Category: The Viral Jesus Book


How to Kill a Viral Jesus Movement

Filed Under: Christendom, Church History, Church Life, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, New Covenant, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 3 Comments
April 13, 2012

It's great while it lasts. We need to learn to not take control from Jesus so they do last.

When viral Jesus movements (also called revivals) happen they are exciting, powerful and fruitful. They can also be surprisingly fragile. God begins many of these but they are killed because of inappropriate human activity. I want to discuss this activity so that none of us are ever a part of killing a movement of God.

The Wrong Wineskins

In my book Viral Jesus I note that what I call partial Jesus movements normally last twenty years or less. By partial Jesus movements I am referring to a movement of the Spirit (revival) that gets snuffed too early. I would include in this list the 1st Great Awakening, the 2nd Great Awakening, The Moravian movement, the Welsh revivals, the Azusa Street Revival…I could go on. Here’s the sad point, we have not seen a single viral Jesus movement go for more than about twenty years between the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and the current viral Jesus movement in China in 1949. That’s 1,636 years. Let me be clear, a number of these movements sparked significant lasting change. Both the 2nd Great Awakening and the Azusa Street Revival gave birth to current denominations. But the lasting power and presence of the Holy Spirit was gone, as was the rapid in gathering of souls. The Assemblies of God denomination was born out of Azusa Street. Is the average Assemblies church having a rapid in gathering of souls? Is there a pervasive holiness among members that is any different than say a Baptist church? The revival had long lasting effects but the revival itself has gone.

In contrast, the first viral Jesus movement, the early Church lasted about 280 years. Honestly it was losing its power before the Edict of Milan but that was the largest and last nail in the coffin. The viral Jesus movement which is currently happening in China has been going on since 1949 (63 years and counting). What’s the difference? Put simply the difference is wineskins. The way of doing church which we now think of as standard practice, (congregational meetings in dedicated buildings with a hierarchical leadership structure) is a hostile environment to the Spirit’s powerful work. For specific details of this read the chapters The Crumbling of a Viral Jesus Movement and The History of Partial Viral Jesus Movements in Viral Jesus. How could the early church sustain a viral movement for nearly 300 years? They didn’t have our current church practice. When it finally became formalized the viral movement stopped. How can our Chinese brethren sustain their movement of the Sprit for over 60 years? They don’t follow standard church practice. You can read about that in Thank You Chairman Mao. Following are some of the more specific reasons that our more traditional practices kill viral Jesus movements.

Human Control

The Church was specifically designed to function with Jesus as Lord and his servants to listen to His specific instructions because of the new covenant. In the new covenant Jesus the Lord gives us specific directions to our hearts and minds (Heb. 8:10). Have you ever seen footage of a SWAT team entering a house to make an arrest? It is confusing and chaotic. One guy is yelling POLICE! Another is commanding, “PUT UP YOUR HANDS!” The next is screaming, “GET ON THE GROUND!” Another is saying, “DON’T MOVE YOUR HANDS!” All the while there are flash bang grenades going off. Chaos! That’s what we have now in the Church, thousands of human leaders “leading.” There is so much human noise it becomes difficult to hear the still small voice of the Lord speaking into our hearts and minds. This human domination can also manifest itself in a leader, group or denomination trying to control what happens.

Focus on Manifestations or Avoid Them

In my last post Characteristics of a Jesus Movement I mentioned two current tendencies, to bask in the glow of supernatural manifestations or shun them. Both can kill viral Jesus movements. To encounter God’s supernatural power is wonderful. But God gives this for specific reasons, to change our lives towards holiness, to show his power to the world and spread his Gospel. It is not a spiritual drug for us to merely enjoy. When we focus on the manifestation and not the Master we risk losing both. In the opposite direction we have brethren who are so steeped in secular rationalism that they are offended by supernatural manifestations. They seem weird, inappropriate and distasteful. In fact, to many they seem satanic. I give a sound test to see what is from God and what is from the devil in my post Is This God or the Devil? However, both of these fleshly tendencies create a hostile environment for a viral Jesus movement.

