"My fight for joy"

"My fight for joy"
June 7, 2015

During the month of June, we are focusing on cultivating the habit of joy.  Our mentor this week is Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts.  (Note, even if you are not part of a Leader Team, we invite you join in with this process.)

Your assignment for the second week of June.    Watch until... Watch her powerful video below (click on the picture).  Pay attention to when the Coach (the Holy Spirit) stops you.  Stop the video and dialogue (journal) about the idea or concept where the Lord stopped you, what He wants to talk to you about.  Share what He is teaching you with your CO2 partner, your house church and your Leader Team.


 

He took a 50% pay cut

In This Issue... He took a 50% pay cut More Recent Articles

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Roger The new principal of Liberty School’s high school took a 50% pay cut from his government teaching job to come work with our kids. Brooks asked him why he would do that. “I believe in the mission of this school and it is these kinds of children, orphans and vulnerable children, that I really want to work with. This is the mission God has given me.” He then introduced us to one of the new high school students, David, who had spent his life in ten different foster homes, some abusive and all neglectful. “This boy is bright, and now he has found a home!” Sometimes I wonder about the time that Brooks and I have spent on this school. It’s not our own primary mission of training church planters. But then we come and see the fruit, child after child that has benefited from a home, a school, and a place that cares about them. Once more we find ourselves hooked. Here are a few of the children that have sponsors and that we have watched grow up. Their faces tell all.

KITALE

In This Issue... KITALE More Recent Articles

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Brooks We decided to hole up in Kitale where, as John Wanyonye says, “Jesus lives.” And, he could be right! We are at an elevation of almost 7,000 feet and it rains almost daily; it’s green and lush, trees, monkeys, tons of brightly colored birds and it’s the hub of agriculture for all of Kenya. There are seasons of commerce based on the wealth of the harvest season or the drought of the current beginning season of monies have long been spent on school fees, housing rent, food, new shoes and clothes and now the long wait from now til November when the maize will be harvested again. The favorite food of all Kenyans is ugali…I have been told over and over again, “If there is no ugali, we have not eaten!” This is why this region is so important to all of Kenya…most of the maize that’s ground into flour to make the ugali comes from this area. City center of Kitale One seller in the huge outside market. This lady is selling tilapia; the man in the red hat beside her is selling cassava. Ready to eat ugali…cut into wedges for eating. Ugali is typically eaten with “greens” pinching off some ugali rolling it into a ball, adding some greens and then eating. And a very big treat is chapati, a whole wheat Indian-nan-like flat tortilla, cut into halves or fourths. The greens pictured are an all-time favorite, sukuma wiki (kale) that stretches any meal by sometimes adding bits of meat to it instead of serving a whole and hardly ever gotten big piece of meat. We “live” in a small guest house compound with various tiny structures situated here and there…kind of like camping only way better! At one time belonging to a wealthy British somebody, there’s the main house with glass panes and a big front porch. We are enclosed and secluded from the outside world by tall hedges and massive trees, a beautiful lawn, kept short by forever grazing sheep and a bamboo gate with the typical and needed guard posted…well most of the time! And also most of the time we have electricity, hot water in the showers, but not the sinks, purified water in tanks, accessible clotheslines, access to a somewhat tepid fridge, and the warm friendship of owners, Kenyan Ibrahim and British wife Theresa and their various adopted or fostered children…oh and yes, the assorted folks coming or going working with NGO’s from all over…although this time we are mostly on our own except long term Kenyan residents who have found Karibuni Lodge their home. Some of the resident children Main house where there are more individual rooms, where we eat and where there is a small, sometimes working tv in the living room where we all hang out. Some of the various structures on the property The garden One of the many interesting types of birds…this pair screeches at the slightest thing and are ALWAYS compelled to announce when it’s morning! Last week we were busy with Liberty School, as you might have seen, and then we traveled over to Kakamega for a training…more about that later… We are using this week to catch up, research for our upcoming trek to China, continuing to connect with John Omondi and John Wanyonye…which means walking to town for either supplies or finding a place to talk. I so wish you could be with us as we pull on socks and hiking boots, mainly to keep the red dust or as the rains come intermittently, the mud, off of our feet, as we walk the two miles into Kitale. Even a walk to town is a welcome adventure…we walk amidst cows with their shepherd close by either stretched out in the shade napping or coming behind with stick in hand prodding the cows onto greener grasses; ladies with sometimes enormous bundles balancing precariously on top of their heads—even while talking or texting on their cell phones; women with babies strapped to their backs cooking huge batches of french fries in large woks or roasting ears of corn over open fires to sell to passersby; students dressed in uniforms trudging home for lunch before returning to school for the afternoon session; small children whispering “mzungu” as we pass by and timidly trying out their English by saying “How are you?” hopeful for a response and the customary handshake; and the ever present sheep or goats straddling the railroad tracks chomping away at the green, lush grasses…well, you can see just walking to town is a pretty wonderful experience!!!! Carrying her bundle while talking on the phone! :) Lady carrying bundle of banana leaves. Children in their school uniform, resting on the walk home for lunch. Our neighborhood 7/11…where we can get air time, avocados for 6 cents each, and candy to share with kids like these: And, who could resist taking your dog for a walk on such a fine day in Kitale town?

