Call to Revolution

Identifying and Uprooting the Legal Spirit

2012-01-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm indebted to Dr. Stephen Crosby for drawing my attention to what he describes as a "legal spirit". This would be defined as a judicial and forensic approach to our relationship with God and with others. The result is we fail to walk in loving relationship with our Father, and we also make other people's lives miserable, assuming a role as self appointed prosecutors to "enforce God's law". This mindset is especially dangerous for a person in leadership.

Here are brief examples of the legal spirit in action in the Scriptures:

Jesus and Disciples: Gathering Grain and Healing on the Sabbath
John 12:1-14

The Legal View: The Disciples should not have plucked grain, Jesus should not have healed a man with a withered hand on the sabbath.

Kingdom View: Our Father desires mercy, not sacrifice. He does not like to see the guiltless condemned. Jesus is Lord of every day.
Humans are more valuable than animals.

The Woman Caught in Adultery
John 8:1-11

The Legal View: The woman was guilty and should be stoned

Kingdom View: He who is without sin should cast the first stone. No condemnation of the woman. An exhortation to go and sin no more.

Legal: Right and Wrong
Kingdom: Life and Death

Legal: Inability to see and love people, just their sins
Kingdom: Sensitivity to and redemptive love for people

Legal: Condemnation
Kingdom: Grace and Mercy

Legal: Tenacious preoccupation with of sin/spotlighting
Kingdom: Loving and hopeful engagement

Legal: Focus on a determined outcome for people's behavior
Kingdom: Grace and mercy to let people walk in freedom and even make mistakes

LEGAL VIEWS OF:

God: Judge
Scripture: A Rule Book
Church: a group of good people doing the right things
The World: bad people doing the wrong things

KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE OF:

God: Father
Scripture: Words of Life when animated by the Spirit
Church: The Family of God
World: People Outside of God's family

So what is the cure for the legal spirit? Love.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

(John 15:1-17 ESV)

Notice the themes: It is all summed up in relationship: abiding in Jesus, the frequent references to "Father" and "love. We abide in Him. He loves through us. It is that simple.

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
(James 2:8-13 ESV)

If the Father's love flows freely in us, mercy will triumph over judgment.

One City One Church

2012-01-06T06:33:00.000-08:00

This is the second document presented at a conference in 2009. You can here my conversation with Brian Medway today on Faith Focus Friday @ 5 on Newstalk 1110/WBT

www.wbt.com

Developing Organic Non-franchised Models of One City-One Church - Brian Medway[1]

A Blueprint to Fulfill Jesus' Unity Prayer

2011-12-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

I first heard Mark Setch present this 2 years ago here in Charlotte. Today, at the end of 2011 I present this to the Body of Christ in this region to prayerfully consider what is in these pages. My hope is that the Lord will use it to speak to your heart so we may walk together in unity as never before.

From Church World to the Fullness of Jesus in the World - Mark Setch

SGM Chronicles: Family of Churches or Corporation of Pastoral Plantations?

2011-12-20T19:02:00.000-08:00

Before we can appropriately respond to a situation, we first have to define the problem. Before a doctor can determine treatment, he has to properly diagnose the medical issue. Likewise, before an organization can recover from a myriad of issues, it has to first determine the root issue. Ironically, the church that taught us so much about discerning root issues seems unable to unearth its own. And sadly this blindness begins at the top.

When we left our SGM church in January, 2008, we were drawn to what we believed to be more evidence of life in Jesus in another church planting ministry. As I referenced before, this proved to be another dead end, as we found the same “lording over” behavior, which ultimately choked out the life of Christ. In fact, several of us who were part of that “church plant” discussed this recently. All of us agreed that the Lord was genuinely doing something special among us early on. I would contend that things took a turn downhill as certain individuals insisted on asserting “their authority”.

As I stated in previous installments in this series, I was impressed by what I thought were biblical expressions of Ephesians 4 ministry (though prophets were missing). I now believe what I have seen are perversions of apostolic expression. So if you combine this with a lack of prophetic presence, what does it leave you with? The answer is troubling. It ranges from an imbalanced ministry, to a crude business model with “Christian” flavoring.

I recently enjoyed a great teaching on “The Spirit Filled Church”. The message was great, but as our experience bears out, what good does it do for the Spirit to fill the church, if those who claim to be leaders assume a position of lordship over it and prevent the Spirit’s expression in every member? It is clear to me that “jars of clay” with a leadership label, have become the center of attention rather than the treasure that is allegedly in those jars. And there’s a profound lack of interest in the treasure the Lord puts in most of the jars… the ones without the leadership label.

In the fall of 2009, still reeling from the ill fated church plant, I attended a conference hosted by Don Atkin here in Charlotte. At this time I had only known Don for a few weeks. But it was already clear to me that when it came to apostolic expression, he was the real deal. The evidence was in his investment in the lives of many people… people now serving all over the world… people he poured his life into, and then released. The release part is a key piece of evidence, because no true apostle will ever want to see anyone eternally dependent on him.

My world was further rocked when Don did a presentation at the conference, PURSUING TOGETHER A FRESH AND CLEAR UNDERSTAND OF APOSTOLIC MINISTRY THAT IS NEITHER REACTIONARY NOR APOLOGETIC, NEITHER HIERARCHAL NOR WITHOUT SUBSTANCE.
How is this for a long title?

I will share with you some of my notes from that presentation. I think you will begin to see how the lights came on for me:

“Don began by defining ministry: it is a supply of Christ to the body. Then he addressed our ministry challenges here in the 21st century. As many of us have discovered the need to go beyond Pastor-Teacher leadership, a rediscovery of apostolic ministry is emerging. But Don warned of the danger of putting an apostolic layer over an existing religious structure. He says this is an exercise in futility. There must be a rooting out first of everything that’s not about Jesus. (this is largely a prophetic function) Then apostles and prophets can build upon a foundation of Him and Him alone.

One of our big challenges is the fact that George Barna estimates 4 out of 5 adults in America could be labeled “Casual Christians”. These are people who display no real difference in their lives from unbelievers. In other words, their profession of Christianity is false. Only about 16% fall under the label of “Captive Christians”. These are people who, like Paul, consider themselves voluntary “slaves” to Christ. They are captive to the heart and mind of God.

And complicating matters is the fact that most of the 16% who are truly followers of Christ are still in institutional churches, and are therefore not able to fully function as God intended.

So in our effort to restore the church, many of us are looking to apostles to help set things in order. But tragically, some of those who profess to be apostles are false apostles. This can be difficult to discern because much of the time false apostles are genuine believers. But Don gave us some helpful insights to make sure those we look to for apostolic leadership are truly apostolic.

Don Atkin put professing apostles into 2 categories: those in the spirit of Ishmael, and those in the spirit of Isaac. This of course is based on the sons of Abraham. Isaac fulfilled the promise, but before his arrival, Ishmael was the product of Sarah attempting to “help” God out. He came first. So very often, before something is truly birthed of God, Ishmael shows up, masquerading as God’s apostolic answer.

So what does the Ishmael apostle look like? Abraham’s first son set a sour tone for sonship. So, in like manner, apostles in this lineage are the source of conflicts. Isaac, on the other hand is a source of peace. Order and peace are fruits of the Spirit. Ishamel had some godly roots, but he produced more of the spirit of Egypt than of Abraham’s God.
Here are key distinctions between true and false apostles, or those of Isaac and those of Ishmael:

Life Flow
Ishmael: life flows from their followers up to them. They are on a platform and everyone looks up to them, and they’re often more affluent than those who they are ostensibly serving

Isaac: apostles are often impoverished. They speak little about money. Paul laid down his life and made tents. Life flows from them, not to them. They lead a love revolution
True apostolic fathers wash the feet of the “sons” they disciple. Those of Ishmael train these “sons” to wash theirs.

Elder Statesmen not merely Fathers
Fathers can be tribal and more subject to competition and jostling for position with other fathers and tribes. Statesmen deal with issues that transcend tribes. They do not subscribe to tribal mentalities that are parochial. They also do not come to seek something for themselves, but seek a kingdom agenda

Cross pollination rather than control
Those of Ishmael seek to control. Those of Isaac promote cross pollination across tribes. They tolerate “messy” growth without smothering with supervision

Legitimize Ideas not people
Those of Ishmael sell legitimacy like priests used to sell indulgences. These apostles legitimate people. They promote a code of brotherhood similar to the KKK or the Mafia in return for loyalty. They are also impervious to accusations. Those of Isaac legitimize ideas. Regular believers are released to do the cutting edge work.

Impact rather than impart
Ishmael apostles pose as purveyors of the power of God. They do all the praying, prophesying, etc to impart something to the people. The rank and file believers are treated as if they have a “junior holy spirit”. Those of Isaac help to unpack what God has already put within His people

Equip instead of inform
Ishmael apostles believe they have to tell the flock everything they need to know, stunting true spiritual growth. Those of Isaac give people multiple resources and keep responsibility for their lives in their own hands where it should be.

Being rather than doing
Ishamel types have to be in charge and active in everything in the church to validate their apostolic positions. They use language to stir the flesh into action.

Isaac apostles promote a goal of displacement. Their desire is to reproduce themselves so the body is not always dependent on them. They walk in the blessing of presence. When an apostle is in the house, his gifting rises, no matter where he sits. Gifts are released in people he’s around. Peace is also released. True apostles carry the presence of God and blessing everywhere they go.

Summing up, Don challenged us to do 5 things:
1. Don’t be distracted by what’s false. God will deal with those issues in His time. We have to remain redemptive in our perspective
2. Recognize that some who have the heart of a son may have only been exposed to systems of slavery
3. There will be a continual need to heal the casualties of false apostles. But this is best done in private and with as little drama as possible. This is where we must be statesmen and diplomats.
4. “Isaacs” are raised up by God, not by men
5. Through wisdom, a house is built. Paul was committed to knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. At the heart of a true apostle is SERVANTHOOD. Biblical authority is held lightly, exercised faithfully, expressed relationally, and followed willingly."

After reading this, doesn’t it explain a lot about what you currently see within SGM? I would observe that those who claim to be “apostles” are really little more than teachers acting as “regional superintendents”… men who make sure the “company line” is followed and the “ministry” brand is protected. Then individual “churches” become little more than “pastoral plantations”, where people are compelled to “serve the vision” of the appointed leader(s). And sadly that service rarely leaves the building. Much of the so called “church ministry” is geared toward keeping the organization functioning, so there’s very little real evangelism or mission.

I am personally aware of a number of very restless men at an SGM church who are very anxious to get on with the mission of the gospel. Sadly, they’re waiting for some sort of “training” or “knighting” process that for some may never come. The result is they languish, week after week, sitting under the teaching of men who are frankly spiritually and relationally broken and dysfunctional. They have no idea their fellowship with the Father and maturity transcends that of their “leaders”.

And in the midst of the current turmoil within SGM, the leadership would do well to consider (as I suggested in “Where Are the Prophets?) that the wisdom to resolve their current issues is likely available to them through “regular” people in their congregations. The tragedy is the leadership has such a low view of “rank and file” believers that this is highly unlikely. The leaders would do well to consider the example of Paul. In Romans 1, he described his eagerness to see his spiritual family:

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
(Romans 1:11-13 ESV)

Paul was eager to impart a spiritual gift. But notice what else he expected: mutual encouragement by each other’s faith. He’s saying “I have something for you, and I also know you have something for me.” Paul knew how to receive the “treasure” from his brothers. He was not a “know it all” leader. He knew he had a part of the manifestation of Christ, not all of it. The rest was in the rest of the body. If only today’s vaunted “spiritual” leaders would learn this. Also notice how he refers to them as brothers. This is not by any means a subservient relationship they have with him. Paul didn’t send this letter to the leaders of the church in Rome. It went to the whole family and he addresses them as family members with equal standing.

And there’s more we can learn on this from Jesus:

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

(John 13:1-17 ESV)

Most of the sermons I’ve heard on this tend to focus on us washing the feet of others. This has been followed up by foot washing services by some groups as a regular practice. I don’t believe the Lord was establishing a “church ordinance” here. And the angle of us washing the feet of others is good. But we need to take a close look at Peter. He initially resisted, until the Lord made it clear that he couldn’t have any share with him. Once Peter got it, he went overboard, suggesting that Jesus completely wash his body. This was unnecessary. The point is Peter had to be willing to receive the “cleansing hand” of Jesus. I think this is where many of us miss it, especially leaders. We think we belong on the washing end all the time, when the truth is, it is just as important (and sometimes more essential) that we are on the receiving end. Are we willing to let anyone in the body wash our feet, whether they are in “leadership” or not? Very often, we want to pick and choose who we believe is worthy to wash our feet. In the Kingdom of God, that’s not how it works. We submit to His authority, no matter who it comes from.

Notice also where Jesus promises blessing: is it from teaching this?, or from boasting about how well taught we are from our SGM pastor on it? No, the blessing comes from doing, and anyone who claims to be a leader should demonstrate the ability to wash… and also be washed by others. You can’t lead if you haven’t learned how to follow Jesus.

There’s also an account the Lord has stirred in my heart in recent weeks, about the coming of Jesus.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
(Isaiah 11:6-9 ESV)

Why does this fascinate me? Because I’m beginning to understand Jesus’ kingdom authority. Wherever He reigns, there is peace and divine order. This isn’t just about animals getting along when one would previously see the other as a meal, or even about children being able to lead them or play in the presence of serpents. It is a picture of Jesus’ kingdom authority. Wherever He reigns, there is peace and divine order. Everyone and everything must bow. Listen church, today the Lord called us out of darkness to offer a preview of the culmination of the new creation. This is ultimately not about “church”, it is about Jesus and His kingdom. If the posture of our hearts is truly under Jesus’ authority, we will receive Him no matter how he presents himself: not just from leaders, but each other, our children. And the truth is the top down hierarchal approach is NEVER the way Jesus worked. Understanding this will forever change our posture toward one another, especially for those who think there’s a place “on top” in the Kingdom of God, whether for ourselves or others. This carnality has to go. Leaders need to stop behaving as if they are lords, and people need to stop allowing them to behave that way.

Two Paths: Repentance or Reconciliation

It was CJ Mahaney who preached a message on the fact that our hearts can be “Idol Factories”. I would suggest SGM has embedded idolatry into the very fabric of the organization. (Frankly, most expressions of “church” do the same thing.) I will identify those specific areas of idolatry I can attest to:

The local church: this idea is nowhere expressed in scripture. The only thing that comes close are references to churches by city. The idea of multiple “churches” in one city is foreign to the New Testament. This also raises the question of why anyone would do a “church plant” in a city where genuine Christians are already present. This again exposes the fact that we are most concerned that our brand is represented. In truth, we’re only contributing to the disunity and religious balkanization of that city.

When we left our SGM church, the “senior pastor” belittled our involvement with a “church plant” and boasted that “we know how to plant churches”. This is far from anything to brag about. The truth is this organization knows how to identify upper income communities that line up with their business model. (I talked to several SGM leaders who confirmed they are more “equipped” to plant in middle and upper class neighborhoods.) Bottom line, what we’re talking about here with church plants is ‘hay, wood, and stubble.” We need to repent for causing divisions that put “our group” above the “one man” of the body described in scripture.

Leadership: everything in the church revolves around leaders. In the “local church” it is the preaching/teaching ministry, and all of the ministries in the church revolve around his/theirs. In true kingdom expression, they revolve around Jesus, and leaders function as brothers, not overlords or supervisors. We need to repent of our loyalty of any devotion to leaders that puts us at variance with other believers. And leaders who demand exclusive loyalty and devotion to you, your church, your ministry, etc, shame on you!.

Reformed theology/sound doctrine: Paul knew nothing among the people but Jesus and him crucified. SGM promotes an elitist perspective that they know more than most in the evangelical world. Members boast that they are so “well taught”. But to what end? Information is a far cry from incarnation and illumination. If we are simply hearers and not doers, who cares how much we know? This is a formula for pride and self deception.

I remember when SGM’s top leaders started a conference with other top leaders in the reformed movement in America. One SGM leader stood in the pulpit on a Sunday morning and showed off a picture of the SGM leadership with these other “big names”. In hindsight it is now obvious what this was about: “We’ve arrived!” And why? Because we are DOING what God has called us to do? No, because we’re in with the “big names”. This is nothing but pride of life, and that is incompatible with the love of God. This carnality was not even hidden. Sadly I’m not sure the blatant carnality of this was recognized at the time. (I must confess I didn’t)

We need to repent of our sense of superiority for “having the right doctrine” and manifesting that by our disconnection with the rest of the body. Leaders who have encouraged this ethos need to repent. (for those outside SGM there may be other theological litmus tests we use to judge others)

At this time of crisis, Jesus stands at the door and knocks. But He will not simply come in to allow us to give Him lip service. He is Lord, so if the leadership of SGM and its member churches truly want Jesus, opening this door means one thing: giving Him His rightful place on the throne. This means well meaning men who have occupied that place in people’s lives will have to step off. Unless and until that happens, this “ministry” will only continue its unfortunate pattern of “deceiving and being deceived”. I pray that brave men will choose the King of Kings over paychecks and the pats on the back from religious fraternity brothers . Otherwise I pray the Lord will continue to open the eyes of people “under” them. Sadly, some of these men may not get it until they find themselves preaching to each other in empty sanctuaries.

“Seek and You Shall Find” Beckoning the Seeker to Seek

2011-12-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

Greg Austin

More than a few forecasters of the direction of the immediate future of the church are anticipating its certain and summary death and burial. Others believe that the church has long since become irrelevant to the majority of humanity, (and here, I might find closest agreement with the critics of current ecclesia). Still others see neither the need or the prospect of any change whatsoever. To these, like the generation Jesus spoke of, “all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

While multitudes are curtailing their association with the institution of religion, many are content to huddle in their spiritual enclaves with either a stubborn or a naïve perception that “we’re ok, you’re ok.” So long as the band plays, as long as the lights shine and the money rolls in, Heaven is happy and we’re ecstatic, too.

Never mind the masses looking for and finding the exit doors of our sanctuaries with increasing frequency. Never mind the alarming downward spiral of church attendance and missionary participation and yes, the accompanying plunge of monetary income lining the pockets of institutional religion.

Never mind as well the more than alarming departure of preachers from the pulpit and the growing prevelance of familial dysfunction within the ranks of the remaining clergy: Apparently those leaving our organized religious experience just don’t get it. It’s all about a musical sound that pleases the ear, preaching (well, perhaps not preaching, we don’t want or need much of that – perhaps teaching, sharing, conversing fits us better) that salves the conscience and café esspresso instead of comittment and an expression of Jesus’ life.

Nor are increasing numbers of adherents the critical signet of success.

Like so much of life, there is a grain of truth in all of these diverse opinions and beliefs. One thing is certain whether it is realized or not: The church of Jesus is embarked on an undeniable course of change so radical that even the very word "church" has taken on new meanings and definitions.

In his book The Second Coming of the Church, respected pollster and author George Barna states "Today's Church is incapable of responding to the present moral crisis. It must reinvent itself or face virtual oblivion by mid-21st century. (Italics mine). Dr. Mark Hanby declares in The House That God Built, "The Christian Church...is drowning in a flood of human ideas and programs to bring 'God's dreams' to pass." Mike Regele writes in Death of the Church "The Church has a choice: to die as a result of its resistance to change or to die in order to live." Dr. C. Peter Wagner's book Churchquake, a treatise on radical Church Change has raised the ire of many traditionalists whose attitude about the Church is encompassed in the current slang expression: "it's all good."

God loves the church, guides the church and is in the process not only of restoring the church to a place of spiritual power and significance, but God has issued the command for a "course-correction" in the direction of the church so drastic that it is nothing short of a revolution of structure.

The days of Reformation, so sacrosanct, so revered and so essential to existent and prevailing church structure, are finished, concluded, over. God is the Architect and the Engineer of true, spiritual revolution. The New Creation species – those who have experienced genuine, spiritual rebirth are engaged in, caught up by a revolution that will result in the re-establishing of the true, New Testament, New Creation church; the church Jesus promised He (and no other) would build.

This church must, by its nature be filled with God, Himself. And being filled with and by the God of creation, it also will be a church filled with power and significance and efficacy; the embodiment of the true glory of God Himself. This may sound, to the religiously-contended ear like a reckless-sounding statement. Yet I assure the reader it is a proper, measured and fully-considered assertion.

Virtually every study that has examined the growth/decline patterns of traditional, Christian churches in America and in Europe corroborate the veracity of my brash-sounding appraisal. Yet I don’t need to appeal to the data-gatherers: The reader knows it by experience or by simple observation.

The modern-traditional-church-system has strayed severely from the course Jesus set for His followers.

Instead of "going" we have gathered in our comfort zones of doctrinal, ethnic and social sameness. Instead of distributing we have hoarded. Instead of "whosoever will," the church has become possessively "our church;" "our program;" "our doctrine;" "our faith" to the exclusion of outsiders, anyone but “us.”

Through the first decade of the 21st Century, Western Christianity has degenerated into a culture of "give me" and "feed me" and "entertain me" and "serve me" since we believe, “it’s all about me,” instead of advancing a culture of "reach them" and "feed them" and "serve them."

We "rate" the worship experience, the sermon, the teaching, the prophecy, the coffee, the children's program, the architectural structure, the carpet and the paint and the restroom decor. We choose our places of worship based on carnal, earthly criteria and so we miss heavenly atmospheres and divine architecture.

We chase success and disregard crushed and wounded souls. We use the gospel for self-improvement for our families, self-attainment for our businesses, and selfish growth of our financial portfolios instead of letting the gospel use us to demonstrate good news to dying men.

We applaud and deify charismatic leaders when their slick theatrics wow us and we stone them when God's truth through them wounds us.

Much of the contemporary church of the West is a sick Body. Like Samson, shorn of his power, blinded to the light, bound by his own, foolish cuteness and trickery, the church stumbles before a world that accurately recognizes her ineptness, her weakness and her ineffectiveness.
And yet multitudes cry for authenticity. Hearts yearn for what they have not seen, have not heard, have not known while all the while seeing, hearing and knowing something more is out there, awaiting discovery, beckoning the seeker to seek.

Greg Austin
http://www.gregaustin.org/

SGM Chronicles: Whose Church Is It?

2011-12-13T07:28:00.000-08:00

At the end of my college years, the Lord began teaching me some significant things about the Church. One foundational truth was His headship over it. And like all that the Lord teaches us, the goal is not merely to apprehend the idea: it is to see the truth walked out in real life. Sadly, this is a huge disconnect, not just in SGM, but also the modern church system as a whole. The result is, we may think: “we get it,” just because our minds are informed. The truth is, we don’t get it unless we walk in it.

What did this mean for me in a practical way? It meant challenging human leadership that was clearly disconnected from the Head, and when that challenge was not heeded, shaking the dust off my feet.

At the time, I was an associate pastor of a small church in Central Kentucky. In the face of serious family and leadership issues involving the pastor, I ultimately appealed to the denominational leadership to address the problems. They insisted on affirming the pastor in his position. (I had learned some months before that there were racial considerations in this. When the pastor was planning to take extended leave, they made a plan to bring in a complete stranger. The denominational leader explained that he was concerned that the small town where the church was located might have difficulty accepting a black pastor).

Since obedience to the word of God was not the priority for the denominational leadership, my soon to be wife and I had a choice to make. I remember walking in the sanctuary and asking the Lord what to do. As He has so often, He answered my question with His own: “What have I been teaching you?” The answer was that He was head of the Church. His follow up to me was: “Am I in charge here?” There was nothing more to ask. I resigned. About a year later, everything blew up. The pastor and his wife had taken in a troubled young woman for a season. You can probably guess what happened: she became pregnant. The pastor left his wife and children and married the woman. The church literally closed its doors.

This was a clear reality check for me: a sad lesson in “the business of church.” Years later, I would learn the same lesson on a broader scale. This time the implications would be more far-reaching. As I mentioned before I was initially impressed with the structure of SGM leadership. Over time, I increasingly became restless about mission that would never come to fruition. There was plenty of talk about evangelism and “making the church look like heaven.” But the “leadership” did not do these things—they merely taught them.

