The present is theirs. The future from where I’ve primarily worked, is mine.
TESLA
There are those in every field who seem to be working from the future. It may take years for their colleagues to catch up to their ideologies or principles. Even today, Tesla’s ideas are largely revolutionary. Scientists look back and scratch their heads, wondering how he could fathom such mysteries years ahead of his time. As the founder of forward-thinking ministries such as Forge International, and Future Travelers, I’ve dedicated much of my writing career and ministry to preparing the church for the future that is coming. Many of the ideas may seem new and ahead of their time, but as I pointed out in The Forgotten Ways, these truths, when uncovered and restored to the church, will cause a Permanent Revolution. After all, the great scientist Newton claimed that he was only “thinking God’s thoughts after him.” How much more so with those of us who write about the church. If it’s true genius, it belongs to him. We’ve merely tapped into what he was already saying. God himself is the ultimate innovator.
Personally, it has been refreshing for me to see a generation of leaders being raised up who are voices crying in the wilderness for everyday believers to become empowered by the Holy Spirit, as they have the gifts awakened within them. Peyton Jones is one of those leaders. Those of us who subscribe to the APEST model realize that leadership is not the point of Paul’s message. Rather, it is the equipping of the saints that will fill the earth with the presence of Christ, as each part does its share. Reaching the Unreached takes that next necessary step that such conversations need to take.
Reaching the Unreached will serve the church for years to come in the principles that are laid down. Similarly, the New Testament continues to be the ultimate source that the church goes back to repeatedly to ask a collective, “How shall we then live?” Ultimately, how we respond to Jesus’s words and the response of the apostles will determine the church’s place in the world. Jones believes, like I do, that the kingdom of God is big enough for even the birds to perch in, and that we ourselves have limited it by thinking small.
Here’s to the visionaries. Those who, like Tesla, Einstein, and Newton, seem to be tapping into God’s thoughts and thereby taking us further than we thought possible. As in the realm of God’s universe, so in the realm of mission. There are new frontiers to cross. God is waiting for us to rediscover his thoughts.
ALAN HIRSCH
Founder of 100Movements, Forge International,
The 5Q Collective. Author of numerous books including
The Forgotten Ways, The Permanent Revolution, and 5Q.