DO YOUR FINGERS STINK FOR JESUS? 3 Principles For Missional Living!

Many years ago I was attending a church growth conference and listening to one of the speakers talk about evangelism and the need for pastors to lead their churches to reach the unchurched of their communities.  During his session he made a statement that really caught my attention!  Actually he used two metaphors in one sentence that totally grabbed my imagination and intrigued me.  He said,

"God has not called us to be KEEPERS OF AN AQUARIUM but to be FISHERS OF MEN!"

The Bible verse that inspired this saying was taken from Matthew 4:18-21 where Jesus was calling Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples.  Read what the Bible says:

"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him.  Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him." (NIV)

Like I said the statement from that speaker really caught my attention and I couldn't stop thinking about it.    Truthfully I can't remember anything else he said that night but I really didn't need to because through that one statement God taught me three important principles and more about what it means to live a missional life.   When I compared those two metaphors a stark contrast began to form creating a North Star that would guide me and help keep me on track as I intentionally pursued living a missional lifestyle.  Here are some of the contrasts between those two metaphors:

Keepers Of Aquariums Like To Display Fish But Fishermen Love To Catch Fish:  The purpose and goal in having an aquarium is to create a beautiful underwater exhibit that can be enjoyed and shown to family and friends.  People who have aquariums go to great pains and expense to get just the right color of rocks, landscape, decorations and fish to create this underwater world.  They have to pump in air, provide and feed the fish daily and make sure the algae is cleaned off.  But it's not a natural environment for the fish!  Those fish were not originally created to live in an aquarium isolated from the natural design of God.  It is for our own pleasure and purpose that we create this alternative world and then place the fish in it to live.

Fishermen on the other hand don't care about making things look pretty or showing off pretty little fish.  The only goal of a fisherman is to catch fish!  I have seen guys out fishing who catch fish after fish and then just throw them right back in the water.  I asked a man once why he did that and he said, "I just like to catch them."  It's the thrill of the hunt and the joy that comes from being able to outwit another animal.

The Missional Living Principle:  The call to follow Jesus is not a call to create a religious bubble to isolate Christians away from the world but instead to enter into the world of those who are still lost in sin in this spiritually dark world.

For too long now the church in North America has created a church life that more resembles an aquarium where we've built beautiful buildings, with stained glass windows, cushioned seats, with fancy lighting and sound equipment.  These building are filled with members who appear to have their lives all together with their picture-perfect families and their successful jobs.

The church of North America has created a Christian alternative to just about everything that society has to offer.  From music festivals, dating services, radio programs; TV programs, schools.  Just about anything you can think of we have a Christian alternative.  It's almost as if we are intentionally trying to keep Christians away from those who are lost in the world.

But that's not what we are called to do!  Christ never commanded us to create an alternative Christian culture that appears perfect and uninfected by the world!  No!  His command and call to Peter and the other three were to come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.  Our call is to reach people for Jesus! Period!  I don't care what you're doing, whether it be singing in the choir, politically protesting for some Christian agenda, or serving on the building and grounds committee of your church, IF YOU'RE NOT REACHING PEOPLE FOR JESUS YOU'RE NOT DOING YOUR JOB! PERIOD!

Keepers Of Aquariums Don't Get Into The Aquarium With Their Fish However Fishermen Love To Get Into The Water With The Fish:  When it comes to the home variety of aquariums the most that any person will get into the aquarium is the putting of their hands into it and that's just for the purpose of cleaning the aquarium, readjusting the decorations or to catch one of the fish.   For the most part the only interaction with the fish is the admiration of how pretty they are.

Fishermen on the other hand will do whatever it takes to catch the fish which includes getting into the water where the fish are.  Once while I was in Texas I met a guy who loved going fishing for catfish.  However, his particular method was completely different from anything that I had ever heard of before.  This guy would actually squat down into the water and then reach his hands down deep into the mud where the catfish had burrowed themselves, grab them by the gills and pull them out.  He said there were times when the fish fought so hard that he would fall down into the water face first.  Now I've heard of guys who really get into fishing but this guy took it to a whole new level and literally got all of himself into the act of fishing.  NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A FISHERMEN!

The Missional Living Principle:  In order to be an effective Fisher of Men you have to be willing to go where the lost people are and hang out with them.  You can't isolate yourself from them and expect to reach them for Jesus.  Some of the people that Christ is calling us to reach are not swimming near the shore where you can reach them with a rod and reel.  If we are to effectively reach many of these people we will have to get into their world, go where they hangout, and show them unconditional love and acceptance.

Isn't that what Jesus did for us?  Didn't he leave his home in Glory, humble himself taking on the form of a man, born to poor parents and live among us as one of us but yet without sin or condemnation to those who were in sin?  When Jesus called Matthew to follow him what did Matthew immediately do?  He left his job and followed Jesus.  The next thing he did was to throw a party for all of his friends to come over and meet Jesus. And guess what?  Jesus attended the party and everyone at the party, except the religious hypocrites, had a great time.  Jesus loved hanging out with sinners!  Why? Because that's why he came!  Jesus own words to Zacchaeus, another tax collecting sinner, verifies it.  Jesus said to Zacchaeus, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost".  Why did Jesus come?  To seek and to save!  Jesus also said to his disciples at a different time, "As the Father has sent me so send I you."  It can't be any plainer than that! We have been sent to carry on the same mission that Jesus began of seeking and saving those are lost.  But in order to do that we have to be willing to get into the world where sinners live and not pass judgment on others who do.

Keepers Of Aquariums Like To Keep Things Nice And Clean But Fishermen Love To Get Dirty And Smelly:  People who own aquariums want to keep things looking nice and neat.  They don't want the algae to grow and overtake the aquarium, they don't want their decorations to be uprooted and they surely don't want dead fish floating around.  The goal of an aquarium is to create a perfect underwater world that everyone can marvel at.