Fail to Become Missional

There have been a number of truncated viral movement in the US in the last thirty years. They started out fine, despite the bad wineskins, but they fizzled. What happened? Two things happened in my opinion. First, people were curious about the supernatural manifestations but weren’t serious about God’s plans. In other words, it quickly became human focused instead of God focused (see above). But the second problem was that there was little focus on allowing God’s work to become missional. In my post Characteristics of a Jesus Movement I noted, “true Jesus movements start out attractional and very quickly become missional.” That happened in the 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings, the Moravian movement, and the Azusa Street revival. Currently the tendency is to come and observe, come and experience, come and enjoy; but there isn’t a lot of going unto all the world to preach the Gospel. These truncated movements have died or will shortly if they don’t take God’s purposes in mind and follow Him out into the harvest.

  • Do you see any common factors in these fatal behaviors?
  • Why do you think the form of the wineskins makes so much difference?
  • Why do you think Jesus movement die if they don’t become missional?
  • Why does human control (not the same as human participation) truncate viral Jesus movements?
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The 2nd Great Awakening

Filed Under: Christendom, Church History, Evangelism, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 5 Comments
April 6, 2012

A Small Part of the Meeting at Cane Ridge

In my last post Running on One Leg  I described the spirituality required for a viral Jesus Movement. In this post I’m going to describe what just one of these movements looked like; although there have been many in Christian history. In my book Viral Jesus I devote four chapters to this issue: The Early Church: The First Viral Jesus Movement, The Crumbling of a Viral Jesus Movement, The History of Partial Viral Jesus Movements, and China: A Current Viral Jesus Movement.

It started with a covenant with God

In the wilds of Kentucky in 1799 the members of three churches in Muddy River, Red River and Gaspar River signed a covenant with their circuit riding Presbyterian preacher named James McGready. They promised to pray every Saturday evening, Sunday morning and fast the second Saturday of every month. The covenant read in part:

When we consider the Word and promises of a compassionate God, to the poor lost family of Adam, we find the strongest encouragement for Christians to pray in faith—to ask in the name of Jesus for the conversion of their fellow men…With these promises before us, we feel encouraged to unite our supplications to a prayer-hearing God, for the outpouring of His Spirit, that His people may be quickened and comforted, and that our children, and sinners generally, may be converted.

The Movement Spread from Red River

In June of 1800 while McGready’s Methodist friend John McGee preached passionately at a communion service at Red River the Spirit came in power. Here’s a portion of McGee own account of what happened as he preached:

Several spoke to me: “You know these people. Presbyterians are much for order, they will not bear this confusion, go back and be quiet.” I turned to go back—and was near falling, the power of God was strong upon me. I turned again and losing sight of fear of man, I went through the house exhorting with all possible ecstasy and energy.”[1]

Here’s how Peter Marshall and David Manuel in their book From Sea to Shining Sea described what happened next.

With that, the dam broke, and the floods of salvation swept through the assembly. In a moment, the floor was “covered with the slain: their screams for mercy pierced the heavens,” and according to McGready, one could see “profane swearers and Sabbath-breakers pricked to the heart and crying out “What shall we do to be saved?”[2]

This powerful revival swept through the other congregations in the area to the point that in 1801  McGready, McGee and their other Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist preacher friends decided to make a clearing in the deep woods at Cane Ridge to hold a large revival meeting. The preachers were stunned when twenty-five thousand people showed up in the middle of the wilderness. This was about one eighth of the entire state’s population.

Demonstrations of the Power of God

Powerful but strange manifestations of a Viral Movement

Here’s the weird thing. This revival in the middle of the woods was accompanied by some very bizarre manifestations of the Spirit. Here’s how James B. Finley, who came to observe as a skeptic, described just one of those strange manifestations, people all shouting at once.

The noise was like the roar of Niagara. The vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated as if by a storm. I counted seven ministers, all preaching at one time, some on stumps, others in wagons…. Some of the people were singing, others praying, some crying for mercy in the most piteous accents, while others were shouting most vociferously. While witnessing these scenes, a peculiarly-strange sensation, such as I had never felt before, came over me. My heart beat tumultuously, my knees trembled, my lips quivered, and I felt as though I must fall to the ground. A strange supernatural power seemed to pervade the entire mass of mind there collected…. Soon after, I left and went into the woods, and there I strove to rally and man up my courage.

