Out of the mouth of an Atheist

I just got this from Tim over at Travel Light.  It is so good that I had to pass it on to those who come across my blog.  It was very encouraging to me.  We have and continue to do everything God shows us to do in telling others about Jesus.  Hearing from Penn (Penn and Teller) how things, like tracks and bibles, are received when they are given out in a kind way confirms to me that it is a worth while thing to do.  I also found Penn's thoughts about the mandate people who claim to believe in Jesus' message have to tell others very fascinating!  

Using Door Hangers to Cast the Seed Far and Wide

I would appreciate your prayers for us over the next two weeks.  A few of us are going to be distributing about 1000 of this door hangers.   The DVD we are giving away is "The Hope".  Our prayer is that God will lead us to those He is at work in and that the Kingdom will be advanced in places where Satan now is large and in charge.

Thanks!

Front:

Back:

It’s TRUE! 

God has a gift for you!

 

Did you know that God offers you :

·        His peace that passes understanding in the midst of the stresses of life? 

·        His wisdom to make the best choices?

·        His strength to do those impossible things

·        His forgiveness for all the things you have done wrong

·        Eternal life with Him

 

Jesus said “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me.           Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.”

 

Does this sound like something you would like to know more about?  We have a free DVD that will explain this gift and how you can receive it for yourself.  Call or E-Mail your name and address and your free DVD will be delivered to you ASAP!

 

yourgodquest@gmail.com

(623) 693-1341

 

Spiritual Farming in 2008

Last week I got an Email for Living Waters.  They have some of the best tracks today.  In the Email they had a video clip of a gal using a very unique way of passing out tracks.  I thought is was a GREAT idea and told my daughter that we were going to do it the next day.  So the next day

day my daughter and I went to a Starbucks that had a drive-thru to put into practice what we just learned.  Well there is a small problem with this approach, you need someone behind you.  We pulled up and no one was in sight.  We laughed and waited and it was not long until a big SUV pulled up behind us.  GAME ON!  We pulled up, placed our order, and then drove up to the window.  I told the lady that we wanted to pay for the people behind us and she smiled and asked me if I was sure because is was a big bill.  I enthusiastically said absolutely!  Then began to wonder what in the world I was doing!  The lady handed me the two receipts and I quickly looked at how much I payed for the people behind me.  TWENTY BUCKS AT STARBUCKS good grief!  My daughter and I laughed and gave the lady the tracks and then drove off.  

On all our tracks we have a email and phone number for folks to contact us if they want to.  We have not heard from these people yet.  Even after doing this I think this a great way to announce the Kingdom of Heaven has come to folks living in America in 2008.  Give it a try.  It is one of the most entertaining trips to Starbucks I have ever had.

Pray for the Tohono O'odham People

This last Saturday my buddy Bryan and I met some great men from Smyrna Tennessee at Sells, AZ which is on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation in southern AZ. These men came to investigate the possibilities of seeing some sort of CPM there. We met with the pastor of a Baptist church to see what was possible. The pastor, Jay, was a very likable man who has chosen a life of poverty and trial because of his love for his people. In our long conversation with Jay he opened up and freely shared his many frustrations. I don't have time to write about all the problems Jay shared and how the prevailing approaches to missions and "church" are to blame for most of it. It is so sad and tragic especially because the beat goes on!

At this time Jay's ideas of church and being a pastor are major obstacles to doing anything different that might result in the Kingdom spreading exponentially through this people. The "lostness" there is mind boggling. The Destroyer as worked his destruction there very effectively. These people are unreached.

Please take a moment and pray for the Tohono O'odham people. Pray that Jay will be illuminated that there may be a better way and be willing to do what-ever-it-takes to reach his people. Pray that the work of the great Deciever will be destroyed. Pray that the Kingdom of God will come to the Tohono O'odham Nation!

Lesson Learned From Hunting Elk

This last Thursday my 11 year old son, Grant, and I harvested a bull elk in northern AZ.    I have hunted elk for a long time and this is the first arrow I have shot at an elk.  Grant called at the edge of a canyon and about a mile away a bull elk answered.  The wind was in our favor so we took off after this elk.  Every 200 yards or so I had Grant call again, and the elk would answer and we would adjust course.  As we climbed out of the canyon to my surprise the elk was just 52 yards away.  At that moment I thought we were busted.  I was not ready, my bow was on my shoulder, we were standing out in the open.  Thankfully the bull did not have any idea we were there and he was moving in the direction of Grant's last call.  The elk started down into the canyon we just climbed out of bringing the bull about 38 yards down hill from us.  I was able to get my bow drawn without being seen, and when the elk passed through a shooting lane through the trees I shot and the arrow hit it's mark.  

As I have reflected on this hunt I was reminded of all the past hunts that I went home without even shooting and arrow.  Some hunts were blown because I did something wrong, but most did not work out due to factors completely out of my control.  The wind would shift, another hunter would march in on my stalk, the animal would never give me a good shot, the vitals of the animal would be covered by a tree branch, etc.  The most important thing I did was stay ready and not give up.  Eventually everything did work out.  I was ready, my shot was perfect, and we got a full freezer.  