Fishermen on the other hand could care less if everything was nice and clean.  As a matter of fact they would prefer it not to be that way.  They know that where fish live it is neither nice nor clean and that's the reason why fishermen like it.  Fishermen love to get dirty and smelly.  They know that if they are going to go where the fish live and catch them they will stink of fish.  They know that if they come home and don't stink of fish they haven't done their job.  The two go hand in hand.  If you are going to go catch fish you're going to get dirty and you're going to stink of fish.  You can't help it. It's part of fishing.

The Missional Living Principle:  If you're going to get into the water where fish live you are going to get a little smelly.  That doesn't mean you are backsliding or becoming worldly.  What it means is that your outlook and perspective of what it means to live as a Christian changes. You understand the need to be in the real world and not in an artificial environment. It means that your speech and vocabulary, though not cursing, sound more like the world than it does in the religious bubble we've created.  It means that the style of dress you have will  look more like those who live in the real world.

Personally I love it when unchurched people who meet me for the first time are completely surprised to find out that I am a Baptist preacher.  The looks on their faces are priceless.  Many of them say they would never have thought that they would be talking to a preacher like he was just an ordinary guy.  I also enjoy meeting Christians for the first time who hold to a certain stereotype of how Christians should dress or talk.  I often encounter confused looks and many times judgmental attitudes.

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore made a movie together a few years ago called 50 FIRST DATES. It was a movie about a girl who had been in an accident where she suffered a brain injury and no longer had short-term memory, as a matter of fact every morning she woke up she forgot everything that happened the day before.  As a result everyday Sandler's character would have to get the girl to fall in love with him again.  In one particular scene where the boy was trying to once again get the girl to fall in love with him she said that his hands smelled like fish. He quickly began to apologize and said that his job required him to handle fish.  The girl told him not to apologize because she liked the smell because it reminded her of her father who was a fishermen and that the fish smell always brought back fond memories.  At that point she grabbed his hands and brought them close to her nose and starting smelling.  I think Jesus is like that!  I think Jesus loves the smell of his disciple's hands that stink of the sinners whom they have rescued and caught for him!

Jesus loves the smell of his disciple's hands that stink of the sinners whom they have rescued and caught for him. 

So let me ask you: How stinky are your fingers?  When was the last time you actually got into the world to seek and lead others to salvation in Christ?  Do you thing the church should be a place to show off pretty little christians who live in a prefabricated spiritual bubble away from the rest of the world?

DON'T FORGET JESUS SAID THAT AS HE WAS SENT BY THE FATHER SO HE NOW SENDS US.  
BUT SENDS US WHERE?

  

BACK INTO THE WORLD!

So I Say, 

"Let's Get Our Hands Stinky For Jesus!"

Here's A Free Gift To Help You In Missional Living:
CLAIM YOUR FREE GIFT HERE!

I STAND AMAZED: Part 1 - Debbie Harvey

As a child growing up in the home of a Southern Baptist pastor I got a chance to learn a lot of the old time inspiring hymns of the faith.  One of those hymns was called:  I Stand Amazed In The Presence.  The first verse of this wonderful song goes like this:

"I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how He could love me a sinner condemned unclean. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful and my song shall ever be. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful is my savior's love for me."  

The God Who Makes Beautiful Sunsets Is The Same God

Who Transforms Sinners Into Something Amazing And Then Uses Them To Bring Himself Glory!

When we think of a holy and righteous God unconditionally loving us and paying the price for our redemption and forgiveness of sin through his perfect son's death while we were still sinners I stand in utter amazement!  It leaves me speechless and dumbfounded.  How's it possible that a holy and righteous God can take a bunch of wretched sinners and make them his treasure?  AMAZING! That's all I can say: AMAZING!

But for me the amazement doesn't stop there!  I am continually amazed with this one true living God because He not only saved us but he now employs us!  This Living God saves us, transforms us and then employs us to go out and perform the most important work of all the ages.  He commissions us to go back out into this very dark world to shine His light and lead others to experience His amazing grace and unconditional love.

REALLY?  GOD REALLY ENTRUSTS HIS MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO A BUNCH OF ORDINARY PEOPLE, WHO WERE ONCE WRETCHES, TO BE HIS DELIVERY SYSTEM TO THE REST OF THE WORLD?  I MEAN REALLY?

Absolutely!  And that is why today I still stand amazed.  I stand amazed because I see all the different kinds of ordinary people who were once slaves to sin; once hopeless and helpless; but now transformed sharing the glory of God to all who will listen.  And they are doing an absolutely amazing job at it!   IT'S SIMPLY AMAZING!

So this is the first post of a blog series that I'm calling:  I STAND AMAZED.  It is a series where I highlight different Ordinary Christians that God has transformed and now uses to shine His light in their part of this dark world.  I write it with the hopes that it will be encouraging and empowering to you, another ordinary christian, to have faith in God that He can and will use you if you are willing to step out and begin to shine the light of Christ into your nighborhood.  With that in mind let me introduce you to:

Debbie Harvey

I first met Debbie about 15 years ago when I had started a new church called Church In The Desert in Tucson, AZ.  Debbie had received a mailer that our church sent out inviting people to come to our first Easter Service.  She came and eventually starting bringing her father, mother, husband and son.  Debbie had committed her life to Christ as an older child, as an adult she became an RN, an officer for the PTA at her son's school, taught Sunday School and helped out in many other areas of the community.  Oh yeah she was also a drug addict and was able to hide it very well.  Even though she had given her life over to Jesus as an older child the choices she made in her teenage years made her a slave to drugs that followed her into adult life.  Debbie had learned how to hide it and control it; at least for awhile but eventually it took control of her and everything she had was taken away.  Her home, her children, her profession, her marriage, her freedom were all taken away.  Sin had ripped her off of everything that was dear to her.  She was as low as she could get when she discovered the transformation power the the Living God.  It was while she was in a jail cell and decided to call out to the only one would listen.  She called out to God.  Listen to her story in her own words.