So what is the disconnect? A major clue is in Colossians 2. Paul warns us about the danger of falling under captivity through philosophy and empty deceit. Later he speaks of people who would disqualify us. And what is at the heart of their error?

Not holding fast the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. Acts 2:19

As leaders our primary call is to hold fast the Head. In the human body, every function comes from the head. The same is true of the church. We function out of direct relational connection with Jesus, the Head. As we individually abide in Him, His life flows in us. Leaders who lose sight of this can unwittingly make themselves the head. By becoming defacto mediators between God and man, we become idols by replacing Jesus Himself.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV)

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3 ESV)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3-8 ESV)

After laboring under the weight of suffocating pastoral management that refused to release people into ministry outside of their control, I became attracted to another church-planting ministry similar to SGM. While I recognize that its founder has a genuine apostolic grace, I soon discovered the organization in America (this ministry was founded in the United Kingdom) was steeped in the same hierarchal system. In the final months of my association there, the Spirit of God began speaking to me from His word:

But Jesus called them to him and said; “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28 ESV)

A continual theme expressed to me was the need to “submit to their authority.” When I asked how people who were already abused within SGM would overcome their abuse, a so-called apostolic leader told me: “The way they overcome is to submit to our authority.” And then the Lord reminded me of this gem:

I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (John 5:43-44 ESV)

The Lord was showing me that I had been submitting myself to people who were more concerned about their honor than His. I believe this goes a long way to explain our anemic “churches.” Because people have been cut off from the head, they are locked into spiritual infancy. Apostolic and prophetic foundations that would help bring God’s people to maturity are entirely missing. One major reason for these ministry gifts:

so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:14 ESV)

Paul saw this first hand. Some have made the argument that Diotrephes may have been the first “senior pastor.” (This “position” is nowhere in scripture)

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. (3 John 1:9-10 ESV)

Dr. Steve Crosby says this about the situation Paul describes here:

John addressed the letter to the “church,” not to the leadership. This was the custom of the time. I find it interesting that many church leaders believe all spiritual interactions within a local congregation must pass through them as the alleged “gate-keepers” of the fellowship. Diotrephes believed he had authority to control all the communications and kingdom relationships of those in “his” church. The notion that the community could be addressed without him “clearing it” first offended Diotrephes. Some leaders are much like Diotrephes in that they will not allow any outside influence in the lives of the congregation. Individual initiation and independent thought is strongly discouraged. Psychological manipulation under the guise of submission to authority is used to keep individuals under control.

Notice what Diotrephes did. He disregarded any authority but his own. Not only does he reject Paul’s authority, but he also refuses to welcome other brothers. Those who want to do so, he kicks out of the church. This controlling “spirit” seeks to corral, isolate, and insulate God’s people away from any outside input not approved by the “senior pastor.” The body of Christ is thus deprived of nourishment.

Needless to say, nearly eighteen months into our new church plant, it was time to “shake the dust off our feet.” By the way, this “church” no longer exists.

A few months later, I came across a very insightful article by Mark Setch called: “The War on Fullness.” The subtitle is: Confronting the Powers that Inhibit the Fullness of Christ in the World. Here’s a portion that is most revealing about this subject of Jesus’ Lordship:

Veteran charismatic renewal leader Bob Mumford has written a very insightful booklet titled Dr Frankenstein and World Systems. This intriguing title arises from a powerful analogy. We are probably familiar with Mary Shelley’s novel about Dr Frankenstein, who created a human being from various stolen body parts. He brings the created being to life by shooting electricity into it. The creature awakens, slides off the table and begins to walk and talk. The creature is initially gentle and innocent, but it then takes on a life of its own, and becomes a destructive terror. What Frankenstein created he could not control.

Mumford states that whenever an organization departs from its created intent, it becomes a ruling force or authority:

This force takes on, assumes, or is given power and authority that was not originally intended. The persona, i.e., the corporation or corpus, begins to exhibit coercion and tyranny. With some discernment, it can now be seen as a spiritual force, injuring and using people. Our attempts to avoid responsibility and employ self-justification when we see the system injure and control and enhanced by excusing negative behavior with such statements as, “well, you can’t fight city hall” or “This is just the way it is done here.” The system not only condones wrong actions, in some cases it encourages them for the strengthening of the authority & influence of the entity. This happens not only in secular organizations but also in churches and ministries around the world.

Can Demonized Rulers and Authorities Exist within the Church?

Many people struggle to believe that churches and ministries can be demonized. Satan would prefer us to believe that this was impossible. It’s not. Let’s consider the example of Bob Mumford’s own ministry – the parallels will then become obvious. He says:

Lifechangers, as an organization, was created in 1972. My intentions were godly and the declared purpose was to see significant teaching material translated and distributed to a minimum of twenty-five nations. Eventually it took on a life of its own. I found myself laboring long and hard to keep it alive. Expenses were paid out of my own pocket so it would continue to operate. Because I was serving it, I had to get others to serve it as well. One day I realized that it had taken on a life of its own. It (like Frankenstein’s creature) had slid off of the table and stood up, looked me square in the face and said, “I am Lifechangers, you must do what I want.” When I looked at what it had become in the light of a ruling force I thought, “Lifechangers is either going to come under His kingdom and live for God or die.” I stopped sending out appeals for money and minimized travel. Then, it seemed, the very life of the Lord started to breathe upon me and the organization. We are now free from having to serve it. The system died and Lifechangers lives to serve God’s purposes!

Can we see the parallels to many different movements and ministries that have been birthed in the purposes of God, but have moved from their original intent – moving from Kingdom values and principles to systems driven values and ‘wants’? “I am Methodism, you must do what I want.” “I am Lutheranism, you must do what I want.” “I am Calvinism, you must do what I want.” “I am Catholicism, you must do what I want.” “I am the Baptist Church/Salvation Army/Anglican Church/Uniting Church/AOG/COC, etc.—you must do what I want!”

Our blind devotion to “things” and leaders reveals a lot about our true value system. We can point fingers at leaders for what they do. But we really need to look at our own hearts and ask whether we are following Jesus or following men. All too often “follow me as I follow Christ” excludes the part about following Christ. This is a dangerous place that puts us under man’s dominion, not that of Jesus. Is it any wonder that the works of the flesh are so rampant in churches today?

The truth is Jesus is the Head. And I, along with other leaders, function as the Lord leads us, not to lord over people’s faith, but to guide, first and foremost by example. At the foundation of the prevailing leadership system is unbelief. Because we can’t see “He who is invisible,” as Moses did, we think human beings are necessary to “govern” people, mainly through behavior modification. The truth is, in a heart where Jesus is truly the Head, that person will accept His authority where it is expressed, whether directly from Him by the Holy Spirit, through leadership, or through others in the body.

The alternative is to continue demonstrating who we really are: materialists who don’t truly accept the invisible, supernatural, reign of Jesus. Is it any wonder the Spirit of God doesn’t work among us in power? Is it any wonder so many in the world see the church as an irrelevant moneymaking scheme populated by naïve people?

The passion of my heart is that the world will see less “church” and more Jesus as He manifests His life and power in the kingdom of God. I have no doubt He is doing it, and will do it. But this will not happen without pain and disruption, as Jesus wrests His people from the counterfeit expressions of “church” and assembles His “living stones” into a true spiritual house.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18 ESV)

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:1-5 ESV)

Terry Virgo at CLC: The Spirit Filled Church

2011-12-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I was reminded again why I was deeply affected by the ministry of Terry Virgo. On Sunday he spoke on the subject, "The Spirit Filled Church".

He began by laying the foundation. We believe in the word of God, but we also see the importance of empowerment by the Holy Spirit. Terry covered John 13:33-John 14:20. The real them of this message was presence... God's continuing presence with His people.

He began by talking about how God revealed Himself in the past. The Lord arrested Moses' attention with the burning bush. This was his commissioning. Later the Lord revealed Himself to all 2 million of the Israelites who came out of Egypt. They heard thunder and saw lightning and smoke. Most importantly they heard the voice of God.

In the face of rebellion, the Lord threatened to withdraw. But Moses made it clear: if your presence doesn't go with us, don't send us from here.

Later the Lord expressed a desire to dwell among His people. A tent was established for this purpose. And once in place, the glory of the Lord filled it! In fact in all their travels, the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day and fire in the cloud by night.

Temporary Tabernacle

In the New Testament, the Lord revealed Himself through Jesus. John's gospel says "Word became flesh and we beheld his glory". The word means that he "tabernacled himself". D.A. Carson says he "pitched his tent among us." Life was manifested. We handled and touched. He made himself known. That's what exegesis is.

In Hebrews 1 learn that now Jesus is now the way the Father speaks to us. Jesus is the radiance of his glory. He is the exact image of His nature.

Terry reflected back to the time when Israel turned from God. The Lord through Malachi expressed his displeasure, "Oh that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you says the Lord Almighty, and I will accept no offering from your hands." Malachi 1:10 NIV

Paul writes that we do not preach ourselves. Jesus did. He said
I am the way
I am the door
I am the Good Shepherd

And when Jesus chose 12, he selected them to be with him.

Too often Christianity is portrayed as going to meetings, staying away from certain places,etc. To be a Christian is to be with Jesus!

Terry also targeted the "Hollywood Jesus" we often see, a man who looks rather sickly.

By contrast, he reminded us of the time Jesus spent on the mountain with the multitudes for 3 days. The word says there was not a sick person among them. After 3 days, Jesus gave the command to feed them. Jesus called them out of their limitations.

At the transfiguration, his life was manifested and the disciples said "we beheld his glory". But he warned that would only be with them a little longer

Devastating Departure

So the disciples left everything. For what? To go to church? No, to be with him. Being with Jesus was what it was all about. By contrast the Pharisees offered "God in a box". In fact when Jesus healed on the Sabbath and then extended forgiveness, the Pharisees were outraged. Their true message was "if you want forgiveness, we run the temple. you need to come to us." Jesus freely offered forgivenss.

Permanent Presence

Terry talked about how too often Christians present Christianity as a fading memory of what it was like "back in the day". We are a people who gather to his presence. He spoke about John 14, 15, and 16 where the Lord lays out the doctrine of the trinity, and the prophecy that the the Spirit would be in them. Jesus will come again, this time in the form of the Holy Spirit to indwell them.

Terry reminded us of Mary's visit to the tomb. She wanted to be with him. She couldn't live without him. And though he told her "don't hold me", he later promised he would not leave us orphans.

It is hear Terry suggested that in our emphasis on the second coming, we miss the reality of his presence today. Henrickson says of Jesus "in the Spirit, I myself and coming back." In fact, at Pentecost they could have proclaimed "he's back!" They received the spirit of the Son and were pulled into sonship. Again, they weren't memorializing the Jesus that used to be with them. They gathered to his presence. Now we live with him.

As a result we don't have to go wash in the Ganges, say 20 hail Marys,etc. We are with Jesus. "I want to know him." That is the essence of Christianity.

Terry continued, "do I have to say my prayers?" That is the wrong question. Once the spirit works in us, we will want to pray because we want to see the work of his power!

So what's the impact of the Lord coming back in the Holy Spirit? The people thought they killed Jesus and were sure He was gone. Now, in Acts he reappears. He appears with Peter as he approaches the temple and is able to say to the lame beggar, "silver and gold i have none, but what I do have I give to you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
Jesus used to be the Body of Christ... now WE are! This is not about a management team but a body!

So Jesus is with Peter. And he's with Paul in Corinth. Paul later says "the Lord stood by me".

Terry began wrapping up by exhorting us to press into Him. We are a spirit filled church. And he questioned whether Jesus had a different meaning behind John 14. We often think of Jesus preparing mansions for us to enter after we die. Jesus told them He was leaving to prepare a place and will come again. Could it be that he was referring to the Holy Spirit coming? He promised to receive us, so that where He is, we will be also.

The church was crucified with Jesus
The church was raised with Jesus
The church was seated with Jesus in heavenly places
All so that where He is we may be also.

So now we can proclaim, every day Jesus you are my dwelling place.
Colossians 3 says we are raised with Christ. We have died with Christ and our life is hidden with Christ in God. In Revelation, John was in the spirit and saw a throne. We should anticipate more fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The disciples could not bear a day being without Jesus.

Christianity is not about rules regulations and meetings.
Its about Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. It is what makes us distinct. In our midst a lot can happen. Now when you meet the living Church, you meet the living Jesus! Eternal life is knowing him. (John 17:3)

Simply reading this does not do this message justice. Listen for yourself. And I will look forward to hearing how the Lord speaks to and impacts you.

http://www.covlife.org/resources/3964179-The_SpiritFilled_Church

A Night of Prayer, Ministry, and Impartation in Gaithersburg

2011-12-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Our hearts are filled with thankfulness this morning as we meditate on the goodness of the Lord!

We came to Gaithersburg with an open-ended sense of expectancy that our Father would do a significant work this weekend. And we have not been disappointed. In fact, even before our time here is over, we are already seeing the fruit in our lives. This morning Debbie and I enjoyed an extended time of prayer together at a depth I can't remember happening for quite some time. We were deeply impacted by last night's message on prayer from our friend Terry Virgo.

A short history here: my recent journey really began with a sermon I heard from Terry in 2004 at a Sovereign Grace Ministries Celebration event at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The message "Fight the Good Fight of Faith" set my barren soul on fire. And it began a process of activation in the spirit that continues to this day. So when I heard Terry was coming to the states to speak at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, I began praying for the opportunity to visit. Prayer answered.

When this message is posted on CLC's website I will put a link here so you may receive the blessing personally.

For now I will share my notes from what Terry communicated about prayer:

Jesus was given to prayer, continually withdrawing from the endless demands of people to be with his Father. Likewise, we need to find a place, close the door and shut the world out to do the same.

We're praying to our Father. This speaks of an intimacy with Him, a Father who knows our needs. In the new covenant, it is a revolutionary awareness of intimacy.

Terry then went into a history of God's people and prayer beginning with
Genesis 4:26: "people began to call up on the name of the Lord."

Elijah withdrew from everything shaping his life, into a cave. The Lord met him. He prayed based on the promises of God and his prayers lined up with His sovereign purpose.

The Lord told us to "ask and receive that our joy may be full". He also told us we did not choose him, He chose us, so this makes us God appointed askers.

So we withdraw from the crowd, we pray the will of God, and then we pray fervently. Don Carson speaks of "praying ourselves into prayer". Paul wrote about praying with the power the Father put in me. It is in praying that the Lord stirs the necessary sense of urgency to pray.

We also need to pray together, conversationally in a theme until we know that the matter is left with him. Terry reminded us of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Jacob was not going to let go until he received a blessing.

Another insightful thing shared was Moses' relationship with God, the way he essentially argued with the Lord. God told Moses to go down and deal with his people who he led out of Egypt... people who had corrupted themselves. Moses counters by saying, "Lord those are your people". Ultimately the Lord threatens to wipe out the people and start over with Moses. Moses essentially argues with the Lord and appeals to his concern for the Lord's reputation if he gave up on the people. Moses' prayer prevails. The people are spared. Effective prayer is the conflict of will against will.

Terry referenced how often we hear talk of "walking with God and friendly talk with him.". This is also in the same category as minimizing prayer by saying "I pray all the time." While there is some value in this, there is no substitute for times in the prayer closet.

We were also reminded of the fact that Elijah prayed fervently. This is an active exercise of personal relationship. Importunity: we pray and pray and don't give up. Terry talked about how our prayer can be like the naughty boy who rings the doorbell and runs away. In contrast, we pray with the attitude that we won't go away until there's a release. Jesus praises persistence.

We also must avoid diluting our prayers with "if it is your will". We pray with confidence. We are a priestly base for God's heavenly power. All power and authority is in Jesus. So we pray with that in mind. When the apostles were arrested they prayed for more boldness. They refused to stop in the face of persecution. They prayed for more of what got them in trouble! The church prayed and Peter was released from prison.

Prayer is the greatest way the church does its work. It is true muscle power. Terry ended by quoting Don Carson, who says much prayer is not done because we don't plan to pray.

So now, this is what we now purpose in our heart to do: to plan to pray, and to encourage others to do the same.

Here is a link where you can listen to or download Terry's Message "Formidable Power in Prayer".

http://www.covlife.org/resources/3964190-Formidable_Power_in_Prayer

A Word about Covenant Life

Those who are familiar with Sovereign Grace Ministries know that there is a great deal of upheaval underway involving the leadership of the organization. My "SGM Chronicles" series is addressing the foundational issues that I believe brought the organization to this place. What I have not spoken into before was a work underway in at least SGM church that I would appeal to every believer to encourage and pray into. It really begins with one man, Joshua Harris. While as an outsider, I've observed other "leaders" posturing, defending themselves and the organization, and doubling down on manipulation, deception, and control, Josh is a man who started with repentance. Once the current crisis began this past summer, as SGM leadership started a process of "reconciliation", Josh told the congregation at Covenant Life that it was time to repent and cry out to God. I knew right away there was a different spirit at work in him. That same heart continued in a recent family meeting at CLC as a process of reform was discussed. Now after seeing Josh face to face, I can testify that what I see is a man who is after God's heart. In the short time we visited I can tell you he is humbling himself before God and others in a genuine way. Pray for this man. This is a challenging season for Joshua. But I'm confident the Lord will prevail.

SGM Chronicles: Loyalty: The Truth about Gossip and Slander

2011-12-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

Not long into our SGM journey, we started learning about loyalty. Loyalty is a wonderful thing, especially in a paradigm of mutuality in Christ. But this was not the kind of loyalty we learned at SGM.
A story early on demonstrates how we became conditioned to loyalty that works in only one direction. Unfortunately, I resisted the prompting of the Holy Spirit and bought into this monstrous perversion of a wonderful virtue.

The story I recall was a situation we were working through as a couple in the early nineties. Frankly, the issue itself was not earth shattering. But I got a shock when I realized a concern my wife expressed about me to my Care Group leader’s wife, showed up on a Care Group Leader’s report to the pastor. At the time, my first instinct was to label this as gossip. I went to the CG leader and expressed by objection to the sharing of information with a third party. My CG leader is a very humble man who I still occasionally relate to. His reaction was one of contrition. I remember he was very uncomfortable in this position. But as it was explained to me, CG leaders operate as “an extension of the pastors.” On this basis, communication about people within their “sphere” is fair game. I remember identifying it as glorified gossip: because “special people” share this information, what might otherwise be gossip is necessary communication to facilitate care. Unfortunately, I succumbed to this elitist perspective and later participated in it myself. But that would not be all.

I remember being impressed to see a church that boldly exercised church discipline. Now, years later, I have come to know people who were disciplined and have since learned that the narrative given to us by the church leadership was unbalanced and unjust in at least one situation. We see a trail of broken lives from that one incident that continues today. What is most disturbing is that the leadership operates like Mr. Magoo: they leave a trail of destruction and somehow don’t see the carnage they have created, all in the name of “doing church right.”

It is not just regular members or former members who are gossiped about and maligned, sometimes publicly. I remember the announcement about Larry Tomczak’s leaving SGM. At the time, “the process” impressed me. It seemed that the leadership did what it needed to do to protect the integrity of the ministry by having him step down. They sent a letter to all the churches announcing this. We now know there was much more to the story. After leaving SGM in 2008, I talked with Larry personally for the first time and learned just some of what happened behind the scenes. It did not take me long to realize Larry was a victim of slander. Let’s be honest. The so-called “apostolic team” lied.

So what is the deal here? Actually the explanation is very simple. There are two sets of rules within SGM: one for regular people, and another one for the “leadership.” Regular people are “spotlighted,” all of their sins identified and they become defined by their sin and shortcomings. They are encouraged to be accountable to leadership. Leaders are exalted. We are assured that they are humble people who walk out accountability with each other. When we see evidence they may be falling short, extreme caution is advised. We need to examine our hearts first. The result is the people are so repeatedly redirected back to navel gazing, their insecurity ultimately causes them to drop whatever it is they think they see. A friend and I put together a phrase to describe this arrangement: “Don’t trust your sinful heart. Trust ours.”

What we’re talking about is a system of “accountability” that only works in one direction. The people have to answer to leaders, but the leaders never bear a responsibility to answer to the people. This pastor/laity divide is profoundly ironic for professed Protestants. This is beyond even the Roman religious structure. What we have within SGM is a religious caste system.
For those reading this who are not, or never have been within SGM, I can tell you this mindset is prevalent in the American church system. Many leaders have developed an informal religious fraternity. They spend a good deal of time and energy honoring each other. And they view “regular people” with an attitude of condescendence. This is anything but New Testament leadership.

Without going too deeply into my story after leaving the SGM church, I will just say we experienced what I call a “halfway house,” a church plant with another church planting ministry very similar to SGM. Sadly, we found these same mindsets. The so-called “apostolic leader” and those with him seemed preoccupied with the need for people to “submit to their authority.” Again, this was a one-way street. We were expected to be accountable and submit to them. They were not compelled to do the same with us.
So what is this? I believe it is the very basic sin of favoritism.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:1-13

The tragedy in this ecclesiastical religious pyramid system is that people without “titles, positions, or rank,” are held to a standard the leadership refuses to accept for itself. And even people with those positions are stripped of any respect once they are determined to be unfit or not called for ministry. They are cast aside and forced to accept a judgment on them and their character and gifting from an “elite class,” without any input from the rest of the body. This is a formula for egregious abuses and hypocrisy. Insulated as they are from correction, is it any wonder that at least two blogs have handled an incredible volume of activity on their servers: stories of abuse and hypocrisy that have gone on unaddressed for years.

And now, when allegations are lodged against the leadership, mainly the “top leader” of the ministry team, what is the solution? Church discipline? No, a reconciliation and evaluation process. SGM leaders, ask yourselves honestly: if you challenged a member about their sin repeatedly, without that person’s repentance, would that person be allowed to continue in good standing for years? You know the answer.

And to top it off, now that the main leader is “cleared,” the first order of business is not repentance and reconciliation, but recrimination. People who take issue with the way you have abused God’s name and His people are “marked” as divisive. You who apparently value your own reputations express nothing but contempt for that of others.
I also remember a nearby SGM church plant. When stories began circulating about the leader’s misdeeds, they were encouraged to read an article on gossip, slander, and bad reports. This has been common practice within the member churches.

The truth is, most often, division is the product of people who insist on putting their own reputations and their brand of religion over the priority of loving ALL of God’s people, whether they are in “our group” or not.

How do we change? We begin by acknowledging Jesus’ lordship over His church, and our appropriate relationship as brothers and sisters in God’s family. Before Paul addresses husband and wife relationships he speaks to our mutual relationship in the body: “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This is a foundational Kingdom value. Once in Him, we walk in a relationship of submission to each other. If we believe we can create a hierarchy or religious caste system from this, we clearly do not understand the gospel.

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”(Romans 2:17-24 ESV)

Just insert “pastor” or “apostolic leader” in this text to replace “Jew”. The issue is the same. And sadly, the end product is a trail of carnage: the souls of precious people damaged by hypocrisy. I personally know people who are in a very dark place of unbelief because of what they have experienced. They’ve watched leaders sin grievously, with no consequence. We would do well to remember the religious system Jesus confronted, and honestly ask ourselves: are we guilty of perpetuating the same bondage?

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.(Matthew 23:1-12 ESV)

SGM Chronicles: Where Are the Prophets?

2011-12-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

Ironically, when we connected with an SGM church in 1992, I was deeply cynical and not inclined to connect anywhere. But from day one of my association with SGM, I saw a pattern that impressed me at the time. I started buying into the idea that these were people who were “doing church right,” unlike other groups I had belonged to. Much of what caught my attention was the form, the methodology. It would take years for me to see that beneath the externals, the fire was fading.

Recently the Spirit of God brought to my remembrance something I questioned even in those early days. I recall being impressed that SGM was a ministry that believed and practiced true five-fold ministry (four-fold for those who believe pastor-teacher are one gift expression). But one day I remember asking the leadership: “You have “apostles,” “evangelists,” pastors, and teachers. Where are the prophets?” I do not recall many specifics of the conversation. I do remember the response I got boiled down to a conclusion that there is no “office” of prophet in the New Testament, at least not in the way we traditionally think of the prophet from our understanding of the Old Testament. At the time I fully bought into this faulty perspective. It would be years later before I understood that the arbitrary and capricious dismissal of prophetic ministry, could very well be one of the primary fatal errors of SGM’s leadership structure.

