are doing. Take time to find a quiet place where you can communicate with God. We are not directing you how long to pray. Rather we are leaving that up to the individual or the group, but by all means - PRAY!

In a recent weekly Executive Session we discussed how the enemies of the cross seem more committed to prayer to their false deities than followers of Jesus Christ demonstrate. In discussing the challenges, understanding that there has been some 2000 years since the advent of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry, we concluded that there is no organized effort to call the people of God to daily prayer. Granted, there have been and remain efforts to such as the national day of prayer but this is only to direct us to prayer one day per year. Thus, it is our expectation to see a global 'Call to Prayer' where Biblical Christians (followers of Jesus Christ) would commit to pray on a daily basis.

Posture - in Scripture we find people praying in a variety of postures kneeling, standing, laying prostrate, etc.

All of these are acceptable.

IF you would like to connect with others who are praying in like manner please feel free to email: JOIN THE CALL TO PRAYER administration@icof.net

Here is our challenge: Prayer - 3 times a day. We are asking every follower of Jesus Christ to commit to prayer three times each day. This is a commitment to daily prayer for the rest of our lives. This prayer time can be anytime during the day but we are suggesting the following: • Morning - Pray by yourself, with your family or those where you work or go to school. This will help set the tone for the 28

29

The Immutability of His Counsel

to lay hold upon the hope set before us: (Heb 6:13-18).

The legitimacy of the testimony of the spirit is based upon the strength of his oath. In a court of Law we take an oath on a bible, which represents our submission to something greater than ourselves. God can “swear by no greater” so he speaks a promise and swears an oath on himself; in which lies the principle of the kingdom God will speak the promise to himself in the heavenly realm and then speak to the person receiving the promise on earth. This is the meaning of the “two immutable things”: a promise spoken to those on earth and an oath made to himself in Heaven.

Dr. Barney Phillips

God gave his own testimony on the witness stand, “bearing witness” of his word in the heavens, the earth and the legal heirs of the promise. To verify the testimony of any witness as true in the court of Law, the witness must take an oath. Before God took the witness stand and declared his word into the earth, he first took an oath.

God will speak “once in the heavens” and “once in the earth.” Whenever God speaks a sovereign word in the earth. He does not speak it just once, but twice. When God’s voice needs to be heard at a time of great transition, our heavenly father will call the man on earth not once, but twice. The “Double Enunciation of Deity” is when God gloriously turns to speak in the earth from what already is in Heaven.

For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

If he wants to change the course of Abraham’s obedience and rescue the promise of God, he will not just say , “Abraham” once, but will speak his name

Saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge 30

twice: “ Abraham, Abraham” ( Gen. 22:11).

This double enunciation of deity almost always happens in situations where there is no natural answer or when the natural flow is broken.

If God wants to call a deliver to rescue the Israelites, he will say, “Moses, Moses” (Ex. 3:4). When God wants to raise up a pure prophetic voice in a corrupt priesthood, he calls, “Samuel, Samuel” (1 Sam. 3:10).

Thus there are times when God sovereignly takes over both positions in a connection.

The heavens and the earth are connected by one voice. God speaks in heaven and the earth and says “Abraham, Abraham “because the circumstances were out of control. There was no way Abraham could understand why God wanted a human Scarface, and then change his mind (so Abraham thought). It is important to note: unless alignment with the father in heaven was made with Abraham sovereignly by God, his seed of promise would die.

When the temple is rebuilt after years of captivity God instructs Zerubbabel to install the headstone with the cry of “Grace, grace” (Zech. 4:7). When the word made flesh brings forth the word of his father, he does not say “verily” once, but 25 times in the Gospel of John Jesus says “verily, verily.”

There is no way Saul of Tarsus would be saved without someone presenting Jesus to him. Without a sermon or a Bible, without illustrations, introductions, three songs and a poem, a murderous Pharisee lies upon his face, struck to the ground by the double enunciation of “Saul, Saul.” God had to

When Jesus prays for Peter before he is sifted he says, “Simon, Simon” (Luke 22:31).

When Jesus appears to a very disturbed Pharisee who was killing his people he says, Saul, Saul (Acts 9:4).

This one is very important and the fact that there is little to no teaching in the church this revelation is all but lost: When God claims someone as a child of the kingdom, he sends his spirit into his heart to cry the double name: “Abba, Father.” In heaven and in earth, the witness of God is given by his voice.

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make the connection himself; once in the heavenlies and once in the earth.

teaching in the church at large but we do not teach people to hear from God for themselves. This doctrine of the two immutable things is the very doorway to the entire Kingdom principle. Tragically genuine doctrinal truths from scripture that are dedicated to internal purpose with continuity throughout the Old Testament and New Testament are lost. Rather doctrine today is nothing more than a manipulation tool of externals with the purpose of control and were derived from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; in other words it came from the head.