After some time, I returned to the scene of the excitement, the waves of which, if possible, had risen still higher. The same awfulness of feeling came over me… I saw at least five hundred swept down in a moment, as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened upon them, and then immediately followed shrieks and shouts that rent the very heavens. My hair rose up on my head…. I fled into the woods a second time, and wished I had stayed at home.[3]

What Finley, who became a frontier preacher himself, describes is actually quite mild compared to some of the other powerful manifestations that happened at Cane Ridge. But what was the result? Did this really result in the Kingdom moving forward? Let’s hear from a contemporary skeptic.

Personal holiness was not the only result from the 2nd Great Awakening

How this affected society

Dr. George Baxter, a minister was sent to Kentucky by Presbyterian officials in Princeton to put an end to such shameful nonsense. Keep in mind that Kentucky before the revival was an evil place, nicknamed Rogue’s Harbor for all the outlaws that congregated there to avoid more organized society (i.e. the law). Here’s part of Baxter’s report to his superiors.

The power with which this revival has spread, and its influence in moralizing the people are difficult for you to conceive, and more so for me to describe…. I found Kentucky, to appearance, the most moral place I had ever seen. A profane expression was hardly ever heard. A religious awe seemed to pervade the country…. Never in my life have I seen more genuine marks of that humility which…looks to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of acceptance with God. I was indeed highly pleased to find that Christ was all and in all in their religion…and it was truly affecting to hear with what agonizing anxiety awakened sinners inquired for Christ, as the only physician who could give them any help.

Those who call these things “enthusiasm,” ought to tell us what they understand by the Spirit of Christianity…. Upon the whole, sir, I think the revival in Kentucky among the most extraordinary that have ever visited the Church of Christ, and all things considered, peculiarly adapted to the circumstances of that country…. Something of an extraordinary nature seemed necessary to arrest the attention of a giddy people, who were ready to conclude that Christianity was a fable, and futurity a dream. This revival has done it; it has confounded infidelity, awed vice to silence, and brought numbers beyond calculation under serious impressions.[4]

In the next three posts I’m going to ask the question, how can we determine if strange behavior is from God or the devil? In the subsequent post I’m going to talk about common characteristics of viral Jesus movements. Finally, in the last post in the series I’m going to talk about how to kill a viral Jesus movement.

  • Have you ever been a part of a viral Jesus movement like this?
  • Would you want to be a part of this or is it just too weird?
  • Do you think this kind of thing can be counterfeited by the devil? If so, how do we distinguish what comes from the devil and what comes from God?
  • What do you think the common characteristics of a viral Jesus movement are? How do these things get started?
  • Why isn’t Christianity like this all the time? How does this get suppressed?

[1] Charles A. Johnson, The Frontier Camp Meeting (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1955), 35.

[2] Peter Marshall, Manuel, David, From Sea to Shining Sea (Old Tappan, New Jersey, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1986), 62.

[3] Marshall and Manuel, p. 68 quoting Johnson p. 64-65.

[4] Ibid., 69.

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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Filed Under: Church Life, Discipleship, Meeting Together, Recommended Books, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — Leave a comment
March 14, 2012

To order This Is My Body: Ekklesia As God Intended click here.

So often when one reads about the Church nowadays we end up with a work that doesn’t really question the status quo. The assumption is that this is what we do, and therefore it is pretty much how it ought to be. Then we get a slightly new twist on some cool iteration of the status quo, perhaps a change in the standard order of service or a new trendy way of doing worship and we are done.

For anyone who is aware of how Jesus actually designed His Church, as described in the New Testament, what the Church was like in the first few centuries, how the church has changed through 2,000 years of history compared to how it is today, the typical analysis leaves a whole herd of elephants standing in the room. Keith Giles in This Is My Body: Ekklesia as God Intended graciously and passionately takes us on an elephant hunt.

Jesus designed His Church for a purpose, and the purpose was not looking in the mirror at itself and admiring its own beauty. Nor was it to be insecure about itself finding every flaw. It was to be His people on mission with Him to extend His Kingdom. All the while it was to be His loving bride, the receptor of his loving affection and the bride who loved him back. There was a design and there was a purpose.

The Church has strayed away from her God given design and she has become distracted from her purpose. When God’s people Israel strayed away from their design and their purpose God sent prophets to call them back to what they were really supposed to be and how they were really supposed to live. Keith is doing the same for the Church today. Keith told me recently that he almost titled this book something like Jesus Called and He Wants His Church Back. He decided that title might drive away the very people who needed to read it so he refrained. But I do think it’s about time someone told us Jesus wants His Church back.

