Dad's Business

A friend of mine in Cape Town named Kevin recently shared this status update on Facebook. It gave words to some of what has been germinating in my own heart these days. So, I thought I would share.

In my life, I've only met two people who have actually sparked a legit Church Planting Movement, and one of which was last night. The message was great, but it's so much bigger than my old paradigms ever allowed. Creating strategy is one of my most loved activities. The last couple years I've really become a CPM nerd, viewing Church Planting Movements as the holy grail of missions, the epitome of a Great Commission grand slam.

Admittedly, the notion of being given a geography, region or culture of which to ignite the rapid spread of the Gospel excites me at a level which few things rival. However, the closer I live by the Spirit, and the more I hear from the Father, I soon realize that all my strategy, intellect and models are worthless when measured against the Holy Spirit.

I am learning to lay everything I've been taught on the table, surrendering my own hopes to Him. He is showing me who I am. I am a son of the living God. He is a true Father. My identity is not in what I do, but in whom I love. He is so much bigger than our ideas. If we approach the Great Commission as finishing a task, we fundamentally miss the core of who He is and what He is after.

He is way bigger than our formulas and structures. When we create low risk systems that don't depend on Him, we place ourselves under a glass ceiling, which may feel secure, but inhibits us from flying at the levels He designed.

I know He's deposited something so precious inside me, the desire of His desire. I cannot be satisfied with one serving, or even the full course. I want it all, and will settle for nothing less, all the days of my life, for He who lives in me.

This world is His possession, and how blessed am I that I may journey together with Him, bringing the Kingdom to the forgotten places, which He never forgot. The Father's business is to reconcile those who are lost, heal the broken, and restore the corrupted to their original design and intent.

I'm in my dad's business.

"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you!" - Jesus

Rethinking Church

I have followed Francis Chan's journey closely over the years. We resigned from Pastoring on the same Sunday back in 2010. And our journeys have been wildly parallel. This video is 11 minutes, but basically lays out much of what we do here, that he is now doing in San Francisco. The website for their new "church" is http://wearechurch.com. I love it! Right up my alley. I am so encouraged by the way the Spirit of God is moving all over the earth to return His church back what Jesus and the Apostles started. So cool! Take time to look at this video and website.

Fidel Castro, Chairman Mao and Church Planting

I have thought much about church size over the last few years. I used to think that bigger was better because it meant more people. Now I think that smaller is better because it means healthier churches and more churches...which leads to even more people. The New Testament is into multiplication. So is Jesus. So, we want to multiply disciples and churches as fast as we can. The harvest is great and the task is unfinished. But I am NOT anti large churches! I am just pro small churches. I have learned that you do not need to be against one thing to be for another.

That said....want to hear something crazy that I learned today?

What do Fidel Castro, Chairman Mao and Church planting have in common? Crazy question, huh?

Well, they actually have a lot in common. In a roundabout way, Castro and Mao both helped start a church planting movement!

Out of fear that churches would become political and threaten the government, both Mao and Castro demanded that churches not exceed a certain size (about 15) and meet in homes. They thought this was the right way to protect themselves and slow the spread of the church.

Guess what happened? The opposite. In both cases, it forced the church into health and multiplication. Small churches that were obeying Jesus together began multiplying rapidly all over both nations and today there are church planting movement in both Cuba and China as a result.

This is one of those beautiful ways that the Lord uses evil for good.

Thank you, Castro. Thank you, Mao. Above all, thank you, Jesus!

All new 'Field CPx' coming in October!

All Nations is currently offering it’s 7th annual 5-month residential CPx training here in Cape Town. Tricia and I have the honor of providing leadership to CPx here in South Africa.

We are excited today to announce an additional new 11-month Field CPx format starting this October, 2014!

The 11 months will include:

Preparation: 1 month in Cape Town for preparation, teaching and training

Implementation: 9 months serving an internship at an All Nations church planting location somewhere around the world while being coached by our team.

Consultation: 1 final month back in Cape Town for final training, consultation and discernment about the future.

We will accept a limited amount of leaders into this first year pilot experience.

Applications will be available online at http://capetown.allnationsworldwide.org starting April 1!

Spread the word with us!

More info to come...