Thus far my efforts in CPM's have been much like my hunts.  I have little to show for my efforts.  Seeing the parallels between my hunting and the Kingdom has been very comforting and encouraging.  I have a new understanding that things do eventually come together.  What is important is staying ready, keep hunting, and not giving up.  

Having my son at my side and involved in the hunt, and having my long time hunting partner in camp every day to share our hunts made the outcome of the hunt enjoyable regardless of meat in the freezer.  In the same way having family and friends who are working shoulder to shoulder for the Kingdom is one of the great pleasures when the "hunting" is not very fruitful.

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Only He can use elk hunting to teach lessons about His Kingdom.  If you are a tired worker who is putting the Kingdom first in your efforts to see it multiply but not seeing the results of your labor let me encourage you, things do eventually come together!

Luther on house churches

I read this on one of my favorite Blogs today thought I would pass it along...

http://guymuse.blogspot.com/2008/09/luther-on-house-churches.html

The following material comes from Lutheran pastor, Tim Thompson's blog The Feral Pastor. If reformer Martin Luther would have followed his stated beliefs on church praxis, the evangelical "norm" might well have been house/simple churches, rather than what we have today.

"...Luther himself proposed house churches as the natural, even preferred context for people who were serious about following Jesus. (He calls these people the ones who are "desirous of being Christians in earnest and are ready to profess the Gospel with hand and mouth.")

The following characteristics summarize Luther's "Order of Divine Service" as to the "how" churches should be organized.

1. Self-organized
2. Home-based
3. Lay led
4. Full sacramental life
5. Stewardship and social ministry
6. Simple catechetical instruction
7. Ideal context for loving accountability after Matthew 18
8. "Form and Order" are not imported but emerge spontaneously from community life.

These are derived from material found online at the Hanover Historical Texts Project, and in Volume 53, pp. 63-64 of Luther’s Works, American Edition.Here is Luther in his own words:

But the third sort [of Divine Service], which the true type of Evangelical Order should embrace, must not be celebrated so publicly in the square amongst all and sundry. Those, however, who are desirous of being Christians in earnest, and are ready to profess the Gospel with hand and mouth, should register their names and assemble by themselves in some house to pray, to read, to baptize and to receive the sacrament and practise other Christian works. In this Order, those whose conduct was not such as befits Christians could be recognized, reproved, reformed, rejected, or excommunicated, according to the rule of Christ in Matt. xviii. Here, too, a general giving of alms could be imposed on Christians, to be willingly given and divided among the poor, after the example of St. Paul in 2 Cor. ix. Here there would not be need of much fine singing. Here we could have baptism and the sacrament in short and simple fashion: and direct everything towards the Word and prayer and love. Here we should have a good short Catechism about the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. In one word, if we only had people who longed to be Christians in earnest, Form and Order would soon shape itself. But I cannot and would not order or arrange such a community or congregation at present. I have not the requisite persons for it, nor do I see many who are urgent for it. But should it come to pass that I must do it, and that such pressure is put upon me as that I find myself unable with a good conscience to leave it undone, then I will gladly do my part to secure it, and will help it on as best I can. In the meantime, I would abide by the two Orders aforesaid; and publicly among the people aid in the promotion of such Divine Service, besides preaching, as shall exercise the youth and call and incite others to faith, until those Christians who are most thoroughly in earnest shall discover each other and cleave together; to the end that there be no faction-forming, such as might ensue if I were to settle everything out of my own head.

So why didn't Luther follow through with these convictions concerning church practice?

Thompson shares two reasons: 1) he lacked the "requisite persons" (leaders, presumably), and 2) no one wanted to do it. So he decided to wait "until those Christians who are most thoroughly in earnest shall discover each other and cleave together."

But Tim Thompson also suggests that the time is ripe today for reversing Luther's reasons for not implementing these views on church practice:"Well, we've got lots of people capable of leading this now, and lots of people who want it, and I can tell you, there are a whole lot of people discovering each other and cleaving together..."

Do you agree that the conditions are finally ripe today? Can today's churches gather in ways similar to those suggested by Luther clear back in 1526?

I think so. Let's bring on the New Reformation!

Another Opportunity Brings New Lessons

Our latest opportunity to expand God's Kingdom into the darkness came as a result of God taking our daughter, Grace, just before she was due to be born two years ago. My wife was asked by her midwife to contact a family whose baby daughter had died, after a month of hospitalization, to see if we could be of some help. So for the last couple of months we have "announced" the Kingdom through meals, yard work, and house cleaning. My wife has taken the "point" on this. She has poured out her heart to this grieving mother. Please pray for this family. They do not follow Jesus, and the woman is very bitter with God. Their marriage is near the breaking point and they are going broke financially .Please pray that Cari will have the right words at the right time to lead this family to Jesus.

