God is Assembling His Teams

(Blue type = "Quick-Read")

White-Water Challenge Ahead … by Vicki Camp

This morning the Lord spoke to me concerning His "teams".  I began to share this with my husband Bill later, when he stopped me and told me that he’d had a dream about teams and partnering this very morning before awakening!  We felt this was our Lord surprising us with confirmation of His message, and we'd like to share the message with you.

5-25-2002 Bill's dream:

I dreamt my wife was sitting in a living room on a couch, talking and praying with a man sitting in a chair, there also. I came into the living room and came over to them, as I had a 'word' for this man. I told him that he was going to be partnered up with someone that would seem as though they were diametrically opposed to himself.

He and this other person would be, or would seem opposites of each other. Because of this, this man will have or has the feeling initially, "That person and I could never partner or team together."

But the Lord wanted this man to understand that this partnering would be like police officers working together, who approach a suspect. They never walk-in or approach the suspect side-by-side, but in a sort of diametrically opposed way, they come from different areas or directions and angles, for safety and a successful outcome.

The Lord wanted this man to know that this unlikely seeming partnering, unlikely to this man's understanding, that is, will be successful team-work even as a suspect is approached by trained policemen. For this partnering brought of God will defeat the enemy.


5-25-2002 word received thru Bill & Vicki C. ("Write the Vision")

            Teams, .... I Am calling for My teams, ….. My teams will be teeming and robust for the day. See a picture now, of small boat river-runners flowing roughly through white water in what I name ‘Devils Canyon run’, and you will understand the strength, endurance and dependence upon one another that I am requiring.  For a swift-run, dangerous and yet at the same time an exhilarating win which lays ahead.
            I love you each individually, and I desire to place you with others, for My purposes and for you. You may respond in your heart, ‘…. But I’ve heard of teams for a few years now, even for dozens of years…I’ve even tried a few ….not always successfully ….. ’

            But I tell you clearly, now is the time for tight completion of those formings and alignments which are of My design and of My very Finger…..again I say, placements in peopled teams, even as these small boats of My design, …MY design.

            It is even high time recognize and get in place with those I would have you work and abide in My vine with, minister with, cry with, joy with, and yes even die with. Will you believe Me in this ? I ask that you do My Own ones. This is My report of record to you for Our needs, for your needs, and the needs of My world where I have placed you.

            Scurry now of My Spirit, and find your cleft and co-partners in My surety. These may be ones whom you already embrace and who embrace you, or they may be still for you to find - neighbors near, or brothers and sisters far and elsewhere. Of My Spirit fall into your niche with these ones; The close ones you are to be shouldered with and that shoulder with you.

            This is most needful for tumults ahead.  We will have white-water success together, as you join with those I place you with in teams, as in small boats ….. I tell you, the options will be slim for lone kiakers, for the tossing and supernatural maneuvering will require more. Some upheavals ahead will be great.

            The rapids and waterfalls coming will be fierce, yes, but I say and assure you, they will be no challenge whatsoever for My white-water river runner teams coming out of high mountain, who relate and work together in smooth agility.  Teaming In Me, and teeming Of Me through My Spirit in great Kingdom forging’s ahead. This WILL be run and done – achieved.

            We, My beloved might teams and I, will circumvent even the ancient riverbed boulders in this Devils Canyon. The staggering cliffs of fearful protrusions will be negligent of harm as My vessels propel together In Christ, even MySelf…in unison of superb camaraderie love.

            Get aligned together, and get trained together now in My perfect Love…. as quickly as you can, but take as long as I assign.  Find and meld with your close brothers and sisters.  I say again, this teaming is of top priority to Me and to you at this time.

            Now, see ahead, past the cliffs, past the white water rapids of tumult and see the peaceful lake of light and rest at the finish.  See the small vessels, manned with My teams, all coming together in this place of peace, light and restful calm waters.

            I name this ‘Lake Rest and Shine’, for you.  This is our destination and destiny; Even the calm and deepest waters of My Word, for I AM the Word and My peace following this storm of great effort will be unmatched to anything of your present knowing or past memories.

