ICAL Is Like an Aircraft Carrier by Lynn Kishaba
/ICAL Is Like an Aircraft Carrier-A Strategic Kingdom Home Base
A Place to Land
“Where have you been all my life?” This quote comes from several leaders during an ICAL Global Gathering. They arrived like exhausted fighter pilots who felt abandoned with no place to land. They needed friendly, experienced leaders who understood what they had been through, were going through, and their mission from God.
They were shocked when they landed at an ICAL gathering and found leaders who listened, understood, empathized, prayed, and refreshed them with biblical wisdom.
We Were Never Designed to Fulfill Our Mission Alone
Over twenty-six years ago, several apostolic leaders discussed how God was raising up leaders around the world who were building churches, ministries, businesses, networks, and movements—yet many remained disconnected from one another. They discussed how strengths, wisdom, and experience could be connected to support one another and more effectively advance the Kingdom of God. They envisioned something like a powerful task force that could fight the good fight of faith together— rather than as isolated groups. Shortly afterward, ICA, which became the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders—ICAL—was formed.
Come In from the Cold
Apostolic leaders are often pioneers. They go where others have not gone, build what has not existed before, confront many extremely difficult problems, and carry responsibilities few people around them fully understand. That environment can lead to burnout, health problems, and other issues that can leave leaders more vulnerable to enemy traps. The expression “coming in from the cold” describes moving from isolation into relationship, connection, and belonging. This is what ICAL provides.
ICAL does not control a leader’s assignment, nor does a member surrender their calling, ministry, business, network, or God-given authority to a hierarchy. Instead, leaders come in from the cold of isolation and into relationships with others who understand the responsibilities they carry and the missions they are on. They discover: I am not alone! Leaders say, “We found our tribe with this apostolic and prophetic movement!”
ICAL is like an Aircraft Carrier: A Strategic Kingdom Home Base
One way to understand ICAL is to picture an aircraft carrier. Its purpose is to support the aircraft and crews it carries, enabling them to provide protection, project military power, and conduct combat operations. A fighter pilot is highly trained and entrusted with an important mission. But even the finest fighter aircraft cannot remain in the air indefinitely.
Eventually, a pilot needs somewhere to land for:
· Fuel
· Maintenance and repair
· Supplies
· Rest, food
· The latest Intelligence
· Communications support
· Help from trained people supporting the mission
Apostolic leaders are much like those pilots. God sends them into nations, cities, churches, ministries, businesses, and other spheres of influence with specific assignments. But being sent does not mean being isolated or cast out into the cold.
ICAL functions like a strategic Kingdom home base—a place where leaders land, connect, refuel, receive encouragement, exchange knowledge, build relationships, and launch again into their God-given assignments. Another leader said ICAL provides, “Deep impactful teachings and divine connections.”
Alignment Accelerates Lift Off
It takes a team working in alignment with the wind to launch a jet from an aircraft carrier. During flight operations, the carrier turns into the wind, allowing the natural wind to combine with the ship’s forward speed and create stronger airflow over the deck. This increased airflow over the wings helps the aircraft generate lift. A catapult then rapidly accelerates the jet down the flight deck.
The wind provides lift, the carrier provides direction and momentum, the catapult provides acceleration—but it takes the entire team working together to accomplish the mission.
You may be called to fly your mission, but you were never called to fly alone. Leaders need each other.
Aircraft Carriers Do Not Operate Alone
An aircraft carrier operates with a task force—vessels providing protection, supplies, intelligence, logistics, and specialized capabilities. They do not all perform the same function, but together they create a far stronger force than any one vessel could provide alone. “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased” (1 Cor. 12:18).
ICAL works in much the same way. Members bring different strengths: church planting, business, missions, government, education, administration, intercession, technology, media, leadership development, and cross-cultural experience.
ICAL works with many strategic alliances throughout the world: global business groups, broadcasting, accredited schools, prophetic, intercessory and other types of alliances.
