Heaven's Megaphone

Oct 12, 2022.In our world, big is big, and loud is loud. But in God's world, big is small and loud is soft. God redirected Jonah by sending a worm with a ravenous appetite. And God spoke wisdom to Balaam from a talking donkey. Go figure. God seems to really enjoy speaking loudly through small vessels.Peter got a dose of this divine strategy in Mark 14, as he was warming himself by a fire. Jesus had just been arrested and was now inside being accused, cross-examined, and sentenced. But outside, around that fire another court was in session, a soulish court. As Peter stood there alone with his anxiety, a servant girl recognized him and blurted out that he was one of the guys walking around with Jesus. Suddenly, with all eyes upon him and the lynch-mob spirit still hanging in the air, Peter became afraid and denied the girls charge. But she wouldn't give up repeating herself, so he denied it a second time and finally a third time with curse words. Let us pause for a moment - Peter didn't have to go to those lengths to dismiss her words. In those days women were primarily property, especially the servant girls. All he had to do was give a deriding glance in her direction, mutter under his breath, "you foolish girl", and go back to warming his hands. Had he done that, everyone would go back to their conversations and it would have been over. Why didn't he do that? Because it wasn't just that servant girl who was speaking - in Peters heart he heard the reverberations of the voice of God. He was being revealed and redirected. After all, heaven had some great plans for Peter in the not-too-distant future; plans that needed him to be filled with power from on-high rather than self-determination from with-in. This was a megaphone moment for Peter.Are you facing a megaphone moment? We all find ourselves in need of loud interventions from time to time. When your next moment comes, don't expect revelation from a loud clap of thunder, listen instead for some mutterings from the lowest voice around you. Dick Foth states, "If you've lost Jesus, go the poor and they will lead you back to him." Heaven is orchestrating some big pivots and loud voices for your leadership. When they come, it might not be a seasoned spiritual leader who delivers the insight, it might be an insignificant assignment or an unassuming vessel the Lord speaks through. That's how heaven's megaphone tends to work.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

An Outlandish Assignment

Oct 5, 2022.We have been placed in the same position as all of our gospel predecessors - offering a message about a risen Jesus that defies logic. Jesus himself was the first one to be placed in this odd position. When he was questioned by the High Priest in Mark 14: 62 Jesus simply stated that he was the son of God and would soon be sitting on the throne at the right hand of The Father. But those words seemed ludicrous to the religious leaders of the day, and they immediately voted to have him crucified for blasphemy. However, three days after he was executed, he rose again leaving an open empty tomb behind for all to see. So Jesus was telling the truth, however illogical it sounded at the time. Since then, every minister of the gospel has been tasked to offer an unearthly message to earthly people, and invite them to start praying to an invisible Jesus and expect him to answer back. And to their great surprise, person after person found that Jesus did answer back, and faith was born. This is exactly what Paul said would happen in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing the Good News about Christ." (NLT). When we tell the Jesus Stories of healing and water-walking and rising from the dead, however illogical they sound, he will show up to our hearers. Here is the timeless truth: we are in the business of birthing unearthly faith into the hearts of rational people. What an outlandish assignment!Do you have a team around you that needs to be reminded about the immense power of the Jesus Stories? Are any of them tempted to reduce the stories down to rational and logical explanations? None of us have been called to deliver a gospel narrative that is immediately believable; we have been called serve the outlandish stories about Jesus. The health and future of your dinner church rests upon your Jesus talk, and his self-revelations to follow.Blessings & Boldness,VerlonPS - Jon Davis has written a great update about the hurricane destruction of one of our Dinner Church neighborhoods in Fort Myers Florida. Please take a moment to read this...it's one of ours.https://freshexpressions.com/2022/10/05/hurricane-ian-support-for-dinner-churches-and-others 

Storms

Sept 28, 2022.My heart is pulled today toward the historic storm hitting Florida. We have a multitude of Dinner Churches in that part of the country with many friends facing Ian's fury in real-time. Even as I type this blog, the academic mentor for the Dinner Church School of Leadership Jon Davis, is unable to respond to emails - presumably due to power outages. His community of Cedar Key is where this storm is making landfall. Also, Heather Evans, one of the core-team leaders for the Dinner Church Collective is preparing for great loss in Cape Coral, especially among the must vulnerable in her community. Of great concern is the fact that the timing of Ian's arrival coincides with high tide, which gives the storm surge unusual destructive power. Beyond that, we have family members, children, and grandchildren in Florida during these days. I am having a hard time thinking of anything else today...OH LORD PROTECT OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND FAMILY IN FLORIDA!I am comforted by the gospel remembrances that Jesus is no stranger to storms. When he was on earth he did not avoid them, he did not fear them, sometimes he calmed them, and sometimes he just slept through them. "Oh Lord, give us all that same fearless Spirit!" Can you take a moment today, gather your family and ministry team, and call on the Lord for a divine surge that overwhelms the storm surge in Florida?VerlonP.S. - That is not a bad prayer for anyone in your family or on your ministry team or in your congregation who is facing a storm surge of their own. 

