Prophets are visionaries. As they look out across churches and ministries, nations and cultures, times and events, God shows His prophets things that others sometimes miss. Prophets often see missing ministry components, obstacles to God's purposes, distortions and dysfunctions, and areas that need healing.

Isaiah's description of transformed landscapes conveys a prophet's vision of God's desired work in the Church and the world. His prophets see not only problems, they also envision solutions: Through their spiritual eyes, voids become filled and obstacles diminish. Dark, winding pathways become brightly-lit interstates. Craggy, rock-strewn fields are made smooth and plain. And if they are led to act on their vision, prophets can be troubleshooters in the body of Christ.

Over the last two weeks, we have begun our look at God's Prophets by briefly examining Old Testament and New Testament versions of God's spokespeople. Bridging the chasm between these two eras, we find an odd man, draped in camel's hair, wearing a leather girdle, and eating locusts and wild honey. John the Baptist, it is said, was an Old Testament prophet in New Testament times.

Three of the four gospels quote the words of Isaiah as they tell the story of this unique Biblical figure (Matt 3, Mark 1, Luke 3). Assigned by God to prepare the way for Christ the Lord, we are told that John was to 1. raise valleys, 2. lower hills, 3. straighten crooked things, and 4. make rough places plain. Four examples of real-life individuals or organizations are found below, each representing one element of this popular verse.

1. Every valley shall be exalted. In 1965, David L.C. Anderson looked out across his denomination, the Lutheran Church, and saw a ministry void. Lutheran youth, he determined, lacked opportunity to be impacted by the gospel. So, in that year, he launched Lutheran Youth Encounter, a para-church ministry which took college-age young people, formed them into several small summer teams, trained them, and sent them out to Lutheran congregations all across the midwest. Each week, every team traveled to a different community and a different church. Their mission? To spend a week with the youth of a particular congregation, have fun, build rapport, establish friendships, sing, teach, share testimonies, and proclaim the gospel. In the thirty-five years since its inception, the organization Anderson began (now called Youth Encounter) has spread the gospel, internationally and interdenominationally, reaching thousands of young church people across the globe with the claims of Jesus Christ. Prophetic visionaries, like Anderson, see ministry voids and understand what is needed to fill them.

2. Every mountain and hill shall be made low. In 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian vicar serving as overseer of eleven monasteries in Germany, learned that a man named Johann Tetzel was selling indulgences to his parishoners. To combat Tetzel, Luther posted 95 theses on the door of the Wittenburg Castle Church, challenging some of the basic practices of the Catholic Church at that time. His bold action prompted an inquisition in which Luther was ultimately charged with heresy. In the midst of continued controversy, Luther wrote many books and sermons and became quite popular, collecting a group of dedicated followers, some of whom were martyred for their professions of faith. Out of Luther's work and ministry, the Protestant Reformation emerged, shaping the course of Western culture for centuries to come. Prophetic visionaries, like Luther, see obstacles and how to overcome them.

3. The crooked shall be made straight. Many of us remember the explosion of Church renewal during the 60's and '70's. Numerous independent and para-church ministries emerged in those dynamic years. But soon, questions arose regarding the handling and mis-handling of finances in many of these non-profit ministry organizations. In the late 1970's, U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield met with a group of Christian leaders and challenged them to become financially accountable to one another. How could evangelicals present a solid, biblical testimony to the world when so many mis-managed God's money? In 1979, these leaders formed the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) to help Christian nonprofit organizations earn the public's trust through their ethical practices and financial accountability. Prophetic visionaries, like Hatfield, not only see crooked things, but understand how to straighten them.

4. And the rough places plain. In the early 1980's, Glen Kehrein (white) and Raleigh Washington (black) began a relationship with one another that evolved into a unique partnership to fight racism and poverty in Southside Chicago. Kehrein, director of Circle Urban Ministries, an outreach and service organization in the all-black Austin area of Chicago's south side, had already been emotionally bloodied from cross-cultural relationships that had blown up in his face. Washington, fresh out of seminary, had just arrived as the new pastor of Rock Church, located adjacent to Circle Urban's facility. Over time, God wove these two hearts together and their relationship now stands as a sterling model for Christian reconciliation and cooperation. Prophetic visionaries, like Kehrein and Washington, see opportunities for healing and reconciliation in the midst of hatred and prejudice.

Could it be that the "visionaries" described above, are in a sense, prophetic people? Like John the Baptist, these "prophets" surveyed the landscape and found valleys that needed exalting, mountains and hills to be brought down, crooked things that needed straightening and rough places to be made plain. In so doing, they have each "prepared the way of the Lord."

Do the stories of the prophetic visionaries described above enhance or conflict with your understanding of the ministry of the prophetic? Have you ever considered how God has raised up "para-church" ministries to meet unmet needs that local churches have not met - to fill unfilled voids? Are prophets truly visionaries? Are visionaries truly prophets?

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If you would like to learn more about any of the four stories discussed above, click on the picture to the right and you will be carried the respective website.

Next week's article will continue in this vein by looking at a parallel theme - Prophets as Seers.