Debbie's Story

Since God's amazing transformation in her life I have personally seen God restore to Debbie what sin took away.  Her marriage has been restored and her husband is now a believer; she got her kids back from CPS; she got her home back; she got her freedom back; as of yet she has not gotten back her nursing license but God has given her an amazing job working for a national christian radio station called Family Life Radio.   For the longest time her position at Family Life Radio was to be the Call-In Prayer Coordinator.  As people listened to the radio programs they would be encouraged to call in if they had any prayer requests.  Debbie was responsible for developing a team of volunteer prayer warriors who would intercede to our Heavenly Father for those who called in with prayer concerns.  God has since given her a promotion to a full-time position. She is also actively sharing her faith and learning how to become a reproducing disciple maker.  Her young daughter is a Pop Warner Cheerleader and Debbie has been talking to the other mothers about starting a Bible Study group while their daughter practice.  

Here is the point that I am trying to make!  God can do anything, through anybody and He loves to use those that the world might peg as failures and transform them so that He then can employ them to shine His light into their part of this Spiritually Dark World.

If God can use Debbie - He can use you too.  

LIVING THE MISSIONAL LIFE: PICNIC OR WARFARE

Too often I think Christians have a poor and even dangerous view of what it is to be intentional about living a missional life.   There is way to much romancing and glamorizing and when the reality of what a missional lifestyle is really like is made known disillusionment and discouragement quickly set in.  It's kind of like the heroic and brave stories we hear about war where the hero sacrifices his life to save his fellow comrades with the beautiful angelic music playing.  It shares all the glory but very little of the blood, guts, pain and sorrow.

I personally think that the comparison of a soldier in wartime and the Christian living a missional life is very appropriate.  The reason I feel this way is because

THE MISSIONAL LIFE IS THE WARRIOR'S LIFE!

As fully devoted followers of Christ we must never forget that we are not on a picnic where we are sipping lemonade and eating fried chicken. No!  The life we are called to is a life in the midst of a raging battle where our enemy, Satan, is like a hungry lion seeking to attack and devour whomever he may.  This is the reason why the Apostle Paul admonishes us to put on the full Armor of God; watch and pray; and stand and resist.  Of all people the Apostle Paul knows all to well what lies ahead for those who choose to follow Christ on this mission.  Paul had been stoned, whipped, imprisoned, shipwrecked, falsely accused of wrong doing, hated by his countrymen, and eventually beheaded for his faith in Jesus Christ.  Over and over again Paul warns Christians to expect persecution as a normal part of the life of a Follower of Christ.  

THE MISSIONAL CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE  IS NOT A LIFE FOR THE WEAK AND FEARFUL!  IT IS A LIFE FOR THE WARRIOR READY TO FACE HIS ENEMY!

It is as if, when a person determines and announces that they are going to live a life for Christ and intentionally pursue the mission that Christ has commissioned, that Satan says, 

"Oh really! So you think you are going to come into my territory, knock down my walls and liberate my slaves!  I don't think so! No way!  It's not going to happen!"

And then Satan goes up into the heavens, just as he did with Job and with the Apostle Peter, and demands permission from God to sift you like wheat.  That's right.  Satan is going to demand that God give him permission to spiritually attack you,  to test your metal and to see if he can find any chinks in your armor.  I mean, really, do we honestly believe that when we come to a place in our walk with Christ where we decide to follow him and obey him fully that it is going to go unchallenged by Satan? When we decide to live a missional life for the cause of Christ we have put a bullseye on our shirt that says, 

"SATAN I DARE YOU TO TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT!"  

Do your really think he won't?  Here's the crazy part!  THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN GOD GRANTS HIM THAT PERMISSION.

How crazy is that? Doesn't that sound unkind of God?  Why would God, who loves us, allow our enemy to attack us and possibly do harm to us?  That doesn't sound like love! Does it?

Unless God Knows Something We're Not Thinking About!  

A nation that intends to defend itself from their enemy will put together an army to fight on their behalf.  The first thing that every new recruit goes through is basic training where they learn how to be an effective warrior.  Why?  Why put them through this training?  Is it not so these new recruits will have the best possible chance of survival before they're thrust into the battlefield?  In the same way God knows that the world is hostile to Him and those who belong to Him.  He knows that we have a real enemy who truly does hate us! And God allows Satan to attack us but with limitations so that we can gain battle experience and strengthen our faith in God for even bigger challenges that will come our way.

Satan's goal is obvious.  He desires to destroy our faith in God and leave us wounded and bleeding in the gutter!  However, God has a different goal in mind.   James 1:2 says,

"Consider it all joy ... when you encounter various trials know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect, complete and lacking in nothing."

Did you catch that?  The trials, the difficulties and, yes. even spiritual warfare is designed by God to test our faith in order to make it stronger and make us complete with nothing lacking.  Now that's truly amazing? While Satan wants to destroy our faith, God intends to use what Satan does to make our faith in Christ even stronger.

From the story of Job and Peter there are a three encouraging truths about spiritual warfare we need to understand:  

• First, when Satan attacks us he first has to get permission from God to do so.  Satan can't attack us any time he desires.  He is never going to pull a fast one on God where he sneaks in an attack that God didn't know was coming.  In the story of Job we first see Satan coming before God seeking permission from Him to attack Job and thereby prove that Job's faith in God was weak.  It was only after God gave permission that Satan went out and attacked Job.  The same was true of Peter!  On the night that Jesus was to be arrested Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times.  After Peter insisted that he would never deny Christ, Jesus looked at Peter and said that Satan had demanded permission to sift him like wheat.  Once again we see that before Satan could attack he first had to get permission from God.  
• Second, once Satan receives permission he cannot do anything he wants because God also sets the conditions and limitations to what Satan is able to do.  On the first attack against Job God placed the condition that Job himself could not be touched.  So Satan went out and destroyed all his wealth and had all his children were killed.  For the second attack God said that yes he could attack Job physically but could not kill him. Here we learn that when it comes to spiritual warfare Satan has to work within the boundaries that God has established.
• Thirdly, in the story of Peter when Jesus tells him that Satan has asked permission to sift him like wheat we also hear Jesus tell him, "But I have prayed for you..."   The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews that the resurrected Christ is now standing before God our Father as our High Priest always making intercession on our behalf.  Now that's a powerful thought.  The Son of God himself is constantly praying on our behalf during our greatest times of spiritual testing and warfare.  NOW THAT'S THE GREATEST PRAYER WARRIOR EVER FIGHTING FOR US!

