It all started quite unexpectedly. There I was sitting in a hotel lobby talking small talk with Pastor Tom Dueschle of Celebration Ministries International, not thinking this would amount to anything. You know the conversation, “what do you do for a living”, “do you have any children”, small talk. Little did I know the outcome of that conversation would rock my spiritual walk, and change my thoughts on the Great Commission and the salvation message that is preached in the American church.
You’re going straight to hell
You see, I have always believed in the American church’s vision that salvation is what we should be reaching the masses with, I had never heard anything else in my 30 years as a Christian. You ask Christ into your heart, you confess your sins, you get baptised, and you share that with everyone else. To borrow from the great Paul Harvey, that wasn’t “the rest of the story”.
The Rest of The Story
Pastor Tom, my wife and I sat in that hotel lobby in Dallas, in April of 2009, and talked for about an hour, and it was the most profound hour I had ever spent with someone. When my wife and I got up to leave, my head was hurting and spinning from the thoughts that were laid before me. It started with a simple question: What do you do for a living. That was it. Nothing else. No philosophical question, no religious question, just what do you do for a living. I answered him, and then I added that I felt God was calling me into ministry, or into missions. Pastor Tom gave one of his sly grins, and then he began to explain to me that going into ministry was not my calling, it might be what I was going to do, my occupation, but it wasn’t my calling. He then explained how a calling on someone’s life is unique to that person. He explained how a calling on one in a marriage was really a calling on both in the marriage. That if I was called to something, my wife was also called to that gift, or item. His calling, you see, is reformation, to reform the church back to what Christ called us to do, to what the church is truly about.
We’re Not Done Yet
After rocking me with that little bit of information, he then began to talk to me about what came after salvation. I mean, so now you’re saved, you’ve accepted Christ into your life, but isn’t there more to do? He asked me where I thought the Kingdom of God was. Well, that was easy I thought, the Kingdom of God is in heaven. Well, I was right, and I was wrong all in the same breath. Pastor Tom started off by asking me about the Our Father prayer that is found in Matthew. He went on to explain how heaven was the model for the Kingdom of God, but that the Kingdom is really here with us on earth. He went on to quote to me Romans 14:17, which says:
“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (NKJV)
Could it really be that simple? I mean seriously, you’re telling me that all I have to do is seek peace, joy and right thinking (the translation of the word used for righteousness) and I can live in the Kingdom now?
Pastor Tom went on to talk to me about dominion and how Adam and Eve were called to dominion over the earth, and all the things of the earth. He explained that we are still called to dominion, and called to eat of the tree of life, not the tree of good and evil.
So much was discussed in that one hour. So much that has caused me to embark on my spiritual journey. I have no idea what God has in mind for me, no idea what I will find, no idea how I will be touched. I just know that I have a divine appointment with God in Harare, Zimbabwe and I’m going.
