Expectation Blog

back over here

2011-01-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be back over here for the time being until we start another season of discussions at ExLG. I am regularly meeting with a few church planter in video/audio conferencing, and am open to meeting with others if that would be helpful. I'll be posting occasionally here as well.

I've Moved!

2010-09-25T10:07:00.001-07:00

I've moved blog locations and am now focusing time and energy on http://exlg.blogspot.com/ - come join me there and join in on a learning group discussion!!

Pagan Christianity, By Frank Viola and George Barna

2010-09-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

(review by Dan Smith)
Introduction

Why do we do the things we do in church? Are our practices based on sound scriptural doctrine or are they a mixture of traditions gleaned from culture through the years and solidified by tradition? What if church as we know it today has little or no resemblance to the church Jesus founded in the first century. This controversial "what if" is the basis of Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna.

Chapter One

Have We Really Been Doing It By the Book?

Almost everything we do in modern churches has no basis in the Bible. Although we give lip service to being biblical churches there are many questions we have never thought to ask. This book is
not intended to be an excuse for the rebellious to wreak havoc on the church but is intended to be a terrifying invitation for those who love the church to examine our practices and beliefs.

Chapter Two

The Church Building: Inheriting the Edifice Complex

Ancient Judaism centered on three elements: temple, priests, and sacrifices. Pagan religions also focused on these three things. Only Christianity did away with all these things when Christ founded the church. In the fourth century under the influence of Constantine all three Jewish/Pagan elements were added back into christian practice. This created a major non-scriptural influence on the church that remains to this day. Most people do not differentiate between the church and the building. Steeple, pulpit, pew, and balcony are all extra-biblical additions to the church that have minimized relationship and increased passivity in God's people. All while dramatically increasing overhead to the cost of doing church.

Chapter Three

The Order of Worship: Sunday Mornings Set in Concrete

From orthodox high churches to evangelical low churches to cutting edge "contemporary" churches we find virtually the same proscribed liturgy.

This consists of: greeting, prayer or scripture reading, song service, announcements, offering, sermon,communion (or prayer ministry) and the benediction. This order of worship, set largely in the fourth century by the Roman catholic church gradually evolved throughout the years to what we experience today. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, the Puritans, the Methodists, Moody, and the Pentecostals all made contributions but left the medieval structure essentially unchanged. This order of worship bears little resemblance to the pattern set by Christ and the early church. This order of worship 1) Represses mutual participation 2) Strangles the headship of Christ 3) is shamefully boring, and 4) Actually hinders spiritual growth.

Chapter Four

The Sermon: Protestantisms Most Sacred Cow

The sermon is the most sacrosanct of protestant practices. The sermon actually detracts from the very purpose for which Christ designed the church gathering. Unlike sermons delivered in the Bible, sermons today are: a regular occurrence delivered by the same person to a passive audience in a cultivated form of speech. The protestant sermon comes more from Greek exposition than scriptural example. This harms the church by 1) making the preacher the prime performer in the church service 2) stalemating spiritual growth 3) preserving the unbiblical clergy mentality. 4)de-skilling rather than equipping the saints 5) and is often impractical.

Chapter Five

The Pastor: Obstacle to Every-Member Functioning

The pastor is the fundamental figure of the protestant church. Without a pastor most protestant churches would panic. Unfortunately there is not a single verse in the New testament that supports the existence of the modern day pastor. The modern idea of a pastor came as a replacement for the Roman Catholic priest. The priest emerged from the Roman-Greco idea of hierarchy and was adopted by Constantine in the fourth century. The pastor/clergy distinction has done immeasurable damage to both the church and to pastors themselves.

Chapter Six

Sunday Morning Costumes: Covering Up the Problem

"Beware of those who like to walk around in long robes." Jesus Christ, Luke 20:46. Dressing up for church is a relatively recent phenomena. While clothes selection for church is not a burning issue it reflects the false division between secular and sacred and perpetuates the practice of hiding our real selves when we go to church. It also goes against the primitive simplicity of the early church.

Chapter Seven

Ministers of Music: Clergy Set to Music

Walk into any church and you will find the music lead by a choir, worship team, or music director. This is in stark contrast to New Testament teaching that each one brings a song. Christian choirs were a concept borrowed from Greek dramas and Roman Customs. Congregational worship was banned in the fourth century but returned to the church with the protestant reformation. To this day worship and praise singing is proscribed by specialists in the church lending again to the passivity of the majority of the saints.

Chapter Eight

Tithing and Clergy Salaries: Sore Spots on the Wallet

Is tithing biblical? Yes. Is it Christian? There is no New Testament justification for the tithe. On the contrary. Tithing was not mentioned in Christian writings until the third century. If a believer wants to tithe out of personal conviction that is fine. It only becomes a problem when it is taught as a biblical command for the church. Nor is the clergy salary supported by New testament teaching. Giving pastors salaries elevates them above the rest of God's people. It also encourages pastors to be man-pleasers.

Chapter Nine

Baptism and the Lord's Supper: Diluting the Sacraments

Typically most baptisms are separated from conversion by a great length of time. In the early church converts were baptized immediately upon believing. In our day the "sinners prayer" has replaced baptism as a sacrament. The Lord's supper began as a celebratory meal that all the saints participated in when they met. Now the Lord's supper is a bite size cracker and a shot of grape juice taken in a somber or glum mood under the supervision of a professional clergyman.

Chapter Ten

Christian Education: Swelling the Cranium

Does formal Christian education qualify a person to do the work of the ministry? This idea is deeply ingrained in the church today.In the first century however Christian leaders were trained in two ways: 1) by living in shared life with other believers 2) under the tutelage of an older seasoned leader. In church history there have been four stages of theological education: episcopal, monastic, scholastic, and seminarian. Seminaries, Bible colleges, Sunday schools, and youth pastors are all post scriptural concepts. Bible knowledge does not equal spiritual life.

Chapter Eleven

Reapproaching the New Testament: The Bible is Not a Jigsaw Puzzle

The reason we Christians have been able to follow Sunday ritual without recognizing that it is unscriptural is because we have approached the New testament in the wrong way. We have forgotten to take the New Testament as a whole and have served it up as a dish of fragmented thoughts. We need to look again at the order of the New Testament, especially the letters of Paul to understand how the church developed. We need to do away with the "clipboard" approach to studying the New Testament.

Chapter Twelve

A Second Glance at the Savior: Jesus, the Revolutionary

A rebel attempts to change the past. A revolutionary attempts to change the future. Why so hard on the church in this book? Because Jesus wants to use his church to bring drastic change to this world. The early Church 1) was intensely Christ centered 2) had no fixed order of worship 3) lived as a face-to-face community 4) was the only religion void of ritual, clergy, and sacred buildings 5) was organic not organizational 6) did not build Bible colleges or seminaries and 7) did not divide itself into denominations. Is this the church we see today?

Conclusion

This book is not for the faint of heart. I became profoundly disturbed by reading this book, not because I disagreed with it but because I saw that it was true. Ultimately it led me out of the professional ministry and the institutional church.

Pagan Christianity

Introduction

Chapter One

Have We Really Been Doing It By the Book?

Almost everything we do in modern churches has no basis in the Bible. Although we give lip service to being biblical churches there are many questions we have never thought to ask. This book is not intended to be an excuse for the rebellious to wreak havoc on the church but is intended to be a terrifying invitation for those who love the church to examine our practices and beliefs.

Chapter Two

The Church Building: Inheriting the Edifice Complex

Chapter Three

The Order of Worship: Sunday Mornings Set in Concrete

From orthodox high churches to evangelical low churches to cutting edge "contemporary" churches we find virtually the same proscribed liturgy.

Chapter Four

The Sermon: Protestantisms Most Sacred Cow

Chapter Five

The Pastor: Obstacle to Every-Member Functioning

Chapter Six

Sunday Morning Costumes: Covering Up the Problem

Chapter Seven

Ministers of Music: Clergy Set to Music

Chapter Eight

Tithing and Clergy Salaries: Sore Spots on the Wallet

Chapter Nine

Baptism and the Lord's Supper: Diluting the Sacraments

Chapter Ten

Christian Education: Swelling the Cranium

Chapter Eleven

Reapproaching the New Testament: The Bible is Not a Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter Twelve

A Second Glance at the Savior: Jesus, the Revolutionary

Conclusion

Are you a Multiplier or Diminisher

2010-09-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

by Verne Harnish - The Growth Guy

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter -- Released this week, Liz Wiseman's and Greg Mckeown's book is the best how-to leadership book I've read since Kouzes' and Posner's classic The Leadership Challenge.

Are You A Multiplier or Diminisher?

The most painful leadership book I've ever read is the new bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman and Greg Mckeown. It raises a fundamental question about leadership, one that has been waiting to be named, explored, and finally addressed: As a leader, are you a multiplier or a diminisher?

In asking the question, Wiseman and Mckeown have created a new set of terms that will be with us for a very long time affecting millions. Their premise is that you're either a leader who causes everyone around you to feel and actually become smarter (multiplier) or you're one who causes everyone around you to feel and become dumber
(diminisher). It gets to the crux of leadership -- especially now that companies rely on the brains of their employees, not their backs, to stay competitive."

Genius or Genius Maker

The authors ask another important question: "Are you a genius or a genius maker?" Do you need to be the one in the room seen as having all the answers or do you draw out the genius that's within others in solving many of the complex problems facing business today?

Stephen Covey, of Seven Habits fame, makes it clear why genius makers have an edge today when he quotes management icon Peter Drucker in the foreword. Drucker notes that management in the 20th century increased the productivity of manual labor in factories fifty-fold. That was essential at a time when our economy depended more on manufacturing. "The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker," he explains.

Multipliers do this. Wiseman and Mckeown's research found that multipliers get 2.1 times more capability from their workers than diminishers. Factor in the 5% to 10% annual growth bonus they estimate because these same workers are getting smarter and more capable working for a multiplier and you get the kinds of knowledge worker productivity Drucker exclaimed is needed this century.

Impact on Family

These same multiplier effects extend to the family. Wiseman and Mckeown share the results from several studies showing how the environment parents create has a direct impact on a child's IQ.

One specific change my wife and I made, after reading Multipliers, is to avoid praising our children for their intelligence and results. For instance, we've stopped saying, "You're so good at math." The research shows that this actually decreases kids' confidence as they face tougher problems since they don't want to disappoint their parents. In many cases, they will simply avoid math altogether when the going gets tough, rather than risk looking dumb.

Instead, the research suggests it's better to praise children's hard work and effort. You might say "I appreciate the effort you're making with these math problems." This approach increases their ability to reason and to solve more difficult problems. And it creates a belief, and then a reality, that grows their confidence and intelligence.

So it's not that diminishers are necessarily mean-spirited or bad people (whew!) -- its just that they don't fully understand how their words and approaches sap energy and intelligence from their families and associates. And it's a continuum, with most of us falling somewhere in between the extremes.

Starts with Assumptions

The bulk of Wiseman and Mckeown's book focuses on how to become more of a multiplier, offering concrete how-to advice on attitudinal and behavioral changes. It starts with changing your assumptions about others as a leader.

Diminishers basically believe their people "will never figure this out without me" and tend to "use, blame, tell, dictate, and control people," according to the authors. Multipliers, in turn, believe their people "are smart and will figure this out" and tend to "develop, explore, challenge, consult, and support people."

In essence, diminishers micromanage their people; multipliers invest in their people.

5 Disciplines of Multipliers

It's no accident that some managers are multipliers. Wiseman and Mckeown frame five disciplines that help them succeed. Multipliers:

1) Attract talented people and deploy them at their highest point of contribution
2) Create an intense environment that requires people's best thinking and work
3) Define an opportunity that causes people to stretch
4) Drive sound decisions through rigorous debate
5) Give people ownership of results and invest in their success

So multipliers aren't wimps. They demand and receive outstanding results from their people. It's how you go about it that matters. Read the book and start making changes.

Role of Organizations

2010-09-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

New pastor at a trad. church - conversation with Joe Cockrum

2010-09-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Church planting movement in N. America...why hasn't it happened?

2010-09-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Should we strategize?

2010-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Church Growth

2010-09-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

transitioning to simple church

2010-09-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

missional vs. attrational, part 2 (functionality)

2010-09-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Slaves Women and Homosexuals: Explaining the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis, by William Webb

2010-09-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

(written by Ken Ochieng - put your thinking cap on before reading)

William J. Webb is a professor of New Testament at Heritage Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario. His teaching experience as well as reference to the input of faculty members and his students are ingredients that would qualify Webb to write on this controversial subject of slaves, women, and homosexuals.

In this book, William J. Webb addresses issues that many would rather leave under the carpet given the nature of sensitivity of the subject. Indeed the issues of homosexuality, and roles of women have been so divisive in the church that any attempt to address them should be lauded.

Slaves, women, and homosexuals is divided into three parts namely: i) toward a hermeneutic of cultural analysis; ii) intra-scriptural criteria; iii) extra-scriptural criteria. Each part is unique in the way it evaluates whether a text is cultural or not.

Webb walks the reader through the complexities of how to determine whether a text in the Bible is cultural or trans-cultural.

Towards this end, Webb, has postulated “redemptive – movement” hermeneutics of eighteen criteria. In each criteria, slaves, women, and homosexuals are the case studies taken through his filtering method. Each criteria is introduced with an analysis of the ‘neutral’, currently undisputed issues like slaves which most agree should be abolished although the Bible doesn’t explicitly advocate for abolition. Issues of women and homosexuals are then analyzed. Every criteria is evaluated and a conclusion made.

In the first part of this book, Webb argues that we must apply scriptures not in a static fashion but take into account the original cultural context, the biblical position itself, as well as the ultimate ethic that a redemptive reading of the biblical passages demands today.

Part two of the book has sixteen criteria that are applied in determining how cultural a text is. In summary form, Webb’s criteria in this part are: Preliminary movement (page 73); Seed ideas (page 83); Breakouts (page 91); Purpose/intent statements (page 105); Basis in fall or curse (page 110); Basis in original creation, section 1, patterns (page 123); Basis in original creation, section 2, primogeniture (page 134); Basis in new creation (page 145); Competing options (page 152); Opposition to original culture (page 157); Closely related issues (page 162); Penal code (page 172); Special instructions verses general principles (page 179); Basis in theological analogy (page 185); Contextual comparisons (page 192); Appeal to the old testament (page 201).

Part 3 of the book has the last criteria namely: Programmatic basis between two clusters (page 209); scientific and social- scientific evidence (page 221). This part deals with non- scriptural evidences as determinants of whether the teaching in the scripture is cultural or trans-cultural.

The focus of Webb’s book is redemptive-movement hermeneutics. To support his idea, he has come up with “The X →Y→ Z” Principle (Page 31). X indicates the perspective of the original culture at the time biblical passage was written, Y indicates ‘isolated words’, and Z indicates an ultimate ethic. According to him, “ the X → Y → Z” principle illustrates how numerous aspects of the biblical text were not written to establish a utopian society with complete justice and equity. They were written within a cultural framework with limited moves toward an ultimate ethic (page 31). For this reason, Webb argues that we should live out in our modern world “not the isolated words of the text but the redemptive spirit that the text reflects as read against its original culture" (page 33). Webb’s idea is that we do not stay static with the text (Y) but move towards an ultimate ethic, (Z) (page 33). To further buttress on his “X → Y → Z” principle, Webb has supplied ‘ladder of abstractions’ (page 20). Using this tool, he argues that “pragmatic factors often uncover the rationale for the ‘down ladder’ components of a biblical command where as the ultimate rationale provides the basis for ‘up the ladder’ components of a biblical command.” (page 210).