NOW THAT WE KNOW THAT THIS MISSIONAL LIFE WE ARE CALLED TO IS NOT A PICNIC BUT A RAGING BATTLE HOW ARE WE TO LIVE?

First, every morning we you get up to start your day remember that you are going out to war.  It's not a picnic, it's not a party, no, it's a battle!  Therefore, suit up!  Put on the full armor of God!  Don't forget any piece but pray it fully on so that you are fully protected from Satan when he attacks. And rest assured he will attack.  He is looking for a weak spot, a vulnerable place or a chink in your armor.  If you are not careful to put on the full armor he will find that weak spot. So don't make it easy for him by failing to spend time in prayer before you start your day.

Second, throughout the day keep watching and praying.  Just as a soldier out on patrol walking through a potential battlefield is staying watchful for any sign of the enemy, so you must be watchful for any sign that Satan is around.  Satan, like a lion, is hiding and blending into the surroundings waiting for the most opportune time to pounce on his prey.   The soldiers who aren't watchful make it easy.  But do not only be watchful but also be praying.  From where does our strength and power come to defeat our enemy?  From ourselves?  No! It comes from God.  Quite literally it is God who fights our battle but He does it through us.  Prayer is the conduit from which the power flows from the throne of God into our lives to defeat our enemies.  A Christian who fails to pray continuously is like a soldier who has gone out to battle and has forgotten to bring his weapon.    

According to Jesus failing to watch and pray is the exact reason why Peter lost his spiritual battle on the night that Jesus was arrested.  In the garden Jesus had instructed Peter, James, and John to pray but then Jesus returned He did not find them praying but sleeping.  He woke them and admonished them all but named Peter specifically to: 

"keep watching and praying that you might not fall into temptation..." 

And we know the next part of the story. They still were unable to stay awake and the result was the loss of a spiritual battle for them and in particular Peter.

Third, you need to stand and resist!  The armies of old when they would fight with swords and shields would form a battle line where the soldiers would stand shoulder to shoulder with their shields forming one solid and hopefully impenetrable wall.  The opposing army would run and charge them ramming into their shields hoping to create a break into the wall.  The soldiers that formed the wall would stand firm and hold up their shields to buffet the assault and try very hard not to break the line thereby allowing a crack to form in the wall.  These soldiers would continue to hold up their shields between them and their enemy until the initial push was stopped.  Once they were able to withstand the initial assault and stop the push the soldiers would push back against their charging enemy with their shields creating a small little space between them and their enemy. They then would take their swords or spears and stab and kill the enemy that was right in front of them and then go back and form their wall of protection.  Over and over again they would do this until the charging army suffered such losses that they would retreat like a dogs with their tails between their legs. 

This is what is meant when the Bible tells us to STAND and RESIST!  We stand with our shield of faith in the Lord Jesus protecting us when we see our enemy, Satan, charging with an attack.  Once we have buffeted Satan's initial charge with our shield  and stopped him in his tracks, we take our weapon, the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of Truth and we stab him with it.  Our faith in Jesus stops Satan but it is our use of the Bible and scripture that allows us to fight back.  That's exactly what Jesus did when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness after fasting for 40 days.  He used the Word of God as a weapon to fight off Satan's attack against him.  

Now here's a wonderful promise that the Bibe gives us!  It says that if we resist the devil he will flee from us.  That's right, you stand with your faith in Christ and you resist him by fighting back with the Word of God Satan will run away.  Once he figures out that there is no way to crack your defense and fight off your attack on him he will run off but only for a while.   Isn't that what he did with Job! After Job successfully fought off the first attack Satan asked permission a second time to have a whack at him. 

Now please understand that the Bible says that if we resist Satan he will flee from us.   BUT IT DOESN'T SAY TO RESIST TEMPTATION!  Those are two totally different things. The Bible tells us that when it comes to temptation we are to flee and run from it.  The best way to overcome temptation is to get away from it and put your focus on something totally different and wholesome.

SO HERE IS THE FINAL THOUGHT I WANT TO LEAVE WITH YOU.  THE MISSIONAL LIFE IS NOT A PICNIC OR PARTY IT'S A BATTLE WITH A REAL ENEMY THAT REQUIRES US TO BE PREPARED TO ENGAGE HIM WHEN HE ATTACKS.  

How well do you prepare yourself each day for battle?  Are you making sure you are putting on the full armor of God? Are you watching and praying? Are you ready to stand and resist?  The promise of victory is ours for the battle always belongs to the Lord.  

THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING - Step 4: Develop A Prayer Strategy

Now that you have formed a church planting team of at least two people to start this new church what do you do next?  Do you immediately go out to the mall with your huge family Bible in tow screaming to those passing by,  "Turn or burn"?  (Please know I mean that only tongue in cheek).  But really!  What do you do?  Where do you start?  How do you go from forming a leadership team to having a vibrant and growing church family?  The answer might surprise you, might even seem somewhat passive and to some unproductive.  But let me assure you this next step is definitely not passive nor unproductive and if left undone or poorly implemented will be a surefire way to failure.  I CANNOT OVER EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS NEXT STEP so please pay close attention and heed my words.  This next step is not just a good thing to do but when it comes to starting a new church it is an absolutely essential thing.  Success without fully implementing this next step is impossible.

