Personal Log 11.16.21

 7 Mountains of Influence: Part II

From Part I: “My belief is that the Ekklesia was meant to completely dominate this world, every culture, every sphere of influence was meant to have the flavor of Heaven & be operating out of Kingdom principles so that the prophecy from Habakkuk will truly & practically come to pass.”

When I was kid, I used to listen to groups like the Beatles, the Mamas & the Papas, the Beach Boys… then I graduated to Boston, Kansas & Journey. Though they were great groups it bothered me that Christian music was so different in flavor & style, like they were the flower children of the music industry.  Why were there no hard rock Christian groups leading the way? They came later of course as the Ekklesia usually lets the world lead & they follow w/ some kind of lame imitation.

Take for instance MTV. I loved the concept but why didn't the Ekklesia come up w/ that idea & lead the way? They of course followed w/ their own version in Z Music Television… then there's Facebook, which started out good but why was that (& social media) not the idea of the Ekklesia? Why didn't they start & develop that before anyone else? It has bothered me that the Ekklesia did not come up w/ the idea of Skype or Zoom… that the Ekklesia is not leading & setting the pace in the fashion world… or on any mountain of influence. 

Ideas & inventions can come to anyone, they are tools that can be used by anyone for any purpose.

I've been thinking about the Garden of Eden lately. According to some scholars & different accounts, before the Flood the earth was one supercontinent called Pangea, then after the Flood the continents shifted to their current positions. Regardless, it's my working theory that the Garden was meant to expand in size as Adam's family grew, until the Garden covered the entire earth.

The Roman Empire grew by the Roman Army conquering each city & village surrounding Rome, incorporating the communities into the Roman Empire, making them citizens, morphing their military into the Roman military, then they moved on to the next city/village & repeated the process.

Even though it bothers me that the Ekklesia has not led the way in virtually any mountain of influence all hope is not lost, we can take/retake the land for the Kingdom.     

1. Mountain of Religion (spirituality):

- Church Body = Onsite + Online Gatherings

- Small Groups

- Marketplace

Personally, I think this where most Christians are the most comfortable, in the four walls of the Church building. Yes, there is relative safety there & people can find tracks to run on. There is internal ministry (church service, church building, etc) & there's external ministry (Small Groups, Marketplace, Global Missionary, etc). Find which side of the mountain God wants you to conquer. 

2. Mountain of Family:

- Biological (Immediate & Extended)

We all have family that need Christ & we try to model Christ/Kingdom to them but more often than not they may not receive from you due to familiarity. You do what you can do but you also pray laborers into the harvest. My parents have been married for 63 years while many in my family/extended family (& family friends) have had multiple marriages; they look at my folks w/ silent respect. Your life, lifestyle, decisions, singleness & marriage can influence people more than you could ever realize. 

3. Mountain of Education (Biblical Truth + Bible-Centric Values):

- K - 12

- College & Universities

- Online Schools

With the current brouhaha over CRT in the schools & education system as a whole, you can see how important this mountain truly is & the Ekklesia definitely needs to take this mountain for Kingdom. We need Christian educators & Christians who can write the curriculum's for the schools, either locally or nationwide. 

4. Mountain of Government/Politics:

- Local

- State

- National

I'm not going to say much about this one as it's fairly self-evident just how important local, state & national elections are & how there needs to be Spirit-filled non-compromising Christians in every level of government. This is a critical mountain to take & it can… be… taken. 

5. Mountain of Media (Communication):

- Radio/CB Radio/Airwaves

- TV News Stations 

- Newspapers 

- Internet News 

- Opinion (Blog)

The world system controls this right now but the Ekklesia is on the move. The world tries to control the narrative in every way possible but this mountain is critically important. If God call you to either be involved in or to buy one of these outlets then go for it! Even if it's just writing a piece for the local paper or an Internet blog like this one, take the land for the Kingdom.

6. Mountain of Arts & Entertainment

- Music

- Film Making

- Television

- Social Media

- Arts/Performing Arts

- Sports

I'm praying about how to take the mountains of music, arts/performing arts & social media. This is heavy on me, I have no one to personally mentor in music. I could do teaching videos but so many on Youtube do a better job & are more knowledgeable than myself but I am praying about doing something w/ video conferencing, both in music & men's ministry. There's so much talent in my area too & open mic nights are a really big deal but there's so much talent in our schools & even in my own fellowship, seriously, treasure in jars of clay but there's no real outlet for them & that breaks my heart.

The Mountain of Social Media makes Mt. Everest look like an ant hill in comparison; there's no doubt this mountain can be taken for the Kingdom as it has a global reach. Facebook has over 1 billion users but it's on the decline; it can still be used as that's where many people are but like the Roman Empire, look at some of the smaller social media sites, software & apps, consider using them & taking them over. 

Zoom skyrocketed at the beginning of the pandemic but they never disclose just how many users there are of this software. Skype has over 600,000,000 users worldwide & it continues to grow. My brother uses it as a ministry tool, he interviews via Skype people who have overcome hardships, heartbreak, cancer you name it then edits the session & posts it on Youtube.  

This mountain is multi-faceted, there are sooooo many ways to connect w/ people across the congregation, the county, the state, the nation, the world… it's unreal the influence you can have for the Kingdom.

7. Mountain of Business (Economy/Finance)

- Create Wealth Through:

-- Ingenuity

-- Enterprise

-- Creativity

-- Effort

Are there Christian businessmen/owners in your fellowship or connected w/ it? Promote them, patronize their businesses. Form a “Fellowship of Christian Businesses” network in your community/county, print a directory to hand out to members or visitors, create a website, do something to bless/promote these businesses (which are their ministries) so they can reach people for Christ. Contact area Churches to contribute their member's businesses to the directory.   

Which mountain has God called you to? Whatever it is, take it.