This has been a weird experience for me. I have been assisting Cari, providing guidance, and praying while she has pursued and been intentional. It is usually the other way around. I have recognized the agony in my wife's face as she has hurt so deeply for this family. I have wiped her tears of longing for this family to find Jesus, and I have seen my personal suffering for these same things from a different perspective. What I have learned this time around is that our desire for others to know the King can be a source of discouragement, anxiety, and a great joy stealer if those we are going to do not find our King to be Someone they want to follow. I do not believe this is the way it ought to be. Learning how to do this "going" when many will reject our message, and yet remain joyful always for all things is something I have not learned...and need to. No doubt there is a balance. I see it in Jesus and Paul in their love for the Jewish people who would not follow Jesus. They were broken over this, yet somehow they were able not to let this steal their joy. It's all great when people's eyes and ears are open and they bow the knee to the King. However, learning to be faithful in hard soil and not grow calloused, discouraged, sad, and depressed is another thing entirely. May God grant us the grace to learn that and be overcomers.



If what I have shared is something you are going through or have gone through please pass on what God has taught you or share how we can pray for you. While there are fields white unto harvest, there is a lot of hard unresponsive soil out there. I hope those of us who are beating our heads against the wall can gain some comfort and encouragement from each other.

Grand Canyon Pictures

On May 10th Bryan, Taylor 15, Bethany 12, Grant 10, Ben 8, and I started our 3 day 30 mile advanture of the Grand Canyon.

We are very small...God is very BIG!

Grand Canyon Adventure

This afternoon four of my kids ages 8 to 15, and a buddy of mine and I are leaving for the Grand Canyon. Tomorrow morning we will begin our 3 day backpacking adventure. If you would like to see our progress in real time just click on the link and you will see exactly where we are and where we have been.

What a crazy world!

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0LqqZk0NVln4Zp2zqYHEL14xsgqeu8hUF

Vexed!

When my wife told me the news today this verse came to mind:

KJV 2 Peter 2:8 For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.

ESV 2 Peter 2:8 for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard.

I remembered the phrase "VEXED his righteous soul". This verse is speaking of Lot living in Sodom. Well I am full of "VEXING" tonight.

We got a call from one of the ladies my wife has spent much time with over the last few years. She got baptized and followed Jesus for a while. Then she disappeared for months. Today she called and we had her over for dinner. She is pregnant and considering an abortion. I am sorry for her on one hand but on the other I can't help thinking what did she expect? It really vexes me! I am vexed about the darkness that is all around and destroying lives. I am vexed that people taste and see that the Lord is good and then go back to the vomit. I am vexed that the insanity continues. It is so sad, and it does not need to be this way.

Please pray for this 20-some years of lady that this will bring her to repentance. Obviously pray that this baby will not be aborted. Pray for us that we will have God's wisdom in our dealings with her.

The Paradox of Evanglism vs Discipleship

It hit me the other day. We GO to invite people to FOLLOW Jesus. I began to realize how much time and energy I have spent going to people who do not know Jesus, but are open to finding out. All the while I am being the GOER. I pursue them. I leave my comfort zone, I go to them, and I communicate the truth about Jesus to them in a way they can understand. Then the light goes on in their head..."Hey Jesus is God, I believe in Him, I will get baptized and follow Jesus." Now slowly a transition takes place. This is where the truth in all the stories of the soils and crops Jesus talked about become so evident. In a short period of time...weeks this person I have invested much time and energy in GOING TO introducing them to Jesus chooses for themselves if they are going to FOLLOW Jesus. If they choose not to follow there is little more I can do. I can only encourage, exhort, rebuke, remind so many times. It they choose not to follow then they drift away.

This is so evident to me lately as I reflect on the folks God has chosen to use my family to GO to. Today as I write most of them have chosen not to follow Jesus. The soil was not good. The few that have chosen to follow are doing so at their convenience.

For the record I want to say IT SUCKS! I do not like it when these that you love so much choose the lies of the Deceiver and walk back into the misery and darkness that God just used you to pull them out of. I do not like this paradox. I understand the anger of the King in the story Jesus told in Matthew 22:1-14.

The most difficult kind of discernment for me is to know when it is time to stop pursuing those who are giving Jesus lip service. At some point I have to let people go who are not willing to follow Jesus. Every time I am forced to let go I grieve the decision, and I hope and pray with all my heart that one day I will get a call from them that they want Jesus.

I am looking for some good soil! I have not found the 1 in 4 ratio of good to bad soils (if that is even something to be learned from the story) that Jesus taught about. I have not found the soil any better among the poor then among the rich. I am going to plant seed among the highschool age kids and see if the soil is any better with them.

Turned 42 Tuesday

These verses really spoke to me the morning of my 42nd birthday:

2 Peter 2:14-15 But the Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that my days here on earth are numbered and I am soon to die. So I will work hard to make these things clear to you. I want you to remember them long after I am gone.

My days are numbered. I must live the rest of my life making clear the commands of the King in such a way that they are remembered and followed long after I am gone. When this is the goal it changes HOW everything is done. It reminds me of many lessons in history. John Westley vs. George Whitefield for example. George Whitefield was quoted in his later life saying, "Mr. Wesley chose the wiser course he organized his followers into bands and they persevered, my followers are like a "rope of sand".

By God's grace I want the wiser course.

First Window Washing Lesson

Last night my co-worker and I went back to the apartments to follow up with everyone who seemed to be receptive to our window washing ministry :) From our time last night this is what I have taken away.