One Thing Is Unmovable

Sept 14, 2022.Near the end of Mark 13, Jesus was engaged in a sobering conversation with Peter, James, John, and Andrew about the challenges and disturbances of things to come. He taught them that discerning the times was similar to looking at a fig tree and discerning when Summer was near. It appears that some of Jesus' prophesy spoke of the destruction of the temple which would occur some 35 years later in AD 70, while other portions seem more fit for what is happening in our day. Whichever way we separate the text, it is sobering and thought-provoking. But the line in Jesus' dialogue that leaps out and demands attention is this: "The sky and the earth will not last forever, but my words will" (vs. 31).Let us think about that for a moment. According to Jesus, the solid ground beneath our feet isn't actually that solid; and the sky that arcs over us isn't actually permanent. Those two elements, which are foundational for our survival, are temporary. By contrast, Jesus' words is the only element in the universe that is not destined to fade away. Jesus repeated this truth in the parable about the wise and foolish builders, where his words were highlighted as the only rock-like material we could build a life upon - everything else is mere sand that would wash away during storms and floods. Have we meditated sufficiently upon the singular and foundational place that Jesus' words and Jesus' Stories hold for humanity? When those early apostles preached the Jesus Stories around their Jesus Tables, they were using the most potent and stable spiritual material available. Do we need to work harder at preaching what they preached? We live in a day of turmoil, division, plagues, pandemics, and conflicts, where once-stable institutions and constructs are suddenly moving. Everyone is looking for some solid ground. So, the next time you stand before a room to preach a Jesus Story, remember you are offering the most unmovable and timeless spiritual material that is available upon the earth. This week, take a moment to remind your team of the unequaled power of the Jesus Stories.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Spiritual Acts...Carnal Reasonings

Sept 7, 2022Mark 14 captures a great JesusStory in which he was eating with a table full of friends and guests, when a woman came up behind him, broke open a very expensive jar of perfume, and poured it all over Jesus’ head. This seemed awkward and inappropriate enough that some of the guest became angry and spoke cruel things to the woman. Others complained that the perfume jar she broke was such a waste, and instead could have fed many poor people. It seems everyone had a negative review of the woman’s actions. But Jesus knew what was about to unfold, and that he was soon to be arrested, crucified, and buried. In light of that, he told the table guests to leave the woman alone, because she was doing a beautiful thing, and was in fact preparing his body for burial. What? I’m sure Jesus’ words were more of a head-scratcher than what the woman's behavior. But this underscores a human problem: it is so easy to witness a spiritual act but immediately assess it through carnal reasoning. What looked so wrong to the disciples and guests that day was actually timely and spiritual and beautiful. Simply put, Jesus needed to be ministered to prior to his impending death, and that unnamed woman was sent by Heaven to do it.  I have a message for all Dinner Church leaders today: there will be those in your family and your church that will hear of your work and despise it. They might even say cruel things about your ministry. They will do this because of carnal reasoning, but they are simply wrong. They, like so many others before them, are missing the spiritual act you are offering to Our Lord. What you and your people are doing is absolutely timely and spiritual and beautiful. Please strengthen your team with these words, and all of you joyfully attend to the Jesus Tables you are called to serve.  Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Confused...No More!

June 2, 2022.There is an inherent disconnect that all Christian leaders must navigate if we are to be effective in advancing the kingdom of Jesus. To begin with, we only have three pound brains, while the mind of Christ is a much larger thing. But to stop there would minimize the true challenge.#JesusStories: In Mark 10:32 we read, "The disciples were confused as Jesus led them toward Jerusalem, and his other followers were afraid." Jesus continued to head toward Jerusalem when everyone knew there were true haters waiting there to destroy him. It must have seemed to the disciples like he had a death wish. In hindsight, we can see that the salvation plan included Jesus replacing the sacrificial lamb. But that was a very foggy understanding for the disciples, though Jesus had told them plainly several times. But herein lies the problem that every disciple and Christian leader struggles with to this very day - Jesus' leadership assumes sacrifice when everything within us longs for comfort. That inner conflict was why those first disciples could not process the divine plan. And that inner conflict is why following Jesus becomes foggy for us too. The inbreaking kingdom needs sacrifice from the people of God. Our time, our money, our dreams, and our comfort will all be asked for from time to time. We are soldiers in a spiritual war; the struggle between the uprising kingdom of darkness and the inbreaking kingdom of Jesus is real. This requires a soldier-like identity from us all to lay down our comfortable longings and follow Jesus toward the needed sacrifices. When the voices of comfort and Jesus are both talking, the result is confusion and fear. But once we surrender our need for comfort, the sacrificial path becomes clear, and a corresponding boldness whelms up from within. Confusion is gone, fear is gone, and we find ourselves running to the battle. That is the spirit which is prompting countless Dinner Church leaders into broken neighborhoods and crime-ridden corners of their cities. And to those leaders I say - "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and the good news to the poor." (Ro. 10:15, Luke 4:18)#DinnerChurchQuotes: We need the ability to will 'one thing' and live life with the single-mindedness and clarity that follows. (Soren Kierkegaard)#PracticalStuff: How are you growing your team? Every Christian leader is called to grow the ministry impact of everyone around them. That is what leadership means in Jesus' kingdom. And if this is true for the traditional church, it is doubly true for the Dinner Churches which are being recovered from the storage bins of history. The patterns of ministry needed for these New Passovers are the same that occurred around the tables that Jesus and crew practiced: becoming a friend of sinners, telling the stories of the kingdom, praying healing over the broken, and ushering new followers into the very life of Jesus. These ministry practices are needing to be won back by very focused and determined leaders. This is your first calling and your biggest job. When you do it, a full-bodied table church will form; without it you'll only have a feed with a devotional. So, lead on DC pastors; grow you teams who are capable of growing your congregations in Jesus' likeness.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Simple Trust