John Fenn, Weirdness from God #1 (Grave Sucking)

Hi all,

There are times a person's spirit is stirred as Paul's was when he saw the city of Athens completely given over to idolatry*, and that is my condition today concerning the newest fad coming out of Bethel Church in Redding, California and churches like it, called 'grave sucking'. *Acts 17:16

 

For the most part I hold my peace about the shaking and convulsing, though I will address that in this series - to lay out what is God, what is the devil, and what is the flesh - but today I am talking about the fad of 'grave sucking' or 'anointing grabbing'.

 

What is 'grave sucking'?

Grave sucking is the practice of believers going to the graves of dead saints to make physical contact with the grave to get the anointing of the dead saint by transference, during contemplative prayer. They often will sit, lay down on, or lay hands on the grave or tombstone to accomplish this.

 

The premise is that people feel they can swiftly advance in spiritual power or jump-start their spiritual lives or destiny by going to the graves of dead saints and suck or 'grab' that person's anointing to themselves. It has been explained as receiving a sort of spiritual inheritance, and as a sudden large cash inheritance can change a life, so too they say, can a sudden spiritual inheritance received by grave sucking move their spiritual life quickly forward.

 

It is an error that twists an Old Testament event, using the case of 2 men burying another when they saw some Moabite raiders coming*, and wanting to get out of there, quickly lowered the dead man into Elisha's nearby grave. To their surprise he sprang back to life upon touching Elisha's bones. *II Kings 13:20-21

 

Grave sucking as it is taught, it doing the same thing spiritually - grabbing the dead saint's lingering anointing. When I first heard of grave sucking I thought it was a joke, but the more I checked into it the more I realized it was a sad truth, and since I just spent 3 days in Redding and learned much more than I ever wanted to about it, I just can't shake my grievance and sadness for the self-deceived souls practicing this.

 

Readers can easily do a web search about this practice and even see publicly posted pictures of Bill Johnson's wife, Beni, lying on C. S. Lewis' gravestone 'grave sucking' and Bethel students 'grave sucking' at Evan Roberts grave in Wales, among others.

 

Years ago there was a TV show that would start out with say, the Space Shuttle blasting off, and then trace backwards through the centuries the various little discoveries that led to the technology enabling us to build such a vehicle today.

 

That's what I am doing in this series - not focusing on the error, but to go back in time to this truth and that truth which when compiled together will provide us a means to rightly discern what is happening and why.

 

A little history, and what the Lord told me

It may surprise some to learn that in the 1700's a wave of revival swept through Europe, Britain, and the soon to be United States, including among the Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and Disciples of Christ (Congregational). Trembling, shaking, groaning, falling to the ground - all were signs they said that the power of God had come on a person.

 

In the US we had the 'Shakers' who were known for this, though now they are mostly known for the Shaker style of furniture. And of course many know of the Quakers who evidently quaked but refused to shake :)

 

John Wesley considered these body movements to be the body's natural reaction to God's Spirit and love, rather than an outright supernatural event. In the 1800's people like Finney reported these happening in his meetings, and by the time I came to the Lord in the 1970's Pentecostals were called 'Holy Rollers'.

 

Holy Rollers

Barb and I were born again and Spirit-filled as teenagers and attended Charismatic home based groups 2-3 nights each week, which her mother didn't understand, having only her own German Lutheran early 20th century culture to understand us by.

 

So when Barb and I were to be married in her family's Congregational church, her mother asked us with all sincerity if there was going to be swinging from chandeliers or rolling on the floor as part of the wedding, as that just won't do among the Congregationalists - she was visibly relieved when we assured her there wouldn't be any of that (though I desperately wanted to tell her we might cast out a demon or two to see how she would react, but decided not to tease her like that).

 

Most attribute the phrase 'slain in the spirit' to Kathryn Kuhlman to describe a person 'slain' by God's power and becoming therefore as if dead, though it is also known by other names.

