Finally after 8 long months

After our house fire just over 8 months ago it seemed like our home would never be rebuilt/completed. Last Wednesday, November 21st we were granted an occupancy permit (meaning our home is ready to move in). So on Saturday (yesterday) we had our newly purchased furniture items delivered and we spent our first night in our home since the fire. I cannot begin to tell you how much joy that brought to us. It was my first great sleep in over eight months.

Please praise God with us as we begin our journey back to normalcy. God has safely brought us through the difficult trials of this year. Something worth praising about.

"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called together according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 :)

Do you...?

Do you see God's transformation in the lives of those needing to be transformed and set free? If so, tell us about the Glory and presence of Jesus and of His redemption and glorious work.

Bottom line, tell us about the fullness of God's Holy Spirit that makes our human logic something so small it never comes even the slightest experience of Jesus.

Do you long for transformation in your heart and the hearts of others?

Tell us, if you can or will!!

Some think...

I spoke with two friends on the issue of God's persecution with reference to God's will and satanic persecution and find that in the religious community many cannot tell the difference.

Is it God trying to get our attention?

Or, is it Satan trying to kill us before a movement is born?

I have discovered two things:

If God is trying to get through to us, it will be totally clear.
If God is trying us it is because of disobedience.

Because of these two indicators I realize it is Satan who seeks to destroy those who are part of disciple making movements. I know this because 2007 has been just that, a horribly challenging year. Think with me and my struggles: a brothers suicide, a house fire, lyme disease, two kinds of infections including staph (two month of recovery), and the whole process of getting our house done and personal property issues resolved and settled with my insurance, all of which reveal strong satanic presence. Still others would rather take the easy route and believe God is persecuting me. The end result is that I do not care what humans think! Michelle and I will stay the course of seeking the birth and see the birth of a Disciple Driven Church that makes the making of disciples the main thing. I would rather die than give up on the Great Commission of making disciples who themselves make disciples.

I must say that while persecuted, (even by those I thought to be the closest of friends) we do remain entirely focussed on all that God brought us here (St. Louis) to experience and see fulfilled by the Holy Spirit.

Our only prayer is that lives will be transformed regardless of what the mature believers and leaders think of us. What God does through us is what matters and what man thinks or says falls on the soil hardened by the rocks when not aligned with God and His great purpose of transforming those who appear to be far from Him.

I love Jesus, the Church, His Mission and all He demands of us. While some may give up on me/us and they have or will, We remain steady with those who bear the scars of the cross.

In the end it only matters what God thinks of us and the vision we hold to. While God looks for transformation others may look for man's approval. I refuse to please the latter when the first is clearly the will of God.

Some think while God thinks and the two are not in unity.

Thoughts?

Holy Spirit and Biblical observations...

If we in America are to see a divine intervention of Holy Spirit's power and results we need Holy Spirit intervention.

We need:
1. To experience the nature of God's glory.
2. To develop a world view of supernatural harmony with God.
3. To establish the supremacy of the Great Commission in all of our ministries and commitments.
4. To establish the supremacy of the Great Commission.
5. To measure and evaluate life and ministry by the Great Commission.
6. To expect and see transformed Holy Spirit ministry in those who seek Jesus.
7. To make transformed (by the Holy Spirit) lives a main priority.
8. To use spiritual tools and weapons to bring spiritual transformation to all who seek Jesus.
9. To be personally be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you cannot grasp this one, see the five examples of being filled with the Holy Spirit found in Acts 5.

As the Holy Spirit transforms us and others we truly see a movement being birthed that will result in exponential multiplication of disciples. Do you long for this? I can only conclude that if Jesus can do it elsewhere in the world, He is certainly qualified and powerful enough to do it here in America.

This is my dream and vision for America. This is what Jesus is doing for all who believe to see.

I AM...

I am seeing signs of a Holy Spirit driven movement that is sweeping America. It will take all of us in the Christ community as disciple making and committed followers of Jesus to see the Church become disciples making disciples. I still believe that if God can do this in Africa, Asia, and other places, He can and wants to do it here in America.

Don't you want to become part of this disciples making disciples movement? God is doing it with or without us. I long for it to be with us all. What a blessing it is to see disciples making disciples in America!

No ax to grind - part 2 "Clarification"

I am troubled that some may assume things or jump to the wrong conclusions in my post - "No Axe To Grind - Part One". I'm just not grinding away at the church, because I choose not to.

Let me be very clear: Nothing has detoured me from the conviction of fulfilling the Great Commission by insisting that the words of Jesus were meant for every follower of Jesus Christ to be owned and fulfilled personally. If there is a hook, I'm not letting the church or Church -the Body of Christ off of it. We will stand before Jesus on this point. I want to stand before God with disciples who are making disciples who are making disciples. I have spent to much of my life letting believers off the hook on living out the Great Commission personally. The price is high and I am paying it by insisting that this is truth to be lived out by all who follow Jesus. I don't have time to argue the point because I am seeing believers own this truth and personally multiply other disciples. It is working, because we are expecting more, because Jesus expects more.

Let me be very clear: I have used useless rhetoric (at times) trying to bring the church in America back to the supremacy of the Great Commission as the most important thing for every believer. I do not need to argue the point in heated discussions because all you have to do is read Matthew 28 and either you believe we are all supposed to make disciples personally and are making them or you do not and are not making them. I do not need to spend my time in useless rhetoric trying to convince the church/leaders in America that what Jesus said in the Great Commission is to be obeyed personally by all. I do know that some of you who frequent this blog do not hold your people to the highest standard of being disciples who personally multiply other disciples. I confess with deep regret that I did not hold people to that standard when I was pastoring because I thought all I had to do is preach it and do it corporately. I do repent of that. I should have insisted that all Christ followers live the Great Commission personally by making disciples. But I didn't, I gave them an easy way out. Just one little man's confession here.

Let me be clear: As for the tone of this blog, I don't need to point out the problems of the church in America because you know as well as I do what they are, that is, unless you are an ostrich with your head in the sand. As human beings we have all contributed to these problems.

Finally, let me be very clear: I celebrate what God is doing wherever He is doing what He is doing and however He is doing it. God is at work in the world. Whenever the family of God is mobilized to make disciples who multiply other disciples we are seeing exponential multiplying growth of disciples. Whenever the family of God is not mobilized to make disciples who make disciples we are not seeing dramatic growth of disciples (I call this addition).

So I choose not to be ax grinding the rest of my life referencing the church in America. I love being a part of the body of Christ and I am saddened when people assume I am not for the Church -that is the body of Christ. Why would anyone be opposed to being in the Body of Christ when they are already in the Body of Christ?

If anyone wants to be a part of a movement of disciple makers who are making disciples who themselves are making disciples, give me a call. I would love to share the stories of transformed lives who are instruments of God's transformation in others.

This is the best part of my life, it truly is. So for the tone of this blog, I want to challenge believers to multiply themselves in those who do not know Christ while also celebrating what God is doing in the world.

Now are we sure we understand each other?

What??

What are the implications of Bill Hybel's admission of doing ministry wrong over the past 30 years regarding "seeker sensitive" and the lack of results in making fully committed disciples?

Scroll for the article below.

Bill is not the only one who can make this admission. I applaud his courage. Even I grieve for being part of this nonsense while pastoring.

Quote of the day...

Regarding ministry, "What we attract the people with is what we attract the people to."
-Richard Green