The Birth of a Vision
The testimony of how God brought Matthias Ministries
into being
Then the Lord answered me and said:
“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets,
that he may run who reads it."
Habakkuk 2:2
Making the Vision Plain
Making the Vision God imparts "plain" is a work only accomplished through the patient love and power of the Holy Spirit. It is a progressive work that can unfold over a series of seemingly unconnected events. One such event where God continued writing His profound vision with indelible ink upon my heart occurred in 1996 as I was on my way to an immense gathering known as "Washington for Jesus". It began within a large tightly packed crowd of commuters in the Washington DC subway system. Initially there was no indication that this throng of people was in any way connected. Yet, as I was ascending on the escalator to the street above, the sound of a lone voice singing in the distance began echoing within the subway long tunnel. Although the singer's accent made the words being sung difficult to understand, I quickly discerned the familiar melody as the familiar chorus “This is the day that the Lord has made”. In less than a minute a thousand or more voices joined in singing that familiar chorus and filled the subway with glorious praise. As the escalator neared the top, I was able to look back over the crowd from my bird’s eye view. It was beautiful and unforgettable seeing waves of joy sweep across countless faces, as the large crowd I was part of came to the wonderful awareness of our all being family in Christ.
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Prior to this blessed day I had endured and extended season of deep questions that failed to find the satisfaction of answers. Inability to find important answers seemed akin to the deferred hope which Proverbs 13:12 tell us sickens the heart. But, in His perfect time that wonderfully unforgettable subway experience marked the beginning of a season of breakthroughs into clarity regarding the worship God had been drawing me to for years. Nothing frees the soul like His faithfulness to bring forth the revelation of truth deep within us. David said it well in one of his well known Psalms...
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Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Psalm 51:6
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There is no better life than to be growing in God. And, what I am trying to describe here is an extended season of wisdom and deeper walk with Him where His heart became increasingly clear.
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The revelation that accompanied this season was powerful, yet there was no indication that this was only the beginning a vision which He would take several years to unfold. He used the indelible experience in the subway years earlier, and the uncommon vantage point my multi-church ministry, to open my eyes to something in His heart He desired me to see clearly.
A Vision Increasing in Clarity
The vision began to unfold further as the extraordinary nature of His creative design became increasingly apparent. Within my mind I began to see the various church fellowships I was serving as beautiful gardens. Each and every one was fully intended to be different by His design. Each had its own beauty and was designed to be productive in its own way. One was as a rose garden in all of its glory and the next like a vegetable garden or perhaps a wildflower garden in all of its glory. Being different in design and specific purpose, as well as beautiful in their variety, did not render any one of them as invalid. Each was beautiful and one did not have to be “wrong” for another to be “right”.
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How beautifully God can speak through creation. Pondering church fellowships as distinct and beautiful gardens eventually yielded something of true significance in light of the physical world. I remember the day that I began to notice how the various gardens on my property were visited by bees. I watched one bee in particular as he flew from my flower garden to visit my vegetable garden. I began to considered how bees were crucial to the life and growth of each garden, without being respecters of which garden they happened to be busy pollinating. The bees simply seek the nectar that sustains them. But it is the process of cross pollination, which takes place in their collecting of it, that is vital to the health and growth of all gardens. In short, cross pollination brings life.
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As I considered the life-giving work of that bee, the Holy Spirit drew my mind to the indelible memory He created in that Washington subway as that diverse multi-national and multi-generational crowd came alive as a family through worship. The worship was as “pollen” produced by each one of the different “church gardens”. And, it was the sharing of that “worship pollen” that brought life. What the Lord was about to do next, within a season considering a ministry of worship centered “cross pollination” between local churches, is truly amazing.
An Amazing Confirmation
It was mid-morning as I was about to finish my time of study in the Word and pray. My Bible was still open to Acts chapter One and Two as I was kneeling alongside my bed and began to question the Lord about the ministry that I believed He was causing my heart to yearn for. I was troubled by the concept and term of “cross-pollination”. It seemed like such a New Age term or concept to me.
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Almost immediately I began to hear His voice within as profoundly as I have ever experienced. In my spirit I heard the words “I will confirm it to you by the mouth of a child”. Still on my knees, without any idea of what that meant, I straightened up and questioned out loud, “by the mouth of a child?”. Although in that moment I could not fathom what that clear statement meant, I still know today what it is to weep openly as I recount the moments that followed. No sooner had the words “by the mouth of a child?” came out of my mouth as a question, that a vivid seen played out in my mind like a video of something that had occurred a few years prior.
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​My close friends Scott and Sylvia have a precious young son who was always excited to see me when I came to visit. Little Aaron couldn’t pronounce my last name and used to refer to me “Mr. B”. Still kneeling beside the bed my mind shot back to the time I visited their home and stood in the pouring rain ringing the doorbell next to the glass front doors. Aaron came to the door, but instead of letting me in he ran around the house yelling “Mr. B! …Mr. B! …Mr. B!” as I stood outside laughing at his antics.
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In the quick moment that this memory played I saw the “B’s” coming from the mouth of this beloved child. The bees I had just been speaking to the Lord about, and each “B” flowing out of little Aaron’s mouth, swept over me as a wave in the fulfillment of His promise to confirm His heart “in the mouth of a child”. In such an intimate manner tailored to me, out of my past He brought “B’s” to confirm the work of bees I had questioned Him about. Who but God arranges life and connects the "dots" of our unique experiences to speak through them to us? To say we serve an amazing God is simply an understatement.
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​Once again, I knew that He was writing upon my heart with the same indelible ink that never allowed me to forget that day in the Washington subway years earlier. Both encounters are as real as the day I accepted Christ and discovered the personal reality of Jesus. The Lord was in the midst of drawing something that would become increasingly visible in the years ahead.
A God Given Name
While still kneeling there in awe I found myself staring at the space on the page in my Bible that separates the 1st and 2nd chapter of Acts. As the words on each side of the gap seemed to jump off the page I began to ponder the name Matthias who is mentioned there. It was after his installation as the disciple who would replace Judas that God's people came into an accord that changed life as they knew it. It was an accord worthy of God highlighting in His Word, His approval and the promise of the Holy Spirit being poured out immediately afterward. Knowing nothing more about Matthias at this point, I knew in my spirit that the cross-pollination ministry of worship the Lord was confirming in that unforgettable moment would be called Matthias Ministries.
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​During the formative beginning stages of Matthias Ministries strange and powerful "coincidences" and circumstances continued to occur. There have been numerous "but for God" moments. Yet, the supernatural way the Lord confirmed both the name, purpose and mission calling of Matthias Ministries goes beyond what has already been spoken of here.
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A God Given Confirmation
The amazing way in which God confirmed the choice of "Matthias" for our ministry is described on the portion of this website called "Three Open Doors"
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