1. Everyone who was receptive had at one point or another in the distant past had an experience with God. They had "confessed" a belief in Jesus. None as far as I could tell were following Jesus in any meaningful way and their lives looked like the Destroyer had been working hard on them.
   
2. Our work on Saturday broke down the walls between us and them. Everyone we talked to began really open up to us, confess sin, and agree that they needed a change. Thus far nothing else we have done has worked so well in getting to heart to heart talks like this did.
3. The lack of openness from anyone who had no prior experience with God tells me that we need to learn what the felt needs are. Hopefully our new friends will be a help to us in learning what those needs are. I think if we can bless people in a way that they really are helped they will drawn in a more sincere way.
4. In general I like this strategy when a new "field" is identified where you don't know anyone who lives there. A simple gesture of kindness like washing windows, or washing cars, or hauling trash, etc. can draw out those who are either in the Kingdom or near the Kingdom. By interacting with those people understanding the real felt needs of the area can be understood and targeted.
   

Thanks for the prayers. I covet your prayers for the work that is going on. This could be a really fun year seeing God strut His stuff! GO GOD!

Washing Windows as a Way to Find People of Peace

Saturday afternoon 5 of my kids, two friends, and I experimented with washing windows as a way to find people of peace. I know it sounds crazy, but at this point we have tried all the "normal" things we could think of and we are willing to try anything. We went to some apartments that we have been focused on for a while. The "walkways" are arranged with door and windows running in long rows. So it is easy to wash the outside of the windows along the walkways. Here is what it looked like:

• Knock on apartment door.
• 60% do not answer, of the 40% who did 25% only spoke Spanish.
• We would say something like, "Would you mind if we washed the outside of your windows for free?
• Look of confusion on the persons face as they were all ready with a "NO, Not Interested" but now their brain is trying to figure out how to respond.
  
• Then we would say something like, "We just want bless you, Jesus has be so good to us we want to do something show you how good He is." We said it many different ways, but basically the idea was to identify us as people who have been blessed by God who are motivated by this to be a blessing to others. The thinking was if God is at work in a person they will be attracted by the offer and want to interact with us, giving us an opportunity talk more about Jesus with them.
  
• There were three basic responses:
• A bewildered acceptance of our offer with a sincere thanks.
• A indifferent acceptance. They would look at us like we were crazy and said "Whatever, sure go right ahead!?." Then they would close the door.
• A confused, refusal of our offer. Their brain just could not stop the prepared "No, Not Interested" response they came to the door with. These people were actually pretty funny. I was tempted to see what it would take to get an yes from them. I thought about "upping" the offer...like, "could I give you $5 bucks" or something just for fun.

• We were there for about three hours and went through the entire complex.
• We prayed for about 5 people

I don't know if we found any people of peace; time will tell. We will follow up and see what happens. What we did come away with was:

• The team was made up of (including me or especially me) a bunch of dorks who don't have a clue what we were doing. What everyone learned is that God can use clueless dorks! It went well. God was glorified by our actions. I believe everyone's faith is stronger as a result of what we did and we are ready for more.
• It was great taking the light into the darkness and letting people know that God is good and He is there. For a brief moment everyone we talked to had deal with the goodness of God.
• It went better then the times we did this kind of cold knocking and offered to pray for people. The offer did seem to break down some of the walls our culture has when meeting strangers.

I am looking forward to doing some other experiments with things like this. Sooner or later we will find a way to interact with strangers where they can understand that we are talking about something other then going to church, or a list of does and don'ts. Unfortunately the terms, Christians, church, etc. are consistently tagged with some pretty bad stereotypes in our culture. By and larger people don't want anything to do with what they see as typical Christianity...and neither do I! So finding an unconventional way to get people the real message of Jesus in a way they can hear it with an open mind is our challenge.

Possible Man of Peace Found...New Field to Work In

About three weeks ago my co-laborer and I were out looking for a person of peace. We were at a Carl's Jr. when two guys came in. My friend prayed, "Lord if they sit next to us we will talk to them." Well of course then came and sat next to us, and we talked to them. One of the guys spoke good English and we learned that he claimed a love for Jesus, but had given up on church as he knew it. We further found out that he lived in an apartment complex that my friend had spent much time praying for, and that we had invested a significant amount of time working in. Since that time we have dropped in on our new friend and last night while we were with him we asked him if he would be willing to get his family and friends together and learn how to have a simple church. He was very positive about the idea and said he would be happy to talk to his family and friends about this. I would value your prayers over this situation.

Sunday I felt lead to explore an area not far from where I live. I was shocked and overwhelmed at what I found. There are people living in extreme poverty not 3 miles from my upper middle class neighborhood. At first I was excited about what God had lead me to. Then I was overwhelmed. I climbed a mountain overlooking the area and begged God for it. I feel so clueless on how to approach these people. I have decided that my family and I will start by just prayer-walking the area. Please pray that we would clearly hear and obey the direction God gives us.

