Restoring the Foundation
— A Prophetic Church Building Program

Restoring the Apostolic-Prophetic Foundation Upon the Chief Cornerstone of Christ

We believe the Lord has prophetically revealed to us that beginning in 2005, the Head of the Church is calling the Church into a new dimension of the Spirit. The gateway into that new dimension of the Spirit is a "new" ministry model. It is "new" in the natural realm, in that it is a new paradigm to the vast majority of existing churches. But, certainly not new in the Spirit realm, for it is the ministry model that has always been delineated in the Eternal Word of God. A part of the purposes and plans of God now revealed to the Church is that the Church begin to embrace and pursue the Ephesians Four Ministry Model delineated in the Fourth Chapter of the Ephesians Epistle (vv. 7-16). It is a ministry model in which all the Fivefold Ministry Offices are functioning, and flowing together in concerted effort to accomplish the purposes and plans of God—that is, the ongoing ministry of Jesus.

Indeed, the Ephesians Four Ministry Model is the only model that will produce the results of the building up (edifying) and building (development) of the local church, both individually and corporately, that are delineated in the Ephesians Four text. How do we know that? Because it's the only model that God says in His Word will generate those results. Thus, all of us involved in the Restoring The Foundation (RTF) are wholeheartedly committed to the goal of establishing the Ephesians Four Ministry Model in the Church Jesus is building—not merely in theory, but in practice.

We believe literally in what the Ephesians Four context states concerning the Fivefold Ministry—that on the Day of the Ascension on the Mount of Ascension, the Ascending Christ bestowed upon certain called out and separated individuals of His choosing certain ministry gifts or anointing; namely: apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching. As He was ascending on High, Jesus, as the Head of the Church, relegated and delegated these ministry giftings and anointings, which He Himself operated during His fleshly ministry prior to His crucifixion, unto the Church, and that all of those giftings and anointings continue to be functional and operable today. These giftings and anointings, which are ministry functions, are all a part of Jesus Himself, and emanate from Him for the accomplishment of His ongoing ministry on Earth, which since His ascension He now carries out through these set apart surrogate ministers. Before ascending into Heaven in order to reclaim His Seat of All Majesty and Lordship, Jesus passed on these ministry giftings to the Church to carry on His ministry in the "greater works" measure He spoke of, in a similar way as Elisha picked up the ascended Elijah's mantle, and carried on the prophetic ministry, yet in a double-portion measure.

Despite the unproven cessation theories taught in some sectors of modern theology, nowhere is it explicitly stated or even inferred in God's Word that any of these ministry giftings and anointings were ever rescinded, abrogated, or abandoned by the Head of the Church, or have ceased to exist or to be operable in the Church Jesus is building, though they were indeed abrogated by human ecclesiastical institutions through the centuries in the days following the Early Church.

The majority of the Pentecostal/Neo-Pentecostal Church has been familiar with and to varying degrees accepting of the functioning of three of the five ministries enumerated in Ephesians 4:11—those of evangelist, pastor, and teacher. But, now the Head of the Church is restoring back into their proper place of function the other two ministry functions enumerated in that verse—apostle and prophet. In particular, the office of the prophet is the focus and emphasis of the RTF. The purpose of the restoration of those two spiritual functions is in order that from them can come the unique spiritual impartation that only they can impart toward the ultimate mission of all the ministry offices, collectively. That mission is spiritually developing the Church to become "a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13)." It can also be expressed as advancing the Church, collectively and individually, to the spiritual status in which it is "conformed into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29)."

Moreover, we believe that in addition to people who walk and function in the office of prophet, there also are prophetic people, who either have a prophetic personality (motivation gift) [Rom. 12:6] or the Holy Spirit frequently distributes upon and through them the prophetic manifestation gift (1 Cor. 12:7,10), or both. We believe every local church has prophetic people within its constituency, though in times past, as a rule, they have not been recognized as such in the ministry model of most local churches. Together these prophetically oriented people comprise the resident, or in-house, prophetic arm/army of the local church.

Prophetic gifting is a very powerful asset that the Lord has released in and entrusted to the Church, that carries the potential for destruction, if not properly employed, or conversely, construction, if properly employed, in the building of the Church. The aim of the RTF is to work with local church leaders and other prophetic/apostolic ministries to prepare prophetic people for proper release and function within the local church and other church-related entities as a vital source of constructive spiritual and practical contribution to its overall operations.

Our conviction is that God is now decreeing that His Church move into a new dimension of the Spirit in which the apostolic and prophetic offices are functioning fully and properly in the spiritual operations of the Church, in order to receive all the vast and profound benefits the Head of the Church is imparting through these ministry giftings and anointings to His Betrothed. Our desire is to be fully compliant with whatever the Head of the Church and the Holy Spirit is legitimately leading the Church into, and not in any way lagging behind, but rather exuberantly and fearlessly forging ahead into new territory, as a cutting-edge ministry.

So, in obedience to the leading of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are proactively and aggressively pursuing connecting with church leaders, churches, and ministries, who likewise perceive establishment of the Ephesians Four Ministry Model to be the revealed will of God.