            My purposes and My promises are not slack, but accomplish all that I speak.  Many in the world will observe your finish In Christ, in this next run ahead which I’m speaking to. They will gather to inquire of you and yes even to cheer for you, saying, “……these are mighty little teams that have ‘made it’ through!

            Look....their helmets are blood red color - couldn't miss them! ……Others floundered, overturned or stayed back and held back from the raging, but not these brave little boats of noted ones. Let's go and ask all the oarsmen what their secret strength is?

            What causes their robust strength and endurance ? Who inspired and pushed them onward, when others feared to even begin? Look at that, they are not even appearing tired, their clothes and gear sparkle like new, and they have an unearthly shine of robust health, even looking as if they're newly refreshed!

            Amazing !! Let’s go to them and find who their team sponsor and great manager might be. . . “Ha ha, see ahead with Me, and rejoice ahead with Me, at their great surprise and joy when they discover your Helmsman for themselves, in their hearts and lives in Deed and in Truth!

            I will never leave you or forsake you My beloved ones, My mighty small team vessels who partner with Me and with each other through the white-water challenge.

            Know this, we will flow on to My Rest, your whole person strength countenance shining outwardly as refreshed and refreshing beacons. . . “. . . that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” – Jn. 17:21
“For He (Christ Jesus) is Himself our peace…..” – Eph. 2:14a

Commentary from Meri:

As God begins to draw the body of Christ out from their caves and hiding places, one of the really neat things He does is to lead them, lead us to people who are "like ourselves." It is as we meet people who identify with what we thought were our own "unique ways" that we begin to experience "validation" both as individuals and as ministers. Sometimes during this period of our lives there are those we see from a distance through books or emails or testimonies that have attitudes and ways that are "like us."

These two processes (drawing out and drawing to) causes an acknowledgment in us of our worth and value, and we are somehow strengthened and edified.  This is the process of being strengthened by "like-minded", "like-gifted" people.  This is a part of the normal process of growth and encouragement.

We learn much about who we are in Christ from others whose relationship to Christ is "similar" to ours (puzzle pieces?). I remember how in 1996 when I first met prophetic people on the Internet and suddenly realized that I wasn’t “an odd ball” or if I was I had a lot of company.

Recently I did a Meyers Briggs personality test. I was identified among a group of people who only represent 1% of the population. I am of a personality type that isn’t prolific in the human community. So when I meet someone that thinks and functions like I do, it is affirming. It is encouraging. And it is a common human need for us to have our worth and value as people affirmed in this way.

Within any family there are siblings that relate to one another more than others.  It is "natural" to relate to those who are more in harmony with us than those who see life from a completely different perspective. So in the Body, this is a "natural" process of growing up in the knowledge of who we are and who Christ is.

As within families, where there are healthy mother’s and fathers who recognize that their children will have different types and personalities each with their own unique worth and family, the children will grow up with the warmth of acceptance and personal validation both of themselves and others. That is something that we are all in need of both in the human community and in the Body of Christ and which God is growing among the spiritual mothers and fathers he is raising up in this hour.

A temptation is built into this process which I will call "factionalism," "party spirit," divisiveness"...all scriptural words which most of us quickly identify have come out of every move of God that has taken place. It works in families, cub scouts, youth groups, office departments…anywhere human beings gather. Me and mine have a party. Me and my friends go out for dinner after a great church meeting. Me and my church friends get together for a potluck. Me and my friends……….

Jesus said, what good is it if you invite those to dine with you with some expectation that they will invite you in return or because you get some return out of it? He admonishes us to invite those that others have no value for, those that are left out, those that are in need, and those that can't give us anything.

Now, the person who hasn't found out who he is, what their ministry is, who Christ is in them and what Christ is desiring to do, probably isn't secure enough in the love of God to do such a thing without it being just another form of self indulgence or personal satisfaction. Love is a choosing of the worth and value of another over ones own gratification, desire, pleasure.

Until we know how much we are loved, valued, we can't give ourselves away: we can't choose another over ourselves if we have no sense of worth. We can't choose another's ministry over our own if our own has no parameters within which we are working. That isn't love. It is some distortion of human relationships out of which the self is probably gaining a measure of satisfaction.