So what is it?  When Jesus sent the twelve out two by two and then later when he sent out the 70 he taught them the importance of this next essential step.  Read what God's word has to say:

"Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest ... Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness ... These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: 'Do not go in the way of the Gentile, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  And as you go, preach, saying 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand."  Matthew 9:36-10:1; 10:5-7 (NAS)

"Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He himself was going to come.  And He was saying to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." Luke  10:1-2 (NAS)

In both of these scriptures we see Jesus getting ready to send out teams of people to spread the Kingdom of God to those towns and villages where he was about to go and in both instances Jesus emphasizes the importance of PRAYER.   In both verses Jesus first shares the observation that the spiritual harvest fields were ripe and ready to be picked but there was not enough workers to gather the harvest.  Then Jesus gives them the same solution.  The solution wasn't for the teams to just work harder or for the teams to just do their best.  No, the solution that Jesus gave them was to PRAY!  Pray to the Lord of the Harvest (God our Father) to send out more laborers into the field.  The fourth step in starting a healthy and reproducing church is for you and your team to:

DEVELOP A POWERFUL AND COMPREHENSIVE PRAYER STRATEGY

The importance of prayer in the church planter's personal life  and in the vitality and strength of the church itself cannot be over emphasized.  As a matter of fact I am not sure if we can emphasize it enough.  Prayer is the spiritual conduit from which the power and provision of God flows from His throne into our lives.  It is the means by which his children receive all they need! It is impossible to live the Christian life apart from the daily communion with God through prayer

WHAT DOES AN EFFECTIVE 
PRAYER STRATEGY CONSIST OF?

PERSONAL PRAYER LIFE. As a church planter your personal prayer life is of first importance.  It is naive to think that a person can start a healthy and reproducing church without their own personal prayer life being up to par.  Church planting is a highly volatile enterprise to undertake spiritually.  When a person decides that they are going to be obedient to Christ and start a church where people will come to faith in Christ, grow spiritually stronger and actively engage in the mission that Christ has set for us they have in essence put a bulls eye target on their chest offering a challenge to Satan to take his best shot.  And I guarantee you that Satan will take that challenge.  Just like he did with Peter and Job Satan will be demanding of God the opportunity to sift you like wheat and the interesting part is that there will be times that God will grant Satan permission.  There will be times that God will allow Satan the opportunity to attack you spiritually and press you to your limits.  As hard as that might be to understand it is absolutely true.   Thankfully, though, God also determines the limits of what Satan can and cannot do.  Do you really think that a person who is not daily close to God through prayer will be able to stand up under the pressure of the trials and tribulations that Satan will bring upon him?  It is for this very reason that Jesus, on the night he was arrested took Peter, James and John further into the Garden of Gethsemane and asked them to join him in prayer.  Jesus was about to go through the biggest spiritual battle of his mortal life and he knew he needed to be prayed up to go through it.  But not just Jesus!  Jesus knew that Peter was about ready to experience a huge spiritual battle as well.  That's the reason why Jesus came back and said to Peter who was sleeping,  "Keep watching and praying that you may not fall into temptation the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."  Here we have two perfect examples in contrast.  Jesus understanding the seriousness of the moment sought strength from God his Father while Peter who had failed to take Jesus' admonition seriously slept when he should have been praying and as a result was spiritually unable to meet Satan's challenge and failed miserably.  

Around the world where we find God's activity through church planting movements we see the "ordinary" Christian church planters getting up each day early in the morning to spend an hour or two in prayer.  This is their normal daily prayer routine.  Compare that to the North American Christian who spends less that 15 minutes a day in a time of consecrated prayer.  The "ordinary" Christian church planters around the world understand that prayer isn't something you can hurry through.  They understand their spiritual health, vitality and protection is directly dependent upon the amount of time and quality of time they spend with God through prayer.  When they pray they're praying for themselves, their family, their lost family, friends and co-workers and the salvation of people. When they pray they're asking for God's power, presence, protection and provision.  They are praising God for all the great things they have witnessed him doing.  They are confessing their sins and forgiving those who have sinned against them. They are praying on the spiritual armor of God so they will be fully prepared to face the enemy when, and not if, he attacks.  

So with this in mind you need to ask yourself how much time do you spend in consecrated prayer.  That means a specific time set aside for you to meet up with God. I'm not talking about offering up prayers throughout the day (which is needful) but I'm talking about a specific time set aside for you to meet with God daily.

How much time, like that, do you spend with God daily?  If it is anything under an hour you need to improve.  An hour should be the minimal amount of time you spend in prayer with God each day.  Why?  Because Jesus when talking with Peter in the garden asked him, "Couldn't you keep watch with me for one hour?" as if one hour was no big deal.  Jesus knew that Peter was about to have the biggest spiritual fight of his life and in essence was telling him that he was going to need an hour at least to get through it.  We should take heed of Jesus' advice as well.  

CHURCH PLANTING TEAM PRAYER MEETINGS.  In addition to having your own personal daily and powerful prayer life the church planting team needs to spend time together at least weekly praying for God's power and wisdom in developing this new church.  Remember we talked about having a church planting team of at least two people for the purpose of encouragement and greater effectiveness.  Prayer needs to be one of the regular activities that the team does together.  Praying together will bring the team under the Lordship of Christ; create unity of heart, mind and spirit; and enable them to experience the power of God in a unified way.  If it's not happening yet your church planting team should IMMEDIATELY start meeting weekly.  START PRAYING TOGETHER WEEKLY AS A TEAM!

PRAYER WARRIOR GROUP.  A prayer warrior group is a group of people committed to helping you start this new church through daily prayer.  These are people who love to pray and love you.  These are people who will pray for your needs, the needs of the new church, the needs of people who you are reaching, for your spiritual protection and for God's favor in this church planting venture.  

In the area of spiritual warfare the prayers of these warriors are like shooting off spiritual tactical missiles into the enemy's territory which create the SHOCK AND AWE EFFECT that will send Satan and his crew retreating.  Every church planter needs this kind of prayer support.  Even the Apostle Paul thanked and praised different churches who ministered to him not only physically while on his missionary journeys but also spiritually through prayer.  There is something very comforting and reassuring knowing that there are people who are lifting you and your new church up before the throne of God.

With the advent of social media like Facebook the creating of this kind of Prayer Warrior Group has become easy with the ability to gather several hundred people to pray very quickly.  A church planter that I am mentoring right now, Tracy Odom, has created a prayer group that has over 240 people in it in less than two weeks.  He is now able to at least weekly, if not daily, update his prayer warriors on new things to be praying about and how God has answered old prayer requests.  Quite literally you could have people all over North America, if not around the world, praying for you.  It is my suggestion that you should strive to form a group of 200 to 300 people who will truly pray for you.  You should update them at least weekly with both new requests and updates on old requests.  Send them pictures of the people you are witnessing to and the new converts you are praying for.  When you do events or activities take pictures and send them to your prayer warriors so they can rejoice with you and offer up heartfelt thanks to God.  Let this group pray about EVERYTHING concerning the new church.