The criteria are clustered as persuasive, moderately persuasive, and inconclusive. The clustering is determined by how convincing the arguments are, with those that are weak being labelled inconclusive.

After subjecting the issues of slaves, women, and homosexuals through the eighteen criteria, Webb draws the conclusion that slavery is not right, complementary egalitarianism is the ultimate end with regards to issues of women and that the Bible condemns homosexuality.

Slaves, women, and homosexuals has a number of strengths. Webb has treated those with divergent opinions with generosity. Slaves, women, and homosexuals is well laid out, shows signs of research and the thought is coherent making the flow easy for the reader. Webb has included great tools like charts and diagrams which helps the reader in following his concepts. He has also included four appendices, bibliography and indices.

One of the apparent weaknesses of this book is that inspite of its title, the coverage given to slaves and homosexuals is marginal. It is quite apparent that the book is on roles of women in family, church, and society. The issues of slaves and homosexuals are there to disguise or veil Webb’s real agenda of pushing for complementary egalitarianism. Webb’s work also seems to work from a predetermined conclusion and would go for any “seed idea” or “break out” from the scripture, to qualify his fixed outcome. In settling for complimentary egalitarianism on the basis of redemptive movement, Webb ignored other plethora scriptures that would have significantly changed his conclusion. It might be rightly argued that the move was deliberate.

Slaves, women and homosexuals presents a huge challenge to the belief that women should be subject to their husbands. Webb believes that these teachings are for the culture of those days when the teachings were given and that in modern day culture, we should adopt “a better ethic than the one expressed in the isolated words of the text” (page 36). He doesn’t explain how this view fits with the anology that wives should submit to husbands just as the church submits to Christ (Ephesian 5: 23).

I wish I was less critical of Webb’s book. Perharps my cultural up bringing as an African have influenced my view of the book! In Africa, we get suspicious of any view that relaxes rules of what is written in scripture—part of the reason why our stand on issues of homosexuality and roles of women are seen by many as rigid. Indeed the issue of what is cultural and what is transcultural is something that scholars have to wrestle with and for this reason, Webb’s criteria is a positive move even though I do not agree with his application.

missional vs. attractional, part 1

2010-07-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Expectation Podcast - deconstruction

2010-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Missional Renaissance, by Reggie McNeal

2010-07-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Missional Renaissance

Reggie McNeal has written a great practical application book as a companion volume to his ground breaking “Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church.” In MR McNeal articulates what many of us in the simple church movement have felt for a long time. He understands just how sweeping the changes must be in order to move the church back to its original power and purpose.

Chapter 1: The Missional Renaissance

We are in a ministry environment that is rapidly changing. The emergence of the “altruistic economy” means that the church must move from an internal to an external focus. Unprecedented search for personal growth requires a ministry shift from program development to people development. Increasing hunger for spiritual vitality means leaders must become

kingdom-based rather than church-based.

Chapter 2: Missional Manifesto

Discussion must not be about “a church” but about “the church.” The heart of the church is not an static institution but a movement of people. It is rightly characterized as “the people of God partnering with God in His redemptive purpose.” When we view the church this way we also begin to see the Bible through different eyes. God is up to something new and the church needs new metrics to measure his work through it. Are we prepared to make this shift?

Chapter 3: From an Internal to an External Focus

In order to move from an internal to an external focus several shifts must be made in the way we “do” church including:

- From church-centric to Kingdom focused

- From destination to connector

- From being attractional to becoming incarnational

- From a membership culture to a missional culture

- From institutional to organic

- From worship services to service as worship

Chapter 4: Changing the Scorecard from Internal to External Focus

We will need to refocus virtually all our resources: prayer and people, facilities and finances, management and technology.

Chapter 5: From Program Development to People Development

We have seen the rise and fall of the program driven church in the last fifty years. Now it is time to foster a people development culture. This means relationship building must become the core activity of the church.

Chapter 6: Changing the Scorecard from Measuring Programs to Helping People Grow

The challenge will be learning how to stop counting numbers and start celebrating people. Once again reallocation will need to be made in the areas of prayer and people, facilities and finances, time management and technology.

Chapter 7: From Church-based to Kingdom-based Leadership

The model of leadership needs to come from the early church (AD 30 leadership). This requires “shifting gears” for all of those with “church jobs.” What is the role of the traditional church? Professional clergy? How will we maintain doctrinal and biblical orthodoxy? How do we earn a living?

Chapter 8: Changing the Scorecard from Church-based to kingdom-based Leadership

Leaders must change what they are doing and thinking about. There is a paradigm issue here. Many new micro-skills must be developed in coaching, story-telling, transition leadership, listening skills, missions, and prayer. Also personal growth needs to happen physically, spiritually, financially, and in family development.

Conclusion

This book will be a great help to anyone who is transitioning from institutional to organic Christianity. I have found myself going back to the book (especially the leadership scorecard) again and again. For leaders that are not yet able to “go there” it will be a challenging read.

(review by Dan Smith)

Expectation Podcast - 1st episode - personal histories

2010-07-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

Simple & Difficult vs. Complex & Easy

2010-06-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a quote from an email I recieved from my friend, Stephen Norberg, who is a working toward planting a simple church in the Washington D.C. area.

"Something I've been pondering: I'm becoming more convinced that following
Jesus is very simple but very hard. I say 'simple'because his teachings are so
basic and fundamental, and pretty much just the opposite of the way humans build
things. But I say 'hard' because He wants all of us, and He is so unimpressed
with our flesh and so impressed with His Spirit (that he put inside of us), that
He pushes us and doesn't let us settle. I get the sense that churches sometimes
promote the opposite (implicitely at least), saying Christianity is complex but
easy. Complex in that you need seminary/training, lots of
meetings/planning/strategery/organizing, and money, but easy so as not to scare
off people - comfortable building and services, no pressure on participation,
good pastor salaries, and generally just minimalizing risk. This is odd, because
I think faith tends to maximize risk. Risk leads to desperate dependence on God,
which leads to fire."

So, what are the implications of this? What would happen if we minimized distractions & complexity and maximized committment toward multiplication & a highly commited, biblical version of faith?

New book by David Sonye: Stewardship

2010-05-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a book by David Sonye titled "Stewardship: Transforming Africa Through Excellence in Stewardship." I had the privilege of formating this book, designing the cover, and sending it to production, and I hope that it helps David in his calling of transforming Africa.

Below is a short review of the book:

"This book is a very challenging statement to all of Africa and provides clear encouragement and specific direction for how African's can be the creator of circumstances and not the victim of circumstances. David Sonye takes the bull by the horns so to speak in outlining a clear plan forward. If you would like to be part of the solution in moving Africa forward and helping Africa make the best, most efficient use of the tools and resources at it's disposal, I highly recommend this book!"

...response to email string regarding multiplication and simple church

2010-05-18T21:01:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys, great convo going on!

In terms of multiplication, I’m not sure how much it is really the result of developing a strategy as much as it is positioning ourselves to hear a God-inspired strategy and then faithfully responding…which is local in method, geographically unique, specific in timing, and/or both more radical and mundane than what we would develop or chose ourselves.

i.e...As a real-time look inside what we’re hearing God tell us in Vegas, many of our core group will be leaving/ceasing their gatherings to plant a number of new gatherings with unconnected people that may or may not know God. This “moving forward” has not been the result of strategy or even goals* …Our movement forward is the result of hearing God the best we can and then responding.

More specifically about our response, we are committing to 3 things:
1. Extraordinary Prayer. committing, as individuals, to extraordinary, but not masochistic, prayer for more workers for the harvest, and expressly admitting that for anything to happen to the degree that it would need to happen, it simply can not created or manufactured by us – it must be divinely directed and as a result of God’s strategy.
2. Exalting Jesus. Living lives, without areas of exception, that glorify, exalt, point to Jesus and eliminate flesh motivations across the board, …including ministry methods and grand plans…essentially removing distractions to full attention on God.
3. Participatory gatherings. Giving up the idea that the more one guy talks the better things will get – the expected result is that the Holy Spirit can and will shape group participation with pinpoint affect, and in the process train each person in what it is to lead a gathering…and it’s happening

I can’t say we’ll focus on these three forever, or that it is a comprehensive strategy… we have largely given up on taking over the world and are trying now to find ways to be taken over by Jesus…it’s very uncomfortable and lacks the control and form that my mind so desperately wants,… the same control which is paradoxical in nature: by controlling and manufacturing multiplication, we have sown the seeds of it’s stagnation.

By releasing control, and the presupposition that “control has an expanding affect regarding multiplication”, and by maintaining an expectant heart committed to the harvest, it positions us to then be participates in multiplication in ways we never could (or would) design ourselves and to a degree that we will never be fully aware of, and in many cases, even completely unconscious of…and we must be ok with this lifestyle in regards to long-term multiplication.

Can I hear? Will I respond? This is the essence of multiplication. And this is what I must focus on to participate in what God might be doing, and what I must model for the string to continue.

Scott

Charisma Article: 7 Trendsetting Churches

2010-04-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Check out this article in Charisma Magazine this month. We feel honored and humbled by this type of recognition, and I thank Adrienne Gaines from Charisma for taking the time to talk with me about what God is doing in Las Vegas. http://charismamag.com/index.php/component/content/article/1078-features/26517-7-trendsetting-churches

Built & Inhabited

2010-04-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to see the progression of where God primarily met people throughout scripture, and where He primarily dwells today. Below is a short scriptural study on this topic and some thoughts on our current situation.

Built & Inhabited

Nature:

Genesis 2:8, 3:8 – God planted a garden, place a man in the garden, and God inhabits it (walks in the garden)

Genesis 15 – God speaks to Abram (soon to be Abraham) outside his tent

Genesis 32 – God wrestled with Jacob outside

Exodus 3 – God speaks to Moses through a burning bush

Exodus 24 – Moses meets God on a mountain

Transition to Tabernacle:

Exodus 40:33-34 – After the tabernacle is built God in habits it

Transition to Temple:

2 Chronicles 5:13-14 – After the Temple is built, God inhabits it

Transition to Us (you and me) as the Temple:

Luke 23:45 – the veil in the temple is torn when Christ breaths last breath on cross and begins the transition of the temple away from a structure and into us as the structure where he lives.

John 14:15-31 …verse 20 - Jesus in us, verse 21 - Father in us, verse 26 – Holy Spirit w/ us

Romans 12:1-5…verse 1…true worship, verse 4-5…all parts are important including us

1 Corinthians 3:26-23…we are the temple now

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 … “given the task of reconciling the world to himself,…”

1 Corinthians 6:11-20…verse 11 – set apart, verse 13 – made for God, verse 15 – actually part of Christ, verse 19-20 – temple of the Holy Spirit

The implications of God moving from the temple into us as the primarily place of dwelling are significant. When reading the 2 Chronicles 5 section, it is important to point out that we have, in many cases, not left this model and still even use verbage, lingo, and models that promote this as the continued place of God’s dwelling, when in reality the veil of the temple as the meeting place of God is torn, signifying it’s end. Reread that verse and see if it doesn’t describe what we would call a very “powerful worship service.”

But how many of us (including myself) continue to say things like:

“God is in the place”

“I can feel His presence in this service tonight”

“The Spirit of God really left that church after the pastor left”

“That was a powerful service”

“God, we pray that you would visit us tonight in a powerful way”

Visit? He is here! By using these types of terms we subtly promote the continuation of the temple model and inadvertently limit God's role in us as His present day Temple. I contend that you can not have both models functioning at the same time (both expecting that God lives in a temple and expecting Him to live in us).

If God truly lives in us and has called us to the task of reconciling men to God, then lets seek the direction of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, as the counselor and director of our actions. Let us seek Him directly and personally and not rely on a Temple or Holy Priest to usher us into the presence of God. We are in the presence of God right now - how does that change our perspective?

Church Planting Movement lists...

2010-04-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

Some lists from David Garrison's book regarding Church Planting Movements...

Universal Elements

1. Prayer

2. Abundant gospel sharing

3. Intential church planting

4. Biblical authority

5. Local leadership

6. Lay leadership

7. Cell or house churches

8. Churches planting churches

9. Rapid reproduction

10. Healthy churches

Common Factors

1. Worship in local language

2. Evangelism has communcal applications

3. Rapid incorporation of new converts into the life and ministry of the church

4. Passion and fearlessness

5. A price to pay to become a Christian

6. Perceived leadership crisis or spiritual vacuum in society

7. On-the-job training for church leadership

8. Leadership authority is decentralized

9. Outsiders keep a low profile

10. Missionaries suffer

Ten Practical Handles

1. Pursue a CPM orientation from the beginning

2. Develop and implement comprehensive strategies

3. Evaluate everything to achieve the end-vision

4. Employ precision harvesting

5. Prepare new believers for persecution

6. Gather them, then win them

7. Try a POUCH methodology

8. Develop multiple leaders within each cell church

9. Use on-the-job training

10. Model, Assist, Watch & Leave (MAWL)

Obstacles to CPM's

1. Imposing extra-biblical requirements for being a church

2. Loss of a valued cultural identity

3. Overcoming bad examples of Christianity

4. Non-reproducible church models

5. Subsidies creating dependency

6. Extra-biblical leadership requirements

7. Linear, sequential thought and practice

8. Planting “frog” rather than “lizard” churches

9. Prescriptive strategies

Detoxing: Unwinding Ourselves and the Church

2010-02-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

While stepping over puddles of pornography on the Las Vegas strip on my way home from work at 4am, the thought occurred to me, “Why would anyone choose to leave full-time ministry in pursuit of a life less entangled with “Churchianity” and more entangled with Jesus if this is the price tag?”

Why be reset?

To understand the internal motivation as to why some would volunteer for this life change, it first helps to envision the following picture: Imagine a clean ball of yarn that has several dirty, dingy threads covered in grime intertwined into it. You want to use the yarn to create something beautiful, but these dirty strings limit what can be woven. You can’t pull out the strings without damaging the entire ball since the grimy strings are interwoven and tangled with the good string. The best way to preserve the quality and value of the remaining yarn would be to unwind the whole thing and start fresh.

The current system and church paradigm, though once effective (most of the readers of this article are the direct beneficiaries of it in regards to their own faith), has been slowly skewed over time. As it stands today (although there are exceptions), it will become increasingly paralyzed and ineffective in functioning as mandated by scripture.

This exhibits why God might desire to periodically clean house or “Detox” the church, so that it can again function as He desires it to.

Detoxing

As the concept of Simple Church gains momentum in North America, the term “Detox,” as it relates to leaving traditional/institutional church to clear the mental palette, has become a buzz-word. With it has come tremendous negative connotation as the term seems to promote the complete destruction of organized religion because it is toxic.

I disagree with the bitter segment that would call for sulfur to reign down from the heavens on “Church, Inc.” Regardless of where they assemble to worship, when they meet, or how they agendize their service, they are people – God’s people. I see this opinion as being as dogmatically blind as those who think that church can only happen in a cathedral. The old forms are not evil, anymore than the new forms are sacred, unless we hold onto old forms and disobey the voice of God.

