“Which way does Your wind blow? That’s the way we want to go.” – Andrew Ehrenzeller
“The wind blows wherever it pleases.” – John 3:8
The question is, “How do we know where the wind blows in order to go that way? Jesus, where is Your Spirit moving and how can we join you there?”
“I only do what I see the Father doing,” that’s what Jesus said of Himself. How did He know what the Father was doing? He spent time in prayer. He left the multitudes and the mission and He went on the mountaintop and He waited on the Father.
After our family of seven arrived in New Bern, North Carolina at our new rental house located in a golf course community, I began to walk every night seeking the Lord. “How do you want us to impact this community?” We were a missionary family hired on staff at an Anglican Mission church plant. We’ve been involved in church planting for 17 years. Our main objective—so we thought—was to build the specific church to which we were called and to do it missionally.
Sometimes when we seek after the heart of God, he says: “Are you willing to go where I go even though you don’t understand what you hear me saying?” “Are you willing to follow anyway?”
I’ve got to be honest. We’re not ‘golf course’ people. We don’t really fit in with the country club crowd. But after four months, I had to laugh. We found ourselves making our best connections with people at the pool. Then the Lord began to speak to me on my long night walks that I should only pray for one of the club owners, his family, the club and nothing else. This didn’t make sense to me. “Lord, you called us to a church plant, why the focus on the club and this family?” God spoke to my heart, “If I called you to pray for this family and this club don’t you think I have a reason?”
After a few months, the Holy Spirit led me to reach out and serve the club owner. The club was struggling, and I began to help with advertising and communications. Over the course of 5 months, we spent much time in business and in conversation. I spent a lot of time listening. I told him about my relationship with God. At one point he told me, “I have been bobbing on the edge of Christianity for years.”
Over time he agreed to attend a small Alpha Course, in January 2012. We geared it just for him. He came to Christ on March 3, 2012 on an Alpha weekend retreat.
His decision for Christ changed our ministry in ways we’d never imagined. It gave him the opportunity to see how his one life impacts a whole region for Christ. Through these encounters the Lord called us away from our traditional methods of church-planting and led us to begin The SEEDS Ministry, a Fresh Expression impacting golfers of all ages. Not only does SEEDS impact the golf community, it’s becoming a catalyst to the churches, businesses and ministries in our area.
So, do what you see the Father doing—even when it takes you to a golf course and far away from everything you know how to do. Being given the privilege of joining the Lord in his Kingdom work begins and ends with going to the heart of the Father. Get to know his voice, follow where it leads, and get ready for a surprise.
