As a young teenager I unmistakable felt God's call on my life, and although I strayed away from God's ways in my late teens, it all came back together when I was baptized in the Spirit in the fall of 1969.  It was as though God said, "Okay, you're done fooling around I hope?  So, where were we..."  Once again I was awed by God's majesty, humbled by his merciful love, thrilled by his invitation to come follow him.

So it was very natural that at the age of 22, I consider the call to living single for the Lord with some other young men being drawn in the same way to a life of prayer and service.  The 'brotherhood' was first formed in the fall of 1971, and a few years later took the name The Servants of the Word.  Ecumenical from the beginning, it was very clear to us that the Lord was doing something new among us, and it was intricately tied to what he was doing in raising up covenant community.  When a number of communities from around the world joined together to form The Sword of the Spirit in 1981, it then became possible for men from different countries to come together as one brotherhood.  Today we have 60 brothers living in 8 households in 5 countries in 6 Sword of the Spirit communities.

In 1975 God spoke powerfully to us during a community of communities conference, "You are a bulwark that I have set up to stem the onslaught of the enemy; you are a part and not the whole; you are my servants and my people."  The men in the brotherhood are honored to have received our unique call to live single for the Lord in the midst of so many holy brothers and sisters choosing to live out marriage and family life as radically and single-heartedly as we live out our call.  The Servants of the Word want to be a witness to the kingdom that is to come, but we, too, are built up by the witness of our married brothers and sisters.

As for me, after 30 years, my conviction of God's call has deepened, not lessened..  The importance and urgency of that call has become more real, not less.  I look forward with great hope to press on toward the upward of call of God in Christ Jesus.