Keith is not angry. He is not trying to merely poke holes and express pet peeves. Nor is he the prophet of doom shouting on a street corner in a tin foil hat. Instead his is that wise yet passionate voice; the voice of Jimmy Stewart speaking to the Senate in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  We may not necessarily want to hear it but know when we do we are listening to solid wisdom and truth. In the video below start at minute 1:51:40.

If you were an athlete in training for the Olympics what kind of coach would you want to have? Would you want a coach that constantly praises you and tells you whatever you do is just fine? Or, would you want a coach that while being encouraging, takes you back to the fundamentals, teaching you step by step how to excel? Honestly, some of us just want to be praised and don’t what their status quo questioned. If you are that person, this is not the book for you. Others of us, though, long to learn how to be the bride that Jesus deserves. They long to be with Him as he goes about His world setting things right. And they long to be the bride He lovingly describes, to be on mission with Him as He designed it. If that expresses your heart, you have found your book.

One last thing; Keith is an excellent writer. His book is a pleasure to read. I found myself wanting to post quote after quote on Twitter and Facebook. I quickly realized I was republishing Keith’s book a Twitter snippet at a time, so I tried to restrain myself, not completely successfully. You are going to find a lot of gems in this book; enjoy the search and recommend it to your friends.

This Is My Body: Ekklesia As God Intended is Keith’s work of love. He is so passionate about his message that he has made the book free to anyone who wants it. If you want a free e-book version you can download it here.

If you want a paper version you can hold in your hands you can order it here along with Keith’s other books.

  • Do you think it is right to question the status quo of the Church we’ve always known?
  • Do you want to hear what Jimmy Stewart has to say at the town hall meeting or are you content with the status quo?
  • Do you sense that Jesus wants His Church back?
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The Gospel and the Old Testament

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, New Covenant, Our Covenant With God, Recommended Books, The Viral Jesus Book by rossrohde — 3 Comments
March 5, 2012

Is this really the only way to preach the Gospel?

The following is an abbreviated version of a blog interaction I had concerning the role the Old Testament takes in the Christian Gospel. You can see the entire exchange in the comments of Scot McKnight Interview: “The King Jesus Gospel” & McKnight Responds to Critics .

Hey, Ross

I wanted you to know that I’ve been enjoying your book greatly. Also, some of the things you’ve said there have encouraged me to go back and actually begin reading McKnight’s “King Jesus Gospel.” (One of McKnight’s theses is that one can’t truly understand the Gospel without understanding its roots in the Old Testament.)

I’ve been pondering for a long time now just what the gospel IS, and not knowing exactly what I’d say if I were called on to actually give a sermon on it. I mean, we’re promised that we’ll be given the things to say, but all the same it might be good to have SOME idea what’s going to come out of our mouths. I gave up the Four Spiritual Laws gospel long ago as woefully inadequate. While I do know the OT, I can hardly share the whole thing with an interested friend in one go.

I think part of this is to get the knowledge internalized via the Spirit to the point where it is no longer necessary to intellectually construct an argument or thesis; it just grows out of you as a flower does out of a plant. That’s my goal, anyway. But I did want you to know that thus far, I love your book.

Blessings, Cindy

Hi Cindy,

As you read Viral Jesus you will note that I place a high value on two issues, the lordship of Jesus (which needs to be played out in all that we “do” not just “say,” and the new covenant. This new covenant is a living contract/arrangement/lifestyle that we enter into with Jesus. At that point he becomes our God and we become his people.

When I preach the gospel I find that I often (not always) mention the new covenant because at least one way to understand the gospel is that they are entering into this agreement/contract. That brings in the Old Testament. Israel also had a covenant with God call the law or old covenant. At least one thing McKnight is saying is that we can’t understand the new covenant unless we understand the old one.

How are the Gospel's roots sunk deep into the Old Testament?

Now here’s a mind blowing thought. The words for “testament” as in Old Testament and New Testament can be equally or even better be translated “covenant.” The Old Testament revolves around the old covenant, before Israel had it, what it was, and what happened when they obeyed and when they did not. The New Testament is exactly the same thing for the new covenant. Remember Jesus said “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Lk 22:20). Semitic/Hebrew covenants were sealed with blood. That’s what the animal sacrifice was about in the OT. Jesus sealed his part of the covenant with his own blood. He became the “lamb of God” the sacrificial lamb of the new covenant just like the lambs and goats were of the old covenant. Our sealing of the covenant comes with baptism which symbolizes death, burial and resurrection (i.e. we are sealing the covenant just like Jesus did); he did it literally, we do it symbolically. Now does the OT part of salvation make more sense?