May 26, 2022.A couple weeks ago was our grand-daughters 4th birthday. When Melodee and I arrived, I teasingly told Everly that this was her big day in which she was supposed to give all of her little friends a present. She corrected me that her friends were going to be bringing presents to her. But I persisted in my rouse and said, "No darling, birthdays are when you give everybody else presents." Instantly, her eyes whelmed up with tears and she ran to her daddy crying before I could fix it. It was a case of a grandpa joke going too far. I felt terrible, of course. An hour later Everly came to me and asked, "Papa, why did you tell me that I would not be getting any presents for my Birthday? Because that is just not how the world works!" Oh my goodness...what a little doll!#JesusStories: Mark 10 captures a time when the disciples were telling parents with children to stop bothering Jesus, to which he became angry and insisted that the children be brought to him immediately. Then Jesus said this, "I promise you that you cannot get into God's kingdom unless you accept it the way a child does." For any of us who desire our lives to flow with the kingdom, we must develop a simple childlike trust. This is not only true for our personal salvation, and it also true for our ministries and Christian leadership.My father was a well-read, studied, and serious pastor throughout his life. I remember asking him one day whether or not God was truly faithful to us. I had witnessed a few things in which it appeared that Jesus had failed to show up. My father recognized my quandary of faith and gave four little words that changed my life, "I just trust God!" There were certainly times to look for logical answers, and he did that as a serious student of theology. But on this day he revealed there were times to rely upon a simple childlike faith. Through the years, I have faced numerous ministerial challenges that made me dig deep for practical answers. But I have also faced a few raw impossibilities and some deep disappointments. These became the moments when the Spirit brought back my fathers words, and I found myself bowing my head and repeating, "Jesus, I just trust you!" And with that simple prayer, my soul regained its traction. In our darkest moments, it is not our theology that will fix us, it is a simple childlike trust that will restore our soul and refresh the many promises of the kingdom.#DinnerChurchQuotes: The average child asks 100 questions a day. By middle-age adults, it's down to a handful of questions a day. As we grow older, we lose our inquiring sense of awe and wonder. We forget how to be childlike. (Michael Slaughter)#PracticalStuff: What is your Summer Dinner Church plan? Some years ago we realized that our teams had been serving faithfully through Memorial Day Weekend, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, New Years Day, etc. We had not shut down our weekly Dinner Church gatherings for any reason nor any day they happened upon. We wanted our guests to know they were like family to us. However, our team was getting tired. So we decided to take August's off, and turn our Dinner Church congregations over to other sister churches to host during those four weeks. This turned out to be powerful for many reasons: it not only rested our people, but it exposed other Christian groups to a different and potent way of doing church. Interestingly, our congregations felt well-cared for even while we were caring for ourselves. And guess who were soon wanting to open a Dinner Church congregation of their own? Yup, those who had filled in for us. We now have many partner churches hosting a Dinner Church of their own throughout our city. Is it possible that you can do some things this Summer that would be both restful and multiplication-oriented?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

The Thing About Salt...

May 19, 2022.There have been lulls in my ministry when I was tired or my leadership was stuck in a fog bank. When we get in these places we need a new anointing, a new clarity, and a new boldness. But how do we get that? Prayer certainly helps, but there is another answer that is somewhat under practiced.#JesusStories: Mark 9 ends with Jesus asking an interesting question: "If salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it be made salty again?" Researcher and historian Valeriy Alikin helps us understand this statement: salt was one of the typical menu items at a first century meal, along with fish, bread, vegetables, wine, oil, and cheese. I doubt many of us would imagine that a bowl of salt would be considered a food group, but it was common faire in those days. In fact, it became a meaningful metaphor for the First Church. One of the Clementine homilies reports that Peter once broke the bread at a dinner gathering, put salt on it and gave it to his table companions as an expression of deep love. Salt was an emblem of their koininia (deep fellowship). The meaning of sprinkling salt on a brothers or sisters food is rather obvious: just as salt seasons bland food and makes it enjoyable, so warm Christian love season's our tiredness and makes our lives compelling again. It is the miracle of koininia, and it is something table churches can do with great fervor, favor, and flavor. So yes, in response to Jesus question - we can be made salty again. We can raise up dinner churches that pour wonderful Christian love over everyone in the room; old and new; young and old; leader and guest; saint and sinner. This is our heritage, our calling, and our anointing.#DinnerChurchQuotes: Because there were communities of mercy and help, Christians did have longer, better lives. This was apparent and must have been extremely appealing. (Rodney stark)#PracticalStuff: How are the evangelists doing in your dinner rooms? Paul talked to Timothy as doing the work of an evangelist, not as a matter of gifting but of calling. Christlikeness includes doing the work of an evangelist - i.e. being a witness to the life stories about Jesus. And every Dinner Church needs a room full of people who are buzzing about these Jesus Stories and how they have changed their life. Do you need to remind your team and volunteers about this calling? Do you need to pray over them for a new anointing to excitedly tell and retell the Jesus Stories like evangelists do? This is the repeating practice that turns a feed into a compelling great commission church. Lets go populate heaven this week!Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

What Did They Proclaim?