 

What the Lord told me

Learning now that for at least 3 centuries shaking, quaking, and falling have been part of charismatic life, we need to look at scripture to see if it is in there, which will provide a baseline of truth to be able to understand if today's manifestations are God, the devil, or the flesh.

 

During a time with the Lord I asked Him to teach me about what was Him and what wasn't in being slain in the spirit. I had wanted Him to go point by point in straight, never changing, doctrinal statements that x is from Me, and y isn't from Me, but that's not what He did. It went like this:

 

"Lord, on the subject of being slain in the spirit, what is the earliest time in scripture where that happened and what should a person expect from the experience?"

 

Him: "When I caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam* so I could do surgery on him to form Eve's body. And you'll note that while that was physical surgery, it was also of the soul for I took from his being to make her, so that together they two were one in Me**. Today when it (slain in the spirit) is of Me, like with Adam, I will often do what you might think of as surgery on their soul for healing and sometimes physical healing as well." *Genesis 2:21, **Genesis 5:2

 

(In Genesis 5:2 it says: "Male and female He created them, and called their name Adam in the day in which they were created." Eve did not receive her name until later after their sin, in 3:20-21 when the Lord made a covering for their sin, clothing made from the shed blood of an animal, thus clothes are a shadow and type of God's covering for man.)

 

He continued

"The next time was with Abraham when we were making covenant* and a deep sleep came upon him, allowing Me to assure him of our relationship and tell him of his future and the future of his descendants. Today, when it is of Me, I will often do something similar with people, assuring them and giving them peace about the present and showing them some of their future, and they also often renew themselves in Me in response, as Abram did then." (*Genesis 15 covers the whole event, but v12 says a 'deep sleep' came upon Abram in the same terminology as with Adam)

 

What I took from that teaching was that when a person is 'knocked out' or 'asleep in the Lord', it is for a purpose, not a show - not a sign that endorses some man or woman as the anointed prophet and God certainly doesn't want any 'courtesy drops' from anyone.

 

I've seen 'downloads' in people we might say today, of new things and healing of old things when they've been 'asleep in the Spirit' - a peace replaces emotional fear, turmoil - that sort of 'surgery'. The other thing with Abram was covenant things, deep things in a person's heart about their walk with the Lord and the settling of their destiny, and similarly I've seen people awaken with a new sense of destiny and purpose.

 

I will close with that for today - more next week, until then, blessings!

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

 

 

 

New CD/MP3 Series

 

What Motivates You is Spiritual #1:

Identifying and Understanding Your Energy Gifts

The Bible describes 'energy' gifts, elements of our personality that are part of the Lord's personality He created us with, which motivate and fulfill us. While most of church culture doesn't even recognize these as gifts, the Lord does, and there is a lot in scripture that describes them. Things like the ability to work with your hands, sewing, woodwork, organizing, serving, giving, and even being motivated to show mercy, are as much a manifestation of the Holy Spirit as a prophecy or an being an apostle. Learn why you are the way you are, why you are fulfilled when flowing as God made you, and confidence in the fact you are mightily gifted. (2 cd/MP3, $12/set or MP3 $10)

 

 

Love Your Enemies

“In [Christ] are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
COLOSSIANS 2:3

It is not that God gives us revelation into five, ten, one hundred, or one thousand things. None of these “things” by themselves really matter. Rather, He has placed all those “things” within Christ, and reveals Christ to us. He will not reveal anything to us apart from the Revelation of Jesus Christ. To possess the Son is to possess all that pertains to the Son, for the Scriptures declare, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
It is not that God desires to give us revelation into these many things, but for us to have the Revelation of Jesus Christ. By apprehending Him we will subsequently gain insight in those “things.” To seek revelation into the “things” apart from the Revelation of Christ fails to give Christ the preeminence. We dare not circumvent the knowledge of Him in the pursuit of “things,” even spiritual things, for they are all summed up into Him.
Source: Lord of All by Chip Brogden

5 Wrong Assumptions About the Impact of Small Groups

By Mark Howell

Do you have an assumption or two about small group ministry impact that you need to grow out of?

