The Book of Acts is our pattern for the last days. What is God doing today? He is building strong local churches that know how to flow with the Holy Spirit.
But many churches of the last days are not necessarily going to look like the “standard” churches we’ve seen for the past 1,500 years. In fact, the churches of the last days may be unfamiliar to us.
They may have a different flow and even be hard to define at times. Why? Because if we want something different, we’re going to have to have to do something different.
We can’t keep doing the same things we’ve always done and expect to have different results.
I have been praying and studying along the lines of the local church for some time, and have a stirring in my heart that there will be locations around the world where God will raise up Antioch bases or missions bases.
These bases will not only function as local churches, but they will also be bases to touch the world!
In the military there are actually two major kinds of bases: one is a logistics base and the other is a fire base. The logistics bases are well-secured and located in safe territory.
At logistics bases, people come for training – this is where they receive orders, supplies, training, and even opportunities to rest. Fire bases on the other hand are out on the front lines. This is where the soldiers go to slip behind enemy lines and take territory.
I believe God is going to raise up logistics bases where people can be trained, refueled, refreshed, and receive supplies. But I also believe God is going to take some people out of that type of “ministry,” and send them out to set up fire bases – branches of the main base.
The branch bases will be considered “outreach” bases, their main purpose being to train people, and send them out to establish exactly the same bases in the middle of enemy territory.
I began to see a pattern for these bases in the Book of Acts. In Acts chapter 11, the disciples had established a base in Jerusalem which we could compare to a logistics base.
But they also had what we would consider a fire base in Antioch. The base in Antioch was the base they used as a launching pad to touch the world.
It was from the base in Antioch that the apostle Paul was sent out to establish bases all over the world. From the base in Antioch Paul established the bases in Corinth, Thessalonica, Ephesus, and Philippi.
Everywhere Paul went he set up fire bases – and from these fire bases, others were sent out to reach the lost.
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For over 40 years, Pastors Mark and Janet Brazee have traveled throughout the world sharing the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Together they've shared the powerful truths of faith and healing in more than 50 nations.
Today Mark and Janet pastor World Outreach Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they base their ongoing outreach to the world. The Brazees still travel as the Lord leads, and they are raising up a congregation who share their passion to reach Tulsa and the world.