Back in 1992 Howard Cordell, a pastor in Blue Springs MO, pulled a small cadre of fellow pastors together to help form a new minister's group that would take seriously Jesus prayer in John 17 for unity among his followers. I was asked to join this leadership team at that time and have been serving along side of Howard and these dear men since. This was rather remarkable in that two years earlier, our church, Kansas City Fellowship (so called at the time), had become the focus of a local controversy, that quickly escalated into an international controversy, regarding our group's growing "prophetic" ministry. Locally, a rift had been created among many "charismatic" believers and congregations over this debate and, although John Wimber's Vineyard movement had stepped in to help discern and sort out the issues, our group was still reeling from the storm and continued to be viewed by local believers with significant suspicion. (In my view, we did have some fundamental flaws in our spiritual culture that needed correcting--our elitism and lack of accountability not being the least of the problems!)
Not long after the formation of the Midwest Minister's Fellowship (affectionately known as the MMF) Howard and company initiated a public reonciliation meeting between the leaders of the MMF and our church. It was a beautiful end to that difficult season in our city's spiritual history. Sadly, the reconciliation didn't get the "press" that the controversy had fueled--imagine that!
Since then, the MMF has quietly gone about it's business of creating a platform for church leaders in our region to meet each other and build friendships across the organizational lines. More and more diverse groups of Jesus-followers are enjoying the goodness of the MMF's services. In our monthly meetings we worship, fellowship, learn from godly teachers and eat together. We also host a yearly retreat and, what some call, the best dang golf tournament in town. Behind the scenes, the MMF is regularly involved in helping churches, ministries and church leaders in crisis. We help place pastors in pastor-less churches, offer non-binding arbitration for groups in conflict, financially give to hurting ministries, support the marriages and families of ministry leaders and participate with other ministries who are inspiring region-wide friendships, prayer and unity. Additionally, we offer these kinds of services without charge. Our leadership team is made up of volunteers. I really feel that this feature is a great glory to the Lord. Our sponsoring churches and ministries have made this possible by giving their leaders time and support to engage in such kingdom-enhancing activities. I like to say that one of the greatest contributions made by the MMF has to do with "the bad things that haven't happened" because we have gotten to know, love and trust each other. (And we have known first hand about the "bad things" that can happen when church leaders don't!) If nothing else came from the MMF's ministry, which isn't the case at all, then it would have been worth the effort.
We have had a number of internationally respected leaders from around the country "touch" the spirit of the MMF and they are always blown away by the lack of competition, the attitude of servanthood, the sincere love and the "self-disinterest" of this ministry. The MMF isn't attempting to "take the city", govern all the churches and ministries or wow its participants with an ambitious "apostolic vision"--other than the Grand Vision of Jesus' kingdom already operating, sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically, among us. It is a ministry that has known it's purpose to humbly serve and to "exist for others". I wonder what God might do with the MMF as it's journey progresses into it's next phases--when we discover more profoundly why God has created this ministry!
This last week, Terri and I had the honor to be the guest speakers at the MMF's yearly retreat. We all walked into an atmosphere that surprised us a bit. From "chord one" the manifest presence of God was thick in the room. Our worship experience was over the top--we all knew that we were touching the Father's heart and that He was touching ours. How could people coming from so many diverse situations be joined so immediately in the same spirit as one voice? It was truly amazing to me. It was in this atmosphere that we were privileged to teach, testify, pray for the ill and preach. We were able to really "be ourselves" among this great group of people and freely deliver what the Lord Jesus had placed on our hearts. (One of our greatest joys was that, for the first time in our 15 year history with this retreat, our whole Metro staff members and their spouses [minus one couple and one spouse] were able to come to the retreat this year. We really felt their support for our times of ministry. We all had a blast hanging out and bonding with one another. The late-night story-telling really rocked!) The "highlight" of the retreat?: Terri's penetrating testimony of our trial with her being afflicted by trigeminal neuralgia and her progressive miraculous & providential healing. It was stunning and deeply moving to everyone at the retreat.
What a marvelous experience we had--what wonderful comrades in Christ we have--Terri and I will always cherish our experience at the 2007 MMF retreat in our hearts. (www.mmfellowship.org)
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