One thing that has been helpful for me as we seek to lay the foundation for an obedience-based faith movement (a.k.a. Church Planting Movement) is acknowledging the myth of “rapid” reproduction.

My mind is blown by the exponential growth of church planting movements around the globe.  David Watson reminds onlookers that it took 2 to 4 years in India, for example, to get to the point where existing social units surrendered to Christ and began multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and churches.  I think it will take longer in the U.S. given other obstacles we face here.  (David Watson has written a brief article on the myth of rapid reproduction on his blog.  To read it, click here.)

The church planting movements around the world give the appearance of rapid growth because of the exponential growth, not the reproduction.  Laying a foundation for such a movement means years of investment in the training of leaders.  Reproduction therefore is slow.  With the exception of divine accelerations, it is always slow.

Categories: the how
Comments Off

If you are called to be a Christian leader/pastor/missionary/etc, that does not automatically mean God is asking you to get paid for it. 

“Who should the church pay to serve?”  This is the question Neil Cole is thoughtfully addressing from a biblical point of view in his current series of blog posts. If you are considering a career as a full-time paid minister or missionary, PLEASE take the 10 minutes to read this first!   Lives will be affected by your choice. 

To read Neil’s posts so far on this important topic, click below:

Who Should the Church Pay to Serve?

Who Should the Church Pay: The role of the apostle

Who Should the Church Pay: The true widow

Who Should the Church Pay: Double honor to the preachers and teachers

Who Should the Church Pay: What about pastors?

Who Should the Church Pay: Start with nothing but God!

Categories: the how
Comments Off

Thoughts on strategy from a recent Way of Life Village gathering…

When we started out on this mission we told people why East Hollywood is a strategic place for us to share and demonstrate the message of Jesus Christ. People are closed to religion but open to spirituality.  Since so many people in E-Ho have relationships in other areas of the city and globe, as E-Ho residents discover the joys of surrendering to Christ they have the potential to share this new life with people in areas we could never touch ourselves.  For this reason, I still believe this place is “strategic.” (Only God knows what really will happen, though.)

But those of us in Way of Life Village also like to say that any place can become strategic as long as Christ’s followers are willing to arrange their lifestyles accordingly.

Does God call certain people to live and minister in certain cities and countries at certain times in history because “the fields are white for the harvest?”

If so, does that mean God has given up on the other places that aren’t “hot spots” right now in human opinion? 

Churches in the U.S. get excited about sending missionaries and church planters to foreign countries and our nations “inner city” neighborhoods. Yet many of these same churches lack zeal for missions done in their own communities where they could have the most influence.

God wants people to experience salvation in the United States and Asia. Outside the “10/40 Window” and inside it. In the bus stop of dusty Barstow (a small town in the California desert) and the urban ghettos of Los Angeles.

Paid missionaries and their sending churches and agencies will continue to ask themselves, “Is this a strategic place for us to be right now?” I support that thinking.

But I wish all Christians everywhere would ask themselves, “How are we living strategically in the place we’re in?”

The Great Commission as I understand it is not a divine order to send a few Christian missionaries away to a few “strategic places.” As I intrepret these words of Jesus, it is a call to live strategically and intentionally for the gospel, making disciples of all ethnic peoples as we go. Some of us will end up in other places of the world as we respond to this call. Others of us will stay right where we are. But for all of us, joining Jesus in mission will become a way of life.

Categories: the how
1 Comment »

[Minor editing to this article has occurred since it originally was posted.]

What we’re doing in LA is an experiment. Some churches don’t like to support experiments. 

Show me more… »

Categories: the how
Comments Off

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a couple months.  There are some Bahá’í missionaries who come to our neighborhood every Monday night to convert all of us to the Bahá’í Faith

Show me more… »

Categories: stories, the how
Comments Off

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.   

Categories: stories, the how
2 Comments »

While we were doing a filming project this weekend, we interviewed a neighbor whom I will call Devon.  He told me that he doesn’t like religions but ever since he and his wife met our two families they have started to pray together for their meals.  He also shared that he and his wife want to spend more time with us because they want their family to be more like ours, and he said he wants to read the Bible together with me.  So the next day he invited our families (and Hannah’s family) to the park.  While the women played with the kids, Devon and I sat under a shady tree and started our first Discovery Bible Study, something he wants to continue with his wife the next time we meet.  

Looking back, Devon said his curiosity began when he took his sons trick-or-treating at our home.  Right away Ed, Katie, Meri and I invited them to come to our Halloween party where we were playing children’s games and serving popcorn and apple cider.  They knocked on many doors that night to trick-or-treat, but Devon got the feeling we are “good people to be around.”  From that simple interaction a mutual friendship began, in which we played and ate meals together, listened to each other’s stories, and introduced spiritual topics of conversation.  Meanwhile, we’ve been praying and fasting, and asking others to pray, too, for Devon and his household.  Then something mysterious and beyond our control began to happen in their hearts.  Now Devon has demonstrated a desire to expose himself and his family to the Word of God.     

Please keep Devon and his family in your prayers…

Categories: stories, the how
3 Comments »