Special Guest Editorial by Jedediah Sweetser
My father brought me up in church, and we visited many of them. From Pentecostal (yes, I supposedly ‘spoke in tongues’ back then) to Baptist. (Again, I participated in being ‘healed’ at the front of the room, falling down and wondering what I was supposed to do next). I acclaimed myself as being ‘Captain of the God Squad’. However, one day everything changed…
My Plan
In 1992, my father left the house with a final goodbye. The resulting impact put me in a tailspin that placed me on the other side of the God equation – I became Saul of the New Testament; standing at Stephens execution. I committed my life to destroying, maligning, and otherwise disrupting anyone or anything that spoke of God. I committed my entire being to rebel against God.
Acts 7:57-59At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him [Stephen], dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Acts 8:1-3 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
In 1994 my mother sent me to visit my half -brother in Boston for the summer. My half -brother showed me the city, we went to a comic convention, and then one Sunday he told me we were going to a ‘Jubilee’. I had no idea what that was – after all there’s an X-Men character named Jubilee. I went – because my brother was going; and wherever he went, I went.
Acts 2:42-44They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.
I walked into a coliseum of people, hugging on each other, smiling, and engaging myself and my brother constantly. There seemed to be thousands of people there. The singing started and I couldn’t help but get wrapped up in the winds of worship. The words were projected on the wall and I found myself singing and clapping with a melody of amazing voices.
Later that day, after all was said and done – my brother gathered some friends and we rested in an alcove of the building. Many of them had tambourines, djembes, and other hand instruments, and for the next few hours we sang and laughed and worshipped God.
John 13:34-35A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Despite this show of love, I continued to lash out at God, honing my craft and living off of the fuel of anger, sadness and hatred I held in my broken heart.10 years later in 2004 I found myself begrudgingly standing in a church because my girlfriend at the time convinced me to go. It was contemporary, it was relevant – it was hip. I accidently found myself singing the words projected on the wall, clapping with the 200 some people, and enjoying myself. Right after the worship, God smote my heart and called me back to Him. This would be characterized by the time when Saul was blinded by God.
Acts 9:1-9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
The journey of being blind took me 9 additional years, where at the end; I would meet a disciple named Matt Sullivan. After many months of fellowship, then Bible study – Matt played the part of Ananias and baptized me in the name of the Lord, giving way for the scales to be removed from my eyes. Today I can be characterized as Paul, not Saul – eyes wide open and on a mission from God to evangelize this lost world in my generation!
God’s Plan
Jeremiah 29:11“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.
When my mother died, I went home to bury her and I got to see my half -brother for the first time in many years. Throughout the conversations we had, I must have mentioned the word disciple and he picked up on it. “Your church teaches Christian=Saved=Disciple?” “Yea bro, you know that equation? I belong to the Orlando ICC” “Wow, my brother. I’ve been a part of the ICOC since 1992! I’m still a disciple in the Vermont ICOC!”
You see, God began planting seeds and watering them just 2 years after I left him – by guiding my half-brother to lead me to a GLC in Boston in 1992. And the power of the love that was present there transcended all hatred, anger, and discord I had so that decades later I would repent and follow Him once again.
Now, almost 20 years later, I have attended a full GLC in the new movement and I can tell you the power is still there. The love is still there. The fellowship is undeniable, the encouragement is unparalleled. There is nothing like it on the planet; and I have a transformed heart because of it. I walked into the GLC with hopes that I would come out something new – yet doubt and obstinacy filled my heart. My first day was one incredible breakdown filled with disappointment, confusion, and frustration.
You see, I went on my first kingdom date – many of you know that I’ve been a disciple for 9 months, and you all know that I’ve resisted dating in the kingdom – because I didn’t get it. The GLC was my first experience with it and at first, I felt disoriented and confused – incomplete.
Then something magical happened. Disciple after disciple after disciple stopped to hug me, talk to me, encourage me, smile at me…all of whom I did not know. There were disciples – upon looking at my name tag would say, ‘YOU’RE Jedediah! Bro, I’ve heard such awesome things about you! Your life has inspired your evangelist and disciples all around the world!”
Now in the world, I’d have taken that with a grain of salt – chalked it up to people trying to be nice or exaggerating the circumstances to falsely inflate my sense of self-worth. Not these guys and girls. There was intensity in their eyes, truthfulness in their attitude – a love in their being. These people would be in sin if they lied to me, and they knew it – I knew it. My second day at the GLC started my journey back into the light. I found myself sharing in people’s lives for hours at a time. Staying up until 5:00 AM in the morning for days straight just reveling in the stories of people’s lives and ministries. People I didn’t know who cared about me, who’d lay down their lives for me.
I met ‘big wigs’ who took the time to say “Hi”, ask me how I’m doing, AND actually await my response before moving on! These guys at the front of the room were so powerful, so knowledgeable, and so approachable. They care too, and as a result, their congregations care.
Brothers and Sisters of Orlando – we have worked tirelessly to increase in number, to be fruitful, to sustain and love on one another and build a church here that honors God. It’s been almost a year, and the results are incredible. It feels like we’ve lost something over the last few months, though. It has been mentioned on more than one occasion that the Orlando church is tired, and I don’t know about you but when I’m tired, I get cranky. I let things slip through the cracks. I drop the ball with peoples’ lives.
When the shepherd gets tired, the sheep can only move as fast as he does. If he stops, they stop. If he slows, they slow. If he’s tired, he doesn’t have the strength to fight off the threats to his flock and he loses them one by one.
Jeremiah 8:20-22The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.” Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?
Orlando, we’ve lost some of our sheep, and the entire responsibility lies in our shepherds, our leaders – high and low. I am responsible for being tired, careless and selfish. As a leader in this church I take responsibility for every failure, every fall away, every ball dropped. I want you to know something though. Even God rested after he created the universe. Your leaders are rested. Your leaders have new and powerful vision. Your leaders are ready to stand up, and move this flock towards the paths of righteousness that we are called to move to! Each one of us had been taken by a vision to call ourselves higher, to call YOU higher! The time for rest is over, and the time to harvest is again among us.
Luke 10:1-4After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
We will sing loud enough for the angels to hear. We will be excellent in each of our ministries. This is an exciting time to be part of this movement and I ask you to buckle your seat belts – keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times, and allow your leaders to show you the way to the Mountain!
Jedediah Sweetser
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