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Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

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FIRE IN OUR HEARTS<br />

NEW GENERATION<br />

positive note (maybe col<strong>our</strong>ed by the fact that Mary from Palm<br />

Tree had just agreed to marry me!):<br />

Jan 4: The year of the people. Away with spiritual snobbery! In<br />

with <strong>Jesus</strong>, the One who walks with the crowd. This is all about<br />

release — of heart and spirit — of col<strong>our</strong> and creativity. Nowadays<br />

we are vulnerable and accessible. The flag that flies from<br />

<strong>our</strong> turrets is sta<strong>in</strong>ed with blood; and the more col<strong>our</strong>ful, the<br />

more attractive for that. It is the warm blood of compassion.<br />

Zion may have walls. She is holy to the Lord. But her gates are<br />

open. The drawbridge is down. The danc<strong>in</strong>g is <strong>in</strong> the streets.<br />

Poetry apart, the times were good and a lot was ‘crack<strong>in</strong>g<br />

off’. At the Easter Weekend we received over 100 new members<br />

on stage amongst a happy chaos. The Festival theme<br />

song, ‘Now the strong w<strong>in</strong>d is blow<strong>in</strong>g’, was backed by hail<br />

and fierce w<strong>in</strong>ds that shook the tent and threatened to rip it<br />

open. To us, it symbolised a spiritual w<strong>in</strong>d that was blow<strong>in</strong>g<br />

ever stronger <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>.<br />

A major enc<strong>our</strong>agement was the way fellowship sons like<br />

Nathan and Phil were beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g not only to come through<br />

with God but also to f<strong>in</strong>d a burn<strong>in</strong>g vision for community. Phil,<br />

now mentored by Rufus, gave up his place <strong>in</strong> drama school<br />

for discipleship at New Creation Farm. Phil had already<br />

cleaned up his life; now he decided to get rid of his possessions<br />

and follow the call of <strong>Jesus</strong> to full commitment. Nathan<br />

was to follow.<br />

This was the break we were hop<strong>in</strong>g for: a second generation<br />

not just stick<strong>in</strong>g around, but radically tak<strong>in</strong>g up the torch.<br />

There was also a grow<strong>in</strong>g number of visionary new people,<br />

375

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