Finally, the Holy Spirit really does give us words at the right time. Part of our new covenant agreement is that He will put the law in our hearts and minds (Jer. 31:31 and Heb. 8:10.) That means he can speak to our hearts and minds, it’s part of our covenant arrangement. And, because of this arrangement the Holy Spirit can put words in our heart and mind and just the right time. We have to be attuned to Him and listening but I’ve learned that when I am in a witnessing situation and paying attention just the right analogy or way of being comes up. I’ll mention this more than once in Viral Jesus. Note for example how my friend Vincent listened to Jesus in the Introduction. Note how Jesus told me to work with Amado later in the book.

Cindy, you are person with a sensitive spirit. That’s a huge advantage. It means that your heart is an excellent receptor to the voice of God. Trust it, or better said, trust Him. The only homework you really need is to learn to discern His voice from others. For the basics on that I’d like to point you to the post Four Voices.

Your Friend,

Ross

  • Do you think we need to understand the Gospel’s Old Testament roots to truly understand it?
  • Do you believe that there are many ways to preach the Gospel?
  • When we reduce the Gospel to a few propositional facts (such as the Bridge Illustration or the Four Spiritual Laws can it have a negative effect? What would that be?
  • Is it possible that every way of preaching the Gospel has its drawbacks? If so, how do we decide how to preach the Gospel in any given situation?
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Scot McKnight Interview: “The King Jesus Gospel” & McKnight Responds to Critics

Filed Under: Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Our Covenant With God, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 6 Comments
February 29, 2012

Following is a link for a full interview between Frank Viola and Scot McKnight as they discuss McKnight’s Book The King Jesus Gospel. This interview was originally on Frank Viola’s Blog Beyond Evangelical. Click this link to read the unedited interview: http://frankviola.org/2012/02/08/scotmcknight.

I highly recommend reading this interview as McKnight is touching on some of the same issues I discuss in Viral Jesus about the lordship of Jesus Christ.

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Prayer Walking

Filed Under: Evangelism, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 2 Comments
February 21, 2012

Thank you for all the interaction about listening to God. Now I have a new challenge. Please send me your stories for meeting God through the practice commonly called prayer walking. If you don’t know what prayer walking is, here is a good primer.

So, to encourage people to experiment with prayer walking, or continue prayer walking, I’d like to offer to send a copy of my book Viral Jesus to those who send me a good story of an encounter with God while prayer walking. As always, I get to be the final arbiter of which stories get posted and to whom I send books, but I’m pretty generous, so feel free to send me your stories.

Joel Zehring sent me this story about both listening and prayer walking. I believe in prayer walking. I find that God speaks to me best when I prayer walk and I know many people who have the same experience.

Joel’s Story

Here’s a story I posted on my blog a couple years ago:

I’ve been taking my son on prayer walks around our neighborhood for a few months, and a funny thing has happened. To my eyes, the neighborhood hasn’t changed much, but my prayer walking is changing.

On our most recent walk, I passed a guy working on his lawn. I said hello, threw out a quip about being productive, and kept on walking. As soon as he was out of my periphery, I got the idea that I should ask him if I could pray for him.

“Next person,” I told myself as I continued on, speaking out loud my prayers as I pushed Nathan in the stroller.

A few streets later, Nathan pointed to a little girl standing in her driveway. Her mother was taking out the trash.

“That’s a little girl, huh?” I commented, followed by a friendly “hello” to the mother. We were past the house before I remembered that I was going to ask if I could pray for her. I wondered if I was being forgetful or willfully negligent in passing up these opportunities.

Heading up our street to go back home, we saw one more person, a woman raking weeds in her front yard. I said hello and commented on her yard and her diligence. Before the conversation ended, I crossed to her side of the street and mentioned our mission for this walk.

“Our neighborhood needs it,” she said.

Then I made my pitch: “I don’t mean to push anything on you, but is there anything we could pray about for you?”

Without hesitation, our neighbor explained what was happening lately in her life, and how we might pray for her. We learned that she follows Jesus and she shared a good deal about her family. Before walking on, I prayed a quick prayer aloud for her requests, then wished her a good day.