CATEGORIES TO PRAY OVER

• CHURCH PLANTERS NEEDS: Every church planter/team will have personal needs that they will need for God to provide.  God has promised that if we are seeking His kingdom and His righteousness that all the things that we need, not necessarily the things we want, will be provided for us.  In the book of James we are told that we do not have what we need from God because we don't ask God to meet that need.  It also tells us that the times we do ask but don't receive is because we are asking with the wrong motives of gratifying our sinful flesh or we ask with a lack of faith.  

• WORKERS: In the verses we cited earlier from the books of Matthew and Luke we see that the solution to the lack of workers in the field is to pray for God to raise them up and send them out into the field.  Therefore, it is vital that prayers be lifted up to provide more workers for the church. 

• SPIRITUAL SIGHT TO SEE WHERE GOD IS AT WORK: Jesus shared his strategy for knowing what to do.  He said that he did nothing on his own initiative but only what he saw the Father doing and whatever he saw the Father do he joined him in that work.  That should be our strategy as well but in order to do that we need to have spiritual eyes that God has opened to see where He is working.  This spiritual sight can only happen when God reveals to us what he is doing.  As a church planter our daily prayer should be for God to open our eyes to see where he is at work that day and to give us the faith to join him.

• SPIRITUAL PROTECTION:  As I shared earlier there will be times when Satan is going to ask God's permission to sift you like wheat and God is going to grant him that permission.  We call this spiritual warfare.  Satan's intent is to destroy your faith but God's plan is to use it to strengthen your faith.  James 1:1 says, "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing."  We need prayers lifted up on our behalf asking God to strengthen and encourage us during those times of testing.  AND ORDINARY CHRISTIAN YOU ARE GOING TO BE TESTED!

• NAMES OF THE SPIRITUAL LOST:  Our mission is to Make Disciples of Christ. That means we are to seek out, in this dark world, people who don't know Jesus, befriend them and share the good news of Jesus with them.  Those people need to be prayed for by name.  Prayer is our way of preparing the spiritual ground of lost people's lives to be ready to receive the seed of the gospel.  Preparing the hearts of the lost is a work that only God can do.  God the Father is the gardener who prepares the ground.  The Bible says that no one comes to Jesus unless the Father first draws him.  Our prayers, therefore, are to intercede on behalf of the lost people we have met, pleading with God to work in their lives and draw them to Jesus.

• NEW DISCIPLES SPIRITUAL GROWTH:  As people come to faith in Christ and experience the new birth they need to grow up and learn to obey all that Christ has commanded.  As we all know that growth is not always an easy road to travel.  These newborn children need the prayers of their spiritual family interceding before God on their behalf.  

HOMEWORK:

1. Pick a time and place where you will meet God daily for at least one hour for a personal time of prayer.
2. Start meeting weekly together with your church planting team for prayer and planning.  Pick a day and time for that weekly prayer/planning meeting.
3. In some way form a Prayer Warriors Group using social media or some other way and start sending weekly prayer requests and updates.  Make it your goal to recruit 200 to 300 strong prayer warriors.
4. Start a Prayer Journal listing the prayer needs from the four categories (Church Planter Needs, Workers, Spiritual Sight, Spiritual Protection, Names of Lost People, and Names of New Disciples).  Start praying over them personally, in your leadership team meeting and share them with your prayer warriors.  
5. Keep a record of how God has answered your prayers.

THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING - Step 3: Develop A Church Planting Team

In the remaining blog posts we are going to deal with some very practical and necessary components that need to be in place in order for a healthy church to be started and develop.  These essential components were modeled by Jesus to his 12 disciples; put into practice by the disciples when Jesus sent them out and then multiplied when when Christ instructed and sent out the 72 into every town and village he was about to go.  These same components were implemented and practiced by the Apostle Paul during his missionary journey's.  The best and most complete and best instructions of these components were given by Jesus in Luke 10:1-16 as Jesus sends out the 72.

In verse 1 we discover the first essential component.  It says,

"After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go." Luke 10:1 (NIV)

I don't know how many times in my life I got excited about doing something and then charged forward with the attitude that I was going to accomplish this goal regardless if anybody came with me or not. To many to count. I was going to make it happen, no, I was going to force it to happen. But then, just as I got into the thick of things, when things got really tough and even dicey, I'd loose heart, get discouraged and soon drop out and quit. I'm sure I am not alone in this. I am sure that most of us can recall a time or two where that was a description of you. But isn't comforting to know that Jesus has made preparations to encourage us who are on mission with him when we go through difficult times? Isn't nice to know that Jesus' strategy included an encouragement component to keep his missionaries (us) on track?

Did you notice in that verse Jesus appointed 72 other people and placed them in teams of two?  Why? What would be the reason for sending them out two by two? If you sent them out individually you could cover twice as much territory and twice as many people could hear the message of the Kingdom of God. The only possible reason for this pairing is to provide support and encouragement for one another. Listen to what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

From this verse we can see Jesus' wisdom in sending the 72 out in teams. He knew that there would be far more success with teams than if they went out on their own. Teams would provide assistance, encouragement, protection and strength. None of this would be available if a person was pursuing Christ's mission alone. Knowing these benefits Jesus made teams part of his strategy. Throughout the book of Acts we see the same pattern of teams being used with the apostles. Whether it was Paul and Barnabas or Peter and John we see them doing the work together and starting churches as a team.

For those of us who are just ordinary Christians we can learn a very important lesson! As we go out to start new churches we need to make sure that we don't try to do it alone but we have surrounded ourselves with other like-mind believers who have the same passion for Christ's as our own to form a church planting team. Starting churches can be hard, difficult and many times discouraging.  But if there has been prayer and time put into building a strong team, of at least two people, the work of starting a new church will not be so overwhelming and there will be a wonderful built in support system to help ensure that what we have started (planting a new church) we do finish.  