Recently I heard of two "fire prophets" who met. After that "dancing around each other" getting to know each other and determining whether they were safe, the two were able to pray together and minister in such as way as to let their "flows mixed."

This is an essential part of what God is doing in His Body today. In 99 I attended some meetings in Rainier Ore and there was a man there who had just returned from Ireland and he brought back anointing oil from there that was mixed with "four flows" of healing ministry that had come together in a gathering of saints in Ireland.

He brought that bottle of oil to the little community in Oregon and invited all the people to mix their anointing oil with that which he brought from Ireland. Then, out of the bottle they had all poured into, each received their bottle filled again in a process of ministration which included the actual release of that anointing into those lives as they got their physical anointing bottle filled.

These were "similar flows" that had identified and joined together. This is part of that first stage of growing up in the body of Christ that many have "come through." This is still that “baby stage” of identifying with those that are of like mind. It is part of the process of growing up in the knowledge of Christ in us and of knowing who He is in others.

Some are just coming into this dimension of ministry. New power ministries, for example, need that period of “identification” with other power ministries to find out what it is that God has poured into them.  I delight as I go places to relate to people who need to know that they aren't some kooky person that doesn't fit anywhere. When they meet me, they can identify and realize at least they aren't the only kooky person in the Body and gain some understanding of the reality of worth and value that is theirs. (Grin!)

Does that mean we are the same? No, but we are similar and there is that identification of similarity that gives validation and affirmation both as individuals and as Christians.

Team ministry in the past often didn't get even to this place. It was often just people who felt led to minister together, who had learned to let God do in their midst at a given time and given place what God wanted (in the ultimate of ministries).

Sometimes it was just two or three people doing what they did within the same time frame or location. But often there was no melding of relationships between these teams. What one or the other did at the breakfast table with his wife was "off limits” to the team. There were specific lines where there was ministry and lines where there were private lives and the two didn't mix.

Today God is calling for another type of ministry. IT is team ministry, which involves the melding of lives in accountability and covenant. The third day church is one in which God is interested in conforming people to the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ which was determined for them before the foundation of the earth.

Just "doing what we were called to do" is not what Third Day ministry is all about. Third Day ministry is being shaped and formed into the image of Jesus and that means shaped and formed into relationships with others in that process. OUCH!

It isn't just the accomplishment of ministry that is the key to Third Day Ministry.  It is the development of the character of Jesus Christ within us that is the goal that He in us might be all that He is, in MY mind, in MY will and in MY emotions and then into the team itself.

In the past days of the lives of many Christians, the nature of "obedience" was often "do what I say" type of Obedience. We had a tendency to become externally motivated people who were always "doing" stuff we thought God was telling us to do.

The difference between internal and external motivation is that often the person doing was not conformed to the nature of the one speaking. Often the one "doing" wasn't even in much personal relationship with the one speaking. Sometimes the one doing had as much self interest involved in doing the "will of God” as there was desire to be "like Jesus."

(This is giving us some measure of credit that most of us probably didn't and still don't deserve because, face it, most of us are ego centric people who even in our spiritual activities have self interest and personal expectations that drive and motivate us much of the time.)

In the book of John, the scripture says that God wants "obedience"... they that love him will "obey" him, obey his commandments. But what is the obedience? That they have FAITH in HIS SON. ouch!!!! That we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and strength. Faith/relationship/fellowship: they all tie together.

How much of what we think we "ought to do" is based on some "external" rather than the inward out flowing of personal relationship with Jesus Christ? How often is what we do the result of some expectation of what we think God wants us to do rather than the result of time spent with him in fellowship and doing because "we know His heart, we know His mind" and through dependence ... relationship on him we step forth and allow Him to be in and through us in those areas that He has shown us He wants to be in us?

Third Day relationships and team ministry, in part, mean learning to relate to those in ministry with us out of the same type of relationship we have in this Third Day with Jesus personally. If my personal relationship with Jesus in this hour is about letting thy Kingdom come in Meri as it is in Heaven, then team ministry can be the same. It means letting God's will, mind and heart be manifest in the team relationship for the purpose of the team being conformed to HIS IMAGE, that through them both corporately and individually the nature and works of Christ will be manifest.