Family...It's like Liquid Potassium Iodide

I am a big family man. I am also a man with a big family. I love my family so much. I love the path we have chosen to educate our kids at home. I love the fact my work allows me to spend so much time at home. This journey of being a family man has been one nice surprise after another. (Kind of like Liquid Potassium Iodide! I have found over 23 uses for this stuff!) Neither my wife or I came from a large family so our journey into this has been an adventure. Today my wife told me about a 2 hour conversation my very introverted 17 year old son had with the 24 year old new believer who is living with us. My son answered question after question, and help this young man grow in his understanding of the Kingdom of God. As I was holding back the tears of thanksgiving it dawned on me. Da gum...family is the best tool to disciple new believers I have found yet! Think about it. This young man will be able to reproduce what he is experiencing in our family one day when he is a family man. His home will be a place where his children are made disciples and where others will be brought in and together they will love people into the Kingdom and make disciples of Jesus who will be able to do the same!

As I pondered this I began to see another way our current norm of "church" has robbed the family. Today the family is not the center of ministry, and families rarely minister together. The church has taken this role. Now everything is outsourced. The job of the parents are to get the family to church, youth group, the father to the men's groups and the mom to the women's groups. After that bring your friends to church. In your free time serve the Lord by working in the nursery or coffee bar, or teach a Sunday school class, or greeter, or parking lot attendant, or in the worship team...and on and on. No wonder the family is so weak, and no wonder we have the crisis of so few real disciples, who make real disciples!

When I started down this path to do "church" in such a way that people were made disciples that loved Jesus, obeyed Jesus, and taught others to do the same I had no idea of all that would entail. From my vantage point now I marvel that the current norm of church ever produces disciples who make disciples. Everything God is teaching me and leading me in is so radically different from what was normal for me just 5 years ago. At some point those who follow Jesus are going to have to choose between making disciples or having the church they are comfortable with. What God has taught me is that these are radically different.

The Magic Number

When my friend Bill Smith was here he told us that in his experience finding a person of peace, (POP) (Luke 10) is a numbers game. In one country he worked on average it took 70 contacts to find a one person of peace. I like to call this number the magic number. In another country the "magic number" was much less. My friend and I have been going looking for a POP twice a week for the last three weeks. My friend thinks we will find a POP before we make 50 contacts. Thus far we have made 11 contacts where the Kingdom of God was announced. Thus far I don't think we have found a POP. We will not stop until we find those POP.

So how is it where you live? What is the "magic number" in your town?

What I Have Learned About CPM's the First Three Years

It has been 3 years since I read the book Church Planting Movements by David Garrison. That book changed my life. I began to do everything I could to apply what I had learned and seek training for the things I still did not understand how to do. The context to most of the book's amazing reports are in places like India, China, South America, and Africa. I knew that putting the book into practice here in Phoenix, AZ was going to be a lot of trial and error. I want to write about what I have learned. It is my prayer that we will see the Kingdom of God spread "here" like it does" there". If you are a crazy nut like me who is just starting to put your efforts into generating a Church Planting Movement (CPM) in a place like Phoenix, this is for you. My points are in no particular order of importance. They all have been important to me.

1. Prepare to do this with little to no support from your existing Christian friends. If I had to do it over again I would not attempt to get my Christian friends to join me. Unless they are 100% committed to doing whatever-it-takes to see a CPM they will only be a hindrance to one. I wish I could say something different. I tried as hard as I could to include my existing friends in doing this with me. In the end it was a source of turmoil in the friendships and in some it was the thing that ended the friendship.

2. In the book every CPM had a major equipping of existing believers. This is one area where "here" and "there" has proven to be very different. For a year a friend of mine and I did everything we could think of to try and find Christians to train to be a part of a CPM. We were not able to find one person who was willing to be trained and do this thing. There is just too much against making the change. My advice is to forget about trying to get a "work force" from the existing Christians. If they come to you great, but don't spend your limited time and energy trying to get them to do this.

3. Get all of Jim Peterson's books, study and apply them. Jim wrote, LIVING PROOF, LIFESTYLE DISCIPLESHIP, CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS, and THE INSIDER. The reason these books have been so helpful to me is that they are immensely practical. These are the nuts and bolts of starting a CPM. Everything else I have been able to find on CPM's is helpful if there are lots of workers to train and the thing is multiplying. While this info is needed, it does not help one know where to start. How do you make disciples that love and obey Jesus and teach others to do the same? This is the question Jim answered for me. Finding him was one of the biggest helps I have found.

4. If you start a "house" or "simple" or "organic" church, or "Jesus Community" or whatever you want to call it, do not have more then two "mature" Christian families in it. If your goal is really to see a CPM, then your church must multiply, and it must have mission as the operating principle of everything else. Keeping the thing small and focused from the beginning will keep everyone focused on the goal and will make it easier to multiply when it is time. I have done it both ways now and without question keeping the number of "mature" Christians to a minimum is far better if your goal is to see a CPM.

5. Everything you want others to do you must do first.

6. In general it takes 2 to 4 years to make a obedient follower of Jesus...sometimes longer. A CPM is this process taking place simultaneously in a every growing number. Therefore when you start you must highly invest in those new followers of Jesus to see them through to maturity. This is very foreign to most of us in western churches. We have never had the experience of someone investing in us all the way through to our maturity. Wow there is so much about this. Bottom line is that if you can't make obedient followers of Jesus who make obedient followers of Jesus you won't ever have a CPM!

