"...the idol of public ministry is killing us and the mission."

We don't need another organization. We need each other in prayer. Too many have given themselves over, not to Jesus, but to ambition in Jesus' name. I can think of a quite a few, who currently sit in the prison of public ministry, devoid of much love, surrounded by prayerless and insecure staff members and all with knots in their stomachs each workday - all the while the letters and money coming in attest to their so-called success. For them a witness means defending a belief in God's existence, morality and the Bible. It means tapping into that God-hunger within each soul and proving its existence, but not necessarily filling it to overflowing. It means touching lives, not changing them. They pull together to raise funds and seemingly are excited in the moment, but when the fundraisers pass, the tension within returns. The guy at the top of this Darwinistic heap thinks all is well or that he cannot change things, but if he could see the deep tensions within his own staff created by his disobedience to corporate prayer, he would be both ashamed and grieved. In one public ministry I served, one person, who was second in charge, once confided that the head honcho did not see all the dead bodies in the room. Then he told me he'd deny this statement to his death if I ever attributed it to him. That's not freedom.

The world works this way. The business world works this way. God's kingdom does not. Christianity does not. Jesus does not. The real Church, God's Spirit filled Organism, does not. The builders of the Tower of Babel said" Let us make a name for ourselves". Christianity is not an enterprise, but a fellowship of prayer focused both on the written Word and the living Word, who is a Person; A Person synonmous with love.

There was a time when an aroma of prayer filled our church buildings. The lost could come into these buildings and immediately sense God's presence and safety. It really was a sanctuary. But today, churches and families have taken a back seat to prayerless and proud agendas which now rule through so-called successful personalities and domineering parachurch ministries. Today the lost get conferences, principles, methodology, marketing, personalities, celebrities and so forth; All in Jesus' name. We will share with them formulas based on Biblical principles and urge them to use the Scientific Method to apply them so that they too can be free like us; And of course we take an offering for it too. We turn them into Christian activists for the cause of recruiting more Christian activists while imparting the very logical Biblical worldview. But a Christian worldview, however accurate and balanced, becomes it's own prison if one never learns to submit to the Lord in prayer, for the freedom of being a Christian comes in real time encounters with a Friend where one is continually re-awakening to the reality of Love; And not just His love for one's self, but for others. Without such intimacy on a regular basis, a person begins to die on the vine. He or she becomes a robot and proud parrot; Quite empty inside.

How many friendship have been destroyed on the altar of public ministry, all in the name of Jesus? Too many. Like Tolkien's Gollum, the men who sit atop of these Christianized Civic organizations are viewed as free, but the true measure of their freedom can be only measured by the percentages of people under them who truly seek God as a lifestyle, not how many attend church or even give money. If you ever come across a staff that doesn't pray for one another and even pray together; You'll smell a rat; A big one. I'm not talking about standing in a room to parrot prayers, then go to work. I'm talking real time with God - together.

But David, you just described 99% of the American church! Yes. Exactly. Sadly.

"Christianity is not an enterprise, but a fellowship of prayer..."

Who is your John? Who is your Peter and James? And who are your other nine? Jesus had a loving order to his friendships and covered them in prayer. And do you discourage your 70 (Luke 10:1) from mingling with other kindred spirits as Jesus did not? Or do you territorialize them like His disciples? (Mark 9:39-41) Jesus was not about building a box, but a kingdom. Too many are pre-occupied with their boxes, which are remotely reminiscent of hell itself. They are filled with tension and insecurity.

One of the major benefits of prayer, is continually being taken outside whatever box you are in and getting God's perspective on a person. Compassion rises within your heart because you see that person in both strength and weakness and you are forced to recognize that they, like you, are His faithfulwork in progress. Prayerless people are joyless and jealous and naturally peg without fear or hesitation. But people who pray are often excited about God's work in others and rejoice when someone does well in God. They hope for freedom within the souls of other people. The deepest laughs, the most meaningful shared cries and the contentment of such friendships are life itself. The fuel for living isn't that God does things for us, through us or despite us. The fuel for living is why He does this. He loves. And therefore He is worthy.

The respect of titles and positions should be nothing more than an open door for meaningful friendship and fellowship. They should indicate the value of a person to God, not so much earthly pride. This is not about paying tribute to someone's box, however big or small. When Christians pay tribute to another, it should be out of grace, not flattery. I made a decision years ago, if the Lord opened the door to a person's heart, to get past the titles and earthly positions, to truly know that person on my knees first and whether we remained acquaintences or became best buddies, that I would not use them as a means to build a proud legacy in my own mind. People are not a means to an end; For God they are the end. Look at the Cross. For us the end is God who is eternal love and the best way to love God is to love people for God loves people.