So who are some brothers and sisters in Christ that you know who love Jesus more than anyone or anything else and unconditionally and sacrificially love others as Christ has love them?  Who are some Christians that you know that have a heart for Christ's mission?  The only three real qualifications for team members are:  1) They're A Fully Devoted Follower of Christ; 2) They've Proven Themselves To Be Faithful To Christ & Ministry; 3) They Sense God's Call To Be Part Of This New Venture.

HERE'S YOUR HOME WORK:

1.  Using the 3 qualification listed above make a list of all potential team members.

2.  Begin praying over the names and asking God whom he wants as part of the church plant team.

3.  Share the vision of the new church to those you sense God wants to be part of it.

4.  Be alert to others that God might bring your way to be part of the church planting team.

Once you have a leadership team of at least you and one other person begin meeting together for prayer, going over The Ordinary Christian's Guide To Church Planting and developing your plans to plant this new church.  

HERE IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS! GO OUT AND FIND THOSE THAT GOD HAS PREPARED TO BE PART OF THIS NEW CHURCH!

THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING - Step 2: Know What's Suppose To Happen In A House Church

Now that you have rethought your image of church and hopefully realized that you do have the basic leadership skills needed for leading a house church we now, in step two, need to consider what actually happens in a house church meeting.  This is where the second wave of excuses start flooding in from ordinary Christians fearful that they can't start a church.  The excuses go something like this:

"I can't start a church because I don't have the communication skills to preach a sermon or the musical skills to play an instrument and I surely can't sing worth a darn to lead in a song!  
Those things require training that I have never received!"

But here's the question that I want to pose to you:  Are those skills and training really necessary for starting and leading a house church?  Do you really have to preach a sermon, play an instrument or sing a song in order to have a solid and effective church plant?  My answer to that would be an absolute and resounding:

NO!  

A house church should never try to recreate, on a smaller scale, what is done in a traditional brick and mortar church where PERFORMANCE through preaching and music is the key to success for two reasons:

1. A house church could never perform those activities (preaching and singing) at a level that is necessary for them to be successful.  Entertainment is the key to success with a church that emphasizes these activities.  So if you are trying to reach people who are looking to be entertained, they will always opt for the larger church that has mastered the performance and is able to deliver the entertainment they are seeking.
2. The key to success for a house church is not in its performance to entertain but in its ability to develop sincere and meaningful relationships with people and God. That's right the key for success to starting and leading a house church is your ability to guide people into meaningful and authentic relationships with God and each other.  That's what people are looking for who will come to a house church.  If the people who attend a house church want a good show, they go to the movies and if they want to hear good music they go to a concert but when they want authentic relationships with God and others they attend a church (house church) where that is the emphasis.

So what actually does happen in a house church that ordinary Christian's facilitate that will bring people into authentic and meaningful relationship with God and others?  There are many different books that are available on that subject that would be good to read and would be helpful,   but for the purposes of this blog post I want to emphasize what the first church in Jerusalem emphasized and what they were devoted to doing when they gathered together in a house church.  In Acts 2:41-42:

"So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about 3,000 souls.  They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."  

In this verse four things stand out that should be emphasized at a house church meeting:  

• First it says they were devoted to the FELLOWSHIP:  Now from my denominational background (Southern Baptist) when I hear fellowship I automatically think FOOD, POTLUCK and OVEREATING.  And I have to tell you that people from the south sure do know how to cook the best tasting food ever.  However, that's not what the Bible means when it talks about fellowship.  In this verse when it says that the people were devoted to the fellowship they were saying that they were devoted to each other.  The fellowship consisted of the people who made up the church.  This means that they were devoted to taking care of each other, meeting each other's needs, praying for each other, and sharing with each other.  They were so devoted to making sure that each person was taken care of that fellow Christians were selling some of their possessions to raise money to meet the needs of others in their church fellowship.  They sincerely cared about each other.  They would cry with one another, celebrate with one another, serve one another, provide for one another,  and encourage one another!  This devotion to the church family was so important  that we find this evaluation of the church in Acts 4:34,

"For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles feet, and they distributed to each as any had need." 

Now you need to understand that no one was forced or even made to feel compelled to sell anything, but because their devotion and love to each other was so strong these first house church members wanted to do whatever it took to meet each other's needs.  It is in small groups, LIKE SMALL HOUSE CHURCHES, that this kind of authentic care for one another can be nurtured and developed.  

• Next they were devoted to PRAYER:  These first Christ Followers had an insatiable appetite for prayer.  They prayed all the time and for everything.  When the Holy Spirit first came at the Day of Pentecost the apostles were involved in a prayer meeting; when people were sick they prayed for each other; when Peter was arrested and waiting to be executed we find the church praying; it was during a prayer time that an angel appeared to Cornelius and instructed him to send for Peter to come and tell him the Good News; and when the Holy Spirit set apart Paul and Barnabas for their mission work the church was praying.  Throughout the entire Book of Acts we see the church moving forward in response to the prayers of those early followers.  Jesus himself taught his disciples to go into their prayer closet and pray to our Heavenly Father for all of their needs with the expectation of all of them being met.  At the end of Jesus' ministry on earth he told his disciples to pray for anything in his name and it would be given to them.    The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians, instructs us to always be in prayer for all occasions and for all the saints.   For these early Followers of Christ and for the early church praying wasn't just a good thing but it was an essential thing.  It was as important and natural for them to pray as it was for them to breathe.  

• In addition they were devoted to THE BREAKING OF BREAD:  Whenever the early church came together they would share together what was called a Love Feast.  A Love Feast was a common meal the church members would have together in obedience to the Lord to do the Lord's Supper in remembrance of Him.  The Lord's Supper for the early church was not a small little wafer  bread and a little cup of juice performed during some ritualistic ceremony.  The Lord's Supper was a full meal that was shared as they remembered both the sacrifice of Christ and his promise to join them in that meal when he returns.  So for those early church members church also included eating a full meal together in the expectation of Christ's return. 