At Shiloh is a priestly system that God is weary of, producing o nly iniquity and unrighteousness in the “sons of Belial” When an Eli produces a Hophin and a Phineas who steal glory, God will intervene.

It is really not understandable, but God would allow a token son to sleep in the back room of his house, a son given away by his own mother out of a prayerful and starving situation in which she made a promise. He is there to receive God’s voice.

Where was I? Oh, that is what happens so often when men hear the voice of God. They go back to the system and ask, “Is this God?” They go back and ask a failed priesthood, “What am I supposed to do?”

It is only when the voice of the Father says sovereignly, Samuel, Samuel, “that the rare voice of God is heard. It is becoming clearer to me why ministry has a problem with spiritual fathers or accountability period. If you do not know the voice of and have a relationship with the heavenly father then it is conceivable that you would not understand a spiritual or even an earthly father. Not to mention headship and accountability and worse, no concept of the

Before the light goes out in the house of God, the word of the Lord comes to the boy and cries, “Samuel.” Three times the voice cries out his name once: “Samuel.” Eli finally recognizes this voice that has been veiled from him, and instructs the young man to receive revelation. When the voice of God finally calls for recognition and Samuel says, “Speak, Lord,” you will notice God said, “Samuel, Samuel” (1 Sam. 3:1-10).

In the earth Samuel could not recognize the heavenly voice. That is why he answered to Eli and not the lord. This brings us to the said truth that not only do we have no 32

Dr. Barney Phillps serves as Vice President of Missions for International Circle of Faith (ICOF).

Kingdom.

Where was I again?

http://www.icof.net

Once in the heaven, once in the earth; once in transmission, once in reception: The voice of the heavenly Father into your spirit and you know it is a connection from God. This is spiritual knowledge.

It is not based on what you know or where you’ve been, what their names are, how great they are, or how well they are understood. It is the voice of the Father that take over both sides of the divide and forms a spiritual bridge, spanning the yawning emptiness of man’s ability with the purpose and power of God. I believe that’s a very good definition of the Kingdom.

The Bible calls these “immutable things,” for when you hear that voice (and know with certainty its God), you know you can’t be lied to; you now have the immutability of his council.

God cannot lie (Tit. 1:2). If you hear the witness of one, it may not be the truth. But in the witness of two everything is established. (Mt. 18:16 33

ICOF members have united over 50,000 ministers representing more than 25 Million constituents, several hundred colleges, universities and other Christian schools, orphanages & feeding programs, humanitarian aid organizations, chaplains and other charities.

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AVAILABLE BY REQUEST VIA EMAIL: ADMINISTRATION@ICOF.NET 35

organizations seeking non-profit status.

Unlike liberal organizations, which, in USA Today's words "got a pass," the IRS demanded reams of sensitive--and often irrelevant--information from tea party, religious, and conservative groups to intimidate or otherwise frustrate the President's opponents. According to Politico, agents asked shockingly private questions, ranging from donors lists (which were later leaked), Facebook posts, and media interviews to minutes from board meetings, rĂŠsumĂŠs of officers, tweets, political blog posts, and even a list of student trainees.

From Uncle Sam to Uncle Scam By: Tony Perkins

When President Obama delivered the keynote at Ohio State's graduation last weekend, who knew how ironic his words would be? "Unfortunately," he told the class of 2013, "you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems... They'll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices."

At the Waco Texas Tea Party, Toby Walker says the IRS even ordered her to provide "transcripts of radio shows where her group had mentioned political candidates by name"--a project that would have cost the organization $25,000 to complete. In Tennessee, an attorney sent chills down readers' spines when he told reporters that the IRS had asked him for a list of any students he had mentored or planned to mentor.

"Can you imagine my responsibility to

Well, turns out, the voices were right.

Only now, the tyranny is no longer lurking around the corner--it's officially arrived. In an unfolding government corruption scandal that may very well eclipse Watergate, the IRS is finally admitting what some congressmen suspected all along: that the administration was using the agency as a hired thug to punish and silence conservatives.

The conspiracy, which started as early as 2010 and may have affected as many as 500 conservative and Christian groups, used the IRS to antagonize 36

parents," asked the founder of Linchpins of Liberty, "if I disclosed the names of their children to the IRS?"

have to wonder if they're being targeted for their political views and activities--in a constitutional government that depends on their participation! If we want to eliminate the IRS as a tool for political corruption, then it's time to revisit the debate about an alternative form of taxation. Concentrating power in the IRS hasn't grown the American economy. In fact, the only thing it seems to have accomplished is breeding a mobster mentality that threatens U.S.freedom.

