Last week we discussed how the habitations of God in Scripture, the tabernacles, had three compartments, and how we applied this to our Katrina relief efforts, breaking it down into three phases, which were:

Phase I: Rescue. The main goal in this phase is simply saving lives and getting people to safety.

Phase II: Stabilization. The main goal of this phase is to establish PODs for sustaining the people with the basic needs of food, medicine, shelter, clothing, etc.

Phase III: Restoration. The goal of this phase is to restore people's lives, including the infrastructure of the community, homes, businesses, etc.

All of these phases overlapped each other in some area. In some areas it was possible for all three phases to be occurring at the same time. In church, we probably would not title these phases the same way, but it can help to discern and manage the times by using a grid of three phases in almost everything. We will cover some of the practical aspects, but first let's go back to Katrina to address a very foundational and important aspect of this.

Last week we briefly discussed how the kind of person that seems to thrive in Phase I would languish in Phase II or III. The kind of person who would do well in Phase II would not do as well in Phase I and III, and the kind of person needed for Phase III will almost certainly get in the way of Phases I and II. If we do not discern the gifts and callings that people have, they will not be led well. Everyone who came down for the relief efforts sincerely wanted to help, but if they did not come at the right time and get involved in the right place or phase, they usually became a liability instead of helping. Many of our church members are low impact, high maintenance people because they are not in the right place, either the right church, or the right ministry within the church.

As mentioned previously, in the Katrina relief, things were complicated by a lack of both leadership and management, not to mention even basic communications. However, in this vacuum, leaders arose who could see what needed to be done and then mobilized the people to do it. Others joined to manage the work. These were leaders of the most amazing kind. For the most part, they did not have credentials, titles, or legal authority to do what they were doing, but they had the anointing, and people responded to it.

In a situation like this, the cream really rose to the top fast, and those who were true leaders were recognized and followed for the most part. This is the kind of leadership that the church will need to be accustomed to in the days to come. If you have ever studied the battle on D-Day, this is the kind of leadership that arose on the beaches that day. Few of the high ranking officers made it to shore, but the sergeants and junior officers took the initiative to assume authority that should have been exercised by more senior leaders. They obtained victory by doing this.

I also know many Christians who experienced those first days of the Katrina relief who thought that the power of this response by the church was due more to the lack of human control and organization. To a degree and for a period of time I would agree with this. However, if we continue to try to use Phase I strategies for Phases II or III, the mentality that is such a strength in Phase I will keep us at a very low level of effectiveness compared to what it could be. There was a point when miracles were not needed as much as hard work. Phases II and III are not nearly as thrilling and exhilarating as Phase I, so this is a very hard change to make in the church when it is needed, but it must be done. This can be one of the biggest leadership challenges of all.

Not only do we need to discern the phase that we are in, but as stated, who is best for the work of each phase. I found many of our people who were made for Phase II or III as far as their God-given gifts and temperaments, but were getting addicted to Phase I because of the thrill and excitement of it. Some of these nearly got burned out there, and had we left them in place, they would have been nearly useless at the time when they could have been the most helpful.

Application for the church: Revival is by far the most exciting aspect of church life, and it is desperately needed, but it is not the main business of the church. Once revival is tasted, it is easy to get addicted to it. Once you taste revival, anything but revival, including Phases II and III of church building, will seem boring in comparison, even if God made and gifted you especially for Phases II or III.

Understand this too: Phase I cannot and should not be sustained, which is why there has not been one church or region that has been able to sustain true revival for more than a couple of years. Once you have been revived, you should not need revival, but should instead go on to higher, more substantial things. Granted, what is indeed higher and more substantial probably will not seem like that for a good while, but it is.

There are few things sadder or weaker than a church that gets stuck in Phase I when it should have moved on, which is why almost every church or region that experiences revival ends up in worse shape than before the revival began. The more dynamic and dramatic Phase I is, the harder it is to move on.

Those who read the Book of Acts and yearn for the church to be like that again often do not realize how the church was at that time. Acts can be read in an hour or so, and because the events were so loosely dated, we can get the sense that they happened one right after the other, when often there were years spanning the events. After the thrilling beginning of the church in Antioch, it was possibly a dozen years before it was mature enough to release apostles like Paul and Barnabas. Nothing is written about that span because it is probable that little was newsworthy, but the work of God was going very well and preparing for another historic phase of the promotion of the gospel and the building of the church worldwide.

If we would learn to use the times between the revivals better, we would probably have far more true revivals. We must not despise small beginnings, things that begin outside of revival, which is most of the true work. We must not despise Phases II and III, which can actually be just as fulfilling and meaningful.   

During the crisis phase of the Katrina relief, it worked well for independent Christians to just follow the Holy Spirit, but this type of freewheeling did not work as well during the later phases. Those who love the thrill of this more than focusing on the actual fruit of their labors had a hard time switching over to some of the organized hard labor that was needed in the next phase.

Also, after the crisis phase, many showed up who assumed that they were leaders, but were neither equipped for leadership nor anointed for it. Most people discerned this and would not follow them, and they would gravitate to the fringes of the work, disgruntled and trying to sow their frustration into others. Soon there was a good size group of these on the fringes of almost every effective work.

This is to be expected from those who presume an authority they do not have. Every thriving church or ministry is likely to have stumbling blocks around the fringes of it. They think they are anointed, but they are anointed by the devil to hinder the work. The more anointed you are and the more effective your work is, the more likely you are to have these around the fringes of your work. You just have to get used to it and press on. The Lord allows it for a reason. They draw the other disgruntled people who would otherwise, usually at the worst possible time, rise up in the midst of the work to do great damage. Remember that in the Lord's teaching the tares were bundled together out of the wheat during the harvest.

As stated before, during Katrina almost all of the media focus was on the problems and failures, and there were plenty. There was little coverage of the great things that were done, which is now the nature of our media, and we should expect this. It is also likely that the media kept the attention on places and situations that were more newsworthy, but were not the most desperate situations, possibly costing lives. I don't blame the media for this, but we must learn to be led by the Lord and not the media.

This is why we must learn to do what we do as unto the Lord, rather than for men. Always keep in mind that what does not get acknowledged here in this life will be made known in heaven. The main books we want our deeds to be written in are the Books of Life, which are God's history books. This world's reporting is so twisted now that if you do make the news, it is almost certain to be bad. Therefore, let us not worry at all about what people say or think of us here, but always keep in mind that we are doing this for the Lord, and let us care only about what He thinks.