Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSON THE MARCHhappened. For following her was a path of light. Stepping outof the darkness, many caught hold of her robes and dancedlike children in the radiance she brought. And so Mother Zionwas joined by the multitudes who longed for her coming, asshe travelled on heralding the dawn in a darkened land.’Samson used a jawbone. So would we. JAWBONE was conceivedas the Jesus Army War Battle Operations Network.Inspired by the early Salvation Army, we continued to thinkin military terms. A ‘War Fund’ was set aside, communityhouses were seen as battle stations, the Marquee as a battlefieldand inner city houses as ‘Battlefronts’.JAWBONE co-ordinated leadership. We had brought systemand management to our businesses, but church administrationhad been fairly loose, with households running theirown affairs and ‘covered’ only informally by senior brothers.Now was the time for efficiency. The group of Covering Authoritybrothers had expanded to ten and began to meetmonthly. There was more delegation. Pastoral administrationshifted towards Mark “Strong”, more of the community managementcame under Mike “Rockfast” and evangelism washeaded by Mick “Temperate”.More brothers came into JAWBONE to motivate and administerspecial areas such as discipleship, literature, newconverts, backsliders, LEAP teams, distant households andcampaigns. PR fell mainly on Noel’s secretary, Liz, who became,for the press, the no-nonsense spokeswoman of theJesus Fellowship.JAWBONE toured the church, motivating the householdleaders. The drop-out rate of our converts was disappointing,280