In the Christian community, several established organizations were also targeted, including Franklin Graham, whose two North Carolina charities came under sudden scrutiny after he and his father, Rev. Billy Graham, published pro-marriage and pro-family election ads. In a letter to President Obama, the Grahams explain that an IRS agent visited both groups in October to conduct a surprise tax "review." National Organization for Marriage was another target, as their confidential documents were released to the Human Rights Campaign--whose then-president was a chairman for Obama's re-election campaign.

"The fact is," President Obama told the crowd at OSU, "all too often the institutions that give structure to our society have, at times, betrayed your trust." No one knew how profound that betrayal was. Now that we do, it's our duty to ensure it stops.

The abuse is so widespread that some of the White House's cheerleaders in the media are piling on about the deep roots of the administration's crookedness. For once, the cumulative effects of Fast and Furious, Solyndra, and Benghazi are starting to pull back the curtain on the lack of integrity and honesty in this White House. Now, thanks to this latest IRS outrage, Americans everywhere will

The aggressive anti-Christian actions of the Obama administration are real, documented and escalating. We must STOP antiChristian actions like these:

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1. January 2010 -- Department of Defense orders removal of tiny Bible references on military scopes and gunsights.

conscience for military chaplains who do not wish to perform same-sex "marriages."

11. June 2012 -- Obama administration revokes the long-standing U.S. policy of allowing military service emblems to be placed on military Bibles.

2. June 2011 -- The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burials at National Cemetery.

3. August 2011 -- The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory because it is based on a philosophy of St. Augustine.

12. August 2012 -- Lt. Col. Jack Rich of the U.S. Army emails subordinates saying they should be on the lookout for people who share FRC's values because they are not "Army values."

4. September 2011 -- Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen of religious programs.

13. January 2013 -- Obama announces the opposition to a provision in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act protecting the rights of conscience for military chaplains.

5. September 2011 -- The Army issues Walter Reed Medical Center guidelines stipulating that no religious items (i.e.

Bibles, reading materials and/or tracts) are to be given to the wounded.

14. April 2013 -- Officials briefing U.S. Army soldiers include "Evangelical Christianity" and "Catholicism" along with the terrorist organizations Al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas as examples of "religious extremism."

6. November 2011 -- The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child because it is run by Christians.

15. May 2013 -- The Pentagon meets with Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to establish new rules which would restrict the religious freedom of Christian and Jewish military personnel.

7. November 2011 -- The Air Force Academy pays $80,000 for a Stonehengetype worship center for pagans, druids, and witches.

8. February 2012 -- The U.S. Military Academy at West Point disinvites three-star Army general, decorated war hero, and FRC Executive Vice President, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William "Jerry" Boykin, because he is an outspoken Christian.

Sadly, this list is just the highlights--and it gets longer every day.

Standing (Ephesians 6:13),

9. February 2012 -- The Army orders Catholic chaplains not to read archbishop's letter to soldiers.

Tony Perkins President

10. May 2012 -- The Obama administration opposes legislation to protect the rights of

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almost all the 10 Regions of Cameroon!

Dear Dr. Wade,

Three other ICOF CSU Alumni in Cameroon were also in attendance!

Praise the Lord Jesus!

Photo Explanation:

Bishop Tembi Alfred and myself had a very Grand Award Ceremony – an extension of the June 2012 Award in Douala, Cameroon on March 10, 201 as I shared with you on Skype.

 2 with Robes - they are Bishop Tembi Alfred (with hand lifted up), introducing the new Graduate, Dr. André Kueto.  Standing alone in Robe is Dr. André Kueto.  Sitting and using mobile phone is Dr. David Okposin

Dr. David Ngwa - Secretary General ICOF Africa www.icof.net International Circle of Faith Colleges, Seminaries and Universities is available to serve your Christian education needs. ICOF CSU is a network of Christian Education professionals, bible colleges, Christian seminaries, Christian universities, and other Christian education institutions. for more information visit us online. http://www.icofcsu.yolasite.com or http://www.icof

The happy recipient was Apostle Dr. Andre Kueto - one of the leading Apostles in the Apostolic Church Cameroon.

Our joy was even multiplied the more because we had the opportunity to sensitize the huge population in attendance (over 2000) about the ministry of ICOF Global. In fact, Invitees came from 39

do such a thing. And thus the question must be asked: Is it even possible to have true "BODY" in our day? Is "CHURCH" (in the true sense) even a concept that we can understand? Or have the media and our entire culture so "individualized" us that true 'Body' is no longer possible?

