The Call
In the beginning God had a dream: of a family and a home. Starting from Adam and Eve and throughout the millennia of human history that followed, the enemy sought to destroy this dream by separating mankind from the Father and dividing the family one from another. But with deliberate determination, God continued, generation after generation, to restore His family, healing the divisions between races, classes, denominations and gender.
And now the fullness of time has come for yet another important restoration – bringing the generations into one.
Because God foreknew what He was longing to do at this time in history, in His wisdom He fashioned and positioned a generation to be the bridge through which He could link all the generations. This generation, known as Generation X (born circa 1965 to 1979), carry within their hearts the God-given dream of the Church, not as an institution, but as a family, united in intimate fellowship with the Father and filled with such an unconditional love one for another that it will become a homing beacon for a lost and dying world.
The enemy, again attempting to abort the timing of God’s purposes, has tried to wound and offend Gen X through years of rejection and misunderstandings with the older generation. Sadly today many Gen Xers either live in self-imposed exile, disconnected from the rest of the Church or have abandoned the faith entirely.
But God has not left Himself without a witness in Gen X – a remnant who has refused to bow to the enemy’s wicked plan and who has fought to stay connected, waiting for the day when God would release them into their mandate as the bridge.
We believe this hour has finally come and the Lord God is now sounding a trumpet call to the faithful remnant of Gen Xers everywhere to rise up and stand together to receive their marching orders from the King, for the sake of their generation and for the fulfillment of God’s purposes for all the generations.
The 1-2-3 March gathering will take place in Edmonton, Alberta beginning at 7:00 p.m. March 1 and continuing until 10:00 p.m. March 3. The gathering is open to all believers who carry a heart to see the generations united. Together as one family we will worship and wait on the Lord until He releases His orders for the mobilization of Gen X, so that the bridge might be established for the blessing and breakthrough of the whole body. The gathering will be facilitated by a team of recognized senior spiritual fathers and mothers, as well as Gen X leaders, from across Alberta. More details concerning venue, registration etc. will be released in the next few weeks.
We look forward to gathering in Edmonton with all those whom the Lord is releasing to carry this mandate to see the generations restored in this hour.
The Alberta Project Team
March 1-3, 2012, a remnant of believers from every generation answered a call from the Lord to gather in Edmonton to begin a mobilization of Gen Xers (born c. 1965-1979).
As we began the gathering entering into the presence of the Lord together, the Lord invited us to “come away with Him. As we continued to release our spirits, a clear declaration from the Spirit came through the worship team.
What have we here? A flower here…a flower there? What have we here? Snow is melting and flowers are blooming everywhere. See.see.. flowers are blooming everywhere, see with My eyes!
For the winter has passed and springtime is here, what have we here? See with My eyes, .flowers here and flowers there, blooming everywhere..it’s blooming everywhere...blooming everywhere...
Winter has passed, springtime is here, the birds are singing, flowers are blooming, And I want to hear one thing, I want to hear one thing in this hour and it’s your voice, it’s your voice I want to hear your voice! I want to hear your voice, come out of hiding. Springtime is here and I want to hear your voice...sing for me, sing for me!
For the next hour, the Lord continued to send wave upon wave of warm winds of His Spirit blowing over our frozen hearts, coaxing us to life again. To hope again. To believe again. To sing to Him. It was a foundation for all that would follow.
Listen: Winter Has Passed (right click on link to download file) or play here
The next morning, we felt to take “family time” together to discuss the previous evening and practice our corporate discernment. Discernment simply means to be able to recognize the voice of God – when we hear something our spirit “witnesses” that what is being said or what is happening is from God. So corporate discernment means when God is moving in a group setting, there is an agreement among those present of what the Lord is saying/doing.
So people were invited to share anything the Lord spoke or revealed to them (through pictures, scriptures, impressions, words from the Lord) during Thursday night’s worship. So as we each shared our piece of the puzzle, a fuller picture could be seen of what the Lord is saying or directing us to do.
Here are some of the themes that emerged:
Listen: Family Time (right click to download file) or play here
As we entered into the worship Friday afternoon, the Spirit centered us around Ephesians 4:4-6. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Then the worship team began to prophetically sing:
There is just one DNA, just one DNA, just one kingdom, just one way. There is just one DNA, there is just one Kingdom, and we will respond to only one, we will respond to only one. We will respond to only one – we will yield to only one – we will yield to only one. We will bow our knee to only one. We will be covered by only one. Only one, only one, only one, I am that I am. I am that I am.
As we continued to worship, dancing and rejoicing spontaneously broke out and people flooded the altar picking up flowers and boughs of cherry blossoms from décor and creating a “tunnel of spring” through which many marched and sang .
