Thoughts of why God is calling us to Mexico City

There are many things that God has aligned to bring us to Mexico City this coming fall. The great size of the city, the Spirit moving in our hearts, the potential of one of the largest cities in the world seeing supernatural growth and expansion of the Gospel and also the vision of where we are going and the discontent of what we have done, as expressed by the National Campus Director of Mexico, Steve Morgan.

Steve says it well in Can we be content with incremental growth?

Categories: MexicoCity, Movements

Photos from November

Categories: photos

Yeah, It really worked

Some of you may have been wondering about that stupid free ipod link to the right. Well to let you all in on a secret. Two days ago I received my free black 30G video ipod. Oops I lied, it cost me $1. I too was an unbeliever before, now I have been converted to believing there are cool things in life for virtually free.

Great words from John White - House Church Coach

About two months ago I bumped into John White, Dawn Ministries Denver, and I began getting some of his coaching emails about house church. I had to cut and paste the most recent one as it just provides simple yet compelling thoughts on church.

Dear Church,
The concept of "prevenience" was at the foundation of Jesus' ministry. ("Prevenience": referring to that which goes before or precedes)

He said, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." (Jn. 5:19)

"... I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." (Jn. 8:28)
"For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it." (Jn. 12:49)

Jesus, the very Son of God, did nothing (zero/nada) on his own initiative. He spoke nothing on His own initiative. The Father initiated, Jesus responded. Jesus believed that His Father was prevenient. Every healing, every miracle, every teaching was initiated by the Father and carried out by Jesus.

His entire plan consisted of this:

1. See what the Father is doing and do that.
2. Hear what the Father is saying and say that.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

The "program model" assumes that the Prevenient Creator (who never made two snow flakes alike) will always follow the same format when His children come together. This model requires that we do the planning. We develop the agenda. Then, we ask God to bless it. This model results in church that is usually orderly (by our definition) but also often sterile.

The "prevenience model" assumes only that the Prevenient Creator is already at work before His children gather for church. This model requires that we see/hear what the Father is doing/saying and then ask Him how we are to respond. We surrender our agenda and look for His. This model results in church that is sometimes messy (by our definition) but also often exhilaratingly alive and fruitful.

Returning to the New Testament model of church does not just mean "doing church" in a house. It also means returning to the reality of Jesus being both present and prevenient.

He is no longer the passive "honored guest" for whom we perform.
He is "the Master of ceremonies".

He runs the show. He sets the agenda.
And, that changes everything.
John

John WhiteHouse Church CoachDenver, CO.Website: http://www.dawnministries.org/globalministries/north%20america.htm Blog: http://housechurchchronicles.com

Praying Luke 10:2b

Every believer a church planter.

Every home a church.

Every church building a training center.

I survived - I'm not dying

This past Sunday Jonathan walked into my bedroom, looked at me and proclaimed, "Mom, dad is dying!" I was deathly ill. I think for the first time I experienced the horrible thing called strep throat. Saturday morning after arriving back from a wonderful week with family and friends in So.Cal. I woke up with pain in my neck, throat and head. I survived being out of bed until about 10am and then laid and writhed in pain in bed until about 5pm. What a day; a day planned for hanging up Christmas lights and decoration but ended up in bed.

Sunday morning Christine told me I must see a Dr. if it was the same. Well it was worse. I thought I was going to die, so maybe Jonathan was right. Finally after our wonderful family Dr. responded on call from Church and called in my meds and sent me to the lab (yes I had strep) I was beginning to be healed. That day I made it out of bed around 4pm. The saddest part of Sunday was it was Benjamin's 5th birthday. He was extremely gracious and we're having another party on Saturday. I finally made it back to work on Tues, battling lingering affects of a damaged throat. What a journey.

In all of it Christine was the wonderful, gracious, serving wife. Wow, she made the house run, took care of a 230 lb. whining husband. And at this point the Lord spared the rest of the family from the pain.

Monday afternoon after no longer being contagious I played with Isa. She makes my world turn upside down. I was playing ball with her on the hardwood floors (I'm still learning how to play with a girl) and then started reading a book while laying on my stomach. She would crawl over my arms and then sit right in front of my head and lean back and look at me with a smile. I'm toast. She has got me all wrapped up. I never never knew how much a little girl would change my world.

So, I'm not dying. Good news for me and hopefully a handful of others. I'm loving this week, ministry, staff, students, and about to get home and pull out the Christmas stuff and enjoy the family.