You know how kids sometimes believe that if they close their eyes, you can’t see them?  That’s an assumption they eventually grow out of.
Do you have an assumption or two about small group ministry impact that you need to grow out of?
I was imagining the Family Feud set-up when I wrote this.  See yourself standing at the podium.  “What are the top five faulty assumptions about small group impact.  100 people surveyed.  The top five answers on the board. Survey says…”

Here are five faulty assumptions about small group impact:

1. The optimum environment for life-change is a small group.  While this is a very popular notion, it’s only true when the small group environment is designed for life-change.  It is much more common for groups to never move beyond being about connect unconnected people.  If you want groups to be about life-change … intentionality is an essential ingredient.  See also, Design Your Group Meeting for Life-Change.
2. The small group champion role can be delegated.  NOT!  If you want to build a thriving small group ministry, there is no workaround for a senior pastor who insists on delegating the small group champion role.  Period.  There is no question that in churches where a vibrant and thriving small group culture exists there is a senior pastor who walks the talk and talks about it all the time.  See also, The Real Reason Saddleback Connects So Many in Small Groups.
3. Coaching is primarily about problem solving and improving technique. Nope!  “Coaching” small group leaders is nearly 100% about doing to and for (and with) your leaders whatever you want your leaders to do to and for (and with) the members of their groups.  And this is one of the main reasons that retroactively assigning a coach to an experienced leader is so deadly and almost never works.  Existing leaders know for sure that they do not need a coach.  If they needed a coach, they would have need a coach in their first 90 days.  See also, Coaching FAQ: How Much of Coaching Is about Technique and Small Group Ministry Myth #5: Only New Small Group Leaders Need a Coach.
4. Requiring leader training as a prerequisite ensures a better member experience. The truth is that the only thing requiring leader training as a prerequisite ensures that you will always have a shortage of qualified leaders. Requiring leader training in advance sets in motion a system that does one of two things: (a) Hand-selecting prime candidates (which indicates you think you already know who the best candidates are) or (b) Advertises an upcoming leader training course and takes volunteers. Either way this doesn’t ensure a better member experience. The only thing that even comes close to ensuring a better member experience is a coach working with a leader doing to and for (and with) whatever you want the members of your groups to experience.  See also, Small Group Ministry Myth #4: High Leader Entry Requirements Ensure the Safety of the Flock.
5. Unconnected people will respond because “it’s good for them.”  Listen, unconnected people don’t respond to “what’s good for them” any more than children eat their vegetables because they’re good for them.  If you are banking on that, you are relying on a faulty assumption.  If you want to connect unconnected people, you must shift your thinking and focus on understanding the things that appeal to them in their current state. What are their hopes and dreams? What keeps them awake at night?  What do they long for? When you understand those things you will finally begin to understand how to help them take first steps into authentic community. See also, 5 Things You Need to Know about Connecting Unconnected People.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.  

Mark Howell serves as Pastor of Communities at Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, NV. He founded SmallGroupResources.net, offering consulting and coaching services to help churches across North America launch, build and sustain healthy small group ministries. He spent four years on the consulting staff at Lifetogether and often contributes to ministry periodicals such as the Pastor's Ministry Toolbox and ChurchCentral.com. More from Mark Howell or visit Mark at http://www.MarkHowellLive.com

Small Groups That Change Lives: 5 Principles

By Kirby Holmes

Jesus is comfortable with chaos of people’s lives. Are you?