Ephesians Four Ministry Model churches are characterized by the following traits delineated in our foundational passage of Ephesians 4:11-16.

1. Recognizes all five ministry giftings (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) as being operable today within the local church and vital to the individual and corporate "building up" of the church, spiritually and numerically;

2. Recognizes these ministry giftings are the chief offices through which the Head of the Church imparts spiritual impartation and leadership to the church;

3. Regularly receives impartation from each of those giftings;

4. Espouses and employs the concept that these ministry giftings are given to the church for "the equipping of the saints for the work of service (ministry)," which metaphorically means that the saints are the players (ministers) and the Fivefold Ministers are the coaches who train, guide, instruct, and mentor the players;

5. Makes an ongoing concerted effort to develop the resident element of believers whose motivation and giftings coincide with those ministry giftings;

6. Recognizes that it is the efforts and endeavors, or functioning, of the properly equipped and released saints that results in "the building up of the body of Christ" and "the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."

With all modesty, yet with the sufficiency and confidence Christ provides through the giftings He bestows, we believe that the expertise and experiential understanding of the prophetic ministry, as well as how all the Fivefold Ministry Offices can and are intended to flow together in harmonious and synergistic concinnity that this ministry has accumulated over more than twenty-eight years of apostolic-prophetic, pastoral, teaching and counseling ministry coupled with the giftings of the Holy Spirit operating through this ministry enables us to effectively assist church leaders in establishing the Ephesians Four Ministry Model within their local churches.

We are fully aware that numerous other prophetic ministries exist who are being significantly used of the Lord in prophetic ministry, for which we rejoice. Nevertheless, our observation is that the majority of prophetic ministry to date has been focused on ends other than what the Lord is now wanting prophetic ministries to set their sights on, which indeed is the ultimate purpose of the prophetic—that is, "church-building." "One who prophesies edifies (builds) THE CHURCH" (1 Cor. 14:4).

Ultimate legitimate prophetic purpose is to build the church, not organizations, personal ministries, or private kingdoms. "The CHURCH" is what Jesus said He was engaged in and totally dedicated to building, not anything else. Jesus said He personally was always about doing the Father's business, so we can safely say that doing the Father's business is building the Church, individually and collectively.

In a Church that is little accustomed to, and therefore so easily misconstrues God-inspired assertiveness that is founded on the Word of God, utter confidence in His ability to perform what He promises, and the giftings He bestows, and often mistakes it for arrogance, we also hasten to state categorically that by no means is any of this inferring any sort of exclusive or original claim on prophetic knowledge and expertise, nor that we know all there is to know about it. Quite to the contrary, this ministry has learned from, received impartation from, and otherwise benefited greatly from a number of other prophetic ministries, for which we are exceedingly grateful. However, our conviction is that the modus operandi of the Lord when advancing the Church into new dimensions of the Spirit is that we must first step into the new dimension before the Spirit can reveal to us how to operate in it (we invite you to read the article, "Now I Declare New Things," which addresses this precept).

We see over and over throughout the Bible God calling out to a new place those He worked through and telling them, "There, will I speak to you!" (Ibid.) As for us involved with RTF, we have already begun the journey to the "there place" where the Lord has called all believers, and we fully expect that as we "walk by faith and not by sight" the length and the breadth of this new territory into which He has called us, He will direct, lead, and guide us. Do we know all there is to know about this realm of all the Fivefold Ministry offices working together in harmony and what all that will take? Of course not! But, we have nevertheless committed ourselves to embarking on the journey in faith, like Abraham departing Haran to head toward Canaan, "not knowing where he was going," but following the Voice of the Holy Spirit by day and God's Word as the lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path in the darkness of the unknown.

No entity or enterprise looks as it did at the beginning as it develops and advances toward its goal. Rather, the developmental journey is a continuum of change. The entire RTF will be shaped and molded by what the Lord reveals to us as we progress toward our goals. "Vision," or "visibility," by nature, at any given point, is not "unlimited," because revelation intrinsically is progressive and commensurate with movement. The further we progress toward a predetermined destination, the more we can see along the way which we were unable to see from previous vantage points. At any given juncture, we "know in part" and prophesy, or project, in part.

Will this journey be an easy one? No! we fully anticipate that all along the road we travel, there will be obstacles and enemies to overcome. The terrain we will traverse will not be flat, straight, and easily navigated. Rather, we anticipate that the route we travel will take us over meadows, swamps, streams, rivers, deserts, plains, valleys, hills, and even a few mountain ranges that must be conquered. But, like Joshua and Caleb, we've spied out the land in the Spirit, and we believe that the potential of partaking of the gigantic fruit that grows in this Land of Milk and Honey makes it well worth all the effort in change, spiritual growth, and warfare against the giants living in the Land required for us to "inherit the Land."

In short, we've already made the decision to start the journey, and we're resolute about reaching our destination and destiny! We're not looking or turning back, lest we be unworthy of the dimensions of the Spirit into which the Lord is taking the Church.