Over all these months of praying over our streets, it’s never once struck me to stop and pray with our neighbors. I’ve prayed for husbands, wives, parents, children, and I’ve prayed that God would reveal himself to our neighbors. I just didn’t think that he wanted to reveal himself right there on the street during our prayer walk. I’ll be walking a lot more carefully on our next walk.

  • Is prayer walking a new idea to you?
  • Where is your best place or way to encounter Jesus and communicate with Him?
  • What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of prayer walking?
  • Have you ever prayer walked a place with a group of people? How was that experience?
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Two Stories of Miraculous Provision

Filed Under: Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 3 Comments
February 16, 2012

Can a simple bag of groceries be part of a miracle?

Our Story

In 1985 my wife, three little daughters and I were preparing to go to the mission field. Like many missionaries, we had to raise support. We felt that God was asking us to live off of the little support we already had, which really wasn’t much beyond our rent.

One day we finally ran out of food; I mean really ran out. No oatmeal, no flour, no milk, nothing. All we had was a few things like spices and baking powder. Garlic powder and baking soda don’t make a meal. Yet we had three hungry little girls, one a baby. Nevertheless, we felt that God wanted us to trust him. So, we set the table, gathered our little girls and prayed. Just then the doorbell rang. When I opened the door, there stood a woman from our church with a bag of vegetables from her garden. As we invited her in she said, “God told me to bring these to you.” After a brief chat she said, “I’ve got to go, but before I forget, God told me to also give you this.” With that she handed us twenty dollars.

At the time we were living in College Place, WA which is a small town that has a lot of Adventists. The owner of the local store was Adventist and closed his store just before sundown on Friday, and it was Friday. I had just enough time to run to the store and buy staples for the next few days; which was just enough to see us through to our next pay check. We’ve never forgotten that experience. And, whenever we are in a tough situation financially God brings that story to mind to let us know He will always take care of us.

Was this just an amazing coincidence? Well, I’ve heard many stories like this. In fact I’ve been involved one way or the other in a few of them. But here is a similar story from Steve.

Steve’s Story

Some time ago late on a Saturday morning, I felt a strong urge to take help to a family so began to load the car with frozen meat, vegetables from the freezer, staples from the pantry and to do a shop for fresh fruit. My wife actually questioned the boxes of stuff but I felt we had to be over the top generous so filled the back of the station wagon and set off to their home.

We arrived about 5:30 as they and their five teen aged children had just finished their prayer over the evening meal. The only problem was that they had NO food and my friend, the father, had prayed a blessing in faith that God would provide. He did this, over the objection of their middle son, a boy of 15, who had mocked him with, “God does not see us and if He does, He does not care.” They had just finished the blessing when I knocked on the door and began to carry in the boxes of frozen food and groceries. You can imagine the feeling!

Well, what about you. Do you have stories of God speaking to you and Him using it to do His work? If so, sent me the story and if I post it on my blog I’ll send you a copy of my new book Viral Jesus: Recovering the Contagious Power of the Gospel.

  • Have you ever experienced a supernatural provision story like this?
  • Would you respond with faith like Steve if you felt God were asking you to be over the top generous and fill your station wagon with groceries and deliver them? What about if God asked you to place $200 on a windshield (another of my experiences)?
  • What do you think happens if we don’t respond to these promptings?
  • Do you think the timing of these stories were just wild coincidences?
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Dave’s Listening Story

Filed Under: Meeting Together, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, The Viral Jesus Book by rossrohde — 3 Comments
February 10, 2012

Would you pay $20 to have an experience like this?

Dave from the San Diego area shared this story on listening to the voice of God in response to my offer to send a copy of my book Viral Jesus to those who were willing to share good listening stories in Listening 202. Feel free to continue to share stories. I’ll send a copy of Viral Jesus to every story I use in my blog posts.

Dave writes:

God certainly does speak directly to us.  When he does, it is so we can minister to others……

Ten or so of us were gathering for Bible study one Sunday morning. My youngest sister in-law came in, handed me a cup of coffee, and sat down next to me. My sister in-law and husband have historically struggled financially for a variety of reasons. My wife and I periodically help them to fix a car, or similar, but have never “just given them money”.