In recent years, I have discovered that one of the major issues behind the state of the current “church” in America is what I would call the cancerous expression of the pastor-teacher gift. I have a friend who refers to this as the “pastorization” of the church. I can tell you, I’ve made an extraordinary discovery in preparing this: that the entire church system, not just SGM, has marginalized a primary leadership gift. Let me demonstrate what I’ve found in my research.

Using the ESV version of scripture, I came up with only 2 references to pastors in the New Testament: the ESV uses “Shepherds.” The first is in Ephesians 4:11 as shepherds are listed among apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers.

The second is dark and disturbing. Jude references those who “pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” In verse 12, Jude refers to “shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted . . . ”

If you look at references for teachers you find:

Acts 13:1 - prophets and teachers

In I Cor.12:29 - Paul asks “are all teachers?”

II Cor. 12:28 - third teachers (behind apostles and prophets)

In Ephesians 4:11 - teachers are included with apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds

Beginning in I Timothy 1:3, it’s intriguing that Paul begins warning about false teachers. He charged Timothy (an apostle, neither a pastor nor teacher) to “remain in Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” Paul goes on to say, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Paul distinguishes this purpose from that of others: “Certain persons, by swerving from these (these? - love that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith) have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.”

Might I suggest that the purity of the gospel must transcend “right concepts.” If love that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith are missing, do we have anything more than “confident assertions?” This is NOT biblical faith. Faith is relational trust of our Heavenly Father, not merely our intellectual apprehension of biblical ideas. This may actually be a big part of SGM’s problems. Lacking the substance of relational trust in God, all that’s left are empty and confident assertions ABOUT God.

I Timothy 4:3 speaks again of teachers sought out by people looking for affirmation of their own passions

In Hebrews, the author chides the believers for their immaturity: “By this time you ought to be teachers.”

James 3:1 warns: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

II Peter 2:1 references a warning about false teachers among them.

But notice the frequency of references to prophets:

Acts 11:27 - Prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch

Acts 13:1 - There were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers

Acts 15:32 - Judas and Silas who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words

Acts21:10 - references Agabus, a prophet from Judea

I Cor 12:28 - And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers

I Cor 12:29 - Are all apostles? Are all prophets?

I Cor 14:29 - Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weight what is said

I Cor 14:32 - the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets

I Cor 14:37 - If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

In Ephesians 2:19-20 Paul references the church as the “household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” Paul continues by saying that it is in Him (Jesus, the cornerstone) “the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit.”

Notice that the foundational work is not done by pastors and teachers, but by apostles and prophets.

In Ephesians 3:5, Paul references the “mystery of Christ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has not been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”

And in Ephesians 4:11: . . . and he gave the apostles, the prophets . . .

By now, the priority of prophets in the church should be very clear. So it should also be clear how foolish and even dangerous it is to attempt to operate anything and call it “church” without prophets.

Unfortunately SGM has pretty much reduced the gift of prophet down to expressions of “prophecy” at a microphone during “worship” at a Sunday morning service, and then only if the pastoral leader approves.

So what is a New Testament prophet? Let me first clarify that a prophet is not a psychic prognosticator, nor a bitter angry person with a bad attitude who is negative all the time.

Part of the clue begins in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 1:10, Jeremiah is commissioned to “pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” My friend, Dr. Stephen Crosby, describes a prophet as a person with a supernatural grace to identify what is crooked, and straighten it out:

If the foundation is crooked or cracked, or if the Chief Cornerstone is not accurately positioned in preeminence, a prophet is going to see it, call it out, and not let up until the presiding authorities do something about it. A pinhole for most people is an abyss for a prophet. This isn’t a defect, deficiency, or disorder in the prophet. It’s just his lens and his calling. It’s different than a pastor’s and equally necessary. Prophets call existing mindsets, systems, and structures into accurate kingdom alignment. This usually involves clearing out debris before a hole is dug and new concrete is poured. Prophets typically root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down before they plant and build (Jer. 1:10). Bad news often precedes good news in a prophetic ministry. The relentless focus on what is broken or crooked strikes those who don’t understand the prophetic mind as being unduly “negative.”

Prophets are configured by the Spirit of God, with a mandate to challenge any aggregation of power: wherever power/authority “collects” or “resides,” prophets are the God-given gift to assure power/authority is not mishandled or abused. Prophets are compelled by a higher perception of God’s justice than what others possess.

They have a strong hatred for injustice and the oppression of those who have no voice, by those who retain power and control:

This passion for justice is not merely justice for justice sake, which is a misguided perfectionism that obsesses about accurate adherence to some philosophical idea about right or wrong. God is concerned not because a precept of justice has been violated, but because a person has been hurt. Reflecting this aspect of God’s nature, a prophet’s primary concern is not merely the violation of some code, but the presence of oppression of any sort: seen, unseen, conceptual, methodological, or psychological. The prophet’s condemnation of injustice is rooted in his/her sympathy with divine care for humanity, particularly His own people.

Applying what we’ve learned to SGM, it appears that somewhere in its history, the role of New Testament prophets was either never understood or embraced, or at some point the idea was simply dismissed. Therefore, within SGM, prophets have been marginalized, even persecuted.

A spiritually toxic atmosphere of ongoing and systemic injustices, left unaddressed over time, will not be a place prophets will be able to tolerate without functioning in their gift. Their only recourse is to leave, and the local church pays the price for their departure.

Let me put a challenge to the SGM leadership: Put out a call to all SGM churches, to have people who believe themselves called of God as prophets, to come forward and identify themselves, and allow them to function as prophets, undomesticated by an imbalanced, insecure, and over-emphasized pastor-teaching gift.

It is also possible that some who are functioning as pastors, aren’t really pastors at all, but prophets. But because of the SGM environment, you have been emasculated, domesticated, and pigeonholed into a pastor-teacher role in an organization that has essentially choked out all the other gifts from functioning.

SGM leaders, If you have not already run the prophets off, and you now properly receive those who remain as the gifts they are (after all, Ephesians 4 says the LEADERS ARE GIFTS, they are not merely gifted people), by allowing them to function as leaders, who are just as legitimate as you are, you can very quickly resolve all of your outstanding relational and polity issues.

The alternative is to wander in endless processes of “reconciliation” that will ultimately leave the most important reconciliation undone . . . with Jesus, the one who should be the Head. Your alienation from Him and His ways, in the very fabric of your leadership paradigm, will never be resolved through “reconciliation.” You must look within, much deeper. I sincerely pray that you do so.

SGM Chronicles: A Preamble

2011-12-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

For nearly 15 years my wife and I were involved in an SGM church. While I believe the Lord used the church to minister to us in many ways, at some point it became a place of bondage.

I want to initially say that I believe we bear the responsibility for submitting ourselves to the organization beyond the bounds of scriptural instruction. While we did much of this in ignorance, the power of submission was always ultimately ours. We have since repented of what we now recognize to be profound idolatry. A religious brand, a “local church”, alleged spiritual leaders, and other things became the focus of attention above Jesus himself. And to any of you whom we may have played a role in compelling to submit to this, we ask your forgiveness, and we open our lives to any reconciliation for anything we may have done to cause you to stumble.

Today we stand joyfully in a place of glorious liberty, with others who know the true spirit of sonship purchased by Jesus with his own blood.
And yet we also have heavy hearts for dear brothers and sisters who remain under the grip of religious bondage. That burden extends to the leaders who labor under the same bondage (maybe greater) in their perpetuation of a religious system that is run by “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ”. (Colossians 2:8) Sadly their alleged pursuit of “sound theology” perpetuates a knowledge of Jesus that is according to the flesh.

THE GOSPEL produces a love of Christ that controls us and compels us to live for him, not for ourselves. This is the glory of the new creation. In him we are the righteousness of God. (II Corinthians 5:11-21)
The “church” gospel produces a counterfeit love… one that is directed back at itself. It refuses to find life through death, but instead seeks to control others to live for the church rather than Jesus. And sadly it insulates people from the power of the true gospel that liberates us from sin consciousness (Hebrews 10:1-2)

We are profoundly thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness to deconstruct us from “human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” We enjoy the blessing of true Ephesians 4 leadership that continues to equip us “for the work of ministry”. These are not overlords, but brothers who have the entire Body of Christ in view, not a sect or brand of their own creation. Their purpose is that we “attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may not longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine….” (Ephesians 4:1-16). The church gospel previously bound us in eternal infancy at the feet of endless teaching no one ever graduates from, and few are ever equipped. All too many are simply corralled and controlled and their God given gifts are suppressed. Though the motive for this is probably sincere, the result is kingdom resources are bound up in this system of religious cronyism and nepotism that prevents God’s people from truly being HIS “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works… “ (Ephesians 2:10)

Today we stand as ministers of the New Covenant, now boldly renouncing “disgraceful and underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (II Cor 4:1-2) Sadly we believe the idolatry of the “local church” gospel has extended a veil over people that blinds them “to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is NOT ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with yourselves as servants for Jesus’s sake. (II Cor 4:3-5 emphasis mine).
So today, my heart is not to “recruit”you to join us or any entity. It is to appeal to you to treasure “treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (II Cor 4:7) Jesus is the treasure… not a “local church” or its leaders. If we are truly “dead”, there’s nothing to defend or protect.

I’m reminded of the song we often sang, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”. The chorus sums it up so accurately.
It’s all about you, Jesus
And all this is for you.
For your glory and your fame
It’s not about me,
As if you should do things my way.
You alone are God and I surrender
To your ways.

So this is what burns in our hearts. We, as brothers and sisters desire to see all of His people walk in liberty. For this reason, as the Lord leads, this will be the first in a series of articles to uncover the “veils” of religious deception that captivated us. By God’s grace we hope it will lead others to true freedom in Jesus. And as always, we stand ready to help and encourage you in any way we can.

Introducing: Revolution Radio

2011-11-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

We are excited to announce a new initiative.

Dr. Steve Crosby and I have started a new talk program online. It is called "Revolution Radio". In fact, the first broadcast is available now.

Listen to internet radio with kingdomtalker on Blog Talk Radio

We will discuss foundations of the Christian faith, and explore how we can walk in the fullness of Kingdom Life in Christ.

You can subscribe to the broadcast, listen live, and even call in to ask questions or join the discussion.

Stay tuned.

Vince

An Urgent Message to Our Brothers and Sisters in CrossWay and SGM

2011-11-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

As a former member of CWCC I've been grieved by events that have played out in recent months within the church and parent ministry, SGM.

I write this out of my passion for the glory of God, and the desire for my brothers and sisters to walk in the freedom of sonship. This does not constitute an endorsement of a person or group of people or their positions in any conflict.

Today, out of the conviction that church leaders have crossed a line, I asked my friend and author, Dr. Stephen Crosby to address the most recent issue of "marking people who are deemed divisive". While this is directed to help people in a particular church and "fellowship of churches", the message may very well apply to you. In all, may Jesus truly be Lord of His church.

In an organization, leaders generally consider themselves in the right. It is part of the paradigm they create for themselves: if you have succeeded in making your way to the top of an organization, then, by definition, the values for which you stand, must be right, because they have been authenticated and validated by peers in the organization. In a cult-like controlling atmosphere, any challenge from within the organization to the values which the leaders have vested interest in, will always be considered as betrayal and a threat to the consensus orthodoxy of the group (whatever orthodoxy that might be). This adapted quote highlights a vulnerability leaders in any organization have. The church of the Lord is not immune. Church leaders often confuse confidence in the Lord and His Word, with confidence in themselves (as leaders) and their abilities in the Word. It is a powerful delusion.

In a church, a leader is someone who cares for people on behalf of God; someone who lays his life down, someone who gives his life away, who allows others to “spend them” and be loved the less for it . . . all gladly and without complaint. Many problems in church leadership are self-inflicted from embracing an organizational paradigm of understanding, rather than a family and relational one. God’s family does not have any CEOs. The church is not an organization to be managed. The church is a new way of living life together. The church is a new way of being human, together.

A godly leader is someone who would rather suffer personal loss than see the Lord’s interests in His people suffer, or His reputation be tarnished. A godly leader is someone who is willing to suffer injustice quietly. Perpetuation and maintenance of the organization, and the vindication of the reputation of its leaders is categorically not the same as caring for God’s people. It is often antithetical to God’s interests.

Godly leaders should be walking dead men. In fact, only walking dead men are worthy of our trust and submission. A walking dead man does not need his reputation defended, nor care if his organization is perpetuated. If a leader is not a walking dead man, clear thinking and proper decisions based on Jesus’ interests, not his own, will be the first casualties in crisis when paychecks are threatened by criticism and the departure of the allegedly “unsubmissive.”

The hegemonic control over people’s consciences and thought processes required by many who are the most de-voted to a Protestant Reformation tradition, is more Papist than the Romanists they claim to be protesting. The control is dressed in the language of “submission to authority, accountability, honoring leadership, etc.” However, definitionally neutering Romanist thinking so as not to offend Protestant sensibilities does not negate the fact that in essence, they are identical to those same Roman concepts: you must categorically submit to an elite group of specially selected religious superiors, or suffer dire consequences, either metaphysical and spiritual in nature, or punitive and disciplinary in actual practice. The Greek word for “having authority” (exousia) is never used in the NT in reference to one believer (or leader) exercising authority “over” another . . . never . . . not one reference.

Unfortunately, the practice of “marking those that cause division” is often used as a speech and behavior control template by these same leaders. It is exegetically indefensible and unjustifiable to apply this disciplinary passage to anyone who simply questions authoritarian leadership. The biblical context is that of those causing division by in-troducing doctrines and scandals that undermine the specific apostolic teaching concerning Christ, especially Gnos-tic incursions into the early church. Simply disagreeing with, challenging, and confronting a leader in his behavior and teaching is not categorically sowing division. It might actually be the redemptive hand of the Lord trying to intervene to stop self-destructive tendencies within leadership that they do not recognize about themselves. To claim otherwise regarding these passages, is simply a cultic control technique that should be resisted by all who call on the Name of Jesus as Lord. Dissent is not disloyalty. Disagreement is not a lack of unity.

If you are attending a fellowship and some of these value systems, behaviors, teachings, and doctrines are being propagated as legitimate exercises of spiritual authority, I urge you to seek God and find safe harbor elsewhere.

1 Adapted from Vanier, Jean. Becoming Human. Toronto: Anasnsi Press, 2008, 75.
2 Majority opinion, the points of view required of subordinates to belong to the group. The problem with consensus orthodoxy is it becomes entrenched and not amenable to change and/or correction. Consensus orthodoxy within a group is not necessarily the same as biblical orthodoxy. Consensus orthodoxy degenerates into spiritual calcification if not challenged.
3 Gender limitation is not implied throughout.
4 2 Corinthians 12:15
5 Every NT verbal reference is active, not passive. That is, the idea of someone being passive as someone else exercises authority over them, cannot be found in the NT. See Authority, Accountability and the Apostolic Movement, by Stephen Crosby, at www.goczn.com/srcrosby.
6 Romans 16:17, etc.

Today's Unpardonable Sin

2011-10-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Even a Christ-hating, atheist, mocking, scoffing, secularist, media personality will know one scripture reference, and leverage it frequently: Judge not, that you be not judged.[1] The unpardonable sin of today’s secular culture is judgmentalism.

Unfortunately, there has been significant seepage from the secular culture into the minds and practices of leaders in the Lord’s church. It has reached the point where “judge not” means: turn off all faculties of discernment between good and evil, light and darkness, life and death. Any evaluation of a doctrine, practice, or behavior is considered being unduly “critical” or “judgmental”—allegedly something Christians are not supposed to do.

It has reached the point among us that to have any regard for character, holiness, purity, or death/life is considered a failure to understand the grace of God. I am a new covenant, radical grace of God guy in every way: theologically, practically, spiritually, and subjectively. In fact, I am often criticized for being just that. However, the grace that is really God’s grace is both empowering and instructive. Someone who is experiencing God’s grace in the power of the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ, will be empowered to stop ungodliness.[2] They will not habitually practice sin absent of conviction.[3]

As a mentor of leaders around the world, I see (on a regular, and widespread basis) the excusing of the rankest, foulest, clearest sin possible in the body of Christ by the wave of the magic wand of being judgmental or religious for bringing the topic up. I have seen fornication, adultery, the love of money, drunkenness, witchcraft, sedition, slander, rebellion, idolatry, and other practices, all tolerated—by supposedly mature Christian leaders—because to deal with these practices is considered being judgmental by those who hold local church authority in their hands.

As is so commonly done from pulpit, street corner, and TV studio, the Matthew passage is quoted out of context, and in disregard for other “red-letter” admonitions from the Lord. If proof-texting is all we need, how can the same holy lips that forbid judging in Matthew’s gospel, turn around in John’s gospel and tell His hearers to engage in judgment, only doing so righteously, not according to appearances?[4]

Of course, propping up the “judge not” cultural virtue with a biblical proof-text cannot withstand close biblical scrutiny. For example:

Jesus was “judgmental” when He:

■Insulted people – Matthew 12:34 et. al.[5]
■Called them names – John 8:44
■Threatened them – Luke 13:3
■Whipped them – John 2:15
Paul was judgmental when he:

■Threatened people with curses – 1 Cor. 16:22[6]; Gal. 1:8-9
■Confronted their hypocrisy, judging their behavior – Gal 2:13-14
■Committed them to divine discipline – 1 Tim. 1:20; 1 Cor. 5:5
The Jesus we have created in our cultural, conservative, “Christian” religion is an idolatrous fantasy, a pure figment of religiously sentimental minds. However, that Jesus is a necessity to keep the church growing and the finances flowing. Often an unsanctified or over-expressed pastoral or evangelistic gift defined by cultural values of success and what it means to be a “good pastor” facilitates the “don’t judge” spirit. The lack of the expression of other equally valuable gifts and graces results in a very warped and utterly unbiblical expression of the pastoral grace.

What is the difference between prohibited judgments encouraged judgments?

The context of Matthew 7 is hypocrisy, not evaluation between good and evil. Jesus is dealing with those who want to “speak from behind the mask,” those who present themselves as something other than what they are, and measure and condemn others for the same sins they secretly engage in word, thought, or deed. Discernment is not being prohibited in Matthew 7.

Assuming we can agree that being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ is the divine purpose for all humanity,[7] we cannot go wrong being like Jesus. The judgment we are to engage is the kind the Messiah engaged in. He did not judge by what He saw with the eyes and ears. He looked beyond the surface. He confronted concentrations of power in all forms: religious, political, institutional, financial, spiritual, and based His judgments on behalf of the poor.[8]

The judgments we are prohibited from engaging in are those that are inconsistent with His Word and Spirit. We are forbidden from condemnation (of ourselves and others!): the issuance of a final decree on a matter, a judicial “sentence” of finality. There is only One who is qualified to make those kinds of judgments, because only He knows the hearts of humanity fully. We cannot know the depth, breadth, and scope of His redemption concerning others. We see through a window, darkly.

If all judgment/discernment is prohibited by the Lord, then the general discernment belonging to all believers (as sharing in the Spirit of Christ) and the specific gift of discerning of spirits, are both unnecessary—there is nothing to judge. I suggest that many of the problems experienced in individual lives, relationships, and in local faith communities result from precisely this failure to exercise the most basic elements of discernment: a failure to righteously judge.[9]

Not all judgments are negative! In our culture the word “judgment” has such a negative connotation, it is hard for us to understand that it is possible to make positive judgments! Acquitted! Son not slave! Free! Forgiven! These, and many others, are all positive judgments!

We are to make evaluative judgments from the new creation nature, based on the Word and Spirit of God. Our evaluations are to be full of grace and truth: truthfully gracious and graciously truthful,[10] and severe when necessary[11] . . . remembering our frames are but dust. We must always remember the mire we have been rescued from, and extend the same long-suffering graciousness to others. The measure with which we measure others, we will be measured by. Our judgment is in hope, and in mercy triumphing, not rejoicing in another’s weakness or failure.

Never the less, judge (discern/evaluate) we must . . . starting with our own hearts and the beams in our own eyes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Matthew 7:1

[2] Titus 2:11-15

[3] 1 John 3:9

[4] John 7:24

[5] Semitic people believed that snakes reproduced asexually, without a father. To call someone the “children of snakes,” was the same in our culture as calling someone a bastard: fatherless. There was no greater insult possible toward a Jewish person. Their entire identity and “place in God” depended on their tracing fatherhood to Abraham and ultimately, God through Adam.

[6] And pronounce a grace-based blessing in the same verse!

[7] 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Cor. 4:11

[8] Isaiah 11:3-4.

[9] Gift expression is healthy only in a fully expressive community of diverse gifts. All gift expressions are divinely designed to be in divine tension and counterbalance one with another. Truly, only the outworking of the inwrought cross and a very present ministry of the Holy Spirit can keep the whole body functioning beautifully.

[10] John 1:17

[11] Romans 11:22

Copyright 2011 Dr. Stephen R. Crosby www.drstevecrosby.wordpress.com. Permission is granted to copy, forward, or distribute this article for non-commercial use only, as long as this copyright byline, in totality, is maintained in all duplications, copies, and link references. For reprint permission for any commercial use, in any form of media, please contact stephcros9@aol.com.

What Really Matters

2011-09-23T05:43:00.000-07:00

In the “real” world, the recipient of service gets to determine the value of the service received, not the individual providing the service. Demand determines supply, and price. For instance, the customer in the restaurant not the waiter, determines the size of the tip, based on the quality of the service provided. Too often in the church we believe our own press clippings. That is, our own evaluation of ourselves and what is important, bears no resemblance to reality, but we feel good about ourselves none-the-less.

Have you ever wondered what would motivate pagans in the first few years after the resurrection, to want to align themselves with this “Jewish cult” of a crucified, criminal, itinerant peasant preacher from a despised country? There were no “services,” choirs, “special music,” solos, a good Sunday School program, youth ministry, singles ministry, young adult ministry, men’s ministry, women’s ministry, nurseries, paved parking lots, latte bars, sound systems, worship teams, prayer summits, proper church government, budgets, elder boards, etc., to “attract them.” Something other than a clever name resulting from a demographic marketing survey to determine “relevance,” and a slick highway billboard with Ken and Barbie grinning down in stylistic perfection, had to be working.

Why would pagans risk losing everything that matters to them in life (perhaps even life itself) to “join” the “Way” as it was called. What was “attractive” about the church that made pagans risk everything?

I think that is a fair question.

The catch phrase: “We want to be a New Testament church,” sounds noble, but it was unnerving to me to discover some years ago, that in spite of that mantra being on my lips, very little, perhaps nothing that I was involved in as a “pastor,” had any bearing on what was attractive to pagans in New Testament times.

Some years ago there was an article in Christian History magazine in which the author did a survey of pagan literature regarding the church. Since the church is supposedly called to “serve the world” as ambassadors for Christ, it makes sense to not just believe our own press reports, but to believe what objective critics had to say about “the church,” both fairly and unfairly. Sometimes, our critics are the most honest harbingers of evaluation. Even in an unfair criticism, we need to look for the germ of truth. It is usually there.

Herein is a condensed and adapted summary of what the author of the article discovered from pagan sources regarding what attracted them to want to become a Christian, join the community. I cannot expound on every point here, except to say, none of the things we typical value (the quality of the sermons, the worship music, the “ministries” offered, the heat and air conditioning in the building, etc.), had any bearing whatsoever on the interest of unbelievers. Here is the list (not listed in any particular priority):

1. Fortitude under persecution/pressure
2. Fearlessness of death
3. Tight community
4. A life of moral purity and prayer
5. Strong leadership
6. Care for one another, care for the needy, they lived longer. They shared risk in a time of trouble, people drew together.
7. Miracles and deliverances
8. First century evangelism consisted of relationships not arguments.
9. Many women were drawn to Christianity, because the Christian ban on abortion appealed to them, as abortion was often fatal or sterilizing. No female infanticide also appealed. A Roman could leave a baby exposed to die if it was defective in any way, or if it was a girl, and a boy was desired. These things would “motivate” women.