Apr 27, 2022The spiritual content pastors and Christian speakers use today flows from the Bible, and that is a wonderful thing. However, the spiritual content of the First Church flowed from the stories about the life of Jesus. How would a solid diet of Jesus Stories shape disciples differently than what we do? Interesting question.#JesusStories: Preaching, teaching, proclaiming, and testifying in the First Century centralized on Jesus' life. Rather than giving a specific JesusStory today, I want to focus on an entire gospel - the Book of Mark. This is the first gospel ever written, and was done by a young 16 year-old named John Mark. He was not an eyewitness to the life of Jesus as he was too young. However, he was from a well-to-do home that afforded him an education, which meant he was literate. So when Peter came to preach each week at Mark's mothers upper room, arguably the first church in Jerusalem, young John Mark sat around that New Passover table and took notes on papyrus of pastor Peters' preaching. And what did Peter's preaching sound like? It was the stories about Jesus and the stories Jesus told. In other words, the book of Mark is the best elongated example of what preaching sounded like from that time period.I fear we have made a huge mistake in thinking that our present-day preaching is similar to the preaching of the First Apostles. Teachings based on the fullness of scripture is a great thing, but it is not the same thing the First Church used. Now don't get me wrong, I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, I love the scriptures, and I teach from them often in my Christian leadership. However, I find it a worthy meditation to consider the difference of Apostolic Era teaching. Especially if we are going to use an Apostolic Era ecclesial form - the Dinner Church. If we are going to recover their socio-form of church, we would do well to understand their preaching-form as well. If you want an interesting Bible study idea, take out your bible app and look up the words: proclaim, preach, testify, and teach that appear from Acts through the last Epistle. Read each verse carefully to see 'what' they proclaimed, preached, testified, and taught. When I did this exercise, I found 74 scriptural sections that clearly identified they were preaching about Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Good News about Christ, the living word, etc. Only a couple times did those search words not flatly identify the Jesus narrative. I have meditated long and hard about what this means. And while I have several insights, the most impactful one has to do with our inability to speak to secular people compared with the First Churches profound ability to speak to the secular peoples of their day - the Romans, the Greeks, the Pagans, and even Barbarians. (See Romans 1:14). But then again, they were proclaiming the Jesus Stories. (See Romans 1:15-16). There is merit to recovering JesusStories preaching, especially if it restores our ability to speak to our secular neighbors.#DinnerChurchQuotes: The early preachers of the good news had one subject and one only - Jesus. This was their ‘word’ which they broadcast so assiduously. (Michael Green)#PracticalStuff: How well does your team know the Jesus Stories? Have the Jesus Stories become foundational in their faith? And how often must you repeat this message before they dive deeply into the different stories Jesus lived and Jesus told? And what will happen in your dinner church if your team and volunteers become so filled with the Jesus Stories that they spill out over and over again at your tables? You will end up with a room full of workers and guests who start looking strangely similar to Jesus himself. And the ability to shape people in the likeness of Jesus is what makes a Dinner Church different than a feed. Suggestion: take the four questions listed above into your next team meeting; give them a JesusStories Bible; start reading through those stories with a team reading schedule perhaps. What do you think?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Come With Power

Apr. 21, 2022.Christian ministry and leadership functions in an intersection between two worlds. We live in a natural world with predictable patterns, and yet we work for the Kingdom of God that is anything but patterned and predictable.#JesusStories: Mark 9 begins with a quote from Jesus about how some of his disciples would actually see the Kingdom come with power. And then only six days later, three of the disciples watched Jesus' body and clothes transfigure into an unearthly white in preparation of a meeting with Elijah and Moses - who suddenly appeared. Then, a cloud descended over them and voice from that cloud said, "This is my Son, Listen to what he says!" Side-note: This is one of the many scriptures that underscore the kerygmatic theology that Jesus' words and stories are to be held in a high place. All in all, this was a mysterious account that bends the rules of physics. Peter, James, and John witnessed a lot of unexplainable things during those hours.How do these unexplainable stories affect you? It is true that we minister with one foot in this practical world and the other in the heavenly world. We are not only called to live between the "already" and the "not-yet" realities of the inbreaking kingdom, but we are called to stand between "earthly needs" and "divine interventions". At times I suppose we are tempted to follow the gnostics, explain away the mysterious, and drift back to practical and predictable versions of ministry. But is that the call Jesus gave us? It seems he told all of us to heal the sick, dispel evil, and preach the kingdom to the poor, all of which are unexplainable and illogical approaches to ministry. But something happens when we leave room for Jesus to show up with unexplainable interventions - we get to watch the Kingdom come with power. And I want that!#DinnerChurchQuotes: Paul was obviously committed to evangelism, but as a by-product of the empowerment of the Spirit and the community’s worship around tables, in which the boundaries of the church were very fluid. (italics mine) -James DG Dunn#PracticalStuff: Christianity began with several repeating practices performed by Jesus over a three year period. (Preaching to the poor, dinner with sinners, healing, confronting evil, telling stories, just to name a few). Your dinner church has some repeating practices that make it thrive too. In fact, your list of repeating practices comes from the same list as Jesus' repeating practices. Are you talking about these practices with your team? Often? Reminding them of what makes a Dinner Church thrive? If you don't, it will drift back to being a feed with a short inspirational story. But if you do, a divine presence will download into your rooms over and over again, and you will find yourselves in the worthy business of populating heaven and helping broken people to take-on the very likeness of Christ.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

