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April 5, 2008 Hello First Love List! (and invitees) It’s been 20 years since this teaching ministry (now
known as First Love Ministry) came to be. The first hand-written “circulation
letter” was written April 19, 1988 from a state park in Greenville, South
Carolina. It followed a long trip to many scattered friends of faith in eastern
North America—“outcasts” who lived as far west as Ohio and Ontario, to as far
north as Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. At that time, the purpose of the
letters was not just to impart truth, but to help build a fresh prophetic
community—something that was set aside in the 90’s as I was called to re-engage
the theater-based church. Nevertheless, the letters continued, becoming email
letters in 2000, and additionally a website in 2003. (To the original
recipients still on my list—you know who you are—thanks for your continued
friendship despite the unpredictable turns!) It is an interesting season in the Spirit. As some of
you may also sense, many truly nourishing prophetic spiritual “brooks” out on
the internet have begun drying up or have disappeared altogether (I miss
hearing from Holly Moody, for one. Thankfully Storm Harvest is still
operating.). In view of this increasing “dearth,” my own spirit has become stirred
to expand this teaching ministry into a more interactive community of faith—not
too unlike the first vision on which it began. Though at this time there can be
no immediate personal interaction as I once envisioned, still, there are three
“community-like” ways I believe the Lord is leading me to branch out: (Before I go on—let me just say a word to the
“invitees” here—people not on my regular list. I don’t add anyone to my list
unless they request it. I’ve copied you on this message because we have had
past contact, because I think you would be interested to know what is happening
with this ministry, and just to offer you a fresh opportunity to be added [or
re-added] to the list if you so choose. That’s all. But you won’t receive
anything further unless you request it. Now, back to where the Lord is leading
me….) 1. Testimony From time to time, I receive testimonies with
substance from readers who make a strong “positive intersection” with an
article. These testimonies have as much or more power than the articles they
respond to. This is because “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy.” Yeshua builds his church on the power of testimony. Testimonies
encourage us as a community to walk in the truth—past the power of an article
to individually bless us. Testimonies put a face on the truth, causing it to
become all the more powerful and inviting. You never see these testimonies, but I do. Starting
this week, I have begun to release testimonies sent in that I feel can minister
special grace and anointing to the entire First Love community of readers. If
you respond to an article with a testimony I feel would benefit all, I will ask
your permission to share it with the group. If you say “yes,” I will release
your name only, but not your email address—unless you specifically request it
to be known to the readers. (So there is no misunderstanding, I am not opening
a “forum” featuring all responses to articles like Storm Harvest and others do
much better.) 2. Opportunities for Intercession Some of you are gifted burdened intercessors. At the
same time, I occasionally receive serious heartfelt requests for
prayer—especially from pastors in third world countries. Here in our Anglemar
family fellowship, we lift these requests up to the Lord. But we could use some
help from the gifted intercessors. It’s important to remember that because of
calling and/or faithfulness, many people on this list are not connected to
larger assemblies, and have few to whom they can turn for prayer in times of
serious need. And those who write from third world countries are usually in
desperate situations. Going forward, I will be releasing such prayer
requests for you intercessors to pick up before the Lord as His Spirit
impresses you. 3. Opportunities to Give As soon as you see the word “Give,” you’d likely
think I will ask you for donations to my ministry. Wrong…The truth is, I have
never solicited a donation to this ministry, though if Paul is any example, I
would be well within reason to do so. But that’s not my purpose. My purpose is
to offer you an opportunity to donate to others via word
of this ministry. Let me put this into quick perspective for you.
First, there is a difference in spirit between “soliciting” donations and
“offering an opportunity” to donate. “Soliciting” focuses only on the need of
the recipient. “Opportunity” focuses on the mutual benefit to both giver
and recipient—which is the way kingdom economy has been designed. Today I am
opening up this ministry as a channel that provides you the opportunity to
donate from your practical means to meet the needs of others in the kingdom—an
opportunity to enrich your own life as well as the kingdom of God of which you
are a part. Second, most Elijah-hearted people have giving
hearts, but because of their place “outside the camp,” are at a loss as to how
to direct their giving. All they know is they don’t want to give any more to
plush church buildings, empty programs and affluent preachers. And they’re not
interested in telling the government who they give to so they can derive a
personal benefit. They just want to discreetly give to what will directly
impart prophetic gospel truth to people, supporting the valid earthly needs of
such ministries, as well as to help the poor and needy. And they want to be able
to do so with confidence believing that those they give to also share their
basic prophetic heart. From time to time, needs are made known to me from
First Love members, especially from third world pastors ministering to widows,
orphans, lepers, the diseased and the deprived of famine-raked war-torn
countries. Cutting through all the clamor, I “listen” for members who show a
dedication to the truth and spirit projected through my ministry. When I sense
this in a needy member, I donate. And going forward, I want to give you
opportunity to give to such as well. Having nothing more than my own testimony,
I want to offer you a confident outlet for giving to someone in need who
demonstrates basic harmony with the kind of truth you already believe in through
my ministry. In
the end, we can only demonstrate the kingdom if we act as a community of faith.
The problem is most of us don’t have a solid visible community the way the
Amish or Jehovah’s Witnesses do to build up one another up economically. For
our own support we must either rely on ourselves (and maybe one or two others)
or fall back on the world’s security and insurance systems (which I hope we
loathe), while having no where to give to those of like mind and heart. But if
we can avail ourselves through a means like the Internet to help those of like
heart and mind, then why not do it? This is something I believe the Lord wants
me to help facilitate. So then, I will present other practical needs from time
to time from faithful First Love readers as the Lord impresses them on me. &&&&&&&&&& Beside these three areas, the Lord is making other
changes and additions to the ministry. Stay tuned! But for now, this is all I
wanted to write you about. I leave you with my blessing as always. Thanks to
all who have continued to read and respond to these articles. Special blessings
to those who have found grace to change and overcome offenses in the face of
hard to handle truth. That you are still on the list is itself a great
“testimony!” And lastly, greatest thanks to you who pray for me and our family
when you receive these articles. We definitely feel the “surges” in divine
energy that come after an article is released. Committed to your advance in the kingdom, Chris Anderson |