7. You can pray all you want(and you should, see #11!) but if you never GO and find people of peace (Luke 10) no one will come to Jesus. I have come to believe this because this is what I read in my Bible and it is what has proved true for me. I am not an evangelist. I am an introvert. I do not like talking to strangers. I have spent many hours pleading with God for new believers. Do you know what? Nothing happened. Then I began to ask God for the courage to GO and find the people of peace that are out there. Guess what--things are happening. I still have MUCH to learn here, but what I have learned is that prayer without action does not result in new followers of Jesus.

8. You must stop and reflect on what you have done, and then change anything that is not producing what you want. Nothing changes until something changes. You can't continue to do things that don't work. Change is hard, but it is not optional for those who are aiming for a CPM.

9. Get ready to forgive like you never have before. Working with people in whom Jesus is not Lord means they will offend you all the time, and often not ever know that they have done anything. Oh and there is the spiritual battle that rages. You will be tested here like never before in this area. As you forgive like Christ has forgiven you, your light will shine the brightest.

10. Be ready for a different kind of burden and agony than you have ever had before. You are going to learn what Paul was talking about in these verses:

2 Corinthians 11:28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of how the churches are getting along.
Colossians 2:1 I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other friends who have never known me personally.

When I was a "normal" Christian going to church two to three times a week, teaching Sunday school, and leading a small group I was NEVER burdened or in agony over anyone. I did my deal, and I was done. As I have focused on making disciples who make disciples everything has changed. I can so relate to Paul now, and if you decide to do this you will too.

11. Pray hard or die! The CPM book has many great sayings in it. One of my favorite is that, "We pray because our vision exceeds our abilities". When you are foolish enough to believe that a CPM is possible, and you put all your efforts to see this happen, you soon realize that most of what needs to happen for a CPM is out of your control. This doesn't mean that there is nothing for you to do. No, there is so much to do this becomes your life. It is just that your entire life poured into this is not enough. What this has meant for me is that I either pray hard or I die.

12. You will read the Bible from a completely different perspective. I used to enjoy deep theological discussions and chewing systematic theology over and over. I look back now, three years invested into this, and marvel how much different my personal time in the Word is, and how much differently I use it now. Now I quote the words of Jesus to new believers all the time. I focus on using the Scripture to build faith, hope, and love in Jesus. I try to simplify and focus on doing what the passage it teaching. When it comes to making disciples who love and obey Jesus, and who make disciples who do the same, much of the traditional "deep" stuff is a distraction, and often keeps Christians living in disobedience.

13. This is a family affair. I had no idea just how much CPM is a family activity. I have 8 kids ranging in age from 4 months to 17 years of age. I am frequently amazed how God has used EACH one on this journey. Yes even our 4 month old daughter has been used by God to help bring people closer to the Kingdom. Some people see her and are much more open. The unconditional love and kindness from my "middle" kids have created bridges into the hearts of those who need Jesus on which the Word of God has traveled. The behavior of my older kids add undeniable integrity to the message. There is NO WAY I could do this without my wife being 100% with me. We have guests over almost every day. Right now a 24 year old guy who is a brand new believer is living with us. The implications on my wife are huge. If you are going to do this, get your house in order. It is gratifying beyond description to talk to my kids about the people God is using us to help, and to tell them that I could not have done it without them.

14. Finally in spite of all the adversity I have written about, be ready for the most meaningful, purposeful, and fruitful way of life you have ever had. By God's grace in the three years I have been at this I have lead more people to Christ, and made more of a difference in more peoples' lives than I did the prior 38 years of being a "normal" Christian. I have seen things I will never forget. God has done things I thought were impossible. Best of all, when I stand before the King, I will know that I put His Kingdom first with all my heart. I have made many mistakes, but they have been made trying to get it right, and I have learned from them. Whether or not the results of my work produce a CPM here, I will never regret that I tried to do what had the greatest chance of producing something that could expand God's Kingdom beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

The Organizing Principal

I read Alan Hirsch's book "The Forgotten Ways" earlier this year. It confirmed, clarified, and morphed my understanding of the church. Michael Frost sums up the most profound shift for me when he says, "Of all the practices the church ought to legitimately be involved in mission should be the organizing principal of all those things." In this video Michael Frost unpacks what this means. What has been most impactful to me is when this is applied in the nuts and bolts of the church...and for me this is house, or simple, or organic church. The organizing principal makes all the difference. If fellowship, or worship, or learning, or prayer, becomes the organizing principal the church looks very different then if mission is. I believe this difference is most instructive for folks like me who have grown up in the world of the traditional church. I have come to believe that everything fits when expanding the Kingdom comes first. Being on a mission with others brings the sweetest fellowship, the most passionate prayer, the most transforming learning, the most substantive worship. It keeps the church pure like nothing else, and makes the church exciting. This is something I have a lot to learn about, but I really love how making mission the organizing principal changed church for me.

Baptisms, Bangladeshi, Somalis, Iraqis, TOAG-J, High School and a everything else.

I obviously haven't had time to keep up posting. I had to update those who are kind enough to stop by and pray for the expansion of the Kingdom here in Maricopa county.