It Happened Today

Apr 14, 2022.Christians the world over are focusing their hearts upon what Jesus won for humanity 2000 years ago. As I write this blog, it is Thursday of Holy Week, and something very important happened today! Yet, this significant milestone sometimes gets skipped - The New Passover.#JesusStories: On the evening before Jesus was crucified, he gathered his disciples for a Passover Meal, which is included in all four Gospels (Mt. 26, Mk. 14, Lu. 22, Jn 13). While most Jews would be gathering for their Passover meal the next day, Jesus would not be able to join as he had an appointment with the cross that day. So instead, he hosted the disciples' Passover celebration the evening before. Once in the Passover room, Jesus altered the script. Rather than following the historic liturgy from the Ha Lachma, he changed the focus of the evening from 'Remember God's miraculous rescue from Egypt' to 'Remember me'. While he left the historic directive of inviting the strangers and the family-less in tact, he shifted the reason for the remembrance. Toward the end of the evening he referred to the moment as forging a "new covenant" as he held up the cup. Further, he told them to "do this" whenever they come together. In this way he instituted The New Passover, which would serve as a vision of Christian Gatherings going forward.There is little wonder why the book of Acts comes on the scene with story after story of Jesus' followers meeting around tables; they were practicing these New Passovers just as Jesus' instituted. These Gatherings were thickly practiced around dinner tables until the Constantinian turn in the fourth century, and then were intentionally pressed out of the life of the Church until uttering its final gasps at the end of the seventh century, never to return to the Medieval Church.Dinner Churches that are rebirthing today are not innovations, they are a theology that dates back to Jesus' formal institution of the New Passover that first Holy Week. This is not only the scriptural warrant for Dinner Churches the world over, but something worthy of prayerful meditation for all Holy Week participants. "Lord, thank you for giving us the New Passover table before going to the Cross. We are forever blessed by this vision of gathering with each other and with you at these tables." #DinnerChurchQuotes: When Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me" he meant 'Do table in remembrance of me'. (Leonard Sweet)#PracticalStuff: How are you training your new team members? And how are you keeping your current team members inspired and refreshed? We can help with that. May 14th, we will be having a virtual Team Training/Refresh Day from 9am - 2pm (pacific time)/12 Noon - 5pm (eastern time). This will be a great chance for you to gather your team in a room, watch the 45-min sessions on a big screen, then engage in discussion questions with your team four times throughout the day. What do you think about ordering snacks and pizza and having a team refresh day on May 14? Registration for this event will be available @ www.DinnerChurch.Com next week. Click Training button. Does your team need this?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon 

Jesus' Baptism

Apr 6, 2022.Baptism means many things to the Church in the West. For some, it is outwardly demonstrating the inward cleansing of salvation. For others it means they have decided to follow Jesus and become a Christian. And for still others it means they are joining a denomination, or a church. While scripture gives multiple images of baptism, Paul's statements in Romans 6:3-5 about becoming baptized into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ deserves special attention. We view salvation as inviting Jesus into our life. But when do we accept Jesus' invitation to become immersed into his life?#JesusStories: Mark 8:34ff captures a moment when Jesus invited his disciples into a deep baptism indeed. Peter had just rebuked Jesus for talking about crucifixion, to which Jesus told Peter to stop thinking like everyone else and to stop playing into the hand of Satan's plans. Then he huddled the disciples and the crowd together and told them to take up their own crosses, die to their own plans, forget about living in their own lives, and start living in Jesus' life and mission to announce the Good News. In other words, become immersed into the very life of Jesus. This is the baptism Jesus had in mind.Many years ago I began hearing about the 'bounded-set' organizations vs. the 'center-set'. And to be honest, I found it confusing until I applied it to the historic Church. All 'bounded-set' churches throughout history created a boundary that people had to walk through to join. Whether is was a year-long catechism of ancient days or repeating the sinners prayer and committing to the biblical lifestyle as is commonly practiced today, they were boundaries that separated the saints from the sinners. These boundaries were formed in the second century during the rise of several heresy's that threatened the teachings of the Apostles, and has continues unquestioned through to our day. Most churches have some kind of filtration that separates those who are worthy to be a part of their Christian expression. Interestingly, the First Church held no such organizational boundary. While 1 Corinthians 11 has been used to justify spiritual boundaries patrolled by the church leaders, I would argue the unworthiness Paul was confronting was based on their unwillingness to include outsiders, not an argument for exclusion. All-to-say, the First Followers saw the Church as anyone who was moving toward the life of Jesus. They were a 'center-set' group who's only goal was to draw the sinner to the Savior day-by-day, step-by-step, grace-by-grace, and faith-by-faith. For them, the center of the faith was becoming immersed into the very life of Jesus - baptized into the very life of Jesus. This was intensely supported by their speaking content which revolved around the telling and retelling of the Jesus Stories. But we live in a different day; many Christians skip through the Gospel stories, then delve deeply into the rest of scripture. Some even think the Jesus Stories are for children, while the rest of the book is the deeper material for mature Christian. It should be exactly the opposite; the Jesus Stories are the highpoint of the Bible. Leadership Question: How can we become immersed into the life of Jesus without becoming immersed in the 468 stories and eyewitness reports about him?#DinnerChurchQuotes: Each Corinthian Christian brought their own food basket to the communal meal. Eranos (Gk) can be translated as ‘potluck dinner'. But Paul criticized their premature beginnings rather than waiting for everyone to arrive to share the meal together. (Leslie Houlden)#PracticalStuff: Everyone on your team needs to be involved in telling Jesus Stories, both at tables and up front. For this to happen, they must be immersed into the Jesus Stories in their own meditations and devotion times. What can you do to encourage that with your team? Further, can you start scheduling your team to tell a Jesus Stories at your dinner church? Or if they are shy, call them forward and interview them on a Jesus Story that is stirring in their heart lately? This is not only necessary for your churches baptism into the life of Jesus, it is also necessary for your team's baptism. What do you think?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon 