Friends, what is distinctive about this list? The answer to this question was instrumental in my own journey of re-evaluating everything I was doing as a “pastor” within a traditional church. It was humbling to discover, that just about everything I was giving my time, energy, and other people’s money to maintain, was irrelevant to what really matters in reaching the lost. Just about everything that is valued in a typical, Western, American “size and success” Evangelical church, isn’t in this list.

God help us all to give ourselves to what really matters, for Jesus’ cause, rather than the perpetuation of a ghetto of irrelevant religious practices, that we happen to enjoy on a weekly basis. God deliver us from a man-centered, ego-centered, bless-me-centered, false gospel that permeates the very fiber and fabric of American cultural “Christian” religion.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is manifested in a life that is lived, not an argument that is won.

__________________

Copyright 2011 Dr. Stephen R. Crosby www.drstevecrosby.wordpress.com. Permission is granted to copy, forward, or distribute this article for non-commercial use only, as long as this copyright byline, in totality, is maintained in all duplications, copies, and link references. For reprint permission for any commercial use, in any form of media, please contact stephcros9@aol.com.

Our books and materials can be found at our online mall at www.goczn.com/srcrosby

The Good Side of the Wrong Tree

2011-09-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

God’s purpose in humanity is not behavior conformed to biblical standards. It is transformation into the image of Christ, and the two are not unequivocally the same. Transformation is a faith appropriation process realized in us through death and resurrection, not a behavior modification process realized through the acquisition of layer upon layer of correct biblical information.

Have you ever wondered why sometimes when someone is teaching something biblically true, imparting a “great revelation,” or trying to implement something biblically accurate, that the end result is often spiritual death? It doesn’t matter how “biblical” the topic is—authority, family, marriage, government, finance, honor, submission, leadership, “accountability,” repentance, for-giveness, revival, worship, prayer, etc.—or how great the revelation is. The animating power and spirit behind it makes the difference between life and death. It’s possible to be deeply “revela-tional” and biblically accurate in one’s doctrine and practice, and touch nothing of the life of Je-sus in the process.

There were two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden: the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The promise the serpent made to Adam and Eve was not, “Eat of this tree and it will make you a bad person.” The promise was God-likeness. God is good and you will be like Him, only without God. The serpent wasn’t joking. He delivered on his word. Unbelieving humanity resembles God in human “goodness.” There is a good side of the wrong tree. The good side of the wrong tree has a striking resemblance to the tree of life. The only problem is, it is a form of goodness and God-likeness, separated from Life, and the end result is, and always will be, death.

The tree of life and the good side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are like identical twins—you have to be close to notice any difference. Imagine two identical quarts of milk in the fridge. Neither has been opened. You cannot tell from a distance and by outward appearance if they are really identical or not. You have to open them, and check the expiration date. Though they look the same, the aroma will tell you which you want on your cereal. So it is with the good side of the wrong tree. It stinks. Biblically conformed behavior, of itself, means nothing.

There are many legitimate principles and precepts in the scripture. However, when any biblical precept is implemented or energized from the good side of the wrong tree, its effect will be death:

Accurate Bible doctrine + good side of the wrong tree = death.
“Prophetic” revelation + good side of the wrong tree = death.
Well meaning intentions + good side of the wrong tree = death.
Passion for Scripture + good side of the wrong tree = death.
Passion for prayer + good side of the wrong tree = death.
Passion for the kingdom + good side of the wrong tree = death.
Passion for soul winning + good side of the wrong tree = death.
Passion for moral purity + good side of the wrong tree = death.
Governmental order + good side of the wrong tree = death

A life built solely upon adherence to biblical principles is designed by God to fail. A life built precept upon precept, line upon line, was the judgment God put on a leadership that was acting like babies, drunken in their own vomit. It is designed to cause those who try to build their life that way, to fall backward, be broken, snared, and taken. Precept upon precept, and line upon line was the punishment God laid upon Israel for refusing Him in His Person and the relational rest that is in Him. (Please read Isaiah 28 in context.)

It is possible, and common, to have one’s outward behaviors morally conformed to a biblical standard, and to be at the same time, relationally alienated from God and humanity. We can be blameless according to the “scriptural standard of behavior,” and be relationally toxic at the same time. According to Paul’s own testimony, his behavior was blameless according to the standard of God’s law. Yet, he was the chief of sinners, alienated from God and humanity, and he counted all that moral conformity as excrement compared to the excellency that is in Christ.

That is why a new convert whose behaviors are . . . well, consistent with being a new convert . . . can experience life-changing transformation into the image of Jesus, and know very little about the Bible. Freshness of love and relationship begets life, not mastery of the Bible. It is a matter of right relationship, not right doctrine. Knowledge puffs up . . . yes, even “Bible” knowledge. I can be “wrong” in my doctrine, and “right” in my relationships, and thus enjoy the manifest life and blessing of God. I can be right in my doctrine, and wrong in my relationships, and enjoy neither.

Since Jesus was explicitly clear that the fulfillment of all the law, and all God’s moral expecta-tions for humanity were relational not behavioral in essence, morally conformed but relationally alienated behavior that is from the good side of the wrong tree is still sin, and the fruit thereof will always be death.

The Adamic nature in us—the propensity to live life without consideration of God and His ways—has a death sentence on it, not a mandate for self-improvement through the exercise of biblical principles. We all would rather “try to live right,” than to die daily and experience His newness of life.

The unredeemed, natural, soulish, Adamic human nature can, from a base of sheer will power, conform itself to the mandates of biblical principles. This is especially true if there is some in-centive of esteem or reward that the Adamic nature will receive from being conformed to biblical principles.

The life we have been given in Him is like an artesian well. We do not have to flail the Adamic pump handle trying to make Christianity “happen.” It cannot be coerced to manifest through the application of biblical principles. If yielded to through faith appropriation of Christ’s finished work, and the experiential process of death and resurrection, it flows freely. It is in the nature and design of an artesian well to flow. It doesn’t need any help.

The problem is, Adam would rather flail than die. Professional pump-men earn the respect and admiration of others in the Christian community: “Look at how hard Brother Pumps-A-Lot is working for Jesus.” “Look at his earnestness!” “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone were as devoted as Brother Pumps-a-Lot?”

There is just a small problem. Brother Pumps-a-Lot may not be converted. You cannot tell by his activity what kind of water he is bringing up, just like you cannot tell if the milk in the fridge is good or sour by looking at it from a distance. Religious activity in the name of Jesus is not the same as having a life-source change. Adam in a tuxedo and clean fingernails or Adam in grimy rags is still Adam.

Adam would prefer to pump in the noonday sun until the sweat is rolling off His nose like water over Victoria Falls, than to embrace the death sentence he has in Jesus, yield to the Spirit of Chr-ist within, experience unspeakable deaths, and be brought up again in His newness of life. Adam will always choose the pump handle over the grave.

The yoke that is easy, the burden that is light, is the yoke of His rest. The familiar Psalm 23 states: He makes me to lie down . . . (Not try harder!)

Makes me . . .

That sounds to me that we are not inclined that way!

The essence of the Christian life, the life we have been promised, is not the arduous acquisition of virtue through human discipline. It is the unfolding of the life that is in us, that has been given in the indwelling Holy Spirit. Through faith—relational trust—learning how to appropriate mo-ment-by-moment, the ever sufficient, eternally emanating life of Christ in resurrection. Through cycles of death and resurrection, all the days of our mortality, you and I will be transformed into the image of Christ: God gets many sons, and Messiah gets the nations!

Copyright 2011 Dr. Stephen R. Crosby

Erasing Hell by Francis Chan

2011-08-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing Else Really Matters

2011-08-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Jesus’ final word on earth to His disciples was to make disciples of all people groups. Making a disciple does not mean getting someone else to agree with my doctrinal particulars. It means partnering with the Spirit of God in His process of transforming a believer into the image of Christ. It is so very easy for sincere believers to become sidetracked and distracted from this simplicity by focusing their time, energy, and resources upon many intriguing topical sub-themes of Scripture. Though “biblically legitimate,” these themes have virtually no bearing at all on what really matters: being transformed into His image as we love God, our neighbors, and each other as He loved us.

If I can explain the mysteries of predestination and free will, the end of all things, or the wonders of the third heaven, but have divorced three women, alienated my children, cheated on my taxes, estranged my coworkers, don’t even know the names of my neighbors, withheld my finances, etc., somewhere, I have missed what really matters. Perhaps it is more likely that I was never introduced to what (Who) really matters in the first place. Unregenerate people are quite proficient at learning “Bible stuff,” and conforming outward behavior to biblical standards through the exercise of unredeemed will power, in order to receive the accolades and acceptance of those deemed able to “promote” them within religious constructs. A person can go “a long way” in “Christianity” relationally disassociated from Christ. It is a serious matter.

This brief article is excerpted from a foreword written for Don Atkin’s soon to be released new book “Nothing Else Really Matters.” It will be available at www.donatkin.com. Please contact Don for more information.

Copyright 2011 Dr. Stephen R. Crosby www.drstevecrosby.wordpress.com. Permission is granted to copy, forward, or distribute this article for non-commercial use only, as long as this copyright byline, in totality, is maintained in all duplications, copies, and link references. For reprint permission for any commercial use, in any form of media, please contact stephcros9@aol.com.

Sons or Technicians?

2011-08-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

There’s a strong tendency in Western Christianity to provide people with spiritual techniques and tools, thereby making kingdom clinicians instead of birthing relational sons and daughters of Christ. The Church has more “how to” seminars and books than McDonald’s has French fries. You can give a devil a college education and a computer and he’s still a devil. We’re not called to produce competent devils. Biblical equipping is about the impartation of a right heart, the transformation of humanity into the image of Christ, not the transference of right information. It’s more than teaching someone the right stuff, and then—teaching more of the right stuff. We’ve been doing that for centuries. In our culture it has produced very mixed results. Right information is important, but it’s a question of sequence and priority. Right information planted in toxic soil produces deadly results.

My life has been enriched beyond measure through knowing some of the finest believers in God’s kingdom. However, some of the nastiest people I’ve met in my adult life were church going, Bible-toting, Bible-quoting Christians. Religious nastiness is gold medal nastiness.[i] I would rather work with unbelievers than hypocritical, know-it-all, self-righteous, Christians. At least with unbelievers you know what to expect and have an opportunity to introduce them to Christ. “Christians” who’ve been inoculated by religion from life in Christ, are unreachable because you can’t help those who already have all the answers and who are on a guilt-laden mission to make you twice the child of hell that they are.

My wife once worked with someone who was quite vocal in her Christianity. This individual was not bashful about sharing the “revelations” she received at a recent spiritual warfare seminar concerning demonology. Yet, she had been cohabiting and sleeping with her boyfriend for over two years and did not have a shred of conviction about it until my wife firmly, but tactfully, confronted her. This person invited my wife to her conservative, evangelical, megachurch to hear her “wonderful pastor!” Mmmm . . . no thanks. How can this happen? It happens when correct information is dumped on a hardened soul week after week with no prophetic voice in the faith community. It’s the logical outcome of the cross-less, conversion-less, counterfeit gospel that is preached with regularity across our land today.

I know of another situation where a woman (the wife of a former associate pastor), committed adultery with her boss. When she was confronted about it she said: “I wanted to lead him to the Lord” – seriously, I’m not joking. That’s novel. Fornicating for Jesus. Sadly, it’s another example of what year after year of information transference instead of heart transformation produces.

The issue isn’t about being judgmental where sin or human weakness is concerned. The issue is trying to explain the utter lack of conviction among those who profess to be His. One of the signs of being regenerated is conviction of sin. If that’s not present, we’re not yet dealing with a converted soul. We might be dealing with a Bible-believing religious person, but not a converted soul.

A cold heart and a highlighted Bible is a bad combination. It’s the essence of evil because it’s an incarnated misrepresentation of God, like someone we know from Genesis: “Yea, hath God said . . .? Genuine biblical equipping means I facilitate an encounter between another human being and the Risen Lord. From that Truth encounter, a relationship is birthed (or deepened). From that relationship spiritual understanding develops, which eventually affects behavior.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[i] It’s akin to murder. The logical end of religion is murder. In our culture we will be satisfied with slander and destroying a person’s character and reputation.

This is an excerpt from our book, Healing: Hope or Hype? Copyright 2009 Stephen R. Crosby. Permission is granted to copy, forward, or distribute this article for non-commercial use only, as long as this copyright byline, in totality, is maintained in all duplications, copies, and link references. For reprint permission for any commercial use, in any form of media, please contact stephcros9@aol.com.

Decisions that Define Us

2011-07-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'm passing on something I received from Don Atkin today. I trust the Lord will use it to speak to you:

I received the following from a friend who has been a denominational leader for many years. He received it from a group of believers in California:

Decisions That Define Us

We've made and listed below some decisions that reflect the state of our hearts and the reality we're establishing in our community. We believe these decisions are prompted by the Holy Spirit, and we are so happy to see them applied in the Kingdom. As you read, we want to make sure you understand the context. These decisions are in no way a criticism of any church or denominational movement - they are an articulation of who we have chosen to be, and the path we've decided to follow.

Here are the Decisions that Define Us:

· We have decided that teaching the Gospel without demonstrating the Gospel is not enough. Good preaching, good doctrine, and being good people is not enough.

· We have decided that having a good church club is not enough, good fellowship is not enough, and just being a member of that club is not enough.

· We have decided that having good Bible studies is good, but not good enough, that just making it to heaven is not our goal, and that knowing about God without truly knowing and experiencing God is meaningless.

· We have decided that having good programs is not enough; that change without transformation is intolerable, and that staying the same is not an option.

· We have decided that gifting without character is futile.

· We have decided that singing songs without worshiping is shallow and having meetings without God showing up is pointless.

· We have decided that having faith without works is not enough and having works without love is not acceptable - that our function comes out of our relationship first with the Father and second with each other.

· We have decided that reading about the book of Acts without living the book of Acts is unthinkable.

· We have decided that confident faith is good and bold faith is better.

· We have decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly, that believing in

· His presence without seeing It manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy, that believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd, and that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.

· We have decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered - anything less doesn't work for us.

· We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God's power - not the ones hearing about them.

· We have decided that living saved, but not supernatural is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for.

· We have decided that we are a battle ship not a cruise ship, an army, not an audience; Special forces not spectators, missionaries not club members.

· We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers - pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories - but we are not squatters - people who take up space others have fought for without improving it.

· We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous, contagious instead of quarantined, deadly instead of benign.

· We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers.

· We have decided that we are a mission station and not a museum:
Therefore:
1. We honor the past - we don't live in it.
2. We live in the present with our eyes on the future.
3. We see past events - successes and failures - as stepping-stones not stop signs.
4. We pursue learning in order to be transformed, not learning in order to know.
5. We are people of engagement not observation.
6. We focus on what could be, not on what is or has been.
7. We are not limited to the four walls of this building. Our influence is not restricted by location - Not even the nations are out of bounds.
8. We are more concerned about how many we send out into the world than how many we convince to come into the building. This building is meant to be filled and it will be - but it will not be the measure of who we are or the measure of our effectiveness.
9. We raise up world changers - not tour guides. We train commandos, not committees.
10. We are a people of our destiny, not of our history.

· We have decided that it is better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us than succeed settling for less.

· We have decided that nothing short of His Kingdom come, His will be done in our world as it is in Heaven will satisfy.

· We have decided that we will not be satisfied until our world freaks out and cries out "Those who have turned the world upside down have come here too."

The Bubble Will Burst

2011-07-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Early in my journey outside the legacy church system, I met David Newby at the Global Communion Conference here in Charlotte.

This Australian leader took time to befriend me during a time of significant upheaval. I don't remember all the specifics of what he shared in the fall of 2009. I do know Kingdom impartation and encouragement took place. David also gave me a copy of his book, "The Bubble Will Burst". It was probably THE first I read in the context of the new Kingdom understanding the Father began unveiling nearly 2 years ago. David and I have stayed in touch periodically over Skype. In fact, his call this morning reminded me that I have not previously written a blog on his book. So I am setting out to remedy that now.

The idea behind the book is that "bubbles" are "every wrong premise, wrong concept and wrong vision... allowed to develop". David Continues: "The instruction "Don't burst his bubble" generally means to leave someone in their illusions, to not bring them back to reality. A bubble looks good and attracts attention, but it is empty, short lived and has not practical use."

Newby goes on to identify bubbles: "churches, assemblies and groups built on wrong concepts, tradition or old covenant practices." On the personal level they are "dreams,and visions about serving God, or setting up a ministry or church and these came from our own desires and not the Lord's plan for our lives."

David comes out swinging at the target in this excerpt, identifying the unfinished work the Lord only began in 1517:

THE REFORMATION IS INCOMPLETE!

Why?

Because we have moved from works to faith, but then replaced faith with performance. We feel the need to do things to keep in good with God.

Because we have moved from law to grace, but then replaced grace with expectations. As church members we are told that there are things we must do and standards we must comply with, the implication being that these are necessary if we are to continue enjoying the grace of God. We have developed a notion of the unlimited grace of God towards unbelievers, and the conditional grace of God toward believers.

Because we have only partly moved from ecclesiastical priesthood to the priesthood of every believer, but have not removed the separation of clergy and laity, pastor and people.

Because we have not released servant body ministry, but have adopted church leadership in a secular and old covenant sense.

Because we have encouraged people to receive Holy Spirit empowered gifts, ministries and abilities, but then corked the bottle of "lay ministry" to preserve the positions of power and privilege for the select few.

Because we have been saved fromt the kingdom of darkness, but have not fully appropriated the Kingdom of God, but rather incorporated the savoury parts of His Kingdom into our own.

Because our focus has slipped away from saving the lost to prospering and entertaining the saved.

Perhaps other items could be added to this growing list... and some of these may be taken as generalizations or not even applicable. It would be true that many Christians are free in regard to these errors, but some of these points do apply in many places.

The Holy Spirit will not rest until the Lord Jesus Christ reigns supreme in the Church. His truth is to be the standard, not our personal opinions.

What then is the purpose of God in completing the Reformation?

To establish His new covenant Church.

This is the one, true Church of which Jesus Said "I will build My Church..." (Matthew 16:18 KJV). The key word in this verse being "I".

Citywide Celebration: Overcoming Disillusionment and Discouragement

2011-07-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

I am overflowing with thanksgiving today, reflecting on the extraordinary time Saturday night at Charlotte 24/7.

First I'm thankful for the hard work of Lisa Koons and her team, to get the facility ready for our gathering. We actually considered canceling the event out of concern that the prayer room would not be ready. That would have been a big mistake.

We began with a time of spontaneous prayer and praise. The prevailing current was a desperate cry to our Father to reveal His glory.

We also spent time getting acquainted. It was encouraging to hear from people from all over the Charlotte region: Hickory, Valdez, Wingate, Rock Hill, SC. All of them with the same heart: to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus individually and corporately.

Steve Crosby ended with an incendiary message, "Overcoming Disillusionment". Here are some of the highlights:

Crosby began by explaining the background for the book of Hebrews. The book was written to believers who were disillusioned... people ready to "chuck it". The remedy was a fresh unveiling of Jesus Christ. When the author referred to "looking unto him" the idea is a constant looking, or gaze.

This is where we often offer the wrong solutions. Counseling is ineffective. The issue is not a perfecting of our methods or a better idea.

Crosby continued, even as we look at an emerging citywide expression of the Church in the Charlotte region, the goal is not a better managed "prison camp". Nor is it linking a series of carefully managed prison camps. What we need is vision adjustment.

In Romans 13:11 we are told to awake from sleep. It is a challenge to come out of a hypnotic state. Now Steve began sharing 3 manifestations of a "life" in that state:

1. When we are haunted by echoes of our past. This can also be the pain of our past. Victory is found in living with Jesus in real time. Here Steve presented two interesting formulas:

pain + old creation nature = reaction
pain + new creation = redemption

Walking through pain as a new creation is redemptive. The Lord uses that pain to conform us to the image of Jesus. In fact, the power of our gospel is the fact that Jesus spoke from the cross. Similarly that is where the power of God is revealed in us, when we speak from the cross, not merely about the cross.

Going further, in Romans 10:2, Paul gives props to people trying to kill us. When Christ is in us we will be willing to bless even those who cause us harm. We have the power to release any emotional i.o.u's.

2. Defending our present. Too often we're tempted to defend our views and convictions. They can be idolatrous lords over us.

People who have identities that are not healed have to defend what they are doing to others. My identity is not in the moment. We must not let our methodology become an idol.

Maturity is a mandate to lay down my life for others. Feed my sheep has nothing to do with pulpit ministry. It means I exist for others to feed on. My heart is open. My wallet is open. my home is open. This is the meaning of being a living sacrifice. My life is available for divine disbursement.

By contrast people who love principles more than God we will hurt people. Steve warned that people who preach hard on something have a problem. The strength of sin is the law. Principles do not save. God sent a Son, not a rule book. In the past He spoke through prophets, but now he speaks through His Son.

Jesus died to make us relational with Him and one another, not just to make us "right". All too often living merely by "principle" is a mask for relational dysfunction.

Idealism and perfectionism are formulas for disaster. Maturity is evidenced by our wilingness to pursue the ideal, while accepting reality at the same time. We must also be careful to let people have their own seasons in the Lord. We must not try to make people conform to our "standards" or perceived level of maturity or experience. If we are wise we will manage our expectations of others.

We also have to avoid trying to find deliverance in the wrong places. The answer for everything is not another sermon or counseling.

3. The final stumblingblock is fear of the future.
Steve referenced the obsession among many believers with eschatology and calamity. There are believers hoarding supplies, including guns. He repeated one friend's question to another who is buying into this madness. He appropriately asked, "What are you going to do, shoot someone in the name of Jesus?"

Steve reminded us that our call from the Lord is to prepare to be a means of redemption for lost people, not to withdraw from the world for our own "protection". May the Lord help us walk out this word.

The Pastor Has No Clothes!

2011-07-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

With a strong sense of anticipation I have waited for the release of this book by Jon Zens. Jon is a man who has been declaring the supremacy of Jesus and Kingdom values regarding the Church and leadership for quite some time. And I'm thankful for the developing friendship with him.

Though I have pre-ordered "The Pastor Has No Clothes", he sent an advance copy to me online last night, and it was very difficult to peel my eyes away from it.

With Jon's blessing I'm sharing an excerpt of this new book, challenging our long-standing and unbiblical practice of building pastor-centered "churches". This section comes from the "Prelude". Jon brilliantly challenges us to change our focus of understanding of God's word, from "me" to "us". We begin by understanding "ekklesia", which means the assembly of believers. We are called to walk together as family, demonstrating at least 58 "one anothers" of the New Testament in genuine relationships 24/7:

The call to be longsuffering and forbearing
with others makes no real sense without day-to-day involvement
that simply does not and cannot take place by seeing people for
a few hours a week at agenda-controlled religious meetings with
stifled communications.

In practice, though, where do we most commonly put the
emphasis on what people call “church”? It pretty much revolves
around “the pastor.” He is the one with the training, the ordination,
the assumed leadership “vision,” and the stock sermon repertoire.

Without a “pastor” people will generally conclude
that you don’t have a church. So, if a “pastor” leaves a church,
then a general crisis ensues because he has to be replaced and
quickly.

What have we done? We have elevated a mere traditional
concept—that there must be a “pastor” to lead the church—
for which there is not a shred of evidence in the NT. By doing
this, most church structures suppress the life of Jesus coming to
expression through the 58 “one-another(s)”that are clearly in
the NT. Then, since the “one-another” perspectives are pushed
into the background, the “pastor” spends much of his time
helping the flock live the Christian life as individuals.

It is apparent that, in the NT, Christ’s life in each believer
comes to expression as they gather in open meetings and edify
each other (1 Corinthians 14:26). The NT knows nothing of
the “worship services” as practiced now. In early church gatherings
there was no one person, or group, “up-front” leading the
time together. It was a body meeting led by the Holy Spirit as
an expression of Jesus Christ.

What are we doing? We bring individuals together who
haven’t seen each other since last Sunday (maybe) to sing
a few over-used songs, lay some money in a plate, listen to a
practiced pastoral prayer, hear a rehearsed sermon, and then
return to home to isolated meals and mindless television watching.
“Church services” climax with the sermon and perhaps an
altar call, for those of the slightly more evangelical persuasions.
Otherwise, church attendees simply go through whatever is
ordained in the weekly church bulletin without necessarily having
an ounce of loving commitment to anyone.