If we truly want to see His kingdom come and His will be done, then we cannot build any longer on foundations that are filled with the wisdom or plans of man. There can be only one DNA, His DNA in His Church. God is looking for a remnant, a critical mass who are willing to lay down their own ideas and agendas and surrender fully to His will, seeking His face and refusing to move unless God speaks. In this way we can become the “high-grade plutonium’ at the centre of the bomb the Lord wants to send against the enemy strongholds.
Listen: One DNA- worship (right click on link to download file) or play here
Listen: One DNA - message (right click on link to download file) or play here
As the Friday evening meeting began, the team felt the fathers and mothers were to stand onstage behind the worship team (Gen Xers and Millenials) to make a statement in the Spirit that the older generation is covering the younger and prepared to follow them as they follow the Lord. As this happened there was a perceptible shift in the atmosphere and a spirit of joy and safety pervaded the room as we began to worship.
As the worship entered into its second hour, suddenly a cry came forth, like a distant wailing from one of the worship team. A strong spirit of travail descended and all the Gen X present moved into travailing worship as the older generations surrounded them covering and protecting. After an intense time of pressing in, there was a breakthrough from which a spirit of militancy arose. “Arise! Arise! 1-2 3 March!” the command rang out from the Lord through the worship team Immediately clusters of generations grabbed each other’s arms and began marching together around the room, prophetically responding to the Lord’s call to align ourselves as One Body under One Head.
Listen: 123 March! (right click on link to download file) or play here
The birthing travail of the previous evening prepared the ground for the Lord to begin to deal the heart of Gen X. Gen X (born c.1965-1979) have a divine destiny as an intergenerational bridge and a deep longing to see the Church restored to God’s original intent: not as a vision-driven corporation but a family, united in intimate fellowship with the Father and filled with such unconditional love one for another that we become a homing beacon for a lost and dying world.
Many Gen Xers have tried to walk relationally in function-based ministry and they experienced rejection and wounding. Disillusioned and wearied, they retreated into a self -imposed exile, physically and/or emotionally disconnecting from the rest of the body. They love God, but they refuse to darken the door of a church. Still others abandoned the faith entirely.
But God wanted Gen X to know that the suffering and pain many had experienced in church systems and the delay in being released was not for their destruction, but for their perfecting. God in his mercy has been seeking to refine and prepare Gen X to be the broken leaders He needs in His kingdom in this hour. So the biggest issue hindering the Gen Xers from being fully released is not their suffering or brokenness, it’s how they responded to it. Many Gen Xers used suffering as a justification for “abandoning ship” – leaving churches, isolating and separating themselves from the Body. As such they have been “absent without leave” from the army – leaving due to pain and disillusionment and not the command of the Lord. And instead of using the vision God gave them, of the church as a family not an institution, to fuel their intercession, instead they became judgmental, critical and accusatory, especially towards the older generation leadership.
So God revealed that the key issue for Gen X being released is to acknowledge that they have sinned against God, first and foremost and that He is looking for a remnant, with a different spirit. Those who are willing to stand in the gap and repent for this “falling away” in their generation so that they might be restored into right alignment with God and take their place as the bridge between the generations that God has intended them to be.
The Gen X responded with deep hearts of repentance after which they released a call with one voice to the rest of their generation. “Hear the word of the Lord, Gen X – Come let us return to the Lord, He has torn us to piece but He will heal us, He has injured us but he will bind up our wounds”
Listen: The Destiny of Gen X (right click on link to download file) or play here
After the morning repentance, the Gen X met together over lunch and the Lord witnessed to our hearts about the importance of restoring honour to the fathers. Honour is a deep spiritual principle and the culture of honour was ripped from the foundation of Western society in the rebellion of the 1960s.
There are many faithful boomers and builders – forerunning visionaries whose hearts yearn for the presence of God and who have sacrificed much to prepare a resting place for the Lord. Many were touched at a young age in the culture-shaking Jesus movement and from this they carried dreams and promises from the Lord. But then years of “desert wandering” ensued during which they had to remain faithful in the “desert” of religious systems that demanded performance and elevated human measures of success (how many people are in your congregation, the size of your budget) above pleasing God and experiencing His glory. Years of “swimming upstream” like this has brought a kind of hopeless and resignation to their hearts.
So the Lord prompted Gen Xers that the first act He wanted them to do collectively as a generation was to restore hope and honour to these fathers and mothers. So each gen Xer took a spring flower (the room had been decorated with many spring flowers) and prophetically presented it to someone from the older generation as they sang to them:
Come away with me, come away with me
It’s never too late, it’s not too late, it’s not too late for
God has a plan for us, God has a plan for us
It’s gonna be wild, it’s gonna be great
It’s going to be full of Him
The resting presence and favour of God enveloped the room during this beautiful time of healing and blessing between the generations that was sealed by us taking communion together – thanking the Lord for His blood that was shed and body that was broken to restore His dream of a true family and a home.
Listen: Lord You're Beautiful- worship (right click on link to download file) or play here
Listen: Restoring Honour to the Fathers (right click on link to download file) or play here