Dogged Persistence

March 24, 2022.Some people have embraced the idea that if something comes easy, it is proof of God's will. And conversely, if something requires hard steps, mis-steps and re-steps, then it is evidence we are forcing our will upon God's will. This is not a supported theology for life or leadership.#JesusStories: Jesus commonly healed people with instant effect. But Mark 8:22ff tells of a time when even Jesus struggled to heal someone. A blind man was brought for Jesus to touch and restore his eyesight. Jesus took the man by the hand and led him away from the crowd of onlookers; he obviously did not want this mans healing to become a public spectacle. But, after Jesus touched the man could only see figures and shadows - he said that people looked like walking trees. I wonder if there was a gasp in the onlooking disciples because...'it didn't work'? But Jesus calmly re-engaged again. This time he laid his hands directly on the man's eyes, and when Jesus pulled his hands away the man could see clearly.There is a huge lesson in these verses - even Jesus had to 'work at it' sometimes. And if Jesus had to roll up his proverbial sleeves and  'do it again', what does that say about our lives and ministries? There will be times when things don't work well the first go-around, so what do we do? We act like Jesus and we do it again. To assume that set-backs and re-starts are proof that we are not in God's will is simply wrong-put. In fact, when Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray in Luke 11, he spent only three verses giving them the sample prayer, but then spent three-times as many verses talking about asking, seeking, knocking, never-giving-up, and relentless determination. Are you bumping up against wall in your efforts to expand the kingdom? Sounds pretty normal to me. Maybe you need to make a slight adjustment or not, but HIT THAT WALL AGAIN! Because the kingdom goes forth in the hands of leaders who understand the theology of dogged persistence.#DinnerChurchQuotes: The strategy and tactics of the First Christians were not particularly remarkable. What was remarkable was their conviction, their passion, and their determination to act as Christ’s embassy to a rebel world. (Michael Green)#PracticalStuff: In this post-covid-ish era, do you need to test your groups determination to retell the Jesus Stories at Jesus Tables with the expectation that heaven will open up when you do? Talk about this with your team; recommit to the power of the Jesus Stories. I recently heard from a pastor who noticed his dinner church crowd was losing interest during the preaching time. He called his team together, and they noted that their preaching had grown from 10 minutes to over 20 minutes, and they were punctuating their presentations with illustrations, multiple teaching points, and even slides. They were slipping into teaching mode and hadn't noticed it. He said, "We had a come-to-Jesus-moment", and we recommitted to telling a simple Jesus Story followed by how that story had affected our life. Within a weeks time their preaching vibrancy returned and the crowd became engaged again - like they were at the beginning. Good leadership. Consider talking with your team at your next meeting about recommitting to the promise of the Jesus Table, and the power of the Gospel Stories.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Stop Looking for Signs

March 16, 2022.Humans are tentative by nature. I supposed that is the reason we are referred to as being sheep-like in scripture. While there is merit to being thoughtful, Christianity needs simple and bold follower-ship  too.#JesusStory: Mark 8 tells of a time when some Pharisees started arguing with Jesus, and wanted him to give them a sign from heaven. When Jesus heard this, he groaned and said, "Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one." And with that he turned, walked away, got into a boat, and crossed over to the other side of the lake. Why did Jesus so completely and abruptly leave them in his dust? I think it was because they started off argumentative. They were not looking for a confirmation or an assurance that Jesus was there to open up the Kingdom of God for them, they were defending their leadership, their will, and their authority. Anyone, past or present or future, who is arguing with Jesus isn't looking to follow the leadership of Jesus. And those people will not be given confirmations or assurances about Jesus' authority. But, this isn't just a Pharisee problem; sometimes our self-will arises, doesn't it? When that happens, we find ourselve's saying things like: "Lord, if you are really asking me to do this, then give me a sign?" And when we ask this, we usually find a silent heaven. Because our hearts are defending our own will, rather than yielding our life to "following Jesus' life". Maybe it is time to stop looking for signs and simply follow Jesus' ways.Following Jesus does not mean agreeing to be a Christian; it does mean replicating the things Jesus did in our life situations. Jesus healed people, so we follow Jesus by starting to pray healing over people; Jesus spent time with the poor, so we follow Jesus by spending time with the poor; Jesus confronted evil, so we follow Jesus by confronting evil in prayer when it shows up in our lives or the lives of those around us. But, this is where the rub is - actually engaging in the behaviors of Jesus. We can follow Jesus in theory, but when we are asked to follow the actual behaviors of Jesus like preaching to the poor or square off with evil, our self-rule sometimes rises up. It is then that we become a bit Pharisaical and find ourselves saying: "Jesus, if you really want me to be with the poor, you're going to have to give me a sign!" You'll probably hear crickets. Because Jesus already told us, "Follow me!"#DinnerChurchQuotes: The Greek word for hospitality in the New Testament is philoxenoi, which literally means a love for strangers solely because of their disconnectedness. (David Lim)#PracticalStuff: This is a great time to sit your team down, read the verses about "taking up our cross and following Jesus", and discussing what is actually being asked of us around these Jesus Tables. We are called to replicate the works of Jesus, not recite the verses about Jesus. We are not disciples that speak Bible well, we are disciples that do the things Jesus did. There is a difference. Only the latter disciples will be able to advance the Kingdom. What do you think about such a discussion with your team?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Derailed by Demon-Talk