Core Church Planting Abilities

I lead a five-month church planting program here in Cape Town called CPx (Church Planting Experience).  We just kicked off this year's training this week! The program consists of three months of teaching and two months of outreach. People often ask us what we teach in the school. Here are the core abilities that we train church planters in. The abilities below follow the progressive order of how we approach church planting. Healthy Jesus Followers > Targeting and Entering with gospel > gathering disciples > planting reproducing churches led by locals!

1. Ability to abide with Jesus
2. Ability to pray passionately
3. Ability to be a healthy person on a healthy team
4. Ability to engage neglected peoples
5. Ability to honor other cultures
6. Ability to share the gospel
7. Ability to make disciples who make disciples
8. Ability to facilitate discipleship groups
9. Ability to catalyze local leaders
10. Ability to ignite church planting movements

(Why abilities? We teach abilities because if you already have an ability, you can grow it.  And if you do not have one, you can learn it.)

Counsel for my Friend

Yesterday, a good friend of mine contacted me and asked for counsel. He is a Pastor in America near New York City. His church plant is a few years old and over the last few months, things have begun to decentralize and he senses that the Lord is leading his congregation to transition into many small churches. Well, he reached out to me for wisdom on the topic. He asked me this: "If feel that our church is on the verge of becoming churchES. Would you mind sending me some hurdles, setbacks and cautions of doing church like that?"

So, I did. Just some raw thoughts as they came to me. Then, I thought...."maybe someone else would benefit from this as well." So, here it is....

1. It is dangerous to transition to this as another church growth model or approach because you are tired of the old one. Jesus and his glory spreading further and faster must be your goal! Nothing else will do. You should not transfer an old wine into a new wineskin. Go for a new everything.

2. Many Westerners will not find simple church flashy or fancy enough. They know there are better shows out there that do not require them having to be real and close up with people. So they will call you cheesy and go to a real church.

3. You can quickly become critical of “elephant” churches when you land on the beauty of a simple discipling church model. We must move into this new direction with deep humility and honor for the church of all sizes and styles….holding fast to what God has led YOU to do.

4. Danger in lack of accountability. If you do not set clear vision and strongly disciple key leaders in that vision, many small churches can go many different directions fast and you will not be able to reel it back in to something biblical. There MUST be agreement on who we are and what we will do to protect people and the authority of scripture.

5. Oops, we never multiplied! This is the biggest risk. If you do not START with multiplication in your plan, it will not fit in later. Churches should multiple 1-2 or more times a year. No less.

6. Beware of a Christian Majority. I know this will sound wild, but try to start every church with more non believers than you have believers. 2-3 followers can gather 3-6 of their friends far from God and start a D-group that leads to a church. Do NOT allow a church to exits that does not have non-disciples in it.

7. Finally, make sure that ALL churches are living ALL THREE LOVES and doing so TOGETHER! Loving God together in radical worship and hearing from God together. Loving each other in deep transparent relationships. And loving the lost—reaching out together to those far from God.

Much love as you make disciples who make disciples and plant churches that plant churches.

Noah

Who Ignites Movements?

Our vision at All Nations is to "train leaders and make disciples to ignite church planting movements among the neglected peoples of the earth." We want to see massive moves of God like what started in the early church. And it is our dream to accomplish the Great Commission in our generation. Today, the Lord showed me something deep into my spirit through listening to Jackie Chen share in Taiwan. It is one of those things that you say over and over again, but do you really actually believe what you are saying? Like this...

Leaders do not ignite movements.

Disciples do not ignite movements.

Trainers do not ignite movements.

Trainings do not ignite movements.

Missionaries do not ignite movements.

Pastors do not ignite movements.

Seminaries do not ignite movements.

Churches do not ignite movements.

Missions Organizations do not ignite movements.

HOLY SPIRIT IGNITES MOVEMENTS!!

Holy Spirit is the ignition and fuel of movements.

Holy Spirit ignited the first church planting movement.

Holy Spirit will ignite the last church planting movement.

Do you believe what you just read? Really? Are you sure? If so, how does it change what you do and how you live? What more does the Lord have in his heart for us?

A Week with a Movement Igniter

My life will not ever be the same after this week. Let me share why. For the last six days, I hosted a leader in my home. He was our speaker all week at CPx. I will change his name to Pastor John for security reasons.

He lives in West Africa. He is responsible for the planting of over 21,000 churches. They average 47 people in size. You do the math. And this has only been since 2005!! He texts with his President. He influences governments of nations. He serves amputees and plants churches among beggars. He is one of the most respected leaders on the continent of Africa. He has been arrested multiple times. Most recently four months ago in the Middle East. There are books written about him, though his name will be changed in the books for security reasons. The main book is called "Miraculous Movements" and you can buy it here.