That being said, the way in which we presently go about “doing” church is increasingly ingrown, and includes ever more grimy strings woven into our ball of yarn. Form must follow function, and when our form becomes dysfunctional, God reestablishes form.

The detoxing isn’t to destroy the church – it’s to preserve it. We aren’t detoxing from church – we are detoxing so that we can be the church again. This happens by stepping back and being unwound, and then removing the parts that run counter to scripture and God’s direction.

We don’t own the church yet we are the church, and intimately participate in its function. It’s God’s church and we simply have the opportunity to participate in His purposes, unless our participation is contrary to His design and desires. At this point of departure from His purpose, our role is obsolete at best, and adversarial at worst (i.e. Jesus and the religious folk of His time). So our choice is to remove the dysfunctions or chance disqualifying ourselves from participating.

What are we detoxing from?

We are not leaving the church, we are leaving the grime. But, what is the grime?

Consider the parable of the farmer sowing seed and Jesus’ explanation in Mark 4:14-20:

¹³"But if you can't understand this story, how will you understand all the others I am going to tell? ¹⁴The farmer I talked about is the one who brings God's message to others. ¹⁵The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the message, but then Satan comes at once and takes it away from them. ¹⁶The rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. ¹⁷But like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep. At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted because they believe the word. ¹⁸The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, ¹⁹but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for nice things, so no crop is produced. ²⁰But the good soil represents those who hear and accept God's message and produce a huge harvest—thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted."

When we read this, we most commonly relate it to new Christians and don’t put ourselves in this context. Put our current church system in this context and it reveals unsavory truths.

Our current system is built around the “thorny ground” and we’ve adopted this as an acceptable definition of “Christian.”

Consider these points in the context of any given church, weekly service, and average attendee in the United States: “message is crowded out by the cares of life,” “lure of wealth,” “desire for nice things”, and “no crop is produced.” People sit in our churches focused on these very things, and can do so comfortably …and have for years. These three certainly don’t encapsulate every church in every city, but they do represent an overall trend, which didn’t happen overnight.

During the last third of the 20^th century, the idea of entering ministry changed. Prior to this point, accepting the call of God meant we embarked on a journey to seek and save the lost, to free the captive, and help those in need. On the part of the minister, it also implied a level of poverty, having less material stuff, and sacrificing various dreams in the pursuit of God’s will. Churches were planted in homes with little or no pay to the clergy and little recognition. When we say it cost them something, it’s not a figure of speech. Some of the most functional churches in the world were planted this way. Some of the most functional churches now are being planted in this way in places with the least resources and most restricted circumstances.

Fast forward to the early 21^st century. To enter ministry we require buildings, sound systems, significant pay, and the list goes on. Our denominations are bureaucratic nightmares that spend most of their time putting out fires regarding property, legal matters, pastor's requesting more money, power struggles, and the like. The desirable skill sets for Christian leaders more closely reflect that of a CEO or game show host than Apostle Paul.

The unintended consequences of many of these shifts is that we muddy the motivations as to why a person would say “yes” to a life in ministry to begin with. Even those who followed God for the right reasons end up saying “this isn’t what I signed up for…but now I’m stuck.”

What are they stuck in? It’s what we need detoxed from: cares of life, lure of wealth, and the desire for nice things.

Cares of Life, Lure of Wealth, and Desires for Nice Things

Take an average American church and look at the average attendee, and see whether or not these three areas are the major focus of their life: cares of life, lure of wealth, and desires for nice things.

Take a look at the church council's agenda, and see where their focus is: property, budget, new carpet, etc.

How about denominations? Buildings, retirement, clergy benefits, dealing with messy church situations, power struggles, sending missionaries (great!) and their money issues (…oh), church planting (great!) and their money/property requests (…oh), and church health (typically measured in tithing and attendance).

In contrast, go to a third world country, prison, or college campus where churches are being planted organically and you will find the agenda is completely different, and strangely Biblical.

This detoxing will happen voluntarily, or it will happen because the vast number of church attendees will die in 20-40 years and our current systems will die off with them. This isn’t a prophetic opinion. It’s a statistical fact.

It’s not that those involved with these organizations are bad-hearted. Quite opposite really. Yes, there are some religious jerks. But, many are very wise, spiritual folk, and it is the acceptance of the various grimy strings in their presence as immovable that keeps them grinding and serving despite the inner feeling of dirtiness. So, we keep the ball rolling, and the ball keeps getting bigger and layers get piled on, as the organizational leader is unwilling to risk the unknown.

How do we Detox the church?

A ball of yarn cannot be both wound and unwound at the same time. Much the same, the aspects of our current systems that need to be changed can be easily identified and intellectually understood by those inside and outside the system (over emphasis on money and property, inactive “Christians” attending on Sundays, inauthentic relationships with God, superstitious theology, top-down authority systems, and arrogant church culture).

Most would agree on each of these points in theory, but few will make the changes necessary to facilitate this shift. And to itemize the list as if we can remove them one by one is not realistic. These all, individually and collectively, are intertwined into our systems, literature, resourcing mechanisms, finances, denominations, lingo, etc…, and to try to remove them and keep the system would so mangle what is established that it would leave it worse off than when we started.

It is complex - when you pull one string it moves another, and so on…so we can’t just rip out the unwanted strings – someone will get hurt, and hurt badly.

We can’t remove them – we have to be unwound. This is precisely why I DO NOT suggest jumping into this process of being unwound and detoxing without serious prayer and consideration. You have to know that you know that you are to be part of this group that is moving this direction.

How do you know? You know when you hear God’s call, and when you simply cannot keep doing what you are doing and look yourself in the mirror.

But you had better be convinced, because 4am on the Las Vegas strip isn’t exactly riding off in the sunset.

Unwinding

Then how does it begin? Stop doing everything that you define as church and wait on God. This is unimaginably difficult and will dismantle your life as you know it.

This unwinding starts with detachment, and there is no other way, and will probably mean a major change (or several major changes).

Again, most pastors and Christian leaders would agree with the above points, and even understand them. But to be affected, changed, and truly unwound a person has to detach themselves from systems, methods, meetings, assumptions, books, and schedules (notice I did not say relationships).

Again, you can’t imagine the crises, withdrawals, and insecurities this creates. We have so insulated ourselves with a false sense of security and success based on measuring sticks we’ve created that when those are removed we are fully distraught, and it leaves us reeling and grasping.

It is only in this place of nakedness and detachment that eyes can see and ears can hear again. We are left with no crutches – only a relationship with God.

Being rebuilt

There was a point in our unwinding when I woke up and realized several things.

First, I was no longer frustrated. This was a shocker because I had gone for years running on frustration as a form of fuel. This didn’t mean that there wasn’t stress anymore – but the stresses where completely different and not ministry related.

Second, I didn’t have an agenda. In my prior ministry life I had painted a beautiful picture that I asked God to bless. Now, I have no picture, no driving agenda, and no preconceived version of success … just a white, blank canvas that I watch God paint on and that I get to, from time to time, participate in.

Third, I could hear God again, and what He was asking of me was much simpler than I expected. To be a child and relate to God doesn’t take video projectors. It’s about listening. I don’t have to know everything anymore, I don’t have the answers, I don’t understand stuff and I’m okay with it because God does. “What should I do about my marriage?” I don’t know. “What about money?” I don’t know. “What about the Holy Spirit…how does that all work?” I don’t know. What if we ask God?

And watch out: as a leader/“pastor,” not knowing stuff like that is very offense to the religious community.

To get back to a place of really, truly “listening” you have to stop “doing” and stop “knowing.” And it is not a sabbatical - you can’t trick God by stopping for two weeks. I’ve heard it estimated that a person needs 1-2 months of inaction for every year they were involved in ministry, just to have their thinking reset and paradigms removed. I would concur with this, but say that it varies depending on you, God, and your level of stubbornness and pride. Mine was at the longer end of that estimation.

If you stopped doing what you’re doing would God stop being God? What if you intentionally marginalized yourself, just to see what happened? Would God come through if you knowingly, purposely relied upon Him instead of your plan, preferring God as the answer even if other answers were available? What if God was our first resort rather than our last resort?

For us, some of the consequences and answers to these questions came in several startling forms: having to step over cards advertising prostitutes in Sin City on my way to work; leaving ministry, money, and security to start at the bottom of the career totem-pole; unrecognized, unknown; waiting on God to send crows with bread; not worrying about tomorrow because today has enough of it’s own; eyes on God, obedient to His voice, depending on His voice; not swayed by positive or negative outcomes; going against the flow of other church folks and subtle persecution by other Christians. This is the place of our unwinding, and we don’t know how it’s all going to turn out, and we’re okay with that.

It produced something that is simple: a simple relationship with God where He is God and I am not; a simple life that tries its best to hear God and respond; a simple church that loves Jesus, follows the Bible, and changes the world. We don’t own a building except our house; we don’t advertise our gatherings except by word of mouth; we don’t have overhead expenses or budgets; we don’t get paid; we love each other; we love and reach out to our neighbors and coworkers; we are committed to the Bible; we share what we have with those in need; we praise God together; we pray together; we eat together… we are a church that got simple because we got unwound.

Will you get unwound?

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Scott Linklater, and his wife Hillary, are simple church leaders in Las Vegas, Nevada. Questions or comments please email them to scottlinklater@hotmail.com. This article is also posted at http://cells-twelves.blogspot.com/ and permission is given for reposting/reprinting.

New Book Review: "Points of Departure: 7 Challenges to the American Evangelical Church"

2010-02-08T16:09:00.000-08:00

Jim Thomson's new book provides an insiders view of the state of our current church culture, and outlines how we have gone astray from Biblical principles. Jim is not a hater, and his book is not bitter or insecure, but rather a no nonsense critique from one who cares deeply about the church and wants to be part of the solution.

Beware though, it might really shake you up and force you to take action.

Pick up a copy on Amazon.com by clicking here!

Jesus In Vegas in 2010: 200,000+

2010-02-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

Had had a great 2009 and put the Gospel in the hands of 120,000 people from every corner of the Globe, including many nations that are closed to the Gospel. To put into perspective, see the stadium to the left - it holds just over 100,000.

In 2010, we are hoping to fill that stadium twice and reach over 200,000 people with the Gospel from every corner of the globe. This is no small task and we need your help.

Please consider doing three things in partnership with us this year:

-Come Join Us: The Bible says that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few - this is abundantly true in Las Vegas. If we had more workers, we could reach our ultimate goal of putting the Gospel in the hands of 1-2 million people per year. Please contact us and consider bringing yourself or a team to Las Vegas - we'll even provide free training.

-Pray For Us: Each tract that goes out could mean a soul that is saved and spends an eternity out of Hell and with Jesus. Please pray that they will land on good soil, and that souls will be saved and churches will be planted.

-Give: All the money that we recieve via the "Donate" button to your lower right goes to Foursquare Missions Press for tracts, and is tax deductiable. Please consider making this a regular part of your giving in 2010, and lets reach the world together!

For more information, please visit www.JesusInVegas.com to follow our progress!

Letter Regarding Simple Church in Las Vegas

2009-11-30T08:56:00.000-08:00

Below is a recent letter to those in our fellowship here in Las Vegas, but there are certainly aspects that are universal in terms of principles and lessons learned...

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What we are doing, why we are doing it, and how to participate.

Why do this? And what exactly is “this”? And what does it all mean to you? The question as to why a person, or group of people, would voluntarily leave the comfortable confines of traditional church and full time ministry to pursue a marginalized concept of faith whose “success” is difficult to quantify is a good one. The following is my answer to that question.

What is “this”?

For us in Las Vegas, there have been three key focal points that have defined our call, our “this” so to speak: Bi-vocational living, simple church, and outreach. These three very clear focal points are the confines within which we live. First a brief definition of each.

Bi-Vocational Lifestyle. This simply means consciously leaving a full-time paid ministry position, and adopting a lifestyle that remains ministry focused but does not include regular financial support from the group which I lead and/or serve along side.

Simple Church. This signifies a shift from meeting in regular times, in orthodox places, with professional clergy to meeting in homes, irregular places and varying times. These gatherings include eating together, reading the Bible with obedience as the goal, sharing with each other, praying, being transparent with each other, and putting Jesus as the central source of all things in our lives (worship). The implications of this type of faith and church concept are many and will addressed further on.

Outreach. This means funneling available time and resources toward outreach, whether local or global. We purposely do not define outreach and leave this to God to define for each person and/or group.

Why?

Simply put: it is what God is doing and we are participating in it. The shift towards this type of ministry lifestyle is undeniably happening globally, as evident by research and testimony. Specifically, my role has been focused on helping bring this shift to Foursquare through living out these three points publicly and then telling the stories.

The negative implications of living out this life have been many, ranging from financial loss to relational destruction to professional embarrassment to spiritual desert lands, and on. A person who shifts from a traditional life to a life should expect that same difficulties and trials to varying degrees. The positive implications are many as well, ranging from a release from religiosity to authentic faith to more time with family to significant more time and resource for outreach, etc…

A major difficulty of this new lifestyle is that there are very few quantifiable milestones of success. In our former traditional church lifestyles, there were many regular measuring sticks for whether we were achieving our goals and we were able to “define a victory” so to speak (i.e. weekly attendance, financial stability, raised hands, etc…). There is much security in these measuring sticks, but to a degree they became our “decision stones” and we would consult these measuring sticks as to what we should and should not do. The local pastor, after consulting these “decision stones”, would then pass on the decision to the congregates who would then fall into line with the corporate vision. The fruit from this process is undeniable and to discount the positive outcomes of this is ignorant. But, God very rarely leaves well-enough alone, especially when we begin misusing and misinterpreting those structures (remember, He is not afraid of destroying even that which He created).

To the pastor that goes through this shift, it ranges from very difficult to impossible to function normally and/or make sense of what is happening. In fact, because of the removal of these constant measuring sticks and personal praise, the most insecure of us will go down rabbit trails, start businesses, write books, and seriously question their faith and calling altogether, all in attempt to regain a sense of purpose. But, this time in the desert is necessary and God-designed to break the prior paradigms and destroy thought patterns, so that new things may grow up in their places.

For the attendee that goes through this shift, it is very confusing at best, and offensive at worst. Formally, the pastor was the figure head of their faith and gave direction as to vision and helped them relate to God, both personally and by creating a weekly meeting in which the attendee engaged and encountered God. In this new shift, the pastor appears to shirk his former responsibility and appears to give little to no direction or leadership, and does not provide the Pope-like example to follow. This is difficult to process for the attendee because their paradigm of faith and church was centralized on this meeting and this definition of a pastor – with out the meeting or this Pastor as they know it, where does that leave their faith?

This presents a quandary. Does the attendee go back to their former traditional church life? But, whenever that person re-engages a traditional church, it just doesn’t seem right or authentic. There remains a gap in how this new lifestyle could actually be church, leaving them wondering if they are disobeying God or even if they are Christians anymore. In fact, they wonder if they are failing God and the people around them. The irony is that at this point of humility and doubt they are probably as close to God as they have ever been, seeking God from a humble place, without the pride and hindrance of knowing all the answers.

