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About Us
You know ...
what's the difference? It's not about us anyway.
Either it's
Truth or it's not. Unless you're too crusty, your heart can
tell the difference.
Study the Word,
discern for yourselves. What do you need to know about us?
Truth is here
and God is in it.
But if you
must know ...
Brothers and Sisters,
I never wanted
this. I didn't go looking for it. I'm scared to death of it and
nearly paralyzed when I get a glimpse of it. Regardless, my whole
life I never prayed for "stuff." I read about Solomon and I
got it. I've always just prayed for wisdom.
Twenty years ago
God called me to the ministry. I went to college planning on the
pastorate. My folks were missionaries, I grew up in Mexico. My Dad
was(is) a pastor. I understood what he did and I knew I could do it.
But in college I went to represent the school at the Southern Baptist
Convention meetings and state meetings (1985-1987ish). In case you
don't remember ... full out political nastiness and power
struggles. I saw men of God that I respected and loved on their
knees crying about the damage being caused and the animosity inside
the church.
That was enough
for me. When I graduated from college (BA's in Religion and
Psychology), I went into the business world instead. I made myself
valuable and I learned a lot. I started a business with a partner and
learned what it means to be "unequally yoked". I went back
to school and did a Masters in Education and working in college
administration for three years at a Catholic college.
In 2000, out of
necessity I started another business, in addition to my furniture
restoration business. I had a chance to build a business from
scratch and so I threw out everything everyone had ever told me about
business and asked, "How would Jesus do it?" As it turns
out, Jesus was a pretty smart guy and his plan (as I understood it at
the time) works pretty well. We won a number of awards from the
business sector for our family-friendly workplace, growth and
entrepreneurial spirit. All to the glory of God. None of this
was my idea.
In 2004 a pastor
friend of mine told me about micro-enterprise lending and how you
could start a business in India and Ethiopia and Myanmar for $50-$75
dollars and create jobs for Brothers and Sisters in need. Then they
could tithe and support their own churches and missionaries. Like a
light bulb, it clicked instantly that I was to play a part in that.
(So on top of everything else we started an online retail arm to sell
products made by Christians in the 10/40 Window (SE Asia and N.
Africa) with all profits returning to support native missionaries and
job creation for Brothers and Sisters.)
The argument is
simple. Christians give 2% to the church - of which 0.01%
goes to reach the most unreached. But Christians in the USA
spend 50% of their money on discretionary products - game boys, bass
boats, massage chairs, big screen TVs, giant homes. So, if
that's where their heart is, then we'll just SELL THEM STUFF - and
take the profits and give it to God. I'm convinced business
professionals are the key to remaking this sick, dysfunctional
system into what God wanted it to be all along.
I have to honestly
tell you that I've generally been a good guy and played inside the
rules, but of the last 21 years since God called me to ministry, at
least 17 of them I've been running from it. But in 2004, God made it
clear that he gave me the business, the assets, the great
Christ-loving staff, so that I could make a difference. Later it also
became clear that I have to accept responsibility to wake up those
that are sleeping and to explain how bad things have gotten. I
believe there are lots of other people being called up who are also
being called to say hard things, too. Maybe you're one of them.
Somehow I think I'm supposed to pull together Gideon's army (Judges
6-7) and find the 1% that have been prepared and are ready for
battle. And we're on a FAST track because time is short.
In the summer of 2006, God purposed for the business to close so that
I could focus fully on ministry as He directed.
It'd be different
if there weren't printing presses and radio and the internet, but
there are. That means that it really IS possible to reach everybody
if you tried hard enough and did it just right. I've been studying
and reading about the prophets in the Bible. When I used to take
spiritual gifts surveys I'd come out high on encouraging and
discernment, but not particularly on prophesy. The Bible clearly says
that in the last days prophecy will increase. I've always prayed for
wisdom, but if prophecy is just getting a higher vantage point so you
can seem more of the big picture God sees, then maybe that's the same
thing. (I Corin. 14:1) I prayed for wisdom and fearlessness and
all of a sudden now my spiritual gifts surveys are super heavy on
prophecy and teaching!
I keep telling God
to use me for whatever and I'll obey. But I didn't really mean this.
I'm sick about it. I know what it means. One of the beautiful sweet
Christian sisters I know was in tears when I tried to explain to her
how bad it was out there and the kind of forces rallied against
us. She said, "Listen to yourself. Where is your joy?"
That kind of bothered me. That's when it occurred to me, there's no
"Happy Prophet" in the Old Testament! Certainly there are
those that are content and those that know they are doing God's will
and are proud, honored and happy to serve - but none of them LIKE the
scary messages they have to give! Jeremiah cried all the time.
Even Jesus wept over Jerusalem and what He knew was going to happen
to them because they would refuse to listen. I spend a lot of
time crying now.
The best I can do
now is listen very carefully to the still, small voice of God, get
wise counsel and lots of support (and prayer) and make sure that I'm
ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY scriptural about anything I say. That's the
pure absolute requirement of a prophet. It's not about my
interpretation, it's about the Word of God.
So, I guess God is
using my native Missouri "Show Me" instinct to demand that
church leaders show me how they can justify what we've been doing -
cause it ain't working! My brain is wired for business and I'm
from outside the system, so I leave all the seminary preconceptions
aside. I've been called out to point to the core, the beginning point
and ask how we got HERE from THERE. I think God is telling me to turn
all the normal arguments on their head and demand proof of their rightness.
I've picked up
pieces of the puzzle along the way in the last two years. I've talked
forcefully about the misuse of money; I've learned about the city
church and what that means and how it needs to be restored; I learned
about the Holy Spirit and how to keep your cup so full of Jesus that
nothing else can fit; I learned about demons and deliverance and how
they can mess with people, even Christians; I learned about hearing
God better and how to teach it to others; I learned about how to
effectively blend business with ministry; I learned about lots of
different denominations and how the enemy has used doctrine to blind
and bind them; I learned about the difference between autocratic
leadership and servant leadership; I learned how to stand in the gap
for people or groups or cities. Best of all, I learned the
importance of obeying God all the time - and I got a great big
helping of Fear of the Lord.
My best hope is
just that we would get you free of anything that is holding you back
so that you can be fully effective for the Gospel. That we would
unclog your pipeline to God and uncork your "cup" so that
the rivers of Living Water would flow up from inside of you and
overflow your cup all the time and splash everybody around you.
I want you walking in the fullness of all that the Lord Jesus Christ
has for you. I don't want you listening to and obeying ME. I want you
obeying God. I didn't get here by listening to ANY Man. What I
learned God taught me - though sometimes through the servants He
sent. I hope I (and FOTM) can be that for you. That's all.
I love you with
all my heart. If there is any spiritual gift I have, any peace, any
love, any prophecy, any healing, any wisdom, just feel free to jam a
straw in and suck it all into your cup. You're welcome to anything I have.
Doug Perry
Servant of God
(There are lots of
other folks coming to help. Amazing people with amazing
stories. This isn't a one man show, but ultimately if it all
goes down in flames, it''ll be on my head. So as another
Missouri mule once said, "The Buck Stops Here."
Whatever the heat, whatever the cost, whatever the judgement if we
steer the children of God away from Him who made us or cause harm to
the Body of Christ -- let it be on my head.)
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