I could go on and on about the credibility and accomplishments of this guy, but by far the greatest of all his accomplishments is that he oozes humility and refuses to steal any of God's glory. He loves Jesus and you can see it. He has been used mightily by God. He does what we dream of here...he ignites movements to Jesus. We just spent the week with a movement igniter. Honestly, it is the closest I have been to the action I have read about for the last few years.

He measures success in a very simple way:

1. Disciples making disciples

2. Leaders making leaders

3. Churches making churches

Reproduction. That's success in the Kingdom. So that more people would know of Jesus and the glory of God will cover the earth.

I learned a lot this week. A LOT! But, if I had to tell you the single most transformational thing I learned, it is this:

Prayer is our only hope! It is the foundation on which the house Jesus is building will stand. Nothing of significance happens without it. Most of us are terribly weak at prayer. We prop our feet up, sip our coffee, take short naps, and call it prayer. We need God to fill us up to overflowing through prayer.

Pastor John has been used mightily by God. I promise you. It is the real deal. But, get this: he prays 3-5 hours a DAY! And he has mobilized a prayer network of 3,000-4,000 intercessors. NO WONDER they are taking a continent for Jesus.  You and I can do it too, if we would only pray!

Lord, help us not to look at anyone else right now, but to start praying ourselves.

4 Challenges from Jesus

Here are the four most crucial challenges to us from our Lord Jesus: The evangelistic challenges:

Mark 16:15: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

Luke 24:47: “...that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

The discipling challenge:

Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

The missional challenges:

John 17:18: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

John 20:21: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

The global challenge:

Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Reproduction or Death. Your Call.

If a species of animals stops mating and reproducing, it becomes extinct. If everyone in your family line stops making babies, your family tree will not expand anymore.

This is a natural and inarguable fact of life. Non-reproduction ends in non-growth and ultimately death.

Now, let me shift to the gospel and the mission of God. We are asked to go and make disciples. We know that God wants his church to go everywhere! And he wants every single person and nation to meet him and love him.

THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN WITHOUT REPRODUCTION! Another word for reproduction is multiplication.

A leader is not a leader unless he is making other leaders.

A prophet is not a prophet unless he is making other prophets.

An apostle is not an apostle if he is not making other apostles.

A disciple is not a disciples if he is not making other disciples.

A church is not a church if it is not making other churches.

Success in the kingdom = Reproduction and Multiplication.

20,000 people in a church is not success. Replication of leaders and churches is. Who cares that you have 500 or 50,000 people in your church if it is not reproducing. Give me 10 people that treasure and live reproduction and they will leave that group of 50,000 in the dust.

I was in a meeting recently with David Watson and he said this: "I will not disciple anyone who is not discipling others.  Reproduction is a value and I will not violate it. If you are not reproducing, you do not get my time." //WOW!

Reproduction is one of the main reasons that my heart has become so attracted to simple church structures and relational disciple making.  IT IS REPRODUCIBLE!

This really has me thinking.  What do you think? How are you doing at multiplication in your church and life?

Video: Church. 3 Loves.

10 Characteristics of Church Planting Movements

Few things get me more excited than the hope and thrill of major, massive movements toward Jesus on earth. And over the last number of years, there has been unprecedented fruit in the world through what have been called "church planting movements". A basic common definition of a church planting movement by most missiologists would be:

"A rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment."

David Watson defines it even further HERE. He says that:

A Church Planting Movement is an indigenously led Gospel Planting and obedience-based discipleship process that has resulted in a minimum of 100 new locally initiated and led churches, three generations deep, within two years. There is trained leadership in each church, and each leader relates to a mentor. Every-Member obedience-based discipleship that leads to ministry in the community is the norm for all new Believers and leaders. The outsider who may have initiated/catalyzed the process is not considered the first generation. The outside leader may maintain a mentoring relationship with the growing leadership of the movement.

This definition includes leadership, discipleship, ministry, breadth, depth, and time. Less than 100 churches, regardless of generations, do not constitute a CPM. More than 100 churches, but not at least 3 generations deep, is not a CPM. It has to happen within two years or it does not qualify. The two years can count from the initiation of the work, or count back from a given point in time. If counting back, 3 new generations must be demonstrated. If the work is not locally initiated, locally led, and obedience-based, and ministry-producing it is not a CPM.