I have learned to not question when “out of the blue” God prompts to do something. If is something in line with what God would wish for me to do scripturally and the prompting is unrelated to what I had been already thinking about, I pretty much have learned it is God and to just “go with it”.

The group of us prayed and were starting Bible study, when I was prompted to give my sister in-law $20. I put $20 on the table where my sister in-law is sitting. She does not notice at first, but then begins to cry uncontrollably and shaking visibly.  Other people in the Bible study thought she was having a “medical event”. I held her hand, knowing that she was being moved for a good reason. She could not speak for what seemed forever (maybe a minute). When she finally spoke a few words, she said “I am OK”; “It is something good!” After calming down, she shared that 5 or 10 minutes earlier as she was sitting alone in her car in the parking lot she was saying “I do not want to ask mom and dad for money, I am tired of asking for money, I just want $20 to go to Wal-Mart to buy some milk and some toiletries”.   God had heard the cry of her heart, and showed us how much he cares for us.

When God uses me, I am simultaneously overwhelmed with awe, thankfulness, and a deep sense of being blessed to have experienced His working. Hearing God’s promptings has only been part of my life for the past few years. About four years ago, I began to spend time in the Word and prayer daily.  God used our time together to not only reveal his truths, but also to show me areas of my life that I needed to change. When I finally let Him take control, He was able to clean me up. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to become a part of my life. I changed my prayers to be for others and to ask God to use me. It has been quite an adventure since then :)  have been blessed to have been prompted a number of times in different situations where it is obvious God’s hand was at work. The key is to seek the Giver, not the gifts. Worship God, honor Him with your life, ask to be used and hold on!

  • Have you ever had a supernatural experience like this?
  • Does God speak this directly to you? If he doesn’t why do you think that is?
  • Why do you think God speaks to us? Why do you think he sometimes asks us to do something?
  • What do you think would happen if Dave had chosen “not to go with it?”
  • Did you note how Dave, discerned if this was the voice of God? What did he do?
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Letters to the House Church Movement

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Meeting Together, Organic Church, Recommended Books, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 2 Comments
February 7, 2012

Click here to order Letters to the House Church Movement.

Some books are practical, some are theoretical; both have their place. Rad Zdero’s book Letters to the House Church Movement is strongly practical; while reflecting a deep understanding of the paradigms under which house churches and house church networks really work (theoretical).

Rad is a house church planter and network organizer in Canada; what we in the house church movement would call an apostle. He is also an astute theologian, though he might not call himself that. As such, he has had plenty of correspondence over the years, which touches on the real nuts and bolts issues that house churches face. By sharing his real letters with us he doesn’t paint house churches in some romantic glow. This is a warts and all look at what house church practice is really like.

Here is a sampling of the kinds of issues and questions Rad deals with.

  • What are actual house church meetings really like?
  • How do house churches deal practically with problem people?
  • How do you deal with the house church radicals who have a chip on their shoulder about traditional churches?
  • How do house churches multiply and how do they deal with missions?
  • What are the real problems (not the imagined problems of those who have never experienced house church) that house churches face? How should they be dealt with?
  • What does leadership look like in house churches? What is the role of elders and apostles? What does that word “apostle” actually mean in a house church setting?
  • What is the role of women in house church?
  • How do house churches answer the common criticisms that they face? What is their biblical backing for these answers?
  • How do house churches group themselves into networks and how does that all work?
  • What is their relationship with more traditional churches?
  • What is house church spirituality like?

I could go on because Rad covers a lot of important ground just by answering real letters and emails he has received over the years. He does this graciously, openly, humbly, yet with a frankness and clarity I find refreshing. He doesn’t beat around the bush, but he is kind. I like that.

Who would profit from a book like this? First of all, any house church practitioner. Because Rad has long experience and the churches and networks he is dealing with are well organized and mature (or maturing), he has lots to say to us. Reading this book might show us some things we are missing.

However, I think this book would be good for people who are curious about house churches but have never experienced them or haven’t experienced them broadly enough to really know how they work. I would also include those who are critics of house church. My own experience with critics is that they are usually unaware of the reality and are often responding to their own imagined fears or some bad experience with an unhealthy house church practitioner (see bullet point three). It’s OK to criticize but that should come from an extensive enough knowledge that the critic isn’t just setting up a straw man and knocking it down. Rad gives the answers to the key criticisms that an experienced house church apostle of a large network would give. It’s best to get these answers from someone who actually knows what they are talking about from real experience.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, in fact I’m going to recommend it to one of the house churches I’m involved with. I think reading this book will give the Holy Spirit a chance to speak to us about what He wants us to do next.