INDIVIDUALISM - ENEMY of THE CHURCH

by Andrew Strom

We live in an utterly individualistic and "self"-oriented age today. I'm sure few would disagree. Every advertisement appeals to 'self' in some way. We are taught from childhood to be completely self-contained, reliant on no-one, living in our own little bubble where we decide exactly what will take place. We are often frightened to commit to any particular group or cause, any particular leadership. The modern man is an "individualist" to the core. "Don't ask me to join or commit! And don't tell me how to live my life!"

You know, Christianity is not designed to be lived out by a pack of "individualists". And half-committed building-attenders on Sunday mornings are not it either. Christianity is designed to be lived out CORPORATELY - the "Body of Christ" - an entity that can be seen and observed by people - full of the glory of Jesus. A Body that corporately carries all the words and power and love and miracles of the King.

But all of this, of course, is the exact opposite of "Body". It is the exact opposite of 'Community'. And thus the exact opposite of the true Church. And yet millions upon millions of Christians today (especially in the West) are just as "individualistic" as the next man.

Sometimes even more so.

So how on earth can such a "gathering"take place? How can the scattered remnant of today come together to form such a Body? Well, it all starts with the anointed "word". You notice in the above verse that these people gathered around a very specific thing - "The apostles' doctrine and fellowship". It is an anointed apostolic "word" being preached that is a crucial element in all this. From such a 'word' everything else follows and comes into alignment.

As noted previously, the very first sentence used to describe the early church says: "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42).

Could today's "individualistic" types bring themselves to form a real 'Body' even if such a word was being preached? Or is individualism so ingrained that even 'apostolic' preaching might not bring this about? These are questions that every one of us should be asking ourselves if we ever hope to be part of a true movement of God in these Last Days.

That is the very picture of a BODY - not a pile of "individualists". They have GIVEN themselves to a group and a cause - a group with real LEADERS who are anointed preachers from God. But it is almost anathema for a modern person to give themselves to any group in such a way. We are far too suspicious and individualistic and untrusting to ever 40

gifts. Therefore the apostle has an office to govern, along with ministry gifts and the authority to establish. It's important to interject here - in no uncertain terms that THE APOSTLE DOES NOT "TAKE" AUTHORITY BUT IT IS "GIVEN" BY THE LOCAL CHURCH. Apostle James offers us an exception from the rule by the fact that although he was considered an apostle in scripture, he did not actually leave the church in Jerusalem. Seemingly, he never ministered outside of Jerusalem. But Apostle Paul travelled continually during his thirty-plus years of ministry. His longest stay at any local church was two years in Ephesus. So this begs the question; "can an apostle be a 'sent-one' and be a 'stayed-one' at the same time?" Yes! So long as he is "establishing," "building" and fulfilling a mandate that he has ultimately been sent by God from (from birth) to fulfil.

However this depends largely on his "gifting" too and not just his "office." Now his office is one thing, and his gifting helps him to carry out the mandate upon his office. I.e. an apostle whose main gifting is to be a pastor can build right where he is - while still able to be very internationally minded (not parochial or narrow in scope) with the spiritual capacity to travel or to "go," but primarily "stays!"

Now in addition to this, it must be stated that all the gifts are EQUAL - they just have different tasks to do. Likewise all the "offices" are EQUAL; they just operate with different gifting. For example a local elder who has a

Relationship between the Apostolic and the local Church!

Dr. Alan Pateman "...look carefully at Jesus, the apostle and chief priest about whom we make our declaration of faith" (Hebrews 3:1 GW).

In today's Truth for the Journey we are going to look at the relationship that should exist between the apostle and the local Church - how they should relate. We will look at how the authoritative structure within the Church works. Also we will look at gifts - for example is an apostle a position of "office" or a "gift?" This we can answer straight away - the position of an apostle is an office and NOT a gift. Or in other words; the apostle has a governing office and can function in any of the

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governing-office to "oversee," is one who has been given dominion in a certain area. However when it comes to the local church in relation to the apostle - it has to be said that being part of one Body - includes being "connected" with the rest of the Body. And a great part of what the apostle does is through "connections." He is a great connector.

The Holy Spirit uses the apostolic ministry more than any other to do His great global networking!

would - but he does not stay around to carry this out. His role is to oversee... To view this in scripture we go to the verses quoted below in order to highlight or showcase this point perfectly - when Paul was troubled to write with much concern to warn the Church in Corinth of his pending rebuke!