According to significant global missions leaders who are responsible for some of this stuff (and who I have had the privilege of meeting this year), there are approximately 120 verified church planting movements on earth today: 35 in China, 35 in India, 25 in East Africa and 25 in West Africa. These movements represent millions of simple, Biblical churches.

Finally, I have referenced several CPM characteristic lists and came up with my own compilation. Following are 10 key characteristics to church planting movements:

1. Crazy fervent prayer
2. Passionate, fearless and abundant gospel sowing
3. Scriptural authority through Self-Discovery and community Bible discernment.
4. Led by Local leaders, not outsiders. Authority is decentralized making it difficult to identify a "top leader." (this ensures Jesus the glory more easily)
5. Radical Obedience-Based Discipleship focus.
6. Size is small and structure is simple churches (and among natural communities)
7. Churches plant churches intentionally (in their DNA from start) and quickly (1-6 months max).
8. Passionate and creative worship in the heart language.
9. Rapid, fairly chaotic growth that is often uncountable.
10. Suffering and sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.

If you are interested, here is a video  on CPMs that you may appreciate: Click here. 

I left my church last Sunday!

My oh my oh my oh my how things in my life have changed in 16 months.  I feel like I have had a heart and mind transplant. 

All my life church had a Pastor or two that led the show. If and when they left, it was a big deal. Huge deal, even. Mass sadness.

2 years ago next week, I announced to a congregation I led and loved that I would be leaving them.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever done!

Then, I moved to Africa to learn what this simple church thing is all about.

I found out that a major value of simple church is to find people of peace (Luke 10) and have THEM gather and lead their peers and families. (often they are not even Christians---but they lead) And this is church, too.

Then, I learned this: the faster you leave them, the better. If you are not out of the way in less than three months (some say one month), the DNA gets watered down and the probability of the group ever making it without you is slim.  And it darn sure will not reproduce, because no one will want to leave the "main man". (Note: When I say leave, I do not mean that we leave relationship. You must stay in relationship and disciple the leader, but you do not attend the DBS or Church gathering.)

Exactly one year ago, me and my close friend, Viktor the German started a church with Mozambican men (they lead, but we still attend). Four weeks ago, we announced to them that we would be leaving them soon- a year after our journey started.

Last Sunday, we left them. It was their first meeting without us. They thrived! One of them sent me an SMS saying "It was unbelievable!"

Do I miss having front row seats to watching these guys grow in Jesus? You bet I do! But is this about me? No!

I want to see movements to Jesus, and that means I will need to get out of the way and let the locals lead and reproduce solid gospel DNA without outsider influence. And this is one of the sacrifices we must gladly make for the Kingdom!

Here is a tool we use that will help you...we call it MAWL:

1. Model- you do it.
2. Assist- they help you do it.
3. Watch- you watch them do it.
4. Leave- you leave them to do it.

(This is how you leave a church in 4 weeks. And this is happening all over the world!!)

So, I left my church this weekend.  I miss them, but I am excited for what is on the horizon for them.

Would you pray with me that this church reproduces within the next 2 months? That is our dream.

Join me in May and June!

Hey Friends! I want to publicly invite you to join me for a few teaching and resourcing events that I will be leading in May and June when I am stateside.

If you are interested in church, mission, discipleship, simplicity, Africa, me, or our family, coffee, etc....come on out! Here are the best interactive environments I will be giving input into this trip:

1. Baltimore, MD- Saturday, May 19, 9am-1pm at the Ethiopian Evangelical Church located at 8025A Liberty Road, Baltimore Maryland (see image below)
2. Lancaster, PA- Saturday, June 2, 9am-3pm at Vision Columbia located at 291 South 4th Street, Columbia, Pennsylvania (see image below)
3. Pittsburgh, PA- Sunday, June 3, 2pm-6pm at Crossway Community Church located at 109 Davis Road in Valencia, Pennsylvania (email me if you plan to come to this one)

Please come!

Church Planting.Noah Kaye.2012

I will also be speaking other places.  Read about them HERE!

Don't Need Church for Community

I was watching a video today (this one HERE - fairly insightful) when I heard a guy say this: "People do not need church for community. They can get community in plenty of other places. They do not need church for tribal identity. They can get tribal identity from many other places." 

I agree. Kinda. And it got me thinking.