The other major hurdle is the shift of responsibility for a one’s own faith. The responsibility for a persons faith shifts to them and them alone – not the former pastor, not the church, not the dynamic worship. They are responsible for reading their Bible, and worship, and outreach, and church multiplication – if they don’t take responsibility for it then it won’t happen. Ironically, for a person who did not grow up in church, this seems completely natural, and the thought of some outside person telling what to think, what to do, and how to do it seems very odd and controlling. To those coming from inside the established church, this control is exactly what we want and what we are used to…in fact, it is what we paid for…because lets face it: it is easier to pay someone else to be Jesus than to actually live out the tenants of our faith with passion, purpose, and responsibility.

After a time of shifting, we are left feeling like we are in a desert place and very little makes sense – it’s all very confusing. “Great, now what do we do? You brought us out here to die.” Read the account of Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea and I think you’ll see similar feelings.

Your dreams are either gone, or very, very difficult to define, sort of like looking through a fog. In fact, because we’ve been so accustomed to explaining our vision and life to others with an underlying pride, its frustrating and embarrassing because now it’s vague at best and really doesn’t make sense (and peoples eyes glaze over because they don’t understand). Quiet persecution and critical whispers from outside don’t make this transition any easier. You could see “clearly” in your old life, but now what do we tell other people? How do you answer there criticisms? What do we tell ourselves about our own lives? What is my life about?

In our prior lives, we had vision, direction, and we could measure our success. In this new lifestyle, the only measuring stick of success comes in the quiet times with God. This quiet time was previously created by someone else, through worship experiences and devotional plans. We no longer have the luxury of these walls and direction,… we must hear God for ourselves and then follow through on what we hear.

So, now we’re left looking at a giant blank canvas, one that previously had a beautiful picture of what we were to do, what to say, how to act, what success looked like (and we’d ask God to bless our picture)….and now the picture is now gone, it’s been erased. We’re left with a Bible and no vision – and that’s it. This is where God would want to lead us – back to the beginning, stripping away all our pre-conceived ideas of what God wants, and leaving us with no vision, no direction, nothing really, except quietly waiting for God – it’s our only option, we have no where else to go.

Now, it is up to us to sit quietly enough to hear Him speak, and let God be the initiator of any vision and let Him paint the new picture. It’s not the responsibility of anybody, including yourself, to build a vision for your life – it is up to God to build that vision. This may be the single most difficult thing that we who are shifting from the traditional church could ever endeavor to do because we no longer have safety nets, no one to blame, no one to claim as our king other than Jesus. There is nothing between our ears and the voice of the Holy Spirit and no one to dictate our response.

For us to be able to hear, our lives have been deconstructed. I can attest that once there is an acceptance of the “stripping away” by God that there is a tremendous freedom and weight lifted. Embrace the white space – embrace the lack of vision and allow it to be an opportunity that is divinely created. As for outside criticisms, I can guarantee that for every subtle, doubtful whisper that you’ve encountered, I’ve heard all of them times ten over. I encourage you to be secure enough to answer those questions with a humble “I don’t know the answer to that question,” and deny the internal pressure to say anything more. Sometimes knowing all the answers doesn’t allow God any space to move and create in our lives…..and sometimes not knowing opens up the door for God to bring the answer.

We have been chosen by God to be on the very tip of the spear in regards to this bi-vocational, simple church, outreach life style and to live as prophets to our denomination, which then affects much of the Christian world. This prophetic life is not easy, but in comparison to other prophets in the Bible, at least we don’t have to marry prostitutes, walk around naked, be in stocks, or lay on our sides for years on end.

What do we do now?

We are moving from what seems to be the first phase of our journey (I say “what seems” because none of this is planned) to a second phase. The first phase was “Survive and Establish” and the fact that you are still here means you survived and helped establish it. Why was this important? Before, it was “not OK” to plant non-traditional churches, and it was not talked about. Now it is – our existence helped significantly to facilitate this major shift, and it means a lot more people entering ministry and it means less people burning out. We’ve already seen this to some degree with the DVD and we hear the testimonies about people that are inspired to act – we praise God for this.

Now we are moving into what seems a second phase of “Go and plant”. I can’t say this for sure until we are experiencing it, but there have been several things that indicate we are shifting. Again, instead of fighting this, lets see what God is doing and participate in it.

What does it mean to participate in it? It means earnestly asking God if He has anything to say to you about how to be the church to those around where you work and live. Again, I am not telling you what to do or think, but I am saying that the general shift happening is toward “going and doing” now. This probably won’t happen fast or because we grit our teeth – it will happen because we sit quietly and hear God, and then respond.

In order to hear God and respond obediently, our lives can’t be riddled with immorality (not to say we must be perfect), both from a spiritual standpoint and from a logistical standpoint. People don’t trust immoral people, so any conversations about faith will be quickly discredited if we are immoral and untrustworthy.

Secondly, we have to trust God. We have to know what God would call us to do and what He wouldn’t call us to, so that when we do hear His voice, we are confident that its authentic and its right to respond boldly. Simply put, read the Bible and commit following what it says.

Thirdly, we have to commit to giving time for God to speak to us. How do you do this? Sit quietly and listen after asking questions like “do You have anything you’d like to tell me about this or that situation, or about ministry, etc..” Then sit and listen. Out of these times, expect to be called to action from time to time, and then be open with your faith and/or studying the Bible with someone at work or something of that nature, or engage people on a ministry level either by praying for them, or whatever opportunity God would open up – be faithfully obedient.

We are at the forefront of a revolution happening worldwide. Our particular part of that revolution is happening within Foursquare, which will then set the stage for other denominations to adopt similar approaches.

The end goal, as it seems God is defining it, is that we would plant churches, many of which will remain simple churches and others that will grow into mega-churches and/or traditional churches. But we are to start them with simple, bi-vocational, outreach oriented principles at the outset.

I believe God has opened up the door for you guys to be those church planters if you so desire. What shape those take is up to you and God. These churches may be as simple as you and a co-worker studying the Bible for 3 months or starting a regular service.

Inaction is no option. Passing responsibility is no option. We are HERE because God has put us HERE. We must be people who walk through these doors of opportunity and embrace these prophetic lives that we lead. As much as our worlds have been changed, we are changing the world around us to even a greater degree, which will continue as long as we keep hearing and responding to God. We live in a great time – lets embrace it and make the most of the opportunities that God has presented us with.

Radio Interview on Steve Coerper's Show

2009-10-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

I went on Steve Coerper's radio show today and we talked about Simple Church and covered some of the information from the documentary "What is Simple Church?" . He's based in North Carolina and broadcasts through BlogTalkRadio.

The link to the interview is below - have a great day!

http://www.rogershermansociety.org/playlists/btr20091001.asx

100,000!

2009-09-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we broke the 100,000 mark in terms of the number of people we have shared the Gospel with on the Las Vegas Strip. This would not have been possible without the help of Foursquare Missions Press. Please watch the short video (1:25) below and consider supporting Foursquare Missions Press. Thanks!

Foursquare Missions Press from Expectation Media on Vimeo.

Quotes from "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King

2009-09-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

Below are quotes from the letter. The letter, which can be read in full here (40 minutes), displays a tremendous poise and clarity in the face of very treacherous conditions. Though the establishment of simple church can in no way be compared to the civil rights struggle of Dr. Kings era, the lessons that Dr. King's life teaches can easily be applied to the establishment of a more organic church in our current Christian culture, lessons about our own tenacity and lessons about the way we carry ourselves in making our arguments.

“Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.”

“…as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.”

“For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant ‘Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.””

“Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this ‘hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

“So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?"

“But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.”

“Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world.”

“Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.”

“If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.”

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book,"Spiritual Anatomy: God's Building Blocks for Maturity, Ministry, and Multiplication," click here or visitwww.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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Simple Church, Sustainable Church

2009-08-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

This week I am honored to be the featured columnist for Creation Care / Sustain Lane's website ... click on the link below to read the column - have a great day!

http://www.sustainlane.com/reviews/simple-church-sustainable-church/A4NF2B8ZITKNIR1HV7U7IQFC2C9O

"What is Simple Church?" Documentary

2009-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

What Is Simple Church? from Expectation Media on Vimeo.

Americas Got Talent Top 10

2009-07-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

So, something fun....

Through out the year, we don't watch much television beyond some football and golf, and the occasional Antiques Roadshow. But, during the summer my wife, Hillary, and I avoid the Las Vegas heat by becoming the country's foremost experts on Amercias Got Talent (...well, experts in our own minds at least). This is accomplished through committment and hardwork.

At this point in the competition, we would like to release our predicted Top 10, and they are as follows:

Thia Megia
Acrodunk
Drew Thomas
Grandma Lee
African High Flyers
Kevin Skinner
Pete Peterkin
Lawrence Beaman
Mario & Jenny
Texas Tenors

Alternates: Mosiac, Tap Dancer/Guitarist, Barbara Padilla

What is Simple Church? Leadership...

2009-07-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

(regarding the documentary "What is Simple Church" - - and a question about the statement "someone can be an atheist one day, a Christian the next day, and plant a church the next day' in reference to the demoniac and Jesus sending him back to his town without training...)

Hi Bobby, I’d love to continue this discussion, and have a question for you: define leadership. Our version of leadership, as we think of it, does include many aspects that are more in depth and requires training for functionality, and much of which isn’t bad. And I agree, placing people into to that version of leadership too early can be very detrimental to the person and organization.

I am not against training at all (you know that), but we have front loaded our training and educated people beyond their ability to be obedient and faithful to what God is calling them to do. There has to be balance between knowledge and functionality, and I would argue that we need a lot less knowledge than what we currently think to be functional as a Christian, and as the leader of a simple church. I like what Ralph Moore says, that people should have to have pastored for several years before they can go to bible college!

But the version of leadership I’m talking about is a very different paradigm. It lowers the bar on what the definition of a functional church is (nearly anyone can do it, and it’s very, very simple), and raises the bar on what it means to be a Christian (it’s not just attending a meeting, it’s being the church).

Below is the text that we use to tell people how to plant churches in closed countries where persecution exists:

“If there are few churches in your area or it is illegal to follow Jesus where you live, then follow these basic steps and start a church in your house: First, gather your friends and family together at your house for a meal. Read from your Bible (start with the Gospel of John), talk about it, and do what it says. Ask God for His help in everything you do. Invite people and families to join you. Share with those in need. Encourage other families to start churches in their homes.”

I would argue that the above “call” to lead, though it is much more simple, is more biblical than our current definitions, and in the places that this exact call is being carried out, the church is growing exponentially.

So, it begs the question: if there is more spiritual growth happening is nearly all the places that this definition of leadership is applied (China, Cuba, India, S. America, Prisons, the New Testament, etc…), then why do we complicate it by redefining leadership into a version that requires more training and resources and produces less quality and quantity of fruit?

Scott

Testimony about the Gospel and Tracts

2009-07-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had the opportunity to host two Lutheran churches/youth groups from Indiana for some evangelism and rock climbing. We started the day at Red Rock Canyon, doing a short evangelism training and then took as many of the 27 people rock climbing as wanted to go – which was most of them! It was a blast - most of them had never seen anything like Red Rock Canyon!

We met back up in the evening at the Bellagio and in around an hour reached over 2000 people with the Gospel. Personally, I talked with people from Holland, Turkey, Hungry, France, England, Scotland, China (we gave a whole stack to a couple from China who wanted to take them back and give them to their friends), Mexico, Ethiopia, and many, many more places. And with our new tracts, they not only share the Gospel but also include information on how to plant underground house churches.

How did this group find us? The reason why they found us is because a person from one of their churches got a Gospel tract from us last year with our web address on it, and the youth leader then contacted us and they came to Las Vegas to share the Gospel. Pretty cool!

-Scott Linklater

Simple Church, Trust, and Unity of Vision

2009-06-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

Regarding a new Barna study that says...

∆ 71% say they are “more likely to develop my religious beliefs on my own, rather than to accept an entire set of beliefs that a particular church teaches.”

and regarding questions...

"What would be your insight and experience with Simple Church being a means to re-establish trust in a community? How does a group of people in a Simple Church environment develop their religious beliefs?"

####

D*******, first, amazingly great questions!!!

the fundamental question is do we feel comfortable with people coming to their own conclusions in their relationships with God after we've laid the initial foundation of trust in Jesus out of our own relationship with Him --or-- do we need to direct their conclusions in a unified manner and structure their interactions with God in a quantifiable fashion?

On the first question of developing beliefs in a simple church community, certainly, I would argue that there are clear primary doctrines that stand out in the Scriptures (Jesus being God, Jesus's grace and our faith being the pathway to salvation, divine scriptures, etc...), but here is a difficult question to complete unity in vision and doctrine: Is my 9 year old, who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior, saved? She has no doctrine, other than Jesus.

The next fundamental question: is discipleship a structured action following a preset course of study and doctrine --or-- is it primarily a relational activity of being available to the person to help find answers to their questions as they have them through prayer, by asking good questions, and pointing them to scripture (socratic in a sense)?

My daughter believes in Jesus and has a functional understanding of Jesus, reads here bible, etc... but does not fully grasp deeper points of Christianity. But is she saved? I would argue yes. Does discipleship happen? Yes. Last Saturday we had a friend in the home that prayed for another friend and prayed in tongues during the meeting. After the meeting my daughter asked my wife what that was...and then she helped her find the answers - we didn't sit her down an teach her, ...we were available and when it came up, we searched it out together. This pattern is not only with our daughter, but our neighbors, and those we've discipled for years (I just didn't know that it was called simple church then - lol!!)

I would argue that our desire for mass unity to very specific visions, teaching methods, church models, etc... has hindered the expansion of the Kingdom on it's most basic level, salvation - a level that a child can understand and, because of that child-like faith, is saved. Unity of vision is not all bad...currently, it's just unbalanced.

Education beyond our personal level of faith breeds a false sense of righteousness and a false sense of religion/Godliness. Lets let our knowledge of God grow from our personal relationship with God, based in the Scriptures, and not on a 9 week course (because 8 of those weeks will cover information that the person hasn't really sought out yet, nor will they understand largely, and will probably forget). "But what if they don't understand everything?" My question back is "are we secure enough to let that be OK?" and "Doesn't that lack of understanding drive them to God to find answers over a period of time, when they are ready to hear it?" We sort of get the attitude that, "OK God, we got it from here."

This does not discount teaching and the value of teaching, but we have become unbalanced toward knowledge and placed too high a value of structured knowledge ... and sacrificed simplicity and authenticity along the way. This is largely driven by our desire to grow at a rate that is not natural, both our church size and spiritual maturity (which then puts unneeded pressure on all involved). and then, if they haven't followed our unified path, we question their maturity and limit their movement forward in serving - because how could they grow outside of our direction? ...this is not health - this is control. We need less control and transfer more control back to God's direction and his ability to direct a relationship with a person outside of our control - we have to trust God again, and stop convincing people to trust us.

So, back to the other original question: how do we establish trust? What are we asking them to trust in? Us? An organization? or Jesus? If I am pointing them to Jesus, then I am not asking them to really trust me - they can come to their own conclusions, I am a messenger....but awe ha: are we secure enough to let people come their own conclusions?

great questions to kick around!!

