Who we are

Years ago, the Lord impressed on me to read Rick Joyner’s book, The Harvest. The Lord continued to press me to read “The Harvest” repeatedly. I ended up reading it twelve times. There were two things that were very evident. One, there was something very important about equipping the first harvest to be prepared to equip the second, and much larger, harvest. Two, it became obvious that Jesus was not just savior, healer, or deliverer, but that He is truly the Lord of the Armies. God began to put it on my heart that he was raising an Army. I am a Vietnam era veteran and understand a few things about serving in the military like chain of command and submission to authority.

The centurion (Captain of 100 soldiers) that told Jesus to speak the word only and his servant would be healed understood authority and was the one that Jesus proclaimed, “I have not seen such great faith in all of Israel.” Ezekiel 37 kept coming to my mind because the Lord rises a mighty Army from dry bones. This would be an army that the Lord both raises and commands. I thought that if I were to be part of this great army He would have to guide and instruct me (train me) so I would be able to guide and instruct others.

In 2012, I was given the opportunity to go back in the military. I thought the Lord had directed me, so I chose to go to OCS (Officer Candidate School). It was a one-year heavy commitment program. It was physically, academically, and mentally the most challenging thing I had ever done. Their goal is to bring you from “me first” thinking to a mindset of “Mission first, Soldiers always, and Self last.” It sounded a lot like love God, love one another, and die to self. The whole time I was in training I felt God instructing me concerning the army He was raising up. I knew He had to be the one to pull the bones together and we had to be willing to let the Lord of Armies assign us anywhere He wanted. A complete and total love for the Commander and His intent (mission) was going to be mandatory for the church in the coming days.

After I was commissioned, I was reassigned as a TAC (Teaching, Assessing, Counseling) officer in the training command for OCS. I knew then that God wanted me to equip soldiers to equip soldiers. I bounced the idea off several Pastors and found that most Pastors would love to have help training their staff leaders. I am grateful that the Lord has placed me where I can train the mission, be of service to His soldiers, and walk shoulder to shoulder with some truly amazing Men and Women of God. I believe it is my responsibility to train and equip leaders that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any leader to accomplish the mission that God has mandated. “Go and make disciples”.

This is the purpose of the Almond Tree Leadership Course and the soon to be published book.

—Bob Fischetti