"I'm afraid that I may come and find you different from what I want you to be, and that you may find me different from what you want me to be... I already warned you when I was with you the second time, and even though I'm not there now, I'm warning you again. When I visit you again, I won't spare you. That goes for all those who formerly led sinful lives as well as for all the others. Since you want proof that Christ is speaking through me, that's what you'll get. Christ isn't weak in dealing with you. Instead, he makes his power felt among you. He was weak when he was crucified, but by God's power he lives" (2 Cor 12:20; 13:3-4 GW).

Now having said all this - any position of authority or given office of governing authority (whether apostle, elder/bishop) is not dictatorial but submissive particularly the apostle who is able to "recognise" what God has already established and continues to establish.

It is also crucial to observe here that once the local elders have been set in and their role established - it is THEY who have the authority over the local church and "NOT" the apostle. Now of cause he still has authority to bring correction like a shepherd-father-figure

Obviously the apostle has a continuing position of responsibility when it comes to the local church but he is not there to stay and to "RUN" the local church or implement the local vision! This again is the role of the set leading elders.

Let us move on now to the next step and take a look at how apostolic teams in particular should function and work together. Before we do this let me point out ever so briefly how important structure is. The spine or backbone is our natural structure. None of us can live without it! And spiritually speaking 42

the same is true also. Even Satan's kingdom has structure to it. We see this evidenced in the sixth chapter of the book of Ephesians and verse 12 where it says; "This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world" (emphasis added - GW). It is very distinct here that there are varying levels in the kingdom of darkness, levels of authority or hierarchy to execute its mandates. This represents none other than a governing "structure" - yet perhaps in reverse from that of the Kingdom of God. And by using the words, "in-reverse"

Kingdom of God functioned and was internally structured... therefore he most certainly would have modeled his best attempts at organizing his hordes of darkness - upon what he saw working with pristine order and condition within the Kingdom of God! Structure is valued by those who understand how it works (and by structure I don't mean that we get all wrapped up in knots because we have adopted some form of legalism, nevertheless "structure-less-ness" is far from freedom - but more like anarchy and chaos and who can have success in the midst of confusion?) Anyhow take business for example; they could never thrive without structure. Organizations would collapse the world over without structure and so would every great building of antiquity that we know! From the tower of London and Big Ben to the Eiffel tower - still known as the tallest structure in Paris! Nothing of significance can remain standing without some form of structure holding it up!

So we must not be "structure-shy" especially within the Church where we tend to feel obliged to run a "free-for-all" and expect it to work! It must not be said by our enemies that the Body of Christ has no backbone or that we are spineless! But nor let us try and create our own image of structure based upon what we think Church should be like...

No! Rather we should submit ourselves to what God has already laid out in scripture to work (irrespective and notwithstanding our misguided

I don't suggest for a moment that this means "equal-to" God's Kingdom - albeit the other way around - by no means!

Yet Satan once knew just how the 43

reservations towards...) the apostolic ministry!

the power of His Word and the coming together of His mighty Body worldwide "a-great-working-together" - to get this great and divine commission complete!

So as we continue then, from our brief look at the supposed "hierarchy" of Satan's kingdom - lets us now look at the "structure-of-authority" as it should exist within God's kingdom - according to scripture (in other words apostolic teams working together) - as follows: Derek Prince presents to us, 1) Main Forces of Human Leadership: A] Apostolic teams and Presbyteries (elders):

Instead we should shout, "Welcome back!" For the Church as we know it has indeed been feeble and without strength - yes even much of it has been guilty of being spineless and void of spiritual backbone! But now is the time to embrace true spiritual structure as Christ deemed fit to bestow upon the Church and to recognize once again the importance of this "apostolic ministry" within His Body. Who are we to resist any rate? We must work-with and not against true spiritual structure.

It is true to say that it has never been enough for the spiritually immature "floppy-n-floaty" (freshly filled with new wine Christians) to get this great and awesome job done! Nor has it ever been enough just for the "stuffy-n-religiousbookworm-types" to give their official nod to everything! What we need is the precious working of God's Holy Spirit,

1. Both usually PLURAL 2. A shepherd is a pastor a) Shepherd (singular) always refers to Jesus (Acts 20:17) b) Elders (plural) are overseers (or bishops) or shepherds (see also 1 Peter 5:1-2).

3. As shepherds (Elders) are united, so will their flocks be.

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prayed for and sent out (Acts 14:14) b) They were selected by the Holy Spirit from the most experienced and fruitful c) Then new leadership emerges from the less experienced.

C] Reproductive Cycle (Acts 16:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:6): a) Apostle means; one sent forth b) It all starts with God the Father.

3) Jesus Set the Pattern: A] The first Apostle (Hebrew 3:1): a) Women have a place (Luke 8:1-3) B] The Early Church was mobile: C] Apostolic Attestation : a) It takes the supernatural to make Gentiles obedient (Romans 15:18-19) b) (2 Corinthians 12:12) D] Marks of the Apostle: a) Perseverance, character, not giving up b) Signs, wonders and mighty deeds.