God does not require us to become identical in order to become unified. ICAL respects different gifts, assignments, and experiences while creating opportunities to collaborate around one mission—advancing Christ’s Kingdom.
Kingdom order does not eliminate individuality—it coordinates individuality for greater effectiveness. This is called…
Force Multiplication
No individual leader possesses everything necessary for the global mission.
One fighter pilot cannot win a war alone. Aircraft, carriers, supply ships, intelligence, and support vessels must collaborate—bringing different strengths to one mission.
That is Force Multiplication: apostolic leaders combining relationships, wisdom, experience, resources, and influence to accomplish more together than any could accomplish alone.
Why Pay Dues?
Some ask, “What do I get for my dues?” “I don’t see why I need to pay —I can get all this for free.” ICAL is not a club where leaders pay dues, attend gatherings, exchange business cards, and go home. It is a tried-and-proven coalition of God-gifted, mature leaders with standards of accountability that are upheld. It provides what a single leader cannot.
An aircraft carrier cannot fulfill its mission simply because pilots believe in its purpose. Someone must keep it operational. Personnel, communications, administration, technology, maintenance, logistics, planning, and many unseen functions sustain the mission. The same is true of ICAL.
ICAL is a global coalition requiring infrastructure.
The highly informational website (including Members Only Access areas), domains, email systems, and various electronic communication services must be maintained. Member records, communications, questions, events, and global relationships all require ongoing administration.
Administration is not separate from the mission—it helps make the mission possible. ICAL provides a central hub of apostolic administration with people specifically gifted and skilled to help advance that mission strategically. People need to be paid for their services. We need to pay bills to stay operational.
Membership dues, therefore, should not be viewed only through the question, “What do I get?”
A better question is: “What am I helping sustain so that together we can accomplish what none of us could accomplish alone?”
Fueling the Mission
Again, using the aircraft carrier analogy, membership dues are like carrier fuel. In WWII, an aircraft carrier used roughly 1.9–2.1 million gallons of fuel oil costing $800,000–$1.3 million in today’s dollars. The carrier had to be refueled frequently as it and its planes used up the fuel. Today’s aircraft carriers are run by nuclear reactors that need to be refueled only every 20-25 years, however the USA is building carriers that will last for 50 years. It costs between $975 million and $1.3 billion dollars – to fuel one reactor; carriers have two. And the planes need jet fuel, a separate cost.
Without fuel, even the most powerful ship is dead in the water.
Without communication, administration, technology, and support, a global coalition may have a great vision but no ability to carry it out.
Annual dues represent each member’s participation in sustaining the infrastructure that enables ICAL to connect, support, and serve leaders worldwide.
· Dues fuel the infrastructure like the Holy Spirit gives each of us the empowerment for our assigned mission—God’s work.
· Dues have not increased for several years, even though the cost of doing business has doubled, tripled, and more in many areas.
· Dues end when a member reaches 75.
From Membership to Mission
Again, ICAL is not a club or a coffee-klatch fellowship with surface-level chit-chat. The purpose is much greater.
ICAL connections lead to enduring relationships.
· Relationships build trust.
· Trust creates convergence.
· Convergence enables greater collaboration.
· Collaboration becomes a force multiplier that advances the Kingdom of God.
That is why membership matters.
The world does not need another religious organization simply collecting names. It needs mature Kingdom leaders who recognize that while God gives each of us a particular assignment, none of us possesses the entire solution.
Even experienced leaders need somewhere to land.
They need encouragement, wisdom, accountability, relationships, or a solution that another member already possesses. Sometimes they simply need to know that brothers and sisters around the world understand the mission and will stand with them.
ICAL provides everything just described and more.
Maybe you are someone who needs to come in from the cold. Maybe it’s time to:
Land. Connect. Refuel. Strengthen one another. Exchange wisdom. Receive fresh vision. Then launch again into your God-given assignment.
Christ’s Kingdom mission is greater than any one leader, ministry, network, or nation—We are stronger when we advance together!
See you on the battlefield,
Lynn Kishaba