That includes what I do with my family, with my co-workers, with the mechanic and all aspects of my personal life and ministerial life are “subject” to the conforming power of God that works through the team.

There comes accountability and a covenant responsibility into which we are invited beyond anything that we have known. That is part of what "being the Church" in this Third Day is about. How do we think that we as a body all over the earth will be without spot or wrinkle, conformed and shaped into the image of the Son...a fit reflection of Himself...HIS GLORY if we as small groups of people don’t comprehend what it means to be submitted to be changed into His image in the same way?

Teams are forerunners of what He purposes in whole congregations and communities where diverse people and ministries come together out of their desire for and love of Jesus. His desire is for such groups to be brought into conformity to Himself, to His mind, His will and His heart. That is what HIS GLORY is about.

A father looks at a son who has grown up and can now do the very things that the Father does without having to have "step by step instructions"...and the father is "glorified" in the Son. This process takes time.

Granted in this day of suddenlies people are growing up what seems to be "very fast" and learning things through impartation that our fathers took years of painful experience to learn. So are the benefits of living in this day.

But as we understand the process, it can be completed more quickly and we can go on with the newer dimensions of what God is wanting to do as He prepares His Bride for Himself.

Today the process is as much between groups of individuals as between Him and me personally. He dwells within His Body and the process of being conformed to His image is a corporate work in groups of 2-3 and then larger as we grow in the knowledge of Him individually and corporately.

Recently Robert Holmes with his team of Australian ministers was in our area again. In 99 when they were here their relationship as a team was still relatively new, as they had bound themselves together in "covenant" as brothers before the Lord. All that God gave them access to they were accountable to each other for in terms of being open to each other’s assessment, input, etc.

Mario Liu told of how one night Robert was coming to their house. When he arrived, he looked at Mario and told him everything that had been said between Mario and his wife for the last ½ hour while Robert was on his way to visit them. Things like angry words that had been said and dishes, which had been cast to the floor. The purpose? Was it to bring humiliation and shame? NO, it was to let them as a team know that God is working to conform them all to His image and that he is personally willing and desiring to speak into EVERY aspect of our lives.

Are we so willing? Would we be willing to be a part of a team that allowed God to reveal the very personal interactions of our marriage lives? How else can we really say we are being “conformed to His image” if we are not submitting all those aspects of our lives to the Light of His Word and to our brothers and sisters?

Mario admitted having a friend like Robert Holmes who one time gave him a list of 25 or so things that the Lord gave him that Mario needed to work on isn’t the most joyous thing in the whole world. But what is the result? It is a team out of which the love of God flows and reaches out around the world to touch leadership and congregations in a way rarely seen today.

This is a team who because they know what God is working and doing on them, what their human dimension is and where God is working, are free to speak into other people’s lives not as those who are superior but as those who understand the human condition and know the Good News which is Jesus Christ!

Diamond working on diamond. In the last three and half years, their commitment to each other has increased to the place that they can welcome other "team members in" within the security of that accountability and covenant and then extend the "benefit" of that security and knowledge of God out to the congregations they minister to.

It isn't just one or two "ministers" working together.  It becomes a "ministry" with a whole separate identity of Christ in itself. It has, in terms of "systems theory," become a system itself, which allows sub-systems to function. It is able to function in other systems because of the security of it's own identity and worth.

When individuals come together, there is something more than just the addition of 1 plus 1 equals two. When one joins one, there is something beyond the identity and ministry of individuals and ministries that comes into play.

It is "that" other factor [i.e., "Synergism" - ed] God is desiring to use, to be conformed to Himself and which requires the total yielding of each individual before the sovereignty of God in the team for that process of change to take place. It is in such team identity that the fullness of what we have been destined to fulfill will come forth in this the Third Day.

May we be challenged by the Lord to step forth outside our own comfort zones that He might be "enlarged" in our midst? That he in us might be enlarged and that we in him might be found increasingly conformed not only to His image, but that the groups of people that we join with are themselves as groups increasingly conformed to His image…until we see and know the glory of God being poured out around the earth and the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth as the waters cover the seas.
 

Please press your browser "Back" button to return to the previous page