Scott Linklater

Interview on SOS Radio

2009-06-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

This interview with Kurt Goff from SOS Radio (a nationally syndicated Christian radio station) was recently played on their station and wanted to share it with you! It covers a book that was published with Joshua Tree Publishing in February which focuses on landing a job in Las Vegas. Click on the link below and you can play the interview.

http://www.box.net/shared/xgbd1udxli

-Scott

Gospel Tract Update: 80,000 !!!!

2009-04-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

This stadium is planned for the 2012 Olympics in London and it will hold approx. 80,000 people. Imagine preaching to that many people, most of whom not being Christian? We are thankful to God to have been a part of doing just that - tonight, we put the Gospel in the hands of the 80,000th person on the Las Vegas strip.

It was a great night and we had about 20 people/evangelists out there, and actually ran out of tracts very quickly (we did 2,500 in about 30 minutes). Personally, I talked with/shared the Gospel with people from Israel, Germany, Denmark, Kosovo, Serbia, Russia, Columbia, Mexico, tons of different states, England, Scotland, Hungery, France, Phillipeans, and the list goes but I can't remember them all.

We are sharing the Gospel with people at an incrediable rate, the only problem is that we run out tracts so quickly. We need help purchasing more tracts. Please click on the dontate button to your right, or contact me directly at evanglism@jesusinvegas.com and have tracts sent to us.

Thank you for your support - lets keep launching the Gospel all over the world!

A beautifully orchestrated chaotic multiplication

2009-04-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's book Spiritual Anatomy, please click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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{this is a response to a question/phone call regarding some of our simple church members visiting other churches, simple church members identifying gaps in ministry (ours and others), and members feeling called to expand/branch out in ministry without asking me first}

I think one of the difficulties that many pastors and leaders have when transitioning to a more simple model is releasing control, and that lack of control actually makes people from the outside feel uncomfortable because it appears to be weak, crumbly, or doesn’t follow the process we are used to. Our church culture says that terms like “unity in vision”, “submission to leadership”, “on the same page”, are signs of healthy ministry which I wouldn’t necessarily agree with, nor do we practice completely. What you witnessed are young people wrestling with the calls that God has on their lives and them sensing the need to fill the gaps of ministry. I feel completely comfortable with those conversations, and actually encourage and lead them in that direction (sometimes without them even knowing it).

We are creating a radically uncomfortable environment that forces each individual to fill in the gaps of ministry and not wait or rely on the “the church” as an organization to do it. They are the church, and they are seeing things that need to be done, and eventually they will respond to that by branching out and starting new ministry, which we will then help them do. This is living in a starfish manner (if you are unfamiliar, research what happens to starfish when they get broken into several different pieces). {they each grow into an individual starfish}

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To download a free copy of Scott's book Spiritual Anatomy, please click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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How do you reach 5,000 in 2 hours? March 28th update…

2009-03-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's book Spiritual Anatomy, please click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Last night we broke our one day record by putting the Gospel in the hands of 5,000 people in approximately 2 hours (7-9:30, but we stood around for 20 minutes waiting for a refill of tracts). Thanks to Earth Hour the regular Bellagio Fountain did not happen from 8:30 – 9:30 (they dimmed the lights on the Strip to ….do something important and effective?). The Treasure Island pirate show was canceled, so that dispersed one of our regular crowds. At first we thought this would cause people to vacate the Fountain too, but the opposite happened. Instead, they gathered, and gathered, and gathered, all waiting for the next water show. By the time it did happen, there were several thousand people surrounding us. Immediately after the show, we handed out around 1000 tracts in 10 minutes. We had two different groups join us last night, and we actually had several people spontaneously join us by helping hand out tracts (one of them was Muslim – I have no idea what happened there or how that happened).

After we ran out, the hardest part is seeing how the sea of people keeps flowing and we don’t have any more tracts to hand out. Please consider helping purchase more tracts by clicking on the donate button on the right. Thanks for your continued prayer and support, and please email me at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com if you’d like to join us or learn more about what we do. For an example of what it looks like, please view our newest video short at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW540wuzaD4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fexpectationmedia.com%2F&feature=player_embedded

On a side note, at one point last night a large number of cop cars stopped/blocked traffic on Las Vegas Blvd. The security guard that was down there didn't know what was going on and said he hadn't ever seen that before. They officers jumped out of their cars, threw on some swat vests and started down in between cars. I sincerely thought, "I hope that truck doesn't have a nuclear bomb in it...but I guess if it does then what better place to go out than right here." It got my blood flowing. We never did find out what happened.

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To download a free copy of Scott's book Spiritual Anatomy, please click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Reaching the masses with the Gospel...Las Vegas style

2009-02-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

Last night (February 21st), 27 people put the Gospel in the hands of 3,800 people in 2 hours on the Las Vegas strip. We could have reached approx. 5,000, but we are running out of tracts. Please pray for us and consider purchasing Gospel tracts – we can reach nearly a limitless amount of people with more evangelism materials, and can train more evangelist to share the Good News. Click on the donate button to your right and help us cover the world with the Gospel.

Devotion: Rejecting the voice of God (excerpt from Spiritual Anatomy)

2009-02-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

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This is an excerpt from "Spiritual Anatomy: God's Building Blocks for Maturity, Ministry, and Multiplication." To download a free copy of Scott's new book, click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Rejecting the voice of God

Unfortunately, it is common for the Lord to free a person and then have the person doubt the wisdom and power of God. This theme is highlighted throughout the Old Testament, but in none so clearly as the Israelites.

Once they were delivered from slavery in Egypt, the Lord began to develop that special relationship. Unfortunately, almost immediately they became fickle and distrusted God. The first generation of people out of Egypt did not stay devoted to God and they got stuck in a rut. (In their case it was 40 years in the desert, which took the term “going through a dry season” to a whole new level.)

This is a picture of many people in the Christian church today: somewhat surrendered to God, to a lesser degree free from bondage, and ultimately wandering in the desert of life because of their unwillingness to listen and act obediently to the voice of God. The Lord may supply their needs, but they are not in the Promised Land. They fail to stay devoted because they do not trust the voice of God. They have no special relationship with their Lord and Savior, even though they may attend church and are pretty good people.

Trace it back and this lack of devotion is based in a lack of trust in the voice of God and/or a need to be delivered from fear, pride, etc. Without surrender and deliverance, there cannot be deep devotion. Subsequently, a person’s heart is not molded and shaped by the character of God to any significant degree. And they are certainly unable to sustain a lifestyle of winning souls and making disciples, which means they are only ‘lead-able’ for a season or two at best.

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This is an excerpt from "Spiritual Anatomy: God's Building Blocks for Maturity, Ministry, and Multiplication." To download a free copy of Scott's new book, click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Devotion: Laying the groundwork (excerpt from Spiritual Anatomy)

2009-02-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

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This is an excerpt from "Spiritual Anatomy: God's Building Blocks for Maturity, Ministry, and Multiplication." To download a free copy of Scott's new book, click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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Laying the groundwork for devotion

The two factors necessary for having a special relationship with our Lord are being surrendered to Him and being delivered from the bondages and strongholds in our life.

Surrender is essential to devotion. If we do not want to listen to Him or do not have faith in Him, then it is very difficult to have a special trusting relationship. We are essentially saying that we know better than Him, so why would we seek Him out for advice and direction?

Deliverance is also essential to devotion, but for different reasons than the world might think. Much of Christianity is viewed as hoops and prerequisites, becoming good enough so God will like us. And by saying that deliverance precedes a devoted relationship to God seems to confirm that notion. But think of it in this context. You have a special relationship with grandpa where you really share what’s on each other’s hearts. One day you come in and your marriage has just fallen apart. Maybe you try to hide that information from him, but because he knows you so well he is going to sense something is wrong. You then tell your grandpa the bad news and explain the situation. Is he going to gloss over the bad news with a legalistic attitude (come back when you’re fixed) and follow your daily routine of playing cards and telling stories? Or will he begin to partner with you in overcoming the situation and emerging victorious? If the person cares at all, then the latter will be true, and the daily conversation will shift to you becoming untangled from whatever situation that has you bound up. This action is an act of love and care, not of hoops or being good enough.

This is God’s character also. He cares about you so much that he puts your deliverance as a top priority, even over satisfying conversation or deep bible studies. Once there is a general level of deliverance, then the daily conversations become really special, because you know how deeply the Lord cares about you. Once we are surrendered, He can deliver. Once He delivers, we become devoted.

Devotion is cultivating a special relationship with our Lord and Savior through personal discipline and investment of time. Surrender and deliverance are foundations for that special relationship. Investment of time before being delivered can produce frustration because the time with God is not as fulfilling as it seems it should be. But, investment after being delivered will produce a special relationship.

When an individual gets delivered from sin and bondage, what develops is a deep devotion to God. Cultivation by the individual and facilitation by the mentor increase the likelihood of a person becoming truly devoted to God for a lifetime. Practically, this happens by doing devotions together and allowing the disciple to see the mentor’s devoted lifestyle in action.

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This is an excerpt from Spiritual Anatomy: God's Building Blocks for Maturity, Ministry, and Multiplication. To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Make your self smile.

2009-02-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

I’m reading a book right now called “Storming Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip to the Tune of Five World-Class Hotels, Three Armored Cars, and Millions of Dollars.” It’s not a Christian book.

I’ve taken a break from Christian literature for a while, and I’m a purveyor of such madness! It’s become a little like Mexican food lately: pretty much the same stuff put in a little different order, cooked a little differently.

In this book, there is one of the great quotes I’ve heard in a while. It’s great because it’s offensively true, which is enjoyable to some degree.

“If you want to make God laugh out loud, tell him you have great plans.”

If we can’t laugh at ourselves, then we’ve lost. Go ahead, give it try: laugh at your self. Find humor in your most serious plans. Enjoy it for a moment.

Jesus in Vegas 2009 Invitation Video

2009-01-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

Good bye, 2008. Hello 2009!! (evangelism goals, etc..)

2008-12-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas provides the greatest opportunity to share the Gospel in the world today. Approximately 40 million travel to Las Vegas each year, from every state in our Union and from most countries around the world, including many countries where it is illegal and dangerous to share the Good New about Jesus. And, as one US Marine put it: "We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem."

In 2008, we had the blessed opportunity to share the Gospel with 50,000+ people from all corners of the globe while they were traveling through Las Vegas.

In 2009 we are raising the bar. We have set a goal of putting the Gospel in the hands of 150,000+ people before Thanksgiving. In order to do this we are going to need help in more ways than one.

We would like to invite you to join us in reaching the world by making a trip to Las Vegas to lend a hand. If you can’t join us in person, help us purchase Gospel tracts. The cost to reach 150,000 people in 2009 will be $14,400. Most of this will come out of our own pockets, but we need help to reach our goal. To help, click on the “Donate” button on your lower right. All donations are tax deductible

If you can not make it Las Vegas and are unable to give, then do the most important thing: pray. We serve a God who owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10) and we ask that you petition Him to provide for our needs and that the opportunity will remain open. Or, the best option is doing all three: join us, purchase tracts, and pray!

For more information, go to http://www.jesusinvegas.com/, or email us at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com .

Where is the joy? a response to Tom Wymore's blog post

2008-12-26T20:13:00.000-08:00

In response to http://tomwymore.blogspot.com/2008/12/ministering-from-place-of-peace-part.html:

All of us have come from different backgrounds in terms of ministry and life, and each unique background shapes how we think and act. Our present lives (respectively) are representations of what we agreed with in and disagreed with in our background, and we consciously and unconsciously act on our beliefs. The things I love, I live out now and try to grow in – I value these things and want my life to represent these things. There are things I disliked, and inevitably there is sort of a back lash against those things and a conscious adjustment to not become those things myself.

The irony of coming into a place of a more simple life and a very much more simple church structure is that it didn’t come out of a response to a overly busy life of “what have you done for me lately” ministry. I tasted to a small degree and heard about that, but never lived it out in spades as others have.

For many that I have personally come into contact with, transitioning to a simple church/ house church/ organic church was (although they would not readily admit it) a response to having lived a “mission heavy” life in an overly busy church and life – they had to have something real and authentic because their faith was becoming a meaningless series of meetings built around attendance and budgets.

For us, we started toward a more simple life and ministry and I had my “come to Jesus” moment and it revolved very much around mission. This is an over-simplification of why, but I realized busy people don’t share the Gospel. The “model” of church that had been happening ran people in spiritual circles, did not create authentic faith that sparked heart felt mission, and kept people so busy that they were not useful to the God when He did call. If I’m completely honest, I really believe that a more simple “model of church” is a better way to reach people – period – because it facilities and, in some ways, forces authenticity. A person can’t hide behind a guitar or a pulpit or a title. They either is or they isn’t.

The great irony of this discussion is that we are largely talking about the same things, but I am approaching this truth from the west and you are coming from the east. We are coming from different backgrounds and some of the reasoning we are have for coming to the truth is actually opposite.

My response to seeking authentic mission comes partly from seeing an overly inward, selfish, consumer-based, “it’s all about my own experience,” and “what do I get out of it,” and “if I don’t like it or enjoy it, then I’m not going to do it,” or “It’s not my gifting to help people or share my faith” kind of faith. So, you can understand my difficulty processing much of the simple church/house church thought process because much of the “lingo” sounds very selfish and inward.

I can’t put words in your head, but it seems that you are wanting authenticity and true joy in mission because you might be responding to a ministry culture that valued results and agenda over relationship, and maybe drove people to act regardless of their heart and pushed them regardless of whether there was any joy in the process. I am not trying to play arm-chair psychologist – I am merely guessing and really, truly trying to understand you and love you through listening.

The reality is that I am the weird one in this situation and I say that with confidence and humility at the same time, knowing that I’m different but happy that God made me me, and also equally happy that God made you you. I’m sincere in this statement. I come to simple church on a path that, as I am discovering, not many came to on: it is a better way to share the Gospel and a better way to train people to share the Gospel. I am, at the heart, a committed evangelist.

I’m putting my heart out there on this one, and I’m going to be honest, and also ask you to be honest by answering a question that I will answer first. Your answer will be completely different than mine, but I am secure to be honest if you are, knowing full well that it’s completely possible that we are from different planets.

The question (and please Tom, Alex, …and others if possible): What makes you the most joyful in life?

1. The knowledge of being accepted by God, and the confidence to be creative and bold which comes from that love and acceptance
2. The love of my wife and family regardless of results
3. Sharing the Gospel with thousands of people in front of the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas (evangelism, as I am realizing, comes from the very base of who I am – I literally daydream about people receiving the Gospel of Jesus)
4. Training and discipling a small group of people (I can’t imagine not having these relationships)

Tom and Alex, I want to understand you guys because I have much to learn. And so I started with complete, utter honesty….

Integration.

2008-12-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Integration. Why not train people to live a lifestyle of reaching people, and then disciple those people in the context of their lives…i.e. at work, at the gym, at home, over lunch, etc…so that their faith and their life are one. This works if people know how to share their faith, how to disciple others, and have eternal motivation (i.e...have taken an honest look the end game of death without a relationship with Jesus Christ, for themselves and others around them).

This sounds a little Pollyannish, but the reality is that this simple version of Christianity is more effective and more powerful, and more “doable”…and a lot less busy. We are living it right now….and the screen on my Blackberry actually just cracked…maybe it’s a sign (cue sinister music).