B] Elder's Responsibility is to Govern Conservation (1 Timothy 5:17; Titus 1:5): a) In the O.T. the elders place was at the gate b) Their function: judgement, counsel and government c) The N.T. concurs with this C] Apostolic Team's Function is Extensive (Romans 15:20-21): a) Reach the unreached b) They did not operate alone D] Governing Body in an Area is Sovereign: a) Same applies to a family, mother and father are sovereign independence and sovereignty are not the same. b) Sovereign: accountable to God c) Independent: out from under God's authority possibly?

E] Apostolic Teams: Mobile Top Authority of Church Extension Presbyteries Local / Resident Govern Locally Conservation a) Balance is 50% emphasis on either side in N.T Church b) The current balance is 98% conservation and 2% extension.

F] There is no Place for Independence in Christianity: 2) Interdependence: A] Apostles Appoint Elders (Acts 14:2123): a) After elders become installed, a group of believers becomes a church.

B] Apostles sent out by Elders (Acts 13: 1-4): a) They became apostles after being

E] The issue is NOT Apostle Succession, but Apostolic Ministry (1 Cor. 4:20):

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An UNUSUAL WORD

The devil does not want you to see God´s ocean of mercy; he wants you to see only a trickle! Because of our ignorance of the forgiving, restoring power of Christ´s love, we are destroyed. We run out of mercy for ourselves because we are horribly bound by a limited vision. Our eyes have not yet been opened to the endless mercies of our tender Father! We are so bound by a false, limited view of His mercies, we find it almost impossible to believe or accept what James said: "[We] have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful (full of compassion), and of tender mercy" (James 5:11).

by David Wilkerson Recently the Holy Spirit gave me an unusual word, one that I did not want to hear! He said, "You are bound to a very limited vision of the Lord´s ocean of tender, loving mercies. You have endured much guilt, condemnation and fear because you have not allowed the Holy Spirit to reveal the vastness of My forgiving, healing, reconciling mercies. You do not know Me for My tenderness!"

God showed me that this is a root cause for many giving up and falling away. When sin strikes-when Satan comes in like a flood, when you fall into some old habit or sin-the devil creates a bondage. First, the guilt comes flooding in, then fear fills your heart. A sense of total failure and helplessness overwhelms your soul. At this point, most believers run out of gracebecause their view of God´s mercy is so limited.

This verse means, "God is easily crushed by our troubles and hurts. He feels our pain and our failures, and He is kind and compassionate to us. He loved us even when we were His enemy. Even when we offend Him, He is quick to help, restore and forgive us."

The word mercy means "kind and compassionate treatment of an offender under one's power." God has the power to damn us to hell every time we sin; He has us under His control and can do with us as He pleases. And it pleases His tender heart to be compassionate, loving and kind toward those who have failed Him the most.

Satan comes to you and says, "You´ve reached your limit. You´ve confessed your sin time after time. There is no way God will forgive you now, because you´ve sinned against the light. If you return and confess once more, you´ll turn around and sin all over again. So quit now!"

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religious persecution, and, as such, the family should be shipped back home.

German Home Schoolers Get a Lesson in Liberal Hypocrisy

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, upholding the Obama administration's decision to deny permanent asylum. Our friend Mike Farris, who heads up the Home School Legal Defense Association, has vowed to appeal the ruling, insisting that he will keep fighting to keep the family here in the U.S. "[W]e are in God's hands," Uwe said, which may be the safest place of all, given this administration's hostility toward religious freedom!

By: Tony Perkins

If anyone knows what it's like to be singled out by the Obama administration and targeted, it's the Romeike family.

While illegal immigrants stream into the country unchecked, the Justice Department seems unusually interested in deporting a German homeschooling family, who--until recently--had been granted asylum. Unfortunately, that all changed when a Board of Immigration Appeals, in partnership with the DOJ, ruled that the family must return to Europe.

The Romeikes fled to the U.S. when German officials threatened to take custody of the children if the parents continued homeschooling them. Three years later, the Justice Department is arguing that a law banning homeschooling doesn't constitute

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CONFRONTING THE ERROR of HYPER-GRACE

cleansed! Likewise, He sees us as holy and righteous. He sees us, and He loves what He sees!"

by Michael Brown

Really? Always? 24-7? God always loves what he sees when he looks at his people?

Yes, he loves us, but does he always love what he sees?

The biblical message of grace is wonderful, glorious and life-transforming. We can´t live without it for one second of our lives. But there is a message being preached today in the name of a new grace reformation, mixing powerful truth with dangerous error. I call it hyper-grace.

