JULY 31 a pivotal date for me.

I moved to Mankato 20 Years ago today on July 31, 1993. 

This journey all began almost one year earlier with a word of exhortation I had received while praying about Mankato one year earlier in the summer of 1992. The word was given to a small band of people who gathered Sunday afternoons in the basement of the bank building, that now is part of the civic center. 

The word was this...
Tell my children in Mankato to stop cursing their city, the very city I have called them to.  It came with a Scripture passage for understanding and confirmation, Jeremiah 31:29. 

28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 

29 In those days they shall say no more:

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Jeremiah 31:28-30

In response to this word three individuals came to the center of the room and repented of this attitude, of cursing the very city they were called to restore. What now Lord? I asked. He replied, "Pray for them." so I did.  

On Aug 2, 1992 I visited Good Thunder Christian Fellowship a house church in Good Thunder, MN. I received a vision from the Lord that morning during their worship service revealing a new thing that God wanted to begin in this region...and the die was cast. 

I saw a branch blowing in the wind I could not make out what kind of plant it was from. The vision continued for several minutes during the worship time of the service. I could not shake it, it was very real. Eventually the branch changed shape and I could make out that this new branch was a eucalyptus tree branch with its characteristic shaped leaves. I didn't understand the pictures of the branches and it troubled me, because I knew that it was important to gain understanding of this vision because it impacted this region. 

While I was driving back to Rosemount, the Lord turned my head, to see a field of corn which had tasseled, as far as I knew it was the only field along the 70 mile route that had tasseled. The branch I saw, was the tassels of a corn stalk and I understood what I had seen in my vision before. I asked the Lord what does this mean...the tassels of a corn plant? He answered, ask your father. 

I called my father when I arrived home and got a spontaneous 30 minute explanation of the significance of the corn tassels and the cross pollinating process. Tassels broadcast pollen in order to bring maturity to each kernel on the cob. Tassels represent leaders broadcasting their message to bring maturity to the hearers, maybe this is why we call it ears of corn. The corn silk are strands that capture the pollen and carry it to each kernel on the cob. even thought he kernels are sitting right next to each other each kernel has to receive through its own corn silk. 
So in the same row you may encounter some kernels who are matured and full and others that are shriveled up and dead.  Like the rows of pews in the church some individuals are living and full coming into maturity and others are shriveled and dying on the cob. 
In short God wanted to do something new, and in order to accomplish it... 

He was calling all the leaders in this region to reach up and de-tassel themselves, in other words be ready to receive from each other and stop thinking they have to broadcast their own DNA perpetually. In Scriptural terms... Submit one to another in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Here was city kid preaching about corn tassels to a bunch of farm raised leaders in agri-business based communities in southern MN. 

Wow ! I just realized after I left the meeting tonight, that the story I told you all about going to Good Thunder and seeing a vision of a corn tassels blowing in the wind, took place 21 yrs, ago to the day.

Especially if you take in to consideration the biblical day... Since it was shared after sundown on August 1. It was shared on the 21st anniversary of the actual event which took place on Aug 2, 1992.

It was two weeks later on August 16, 1992 when I shared my vision of the "branch blowing in the wind" was the day I saw a flash of white light that left me speechless. And it was this vision that led me to move to Mankato on July 31, 1993.... ask me about it sometime, I would be happy to relay the stories of God calling us to Mankato.

We laid down Jubilee Restoration Center on July 31, 2000 to help save the local gathering Christian Life Center at the request of Steve Youngblood.