When we switched to a more simple model of church, one initial question was “if we don’t have kids programs, what will our kids do?” Well, the answer is obvious and embarrassing: I guess we will have to invest into them ourselves, ya know…teach them about the Bible and faith by showing them through other ways than flannel graphs (…preposterous). “What about their social lives?” Well, I guess we will have to encourage them to make friends in our neighborhood. “But, what if those friends aren’t Godly folk?” Well, I guess we’ll have to have them and their families over for dinner. “What if those folks aren’t Christian?” Well, I guess we (not anybody else) need reach out to them and share our life and faith with them…starting with helping them and then sharing how to be saved.

But…this is totally crazy…unless is works.

And if it does, then why spend millions on facilities?

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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church planting or people planting?

2008-12-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

Acts 2:40
Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!” Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church – about three thousand in all.”

Should churches be started through structured strategy which does not centralize on prayer and direct, full-Gospel evangelism (not neglecting any part of the Biblical Gospel…)?

Should we plant churches or plant people and then let the church be built by God through the vessel of evangelism and discipleship?

5 Greatest Christmas Movies of All-Time

2008-12-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

...as Al Gore says, the debate is over.

Here is the list of the 5 greatest Christmas movies of all time that myself and the staff at Expectation Blog (which is me), including our crack research squad (also...me), and our copy editors (again, me) came up with (including classic quotes)...

5. Christmas Vacation:

Eddie..."You surprised to see us, Clark?"
Clark..."Oh, Eddie... If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now."
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Aunt Bethany..."What's that sound? You hear it? It's a funny squeaky sound."
Uncle Lewis... "You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant."
-----
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097958/quotes

4. Home Alone

Kevin... "Is this toothbrush approved by the American Dental Association?"
Clerk... "Well, I don't know. It doesn't say, hon."
Kevin... "Well, could you please find out?"
-----
Kate (mom)... "How could we do this? We forgot him."
Peter (dad)... "We didn't forget him. We just miscounted. "
Kate (mom)... "What kind of a mother am I?"
Frank (uncle)... "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses."
-----
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099785/quotes

3. The Christmas Story

Ralphie.... "My little brother had not eaten voluntarily in over three years."
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Mr. Parker... "Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian."
Mrs. Parker... "Uh, I think that says FRAGILE, dear.
Mr. Parker... "Oh, yeah. "
-----
Randy... "I can't put my arms down!
Mother... "Well... put your arms down when you get to school."
-----
Waiters... [singing] "Deck the halls with boughs of horry, ra ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra."
Chop Suey Palace Owner "No, no, not 'ra ra ra ra', 'la la la la'! Try again."
Waiters... "Deck the halls with boughs of horry, ra ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra."
-----
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085334/quotes

2. Miracle on 34th Street

District Attorne: What is your name?
Kris Kringle: Kris Kringle.
District Attorney: Where do you live?
Kris Kringle: That's what this hearing will decide.
Judge Henry X. Harper: A very sound answer, Mister Kringle.
District Attorney: Do you really believe that you're Santa Claus?
Kris Kringle: Of course.
District Attorney: [long pause] The state rests, your honor.
-----
Fred Gailey..."All my life I've wondered something, and now's my chance to find out. I'm going to find the answer to a question that's puzzled the world for centuries. Does Santa Claus sleep with his whiskers outside or in?"
Kris Kringle... "Always sleep with them out. Cold air makes them grow."
-----
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039628/quotes

1. It's a Wonderful Life

Clarence... "Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends. "
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George Bailey... "Dear Father in heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if you're up there and you can hear me [begins crying] ...show me the way... show me the way."
-----
George Bailey... "Merry Christmas, you wonderful ole building and loan!"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/quotes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTYKBOv_0MM

The Cart: Church, The Horse: Evangelism

2008-11-28T10:34:00.000-08:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Do the Christians we disciple have the ability to lead other people to Jesus, and disciple those people, outside the four walls of the church structure? Do our structures and church models facilitate and encourage going out from the church or coming into the church? Do our lives tell the stories of going out from the church or do they talk about being in the church?

Do pastors, current and those going to plant churches, have the ability to lead people to Jesus, and disciple those people, outside the four walls of the church? How can we train church planters and missionaries (…is there a difference?) to be successful without training them how to actually lead people to Jesus?

Are we misleading young people who attend Bible college and seminary by making them think they are prepared to plant churches? Are they prepared?

Why, in our current paradigm, does Evangelism happen after we have planted a church? Why don’t we share our faith effectively, and only when necessary, establish formal structures?

Can we train others to share their faith effectively? Can we share our faith effectively?

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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50,000!!!

2008-11-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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For "Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." ~Romans 10:13

Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news—the Good News about Christ. ~Romans 10:17

Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. ~2 Timothy 4:2

Don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at bringing others to Christ. ~2 Timothy 4:5

Pretty simple and straight forward: take action. In believing these scriptures are true, we set a goal of putting the gospel in the hands of 50,000 people on the Las Vegas Strip before Christmas. We not only met it, but we got there before Thanksgiving! (to get an idea, the above picture is of the University of Hawaii's football stadium, which holds approximately 50,000 people)

We are taking a break until after the 1st of the year, and then gearing up for 2009. It is conceivable that in ‘09 we could reach upwards of 200,000+ people with the gospel (and that’s just in Las Vegas…stay tuned for more…).

If you would like to come and partner with us in reaching the world, or if you would like to bring a group to Las Vegas and learn the basics of evangelism, please email us at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com. You can also go to http://www.jesusinvegas.com/sharefaith.htm and learn more about the training we provide.

If you can’t make it to Las Vegas but would like to help put the gospel in the hands of thousands and thousands of people, please click on the donate button on the right – 100% of donations go toward buying tracts and are tax deductible.

A special thanks to Hillary, Dave, Mark, Ty, Abby, Ryan, Evie, KC, Cally, and Emma,..as well as Dodjiel, Rick, Tracy and crew, and Doug and crew...way to go reaching the world! Also, a special thanks to those who donated toward reaching people and prayed for us.

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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“Emergent” church quote...

2008-11-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have many friends that would consider themselves "emergent" in nature, and of course we have fun with each other, because if we can't laugh at ourselves (and each other) then ....I don't know, but it's good to laugh.

In an attempt to prove his "emergent-ness," my friend has listed his qualifications (I laughed out loud..or LOL as the kids say)...

"1. pierced navel, 2. tatoo of Soren Keirrkgaaaaard on my bosom and 3. VERY thin glasses (no lenses, just glasses). At night I sleep in the garage and pretend to be Bonhoffer in prison. What more can a man do?"

Wow....viva la funny.

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Tract Update: 46,000+

2008-11-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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In the last four months, we have had the honor and blessing of putting the gospel in the hands of 46,000+ people from all corners of the globe as they pass through Las Vegas. We have reached people by putting a clear Gospel presentation in their hands in the form of a highly attractive and effective souvenir (a big $100 bill), and we reach people that we couldn’t dream of reaching any other way…and they flock to us, which is not an exaggeration.

Tracts are a high faith activity, because you don’t know where they will go or who will read them or how effective they will be. But, we can stand with high faith because the word of God does not return void (Isaiah 55:11)…and faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17)...and etc, etc…so, we just have to be faithful carriers and presenters of the truth, and let God take it from there.

Tonight, I had a particularly special honor of interacting with a large family/group from Iran. If you are not aware, or if you live in a box in your mothers basement, Iran is a Muslim country that is very “closed” to the Gospel. But, tonight, after receiving several tracts, they came back for more, ….and more, ….and more. In Iran, I could be killed for such an act. In America, we literally have security around us, indirectly protecting our rights and insuring our well being...while we hand out Gospel tracts. I don’t know where all those tracts will end up, but I do know that major seeds got planted into a place that is very difficult to plant seeds in. We must live as people that take advantage of our freedom to share – it won’t last forever.

Also tonight, I got to plant seeds in Ethiopia, Lebanon, Israel, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Mexico, Singapore, Philippians, Scotland, Wales, India (a ton of people from India tonight), and more, and more…and from all over the United States. There were about 20 of us on the Las Vegas strip tonight - so the list would grow exponentially with all of their contacts included as well.

Please - Come and join us, even if for one night – it may change your life forever, and the lives of thousands of others. We are also available to help train your congregation or group – join us for a few days, or we can come to you. Email us at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com and we can work out dates and details...and it's free. If you can’t join us, but would like to help us reach thousands more, click on the “Donate” button on the right – all proceeds to go buying tracts, and donations are tax deductible.

We have a couple thousand to go to reach our goal of 50,000 before the holiday season, and, God willing, should reach that goal by next weekend.

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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Church: a goal or a tool?

2008-10-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

“Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat.” ~Jean-Paul Sartre

Keep in mind that the above quote is from a French guy, but the principal is true in a spiritual sense: a successful Christian life and/or a ministry life can appear very much like a life of defeat in the world’s eyes.

So, why do we take our Spiritual cues from the volume of the applause? Why do we look for satisfying success in the confines of this temporal life? Why do we back off from obedience when our version of victory becomes different from Gods? What has happened to obedience for the sake of obedience? What happened to Church being a tool? Why has it become a goal?

Leading a mega-church is a stupid goal. Starting a simple church network is a stupid goal. Having a house church is stupid goal. Being in full-time ministry is a stupid goal. Being bi-vocational is a stupid goal. These are not the climaxes of our existence, and once achieved the cruise-control can be set. These are not goals. Church and ministry are not goals – they are tools.

How about discipleship? According to history, all of the well known disciples in the Bible ended in worldly defeat – most of the new testament was written by Paul from a jail cell!!!

Yet, we have pastors quitting in perceived failure because their church isn’t growing fast enough!!!...but if it were growing faster, they would stay?!?!?

We have people sitting in church pews with NO IDEA that God would like to use them to reach a lost world, and no plans to move. But, if we have enough of those people, WE… ARE… CONSIDERED…. SUCCESSFUL… IN… MINISTRY !!!!! My head is about to explode. Our definition of success is …INSANE!!!

(Deep breaths.)

This is a quote from a friend’s blog in the UK, which was taken from one of his friends...so it's been thoroughly laundered.

"If you are going to reach the people other people aren’t reaching, you will
have to do things other people aren’t doing."

"In order to do the things other people aren’t doing you will have to stop doing what other people are doing."

Coupled with a review on "The M Blog" of the book "Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior" there is a lot to mull over in terms of the assumptions we make, and the actions that follow.

It is amazing how much of what we do is swayed by conformity to our current church culture, and I’m not talking about structure (i.e…mega-church vs. organic church).

In fact, we are continually duped into thinking that function follows form, and that in the right structure (leadership driven, or house church, or etc…) the “magic” of Kingdom expansion will happen…um…magically. If God can speak through a donkey, then I’m not sure that structure is as important as we think.

What I’m speaking to is the lack of obedience to God and the desired approval of church culture (i.e. church building, multiple ministries, full-time pay, ecumenical attempts to all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, attendance, budgets, ….all good and well, but not the goal).

All of these, and more, can be functional realities that help reach more people who do not know Jesus Christ, but these are tools, not goals. Church is a tool, not a goal. Being involved in ministry is not a goal, it is a tool. We are utensils in Gods hands, not useless, shelf-dwelling dishes created to sit and look good.

It is not enough to just get together. It’s not enough to just show up and “play house” using the latest Christian catch-phrases and cutting edge lingo, which gives the impression of action and unfortunately substitutes for actual movement. And, this movement need not be overly intense, but it does need to be intentional.

Church is not a fox hole, it is a mess hall. There is no "arrival" before taking our last earthly breath. Church is not a goal – it is a tool.

What if it were just you and God? No money, no applause, no position, no cues from the crowd, no Christian lingo, and no motivation other than God and His love for people, and His desire to work in and through you to reach those people. De-construct everything and try to remove all assumptions....the Bible is true, thats it…how would your life change?

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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It's on Amazon.com!

2008-10-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

Wow! Spiritual Anatomy (my most recent book regarding the anatomy of discipleship) is finally finished and posted on Amazon.com, available for purchase. It is still free to download, and will remain that way, but if you'd like a physical copy (for some folks, it's easier that way), jump online and pick up a copy! Order two and the shipping is free (which is worth it).

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Tract Update: 35,000+

2008-10-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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For those following our progress in handing out tracts on the Las Vegas strip, we have surpassed the 35,000 mark! That is the equivalent to a sold out football game at Martin Stadium (home of the Washington State University Cougar football team), or enough to fill the L.A. Lakers basketball arena (the Staples center) nearly twice.

Although we have not tracked the various countries we have impacted with the Gospel (but we are going to start keeping track), here is a list off the top of my head:

Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, England, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Haiti, Brazil, South Korea, China, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Kenya, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Australia, New Zealand, and the list goes on and on, but that’s all I can remember as I sit here in the bagel shop. Then, there is the list of states - I’m certain that we’ve hit all 50 several times over.

Thank you to all who have donated time and money to reaching the world with the Gospel! To help us reach even more, and surpass the goal of putting the gospel in the hands 100,000 people this year, please click on the donate button on your lower right.
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Church Office...location: Coffee Shop

2008-09-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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I've been corresponding with a friend who is branching out in ministry, talking about logistics. He is an outside the box thinker, and I wanted share an email I sent him regarding office space:

-------------------------------

Jonathon – about office space,…I’ve made a local coffee shop (with free internet) my office space, literally. My rent is $3/day (which includes coffee), 5 days a week, which works out to just over $60 per month – give or take – plus another $40 for coffee that I buy for other people…so around $100 a month, no leases, free internet, & excellent coffee,…and you meet all sorts of people, not to mention all the coffee shop staff. If I have to have a serious conversation, we go for a walk…which is great exercise in itself. Give it a try…I think you’ll like it.
-Scott
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This is no joke. Of course there are certain drawbacks, but the benefits out weigh the sacrifices. If you're not ready to go full boar, give it a try for a week: tell your staff they can reach you by phone, or they can stop by the coffee shop, and that you won't be in all week.

If you rent, you could actually downsize your office space and save a ton of money...and meet a lot of non-Christians doing it!
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Biased Toward Action

2008-09-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. ~2 Timothy 4:2

In field order no. 1 (regarding the Allies landing in Sicily in 1943), Patton advises his commanders to “Attack both day and night to the limit of human endurance and then continue to attack.” Or, as Napoleon said, “Attack and then look.”

The question of whether or not we should share our faith, or whether there is an exact “right time" - both questions have been answered in general terms in Scripture. Evangelism, i.e…sharing the gospel, is always in season. There are, of course, times in which God will change your direction (like when God turned Paul away from Asia in Acts 16:6-8), but Paul was biased toward action, not passivity, and then yielded to God’s specific direction.

Clearly, it is hard to break out of our regular schedules and social routines. Even as I write, I have to make a conscious decision to go and share the gospel, and even then it is a battle to actually go do it. In fact, getting started is invariably the hardest part of evangelism. (I am convinced that the two most difficult parts of ministry are extended prayer and direct evangelism). Once the act or action of evangelism begins, it gains momentum.

Pray for opens doors of opportunity, and compassion and boldness to walk through the doors.
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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Money, Lights, & Walls: what happens if they are gone?

