Prophet

proph·et

 noun \ˈprä-fət\

Definition of PROPHET

1

: one who utters divinely inspired revelations: asa often capitalized : the writer of one of the prophetic books of the Bibleb capitalized : one regarded by a group of followers as the final authoritative revealer of God's will (ex. Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah)

2

: one gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight; especially : an inspired poet

3

: one who foretells future events : predictor

4

: an effective or leading spokesman for a cause, doctrine, or group

Thursday April 19th my husband and I were able to sneak away (thanks to my mom and dad) in order to hear Francis Chan speak at William Jessup University.

If you haven't heard of Francis Chan then let me encourage you to go to his website, or to look him up on youtube.  He is among other things, a prophet as described in definitions 2 and 4: "one who is gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight, and an effective or leading spokesman for a cause, doctrine, or group."  Or in this case, for Jesus Christ.  His books have changed the hearts and minds of thousands, and his words inspire something deep with in me.

I'm hoping he is in process of writing a book on the topic he spoke on that Thursday, because it is a topic that if people listen to what he's saying it will revitalize the dying churches.  It's not a new gimmick, it's not a trick or a new tool.  It's really nothing new at all, in fact it's at the very heart of the gospel that's been preached all along.  Discipleship.  Somehow the true act of discipleship has been lost.  The idea of taking someone under your wing and training them how to share the amazing Crazy Love of God with someone else, so that they can also share it with another and so on.  Church is not event based, it's people based and unless we start focusing more on individual people we will loose the authentic community of faith that God so desires for our churches.