• And finally they were devoted to THE APOSTLE'S TEACHINGS:  Whatever the Apostles taught in the house churches was retaught in other house churches.  This wasn't just any kind of random Bible study topic or series that the apostles decided to use because they thought it would draw a crowd.  No, the apostles had a set pattern, form or body, if you would, of teaching that they instructed to every disciple of Christ.  This body of teaching, or pattern, was taught and established in every town, village or city in which a church was started.  The teaching was both theological and practical.  It taught the truth about Christ, God and His salvation and then it taught the lifestyle that was to be lived out in every disciple of Christ.  The body of the Apostles Teaching is best found in the New Testament Books of Ephesians and Colossians and to a large degree in 1 Peter and James.

Now while there are other things that could be done in a house church meeting these are the four absolute and irreducible activities that must be done.  

SO LET ME ASK YOU A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION!

Don't you think that if you are a fully devoted follower of Christ, and you have a vibrant and growing spiritual life that you could lead a group of 8 to 25 people to take care of each other and meet each other's needs; to pray for God's power, presence and provision to be manifested; to study and learn the Apostle's teachings on how to live the life of Christ; and to share a meal together in remembrance of Christ's death, burial and resurrection and his future return?

SERIOUSLY!  DON'T YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THAT?  Starting and leading a house church doesn't require you to be a great performer but it does require you to love people and lead them to do the four things discussed here.  

Take care of each other, pray for God's power, learn the Apostles Teaching and live it and finally share a meal together in remembrance of Christ death and future return that's all it takes to start and lead a house church that builds authentic and meaningful relationship with God and others.

HERE'S YOUR HOME WORK:

Design a house church formate that includes these four things.  What's going to happen first, second, third and fourth.

THE ORDINARY CHRISTIANS GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING: Step 1 Rethink Your Image Of Church

As we begin this journey of church planting together I can already hear the first excuse that many of you are throwing out on why you could never be a church planter.  The excuse goes something like this:

"I could never be a church planter because I have no training, ability or idea on how to lead or administrate such a complex organization like a church!"

And if that's your reason for not starting a church chances are you probably were raised in a church where there were lots of budgets, committees, business meetings, deacon and/or elder meetings, programs up the wazoo,  staff to manage, buildings to build and maintain and lots of conflict management with which to deal.  So if that's your idea of church you're probably right and you're  not qualified to start a church like that.  AND IF THE TRUTH BE TOLD VERY FEW PEOPLE WOULD BE QUALIFIED!  One would almost need a Masters in Business Administration to start and operate that kind of church.

But listen to me carefully for I am telling you the truth!  THE CHURCH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT DIDN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THAT! 

THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH HAD A SIMPLE STRUCTURE THAT ANYONE COULD MANAGE

 In the New Testament the church was so simply structured that any Follower of Christ could start one.  While there are some character issues the Bible says need to be considered for the selection of a church elder the only leadership/management skill qualification is found in 1 Timothy 3:4,5.  It says,

"He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, 

how will he take care of the church of God?"

When it comes to LEADERSHIP ABILITY and the evaluation on whether a person is capable to start new church the only question needed to be asked is:

 "How well do they lead their family?"

If a person can lead their family well the Bible says they have the leadership skills necessary to start and lead a New Testament Church.  But how is that possible when the churches of North America are organized more like businesses and requires a person to have leadership skills far above that which is needed to run a household well?

The answer to that question is that we as North American Christians will need to change our conception of church from being some major corporation that requires a CEO to run it, to a church more closely akin to a FAMILY UNIT with spiritual parents guiding others to maturity.  We are going to need to move from a 21 Century image of the church to a 1st Century image of church.  

In other words we will need to develop a more 
Biblical image of what the church looks like! 

That's right I did say that!  "A More Biblical Image".  The church image that characterizes the North American landscape resembles very little to what the New Testament church looked like.  For starters the  Early Church for the first 300 years of its existence never owned any property and never had any buildings used exclusively for religious services.  The Apostle Paul in Acts 20:20 reminds the church in Ephesus that he did not shrink from declaring to them anything but taught them publicly and from house to house.  In the New Testament there was public teaching in large groups which usually happened at an outdoor public location or in a building that the apostle was able to use but its main use was something other than for Christian worship.  However, even with the use of large locations or facility the main teaching and instruction for the Christian faith took place in homes that met throughout the week in different locations.  An interesting note to consider is that once the church started experiencing persecution public teaching became less freqeuant and the small house church became even more prominant.  So let me share with you what  I believe is the best Biblical image of the church:

The New Testament Church was a group of 15 to 30  Christ Followers meeting in a home at least weekly but very possibly more often,  for worship, teaching, prayer and observing the Lord's Supper and then occasionally, when it was safe and as the need arose, gather in some public arena with other house churches for a larger expression of their faith.

A HOUSE CHURCH MEETING IN TUCSON, AZ

So now let me ask you!

• Don't you think, as a Fully Devoted Follower of Christ, that you can gather 15 to 30 people in a home to help them grow in their faith, meet each others needs, pray for God to provide His  power, presence and provision, and worship Him? 
• Don't you think that you can love and help spiritually grow 15 to 30 people?
• If there were no budgets, no committees, no staff, no salaries but just you and another leader with a dozen people living out your faith together as the Family of God, don't you think that's something you could do?

CAN'T YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING THAT?

All over the world this is happening!  All over the world God is raising up, training up and unleashing ordinary christians, just like you, to start these rapidly reproducing house churches for His glory and to fulfill his mission.  This same kind of movement God is bringing to North America but it's time for the People of God to get prepared to plant these kinds of churches.

In the blogs that follow we will be discussing exactly how to gather a house full of people and actually takes place in a house church.  But for now just start by rethinking what the church looks like and the way God first developed.  

HERE'S YOUR HOMEWORK:   Read through the entire Book of Acts two to three times.  As you read take mental notes each time that the church is meeting in a house or how people along with their entire household comes to faith in a home.  READ IT BY VIEWING THE CHURCH AS A HOUSE CHURCH!