Individuals and families sit in the pews week after week who are dysfunctioning in stress-filled pressure cookers of bad jobs, financial distress, relationship collapses and generally living lives of lies, despairand self-destruction, yet they routinely fall through the cracks
of the organized, pastor-led church machinery.

Early believers gathered together in a way where all could
be part of an expression of Christ on earth and to their local
community.

For all intents and purposes, we now come to
“church” to see one person religiously function and hear a sermon
often reflecting fallen worldly values and concerns. Do you
see the disconnect? The former is Christ flowing like living water
from His people in a life of interdependence; the latter is institutional
and fosters inappropriate dependence on one part: “the
pastor.”

To order "The Pastor Has No Clothes", you can click the link below:

http://www.jonzens.com/?page=shop/flypage&wt=1.00&product_id=311&CLSN_2419=13095275982419e95b44b67fde686855

The Scourge of "Accountability"

2011-06-28T01:06:00.000-07:00

Here's another eyebrow raising title! And for good reason. Especially in light of so many scandals in the church, the political system and elsewhere, calls for accountability have reached a decibel level sufficient to burst eardrums.

And yet I'm more convinced than ever that accountability as we understand it is most often a function with roots in the wrong tree... the tree of knowledge of good and evil... and not the tree of Life.

Recently I sensed the Lord prompting me to re-read Dr. Steve Crosby's book "Authority, Accountability, and the Apostolic Movement".

And I undertand why. I am picking up some things that did not get deeper traction before. It describes a ball and chain that once weighed down my own soul. And now I have a deeper burden for so many people I've recently engaged... people more preoccupied with external conformity than new creation incarnational living. Though I have blogged on this book before, I'm eager to share another key excerpt here:

On Account of Being Accountable

Perhaps a reader my be thinking, Crosby, all we are trying to do is assure responsible and accountable behavior, what is wrong with that? First, like covering, accountability is an unbiblical term, and in application it can, and often does, exceed biblical grounds. Do a word search (King James Version) sometime on accountable or accountability. It is not there. We use the term in our language as an attempt to approximate the biblical term submission.

Second, as the concept is taught in apostolic circles it is interpreted and practiced as being under someone else and being "accountable to them" in an upstream, individual, and positional way: accountability is to the person "over you", your spiritual covering. The scriptures teach no such thing.

Issues of accountability are nowhere in Scripture limited to a covering minister or apostle. The burden is on each of us, for each of us. The responsibility for ministry is with the saints! For all the talk during the last fifty years of "equipping the saints," we have done a fairly poor job, and principles of biblical accountability only exacerbate the situation.

External accountability is like driving with the sheriff in the backseat of your car. As long as the sheriff is there, no one is going to speed! Remove the external presence of authority and a speeder is reborn! Accountability only enables performance-based religion. It is the self-aware, self-monitoring Adamic counterfeit of biblical discipleship. All restraints, codes, and principles of accountability are impotent to change the nature. Accountability can be, and often is, faked. The Adamic nature can comply with the accountability expectations of spiritual covering:

-Have you done your prayers? Check

-Have you read the Word? Check

-Did you do your assignment? Check

-Did you pray with your wife? Check

-Did you volunteer at the food bank? Check

-Did you pet the dog today? Check

-Check...check...check.... all done sir!

What a good boy or girl you have been!

This so-called "accountability" doesn't touch the realm of death and resurrection life of the Son. It is all about performing tasks to standard. This is not biblical submission or discipleship. It does not produce spiritual maturity. It assures spiritual infancy. In fact, it is stupefying inoculation against Spirit life, because as long as someone has completed their "accountability sheet" for the week, he or she will think they are just spiritually fine when they are the walking dead. They can be relationally a disaster, but if they have submitted their discipleship worksheet on time to their "mentor," or "spiritual covering," they will have the false impression that all is just fine. Accountability is better than unbridled sin, but the manifestation of the life of the Son is superior to policed accountability.

For those of you in the Charlotte area, you can hear Steve Crosby share on "The Limitations of Light" next week. To learn more and RSVP, click on the Facebook page below:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173013266091875

Coming to Charlotte: Wayne Jacobsen

2011-06-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Admit it. You've thought it: "I don't want to go to church anymore!"

Years ago, such a thought would have seemed blasphemous. But now more of us are coming to the realization that church is not something we go to but it is WHO we are as a people.

Just a few months into my kingdom journey "outside the system" I read an excellent fictional book, "So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore". And a few short months ago I enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship over Skype with one of the co-authors, Wayne Jacobsen. At that time I extended an invitation for him to come to Charlotte to share his heart. Just a few weeks ago I was thrilled to get an email from Wayne, accepting our invitation to join us in late July.

If you have not read the book, I urge you to do so. To take in an excerpt, click the link below to read my previous blog on "So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore"

http://calltorevolution.blogspot.com/2010/03/so-you-dont-want-to-go-to-church.html

And to get more information on, and R.S.V.P to Wayne Jacobsen's visit, click on the Facebook link below.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=212250008813511

"Who is My Neighbor?" A Fresh Look at the Good Samaritan

2011-06-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

Luke 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

There are standard bible stories we know well. We've heard a myriad of Sunday School lessons and sermons based on them. . But the Lord has been stirring something in me for quite a while that challenges my own compartmentalized view of this story.

We can glibly suggest, "leave it to a lawyer to find a loophole in a command to love your neighbor". But isn't this tendency in us all? We can rattle on and on about how we would never be like the evil priest or Levite and leave someone on the side of the road. And yet I believe we do it every day, and not in the way we may think.

The other day I was visiting a friend in a nearby neighborhood. As we discussed reaching out to neighbors he pointed to a home in his cul-de-sac. In that home are church goers he wants to get to know. Knowing my friend I'm sure he will follow through. His heart is to establish fellowship with them if they know the Father (and share the gospel if they don't) If they are genuine believers what opportunities have been missed already to walk out the love of Jesus together? This has implications for our togetherness, and therefore our mission to show the world Jesus.

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Now I ask you: how will busy people who don't know Jesus ever see us loving one another without attending one of our events or services? I contend that this must happen at the neighborhood level. So what prevents this? I contend the major reason is we are too preoccupied with our church and religious branding rather than our identity in Jesus. Which leads to my next question: How many Christ followers do we drive by and ignore in our neighborhood at least once weekly to get to "church"? How many lonely, isolated saints (who may very well also be "in church")do we simply pass over on a regular basis?

The only cure for this madness begins with rediscovering our complete identity in Jesus!

Colossians 2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Remember whom Paul is addressing here? Believers! He's warning believers not to be "taken captive". I believe many of us who pride ourselves in sound theology, fall into deep deception in our ecclesiology (doctrine of the church).

While this scripture clearly teaches that we have been filled in Him (or are complete in Him), I believe way too many believers are extremely vulnerable in this area. How many of us right now are wandering around looking for some church, leader or movement to "complete us" when we are already complete in Him? "Christ in us (corporately) is the hope of glory". Through his incarnation, His living in us, we are already empowered to be who he has called us to be.

But something in us often makes us look to something or to others in an unhealthy way. When we find our identity in a denomination or church brand in a way that transcends our identity in Jesus, we are captives! When our identity is shaped more by a pastor or other leader we are captives. What is at the foundation of all of these religious factions in this city and others, but philosophy, empty deceit and human traditions? The early church knew nothing of different "brands" to join in rivalry with others in the same city. There is no biblical reason to cordon off one believer from another. How can that be justified in light of Jesus' own prayer in John 17 that we be one? This factional spirit is clearly powered by an elemental spirit of the world, not Jesus.

So what does this mean? By God's grace I have set my heart not to honor any human line of division between myself and a brother or sister in the Lord. I'm learning to love all of Jesus' blood bought family under heaven... period. This begins with my neighbors.

Now that you know what Jesus said, what are you going to do about it? I suggest that you take on a "Good Samaritan Challenge": Get to know your neighbors and identify at least one follower of Christ in your neighborhood whom you will get to know. Share with that person or family your heart to live out your profession together, and ask that person or family to join you in times of fellowship, prayer, and outreach together in your community.

I suspect that this will be the beginning of a new awareness for you and your neighbor(s). As you walk this out, pray that strongholds of religion, sectarianism, and churchism will be broken... first in your own heart, but also in those around you. I don't think we can begin to imagine what will emerge if we are faithful to BE the people God has called us to be... right where we are.

If you decide to take on this challenge, follow the link below and "Like" this page on Facebook. Along the way, I would love for you to post your stories of what the Lord is up to in your neighborhood.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Good-Samaritan-Challenge/137587739651168?created&sk=page_getting_started#!/pages/The-Good-Samaritan-Challenge/137587739651168?v=wall

The Kingdom of God: Building through Deconstruction

2011-06-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Matthew 16:18 “…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The longer I journey outside of the legacy church world, the stronger my desire to see the emergence of the church the Lord is building. I also see in sharper detail how His work is often undermined by the “work of our hands” (including mine). Increasingly I find Him doing more in and through me as I and those around me learn how to do less.

There are many dimensions to this issue. I will only deal with a few here. First, the Lord is building ONE church, ONE bride, not a harem. Those with genuine Ephesians 4 gifting will understand this… especially those who are genuine apostles and prophets.

Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, [3] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Our Father is building ONE household. So if we are letting Him build through us, we will zealously and jealously labor with a heart to see God’s people thrive in their identity as Kingdom citizens, members of God’s household. This cannot be done without apostles and prophets. And yet Jesus Himself is the cornerstone, not the pastor or gifted leader. Beyond this we must be very careful that we do not unwittingly produce a rival identity that undermines oneness.

Luke 11:23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Sadly, when we do not gather with Him, we scatter. Aren’t there so many “spiritual” reasons we do so.? We run headlong after idols of doctrinal purity, charismatic expression, and idolatrous leader worship.
If we are gathering with Jesus the universe of our fellowship will grow larger, not smaller. We abandon the professions of “following Paul or Apollos”. Instead we embrace a broad family of Ephesians 4 gifts the Lord gives us to bring us to maturity. We cannot continue to allow ourselves to be corralled by a single pastor or leader, or even several within one “brand” or expression of “church”.

Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, [3] which he obtained with his own blood. [4] 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

This means that the Lord is calling us to make disciples of Jesus, not of us, not of our organization, no matter how pure we believe it to be. The best evidence of this will be our ability to walk as an ever growing expression of an extended family. If we identify ourselves as followers of a person we’re clearly still deeply carnal, no matter what spiritual “things” we claim to be pursuing.

What is most challenging in our growth as disciples is learning to BE the body. The longer I walk in “organic” circles, the more I find that so many who talk a good game about being the body aren’t willing to lay down their lives to “live well together in Jesus”. If we don’t get this, nothing else matters. Biblical knowledge and charismatic manifestations go to seed. Only agape will prevail.

At this stage of kingdom life, we’re putting a stronger emphasis on making disciples, less on simply having regular meetings for meetings’ sake. The Lord continues to expand our circle of leadership connections. Just recently we met with other leaders with a city-wide understanding about ways the Lord is calling us to work together. We’re asking the Father and each other how we can minister to people the Lord has given us, together ,without taking ownership of God’s work or of people.

Recently several of us discussed the continuing temptation among believers to obsess over questions of “how to do church”. This prompts us to look for a “better mousetrap”. One person wisely raised the million dollar question: “Why aren’t we instead asking why there are mice and rats in the house?”

The bottom line: let’s not be those mice, looking for the place we can find the best offer for cheese. And God forbid that we should be the allegedly more mature “rats”, leading consumer driven mice down another “rat hole”. Let’s make sure we’re building into Jesus by abiding in Him. It is only He who will produce genuine fruit that remains.

RADICAL

2011-06-05T03:52:00.000-07:00

It is amazing what can be communicated with one mere word. And this word, Radical, is a fitting title for a book I'm currently reading by David Platt.

The message it contains helped to fan missional flames in a good friend of mine who is about to set out on a missionary venture in South America and ultimately, the Caribbean region. In fact, he gave me a copy of the book last week and I have found it difficult to put down.

Radical covers another critical piece of Kingdom life and community: discipleship. The foundation of our call as a people is to be disciples. And Jesus' final directive to us was to go into all the world and make disciples.

David Platt takes on American religious culture without mercy, taking aim at self centeredness in this devastating excerpt:

JESUS DIDN'T DIE FOR JUST YOU

We live in a church culture that has a dangerous tendency to disconnect the grace of God from the glory of God. Our hearts resonate with the idea of enjoying God's grace. We bask in sermons, conferences, and books that exalt a grace centering on us. And while the wonder of grace is worthy of our attention, if that grace is disconnected from its purpose, the sad result is a self-centered Christianity that bypasses the heart of God.

If you were to ask the average Christian sitting in a worship service on Sunday morning to summarize the message of Christianity, you would most likely hear something along the lines of "The message of Christianity is that God loves me." Or someone might say, "The message of Christianity is that God loves me enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for me."

As wonderful as this sentiment sounds, is it biblical? Isn't it incomplete, based on what we have seen in the Bible? "God loves me" is not the essence of biblical Christianity. Because if "God loves me" is the message of Christianity, then who is the object of Christianity?

God loves me.
Me.
Christianity's object is me.

Therefore when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family. When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best for me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture.

But it is not biblical Christianity.

The message of biblical Christianity is not "God loves me, period," as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is "God loves me so that I might make him- his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness - known among all nations." Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel: God is.

Coming to Charlotte: The Story-Formed Life

2011-05-26T02:47:00.000-07:00

Over 30+ years of church life, I've seen a variety of discipleship programs. Unfortunately most were more geared toward creating "church" disciples rather than effective followers of Jesus. But in the past year I came across one approach that caught my eye and heart. It is called "The Story-Formed Life". A friend in Cleveland brought it to my attention.

What immediately struck me was its comprehensive, big picture approach. I also like the fact that the goal is not simply to accumulate information but to meditate on critical aspects of God's story and to do so in community. This provides the opportunity for believers of various backgrounds to begin walking together "on the same page". This is not about sterile doctrinal conformity but foundational kingdom truth and values that set the stage for authentic community discipleship.

Lord willing, some out of town friends will hang out in Charlotte to guide the 11 week series sometime in 2011. Depending on the level of interest we may have 2 groups going through the series here in the Charlotte area. Until then we will post a series of videos and blogs to help you understand what Story-Formed is and how it works.

If you do believe the Lord wants you involved and are willing to make this 11 week commitment to go through "Story-Formed", send an email to the address below with your name and the number of family members who will join you. This will help us confirm the level of interest and determine potential location(s)

hungryforrevival@gmail.com

Meanwhile here's a preview video from Jeremy Pryor answering the question: "What Is Story-Formed?"

SAVE THE DATE: OneBody Gathering June 4th!

2011-05-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

We are very excited about our next citywide gathering here in Charlotte. This time around we are working with the people of Charlotte 24/7 Prayer Room.

After 3 monthly events in 2 other venues, Lisa Koons asked for the opportunity to host the event at 24/7 in June. But that was only the beginning. She and her team have revamped the website and helped us to make improvements in other social media to get the word out. Consider this your invitation to join us on June 4th. Now you can see the handiwork of the 24/7 team on the new web site:

www.onebodycharlotte.com

You can learn more about Charlotte 24/7 here:

http://www.charlotte24-7.com/

What Part of "Avoid Such People" Don't You Understand?

2011-05-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

This is a prophetic question I sensed the Lord stirring in my heart in recent days. All around I encounter people who communicate a deep hunger for God, but they seem stuck in legacy church situations that range somewhere between challenging and toxic. Yet because of a false sense of loyalty or maybe just religious routine they march to lifeless "houses of worship" week after week and blow their time, treasure and virtue. Why? I believe the Lord would ask the same question.

II Timothy 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

How many sermons have you heard on this section of scripture? But the bigger question is how well have those sermons developed the directive in v.5?

I hope we agree our Father doesn't want us to withdraw from people who don't know Jesus. Jesus hung out with sinners. Having established that, we have to ask ourselves: "where is the danger of people having an appearance (or form) of godliness most pronounced"? I would contend it is in the institutional church system.

So how is an appearance of godliness and a denial of its power manifest these days?

-in churches that believe the supernatural gifts of the Spirit are not for today

This is the worst form of religious reductionism. If Jesus is not the same yesterday today and forever, and continuing the work through us that He started on earth, shut the whole thing down. It is just another useless religious philosophy.

-in churches that PROFESS to believe God can work supernaturally, but there is no spiritual posture of faith to see Him work.

(See above) What is a profession without possession? In Hebrews 11 we learn that without faith it is impossible to please Him. This is not about outburst of faith here and there. It is sustained faith from God working through us to accomplish his purpose on earth as it is in heaven.

-in churches that deny Jesus' true Headship of the Body. They perpetuate the lie that Jesus administers that headship through leaders alone, rather than a vital connection to every member of the body.

When Paul referenced false religion in Colossians 2, he identifies people who don't "hold fast to the Head from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God." Jesus cannot lead a church through one person or a few. He Heads His church through a direct relational connection to every person. And as we are nourished by Him and knit together through joints and ligaments, we grow with a growth that is from God.

-in churches where Christianity is reduced to a sin management program rather than a community of empowered believers with "rivers of living water flowing out of them"

We learn in Hebrews 10, one blessing of the New Covenant is no more consciousness of sin. No, I'm not advocating sinless perfection. I am saying that there's no evidence in the New Testament that we should live in an eternal state of sin consciousness and connection to Adam. If church leaders are making you as a new creation more aware of your connection to Adam than to Jesus, you need to run for your life.

-in churches where empowerment of the body is not a priority

Read Ephesians 4. The goal of 5-fold ministry is not for leaders to showcase their gifts, but to equip you to walk in yours. If that's not happening, we're simply warehousing a crowd of religious people week after week.

-in churches where the myth of a pastor/laity divide is perpetuated on purpose or by default in failing to produce a "priesthood of believers"

If you are a leader, how much do you depend on the body to minister to you other than providing you with a paycheck? Do you open up your life or must you maintain a "safe" distance from them so they don't know who you really are? Jesus lived with his disciples day in/day out. How else would he disciple them? Discipleship is life on life transfer, not simply dispensing theology from behind a pulpit. If they can't see you close up, you're simply putting on a show on Sunday mornings.

-in churches where people are merely informed instead of equipped for every good work

In Acts 1:1, Luke describes how in his gospel he described what Jesus began to "do and teach". Today we have way too much teaching and very little doing.

Some listeners probably bristle hearing Rush Limbaugh in his usual tongue-in-cheek style say "I was made to do what I do and you were made to listen". How different is that from what happens in most churches on Sunday morning. We have the eternal classroom perpetuated all over the nation. The result is an anemic body. Do we really believe there is something spiritual about making people listen to us bloviate week after week?

If the above describes your circumstance, don't walk away... run! Scripture teaches that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough. This seed of powerless religion is deadly. It will choke the life out of the most zealous of saints.

The responsibility for form without fire lies at the door of church leaders who should know better. While I extend grace as we all should for ignorance, this is an area where leaders should know better. Remember Jesus challening Nicodemus for failing to understand the new birth? “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? (John 3:10) This is why we are warned in James 3:1 that not many of us should be teachers because we will be more harshly judged.

Lest I fall into legalistic error, I also recognize there are some people our Father calls to go "into the system" as a form of outreach. If you are one of those people the Lord has clearly spoken to, more power to you! I do not envy you in the least. But lacking a specific word to entrust ourselves to a lukewarm (or worse) church, I believe we walk in gross presumption no matter our intent. We ignore and disobey the directive in II Timothy 3:5 to our own peril. God forbid that we should linger just as Lot's family did in Sodom.

Spotlight: Unifour, NC

2011-05-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend in areas of the Catawba Valley. Unifour covers 4 counties in North Carolina. Hickory in Catawba County is the largest city.

Providentially, David Fredrickson and Steve Crosby scheduled separate events in the region. Steve and I connected with friends associated with New Beginnings Church in Hildebran, NC, and met others who are on a similar journey.

On Saturday one couple hosted a cookout and fellowship at their home in Valdese (Burke County). My wife and I continue to marvel how we can meet people for the first time and enjoy such rich connections because of our union with Jesus Christ. This includes deep spiritual discussion, but also a lot of laughter… simply enjoying one another’s company. There was no question in our minds that we were among “kindred spirits”.

On Sunday morning, Steve and I tag-teamed a message on New Covenant Grace. Some of the highlights from Steve’s portion:

All too often in our church circles we communicate to people: “come and agree” instead of “taste and see”. If we are in Christ, people should able to “take a bite out of us and find the goodness of God”

Light in us must become life in us before it becomes light through us to become life for someone else. Very often we try to “push light” on people before God works that truth in us. Obviously this does not serve those around us.

Too many of us have a concept of grace rather than a life of grace

One of Steve’s great examples is the process of making coffee. He likens coffee grounds to biblical truth. If those grounds are not processed through heat and water, they will not be fit to serve to others. Similarly, unless that truth of God is processed through us, in the midst of brokenness and trials all we will offer people is very unpalatable “coffee grounds”.

He also spoke of the “grace meter”, our temptation to “measure” the reality of grace in other people’s lives. Steve posed the question, “why is someone else hypocritical while I’m simply misunderstood?

We appreciate the invitation of Paul David Kurts, the pastor who leads New Beginnings. He is a rare leader who has overcome a strong legalistic background and now swims in grace, and helps to lead others to freedom in Christ.

Like everywhere else around the world, the Lord is connecting members of his family in the Unifour region for his glory.

Spotlight: David Fredrickson coming to Charlotte Metro Area

2011-05-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

Early in my journey in the Organic Church community, I enjoyed meeting and having time to fellowship with David Fredrickson at the Global Communion conference in 2009. One of the first of many books I read after that conference was Fredrickson's "When the Church leaves the Building." I also later watched his excellent video series "Church Outside the Walls".

Now nearly 2 years into this journey, I'm excited about reconnecting with David this week. By coincidence (ha!) he and Steve Crosby will minister in Hickory next weekend in two seperate venues. But before then we will have the opportunity to fellowship here in Charlotte.

If you are interested in joining us for a gathering in Charlotte on Wednesday, or for Steve or David's appearances in Hickory next weekend (May 14-15,2011), send a message to this email address indicating your name and the number of people with you. Space could be limited, especially on Wednesday.

hungryforrevival@gmail.com

In the meantime, enjoy David Fredrickson's hilarious "Lessons in Christianity" clip, illustrating how ridiculously religious we can be sometimes:

More Than a Handshake

2011-05-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

Our third monthly Citywide Celebration was a wonderful night of intimacy before the Lord and fellowship with each other.

We shared a time of worship, learned more about the Church Jesus is building, prayed for each other, shared testimonies, and learned the difference between living an incarnational life in Christ and living according to Christian “principles.”

One of my favorite testimonies came from Paul Wright, who led the time of worship tonight. He shared about his interaction on the street in downtown Charlotte with people leaving an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Paul told how he took time out to pray for a couple of people to see them overcome their addiction. He stated his conviction that if the world is to see Jesus in us, we have to offer people “more than a handshake”.

Steve Crosby led us to connect with another person to pray for the neighborhood and community where that person lives. He closed with an edifying and in Steve’s usual style, amusing message on living in the Spirit, instead of simply following “biblical principles.”

We look forward to our next time together in June. Charlotte 24/7 has invited us to meet at their facility in the heart of downtown Charlotte. Mark your calendar for June 4th at 6pm. More details coming soon.

www.onebodycharlotte.com

OneBody Charlotte: Whys and Wherefores: ONE CHURCH – MANY CONGREGATIONS

2011-05-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

In advance of Saturday's OneBody Citywide Celebration, here's a very well written item on "One City One Church", or the "City-Church", by Derek Prince, excerpted and adapted from Prince's teaching, "The Ethics of Ministry":

When we think about a big city we would say there are many different churches in that city. But I
don't think that is how God sees it. I believe God sees only one church. After all, the book of Revelation tells us Jesus is going to marry the Church - His Bride - and I do not believe Jesus is a bigamist. He's only going to marry one church. So we can think about many different churches, but God sees only one church. When Paul wrote his epistles, he didn't write to the Baptist Church in Corinth, or to the Church of the Open Bible in Rome, or to the Evangelical Church in Ephesus.

