Opening Up The Heavens

Jan. 27, 2021.I have noticed something about me - I seldom recognize my self-centeredness when it shows up. Melodee seems to recognize it though...whoa. (Truthfully, it's a good thing I have her). As thoroughly human as self-interest tends to be, it comes at a cost.#JesusStories: Matthew 23 is an interesting chapter because of the way it chronicles how leaders can appear spiritual while actually being self-serving. Seven times throughout this Messianic rant, Jesus said, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" I guess there was one hypocrisy for each day of the week. :) But what bothers me about this chapter is how these leadership woe's obscure and frustrate the plans of God. Jesus said to the spiritual leaders of his day, "For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men." This is the cost of self-seeking, self-indulgence, and self-aggrandizement in ministry. I am pretty sure that like me, you want no part of a form of leadership that shuts up heaven. Thankfully, Jesus offered a cure to woeful leadership when he said, "But he who is the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." In other words, any Christian leader who desires to become effective and skillful at opening up the heavens, humility is required.#DinnerChurchQuotes: The world doesn’t need religious organizations but communities that demonstrate Christ’s reckless love. -Michael Slaughter#PracticalStuff: We have recognized a weekly need for Dinner Church leaders to gather/talk/pray; a 'meet-you-at-the-drinking-fountain' kind of thing. Accordingly, I am proposing that starting Thursday Feb 11th at 4:30pm (pacific time), we gather via zoom for 1/2 hour for a DC LEADERS PRAYER/CONVO. There will be zoom links coming later, but for now I'd like to hear from you. Would you benefit from a short weekly touch-point like this? Does the suggested time work? Talk to me.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Verlon Fosner

Dr. Verlon and Melodee Fosner have led a multi-site Assemblies of God dinner church in Seattle, Washington since 1999 (www.CommunityDinners.com). They joined the FX team in 2016 and founded the Dinner Church Collective. In this decade when more churches in the U.S. are declining than thriving, and when eighty churches a week are closing, Verlon and Melodee sensed that a different way of doing church was needed for their 85-year old Seattle congregation. It soon became obvious that they were not the only ones in need of a different path. There is a lot to be gained when church leaders begin to see open doors in the American landscape that they had previously overlooked. Therein lies the journey for those who will forge a new future for the American Church.

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Releasing People From Their Bondage