BY Wade Copland, Pastor at Discover Church
I don’t remember why I stepped into the coffee shop that night.
I can’t remember what book of the Bible “Brother Bob” and the other men were discussing so passionately. I just remember failing miserably in my attempt to covertly listen in, before eventually being invited to join the conversation.
Not long after, talking to Brother Bob became a weekly routine. One night “Brother John” and “Sister Patricia” were with him. They didn’t speak much. In fact, they both looked at me with a steady gaze. It wasn’t creepy . . . just different.
At one point John said to me, “We’d like to share something with you. If it’s from the LORD, you’ll know. If not, reject it.”
When John and Patricia finished sharing for what felt like forty minutes, it felt like a new beginning for me. The Holy Spirit had given them soul-piercing words that brought me to understand the ministry of the LORD in a personal and loving way that I had never known before.
Fast forward 22 years to today. By the grace of God and to God’s glory, I find myself in a new ministry that was spoken of by John and Patricia. But in the in-between years, I saw the social media posts from all the “political prophets”. I attended an event as a nationally-known “prophet” spoke vaguely with seemingly little accountability. I knew people who “practiced” prophecy and had no framework to understand what that could mean.
Even so, I’ve never been able to ignore 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”
I had no answer to this question: What does a healthy prophetic ministry look like within the local church?
I couldn’t wait to begin the Growing in the Prophetic track this year and was pleasantly surprised that the primary author leading our exploration would be Wayne Grudem.
I’ll admit I have been a less-than-stellar participant. Even so, nobody has shamed me for missing a reading or assignment. The cohort has given me the opportunity to explore this area together with my wife, and it’s strengthened our marriage as we’re better equipped to discern together what the LORD is saying. It has also allowed me to connect with other pastors in the district and encourage one another to not just explore the healthy implementation of prophetic ministry in our personal lives and our churches, but in other areas of church life too.
I believe experiencing God is where the paraphrased Henry Blackaby quote comes from: see where God is working and join Him. For many of us in the cohort, it’s been difficult to see where God is working during this season. Even so, the Spirit is always doing the work of transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18). Having a greater understanding and equipping in Biblical prophetic ministry is making our cohort more aware of what God is doing, and it is becoming instrumental in the transformation of our church. And in the last six months, the question I’ve asked for 22 years is being answered.