He always wrote to the Church in the city. We are a long way from the reality of that today, but I
don't believe God has ever changed His mind.

Therefore, I believe it is important that the leaders of congregations within a city or region know how
to relate to one another. It's very easy to become self-centred - to think about "my church" or "our
church" and to focus on that alone. But that is not a scriptural attitude. I believe we as leaders should
see one another as co-elders in the same church.

"We as leaders should see one another as co-elders in the same church."

"Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any affection and mercy, fulfil my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one
accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of
mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." (Phil. 2:1-4)

Here, in his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul describes our attitude if we are to keep unity in the
Body of Christ. He uses several different words, but there is one word that covers it all: humility.
That's the key to unity. Proverbs 13:10 says, "Only by pride cometh contention." (KJV) So it's logical
that the opposite of pride - humility - would be the solution to contention.

The Bible teaches that while God may be forced to humble us, or we transgress and end up humiliated,
He prefers that we humble ourselves. It is not something God desires to do for us. It's something
we should do for ourselves.

Paul also said to let nothing be done through selfish ambition. In my opinion, selfish ambition is the
greatest single problem in the Church.

"Selfish ambition is the greatest single problem in the Church."

I've seen over the years many Christian ministers who are very insecure because their security depends
on personal success. I have a different view of life altogether. For me, success is to please my
Father. And security is knowing I am loved by my Father. I believe that's what the Gospel is intended
to produce. Christianity is primarily about right relationships, not only right doctrine.

If every church leader and pastor in a city had as their primary motive to please the Father, there
would be no rivalry. There would be no competition. I believe that is the way God wants us to live. I
believe it's the answer for the question of Christian unity and ethics. If we get right with our Father,
all other relationships will fall into place.

"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be
done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I
am there in the midst of them." (Mt. 18:19-20).

In the Greek, "agree" is a musical word. It gives us the word "symphony". It speaks about harmony.
And Jesus says, "If two of you can harmonize on earth about anything that they ask, it will be done
for them." I'm not a musician, but I do know that to be almost in harmony is very painful. I've seen
many Christian relationships and church leaders that are almost in harmony.
I think our broken relationships and lack of harmony cause God to stop up His ears in heaven.

“A Statement concerning the City-Church from Derek Prince”
ONE CHURCH – MANY CONGREGATIONS

Excerpted and adapted from Derek Prince's teaching, "The Ethics of Ministry".

Join us for the OneBody Citywide Celebration, Saturday May 7th at 6pm, on the campus of 2XSalt/Salt Mine Ministry. For more information on OneBody Charlotte, the event and process, go to:

www.onebodycharlotte.com

OneBody Charlotte: The Whys and Wherefores

2011-05-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

In advance of our next citywide gathering on Saturday May 7^th, we will share some vital kingdom values to explain what we’re doing and why.

Our ministry team is very eager to resist the temptation to “reinvent the wheel”. So we avoid that by sharing values already articulated very well by brothers and sisters we are tracking with in Australia. Our friend David Orton compiled “A Statement Concerning the City-Church” back in 2005. You can read the entire document here:

http://apostolicservants.com/the-church/the-city-church/1148-a-statement-concerning-the-city-church

For this blog, we’re pulling out Article IV:

Geographical Basis of Unity
We affirm that there is only one church in any given city. The only apostolical ground for the division of the church is the city. The civil jurisdictions and boundaries of cities (including sub-cities comprising larger metropolitan cities) are the exclusive ground for the differentiation of the one church that is in Christ.
We affirm that all those who have the Spirit of Christ comprise the church of that city.
We deny that God ever intended any distinction of the church other than by city boundaries. Scripture does not sanction or model any extra-local configuration of the church whether regional, national, or international. Neither does it sanction any division of the church according to a particular theology, experience, leader, race, class, age, or gender.

Our participation in these gatherings, and the relational connections that follow, build into the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer. We hope you will join us Saturday May 7^th at 6pm on the campus of 2XSalt/Salt Mine Christian Ministry. You can learn more about the events and the process at this link:

www.onebodycharlotte.com

SAVE THE DATE: Citywide Celebration May 7th

2011-04-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

We are returning to the campus of 2XSalt/Salt Mine ministry on May 7th at 6pm. More details upcoming. You can learn more about the Event and Process at:

www.onebodycharlotte.com

What Really Matters

2011-04-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

For just a few short months I've been blessed to walk with a dear friend in life and ministry, Dr. Steve Crosby.

When it comes to walking in the prophetic, I can testify that he is the "real deal". It is not about razzle dazzle and the silly magic that masquerades as prophetic in some circles. It is about the revelation of Jesus among God's people and our activation as a body.

Just the other day, Steve sent a message he delivered a few months ago. And I'm eager to share it with you now.

http://drstevecrosby.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/whatmatters.mp3

Praise Report! Citywide Celebration and Serving Opportunity

2011-04-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

First I am excited to report that the Miracle Meals Ministry packed over 102 thousand meals yesterday for children in Managua, Nicaragua. We are thankful for the opportunity to play a small role in helping 2XSalt Ministry to exceed its goal.

Secondly, the people who braved severe weather to join us for our Citywide gathering enjoyed an extraordinary, convicting, and inspiring message on discipleship and community.

As for next month, please mark your calendar for Saturday May 7th for the next Citywide Celebration. Location to be announced later.

Citywide Celebration and Serving Opportunity

2011-03-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

I’m excited to announce details for next month’s Citywide Celebration and a serving opportunity for the Body of Christ in the Charlotte area.
The event will take place on Saturday April 9th at 6pm, on the campus of 2XSalt/Salt Mine Ministry at 1900 Queen City Drive in Charlotte.

On the same day, we’re asking you to prayerfully consider serving a shift packaging meals for children in Managua, Nicaragua. You can read more information about this on the 2XSalt/Salt Mine website:

http://2xsalt.com/?page_id=508

So, talk to your Father, and see if He will have you partner with us to package meals for hungry children, then come together to celebrate Jesus, hear words to cultivate kingdom life, and seek the Lord to see His glory fill our city and region through His people. Lord willing we’ll see you soon.

OneBody Celebration site:

www.onebodycharlotte.com

On Being Institutionalized

2011-03-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

I am really enjoying Neil Cole’s “Organic Leadership”. Cole does a great job of communicating how the Lord brings about leadership that glorifies Jesus. But early on, he also effectively spells out what currently ails much of the church world… the curse of institutional religion. In the chapter, “On Being Institutionalized”, we pull these excerpts from the section, “Two Lethal Problems”:

Christ did not come to establish an institution. His kingdom and his church are meant to be relational and spontaneous movements, not organizations. It is his followers who created the “church institution” with layers of authority and solidified programs and practices that take on a sacred nature in and of themselves.

When we become part of the perpetuation of the institution so that our own identity and security are found there, we have become institutionalized…”
There are two lethal problems with being institutionalized. First, the leader who has been institutionalized in the church, often unwittingly, places his or her faith in the institution rather than in the Lord. The church’s institutional form becomes the provider: the source of security, identity, and hope. As the institution goes, so goes this person’s sense of worth and well-being. If the institution is threatened, the leader’s own security is threatened. In this state, the leader’s faith is reduced to maintaining and promoting the institution and its agenda.

The second problem is we elevate the institution to the level of being God’s main, if not his only, instrument on earth. We limit God to working within the institution. This is by far the worst consequence of institutionalization. If we see the organization called “church” as God’s special means of working on earth, it takes on divine importance. If this is our perception of the organization, then to resist it or exist outside of it is to resist or be outside of God himself. When we further the cause of the institution, we further God’s cause. When we question it, we question God. Those who are not friends of the institution are not friends of God but enemies. Anyone who competes with the institution must be against God. The worth of people is determined by their value to the institution and its objectives. Even the buildings that are owned by the institution are said to be God’s house.

Of course, God may well be working in and through the organized expression of the church, but I guarantee he is also at work outside of it. His kingdom is bigger than any church, denomination or institution.

The first problem is personal and affects the leaders and perhaps those closest to him or her. The second - believing the institution is God’s main instrument for working in the world - can create an entire culture that affects many others. Both problems are forms of idolatry, because in both cases the institution replaces God. This is bondage. It is unhealthy and can destroy lives, and it certainly is not the reason Jesus died on the cross.

Citywide Celebration: Reflection and Looking Ahead

2011-03-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

This has been a day of reflecting, rejoicing and of contemplation.

Last night we held our first Citywide Celebration event here in Charlotte. It brought together people from our 3 fellowships in the region, members of The Creek (who hosted us) and a number of others who responded to invitations from friends, through facebook, online message boards, and radio commercials.

It was a night of music, of testimonies, of teaching, and fellowship. We hope to post audio and video segments soon.

Today I rejoiced in the Lord, reflecting on a hopeful prayer of faith that began the night from Lisa Koons of Charlotte 24-7, a testimony of sacrificial servanthood from Dan House about Ed Bellaire, a fatherly exhortation from my friend Don Atkin, a humorous and simple yet profound message on the purpose of our gathering together from Steve Crosby, and the joy of watching the Lord establish new kingdom connections.

It was a joy meeting new people, and observing the way our Father weaves our lives together in Him: like the young teacher overflowing with Jesus, who just happens to be reading blogs from an apostolic friend who is coming to Charlotte next month. There's also the man who just happened to hear a radio spot announcing the event and decided to come with his wife. He figured that since it was happening at the church where Dennis Hall pastors, it must be something good. By the way, that couple lives in our neighborhood and we expect to connect as couples very soon.

Looking ahead, I'm reminded of the sobering task ahead, to see strongholds of religion and fear demolished so we, His sons and daughters can truly walk as one body.

For those who shared the night with us, I welcome your testimonies as well. Otherwise we'll keep everyone posted on plans for the next citywide gathering. Stay tuned.

OneBody Charlotte Countdown: The Church Jesus is Building

2011-02-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

I’m writing this a week from our first Citywide Celebration here in Charlotte.

The week ending has been one of new, wonderful, Kingdom connections. They happen for one reason: our mutual love for Jesus Christ and the overflow of His love in us unites our hearts. Yes, it is that simple. But our journey has not always been so simple. Past relationships have been marred by devotion to theology, vision, and leaders that transcended love for the Savior. We cannot claim innocence from these forms of idolatry.

We are now in a season with an uncanny sense of eternity. I may be naïve. But I do not believe these bonds of love will be broken so easily. Yes, our Father may reposition any one of us geographically for His Kingdom purposes. But in the circles connecting now I don’t expect to see wholesale alienation of brothers and sisters driven by carnal sectarianism. Time will tell.

People often ask me for church referrals. My answers today are completely different from 3 years ago. Back then I would have tried to get them into my church or church “family”. Now I ask them a question: “Irrespective of “church”, what relationships has the Lord given you? Who has he connected you to?” I now believe that is the real starting place for real Christian fellowship.

In Colossians 2, Paul tells us to walk in Him just as we have received Him. And he goes on in verses 16-19 to warn us not to let anyone judge us on several criteria: old covenant principles, extra-biblical experiences, and unreasonable and proud people prompted by a sensuous mind. (the latter has many religious forms) But the shot to the jugular comes next, “not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

The Church Jesus is building is rooted in EVERYONE “holding fast to the Head”. From there we are nourished and knit together through joints and ligaments… and we grow with a growth FROM GOD. . Forced relationships built merely on belief systems and loyalty to organizations just don’t cut it, and it is time we all stop allowing guilt and warped perspectives on “loyalty” to keep us simply functioning in futility.

OneBody Charlotte: "that they may be one, even as we are one"

2011-02-10T03:54:00.000-08:00

John 17:9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

John 17: 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Just how seriously do we take Jesus' prayer in John 17?
I will confess that the answer for me for many years has been "not very".

Now, by His grace, I have a new and growing passion to see a manifestation of the oneness of Christ's body, the Church.

In response to Jesus' prayer and His Sovereign initiative, we are inviting our brothers and sisters to come together to BE the Church, a growing citywide expression of the Kingdom of God. I hope to see many of you in the coming months as we gather to our Resurrected Lord Jesus.

OneBody Charlotte

What is it?

OneBody Charlotte is an emerging citywide 'wineskin' for the church of Charlotte, NC . It is an event, and a process.

The Event
The event is a gathering for all followers of Jesus in greater Charlotte who are looking for the fulfilment of his prayer that "they all may be one" (Jn 17).

God is calling His people to embrace true kingdom values and to be the church, the true ecclesia, the one church of the city that is modeled for us in the New Testament.

One aspect of this is citywide gatherings around the person of Jesus.

They are a platform for apostolic teaching and for prophetic understanding of the reformational shifts currently occurring in the global church. Everyone is welcome.

Where?
Briar Creek Baptist Church at 1451 Briar Creek Road in Charlotte.
When?
Saturday March 5th at 6pm

The Process
OneBody Charlotte is designed to catalyse a re-forming of the body of Christ across a whole city so that "they all may be one". However, for this to occur a revolution must come.

The church of the city is not just an aggregate of existing local churches. It is a re-shaping of mindsets, values, and structures to make way for a new post-denominational kingdom wineskin.
This is a war for the centrality of Christ in his church and the whole of creation.

The process is catholic in the true sense of the word but not ecumenical in the sense of organizing unity through existing church structures.
The Holy Spirit connects people relationally. One expression of this is through 'apostolic' missional teams functioning through flat relational leadership. They will possess the DNA for multiplication and mission.

It Is All About JESUS!

2011-02-05T02:12:00.000-08:00

A post with this title may seem rather obvious, but if we are honest, the truth it conveys may not always be so unmistakenly apparent in us.

I remember early on in my accelerated faith journey that begin 3 years ago, I met a dear friend whose theme was "whatever I get involved with it has to be all about Jesus". These words would prove to be timely and prophetic as I transitioned from one "it" to another "it" of a different brand. At the end of my involvement with this church plant that later died, the Lord revealed to me that I had helped to construct yet another golden calf.

Now roughly 18 months into a ministry the Lord has called me into, another friend was faithful to share with passion THE TRUTH the Lord graciously used to recalibrate his walk. His friend listened to an audio book by Frank Viola that deeply impacted him. At the end of the book, the conclusion was nothing less than transformational. As my friend joyfully recounted this truth that JESUS must be our preeminent preoccupation and pursuit, the Lord reminded me of my time with Him that morning. I read the story of Peter and John's arrest for preaching the gospel. At the end of the chapter, despite a second warning to stop teaching in Jesus' name, Acts 5:42 records that "every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."

As I listened to my friend, the Father also reminded me of a message Frank Viola shared right here in Charlotte in the Fall of 2009. It was essentially the same truth he communicated in the book. So on a sleepless morning at 4am I listened to that message again to advance this recalibration in my heart. Now minutes later, I'm sharing it with you again. (this was originally posted in 2009)

After listening, I would love to hear how the Lord speaks to you about shifting our focus away from "its" back onto Him.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=56XJDKWK

When Caution is a Vice

2011-01-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Any virtue, when not animated from Calvary and administered by the Spirit, becomes a vice. The fruit of the Spirit is just that: of the SPIRIT. The fruit is not merely amplified and finely polished human personality attributes. “Very nice person” is not the tenth fruit of the Spirit. Jesus was de-cidedly not “nice.” Nice people do not get crucified.

The virtues in our faith are characterized by great tension. For example worship without service is self-deluding, intoxicating, religious narcissism. Service without worship is barren, striving, superficial, religious altruism: the overflow of the anxious Adamic soul.

Our faith is both a rest and a race. Without the Spirit, rest becomes passivity and the race be-comes striving. Regrettably, there are individuals and groups that get a glimmer of one or the other of these virtues, build an identity around them, and engage in fractious and futile infight-ing. Rather than seeing each other as God-ordained complementary necessities comprising a whole together, the others are viewed as being of inadequate revelation, or in error in need of remediation, or even worse . . . enemies. “Be more like us and you will really be on the “ins” with God.” It’s common, and sad.

Without the Spirit’s ministry all virtues will degrade. Honesty becomes brutality, frugality be-comes miserly, kindness becomes sentimentality, gentleness becomes timidity, courage becomes cheeky audacity, and so on. The virtues of wisdom, patience, and caution easily degenerate into vices, and when they do, the community of faith stagnates.

Elton Trueblood phrased it this way:

One of the most harmful forces in the spiritual life may be the counsel of prudence [cau-tion, care]. Whenever any exciting venture is proposed, there are always some to advise caution. The giving of cautious advice is the easiest and cheapest way of achieving a rep-utation for wisdom, because anyone can qualify.

There are times when patience becomes a positive vice, closely associated with cowar-dice.

God’s gracious provision to avoid this condition and the resultant community stagnation are the apostolic and prophetic ministries. In using these terms, I am not referring to the manipulative psychic prognosticating and the authority/honor/loyalty-intoxicated rubbish littering the contem-porary landscape. I mean the real ministries characterized by Calvary love, power, service, and insignificance.

Among other things, prophetic and apostolic graces provide the impetus for progress. These graces provide the Spirit-wrought energy for change, challenge, risk, and adventure. Without them, the community will inevitably settle for the virtues of nurture, care, and relational fellow-ship at the expense of discipline, sacrifice, and mission. Nurture and care will become dominantly detrimental and those grace gifts and ministries reflecting these virtues will become very un-healthy in their expression.

Gentle shepherding is not the totality of the leadership motif presented in either the life of Jesus or the full testimony of the New Testament. Progress (in any human endeavor not just the king-dom) will upset someone, no matter how sensitively it is pursued and administered. The social scientists tell us that 66% of humanity instinctively dislikes and resists change from within their personality configuration. Add the tendency toward entrenchment in “religious” circles, throw in a pinch of devilish fear, a dash of leadership control and voila, we have a first-class stronghold of stagnation. It is not possible to progress without upsetting someone.

One reason among many that the legitimate expressions of apostolic and prophetic ministries are either denied or resisted is because their functional presence will remove strongholds and upset people. Upset people leave, taking their money with them. Need I say more? The dots are there to be connected. The kingdom requires more than gentleness. It requires courage also. The pro-phetic and apostolic ministries help maintain spiritual momentum. Without them, the community will degenerate into an assembly of nice people, trying to be nicer, and enjoying each other’s company.

God gave a diversity of gifts for a reason. They are all needed. Let’s not excise some and over-emphasize others.

Conclusion

It is irrational for us to have New Testament expectations, if our animating values and methods are not the same as the Apostles. The expression of God’s kingdom that many of us hope to see in our lifetimes will not occur within the margins of American (Western) cultural value systems of success and social propriety.

Progress and advance require more than prescribed caution. In a season of realizing inheritance, Joshua was exhorted to be strong and courageous, not careful and sensitive. The first evidence recorded in the New Testament of being filled with God’s Spirit is boldness/courage, not deco-rum, and sensitivity. If caution were an ultimate kingdom virtue, Abraham would never have left Ur. Do not sacrifice the vitality of faith on the altar of prudence and caution. It is simply not the season for it. Let the Spirit marry wisdom and faith. He is the only One who can do it.

Steve Crosby
http://drstevecrosby.wordpress.com/

Christianity: Much More than a Meeting

2011-01-11T06:09:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest challenges we face in the organic setting is overcoming the "meeting mindset". For many people, the expression of Christianity has always been largely defined and expressed by the "Sunday meeting". This warped non-Kingdom mindset is also often simply transferred over into the house church setting.

Neil Cole does a great job of tackling this issue in his book "Organic Leadership". I've chosen a couple of excerpts from Chapter 3, Pharasaism Today. The first is from the sub-heading, "The Leaders Must Lead the Way", taking on the so-called pastor/laity divide:

"My friend John White once said "My aim is not to do away with the clergy. I want to do away with the laity and make everyone a priest before God!" Clergy people need to take the first step; usually the laity will not. But the problem is that when people hold positions of power, they want to hold onto them to protect themselves. So they use their power to maintain their position. This is a vicious circle that prolongs an unhealthy environment."

"People who are in positions of power stand to lose much if the church reverts back to the way it was meant to be. Just as Rome was threatened by Luther, many will lose their honored status and monopolized power if we give the reign of God's kingdom its rightful place in the lives of his subjects.

Unfortunately, those who are in a position to make changes are those who will be the least motivated to do so and this perpetuates the power struggle. If we are to turn things around, leaders must be willing to sacrifice power, prestige, and perhaps even profession, all for the sake of the kingdom of God.

I am not suggesting that we simply eliminate a Sunday morning service in a church building and meet instead in a home. All the arguments of this chapter can be applied to a house church gathering. The point is that church is shared life together, not an event, no matter how good the event is, whether a traditional worship service or a house church gathering. If we place importance on the event at the expense of shared life together, we have missed the point entirely."

Later, Neil Cole speaks of "A Stark Contrast of Powers":

"The religious leaders Jesus confronted were much like the Roman Catholic authorities Martin Luther confronted with his 95 Theses. They were leaders who were invested in the programs of the institution, and likewise, the institution invested power in them. In each case, because they were the protectors of doctrine, they were threatened by any who would challenge the status quo and allow ordinary people the authority of God's Word.

Jesus confronted these people with another kind of power. Luther also unleashed a force that threatened the established institution. In a sense there was a clash of powers. But the unleashed power of God's kingdom is far superior to any other, and this increases the fear of those who are part of the institution.

If you think you have authority because the system grants you position, you have not yet tasted true power. True power cannot be contained by programs, organizations, or human systems. It is found in God's own voice and presence.

I often mention that Martin Luther had two important goals for his life. They were to translate the Scriptures into the common language of the everyday man, and to compile a hymnal of praise songs for the people to sing. He said of these two ambitions: "Set them loose and the flame will spread on its own.". That flame can be an unstoppable force consuming darkness and leaving transformation in its path in ways that our traditions and programs can never do. I believe we have yet to see the true unbridled power of the kingdom of God because we have been too satisfied for far too long with lesser power.

As leaders, we must decide if we will hold on to the Scriptures or let them loose. Will we continue to oblige our people to look to us as the only ones who truly understand God's Word?

Building Coffins or Pursuing Relationships

2011-01-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
We hope you are walking in the fulness of God's grace at the start of 2011.

In my inbox this afternoon was an email from Don Atkin. He passed along this gem from Steve and Marilyn Hill. No introduction needed.

Steve and Marilyn Hill

This may not seem like a great way to start a new year but several recent blogs, conversations, tweets have turned on the subject of theology and the merits of differing theological systems. If one is honest, they will need to admit that their system of choice works as long as they do not include the scriptures that form the basis of a rival system. Interesting problem! God gave us a collection of historical accounts, poems, legal systems, sacrificial systems, moral laws, prophecies, dreams, visions and letters arranged in 66 books, written over thousands of years of His relationship with us. Then we try to make a rational system out of it? We cannot make a rational system out of our relationship with our spouse and we try to do so with our relationship with God?

Every theological system is like a coffin. The only body you can get to fit into it is a dead one. Making the coffin more and more complex to try to accommodate more and more of the mystery of God misses the point. If your reason could create a logical system that could fully contain God, your reason would be God. God will not fit in any coffin no matter how many bits you try to chop off nor how many scriptures you try to ignore.

The universe is not rationally ordered nor is it rationally determined. If God wanted to write a book of theology He could have done so. He is smart enough. He did not so why do we try? We do worse than build theological coffins. We try to force God into them. The only God that fits is a dead one. The comfort of rationalism and the arrogance of having the right doctrine is that it becomes the end in itself. You got it right. You do not have to do anything else. And your God is in a coffin where you do not have to deal with Him.

The universe is relationally ordered. God is a Father and God is a love relationship of Father, Word and Holy Spirit. Their union is a mystery of love and mutual honour. Our lives are relationally ordered. That is why the moral law is eternal. Moral law has to do with relationships. There is no rational system that can protect you from the risk, uncertainty, vulnerability demanded by authentic relationships. The practical extension of rationalism is legalism. Hearts protected from life by rules and fear.

The universe is relationally determined. The future, in general and my future in particular, is determined by my relationship with God and with others. God is a Father who is passionate to share Himself with a family. The Father and the Holy Spirit are passionate to present a bride to the Son. The Father and the Son are passionate to create a living temple for the Holy Spirit. The Word and the Spirit are passionate to present all things to the Father so that He might be all and in all.

