Darren Stott

		During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah that his people had committed adultery; they “cheated” on him. God had offered protection and mercy to the people of Israel and yet they chose to deny him and give themselves up to immoral acts: to worship other Gods “in plain sight”. So, God calls Jeremiah the Prophet, much like a grieving husband calls a best friend in the midst of a marital crisis, and says, “Jeremiah, tell my girl (Israel) to come home, return to me, I will not frown on her, I will not be angry, I will forgive her.” God goes as far as to call himself the husband of an unfaithful bride, Israel. So this is the setup for the verse I want to look at. Jeremiah 3:15 is what the Lord communicates through his prophet to the people of Israel, if they will choose to return.

In modern-day 2010 we have this word “Pastor”; it is a word derived from Latin and it means "shepherd". With this in mind, re-read Jeremiah 3:1:, if you choose to repent of your ways, and return to me, I will give you pastors who are after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.

I believe that we are about to enter into a Jeremiah 3:15 anointing. God is raising up, and about to release, shepherds who are after the heart of God and who are leading in the spirit of knowledge and understanding.

Going back as far as 312 A.D., when the Roman model of government was integrated into the fabric of the church, the “universal” church has dominantly been led in what I will call One Fold Ministry under the authority of a pastor, priest, or bishop. The problem is that this Roman style of church government is not what was established in Ephesians 4. In my opinion this is why one-fold churches are the norm: we have apostolic churches, prophetic churches, evangelistic churches, pastoral or community churches, and of course we have our Bible, or teaching, churches. Those who are a part of any one of these churches will argue that their method of ministry is “the way” ministry should be done: they have somehow discovered the silver bullet to fulfill the great commission. I blame the identity crisis and the fragmentation of the church on One Fold Ministry. We have forced Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Teachers to be Pastors, as if that was the only governmental role within the church that had any authority. Because of this identity crisis, most people have no expectations or definitions of what a Pastor is. Furthermore, since God has been restoring five-fold ministry within the church, pastors have been getting a bad reputation. I’ve heard it said recently that it is the Pastor’s fault that the gifts of the apostolic and prophetic have not been nurtured in the church.

There is a messy, Holy-Spirit sanctioned unraveling in the Bride of Christ right now. The offices of five-fold ministry are being restored, church government structures are being reorganized, and people who were once titled as “Pastors” are being freed to oversee within the church according to their calling. This is creating empty seats for true shepherds to come forth.

I believe that as revival sweeps across the USA, repentance will be a signature mark and a trigger effect resulting in America returning to Jesus, much like Israel returned to the Lord. If this takes place a Jeremiah 3:15 anointing will be released and an army of Davidic, God chasing shepherds will rise up within the church to operate and function in the spirit of knowledge and understanding.