March 2, 2022.We live in a rational-based part of the world. Accordingly, things that are too spiritual make most people uncomfortable. Many in the West have unwittingly embraced the Richard Dawkins mantra that all spiritual beliefs are primitive myths that have been made up to explain the unexplainable, but civilization has now outgrown the need for such things. Unfortunately, even Christian leaders have been neutralized by versions of exclusive rationalism, and found it increasingly difficult to talk about things that are too holy or too evil, especially the demonic.#JesusStories: There is a wonderful move toward Christlike discipleship occurring in this day, in which the developing disciples learn to replicate the actual behaviors of Jesus when he was on earth. This is a refreshing change from having students memorize hoards of bible verses and calling it disciple-making. However, there is one problem with engaging in Jesus' actual Gospel behaviors - casting out demons. We can easily embrace Jesus' preaching approaches, his evangelistic mannerisms, and even engaging in his healing prayers. But when it comes to casting out demons, we secretly wish those stories weren't even in the Gospels. But they are in the Gospels, and in great supply. Whether it is the story about the naked man in the cemetery (Mk. 5), or the young boy who tended to throw himself into the fire (Mt 17), or the Syrophoenician woman's daughter (Mk. 7), or the other 25 mentions of demons in the Gospels, Jesus was thickly involved in confronting demonic activity. However, the idea of casting out demons makes us queasy; it conjures up images of little green creatures lurking just beyond the periphery of our sight; we don't want to do it and we don't want to talk about it. Even though classic theology teaches there are three influences occurring upon the earth: The Carnal, The Holy, and The Evil, most would prefer to ignore the latter and instead focus on the holy interventions of God into the carnal world of man.Would you be surprised to learn that the idea of 'demonic possession' and 'demonic oppression' does not occur in the New Testament? In the original texts, only the terms demonized or demonization are used. Possession and oppression are constructs of the latter Catholic Church to quantify the levels of evil at work in ones life. This has huge implications for us. If the people in Bible days were not actually demon-possessed, then Jesus wasn't doing exorcisms, at least not they are so often portrayed. Rather, he was discerning the influence of evil in someones life, and confronting it in prayer and spiritual authority. I propose that we have been derailed by demon-casting-talk, when Jesus was in the business of confronting the evil influence that was ruining peoples lives. Now I realize that Jesus dealt with extraordinary cases like the incident with the swine; the evil emanating from that confrontation was so great that the pigs preferred to drown then hang around that stuff. Smart pigs. While it is doubtful any of us will experience evil on that level, we will experience evil trying to rise up in us, and in the lives of others. Anytime we are tempted to pick up a $100 laying on someones desk when they are not looking, we know evil is at work; anytime we hear someone lying to cast others in a bad light, we know evil is at work; anytime we see a drug addict stumbling along the sidewalk, we know evil is at work; anytime we see a crime wave roll into our city, we know evil is at work. The presence of evil is not a mystery to us, but we are quite under-practiced at confronting it like our Master did. Do not let the demon-talk derail you in this holy pursuit. As a man or woman of God, stand up in your calling to confront evil whenever you see it ruining lives. Resist the evil one, and he will flee (James 4:7). If we will show up, evil will back up. And in doing so, we will be responding in the same ways now that Jesus did during those 28 encounters listed in the Gospels.#DinnerChurchQuotes: The Church must see itself as participating in Gods victory over evil. (Darrell Guder)#PracticalStuff: How is evil ruining people's lives in your neighborhood? That is a great question for your leadership team to discuss and quantify. Would you then consider writing a corporate prayer to confront that evil? And then pray it? And then make a strategy to pray it often? Where and when? In these way you can participate in the war against the evil that is uprising in your town.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Disciple-Making in AD33

Feb 24, 2022This Reformation Era has adopted a definition of discipleship that assumes infusing the full scriptures, Genesis to Revelation, into the minds of Christians. And as wonderful as that is, it is not what Jesus actually told us to do.#JesusStories: During the ascension, Jesus left the Great Commission ringing in our ears (Mt 28:19-20), “Go and make disciples, teaching them to obey "What I taught you." What did he just say? What was the content Jesus left for us to use? He left us with teachings embedded in a collection of stories: some he told and some he lived. Similarly, in the parable about the house built on sand verses the house built on rock found in Mt 7:24-27, Jesus elevated "his words" as the only foundational material that people can confidently build their life upon. He did not leave us with an Apostles Creed, a Romans Road outline, a series of discipleship classes around the Bible bases, or any other construct of spirituality drawn from the 66 books of the Bible. He  left us with a collection of stories from his life, and told us to use them in the making of disciples.Now don’t get me wrong, I have been blessed by the Apostles Creed and many other discipleship patterns based on scripture. And though the Canon we hold today was not compiled until 367 AD by the church father Athanasius, I still hold it as the Holy and Inspired Word of God. However, we must take note that Jesus told us to do something different than studying a thick book of scriptures and calling it disciple-making. Discipleship to Jesus meant teaching his words, his stories, his behaviors, and his life. This means that the Jesus Stories are the most important and powerful portions of the scriptures to be used in forming actual Christlike disciples. Here is an interesting leadership question: What if we took Jesus' instructions at face value, and honestly made disciples with the material he told us to use? Scary Huh?#DinnerChurchQuotes:*Popular evangelical theology comes from the Epistles, but it needs to come from the Gospels. (David Olson)*Reading the Gospels through the Epistles creates a disturbing distortion; the Gospels are not be taken as a serious prescriptive for life, mission, and discipleship. (Alan Hirsch)#PracticalStuff: This year our pastors in Seattle have felt compelled to start adding weekly prayer-walks to our dinner church gatherings. This week, while on a prayer-walk through one of our neighborhoods with several leaders, I sensed The Spirit walking beside us on those sidewalks in a HUGE way. When we compared notes afterwards, we all knew that we were dispelling the uprising kingdom of darkness with every step, and in its place ushering the Inbreaking Kingdom of Jesus into that neighborhood. Our spirits could feel darkness backing up and light flooding in. At its core, that is the theology of the historic prayer-walk. How long has it been since you've taken your team for a prayer-walk throughout your neighborhood to change the atmosphere around your dinner church? Jesus hasn't only given you a room full of people to influence, he has also given you the neighborhood where they live. Prayer walk anyone?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon  