This is not to say that the universe is unreasonable. It is reasonable, predictable, seasonal and purposeful. It is not absurd but neither is it rational. Someone has said that the first question of the age of reason is suicide- why should I live? The end of rationalism is nihilism. Absurdity and rationalism are two sides of the same coin. What is rational is not necessarily meaningful.

Truth is not a system of thought. Truth is not correct doctrine. Truth is a person whose name is Jesus. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Him are judgement and forgiveness, wrath and mercy, law and grace, God's freedom to choose and man' s freedom to choose, His freedom to love and my freedom to love. In Him all truths hold together in living tension. Even the ones that we cannot reconcile in our rational systems. Even the scriptures that we try to ignore.

The challenge and sharp discomfort of a relationally ordered universe is that the God who is love says that right belief is not enough. He says that even the devils believe and tremble. He says that if I say I love Him and do not love my brother, I am a liar.

My life in God is fulfilled as I love Him and love my enemies.
The universe is ordered by love.
My future is determined by love expressed in simple but often difficult serving of others.

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children let us not love in word or in tongue but in deed and in truth." I John 3:16- 18

Life is relationships.

Thanks to all of you for your friendship in 2010. May this increase in 2011.

Steve & Marilyn Hill

Redeeming Disillusionment

2010-12-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

Redeeming Disillusionment

Stephen R. Crosby

www.drstevecrosby.wordpress.com

Disillusionment has always been a common malady for the Lord’s followers. The early church expected
the literal return of the Lord in their lifetime. When it didn’t happen, they needed the encouragement that
comes from a major adjustment in their expectation and understanding. Much of the NT was written to
psychologically encourage and theologically adjust the saints. The book of Hebrews is a great example of
a letter written to a people who were ready to “chuck it” because things had not panned out according to
their expectations.

The overwhelming majority of popular level media teaching and preaching is a set-up for disillusionment.
When all the promised temporal blessings for good behaving and promise claiming saints do not come to
pass, a crisis is inevitable. The first wave of human carnage surrounds us in those for whom the tired and
ragged remnants of Charismatic and apostolic-prophetic teachings have not produced the “promised”
results.i Disillusionment is saying it mildly. Many feel so betrayed, so misled, so the “fool,” for believing
another generation’s lightweight preacher talk, that they have turned into God-haters. It is but the first
fruits of a greater harvest to come. I get no joy in proclaiming so. My hope is to be there for folks when
the non-Calvary, simplistic promises and premises they have built their lives upon, come crashing down
around them.

The disillusionment phenomenon also influenced Israel of old, and God sent the prophets to encourage
and adjust them. Nowhere is this more prominent that in the return of the exiles from Babylon. Based on
their understanding of their past history, those who returned from Babylon had “land of milk and honey”
expectations for their return. What they got was the “land of ruin and desolation.” Rather than a “walk-intake-over” of houses and lands prepared for them, they were confronted with the charred ruination and
remains of another generation’s failures. Does this sound familiar?

When the exiles returned, they set up the altar of sacrifice, but the temple was not rebuilt due to the scope
of the task and the resistance they experienced from outside influences. The altar of sacrifice had to do
with their personal standing with God, but the temple was meant to be the testimonial habitation of God
in the earth. They settled for “personal” issues, while the greater issue of God’s testimony in the earth was
ignored. Again, the media airwaves are saturated with techniques on how to “get your blessing,” rather
than how to be the incarnation of the life of God in the earth, living effectively one with another.

God’s provision for Israel was to send Haggai (and others) to purge their romanticism, realign their expectations,
change their thinking, challenge them to faithfulness, and exhort them to a work that involved
something greater than their own interests. There are lots of applications for us today.

Many are disillusioned with organized and institutional forms of the faith and have embraced house
church and emergent church forms, only to eventually discover equal amounts of disillusionment in these
venues. I suggest that the problem is deeper than our meeting formats. Our message and methods have
been focused on: a) individual salvation (our individual ticket to heaven), b) the temporal benefits that are
mine, and c) giving our lives to build a “thing”- either the “church” as we have known it, or the “church”
as we think it should be. Either way, our expectation is in a thing.

We’re supposed to be building the temple-the spiritual temple that is, the Body of Christ, not just focusing
on the activities of the altar.

I believe that a prophetic call of encouragement, alignment, and correction is going out at this hour for
those who are His own, to step out of a self-aware and self-interest based Christianity (regardless of meeting
form) to get serious about Christ in us all . . . Christ in you, Christ in me . . . and give ourselves to the
that “building.” We have tried everything else. It has only produced frustration and disillusionment.

We must understand that our mandate is to build the body of Christ by exhorting to love, and good works.
We must understand that revelation does not come from the preaching ministry in the pulpit, but from our
“connectedness” together in the body. The unveiling of Christ that we desire is not related to a gifted orator
in a pulpit, or a gifted evangelist, or an anointed prophet or apostle. The unveiling of Christ we need is
directly related to our being knit together in love (Col. 2:2). That is where the “mystery” is revealed.

It has been my long persuasion that Jesus’ rebuke to the Pharisees regarding their inability to see Him until
they say “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” (Matt. 23:39) has got nothing to do with
the details of His personal return. It applies firstly to the new creation, post-Pentecost apostles, and to
every recreated believer since. It is an absolute ban. Until we can say blessed is He who comes in the
name of the Lord, (the new creation indwelt, Spirit-filled, believer who comes in the name of the Lord),
we will never “see Him,” regardless of how “anointed” our various ministry expressions are or how “biblically
accurate” the structure of our meetings are.

Like Israel of old we need to pull away from a sacrificial consciousness of my own personal sins being
forgiven, and move into a “temple building” consciousness that serves as an incarnational witness to the
world that God is alive . . . in flesh . . . in you and me. The New Testament temple, the New Testament
habitation of His presence, has to be built. Out of the ruins of a previous generation’s failures we must
engage in the divine agenda.

Here is my prophetic declaration. Those other methodologiesii are over. Done. Finished. They have been
tried, and have produced only rubble. We can continue to sing our songs, wave our banners, dance our
dances, preach our messages, and whatever it is we do. But if we are serious about a different future day
of God’s purposes in the earth, we must get serious about building the temple. We must discover and embrace
Body-Consciousness. We must recognize Christ wherever He is, in one another, and give ourselves
to the seeing of Him there, not out of heaven.

That is I live to die for you. You and I are the living sacrifices, and together we constitute the testimonial
temple of God in the earth. All that I am, all that Christ has put in me, is . . . for you . . . and for the
world. Together, we are the temple not made with hands that is to be the testimony in the earth that Jesus
is alive in resurrection. If we are content with our own “promises of blessing” rather than the hard work of
relationship building and the development of actually knowing one another so we can actually exhort one
another to love and good works, we will never see the days of God on earth that generations have been
preaching about.

Redeeming Disillusionment
Stephen R. Crosby
www.drstevecrosby.wordpress.com

i “Breakthrough” is always just “one more faith-act of obedience” away.
ii Pulpit consciousness, ministry consciousness, gift consciousness, anointing consciousness, miracle consciousness, etc.

The Global House Church Movement: Declaration #7

2010-12-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

It would be tempting to post all of Rad Zdero's bold declarations published in The Global House Church Movement, but I will stop at 3. This one has become increasingly important to me. As we begin our 3rd house church in the Charlotte area, I find one of the biggest battles is helping people transition from sitting passively in their seats (and living passivity during the week) to full engagement in gatherings and body life outside of meetings. I believe what happens on Sunday clearly sets the tone for every other aspect of church life.

A famous radio talk show host jokes that he was made to do his talk show and you and I were made to listen. At least he's working in a secular realm. What excuse do we have for promoting such foolishness in the Church?

Declaration #7

We Declare Common Meetings vs. Holy Rituals

For too long, we Christians have been performing choreographed and polished ceremonies and holy rituals and calling it church. But, the tide is turning! We now declare a return to the clear New Testament practice of having Spirit-led, open participatory, and interactive "common" meetings where everyone has the right and responsbility to use their spiritual gift for the benefit of others.

Whether it is the Catholic mass, the Orthodox liturgy, or the Protestant sermon from the pulpit, it is unfortunately still spectator Christianity. Instead, we affirm the apostolic practice of open and particpatory meetings. "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church." (I Cor 14:26 NIV, emphasis added, see also I Cor 12:7-12, 27-30, I Cor 14:36-38, Col 3:16, Eph 5:19-20, Heb 10:25).

The Spirit of God must be allowed to lead and speak to the church through the church. Jesus should no longer be the guest of honor in church meetings. he should be the Master of Ceremonies. No more one man shows. No more active few participating for the passive many. No more spectator Christianity.

Shattering the Clergy/Laity Divide

2010-12-20T05:20:00.000-08:00

As promised I'm posting another Declaration from Rad Zdero's excellent book, The Global House Church Movement.
This is a subject near and dear to my heart: the deployment of ALL of the Body of Christ to do the work of ministry. This cannot happen under the current religious landscape that dominates the Western world.

DECLARATION 6

We Declare Common People vs. Holy Clergy

For too long, we Christians have promoted the professionalization of Christian leadership. This religious caste system has created a rift between so-called clergy and laity, often resulting in a lack of involvement by lay people. But, the tide is turning! We now declared a grassroots Christianity that rightfully and practically restores the biblical priesthood of all "common" believers ( I Pet 2:4-10).

All believers can discover, use, and sharpen their spiritual gifts, talents, and capacities for the benefit of the entire Body of Christ (Rom 12:4-8; I Cor 12:7-12, 27-30). All believers can facillate even the most sacred symbolic acts, namely the Lord's Supper and Baptism, traditionally carried out only by ordained clergy. All believers are ministers in the truest sense and have a God-given ministry to carry out. There is no such thing as a priest or minister, for all Christians are believer-priests.

We , therefore encourage a shfit away from the unbiblical, professionalized, hierarchical, and money-draining clergy system, whether pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, minister, pastor, or senior elder. We suggest instead, a return to New Testament forms of leadership, namely local teams of co-equal elders (volunteers) and traveling apostolic teams (financially supported when needed) (Acts 13:1-3, 14:23, 17:9-15; 20:1-6, 20:17, 33-35; I Cor 9:1-18; Titus 1:5-9) These are grassroots leaders who have been trained and approved by the Body of Christ.

The Global House Church Movement

2010-12-19T04:41:00.000-08:00

Since our local journey began, I quickly learned what the Lord is doing here is neither isolated nor a "flash in the pan" experience. Our walk has connections to the very infancy of the New Testament Church, and there's a trail of history, often untold, that confirms a continuity of house church/organic church life that continues to this day. There's also ample evidence that the Lord is up to something massive here in the 21st Century: restoring true New Testatment life and function around the globe.

In the growing collection of excellent books on the House Church Movement, I've come across a real gem:
The Global House Church Movement by Rad Zdero.

Rad does a phenomenal job of covering the history of house churches and helping to envision disciples for life in this new, yet old context. And there is one chapter that really set me on fire: Chapter 5, Radical Principles, 10 Declarations of the Radical Church. I cannot resist sharing a few of these with you. But I will do so in small daily doses. Here is the first of my 3 favorites.

DECLARATION 5

We Declare the Citywide Church vs. Denominations

For too long, we Christians have been seperated from each other and divided along denominational lines like corporations, organizations or political bodies with branch offices in various towns, cities, and nations. But the tide is turning! We now declare a grassroots Christianity that works together strategically as a citywide church in order to effectively reach that city or region as was done in the New Testament era (Acts 9:31, 15:36, 20:17; Romans 1:7; I Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:2; Eph 1:1; Philip 1:1; Col 1:2; I Thes 1:1; @ Thes 1:1)

Denominationalism, unfortunately has historically often served to fragment Christians into different camps even within the same geographic locality, effectively crippling them from reaching out as a united Body of Christ. Fortunately, God is working mightily today to break down many of these barriers to unify Christians to maximize their efforts to disciple their city for Christ.

Therefore, as grassroots radical Christians, we in the house church movement encourage efforts that prioritize citywide church efforts over any existing denominational ties.

Dead to Sin

2010-12-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

Articles, December 15, 2010

Organic Leadership and Life

2010-12-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

Since delving into the Organic Church world in 2009, I've lost count of the divine appointments the Lord has brought about to advance His kingdom. One such connection: Kenny Russell. My local connection with Kenny only lasted for a little over a week before he moved to England. But from that connection and his website, Organic Church Today, I've made a number of other connections with people seeking to walk with the Lord and His people organically. Some of them are now in the fellowship groups we're working with here in the Charlotte area.

Thanks to technology, I had the opportunity to fellowship with Kenny face to face again over Skype last night. After that talk I listened to one of Kenny's podcasts. He interviewed Neil Cole, the author of "Organic Leadership". I believe Neil addresses some very critical issues that help to "set the table" for the life Jesus wants to live through His people. I hope you will take some moments to listen and let the Lord speak to you. Just click anywhere in the box below to listen.

Kingdom Connection: Apex, NC

2010-12-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued when Steve Crosby invited me to join him as he paid a visit to friends he connected with through his writings. I did not know what to expect. What I experienced was warm hospitality and deep fellowship from the time we arrived to the time we left. Though we went to encourage these new friends, we truly sense that this was an example of true mutuality that characterizes genuine Kingdom life.

I asked Steve to sum up what he saw in the people we connected with in Apex. May the Lord multiply these qualities in values in all of us:

Personal security (a good sense of identity and place in the kingdom-comfortable in their own skin)

Not trying to impress or be impressed

Not position seeking, nor impressed with those who have position

Authentic

Open themselves, and appreciating openness in others

Kingdom alignment in values versus local church alignment in values

Risk takers... faith adventuresome

Not looking for security

Willing to follow the Lord no matter what... even without full understanding

A readiness to listen and receive instruction incarnationally, not just informationally

A New Creation and Financial Responsibility

2010-11-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

Ttto - A New Creation and Financial Responsibility

Kingdom Sessions: Overcoming Bitterness with Steve Crosby

2010-11-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

The audio and video quality is not the best.... but the content is well worth taking in. Steve Crosby provided instruction on Overcoming Bitterness. You can watch and listen here. Your comments are welcome. We would love to hear how the Lord uses this message in your life.

Creation's Cry: The Heart of Apostolic Passion

2010-10-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

Just days before my second Global Communion conference organized by Don Atkin, I'm in the middle of reading Don's very inspiring book "Creation's Cry: The Heart of Apostolic Passion".

In a day when so many either ignore apostolic ministry, or others pervert its meaning, it is a joy to read and understand the big picture of what the Lord has purposed for His Church.

There's so much rich wisdom Don conveys in "Creation's Cry", it was hard to decide which excerpt to post here. But I settled on Chapter 11, a subject near and dear to my heart:

Interdependence

While we must have integrity within ourselves, we must also have integrity among ourselves as individual members of the body of Christ who are to walk together. That is, we must allow the Holy Spirit to set us - integrate us - into the body. We are members of one another. Each of us is gifted for the common good.

Interdependence must replace independence.

(We,) speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things unto him who is the head- Christ - from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.

It is the futility of our minds that keeps us from rightly interacting with one another according to the Spirit. Personal ambition, personal insecurities, personal need to be in control or be in charge, have stunted the rightful and righteous growth of the body.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. it will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.

What is true for our natural bodies is also true for the spiritual body of Christ. "Trust" is a needed virtue for us to be set free from our human limitations. Trusting in the Lord necessarily emcompasses and includes trusting Him in one another. We can do this by faith. We have the God-given grace to do this.

It will be the glory of Christ revealed in us that will produce the unity for which Christ prayed.

"And the glory which you gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one."

The oneness that will convince the world that the Father sent His firstborn Son, and that He loves them as He loves Him, can only be accomplished by our oneness with our God and his Christ. In simplicity, it will be each of us manifestating our sonship by living out the life that He gives us by His Spirit.

You can purchase "Creation's Cry" on Don's website:

http://www.donatkin.com/publications.html

Kingdom Sessions

2010-10-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Here in the Charlotte area, the Lord is doing some great things. He led us to transition into a house church late last summer. And in just the past few weeks, He has birthed a second fellowship. A month ago, another couple joined us for a Sunday brunch. This past Sunday, nearly a dozen couples, along with teens and children joined us for worship and fellowship.

Also in recent weeks, the Lord has assembled a team of apostolic and prophetic leaders to engage the work here in the Charlotte region. We've met a couple of times to fellowship and seek the Lord about how to build into the vision of One City, One Church. One outgrowth of that is a new ministry initiative we're calling "Kingdom Sessions". While our weekly house gatherings are geared for body ministry before the Lord and to each other, Kingdom Sessions will address the instructional needs of the Body at large, and serve as another opportunity for the Lord to forge discipleship relationships.

We began last night with a presentation from Steve Crosby. My notes from this are below. Steve ministers prophetically, and last night the Lord used him mightily to help uproot religious strongholds in our lives and stir new passion for the relational life of Christ. If you live in the Charlotte area or plan to visit, you are welcome to join us. You can find out information on the location of these gatherings by sending an email to

hungryforrevival@gmail.com

Kingdom Sessions
Wednesday October 13, 2010

Steve spoke from a theme of Relationship in contrast to Religion and the endless pursuit of attempting to follow “principles” to draw close to God
God sent us his Son, not an instruction book

God did not give us merely principles, He gave us His son

We can be biblically right but spiritual wrong

Relationship is everything!

Religion is often a means for broken people to hide

Our lives are not about “mastery” of Bible stuff. Broken people use willpower to “do” the Bible and still not touch the heart of God or people

Relationship always trumps principle

We must allow people to make mistakes. “Wisdom” is fine, but we must not preach that to others.

Coerced obedience is not the life of Christ. Christianity is not behavior management.

A fat notebook (of notes from teachings, etc) and a lean heart are a bad combination.

The Good News is that God came to heal our hearts not merely call us to follow principles

We don’t master the scriptures. They should master us

Right relationship produces right living. Right living does not produce right relationship

Our relationship with the Father is a matter of birth. We can’t change that relationship by doing better or more for God

Relationships in the body are about “gift exchange”. If gifts are only operating one way, it is a waste of time

Anything that shifts off a Calvary paradigm becomes a bad thing

Don’t do anything unless Jesus commissions it. We cooperate with God’s configuration

Hebrews 10:2 speaks of our freedom from sin consciousness.
Walking in continual introspection, self awareness to accuse or excuse is a manifestation of the Adamic nature, not the life of Christ. Continual awareness of deficiency and examining myself to discover “how bad I am” isn’t Christianity.

LeadershipLeadership means that the person leading should be the first to die (to self). It is not about “being the boss”. We are lovers and servants.
Headship means if someone has to lose their “rights” it is me.

Submission should not result in the removal of personality

Discipleship/Training
Criminals are punished. Sons are trained and disciplined. God is not into punishing his children

Question for leaders: can you show me how you have laid down your life for your “flock” in the last 6 months? When is the last time you gave someone money from your wallet instead of the “church benevolent fund”? Otherwise you’re just receiving “compensation for services rendered”

Kingdom Finances
Most of our (the Church) money goes to property and salaries
The church CEO (or pastors) should not be the only ones guaranteed a “salary”.

A “father” doesn’t make sons and daughters take care of him. Paul provided for his own needs and those with him.

The responsibility of agape means we give materially to bless those who spiritually bless us. (a form of gift exchange)

Steve ended by referencing this text in the Gospels about Jesus’ post Resurrection appearance:

Luke 24 28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

This is what we long for… for the presence of Jesus to burn in us as we commune with Him, in our daily lives, and when we gather as a people.

Are You In The Zoo?

2010-10-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

The Lord continues to bring about amazing developments here in the Charlotte area: The Lord is bringing people together with hungry hearts, hungry for the word of God and eager to see His glory revealed in us.

He is also assembling an apostolic and prophetic team with a citywide and regional vision. If you are familiar with this blog, by now you’ve read articles that stir your heart to see a manifestation of “The Second Incarnation”, the reality of Jesus living in His people. Leading the charge in those articles is Don Atkin. Working closely with him is Steve Crosby. (Greg Austin has also made significant contributions from out West)

I have had the privilege of fellowshipping with Steve a couple of times in the past week. He is a man who brings a sharp prophetic perspective and it is shared in a way that reflects our Father’s heart.. After my first visit, he passed along a copy of a book he released several years ago.
Since reading this portion of Steve’s book “Silent Killers of Faith”, I sensed a strong conviction about posting a significant portion of the first chapter.

The title of this section is “Are You in the Zoo?” As one who has marinated in an atmosphere with a strong emphasis on “accountability for many years”, I can tell you the words you are about to read are disturbing but also liberating. We continue to encounter many people who are walking in a type of “deadness”, the product of this deadly leaven of legalism that flourishes in some Christian circles. Very often they are immobilized, seemingly unable to engage the Lord and others in true loving fellowship, and yet they also can’t seem to escape from the “cage” that helped to produce their zombie-like state.

By God’s grace we are walking less in an awareness of people” policing us” and a greater awareness of God’s empowering presence to transform and guide us. If you discover that you’re “in the cage”, I pray that you will discover the same joyous liberation, the freedom Jesus bought for us on the cross.

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Are You In The Zoo?
Once a dominant ethos is established in a church culture, it is often cultivated, consciously or not, by behavioral rules, expectations, and accountability programs. Rather than being considered legalism, the accountability ethos of the group is viewed as those reasonable behavioral expectations that maintain core values and identify individuals as member of the group. We don’t _______ or we do ________ because…. (You can fill in the blanks!) For instance, a group whose emphasis is Christian maturity or integrity can succumb to behavior codes and accountability believed necessary to maintain corporate and individual integrity. Likewise, a group whose emphasis is compassion will develop a church culture that rewards behaviors consistent with the core value and discourage those that seem opposed to it.

External accountability is like driving with the sheriff in the backseat of your car. As long as the sheriff is there, no one is going to speed! Remove the external presence of authority and a speeder is reborn! It is a mistake to think that persisting in accountability long enough will produce a change of nature. Rather, a change of nature will produce accountability.

Accountability only enables performance-based religion. It is the self-aware, self-monitoring Adamic counterfeit of biblical discipleship. It is like a zookeeper who expects the cage to change a tiger into a pussycat. The bars only restrain the tiger. Take away the bars and what do you have? Tiger, and lots of it! However, if the tiger’s nature was somehow changed, the bars would no longer be necessary. This is exactly what should experientially happen for believers: Rebels are supposed to have been made into obedient children. A new nature is supposed to have been imparted at salvation.

Sometimes our conversion and sanctification experiences have all the spiritual vitality of a freeze-dried TV dinner. Because we are weak, the Church often embraces accountability as a means of keeping the unregenerate Adamic nature in check! We try to sanctify people who have not experienced a genuine change of nature, or who are experientially out of touch with their new nature. This is particularly true for second and third generation children who have grown up in the church. Sure, our children may have said the sinner’s prayer when they were six years old, but somewhere along the way, the experiential reality of regeneration is lost. Rather, they have figured out, embraced, and conformed to the church culture and its expectations.

Our churches are full of frustrated tigers and exhausted zookeepers who resort to the whip of legalism and accountability (most of the time unconsciously) as the only they know to keep the tiger in check! Eventually the cage and whip will destroy the animal’s essential nature. It will just lay in the back of the cage in a lethargic stupor. Its outward presence says animal, but its inward essence has been destroyed. Often the zookeeper no longer uses the whip to restrain wild behavior; now he has to use it to get any response from the animal.

Spiritual sons and daughters who become exhausted from fighting against the external restraints of legal accountability eventually just give up. Their essential nature is so crushed that they simply collapse into the church culture and its accountability system. “Fine, whatever it is that you want, I will give it to you. Just lay off the whip, will you?” Passivity and withdrawal set in.

In a spiritual climate where passivity has taken root, it is futile to try to get production from lethargic believers. You can bark motivational slogans like a Marine drill sergeant all day long with little result. The unenlightened drill sergeants will not understand why their accountability partners or protégés lay motionless in the back of their spiritual cages, or merely yawn at the proposition of actually moving forward. They do not realize that the essential nature has been destroyed! The whip of accountability and the mantras of the high calling cannot awaken an exhausted son or daughter – only a healed identity can.