First off praise the King! Last Friday night we baptized two people! It has been about a year meeting with these two. Neither one, although born and raised mostly in the Phoenix area, had any meaningful knowledge of Jesus, or the Bible. Everything they did know were lies from the Devil. So needless to say their coming faith in Jesus was a major work of God. I am very excited about the possibilities of the Kingdom now spreading on the wings of these two new children of the King! Please pray for these two that their maturity into the fullness of their salvation would be quick and sure, and that many would come to find LIFE as they tell others what Christ has done for them!

Last Thursday I picked up a motivated Bangladeshi servant of the King from the airport. He is here for about two weeks to bless our Muslim neighbors with the good news that Jesus is for them, and to equip others to do the same. It is most refreshing to spend time with a man who is really putting the Kingdom first. God has blessed this man with many gifts. Wherever he goes he leaves behind Muslims who find the treasure that Jesus is. Please pray for this servant of Jesus that God would guide, protect, and grant him many opportunities to expand the Kingdom. He is here till December 2.

God works in mysterious ways! Somehow he has got this white Arizonan and his crazy family of 10 involved with people from Iraq and Somalia. I am still scratching my head on this one. We are in way over our heads...but it is fun! Please pray for my family as we stumble along trying to bless these wonderful people from around the globe.

Creating TOAG-J (see previous post) has been every expensive in both time and energy. At this point despite all the effort it still looks unlikely that anyone is serious about doing it. Tonight we have a meeting for folks who are interested. We will see if anyone comes.

Finally I am still helping with a friend and his high school ministry. He is applying CPM principles to a public high school. The potential is unlimited. Already we have learned much we will do differently next year. It is exciting to talk to young high school kids about reaching their school for the Kingdom and to realize that it is so doable! I am also praying about duplicating this kind of approach at a high school about a mile from where I live. God will have to open some doors, but if He is willing, this is no problem!

It is a daily prayer of mine that the Lord of the harvest bring laborers. Would you please join me right now and ask the Lord for workers for Maricopa county. It is the fastest growing county in the USA, and yet the Kingdom is losing ground here. There are SO MANY opportunities, and yet so few willing to go.

TOAG-J: Training Ordinary Apprentices to Go - Jerusalem

TOAG-J is a year long apprenticeship focused on planting reproductive Jesus communities in Maricopa County. TOAG-J will begin on Saturday Jan 12th (approx. in 3 months). It will then meet each Monday evening starting on Jan 14th. We are in the heavy recruitment phase, making others aware of the opportunity. If God would give us multiple groups, we would be grateful.

The apprenticeship is designed to equip those burdened with the surrounding lostness to keep developing their passion for Jesus, their passion for His kingdom, and to be effective in starting new reproducing Jesus communities. This will involve going into the darkness in his love and service, finding those who God is drawing to Him, having exploring conversations about God with existing social groups of the lost, walking with and discipling those groups to experience the truth, power, and healing of God, seeing God birth new life, teaching the processes: hearing God, remaining in His presence, obeying, and the life of the Jesus community, and then discipling them to go in like manner, passing on the responsibility to this new group for being Christ's body to their world..

You know that this is process is not simple, not quick, and not without great cost and suffering. It is those who are willing to ask God for the impossible and who are willing to persevere in sacrificial service and prayer committed to seeing the Kingdom established in new places that we would love to mentor in these kingdom expansion activities and principles.

We believe that it will be realistic to have planted a new church (a.k.a. Jesus community) within the course of the apprenticeship and will do everything possible to support that outcome so that the intern experiences the amazing and generous movements of God.

Will you pray and reflect on your friends and relationships to see if you know of others that may be interested in TOAG-J. Are there those who whose hearts carry the burden of the lost and must respond now? These need to be workers, those willing to alter their life so as spend time with the lost, learning to disciple others and to train them to make reproductive disciples. It will be time intensive. The apprenticeship will train them in passion for Jesus, passion for His Kingdom, and to be effective among the lost. The communication needs to be happening now so that people can adequately order their lives to clear commitments for the internship.

This is the favor for which I asked.. Will you communicate to everyone whom God brings to your mind of this opportunity? Those who are interested should contact me at dadstudy@gmail.com. Many Thanks.

Go Time

I am blogging our journey of the birth of our 8th gift from God. If you are interested you can check it out at: http://100toes.blogspot.com/. We would appreciate your prayers at this time. My wife Cari had a rough night last night. She has got some good rest today, and we would REALLY like to get er dun today.

Thanks!

Old Habits Die Hard!

Yesterday I had to make a run to "our" Wal-Mart to get some stuff for my Son's Biology lab. I am a guy who believes in Larry the Cable Guy's saying, "Get er dun!". I go into a store with the most focused of plans to get in, get it, and get out. Well as you can imagine our calling to make disciples from this place is going to require some changing on my part. I knew this as I went and prayed that God would give me opportunities to talk with people there. So I tool the long slow way to get what I needed and I an opportunity did not come about. Then as we were going check out a light from Heaven shown down upon this cashier and I knew this was the person God had given me to pray for. On a crowed day at the store I found that we were the only people in her line. I started up the conversation, and promptly chickened out. I did not ask her how I could pray for her, I did not let her know that there was a group meeting in her store that looked to the Bible for life, I did not ask her if she knew of anyone who needed prayer or would be interested in the Bible discussion. I left feeling like a gutless coward. I confessed my sin and vowed that that will never happen again.