2008-09-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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If you haven’t been following the news in the last few days, our global economy has been teetering on disintegration – just a “heads up.”

Now, I'm no "end-of-the-world" enthusiast or a “doom-and-gloom” predictor. And, although it seems we have averted a complete global economic collapse and a subsequent worldwide depression, the experience made me ponder several things. Just for the sake of discussion, think of three questions:

1. What would happen if your church budget was $0? (For some, this might not be a hypothetical, and like former Candadian Prime Minister Trudeau said about Canada, “It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there.”)
2. What would happen if your electricity was shut off? (again, maybe not that far off for some with budget issues).
3. What would happen if the walls of your church fell down, never to return? (this might actual spark spontaneous parties amongst certain pastors).

But seriously, these three questions are not meant to be a literal “end-of-the-world” preparation, but rather a filter that reveals the value and functionality of our local church.

Much of our current equipping, leadership resources, and overall church structures are heavily dependent on these three “constants”: money, electricity, and facility.

What if they were gone? How much of what we have learned from recent books, conference, websites, and leadership resources would become instantly irrelevant?

This is not a commentary on why we shouldn’t use material blessings in the pursuit of the expansion of the Kingdom of God. It is an introspection that might reveal the foundations of our Kingdom strategies and how many props we use to function in the irreducible core values of winnings souls and making disciples.

What if our equipping, leadership resources, and overall church structures were heavily dependant on meeting needs through person-to-person contact, winning souls directly, discipleship of those we have won to Christ, and training the person/people to follow the same process?

Even thought it’s difficult to ask, and an indictment of all of us to some degree: what if the “constants” were gone – would the guy sitting in the 14th row at your church be able to win souls and make disciples?

What would happen if our country turned 3rd world, like let's say, backcountry China? How would our faith function without our current structures to prop it up? What could we learn from the "scare" that allows us the best of both worlds?

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Church Planting List from David Watson's Blog

2008-09-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Below is a 12 point response from David Waton on Touch Point (his blog) to a question about what we can learn from overseas church planters (David spends a lot of time overseas training church planters). His answer is both challenging and insightful:

*******************************
Lessons Learned Overseas
1. Effective church planting teams spend 3-6 hours per day in prayer.

2. Training is continuous. Leaders are constantly reproducing more leaders, and disciples are constantly reproducing disciples.

3. Do extensive planning, but expect God to show up and do the unexpected.

4. Be flexible in order to take advantage of the unexpected.

5. Young Christians and young leaders are encouraged to lead and reproduce new Christians and leaders from day one.

6. Ownership of the work is in local hands, never in the church planters' hands.

7. There are no founding pastors. Church planters are church planters. They raise up and train local leaders who become the pastors of the churches.

8. Family-based and group-based evangelism through Guided Discovery Bible Studies.

9. Every new believer is trained as if he or she will be the next leader of a movement. People self-select out of training. We often see people become leaders who would have been overlooked with any selective training process.

10. Discipleship is about teaching to obey through word and deed. High accountability in close community is foundational.

11. Failure happens. Start over. Failure happens. Start over. ...

12. Church planting starts with ministry that leads to appropriate evangelism.
***************************************

What do you think?
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Regaining Confidence in the Gospel

2008-09-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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This is in response to a great article by Ed Stetzer on his blog, Lifeway Research, that talks about Christianity in the United States, etc... He says something that caught my attention (and i'm paraphrasing): regaining confidence in the Gospel will be important if the Church is going to continue to expand in the United States.

The best way to gain confidence in something that is real and powerful is to interact with it, which brings realizaiton and appreciation for it's importance and usefulness.

I dare any Christian to share the Gospel (the whole Romans road..God, heaven, hell, sin, salavation through Jesus, etc...) with somebody they don't know each day for 1 week. Can't find anybody? Go to your nearest food court at 11 am and there will employees on break sitting by themselves, bored. Walk up and say, "can i tell you about Jesus while you finish your lunch?"

The first time I did this - wow - I was scared, and it also changed my life.

If a Christian does this, at the end of that week, their life will be blown up and their appreciation for the Gospel will be alive. It will change their life and they will be face to face with the need for a Savior and for sharing the Gospel.

And it all happened in a food court.
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Off and Running!

2008-09-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Great news! We are an official, recognized church network within our organization. We have a long legal name, but our slogan name is Expectation Church Network, which is a simple Foursquare church network. This means that we intend to plant many small, simple churches as opposed to one large congregation.

Along with church planting, we will continue to leverage the Las Vegas strip to share the gospel with thousands of people. In addition, we are looking to establish several other simple church networks in foreign countries...so stay tuned.

In additional to evangelism and church planting, we also will continue to train people and teams in the basics of evangelism and discipleship. If you or a team would like to make a trip to Las Vegas for an experience that will change your life, email us at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com. If you are a young person and would like to train and get a ton of hands on experience in winning souls and making disciples, email us and we’d like a chance to talk about coming for a 1 or 2 year internship in Las Vegas.
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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New Church Report

2008-08-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of working on a new site that is a total hack of Drudgereport.com (which is a great news site).

New Church Report will simply pull together all the great articles and blogs that are out there regarding the topic of church, church planting, and many things Christian. Enjoy.

If you have suggestions of other resources that could/should be included on New Church Report let me know via email at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com. thanks!

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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DVD Clip... Evangelism in Las Vegas

2008-08-28T12:42:00.001-07:00

The bummer is that we are out of tracts right now. Help us buy more tracts... click the donate button on your lower right...100% of donations go to buying tracts.

How the Gospel Changes the World: A Muslim - to - Christian Conversion Story

2008-08-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
~Matthew 6:32-33

Imagine if this scripture was true, that if we seek first the directives of God that the other ‘stuff’ will be taken care of. And that ‘stuff’ can be pretty wide-ranging and comprehensive.

Case in point: a recent story in London’s Telegraph newspaper, which outlines how the son of one of the most prominent leaders of Hamas, the religious/military/political group that controls Palestine, has rejected Islam and converted to evangelical Christianity, and now lives in San Diego, CA.

How did that happen? Somebody ‘sought first the Kingdom of God.’ Somebody shared the gospel with him. Somebody placed a tract, or had coffee, or gave him an audio CD, or sent an email…somebody did something and…..wha-la: someone's eternity is changed, and the world is changed.

Back to the scripture: “…make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” Do you want to change the world? Go back to the cross of Jesus, talk about what happened there, share it somebody, and watch as it changes the world.

What can you do to change the world around you? What can you do today?

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Reaching the World with the Gospel: Tract Update

2008-08-18T21:06:00.001-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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We have reached the first 1/4 of our goal of handing out 100,000 gospel tracts this year. We have not only reached the first part of our goal, but if we are able to purchase enough tracts, we could double or triple our total goal for this year. We have identified a new location on the Las Vegas strip that will allow us to double our effectiveness on any given night, from 2000/hour to 4000/hour.

Though times have been busy planting a church, working on a new book, and training people in ministry, we have continued to utilize the tremendous flow of people through Las Vegas to share the gospel with as many as we can (approx. 40 million people come to Las Vegas each year, from nearly every city in America and most countries around the world, making it second only to Mecca in visited cities).

Unfortunately, we run out of tracts. For instance, tonight, we had a team of nine people ready to go, but we are essentially out of tracts and will have to wait a couple of weeks to get the money to purchase more. We are not big on asking for money, but if you want to help us reach 100,000 people from around the globe with the gospel, please click on the donate button on the right (100% of money donated goes to buying gospel tracts). It costs about $100 to buy 1000 tracts, but any amount will help us reach people and give them an opportunity to be saved.

This is not our only need. We need prayer support for our efforts, funds to buy tracts, and teams to come to Las Vegas to multiply our capcity and learn how to reach their cities with the gospel.

If you'd like to find out more about coming to Las Vegas with a small team of leaders or schedule a trip, email us at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com .

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Free resource for those who don't pay retail.

2008-08-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

I've used up all my free trials using Adobe Acrobat for converting Word documents to .pdf files, but I found a really cool free converter - http://www.freepdfconvert.com/ - just wanted to pass a long the free resource.

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book, "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Jesus in Beijing

2008-08-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of "Spiritual Anatomy", click here .
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It's the 8th day, of the 8th month, of the 8th year of second millennium, marking the start of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

People often talk about the impact that Christianity is having on China, and how that is impacting not only China, but the other countries around China. This impact has come largely in the form of house churches, and now China is beginning to send missionaries other places.

It's a great time to learn more about China and how faith is revolutionizing this communist country, so below are links to several intersting sites and books regarding some interesting topics, including how faith is transforming China and the how the rebuilding of the silk road could impact faith in China and world.

Article/summary of the silk road being rebuilt: http://www.backtojerusalem.com/pdf/articles/RebuildingTheSilkRoad.pdf

A book, Jesus in Beijing, regarding Christianity in China:
http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Beijing-Christianity-Transforming-Changing/dp/1596980257/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218210764&sr=8-1

A website talking about the silk road, faith in China, and how China is sending missionaries:
http://www.backtojerusalem.com/

Another website, a little more obscure (in Chinese, but you can translate it with the translate button on the Google tool bar):
http://www.returntojerusalem.org/

A book focusing on the "return to Jerusalem" topic and the silk road:
http://www.amazon.com/Back-Jerusalem-Paul-Hattaway/dp/1884543898

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To download a free copy of "Spiritual Anatomy", click here .
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Spiritual Anatomy: How to get free from sin & bondage (pages 41-42)

2008-08-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

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The following is an excerpt from Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy." To download it for free, click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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How do I get free?

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. ~1 John 1:9

Identification and confession are the first steps in true deliverance. We have to know what we need to be freed from. Too many times we over-generalize our sin in an attempt to save ourselves embarrassment. But all that does is make prayers less effective and allows us to hide a little longer. Hiding has not and will not free you from sin. Confession is the first step in true deliverance. If the Israelites had never noticed that they were enslaved, they would have never cried out to God. But they cried out to God because they needed God to do something specific: free them from the slavery of the Egyptians.

Getting Practical

To get specific, we have something called a Spiritual Deliverance Inventory (or “sinventory”), which is just that: an inventory of our sins (see appendix for full inventory). The goal is to help people see clearly the kind of slavery they are facing. If we pretend that there is no sin or that it is not a problem, then deliverance will not happen.

Once a person has filled it out we encourage them to talk with someone they trust and share as much or as little as they feel comfortable with, because confession of sin is the first step in freedom. When the specifics are identified, we pray and cry out to God to set us free from the specific bondages. Afterward, the “sinventory” is destroyed as a symbol of freedom (and it also keeps the information confidential).

This is much simpler than one might think. Using the Israelites as the model of deliverance, we can see that their hearts were humbled.

Then the LORD told him, "You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own good and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey – the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. The cries of the people of Israel have reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians have oppressed them with heavy tasks. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." ~ Exodus 3:7-10

The Lord heard their cries and answered their prayers. Another notable part of this scripture is that the Lord used a person, Moses, as the conduit for Israel’s deliverance. He not only wants to free us, he also wants to use us as the conduit to free others, which will be addressed in the chapter entitled “Pastor.”

A Simple Plan

It is tempting to take over-the-top actions in order to get ourselves free (see Moses killing the Egyptian in Exodus 2), but rarely do they work. But to maintain freedom, a plan is helpful.

(....to be continued...)

*the picture is of a sign in French, which translates "Free Entry."

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The following is an excerpt from Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy." To download it for free, click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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3000 tracts, 200 water bottles/granola bars

2008-07-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

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This weekend, we had a team of youth from Pullman Foursquare Church in Pullman, WA (http://www.pullmanfoursquare.org/). We had a great, life-changing time, from handing out tracts, to feeding the homeless, and world-class rock climbing in Red Rock Canyon.

The people and conditions in North Las Vegas are shocking and heartbreaking. The area north of Freemont Street in Las Vegas is really incredible - the temperature was probably 110-112 degrees at 4 pm when we went out, and there are people, literally, laying on the sidewalks in the sun - with nothing. Some people live in tent city areas, and it's incredible to think that each of us is only a few bad decisions and a few bad turns away from the same situation.

We had an opportunity to go to North Las Vegas and give water and granola bars to homeless people, approximately 200 in about 30 minutes. We don't even get out of the cars - we just pull up to large gatherings and hand the water bottles and food out the window, because otherwise we would get mobbed.

Also, we had the chance to reach a ton of people with the gospel. We handed out 3000 tracts in an hour, putting the good news about Jesus in the hands from all over America and countries from around the world.

Each one of these tracts is a souvenir in its own right, and there is a clear gospel presentation on the back, with a website stamped on the back that acts as a follow up in several different ways (it's still being built - http://www.jesusinvegas.com/).

To boot, we had a fun time rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon. It was great!

If you would like to bring a team to town, let us know and we’d love to be ministry guides. Email us at: evangelism@jesusinvegas.com

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Reinhard Bonke: Incredible and Inspiring

2008-07-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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On Saturday, we were in Anaheim to hear Reinhard Bonke speak. If you are not familiar with Bonke, he is an international evangelist, focusing heavily on Africa. He shared some stats from the past few years that are staggering (the photo is of one of Bonke's crusades in Africa).

Since the year 2000, they have had 50 million decisions for Christ in their crusades…, yes…seven zeros. They count the decisions by having people fill out decision cards, so it’s not youth pastor math. Yes, they do raise money at these events, and they reported that it costs approximately $800,000 per crusade. But, check this out: over the last ten years, they have averaged one soul per one dollar spent on the crusades.

Wow!

Also, by next year, he will be have been a full time evangelist for 50 years! Incredible and inspiring.

To find out more about Reinhard Bonke, his ministry, and check updates, go to Christ For All Nations (CFAN) website at http://www.cfan.org/ .

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Spiritual Anatomy: Sustained Freedom & Misundertandings About Deliverance (pages 37-40)

2008-07-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

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The following is an excerpt from "Spiritual Anatomy," page 37-40. To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Sustained Freedom
There are two major parts of spiritual freedom: deliverance and discipline. Deliverance is a supernatural act of God, but staying free hinges on discipline and our devotion to God (see Moses and the Israelites). They are the two wings that allow us to fly in freedom. After that day at the conference, I still had temptation, but I did not feel obligated and controlled by my desires any longer. When I said no, it worked. But the enemy will try to keep us trapped in bondage by
shooting arrows of doubt and confusion about deliverance itself.

Misunderstandings

1. Deliverance is only for the ultra-spiritual people and it’s a little freaky. The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. ~John 10:10

Deliverance is not a stylistic method, a denominational pet theory, or a bad movie from the 1970’s. It is a reality that, if ignored, can keep us from being effective and fruitful. The enemy wants to kill us and destroy us, and keep us tied to the tree. But because of the negative connotations, the concepts of deliverance are largely ignored as weird, and causing our continued bondage.

2. What I don’t know can’t hurt me. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. ~Ephesians 6:12

This is the equivalent of being put in a lion’s den and then denying the existence of lions. Of course, denial will not save you from the wrath of the lions. In the same way, our denial of the spiritual realm and our need for deliverance is exactly what the enemy would want. We all know that freedom from sin does not happen randomly or accidentally. We have to be intentional in seeking freedom because it certainly will not come naturally. Left to our own desires, we will become more and more entrenched in sin. Need proof? Look at the world around us. Is it becoming increasingly moral without God? Do we, as individuals, become increasing moral and good without God? We need the delivering power of God in our lives, not just once as an event, but regularly as an act of maintenance.