We believe that church is three loves:

1. Love for God (worship)
2. Love for others (community)
3. Love for the lost (mission)

The problem with this approach is that indeed it is true that people can get community outside of church. Every time I drive through Masi, I see community all around me. A deeper sense of community than I have ever lived in. So, community is a basic human need, but can be attained in goth communities, at bars, at work, and in many other places under the sun.

People need church for other things, though! And I would submit that when community is a part of those other things, it's more powerful than any community you would find apart from them.

So, what do people need church for?

Worship. People need church for worship. They want to be a part of the community that is worshiping something bigger than anything on earth. They long for deep connection to the creator that has formed to them and made them in his image. They long to fill a hole in their lives that only worship of Jesus can fill.

Mission. People need church for mission. We all long to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. To join into healthy church, you join into the mission of God. People long to be a part of a community that is loving the lost, the broken, the hurting, the less fortunate, and the neglected people of the earth.

So, let me say it this way: People can get basic community almost anywhere. But, when community meets worship and mission, then you've got something very unique and with deep meaning...and God breathes on it...and we call that CHURCH.

What I don't like about Simple Church

While we were cooking dinner together tonight, Tricia and I started singing songs we grew up with in the church. Having both grown up at the same time and in AG churches, we sang many of the same songs. As we sang loudly in the kitchen, Davis just stared wondering how we learned all these songs without him! (Sometimes, I think he's convinced we had no life before him.) Then, I looked at Davis and said, "you're Mommy and Daddy grew up in a different type of church than you are growing up in and we learned lots of songs." I felt a tinge of sadness when I said it. Because I have many positive memories about church as a kid. Lots of programs and events gave me lots of feelings of involvement in something.

This caused me to reflect back on the things I appreciated about growing up in a church like that. I know that I post a lot about a new way of doing church...a way that I am deeply committed to exploring and living for many years to come. And most of what I say is positive.

But let me tell you a few things that I don't like about Simple Church:

• No music. I miss all the songs we used to sing. We don't worship God with singing much in Simple church...and when we do it can feel awkward.
• Leadership Confusion. I don't always enjoy the leadership dance of who is in charge, who is the actual leader, who is the perceived leader, etc. Oops, there is no leader. Jesus leads. Well, it doesn't always work out so perfectly...for real. Sometimes it feels clumsy, even like a game.
• Nothing's Big. Sometimes I really long for the energy & feeling of a room full of hundreds of people praising Jesus together. (We are trying to do corporate celebrations here and there, but they are not nearly as polished as a group of people that do this every week-- not that polish is the goal of church.)
• Immeasurable. The results of our life together as a church are not quite as measurable as are the results in traditional church (though, again, this is not a bad thing....perhaps it's the way it should be). You cannot gather numbers and bottom lines together to track "growth". Everything is more organic not quantifiable. Sometimes I miss assessment.

There is more, but this is start.

Note: I have neither thrown out the beautiful things I have learned in the past, nor have I embraced them as the way of the future. I also don't want you think that I am drinking simple church Kool Aid or something. I believe there are strengths for us to learn from in every type of church!  And more and more I thinking that Jesus wants to use all types, styles, shapes and sizes.

The Prophets' Story

This is a powerful video...especially appropriate to share with Muslim Brothers and Sisters.

Five Movement Killers

I dream about movements to Jesus.  I would give/am giving my life for them. I can't really define my dreams yet.  Well, I sort of can...but not here...not now....not yet. But this is a GREAT resource about church planting movements if you are interested: Click here.

Well, what we can be sure of is this...if there are things that feed and start movements, then there are also things that stop movements. I recently heard a speaker share 3 things that kill movements. I added two more. Here they are...

Five Movement Killers:

1. Big Budgets 
2. Big Programs 
3. Big Buildings 
4. Big Shots
5. Big Gatherings 

Jesus, help us to do all we can to point people to you and not do anything or be anything that would stop movements to you!

Tickets to Church?

Recently, I have read about several churches in America that are so large that people need a ticket to enter for a service. Easter is fast approaching. And since they cannot fit the thousands of people into their multiple locations, people need to get their ticket if they expect to attend. 

Let's imagine that someone gets a ticket to church before they run out of available tickets...what is it that they receive? Basically...

1. They get to enter the building where a service is held. 
2. They get a seat - and will sit in it quietly for 90 minutes. 
3. They get awesome music by a talented band. 
4. They get an inspiring talk by the well known leader of the church. 
5. They may even get some type of spiritual nudge or food. 