Did Jesus love what he saw when he rebuked five out of seven congregations in Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3? Did Paul, writing on behalf of the Lord, love what he saw when he warned the Galatians that they had fallen from grace and become trapped in legalism? Did James, also writing as a servant of the Lord, love what he saw when he rebuked his readers for being "friends of the world" and "adulterers and adulteresses"?

One of the foundational doctrines of the hyper-grace message is that God does not see the sins of his children, since we have already been made righteous by the blood of Jesus and since all of our sins, past, present and future, have already been forgiven.

And if the Lord doesn´t see our sins, why did James write that if a believer who was sick had also sinned, God would forgive him when he healed him (see James 5:14-15)?

And if he doesn´t see our sins, why did the Lord discipline believers in Corinth because of their sins (see 1 Cor. 11:27-32)? (And pay careful attention to 1 Corinthians 11:32, "When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.")

That means that the Holy Spirit never convicts believers of sin, that believers never need to confess their sins to God, and that believers never need to repent of their sins, since God sees them as perfect in his sight. It is easy to see how such teaching can be dangerous, especially to a believer being tempted to compromise.

One hyper-grace teacher wrote this: "When God looks at me, He doesn´t see me through the blood of Christ, He sees me-

If Jesus doesn´t see our sins, why did he say to the church in Ephesus, "Yet I hold this 49

against you: You have forsaken your first love" (Rev. 2:4, NIV)? And why did he says this to the church in Sardis? "I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you." (Rev. 3:1-3)

3:19 (translated there as "rebuke"; and note Rev. 3:22: this is the Spirit speaking!).

It is because God loves us that he rebukes us (not condemns us) and it is because sin is so destructive that he calls us to turn from it. This is the goodness of God, and this is what grace does, as Paul wrote in Titus 2:11-12, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say `No´ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age."

Does it sound like the Lord was thrilled with what he saw in Ephesus and Sardis? If the Lord always "sees us as holy and righteous" and always "loves what He sees," why did he rebuke the believers in Laodicea, telling them that they were "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Rev. 3:17)? Why didn´t he say, "I see you as beautifully clothed, healthy, and rich?"

How tragic it is today when God´s people mistake the voice of His correcting love for the condemning voice of Satan, and how sad it is when they resist the purifying work of the Spirit, claiming that there´s nothing to purify since God no longer sees their sins.

Has He justified us by the blood of Jesus?

Absolutely. Has He has set apart as holy to Himself? Without a doubt. Has He called us to be His sons and daughters, all by His love and grace? Yes He has. And it is because of these things that Paul wrote, "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God" (2 Cor. 7:1). What a beautiful, lofty calling. Don´t let anyone steal it from you.

If he was so happy with what he saw in Laodicea, why did he threaten to spit the congregation out of his mouth (see Rev. 3:16)? And if believers never need to repent of their sins, why did Jesus say, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent" (Rev. 3:19)? And how interesting it is that the same Greek word used in John 16:8-where Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of its sinsis the word used by the Lord in Revelation 50

Africa Our past and present missions include: Drilling water wells, free medical services and in current development of Agriculture &Housing.

Germany ICOF Germany held it’s first ever Fivefold Roundtable.

Bishop Marcus Benson (ICOF Bishop of Europe) joined with Bishop

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India Dear in Christ, Bishop Dr. Bernie L. Wade • we started Church construction with prayers.

• Please keep in your prayers for the resources to finish this Church construction soon.

• We need your prayers and supports to finish this church construction • If you lead by spirit to help for this Church constructions please feel free to contact me.

Thank you Your brother in Christ Bishop DANIYELU. K

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USA

FIVEFOLD ROUNDTABLE SPRING CAMP MEETING In our second annual Fivefold Roundtable event for the Ohio Valley we expanded our scope and venue to include more of a conference focus.

Our hope was to bring more of a worship atmosphere to our meeting and we were not disappointed. God manifested His presence in a mighty way.

We were blessed to have a good number of young people come to the youth portion of the Five Fold Roundtable Spring Camp meeting.

The emphasis of this conference is to bring fivefold ministers together to network, train, encourage, uplift and more. It is our vision to see fivefold roundtables in every part of the world.

We were blessed by the capable ministry of a plethora of fivefold ministers.including Bernie Wade II, Dr. Barney Philips, Dr. Robert Strabue, Jim Kody, Blanca Wade, Melissa Kody, Sonia Green, and others.

Dr. Robert Straube with others during the ‘Twilight’ session at the Fivefold Roundtable

Happy attendees at the ICOF Fivefold Roundtable meeting

The worship leadership provided by Jim and Melissa Kody gave the meeting the 53

emphasis we needed to usher us into the Throneroom.