3. Deliverance is a substitute for discipline. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! ~Exodus 14:15

On the other end of the spectrum, we can over-spiritualize freedom from sin and completely discard the need for discipline. Deliverance does not negate the need for discipline. God miraculously made a way for the Israelites to be free from the slavery and bondage of the Egyptians. He parted the Red Sea (deliverance) and then they had to move their feet and walk across the dry ground (discipline). In the same way, we cannot ask God to free us from sin and then be unwilling to walk through the open door by disciplining ourselves to stay free from sin. We will address the practical application of this principle later in the chapter.

4. If I have to be delivered from the influence of the devil, then I must be a really bad person. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. ~Matthew 16:18

Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God's." ~Matthew 16:23

In Matthew 16, verses 13-20, Jesus questions Peter about his faith. Peter responds correctly by identifying Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. Jesus then exhorts him and casts a vision for Peter that is incredibly profound and encouraging.

In the very next section of verses Jesus talks about His imminent death and resurrection. Peter, possibly in the after glow of a compliment from the Son of God, pulls Jesus aside for some friendly advice. Jesus immediately rebukes Satan from Peter, moments after exhorting him. Talk about an emotional roller coaster for Peter!

Even Peter needed deliverance, and he was a spiritual giant. This series of verses lets us know that if Peter needed the devil rebuked from him, then from time to time we might need it too. Again, just because a car needs regular oil changes does not make it a bad car. Because we need regular deliverance does not make us bad people.

(*the above picture is of Leonardo Da Vinci's "flying machine" and is not part of the book......oddly enough though, if you add of up the angles on the wings and use it as a code on the alphabet, it actually says "Jesus caused Global Warming"...incredible.)

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Beer & Baptism

2008-07-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of "Spiritual Anatomy", click here .
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I recently read and responded to a post on another blog titled "Beer and Baptism" (you can read the blog by clicking here). The blog focuses on Simple Church/House Church stuff.

The crux of the article is that they had a baptism and there was beer there. You'll have to read the blog entry for this post to make sense (it's short and interesting...and there is a picture). But, below is my response to another persons comment. I was pretty fired up, so sorry if I offend people (also, they aren't Catholic, neither am I, but this picture on the left rocks the Casbah):

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“What kind of a testimony of new creation he is, when the person being baptized brings the booze? It looks like a testimony of old nature to me. ~ Vitaly"

@ Vitaly

A few quotes to start:

On the mode of baptism by Martin Luther:“Besides, the Word [i.e., the Bible] is the principal part of baptism. If in an emergency there’s no water at hand, it doesn’t matter whether water or beer is used.”

Luke 7:33-34: "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, andyou say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking,and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of taxcollectors and "sinners."

Question: Would you stand in judgment against Martin Luther for allowing beer and consuming beer - regularly?

Question: Can a person who drinks beer or a glass of wine enter Heaven…i.e. does it play a part in a person’s salvation? Will those who don’t drink wine or beer enter Heaven for sure?

Question for Vitaly: Have you shared the gospel recently with a person who doesn’t know Jesus or a person who doesn’t fit into your version of Churchianity?

In accordance with your analysis, you would have stopped that baptism from happening, and completely missed the opportunity to share the gospel with even more people. And, guessing from your analysis, you haven’t done a lot of baptisms lately or spent much time around lost people. I would also wager that you probably spend most of your time around your church friends, who probably all agree with your view and/or shape it.

I’m not claiming perfection, but I’m certainly not going to criticize someone’s real efforts to expand the Kingdom…in fact, I’ll defend those efforts. People’s imperfect efforts are not what stop the advancement of the Kingdom of God. What stops the advancement of God is nit-picking those who are doing something, and discouraging people with legalistic filters and paralyzing people through ignoring the positive in favor of the negative.

It’s your insecurity and self-righteousness that drives your “theology,” and it’s that same personal theology that keeps you from spending time reaching out to lost people, simply because you are uncomfortable with their lifestyle and are scared of what those same “churchianity” friends might think of you. You are scared they might call you “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."”

Don’t be scared by what they think. No one has ever gotten AIDS from toilet seats or hand shakes – that was ignorance and fear. No one is going to get to Heaven by impressing their religious friends…but there are certainly some people that will miss Heaven by trying to fit into their social/religious circle.

More Luther Quotes:

On moderation:"God does not forbid you to drink, as do the Turks; he permits you to drink wine and beer: he does not make a law of it. But do not make a pig of yourself; remain a human being."

On the devil:"Whenever the devil pesters you, at once seek out the company of friends, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some form of merriment."

Luther Joking about those who speak against beer:"Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!"

"If you are tired and downhearted, take a drink; but this does not mean being a pig and doing nothing but gorging and swilling... You should be moderate and sober; this means that we should not be drunken, though we may be exhilarated." --Martin Luther, Sermon on Soberness and Moderation

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Why?

2008-07-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

This is what can happen when there is a wreck on the pool off ramp.

The punchline: there is actually only 2 1/2 cups of water in that pool.

(**this is an actual pool in China**)

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Tract update: 11,200 handed out in 3 weeks

2008-07-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

We've had a good 3 weeks, putting the gospel in the hands of over 10,000 people from around the world. The tracts we use on the Las Vegas strip look like giant $100 bills and feature a clear gospel presentation on the back. It is an easy and fun way to share the gospel, and it leaves people with the truth and a smile.

Some people don't think you can share spiritual truths and be humble and have fun - we are glad to report they're wrong. Come join us and we'll train you, and then reach the world together - and have a great time doing it!

We don't charge for training, it's just BYOT (buy your own tracts), so email us at evangelism@jesusinvegas.com if you want to bring a team for evangelism training, rock climbing, and an incredible life experience. Or, if you are local and want to give it a try, feel free to contact us.

Can't make it to Las vegas, but wanna buy tracts for us to hand and reach the world? click here

Wanna buy tracts to use in your town? click here.
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Spiritual Anatomy: Personal Story & Sustained Freedom (pages 36-37)

2008-07-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

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The following is an excerpt from "Spiritual Anatomy," page 36-37. To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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How did things change?
For me, my first experience with personal deliverance happened at a conference and the session was not anything particularly special. In fact, I believe it was a late afternoon session (which is amazing, because late afternoon sessions at conferences can be equivalent to eating white flour). I don’t remember what was said, other than the topic of deliverance was addressed. It was the first time I had ever heard anything like that or been made aware that it even existed.

Wow! The power of God to remove chains and break bonds is incredible. Think of the measures He took to free the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and how that speaks of God’s love for His people. Does He want to free us of bondage as badly as He wanted to free the Israelites? Yes.

For me, deliverance from my major areas of bondage caused an overnight change and began a process of purity. Instantly, there was the relief from the wave of sin, but it was not caused by giving in to the sin. Over a period of weeks and months, I began to read the word and understand it. My devotional times became more regular and, thus, the voice of God was heard more clearly in my life. Before that event, I felt like I had ear plugs in my ears and no matter how much I wanted to hear clearly, it just wasn’t happening and wasn’t going to happen. Afterward, my eyes were cleared and my ears unplugged. I had been untied from the tree.

Sustained Freedom
There are two major parts of spiritual freedom: deliverance and discipline. Deliverance is a supernatural act of God, but staying free hinges on discipline and our devotion to God (see Moses and the Israelites). They are the two wings that allow us to fly in freedom.

After that day at the conference, I still had temptation, but I did not feel obligated and controlled by my desires any longer. When I said no, it worked.

But the enemy will try to keep us trapped in bondage by shooting arrows of doubt and confusion about deliverance itself.
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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Newsflash: London Times releases startling Jesus revelations

2008-07-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

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This just in: Jesus was prophesied about years before he was born, died, and resurrected! Really...it's true. Someone has recently found a stone tablet with writting on it that talks about Jesus......and it was written years before it happened (que sinister music: bom, bom, bom). The London Times and their crack staff of investigative reporters went all out on this one. Now......that is reporting, my friends...digging deep to find the hidden information. Kudos from across the pond.

You can see the ground breaking news here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,378523,00.html.

This just in: there is a printed book with writing in it that talks about Jesus, and it was written years before it happened...it's....called....the .....Bible (que sinister music: bom, bom, bom). Unfortunately for the London Times, it's also the most distributed book in history of the world.

Truth be told: I actually own one - no big deal,... it's leather bound. Just in case you missed the various prophesies, I gathered them from the website listed below:

http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/messianic.htm

Genesis 49:10The Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah
Deuteronomy 18:15-18God promised another prophet like Moses
2 Samuel 7:16The Davidic line of kings would endure forever

Psalm 41:9Jesus was betrayed by a friend

Isaiah 7:14Isaiah foreshadowed the virgin birth of Jesus

Isaiah 9:6-7Jesus proclaims that he is the Son of God

Isaiah 35:4-6He would perform miracles

Isaiah 40:1-5,9The Messiah would be preceded by a messenger

Isaiah 49:6God's salvation would reach the ends of the earth

Isaiah 50:6Jesus was spat upon and beaten

Isaiah 53:1-3The Messiah would be rejected

Isaiah 53:4-6God's servant would die for our sins

Isaiah 53:7God's servant would be silent before his accusers

Isaiah 53:9God's servant would be buried in a rich man's tomb

Isaiah 53:12God's servant would be "numbered with the transgressors"

Jeremiah 23:5The Messiah would be a descendant of King David

Daniel 9:24-26Daniel predicted when an anointed one would be rejected

Micah 5:1-2The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem

Zechariah 9:9The Messiah would enter Jerusalem while riding on a donkey

Zechariah 11:12-13Zechariah foreshadowed the betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver Zechariah 12:10Zechariah foreshadowed the crucifixion of Jesus

Matthew 20:17-19Jesus foretold his death and resurrection

John 3:16All who believe in Jesus will be saved

John 4:19-26Jesus proclaims that he is the Messiah

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Evangelism vs. Inwardism

2008-07-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

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To download a free copy of "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Last week, we handed out 4000 gospel tracts on the Las Vegas Strip...on Saturday, I had handed out 1000 in one hour. We use a tract that looks like a big $100 bill, with a clear gospel presentation on the back and a web address: http://www.jesusinvegas.com/.

This is no badge of honor for us – a monkey with a smile could hand out these tracts on the Strip, and we are…… not… that… far… off. We keep it fun and light - people don't come to Las Vegas to see us, and we want to add to their experience, not ruin it in the name of Jesus.

Handing out these tracts is very fun, with moments of complete embarrassment. Last night, a guy got in the face of one of our team members, Dave, and said, "Satan rules, man!" But, the irony is that the guy walked away with a gospel tract in his hand. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

In the early eighties, Os Guiness wrote a fiction book in the spirit of CS Lewis called “Gravedigger File.” In a part of the book, he writes from the viewpoint of a senior demon and outlines a strategy for infiltrating and destroying the church. One of the schemes was to make Christianity “privately engaging but socially irrelevant,” spending more time looking inward than outward.

Much of the church (I’m guilty as well) even goes to the extreme of evangelizing from an inward perspective rather than meeting a felt need or obvious want (within reason). We focus more on the wants or insecurities of the evangelist, rather than meet a need. Because of this, we’ve not only made Christianity socially irrelevant, but socially awkward, and many times counter-productive and arrogant. Rather than serving, we do what we want and speak from a pedestal rather than from our knees, out of compassion .

We have to remeber: We are the fortunate friends and willing servants of a graceful God, and we are inherently no better than the worst of sinners. We are the worst of sinners. It is only by God’s grace that we are saved. For evangelism, we must descend, just as Jesus did, to meet people where they are at and then walk with them up the mountain. Then, we inspire them to return back down the mountain, salvation intact, that others might be saved.

Unfortunately, we have specialized in self-righteous bull horns and pedestal accusations, all while hiding behind pews, cliché tee-shirts, committees, and tithes. We can’t forget where we came from and who pulled us up out of the mire. Jesus was a servant, so "WWJD" that!

Look at Jesus and the guys – they responded to needs and then shared the gospel. Jesus met a need and then shared the truth – He feed 5000, healed people, etc…then shared the truth. Did Jesus secretly want to be caterer or was He responding to a need and then leveraging it? Peter did the same (his shadow even healed people, then he shared the gospel). Paul did the same (healed, performed miracles, etc…, then preached or visited people). They would meet a need and then share the gospel. Simple.

We tend to complicate things and forget to the meet the most forward, obvious want or need, and then leverage it to share the gospel. It’s evangelism using the most obvious local need as the lowest common denominator, and sharing the truth.

People come to Las Vegas for big money, and so we leverage that. We don't secretly want to be counterfeiters or carneys, but it's what works. For the university town we used to live in, it was letting people share their opinion in the form of a survey. For the small town I used to pastor in free food drew a crowd. For another place, it might be live music.

What is it for your town? How can you meet a felt need in your city, and then leverage it to meet an eternal need from a place of compassion?

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Islam in the UK, Drugs in the US, and Freedom in Las Vegas

2008-07-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

To download a free copy of "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.

This weekend we (the USA) celebrate our independence from the British crown. I dig the UK, but this is crazy...in England, two kids got detention for not bowing and praying to Allah during their Islamic diversity education. Diversity education?? That is as crazy and nutty as showing kids what drugs look like and how to use them…er…oh ya…we have that here….we call it the D.A.R.E. program.

(D.A.R.E. was excellent party preparation for me and my friends. I learned all sorts of drug lingo which made me sound cool and hip... I learned things like there was a type of pot called “Acapulco Gold”…and I was not better because of it. Apparently it hasn’t worked. We lead the modern world in drug use: over 42 percent have used pot, and 16 percent of citizens have used cocaine. It was Robin Williams that said cocaine is “God's way of saying you're making too much money”…but I digress.)

Last night (the 4th), we went out to a high point (no pun intended) in Las Vegas and watched fireworks for about 30 minutes – they were pretty amazing. We had an almost 360 degree view and saw 15-20 official fireworks shows happening at the various parks, resorts, etc…from Summerlin/Las Vegas/Henderson.

When we looked out on Las Vegas last night and the thousands upon thousands watching the beautiful fireworks, I can’t help but thank God for the opportunity to share the gospel with them...ya, ya...its sounds cliche, but it's completely true. Look at what is happening in our country and in other "free" countries like the UK. I want to use my freedom to share the truth, love, and grace of Jesus Christ, and inspire others to do the same, because the freedom may not last forever.

The only real freedom is in Jesus. Let’s use our freedom to bring the same freedom to the world around us.

"Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that. The saving of souls, if a man has once gained love to perishing sinners and his blessed Master, will be an all-absorbing passion to him. It will so carry him away, that he will almost forget himself in the saving of others. He will be like the brave fireman, who cares not for the scorch or the heat, so that he may rescue the poor creature on whom true humanity has set is heart. If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for." ~Charles Spurgeon

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To download a free copy of Scott's new book "Spiritual Anatomy", click here or visit www.lulu.com/expectationmedia.
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Las Vegas photo from: http://assets.espn.go.com/media/travel/2006/0306/photo/vegas_740.jpg