Global Renewal’s Blog

So finally, after a gestation period rivaled only by whales and elephants…                Global Renewal is LIVE!

We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the blood, sweat and tears of the many who made this happen:

Web designer summa cum laude: Shibu George (and his dear wife, Joyce, who gladly sacrificed her husband on the altar of bytes and bits).

James Mathews and Lance Abraham who smithed our words and steered our paths and made us rich–two cents at a time…(as you can tell, they didn’t get to edit this)…

Sunil Samuel …our patient project manager…

James Chacko whose culinary delights brought in the means to begin this journey (remember the Website Bake Sale???),

Steve John who designed a logo beyond our expectations,

Ed Parker and Charles Moozhi who can tell stories without words through their photos and video,

and everyone who worked and waited …THANK YOU!

www.globalrenewal.org

Some months ago, we learned a new song at church:

I’D RATHER BE A KEEPER OF THE DOOR

AND KNOW THE POWER OF YOUR PRESENCE LORD

TO BE ABLE TO GAIN ENTRANCE

RIGHT INTO YOUR HOLY PRESENCE

I’D RATHER BE A KEEPER OF THE DOOR

ONE THING I ASK 
AND I WOULD SEEK

TO DRINK THE WATERS FROM YOUR LIVING WELL

MY HEART AND FLESH
 CRY OUT OH GOD

TO KNOW YOU IN THE PLACE YOUR GLORY DWELLS

I WOULD LET THE DOOR SWING WIDE 
INVITING EVERYONE TO ENTER IN

SHINE THE LIGHT AND SHOW THE WAY (Song by Josh Dufrene, David Binion)

That song brought a whole new meaning to the Scripture found in Psalm 84: I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. I had always taken that to mean “I’d rather take the lowly role of being a doorman in God’s house…” or  “If I can just stand at the threshold of His house…” Humble, but that’s not what it entails.

In John 10, Jesus declares: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” If Jesus is the Door, and we are the Keepers-what does that mean? It means if we don’t open the door for people, they will never enter in…

2 Kings 22 shows us that the keepers of the door were ranked right behind the high priest and the priests. They kept watch at the doors. They made sure nothing unclean entered in. Doorkeepers collected money for the temple and threw out anything idolatrous.

In I Samuel, we read that Eli sat at the door of the temple-it was there that he observed Hannah praying. But we read of Samuel, Hannah’s offspring, that he woke up in the morning and opened the doors of the temple. As you progress in ministry, you may come across some Eli’s: they’re sitting-they let others open the doors; they will die sitting-sometimes falling backward.

But we must open the Door. Open them every chance you get. Take advantage of every opportunity to take people beyond the veil. Bring them to the door. May we never get too big to remember that our highest calling is to stand at that door and when the Shepherd’s voice comes, open it so that His sheep can enter in and find pasture.

Twenty-four years ago, I left home with a Bible and a toothbrush…to become a doorkeeper. That job has taken me to Central America, the Caribbean, Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia, the projects of NY, the streets of NJ, the homes of the lost and forgotten, the affluent and broken, the huts of former cannibals and the playgrounds of fatherless children.

We are Keepers of the Door–Guardians of His presence, Custodians of His courts, Curators of His majesty. We hold such power in our hands today-never exploit it, lord it, or abuse it. Hold that handle with sacred honor and unsullied purity.

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. Keep your eyes focused there, on that open Door and may His kingdom come, may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
 
Let’s go forth, grip that handle,  swing it wide, and bid them enter…Let’s go, they’re waiting.