I am sitting in my hotel in Minneapolis (about to head for the airport), reflecting on how much more Kingdom work is going on than we think. Never assume that you have a handle on all the movements and layers of movements that create the diverse currents of God's Work in the World. An example is the Evangelical Free Church Leadership Conference I just spoke to yesterday. Unless you are from the midwest, or happen to remember that Chuck Swindoll built an enormous EvFree church in Fullerton, CA, you just may not know about them. Their denominational name is long and quite a mouthful, so it is often left out of the names of their churches, which makes their Brand fairly invisible.
I am always so encouraged to be around these people. Like most movements, the larger church may not even know they exist, but the guys I have met are kingdom minded, passionate about Jesus, committed to church planting, and they have some very encouraging success stories.
Mark RIce from Journey Church in Kingman, AZ. (Like RIck Warren, he looks more like a middle aged mail carrier.) He was a worship pastor for 33 years when he experienced a life-changing redirect: his pastor and family were killed in an auto accident; he started preaching, his gifts were affirmed; he said yes to God's invite into a new chapter in his life. A graduate of Biola, he went back to seminary and then a couple years ago started a church in this town of 40,000 where only 4K go to church. In two years he has seen over 100 adults come to faith. That's about 20% of his congregation. Very cool stories.
Luther Eatman from Bridge of Hope Community Church in Kansas City. Another middle aged dude, only this guy has arms the size of my legs (okay my legs are skinny, maybe his arms are larger.) He has a subwoofer voice, this former crack addict, pimp, thief, and all around bad guy, had a dramatic conversion, went to seminary, and now leads a church of people nobody else wanted. And his ministry is a transformational community including four homes for single women and Straight and Narrow house for single men. He could write the book on "Missional Living" but he is too busy living missionally.
West Brazelton from Grace Bible Church in Houston, TX. This guy started his church in the Heights, known as one of the more diverse, at risk communities of Houston. Starting in 2003, the church has grown to over 700, and they have developed this exotic new idea: set a high expectation that a member of their community is supposed to grow to the "measure of the stature which is the fullness of Christ." Yes, they focus on disciple making. New idea, huh?
None of these men are supermen. None is very charismatic. They are ordninary men doing extraordinary work.
Lessons:
1. God is doing more than we think. We just tend to be
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