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In October 2005 God began to deal with Karen and myself concerning our future in the ministry. At the time we were happily serving as an associate pastor at a church we helped to start in FL. For several nights in a row He woke me up and impressed upon me a vision for what we were to do.
It took me by surprise because what He was telling us was not what we had ever thought we would be doing. I was happy to be the "number 2 man". Had no real aspirations to be "the guy". But here was God moving us toward church planting. He gave us the vision you are seeing expressed through this site for a ministry called Destination God: The Practice of Vintage Faith. So heavy was this on our hearts that I began to talk to the pastor we worked under about launching an alternative service in our church once we got beyond the opening of our new building, which was slated for April of 2006. He was open to the idea and encouraged me to attend a church planting conference near where we lived. Little did I know that the vision God was giving me had "layers". I had just seen one aspect. God had more in store.
At that conference I met an old friend. He told me of his vision for a church plant in the south metro Atlanta area. Immediately we knew we were supposed to move to GA to help. No, this church is not similar in nature to the Destination God vision. But the Destination God vision has been a fluid vision. God has been refining it bit-by-bit.
Because of the original thoughts, I had considered that it would be an actual working church. And there may still be an element of that in the future. But I am more-and-more seeing it as a movement, not a church. By movement I do not mean like a church denomination, or evangelistic crusade organization. No, I see it as an army.
As first described on the page Destination God, I believe we are about to see a significant population of Americans (and world-wide as well) who have very little concept of God. At least very little true concept of God. They will not be attracted to churches as they currently exist. The modern seeker-sensitive church is designed more for those with a church background who tired of the stale approach they witnessed growing up in and around church. But, to this new generation, those "cutting edge" churches are the stale approach.
But instead of trying to reinvent the church, as some are doing, I see something different. It has been impressed on me that the best ministry opportunity we may have in the next 20 years with this generation is outside the walls of the church. Even new styles of church worship, which I whole-heartedly endorse, may not be enough to turn this generation to God. We must go out amongst them, engage them in dialog, and envelop them in relationship, if we are to influence them for God's truth. That is the idea I began to express in Radical Christian.
But we must do it in an authentic and orthodox manner. Our message must not be in a bottle tossed out onto a sea of "liquid gospel". It must be straight forward and uncompromising. It must be doctrinally sound. It must not be subject to the whims of the culture. It must transcend the culture. But it must also be compassionate. It must be a practice of Vintage Faith.
So where is God leading the vision? I believe we must take the initiative to train an army of thousands to go out into the postmodern generation, engage the culture, and present the gospel. But this army will not inhabit pulpits. They will do as St. Francis once said, "Preach the Gospel and, if necessary, use words". Destination God will be a training center at first. Then it will take thousands of different shapes as thousands of different people go and make an impact on their world. It may be a coffee house one place. It may be a house church somewhere else. If may be a video gaming "parlor". It may be a skate park.
But it will not be gospel psychology. It will not be a holy "how to" manual. Those may have their place. But not as a part of Destination God. The Destination God army will know sound doctrine. They will know how to present sound doctrine. They will know how to refute the arguments. They will be able to engage this generation intellectually.
And as I write this, it scares me a bit. This vision is much bigger than I originally thought. It is definitely much bigger than me. It is much bigger than any one local church. But it is not bigger than God.
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