  • Have you even experienced house church? What was that like, good or bad?
  • What questions do you have about how house churches work?
  • If you are a house church practitioner, what problems do you fact? Where do you need to grow? I’d suspect this book would be a good resource for you.
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Listening 202

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Jesus is Lord, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, The Viral Jesus Book by rossrohde — 8 Comments
February 4, 2012

Listening is an active process.

I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with Richard about listening to God. Here is my second installment I’m calling Listening 202. I’ve abbreviated both Richard’s comments and questions and my answer. For the whole conversation see Listening 101. Also note question #1 below where I am asking for your stories. I will send the author of any story I publish in this blog with a copy of my book Viral Jesus. I grant to myself the final decision on which stories I post. Ah, the joys of having your own blog.

Richard wrote:

…I suppose the big debate is the general (“don’t kill…”) to the specific (“go and speak to that stranger over there about Me”…). Different Christians debate how specific God is likely to get. Does he just tell us to “make disciples of all people” and expect us to figure out that we are able to enter a discipling relationship with, say, our mate Bob; or will he specifically and prophetically say “make a disciple of that guy over there”? How often does he tell us to go down Straight Street? (Acts 9:11)…

Richard

Hi Richard,

God can and does speak very directly to us. He will give us as much information as we need to obey Him. But, in my experience, listening is progressive. The more I am willing to listen and obey, and the more I actively listen, the more communication I get. I don’t think hearing the voice of God is any different today than it was at the time of the New Testament (I’m not a big fan of the doctrine of cessation, that the supernatural ceased; although I used to be steeped in it).

In my book Viral Jesus I give an example of God speaking to me very specifically when I was reaching a guy I called Amado. While I was beginning to share the gospel with Amado, God told me, “Don’t disparage other religions or you are going to lose this guy. Lead him like you are catching a horse.” You can read the rest of the story on pages 51-54. But, suffice it to say God spoke very specifically to me using a metaphor I could understand, (I grew up on a cattle ranch in Oregon). Was this audible? Not exactly, but it was very specific and I knew exactly what God was saying. And His communication ended up being spot on and very helpful in my ongoing relationship with Amado.

I think one of the key passages on listening is Acts 16:6-10 where Paul and friends are directed, step by step to Macedonia.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10)

When we speak of “listening” we are actually using a language metaphor for all types of communication. Very little of “God’s voice” and our “listening” is actually audible, but it is communication. I’ve highlighted in bold the words Luke uses to indicate God’s communication with Paul and friends. Note how specific it was. God moved them from traveling north by foot to traveling west by boat. Also note it was a bit of information at a time. He told them just enough to see if they would respond in obedience. They did, and then God gave them a little more. At the end of the process, there was great fruit…and hardship.

Listening is an ongoing process. One of the quickest ways to stop communication with God is to take over the process, in essence say, “I know what you want, and I’ve got it from here.” Another problem is when we decide how we want God to communicate with us, we want a vision, we don’t want Him to only speak to us through desires or inclinations; we want it to be very direct and unmistakable, etc. We need to understand that God’s communication with us is extremely multifaceted and often subtle. He speaks to our heart and mind (Heb 8:10). He can do that in so many ways, from ideas that pop into our head, to dreams, to feelings, to godly advice…the list goes on. The main issues are that we are intentionally looking for this communication, i.e. “listening,” and when He “speaks,” i.e. communicates in some way, we hear, make sure it is God’s voice (called discernment) and then obey. Remember this is a process, not an event; note again Paul and friends in Acts 16. The main issue is actively joining in the process with Jesus the Lord: ongoing seeking, listening, hearing, discerning and obeying.

  • Have you ever had an experience of hearing God that led to fruitful ministry? Send me your story. I’ll send a copy of my book Viral Jesus to every story I share on my blog.
  • God still speaks to us as specifically as he did to people we read about in the New Testament. Agree or Disagree? Why?
  • How would you answer Richard as to the specificity of God’s communication to us? Does He just give general principles, precepts and instructions, “make disciples of all people,” or does he tell us “make a disciple of that guy over there”?
  • What other questions do you have about God’s communication and our listening?
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