Our battle cry...

I felt a real burden for this ministry today and just need to be transparent.

When I was praying today I noticed an old feeling coming on me that I had when I was a youth pastor. I was a youth pastor at a church for a number of years. The youth was a small group and I love pastoring small groups of people, regardless of age. It is just much more personal and you can see real growth, step by step. But after studying and studying and studying and studying new youth material, almost every week I would often decide "I will do this or that so that we can get bigger." Get bigger for a while was my purpose. I really just wanted us to grow. Nothing wrong with that. It was the right end, but the wrong motive. Let me say this again because it applies to every ministry, ever. Growing your numbers is the right end because that means that you are a healthy congregation. Growth is a sign of life, it is a physical and spiritual principle but you don't get there with growth as a motive.

Luke 12:25 "Which one of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"

Can we grow by being focused on growth???? Not properly. Numerical growth is a by-product of spiritual growth. Read Acts. When did the church grow? After the disciples grew spiritually.

Back to my point. My calling was not to grow the youth group and it took me 7 years to figure that out. Constantly God would tell me "be faithful in small things". In the last year I figured it out. My battle cry could not be growth, it had to be, and should have always been, "One at a time.". Does that mean I couldn't preach to 100 at a time, no, certainly not. However, my mandate, my anointing for this time was "one at a time." Its curious because once I submitted to that principle God called me from that ministry and into Hidden Bars.

I said all of that to say this, God checked my battle cry today. With newsletters and emails and ambassadors, all great things that God has given me, my focused shifted. I began to set steps up for growth when my focus, for this ministry, must be "one at a time".

Today I had a feeling in my spirit to pray for this ministry so I did so in my prayer language because I did not know how to pray for it. After about 30 seconds of that I heard "Its one at a time. Touch them one at a time."

Everything in this ministry is, and must continue to be focused on one at a time.....because really isn't that what God is all about anyway?