42 CityLight.org
june 2012
O
n September 14, 2011, the Internal
Revenue Service granted nonprofit
status to the Goshen Initiative, Inc., a
faith-based initiative which was formed
as an ecumenical Christian entity to un-
dergird the whole of the body of Christ--
Christian church.
This article is written both to inform you
the reader about the Goshen Initiative,
and with the hope that Holy Spirit will
help Goshen connect, partner and network
together with other ministries that have a
similar call and focus.
More than eleven years ago, The Reverend
Doctor James Hager II, was ordained a priest
after many years of service as an ordained
elder in both the Methodist and Wesleyan
churches. At his ordination, the presiding
Archbishop prophesied, "You are called
as a priest to the poor and oppressed, and
a prophet of reconciliation to My church."
At that moment, the Holy Spirit caused the
prayer of Jesus recorded in the 17th chapter
of the Gospel According to St. John, and
other Scriptures to include: Romans 8:28,
II Corinthians 5:14-21, Ephesians 4:1-16, 1
John 4:7-21 to immediately stir in the recol-
lection and heart of Fr. Hager.
A few days later, as he was riding his motor-
cycle between two hospice patients' homes
praying for help relative to vision, purpose
and mission; he heard an audible voice
speak into his spirit: "Healing the body of
Christ by every God-given means." This
was the impetus of what that same Voice
would name "Goshen" as he was praying in
his study a short while later.
After years on the street, as a Soldier of The
Salvation Army, Columbia Corps., and a
number of years working as a healthcare
and hospice chaplain in seven South Caro-
lina counties, Father/Chaplain Hager had
come to see Scripture opened to him rela-
tive to "taking the name of the Lord God
in vein," and "pure and undefiled religion in
the sight of our Lord God is to visit `wid-
ows' and `orphans' in their distress (James
1:27)." Over the period of ten years, he
visited many literal widows and orphans,
but many more Spiritual `widows' and `or-
phans'. In these lives, something negative
happened "In the name of the Lord [Je-
sus]" and His name had been used in vein,
as it had wounded them; this caused them
to be in distress and estranged from His
grace along with His body/church.
As Fr. Hager prayed about this, he began to
see "All things working together for good
for those who love the Lord and are called
in accordance with His purpose" (Romans
8:28). As he, a Minister of Reconciliation,
began to learn to heal the body of Christ by
EVERY God-given means--he witnessed
Holy Spirit conveying grace to those Chris-
tian brothers and sisters who were weary,
weak, worn, wounded and estranged. He
literally found himself functioning as both
a priest to the poor and oppressed, as well
as a prophet of reconciliation. However, he
also found himself limited by virtue to the
fact that he functioned as a minister within
a denominational structure which posed a
barrier to others; and, was bound as a board
certified chaplain to function within pre-
scribed "best practices" and standards of
care that did not allow for him to minis-
ter freely as a Christian who is evangelical,
charismatic and liturgical.
As Fr. Hager shared with his bishop the
burden he had for the weak, weary, worn
g
oShen
i
nitiative