In the story, Field of Dreams, a farmer hears a voice telling him to build a baseball diamond in his corn field. “If you build it, he will come,” the voice tells him. Everyone around him, the common-sense people, kept making fun of him, and doing everything they could to discourage him from building the baseball diamond. In spite of the opposition he builds the diamond and famous baseball players of yesteryear, come back to life, walk out of the corn fields and play on the farmer’s diamond.
There is a lesson in this for every CFO camp. To paraphrase the testimonies of many people, “CFO is to step out of this troublesome world and into the Kingdom of God. It is to spend a few days with people who genuinely love and care about each other as they together seek to emulate God’s love and care for them.”
How does this relate to the Field of Dreams? As Council Rings, we get bent all out of shape as we wrestle with finances and numbers and who will make good leaders. God would tell us that finances and numbers is not what it is all about. Nor is finding popular leaders who will draw a large following.
What CFO is about is The Kingdom of God. If we will deliberately take time and focus our efforts on prayer and praying in the Kingdom the people will come. Let God worry about finances and leadership and numbers – that’s His role. Ours is to concentrate solely on praying in the Kingdom of God. God is telling us that if we will do this He will do the rest, and as in the Field of Dreams, as we “build the Kingdom in our camps,” the people will come – the people will come.
The power lies with the Council Ring. In order for a camp to be a place where we step into the Kingdom of God the Council Ring must first be a place where we step into the Kingdom of God. This can only happen if the Council Ring is first and foremost a prayer group where God is celebrated and glorified. The Council Ring must strive to make the tone and atmosphere of each meeting a place where “They will know we are Christians by our love.” When this is achieved each Council Ring member will anticipate joyfully the next meeting, and each meeting will be a mini CFO, stepping once again into the Kingdom of God. This requires that we learn to trust God, depend on His guidance. We want His guidance, not everyone’s opinion or long discussions. Prayer is always the key. A powerful camp begins with a Council Ring that prays it into being, practicing in its meetings what it means to be in the Kingdom of God.
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