All restraints, codes, and principles of accountability are impotent to change the nature of the one in the cage. In fact, the tiger will resent the cage because it conflicts with his essentially wild nature. He may obediently pace the perimeter of the cage, staying within its boundaries, but he is really checking for weakness because the artificial environment does not suit his wild and free nature. Likewise, the bars of accountability on a Spirit-son of the New Covenant will ultimately lead either to resentment toward the bars and the one who put them there, or to disengaged passivity. Obedience gained on the altar of conformity to church culture is legal abomination.

Now, of course, a caged tiger is better than a loose one prowling in the neighborhood! Likewise, accountability is better than unbridled sin, but the manifestation of the life of the Son is much better than policed accountability. Being accountable does indeed restrain the carnal nature, but it takes constant diligence and effort to see that the cage is properly maintained. Any detected weakness must immediately be reinforced by more bars, more rules. A patrolling zookeeper is required to inspect the condition of the cage and the behavior of the animal.
To some people, the “zookeeper and tiger-in-the-cage scenario” is biblical accountability, but I call it bondage. I am through with the zoo. I returned my zookeeper’s union card.

http://www.stevecrosby.com/

Severe Limitations

2010-09-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

September 2010 eLetter

Unanswered Questions from the Eddie Long Sex Scandal .

2010-09-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

I was so struck by Jose Bosque's article that I've posted it here. I would encourage every Christ follower who reads this to pray that the Lord would break through in this terrible scandal and reveal Himself... to the parties involved, to the Church in Atlanta and Charlotte, and ultimately to all of us in the Body of Christ who are affected by events like this.

Unanswered Questions from the Eddie Long Sex Scandal .
Sunday, 26 September 2010 09:45 Jose Bosque

My heart has been troubled since the news first reached me of the problems coming from the Church in Atlanta. I know many you are saying wait the problem is only at Eddie Long’s Church. Wrong! Eddie Long has a congregation and Eddie Long is part of the One Church of the Lord in Atlanta. That is the biblical perspective and that is the historical perspective no matter what organized religion has invented with its traditions.

The pain we all feel is related to the obvious oversight of the following verses that state that the Church is to police itself instead of taking matters before unbelievers to the detriment of the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 5:12

12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?

1 Cor 6:1-6

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

Based on the above verses and the wisdom given to me as an Elder in His Church, gifted to function governmentally and relationally to His Body, I ask these questions. (I refuse to flash a title to demand adherence like a sheriff) You who have the Holy Spirit, you judge where these questions and perspectives are coming from and see if the Lord is not speaking to His Church.

Here are the questions;

1. If the Bible clearly calls for His Church to judge matters why is it if anyone speaks he is looked at as an “accuser of the brethren”?

The Bible says for Elders to rise up in the city and judge the matters that need to be judged. It also states that we will not only judge here on earth but that believers will judge angels! We are all praying for a spotless Bride. How does clothing get spotless? We are praying for a Bride that has no wrinkles? How do we get the wrinkles out of clothing? The Bible says when we arrive in Heaven the Church “has made herself” ready! Since we know the Bride is corporate, could it be she corporately gets herself ready? Then, get ready Church for Judgment is coming to the House of God and no, not just from above.

2. What is it about the Body of Christ of Christ that makes her always run to protect the Leader in question?

The majority of the Church has sided on the wrong side of every scandal since Jimmy Swaggert to now. Even in Jacksonville, when leaders have been proven to be sleeping with the members and even getting them pregnant, the members have sided with the fallen leader. What is it about the Church that would rather cover up than expose sin? Is it because we don’t like our sins exposed? Paul rebuked the Corinthian Church for pride and for thinking they were more merciful than God, by refusing to deal with the sin in their own camp. Whose names are we really protecting; the Lord’s or that of our own personal kingdoms?

3. What type of fathering and discipling produces “sick sons”?

Aside from all the issues, there are three young men who have not matured but have grown in unforgiveness and bitterness toward their spiritual father. If you have been in ministry for any length of time you have had sons who have left you “talking trash” but how many of them took their complaint to the authorities? Is it possible that much of what goes on in the church under the word fathering is really control and manipulation? What is the spiritual lesson behind being spoken to like a dog and toting someone’s bible around? Has honor gone to enabling pride and arrogance? I believe in honoring and serving leaders but my Bible says it comes voluntarily not by compulsion. I understand the word armor bearer I just don’t equate it with personal slave. I have had about five men in my life that I have considered “my spiritual father” and have been at all ends of the control spectrum from White, Black and Hispanic leaders so don’t tell me I don’t understand the culture.

4. What information exists that would allow an attorney to go forward with this case?

I know how many of you feel about lawyers. Yes, many are ambulance chasers who will do anything for a buck but I believe the bad apples are in the minority. The bad ones just always seem to get more press and attention. In general, most attorneys are good people who are in it to win and get justice for their clients not to make fools of themselves in a highly publicized case like this one. While I agree that some of the evidence in this case could be misconstrued because of the legal world’s misunderstanding of how church functions, I assure something exists that they feel will clearly exonerate their clients allegations. Yes, I said exonerate! While in America you are innocent until proven guilty in the current church mess the accuser is guilty until proven innocent.

5. Why can’t the Church see the current subnormality for what it is? Why do we want to believe this is an isolated case?

If the Church was really run like a business, as the owners we would have dismantled the whole mess a long time ago. The Church is supposed to be producing Christlike disciples not Sunday morning club members. This case and many others like it, should scream in the ears of all those who care for His Church. What are we doing wrong? How is this happening? What is missing in the system? Is this really the pattern left to us by the disciples and apostles of our Lord?

I believe one of the reasons the Father permits these types of things to go public is to make us aware so we will all do an internal audit of our own procedures as leaders in his kingdom. To simply pray for this isolated case is nothing more than corporate spiritual blindness and/or arrogance. The whole Church (the New Jerusalem) needs prayer so we can find our way back to the pattern of the apostles in the 21st century.

6. After all the revelation in the bible concerning the plurality of eldership in the leadership of His Church why do we still have men who rule over his flock without accountability?

At best most churches fain united leadership. Most congregations are led by men who claim they have oversight by boards, elders and deacons but the facts are they run the congregation like little kings in their kingdoms. Say something contrary and watch and see how quickly the conversation changes from “our Church” to “my church!” Nowhere in the New Testament is leadership of the church attributed to one person. The word pastor is our own invention to compete with the other invention of priest. Every born again Christian is a priest and the only mediator between God and man is the Lord Jesus Christ. The word for church leadership is elder and it’s always plural. I believe in five fold ministry but even they are to submit to each other by the Holy Spirit under the rulership of the only Head of His church which is the Lord Jesus Christ.

7. Where is the Voice of the Spiritual Fathers in this situation?

The silence is deafening! Where are all those who love the title of Apostle now? Here is a situation that needs apostolic leadership and maturity why are you running from it. Are you afraid to get your ministry dirty? Are you afraid it might affect your dollars if you speak up? If “your” wonderful ministry to blessed to get stressed with this situation? Maybe if you spoke up you would have to clean up your own house.

There are more “Apostles” today than Bayer has aspirins. Everywhere you look leaders are calling themselves apostles even if their ministry barely qualifies for a house church. Sorry, I am not impressed no matter how many cards you print up with the word Apostle in capital letters in front of your name. I dare you to show me one example of that in the New Testament! If you are one speak up! If you are a spiritual father in Atlanta or in Jacksonville speak up! The Church wants to hear from you. If not sit down, real bible reading Christians know better.

In conclusion it is my prayer that this word would be received as a plumb line. Either fall before Jesus or be prepared to be crushed. The Lord is cleaning up His Bride and as the end of all things draws near His real Bride will begin to shine like the stars in the sky. I am praying along with you that when all is said and done His Church would be better for it!

For the Love of His Name,

Jose L Bosque

Photo by John Bazemore AP

"Casting the Cast Vision" and "Visionaries"

2010-09-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

There is a lot going on behind the scenes in recent weeks.

We extend a big welcome to Stephen Crosby, who is now a part of our Charlotte area family. Stephen wrote the best book I've read on Leadership, "Authority, Accountability, and the Apostolic Movement".

The Lord is also further clarifying vision for us as we discern how he wants to build His church with a "one city, one Church" paradigm. Which is a great lead in to some very insightful articles from Steve Crosby and Don Atkin.

Articles August7,2010

David Wilkerson: A Call to Anguish

2010-08-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

Though None Go With Me... and Preview of a Major Announcement

2010-08-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

Some big changes are on the way to this blog in the coming days. I hope the first will develop within this week.

For today, I want to share an item from Don Atkin that really connected with what's in my heart about Kingdom life. It can be frustrating when we are surrounded by so many "Christians" who are preoccupied with themselves, the world, or simply being religious. Don reminds us where to keep our focus.

Though None Go With Me

THE ESSENCE OF CHRIST

2010-08-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

THE ESSENCE OF CHRIST

Retrofit or Reconfigure

2010-08-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Retrofit or Re Configure

Free Religion Flush!

2010-07-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

I could not resist sharing a recent post from Jose Bosque. I can relate to the way our Father uses trials to purify us from things that are not of Him, including religion. And Jose, we are standing with you and your family in prayer in your trials:

Free Religion Flush!

I know this title must have caught your attention. That was my intention. Be assured this is no false advertising. I guarantee the Lord’s work.

With the current fire I am going through, with the sickness of my 2 year old granddaughter (seems I am always in some fire) the Father has used it to speak to me about the need to stay moored to the purity of the doctrine of Christ. We are living in a world full of contaminants to pure doctrine and every once and a while we need a good Holy Ghost flush.

This is not a new trick of satan. Read what Paul said to the city of Corinth:

2 Cor 11:3-4

3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

NKJV

If the world was not bad enough, there is always the friend who infects us with some bad doctrine they picked up disguised as godly advice and it is usually delivered like this, “why don’t you try this”.

I know many of you are going through your own fires. You can’t worship the Lord in the middle of your situation if you are so busy trying something new. I have assembled some of the worst culprits in hopes of flushing your system from the religious contaminants to good doctrine. They are not in any particular order.

1. A self-centered ministry mindset instead of an appreciation for the Body of Christ as a whole. The One Church of the Lord Jesus Christ

2. A Leadership which supports division in the body by the continual cheerleading of what they think as “their ministry”. Our “Brand” is the best brand and you don’t need to go outside our brand to get what you need.

3. An emphasis on external correctness of action (rituals, recipes, protocol, order of service, bulletins) instead of internal sincerity of heart.

4. An emphasis on external outer wear (Robes, Suits, Ties) instead on internal purity and attitude of the heart

5. A concentration on “the service” as if it the service itself had its own blessing in its performance. This is what Witchcraft and Voodoo practitioners believe. Instead we should see Christianity as a 24/7 lifestyle and service.

6. The service is for the people instead of for the Lord. A bless me mindset during for gathering (I’m going to get me some) instead of the sense of family coming together to corporately worship unto our Lord.

7. Number five leads to six which is to create an external visible special atmosphere through the use of lights, sound and effects instead of letting God’s Glory create the real thing. (the Afro-American culture uses the Hammond organ, Hispanics shout and get emotional, White culture dims the lights or wows you with the computer assisted show on the Big Screen). This creates a people that the only time they run is in church or after church to beat the rest to the restaurant.

8. A separate “persona” (language, dress, demeanor) on church property during church services than during the rest of the week. The ability to put on a religious piety like you put on and take off clothes. “God Bless You”

9. The whole Clergy –laity division with all its current masks.

a. an attendance or event instead of a gathering

b. the performers/the anointed/participating vs the commoner, audience receivers. The mental idea of “We are here to get what they are bringing”

c. the physical separation of the players from the season ticket holders. You are here to observe. God could not speak through you!

10. Another problem is the doing over the being. It creeps up on you, especially when you are involved in ministry. The examples are endless but the end result is spending less time with the Lord and more time with the people or the ministry. Even our Lord Jesus would pull away in the early morning to recharge His batteries with the Father!

11. A desire to use our spiritual gifts only during services or a detachment from ministry outside of the four walls. We want the microphone to speak to the congregation but we won’t open our mouths to share with our circle of influence.

12. The continual use of language which upholds and supports religious thinking which we claim to no longer believe. If the Church today is going to reform we must reform to the correct biblical definitions. Much of the church is unwilling to commit to the radical changes that will be required to reform the Church because they are unwilling to pay the price of rejection.

The final point is this; any form which hinders the Centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ and His direct relationship with his Bride (No Mediators) is not true Christianity. As I see it there are only three responses to this teaching;

1. You are boiling mad, to which the Lord responds as he did to the Egyptian Pharaoh “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”

2. You realize you may be involved in such a system but you are not sure how to respond. I would ask you to read a short teaching This Amazing Freedom We Have Been Given!

3. You are a leader with a sincere desire to change, reform and return to biblical Christianity. REPENT is always the first step, PRAY and ask the Lord for direction as to how to change. For anyone to give you the road back is to return to recipes. God will speak specifically to you because He loves His people and he desires that every hindrance to His Son be removed more than you do.

As you can see His church has a long way to go. Those who have received wisdom and revelation to make the necessary changes must be patient with those that are still in the process of maturity. It is a fine balance. We must at the same time not support, build up or approve those things which the Lord has torn down in us.

May God the Father grant us the discernment to know what to say and the Spirit of the Lord to know how to say it with love.

May the Lord be with His Church!
Jose Bosque

The Essence of True Kingdom Life

2010-07-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

I am often asked how we "do church" outside of the traditional institutional setting. Truthfully, seeking to live out "Incarnational Life" in the Church is very simple. From my perspective, much religious bondage today is the "fruit" of the Information Age. We have a lot of bible facts and knowledge but we see very little transformation. My friends who put together these Global Communion Articles express what the Lord has been impressing upon me over the past year, and I'm thankful that these are men who don't simply teach these things. In fact, for them, its not so much about ideas, doctrines or principles, but a Person. The Word made Flesh lives in them and makes what they've shared here come alive.

Global Communion Articles - July 3, 2010

America's Prophet

2010-07-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned this is not a political blog. But I'm beginning to see how the lessons from the Lord of the last 2 years about the church, have huge implications in relating to our political system.

Some weeks ago, I watched a program where Bruce Feiler appeared as a guest. He's the author of America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story. As I started reading I was intrigued by an amazing connection he made: the revolution that produced our country began with another type of revolution: in the church. Here's an excerpt from "America's Prophet..."

In the early 1700's, churches were largely top down, hierarchical institutions: God chose whom to bless, ministers enforced ecclesiastical law, and individuals had little role to play in their own salvation.

But Americans were beginning to chafe under this system and were casting around for new ways of relating to power. The Puritan lament about the loss of piety, so powerful in the late seventeenth century, only accelerated in the decades of the eighteenth century with the rise of commercialism, the migration of young people into godless frontiers, and the advent of Newtonian science. Cotton Mather said the faithful needed to "bring religion into the marketplace." The religious revivals that blossomed in the 1730's, known as the Great Awakening, responded by introducing a new form of worship, one that became the foundation of an emerging American way of God. A new breed of charismatic preachers offered believers the opportunity to read the Bible themselves, hear the good news of salvation in a language that was inviting, and experience a "new birth."

Time and again, revivalists used the language of Exodus to stand up to the oppressive instituions, specifically the Anglican Church. Jonathan Edwards, the most intellectually potent of the Great Awakening preachers, preached that finding redemption in God meant coming out of "spiritual bondage" into a "new Canaan of liberty." George Whitefield, the firebrand populist and cofounder of Methodism, said that Moses experienced a "new birth" at the burning bush and was a Methodist himself. Whitefield was an unlikely messenger for his message. He was short, mousy, histrionic, and cross-eyed. His nickname was "Dr. Squintum.". Beginning in 1739, he made more than a dozen trips up and down the eastern seaboard, speaking in parks, squares and empty fields to the largest public gatherings North America had ever seen. In New England in 1840, he spoke to eight thousand people a day, every day for a month. In Philadelphia he attracted a crowd of thirty thousand. Historian Mark Noll called him "the single best-known religious leader in America of that century, and the most widely recognized figure of any sort in North America before George Washington." Fans praised him as "another Moses."

Together these Great Awakening preachers created the first intercolonial movement and a vital precursor to the Revolution. At a time when newspapers were rare and books expensive, the pulpit was still the dominant source of information. As one historian put it, "Ordinary people knew their Whitefield and Edwards better than they knew their Locke and Montesquieu." The Great Awakening's chief contribution was to introduce a language of dissent that emboldened people to challenge conventional truths and distant authorities. And what happened first in churches happened next in government. The Revolutionary period, preacher Horace Bushnell said, was marked by "Protestantism in religion producing republicanism in government"

Leadership and Divisions

2010-06-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

July2010eLetter

A New Haiti: Relief and Development Project Announced

2010-06-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

A New Haiti News Release

A New Haiti

2010-06-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday AM News Release

Spotlight: York County, SC

2010-06-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

One of my joys in this season of restoration is to connect with other fellowships and leaders in the Organic Church movement. These are connections forged through relationship. In this case I met people from a fellowship in Waxhaw, NC. Through that connection I met a man named Richard Tompkins. Richard has been working with a home church in York County, SC. In fact, they began gathering a few short months ago.

When I met Richard for lunch the first time, I was startled to discover that the vision the Lord has given to both of us... are the same. And the only difference is the region He has called us to. This is very consistent with reports I continue to hear from around the world. As promised, JESUS is building His church! And he's building a people together unecumbered by a broken religious system that circumvents His Lordship.

Richard asked me to visit the York County group last night. And I was tremendously encouraged by what I saw:

Not surprisingly, the people coming together have had some level of relationship for years, but recently the Spirit of God began stirring all of them to pursue something more intimately personal and more missional. It was inspiring to hear how one man, who passed by a woman's home for over a decade, finally followed the prompting of the Spirit to stop and be a friend. The result is a series of projects to repair her home... and an opportunity for the group to share the love of Christ in a relational and practical way.

What I met are people who have been quickened to "Christ in them, the hope of glory".

After sharing a meal we had a time of singing together. And we were all struck (no pun intended) by the timeliness of singing "How Great is our God" as a severe thunderstorm raged outside.

We enjoyed the testimonies of Jesus drawing people closer to Him and guiding them to build their lives together in Him.

I also shared a prophetic word the Lord gave me this weekend. It is very simple. The Lord is zealous to release His life in and through us. But our main challenge is to shed the layers of "fig leaves" that keep His glory from being revealed in His people. These "fig leaves" are pride, selfishness, independence, and many things under a religious banner that are too numerous to name. All of us need to ask the Lord what we need to "shed" to allow His life to flow like "rivers of living water" in us, as He promised.

As we left, our first view from the front door was an awe-inspiring double rainbow. For me it was not only a reminder of the promise from the Father to never repeat the life-ending flood of Noah's day. It was a reminder of the many other promises the Lord is fulfilling today. Our God is faithful!

Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ

2010-06-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

I'm digging into one of the most eagerly anticipated books this year. The author is no stranger to the Organic Church movement. Frank Viola authored "Pagan Christianity" and "Reimagining Church". Now Frank draws our attention to WHO should be the center of our attention. Here's just a sample from the Introduction of "Jesus Manifesto". Frank builds from the foundation of "The Ultimate Question", which is Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am?":

Jesus Himself said that when He is lifted up, He will draw all people to himself. But because we don't trust Jesus to do what He says He will do, or believe that He is who He says He is, or have not caught a glimpse of His infinite glory, we sit at drawing boards and draw up programs and methods and draft strategies that we hope might bring people to Christ. But Jesus could not have been clearer: the only begotten Son of God is the draw. Our mission is simply to lift Him up in a context that our culture can understand and appreciate. Whenever this happens, the rest will take care of itself.

Unfortunately, "Who do you say that I am?" is no longer the only question. "What are you doing to bring in the kingdom of God?" is now an equally asked question, as is "What are you doing for justice?" and "In what causes are you engaged?" Or "What are you doing to evangelize the world?" and "To whom are you accountable?" and "What's your gift?" And especially, "What kind of leader are you?"

Yet Jesus quizzed Peter with one ultimate question, and only one. And that one decisive question is the same one He asks us today.

It is not, "Are you ready to accept leadership status in My church?"

It is not, "How many people did you lead to Me?"

It is not, "Have you spoken in tongues yet?"

It is not, "Is leadership your passion?"

It is not, "To whom will you be accountable?"

It is not, "Are you doing better than the best you can do so God will be happy with you?"

And it is not, "Will you surround yourself with people who have leadership potential and will make you look good?"

The question is only this; "Do you love Me?"

What does Jesus want from us? Leadership? Or love? Unfortunately, we cannot properly love Him if we haven't caught sight of how incredibly glorious He is. But once we do - once we catch a sighting of Jesus Christ in all His glory - we will gladly exchange our dusty rites, Christian-speak, and pop-culture church-building tactics for the joy of becoming a walking, breathing "Jesus Manifesto."

Call to Revolution

Identifying and Uprooting the Legal Spirit

One City One Church

A Blueprint to Fulfill Jesus' Unity Prayer

SGM Chronicles: Family of Churches or Corporation of Pastoral Plantations?

“Seek and You Shall Find” Beckoning the Seeker to Seek

SGM Chronicles: Whose Church Is It?

Terry Virgo at CLC: The Spirit Filled Church

A Night of Prayer, Ministry, and Impartation in Gaithersburg

SGM Chronicles: Loyalty: The Truth about Gossip and Slander

SGM Chronicles: Where Are the Prophets?

SGM Chronicles: A Preamble

Introducing: Revolution Radio

An Urgent Message to Our Brothers and Sisters in CrossWay and SGM

Today's Unpardonable Sin

What Really Matters

The Good Side of the Wrong Tree

Erasing Hell by Francis Chan

Nothing Else Really Matters

Sons or Technicians?

Decisions that Define Us

The Bubble Will Burst

Citywide Celebration: Overcoming Disillusionment and Discouragement

The Pastor Has No Clothes!

The Scourge of "Accountability"

Coming to Charlotte: Wayne Jacobsen

"Who is My Neighbor?" A Fresh Look at the Good Samaritan

The Kingdom of God: Building through Deconstruction

RADICAL

Coming to Charlotte: The Story-Formed Life

*SAVE THE DATE*: OneBody Gathering June 4th!

What Part of "Avoid Such People" Don't You Understand?

Spotlight: Unifour, NC

Spotlight: David Fredrickson coming to Charlotte Metro Area

More Than a Handshake

OneBody Charlotte: Whys and Wherefores: ONE CHURCH – MANY CONGREGATIONS

OneBody Charlotte: The Whys and Wherefores

*SAVE THE DATE*: Citywide Celebration May 7th

What Really Matters

Praise Report! Citywide Celebration and Serving Opportunity

Citywide Celebration and Serving Opportunity

On Being Institutionalized

Citywide Celebration: Reflection and Looking Ahead

OneBody Charlotte Countdown: The Church Jesus is Building

OneBody Charlotte: "that they may be one, even as we are one"

It Is All About JESUS!

When Caution is a Vice

Christianity: Much More than a Meeting

Building Coffins or Pursuing Relationships

Redeeming Disillusionment

The Global House Church Movement: Declaration #7

Shattering the Clergy/Laity Divide

The Global House Church Movement

Dead to Sin

Organic Leadership and Life

Kingdom Connection: Apex, NC

A New Creation and Financial Responsibility

Kingdom Sessions: Overcoming Bitterness with Steve Crosby

Creation's Cry: The Heart of Apostolic Passion

Kingdom Sessions

Are You In The Zoo?

Severe Limitations

Unanswered Questions from the Eddie Long Sex Scandal .

"Casting the Cast Vision" and "Visionaries"

David Wilkerson: A Call to Anguish

Though None Go With Me... and Preview of a Major Announcement

THE ESSENCE OF CHRIST

Retrofit or Reconfigure

Free Religion Flush!

The Essence of True Kingdom Life

America's Prophet

Leadership and Divisions

A New Haiti: Relief and Development Project Announced

A New Haiti

Spotlight: York County, SC

Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ

SAVE THE DATE: OneBody Gathering June 4th!

SAVE THE DATE: Citywide Celebration May 7th