The Starting Place of People
Are the people where you live struggling with relational trust, loneliness, brokenness, insecurity or shame? What about these struggles: addictions, abortions, adultery, sexual attractions, anger … the list could go on.  No one is perfect. Certainly not me. Certainly not you.
When I was in high school, my favorite community to hang out with was the Brew Crew.  The Brew Crew got together on the weekends getting hammered drunk and doing drugs. For us, a 4.0 in school was not our grade point average … it was our blood alcohol level.
But eventually, I recognized the pain I was causing myself—and others around me—was far outweighing the pleasure I was receiving from partying. Eventually, three of my best friends were in rehab for chemical and alcohol addictions.  We were all totally out of control.
Interestingly, at the same time I was in the Brew Crew, I was also in a Small Group. It might seem odd to you that I would go to a Small Group, but I did. Some friends of mine invited me to attend a large weekly gathering of Christ followers that met during the week.  It was a big group of about 100 or so kids. The ministry leaders of this big group would do skits, songs, talk about the Bible, etc. In this crowd of kids, I heard about a Small Group led by a young professional named Scott, so I decided to join one with some buddies .
I was reluctant about the group at first because I didn’t grow up in a Christian family. I didn’t have a biblical frame of reference for life.  I didn’t know anything about spiritual practices, how to find a Bible verse or what to say in a prayer.  I was insecure about the expectations of needing to know about these things.
Scott was new at leading, but he was a great Small Group leader. He created a safe place for everyone to be real about his or her life.  I felt like I could be authentic about who I was. I was open about the parties I went to and the craziness of my lifestyle. I never felt judged or confronted by anyone there.  Scott helped me feel like my presence in the group was really important. It was through the relationships in this Small Group, and with Scott, that after three years I put my faith in Jesus and started actively following him.
What I want all of you to hear is the power of a Small Group community and what God can do when you create the right culture. Jesus was the master at creating the right culture for messy people. Jesus went to the party at Matthew’s house in Matthew 9 where the sinners were partying: the Brew Crew.  Jesus is comfortable with chaos of people’s lives.
Let me try and summarize some of the things Scott did well that made his Small Group so effective and life-changing. Here are five principles that you can use as a new Small Group leader in creating a culture where “No Perfect People are Allowed” and life change can happen.
1. Authenticity Starts With You
Don’t be fake.  Fake people are like wax fruit.  Wax leaves a bad taste in people’s mouth. So do wax people. Don’t try to manage your image as a person who has it all together as the leader because you think that is what the leader is supposed to do.  Be authentic.
2. Be Vulnerable First
Set the pace for the group by exposing your weaknesses first … The reason people hide and pretend in front of others is usually because of shame or pride. These are both extremely dark and powerful emotions.  They keep people stuck from experiencing the freedom Christ came to give us. You can lead them to overcoming this by being vulnerable as the leader.
Share your stories of struggle. I know you think you will lose respect by sharing your struggles, but trust me, you will gain greater respect and admiration through vulnerability. Let the promise of James 5 be true in your group: “Confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed.” Let this verse be an accessible practice in your group. Here are some examples of what you might share vulnerably:  Share your addictions—alcohol, sexual, food related addictions.  If you come from a broken home, you could share about feeling unlovable and the insecurity that comes with it. The key to this principle is exposing some of the mess of your life to the rest of the group first.
3. Expect Messy People
We live in a relational broken world. Divorce shatters relational dreams. Abuse of all kinds and abandonment have all taken a huge toll on people’s ability to relate in healthy ways. Here are some of the realities from eight couples in my Small Group right now.

• 10 divorces (4 from one guy).
• 4 sexually abused: one by football coach when he was 8 years old. The same man molested three other boys. Later in life, all three of those boys committed suicide.
• 4 are in recovery for addictions.
• 3 have had abortions.
• 1 guy was previously involved in four different cults.

Don’t be surprised by pain in people’s lives. We live in a messy, pain-filled world.  Embrace a culture where people can share the story of their life and still be fully known, accepted and loved.
Here is what you need to look out for:  If people in your group are answering the question of how they are doing with: “Doing great!” or “Couldn’t be better!”  then repeat principle one and two. They’re lying to you on some level.
4. Have a Process View of Growth
Spiritual growth takes time. Transformation of the heart that results in new behavior is the goal, and you can’t rush or microwave this process. As a Small Group Leader, you can never cause spiritual growth in a person. Only God can do this. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:5-7: “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
It took me being in a Small Group for three years before I even said “yes” to following Jesus.  Is three years too long?  Should someone have given up on me sooner?  Take the pressure off yourself that you are responsible for people’s growth. It’s not up to you. You are just creating a culture for God to work.
As you are waiting and looking for growth in people be sure and celebrate when you see growth in someone.  Point it out to them.  Give credit to God for it.  Affirm where you see God at work.
5. It’s Not Always What You “Know” But How You “Love”
One of the greatest fears of a new small group leader is the fear of not knowing an answer to a question or how to handle a situation that might come up in your group. Love is going to trump right answers.  A leader of love who seeks to serve others will be more important than any of the content you share with them, especially early on in the life of a group.  If you don’t know an answer to a question about the Bible, just say “I don’t know the answer to that.”  If someone is asking for advice and you don’t know what to do, say, “I don’t know … but I am committed to trying to help you.”
I believe content is very important, but as a new group leader you will often feel inadequate.  Love will lead a group to good places.  I couldn’t tell you a single thing that I learned in my first small group … but I remember the love I was given. As a group gets to know one another deeply, it will be easier to speak truth into each others’ lives from a place of love.
Creating Life-Changing Culture in Your Small Group
I hope you were able to see and understand the value of some of these principles for leading a Small Group. Being intentional with these principles will create a culture where God grows people and you can see success at leading a Small Group where “No Perfect People Are Allowed.”  

Kirby Holmes is a Groups and Growth Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. Gateway is a No Perfect People Allowed church where we often say Come as You Are…but Don’t Stay as You Are. Half of the people who attend Gateway would say they were far from God when they started attending. Gateway is a place where God is helping un-churched messy people become beautiful masterpieces of God’s design. Twitter: @KirbyHolmes Web: www.KirbyHolmes.me Church: www.GatewayChurch.com More from Kirby Holmes or visit Kirby at http://www.KirbyHolmes.me