I got to thinking...

Imagine a church of 2,500 people in a city of 250,000 people. Imagine that the church's desire is to reach every person in their city with the gospel. Now imagine that they all come to your church this Sunday. Imagine that they don't have a ticket. Where will you seat them? Nevermind seating, how on earth would you ever begin to disciple them? I guess they just go home. 

Ok, so they won't all come. What if only half come? 150,000 people. Same problem. Same questions. What do we do? What if only a shabby 10% come? 25,000 people! Same problem. Same questions. What if even just 1% come? 2,500 people show up on top of the 2,500 you already barely hold? We are still in a big jam! Are we ready? Where will they sit? How would we respond faithfully to disciple them? Is our "church" ready for this? 

The structure, strategy and function of many churches on earth today tell me two things:
1. They do NOT want to reach their whole city. 
2. They don't take the Jesus & the New Testament seriously. His commands are just suggestions. 

What are some ways that a church could prepare itself to reach all 250,000 people in its city? Is there a structure or strategy that could make this happen? 

Jesus said he wants us all-- all nations-- not just those with tickets. 

How? 

For goodness sake, enough about church growth already!

I want to take a moment to tell you about one of the most major changes in my heart and views in the last year. I mean...MAJOR. 

Warning: this post is a tad hyper.  Please bear with me. I do this from time to time. ;-)

Most of you know that I was a Pastor for almost 7 years before moving to Africa where we now serve. What you may not know is that my sense of value, worth and ability as a Pastor rested mainly on how many total human bodies decided to get up and come to our "church building" on Sunday morning between 10:30am and Noon.  In addition to the number of heads, my week would feel high or low based on whether there was more or less than $8,000 in the offering that Sunday. Our planning sprouted from these two numbers.  Our board focussed on these two numbers. My eyes and heart lived for these two numbers. My emotions were linked to these two numbers.

Conference after conference, book after book focussed in one way or another on growing your church...because growth=health and bigger=better. (God help us and forgive us, please.)  And I am NOT saying that small is good and big is bad.  I AM saying that size is not to be our focus.

In the last year I have been on a journey of redefining what church really is anyway, and the reality I just expalined to you above has become totally embarassing and completely hilarious, in retrospect.

Let me say something clearly and boldy that will not make me very popular (I have read many Pastors blogs and tweets about why they proudly count and love numbers because God loves numbers because he loves people and people are numbers....not convinced of pure motivation...sorry):

For goodness sake, enough about church growth already!! More people coming to your church building on a Sunday morning is a pathetic and small minded goal to live for. We can do better.  We must do better. The Bible invites to a much larger dream! 

The Bible does not ask you to grow a church! HE builds His church (Matt. 16:18), GOD brings the increase (I Cor. 3:6), the LORD added daily to their numbers those who were being saved (Acts 2:47), and Jesus say that "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me (John 12:32).

Besides, when we count it, we are all the more tempted to take the credit for it. Being faithful is our task. Not being big! Faithful obedience is up to us. Size is up to God. 

I had this strong realization of the change in my own life about a month ago.  I went into Masi to have church with a group that usually numbers about 10 in size. We were supposed to start at about 10:30am.  By 11am, only 3 guys were present. So I thought (and said): "Hey, I kinda hope no one else comes this morning becuase this will be a sweet opportunity for us to go deep today into the scriptures and really work at personally applying them and holding each other acountable." Then I thought (but did not say): "Did you hear yourself just now? 2 years ago, if half of your 'church' did'nt show up, you would have been devestated. Now, you are rejoicing?!"

Look, I am not judging you.  I am just telling you that God has judged me, convicted me and changed me...and I hope that I never again measure success in numbers. I long to be a part of sometihng...

• Too deep to count
• Too broad to count
• Too far to count 
• Too big to count
• Too chaotic to count
• Too natural to count
• Too organic to count
• Too humble to count 
• Too busy to count
• Giving too many people away to count!!

Do I want big? You better believe it! Jesus wants big. And I want He wants. The Father wants the Son to be worshipped by all the people of the earth...every nation...and for his glory to cover the earth like the waters cover the sea.

How about we leave this size thing up to God and start radically loving Jesus, purley loving others and sacrificailly loving the lost so we can see the Father's dreams come true on earth?

Just an idea.