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By the way, I’ll be away from the computer for the next 10 days so I’d really love to read and respond to your comments on this when I get back online on July 7.

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In addition to sharing God’s Word in written and spoken form, we find that sharing God’s Word in bodily form is key to following Jesus as a way of life.  As the ‘Body of Christ’ we are to embody Christ’s message, that is, show people what it looks like when God’s Word is put into practice day in and day out.  

We don’t do this without error, but we can do it genuinely and earnestly, admitting our own sin and rebellion against God along the way.  Sharing God’s Word in bodily form almost always begins before we share God’s Word in written or spoken form, and it should continue indefinitely in a relationship.  For if the message is not lived out in our lives, then the words we say are empty.  

Fortunately, there almost is no limit to how one can share God’s Word in bodily form.  I’ve noticed we have made Christ attractive in Los Angeles when we dealt with disappointment and hardship with both self-incriminating transparency and divine power and hope.  We’ve made Jesus Christ attractive by how we handled money and material things.  By how we showed real concern for the poor and oppressed.  By how we resolved a conflict with love and respect.  By the way we asked for forgiveness and offered it.  By how we made amends.  By how we made decisions around what will honor or reflect the character of our Creator and Savior.  By how we showed hospitality.  By how we respected and loved peoples of all ethnicities and walks of life.  By how we served and loved someone sacrificially.  By how we loved one another.  By how we relied on others, including those who don’t share our commitment to Jesus, for help and advice.  By how we listened.  By how we interacted with our children.  The list goes on.   And I’m sure you could add your own experiences to the list.

The point is, we don’t do any of this perfectly, but sharing the Word of God in bodily form is part of Christ’s message and mission.  Indeed, we are supposed to be part of His message.  If ”Christ in us” makes no difference then what’s the difference?  

God’s Word in written/spoken form.  God’s Word in bodily form.  You can’t have one without the other. 

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We share God’s Word in written form.  For those who can read and like to read.   

We also share it in spoken form.  Many people can’t read and even some educated people prefer not to read.  Oral tradition is alive and well in Los Angeles. 

This is one of the reasons I like to tell my kids stories about God from scripture (as well as from my own life) during breakfast and ask them to tell it back to me in their own words.  If they can tell it back to me, and in their own words, then they know it.  They also are more prepared to share their own stories of God with others.   

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Our testimony time at the Kairos Summit went very well.  God blessed Meri and me to communicate the powerful work that he is doing in Los Angeles - at least the part of his activity we are getting to see and be part of.

We spoke to a group of twenty or more church leaders who are curious about church planting and asking what it’s going to take for their established churches to make a difference in the Southwest region of the country.

So Meri and I shared the inspiring story of what’s been happening since an amazing little church in Hollywood tithed two of its families to bring hope to people who will ‘never come to us.’  And how two other established churches are partnering in that effort.  A couple of the church leaders who heard our story asked if Meredith and I would visit their congregations and give the same talk there.  A few others asked if there was any way they could help us or participate in what we do. 

I find we are more persuasive when my wife and I speak together.  First of all, she is a passionate and articulate speaker.  Your heart grows when you hear Meri speak from hers.

Secondly, we make a dynamic team.  I should know.  We just celebrated twelve years of adventure (aka marriage) together on May 25!   

Thirdly, I find there is just something powerful about hearing from the wife/mom that helps it register in people’s minds that our stories about God’s movement in the world actually are real and believable.   

I am thankful for my fellow life adventurer.  And she and I are eternally grateful to the One whose miraculous Story we get to tell!

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Today and tomorrow we will attend a Kairos-hosted summit of church leaders who are either supporting or contemplating supporting the starting of church planting movements in the Southwest U.S.

The invitees are really interesting people whose churches have a lot to contribute to this missionary effort.  They come from churches that originated through the ‘Restoration Movement’ which began in the U.S. 200 years ago.  I’m not an expert on the Restoration Movement but having grown up in RM-style churches, I picked up a few things along the way.  As I understand it, the instigators of this movement wanted Christians everywhere to take a hard look at what Christianity had become by that time, with all its divisions and extra-biblical criteria, and “restore” it wherever needed to how God meant it to be.  They started reading the Bible for themselves and as a result began lowering the bar for how to do church and raising the bar for what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  The early day RM leaders were known for saying they were “Christians only, and not the only Christians.”  They also were known for modeling that literally anyone can read Scripture and hear from God (no priest or pastor required).  They believed anyone can minister and lead in Jesus’ name (no seminary degrees required).  And they practiced autonomous church government where each new congregation discerns for itself how the people will be and do church according to the truths they are discovering together in Scripture (rather than taking instructions from an overarching denominational board). 

This kind of autonomy (a better word might be inter-dependence), when done well, is essential to a church planting movement. My friend Scott Lambert, who is coordinating the Kairos summit, says he wants present-day church leaders to realize the richness of their RM heritage and yet overcome the “radical autonomy” that some of their churches have defaulted to.  I know what Scott is talking about.  I have witnessed modern day RM-style churches living in isolation from one another, which slowed our learning curve and impact as ambassadors for Christ.  And yet these same churches have so much to give in the way of missions.  I am optimistic that churches can maintain their autonomy and still work together with other churches; accepting the differences of other Jesus-followers we can unite in love and mission.  It is time to put our heads and resources together to make a bigger difference in the world.  As I understand it, this summit is meant to be one big soul-searching and brainstorming session toward that end.  May God’s hand of blessing be on it.

So where do we come in?  Kairos has asked us, along with other domestic missionaries, to share our story (the 10-minute version) in between brainstorming sessions.  Our story is cool because three unique churches, who do not worship alike or look alike, are partnering together to support our work in Los Angeles which differs from all three of them!  And yet in each church Jesus Christ is Lord.  Please pray that our story and the stories of the other missionaries present at this summit will reveal how God is moving and changing the world through ordinary people working together.  Pray we will inspire established churches to collaborate to reach God’s missing people in their region.  Pray we will inspire them to take the risks involved, to make the sacrifices necessary, including tithing some of their own people, as churches did with us, to start church planting movements.  We can creatively work together to bring Christ’s love, hope, justice and transformation to the growing number of people in our communities who will ‘never come to us.’

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