Rebecca Goins organized the Youth ministry with the capable help of Blanca Wade, Matthew and Kelly Desurne, Jackie and Alyissa Straube and others! There was a viable and capable Godly activity for children during the time the adults were in the Fivefold Roundtable sessions.

--------------Dr. Barney Phillips ICOF VP of Missions drbphilips@icof.net

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As if THAT wasn’t enough, I have preached twice in area churches in the past month, and have launched our weekly Catalyst 316 Bible study for adult seekers. This coming weekend I will be involved in teacher training leading up to our Chungoong English Ministry (CEM) winter retreat later in the month.

Doc and Mia Burkhart

Mia is still in the Philippines, and we are still working out her visa issues to get her back to Korea as soon as possible. She has been keeping busy as only Mia can; she is not one to be idle. She has been assisting those others who want to come to Korea to work or to visit, and she has also been managing her family’s affairs there in Angono Rizal. She wants to be back in Korea so bad (I want her here, too)!

KOREA FEBRUARY 2013 As we enter February, I am given pause to reflect on the first month of 2013. It has been a busy month! Upon returning to Korea, I am back into a full schedule again, with some extra duties. In the school, we finished up our three week winter camp for English-‘seekers’, and I preached in chapel twice to the students, and made some great new friends.

For me, ministry is a joy, and I am exactly where God wants me to be. I consider it a privilege to serve the King of Kings, and to stand in your place in ministry. So many of you want to go to serve on the foreign field, but can’t because of a variety of reasons. I am here in Korea, standing in your place for you! There are so many ministry opportunities; it has become difficult to prioritize those ones that the Spirit has been leading. Please know that God is multiplying your prayers and your support for HIS Kingdom!

Then, the last week of January, we started our Spring term at Lighthouse International School. It was good to see some familiar faces, and to meet new students in the semester. This term I am not only teaching high school Chemistry and Physics, but also Bible (FIVE different grade levels -*whew!*but I am LOVING IT)! How many other people get to share the Word of God on a weekly basis in a discipleship setting with over 70 students a week?

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PAKISTAN TESTIMONY

BIBLE DISTRIBUTION with

I WAS FEELING PAIN IN STOMACH & PRESSURE ON CHEST, AND CAN'T EAT MUCH FOR LAST SIX MONTHS, AND WAS ON MEDICINE THAT DID NOT WORK. I LOSE MY WEIGHT ABOUT 12 KG.CAN'T SIT ON COMPUTER FOR WORK. IT WAS SO CRITICAL FOR MY HEALTH.I WAS PRAYING ON SICK PEOPLE & TAKING HEALING MEETINGS, TEACHING SESSIONS, I DAILY SPEND 14 HOURS IN LORD'S WORK.WHICH REDUCED TO ONLY 1 HOURS HARDLY. I SHARE MY PROBLEM WITH BISHOP BERNIE L WADE TO PRAY FOR ME. I WAS TOUCHED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHEN HE PRAYED ON ME & RIGHT THAT MOMENT I AM 100% ALRIGHT. I RECEIVE HEALING WITH HIS PRAYER. MAY GOD ALMIGHTY BLESS HER & FAMILY FROM HIS GRACE RICHES MORE ABUNDANTLY IN JESUS NAME.

Pastor Amjad Shakir

AMEN. Kanwal Sohail ICOF SECRETARY GENERAL ASIA

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The Guest Speaker is Dr. Roderick Williams, Jehovah Jireh Ministries, Alexander City, Alabama. The music will be rendered by Jehovah Jireh Music Ministry.

Contact Dr. Hurdis Bozeman at: 334-2216115, Email: hurdisb@aol.com “Empowered to Equip the World through the Word� www.globaleac.org

Apostolic World Christian Fellowship Youth Conference June 19-21, 2013 Apostolic Temple Church 2221 S Ironwood Dr South Bend, IN 46613

Special gathering for pastors.

P. O. Box 230805 Montgomery, Alabama 36123

Pastor Luke Smith 812.760.1725 or lukesmith78@yahoo.com

Frank T. Bozeman, Ph.D., Bishop To have your event published here send the information to administration@icof.net

Greetings in the name of Jesus, The Global Word Fellowship, Inc. would like to invite you to the 2013 Global Evangelical Christian College and Seminary (GECCS) Graduation and Ordination Ceremony.

Please send submissions at least 60 days in advance.

May 26, 2013 at 3:00 PM. The Host Church is, Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church 1794 Firetower Road, Wetumpka, Alabama 36093, Rev. Kenneth Lewis, Pastor.

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