Please pray for me. NOTHING will happen with this if I do not learn to love people enough to offer the Kingdom to them. My children will not learn this if their father is too much of a wimp to show them how. I need the courage and heart to change a pattern in my life.

Mc Donald's and Walmart the perfect place to start a church...i'm lovin' it!

As I have written God has been leading our family to begin another church. This has been I time of waiting on God together as a family and going deep with God and each other. At first the Lord just made it clear that we needed to go, but to who and where was still a mystery. This morning during our family worship time the Lord began to unpack the people and place we are to go to. I have been reading book The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch and in it I have found articulated so much of what has been in my heart. He writes about the church meeting in "third places". A third place is a term referring to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. Just by the church gathering in such a place so much is being done that announces the Kingdom to the people who need the King the most. So I have been praying about the right "third place" for us to meet at. Where could my family of soon to be 10 meet that could really result in disciples made and multiplied? The SUPER WALMART we shop in several times a week; of course!

Please pray for our family this Sunday morning. We are going to go to our Walmart and do some light shopping. Along the way we will let employees and customers know that in a few minutes we will be meeting at the Mc Donald's in the store for a Bible discussion and prayer. We will ask them if there is anything we can pray for them for. While we are meeting, eating out egg mc muffins, and talking about the Bible we will have crayons and coloring books ready for other children eating at the Mc Donald's in the store. Our hope is that over time we will become "known" in store as a group that prays and reads the Bible and follows Jesus. Since we shop there so often we hope that we will be able to follow-up with people as we see them. Every time we go to this store I see people who are needy, poor, and miserable. It is a "third place" that the fringes of society go and work. It is a place with good soil. We pray that it is a place that God will use for His Kingdom!

DJ and CCC Worker Turning CPM Worker!

Praise God I have more answered prayer to pass along.

The first is the story of DJ. Sunday my friend Jeff and I were on the east side of the Valley at a church who is very interested in CPM and releasing workers for training and into the Valley. Our meeting went well and on our way out someone asked us to come and here a testimony of a guy named DJ. We sat down and listened to DJ tell his story. He had been raised in a poor part of the Phoenix and had gotten involved in gangs and eventually got arrested. At some point he became a follower of Jesus and ended up with this group of young people. DJ had just joined a discipling class that is being tried as a "farm league" for CPM workers that will transition young people from traditional church to becoming CPM workers. This group had just learned about prayer-walking. So DJ went back to his old neighborhood to prayer walk. As he was walking along two bikers all decked out in their Hell's Angles leathers stopped him and asked him what he was doing around there. DJ sheepishly replied that he was prayer-walking. After DJ explained what prayer-walking was the bikers replied that they thought that that was great and let him go. Not long after that DJ ran into his old gang and they began to give him a hard time. The bikers observed what was going on and came to DJ's aid and told the gang to leave DJ alone. The next time DJ went back to the neighborhood he went to the place the bikers were hanging out and knocked on the door. One of the bikers opened the door with a shotgun in his hand and asked DJ what he wanted. DJ told the biker who he was and the guy invited him into the apartment. All the bikers knew who he was because they had been talking about DJ. A conversation began about God and to DJ's surprise they were interested and open to talking about spiritual things. DJ, himself a new believer, asked them if they were so interested in God why they didn't attend church. They explained that they had tried but never liked it. Then DJ had a thought that he shared with the bikers, "you don't need to come to a building to go to church - wherever you are as followers of Jesus is the church ... we can have church right here in the Hell's Angels apartment." Upon hearing this Jeff and I almost fell out of our chairs! Then if that wasn't a blessing enough we realized that DJ's neighborhood is right at the base of the mountain we climb to pray for the Valley. We have looked down on DJ's neighborhood many times and prayed for workers, for persons of peace, for the Kingdom to come and here we were at the right place at the right time to listen to a story of God answering prayers! HOW COOL IS THAT???? Thank you all who pray for a CPM here in the Valley of the Sun. God is at work as a result of our prayers.

Please continue to pray for DJ. He is a very new follower of Jesus. He is part of a traditional church that is open to CPM stuff, but they have yet to do anything. Pray that this will be a catalyst to this church being envisioned to what is possible. Pray that DJ will be equipped and realised to go and follow Jesus into his old neighborhood.

If that wasn't enough I just had a very encouraging phone call my friend, Jeff, (different Jeff then the one above) who has been on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for 20 some years. I wrote about him on 8-5-07. Well God is continuing to work within Jeff to envision him to a CPM starting on a high school campus. He had sent me this link: http://godsquad.com/discipleship/essentials.htm. After looking at the materials I was thrilled. I called him and we talked for an hour about it. These materials are awesome and can be used to train workers for CPM on a high school or college campus. Jeff is beginning to think of church differently and beginning to understand how multiplication can happen. It is so exciting. God is at work. Workers are in the wings. I can't wait to get this thing going.

Please continue to pray for Jeff. Pray that God will give him the wisdom to apply all this stuff to the campus he works at.