Dear Generation,

I write this letter with a great concern for our direction, our mission, our intended legacy and our redemptive promise. I have watched objectively in the past few years, what seems to be the onset of a heedless trend amongst us. We are instructed to be the salt of the Earth and the light of the world, but there are some basic things we need to be reminded of.

Technology and all its conveniences has done us a disservice to a degree. How?, you may ask. The convenience of everything at our fingertips in matter of seconds. This instant practice has robbed us of the necessity of a study discipline and given us the unction that we know more than we do because of our access to information quicker than generations past. We act as though because we’ve mastered the “now” we don’t need to know the “was”. Improvements and upgrades are always based off the prototype, so the former can never be discarded because it serves as a guide to the creator of the next model. The generation of the children of Israel who were under Joshua’s leadership had learned from the mistakes of the generation before them. Their total obedience gave them access to places the generation before them was promised but couldn’t attain. The children of Israel didn’t become proud in their success of doing what the former generation couldn’t, they instead, mastered the practice of following directions. Our generation has to garner an appreciation for the contributions of those who came before us beyond imitation. Our reverence of their contributions must also grant us humility to adhere to the direction their tutelage and instruction gives us. Biblically, we, the younger generation, we’re referred to as the ones with the strength, but it’s the older men who know the way and have the directions to navigate the journey. No, they weren’t all perfect and always upright, but they have been where we’re going and they can help us, if we take heed. Without our direction being guided by skilled senior statesmen, we are spiritual nomads just playing church without direction.

No mission can be accomplished successfully without direction and a clear vision. Our mission in our generation seems to have become distant from the true purpose of our gifting — the fulfilling of the Great Commission. Ephesians tells us what it is our gifting is to be used for; perfecting the saints, the work of the ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ. We’ve seemed to have mastered the benefits of executing the charge, while avoiding the charge itself. Allow me to elaborate further. We are in a dispensation when the celebrity of the mega church and ministry has been magnified and glorified more than ever. We have become inundated with replicating that image of ministry and it’s amenities that accompany it, shifting our focus from pure kingdom building ministry to platform seeking opportunities. We have unrealistic honorariums, riders, packaging, marketing and ministry staffs but no degrees (in some instances), no investment in our gifting (schooling, mentoring,etc.) and no “street creds” of our works outside the walls and safety of the church. Our mission has become a secondary by factor of our true intended subconscious mission coming to fruition. Our gifts will make room for us and bring us before great men. Just be confident in your gift and the giver because He knows your estimated time of arrival (ETA). Bishop Hezekiah Walker said in his song “Do You Know Jesus” that “the true purpose of the church is soul business, not big business.” We have to re-evaluate our motives and call and redefine our subconscious mission back to what Paul tells us in Ephesians; perfect the saints, [do] the work of the ministry (in and out of the church) and edify the body of Christ.

“What determines a man’s legacy often is what isn’t seen.” — J. Edgar Hoover. Salvation, the Holy Spirit, humility and integrity are all attributes that can not be physically seen but witnessed through expression or deed. When are exited off the scene of life, what will our legacy be to the ones coming up behind us, watching our every move? Will it be a form of godliness but denial of the power thereof or will they comprehend that it’s not by [our] power or might but by the spirit of God that causes us to be. I mentor, I have a two godchildren and a few nieces, I often ask myself: Could they (or anyone else) watching me, be led to Heaven in the event of my absence using the example they seen in me? Our intended legacy should model submission in our service to God, His man servant, our families, our ministries and our communities. We can not afford to take our talents and bury them in the ground for selfish gain, but invest then selflessly in the Earth for a fruitful reward. Except a grain falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. We have to die daily to our own selfish agenda’s in order for our intended legacy to live out. As sons and daughters, we can’t see clear enough to prophesy with our flesh not being kilt and in the way. We can not prophesy our futures if we can’t get past ourselves.

The omniscient God we serve cares too much about us as His children, heirs of His kingdom and His conduits in the Earth to not provide redemption for us. He has promised to make the latter greater than the former and to make our name great. However, He has to trust us in our mission execution using the direction given (and followed) by the lamp posts He’s placed in our lives for the legacy we are intended to leave behind. No one generation got it all right but there was always a redeeming God mighty to save what seemed to be destruction or destroyed already. We have to understand a concept that David exemplified, we may not always be in the right place or alignment but our hearts must remain connected to God. If God can’t speak to our hearts to deal with it, our heads/minds are unclear and deceptive. (Isa. 1:5) God can use our zeal and unique anointing to evangelize the world that still hasn’t yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we have to allow His redemption plan to save us from our present selves. What is the plan? The plan consists of us first returning to the true purpose of Christianity — followers of Christ and evangelists of His word, refocusing on the call on our lives and purpose for our use and lastly rededicating so that we glory not in ourselves but God of our salvation who deemed us worthy enough to partake in Him and redeemed us of our shortcomings to fulfill His promises to us to make us greater than the former and our name great.

We all are capable conduits of greatness, from the gift of helps to the gift of prophecy, from the doorkeeper to the preacher. We must also be helpers of one another to keep each other’s iron sharpened. I am no better than you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I feel compelled to share with you all what I feel is being shared with me. Let us take heed to direction and instruction being given to us and stick to our mission of the Great Commission so we may lay the foundation for our intended legacy to be fulfilled through our redemptive promise.