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Imagine with me if you will, a gathering of men. A Great Gathering. They come from the north, south, east and west; from all racial, ethnic, denominational, educational, economic, social, and political backgrounds. They are men of all ages – young men, emerging men, full-throttle men, and seasoned men. They share one common trait. They are men who have experienced transformation (death to life, blindness to sight, sinner to saint, lost to found, aimless to purposeful) as a result of placing their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on their behalf. They use words like redeemed, rescued, forgiven, saved, called, committed, or commissioned to describe themselves and their lives. Who are they? Simply put, they are Christ-following men. They gather together, shoulder-to-shoulder with one another and face-to-face before God to give account of themselves and to commend the works of God to men of other generations. Their deepest desire is to honor the Name of God and honor men who honor God. So they worship, they sing, they pray, they give, and they receive. They hear the trumpet call, they return to common, familiar ground. They RETURN to the place where God powerfully manifested His presence one decade ago, returning like exiles that are leaving the captivity of their day-to-day “small-story” lives to the freedom and adventure of the “Big-Story” of their identity as Sons of the Living God. They REMEMBER the conditions of their inside and outside world; distressed, disgraced, broken, fallen, and burned. In a word – dis-integrated. Words like terrorism, violence, isolation, and secret places blight the landscape of their hearts and the work of their hands. Yet simultaneously they remember the character of God; holy, set apart, just, patient, compassionate, forgiving, inviting. They remember Jesus, suffering servant, all-sufficient savior. They remember the comfort and compass of God’s Spirit, guiding them through the minefields of daily struggles and battles. They remember their sons, daughters, wives, homes, hopes, dreams, and ideals. They are looking for a fight, a battle to win. They long for permanent change. Is this the best we can do, they ask? They commit to RENEW. They are ready to confess, ready to repent, ready to turn on a dime. They know their priorities are shallow and their pursuits are hollow. They are tired of life- as-usual. They want more. More depth, more meaning, more focus, more results. More bang for their buck! They know what needs to be done. They need to REBUILD! They know that because they are men and building is in their God-given DNA! All around them on the omnipresent Screen they are bombarded with images of decay. The faltering infrastructure of their hearts, homes, streets, cities, nation and culture haunts them. They wonder if their children and their children’s children will have a future. When they “google” the earth, they see lots of building projects waiting to be undertaken. They want in. They are not spectators, they are players! The world appears hell-bent to break down all walls: walls of truth, walls of faith, walls of authority, walls of protection, walls of integrity, and walls of civility. These are the Walls of God. The Enemy seems to have the advantage – is he destroying faster than the men are building? Perhaps, but these are men of faith. They are more than conquerors through him who loves them. They are convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate them from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus their Lord. So they do not give up. They commit to share their wisdom, their resources, and their energy (in ratio to their age and experience) to make a difference. They will RETURN again and again in the seventh year of every decade for a census, an examination, an accounting, a celebration. They will continue the legacy. Every man, called out from every community of biblical faith, gathering once every ten years. They will REMEMBER their God who does not change, they will RENEW their resolve, and they will REBUILD the broken places. Meanwhile they will be men whose motivation is love, whose method is service, whose purpose is redemption, and whose goal is freedom. They will stand in the gap. Ezekiel 22:30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it . . . “
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