terry l. craig (@tlcAuthor)

The “Jesus” movement of the 60s and 70s swept countless numbers of people into the kingdom of God and I was one of them. Like today’s movement, it was vast and it involved a lot of young people who were facing very uncertain times—there was civil unrest, war, and the real possibility of global destruction. Like today, there were assassinations, riots, bombings, and coincidentally, there was space travel. The world was being shaken by radically different views. The Jesus movement was huge and churches were caught completely off guard by the sheer magnitude of it… and the fact that these young people had a different perspective than the norm of the day. The solution for much of the Church was, sadly, to put hands on something organic in an attempt to strangle it into submission to their structure and put it in a stained glass greenhouse where they could control it. Ambitious men were attracted to the sheer numbers of people being swept into the movement and they wrestled their way into what God was doing in order to put their mark on it. And many of those who flooded the altar during the Jesus movement found disappointment and disappeared back into the world. I’m reminded of the first chapter of the book of Acts where the apostles cast lots to pick a man to complete their number so they could continue the work of the Lord. These were godly men with good intentions—who cast lots and selected Matthias—a man who is never mentioned again in Scripture. It was quite some time before the conversion of Paul, a man whom GOD chose, who not only became an apostle but the writer of more than half of the New Testament. The problem was (and always will be) that God doesn’t need submit to our timing or our organizational flow charts and He doesn’t always use the people we would pick to accomplish His work. For those who CARE about what God is doing now, PRAY for those whom God has used to help bring about what has happened thus far. Pray they will have the COURAGE to wait on God’s choice of shepherds for what happens next instead of panicking and trying to drive mere momentum. Lord give them eyes to see the people YOU are raising up in Your perfect timing. May Your will be done!