Sin Confusion

Feb 17, 2022.A theologian once said, "Modernism has not been particularly kind to Christianity." Themes like the mystery of God has been forced into rational and logical constructs, which has not fit well. Another theme that has been underserved in this Reformation Era has been the nature of sin.#JesusStories: In Mark 7 the religious leaders became frustrated because the disciples did not wash their hands rightly. When they confronted Jesus about it he excoriated them: "You are nothing but show-offs! You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings!" (CEV). He went on to point out how they were actually teaching people to ignore caring for their elderly parents and instead divert those funds to the support of the temple. Wow! That was a beatdown I wish I could have witnessed. The pattern for life and worship God gave them had ballooned into 613 made-made laws by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, and these leaders were laboring under a burden of sin confusion, and Jesus would have none of it.We humans are pretty good at turning wonderful downloads from heaven into rules and regulations. We do this so we can categorize and control our spirituality; we'd rather grab God than trust the God to grab us. It is a control thing. In recent centuries, we have done similar things as the Pharisee's did. And we too are laboring under some sin confusion. Present practices have reduced sin and salvation to a choice. Now, I know Adam and Eve chose to eat from the forbidden tree, but does explain the full nature of sin? I am intrigued by what happened to Israel in the Negev desert when the snakes came out and bit the grumbling and faithless people. And then when Moses made an image of a snake and put it on a pole as God had directed. Anyone who looked at that image would be healed. This was a difficult day for the people of God. Yet, it was a divine metaphor that revealed how sin was like poison. Further, it revealed what the antidote would look like when it comes, which the world witnessed when Jesus was lifted upon the cross. On that day he became the antidote to rid the most elemental problem affecting this world - soul poison. Greed, lust, selfishness, fear, and dominating others are just a few of the poisons that destroys our lives, families, neighborhoods, cities, governments, and the world around us. However, the very mention of the name of Jesus releases the antidote to the poison that courses through the human soul. Amazing! To turn something as wondrous as that into a belief-system? No! To suggest that everyone must make a choice for Jesus before it goes to work in their lives? No! In fact, it is in our hands to dispense the antidote and start the process of recovery. People who are delirious in their soul-poison are not in much of a position to make these spiritual choices, are they?A man in our family was bitten by a rattle snake 70 years ago. He laid in a field for over an hour in 90 degree heat, and by the time people found him he was in and out of consciousness. He was in no place to decide about antidote options and doses; the poison had rendered him incoherent. If a doctor had been there, seen his delirious state, he would have simply taken charge and administered the antidote. This is the nature of sin - it poisons us. This then, must be the nature of the Church - to freely dispense the antidote. Every time we speak of Jesus and tell his stories, the antidote goes to work. There might be a day when a sin-poisoned person starts to heal and can chose to welcome Jesus' interventions, but before then it's up to the Church to administer the antidote, and let Jesus go to work. To this we are called. The Church today needs a fresh vision of the poisonous and debilitating nature of sin. And then, we need a fresh vision of the powerful antidote that is in our hands - the Jesus Stories.#DinnerChurchQuotes: The First Christians did not conquer Rome with swords and spears, but with tables. (Michael Frost) To which I would add: The first Christians did not conquer Rome with swords and spears, but the Jesus Stories at Jesus Tables.#PracticalStuff: Is it time for you to set your team down and remind them of the power of the Jesus Stories? Just using the 'Name of Jesus' and telling his stories starts a work of redemption and healing in people you are eating beside. Press that truth into the hearts of your core team. Without it you are just a feed! With it you are the answer to the worst problems in your neighbors lives.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

What do YOU want?

Feb 2, 2022.Some Christians say they are submitted to God's will. And that can be mark of maturity to be sure, but it can also be a cop out. We are in a relationship with Jesus, so believe it or not he wants to hear what we think and feel and want.#JesusStories: Do you remember the story about Jesus asking the blind man, "What do you want?" Now I'm sure it was obvious to all why the blind man was shouting, but Jesus wanted to hear the man say, "I want to see!" Interesting. There is a version of spirituality that diverts all things to Jesus for his initiation. But that can slip into false humility. We are in a real two-way relationship we Jesus, and while he is forever downloading the inbreaking kingdom into our lives and ministries, he also wants to hear our heart initiations too. Mark 6:56 shows this so clearly: In every village or farm or marketplace where Jesus went, the people begged him to let them just touch his clothes and everyone who did was healed. Wow, Jesus initiated healing for all kinds of people and in all kinds of ways, but he never suggested anyone should just touch his clothes. It was the woman with the chronic bleeding condition in Mark 5 who initiated this approach when she slipped up behind Jesus and touched his robe. And now, these townspeople having heard about that woman were doing the same thing in Mark 6. I LOVE THIS!  These folks initiated a healing process all on their own, and Jesus honored each of their 'healing reaches'. How long has it been since you've initiated something in the Spirit? As it turns out, your thoughts and ways and initiatives are quite important to our Lord. He is your dearest friend. Go tell him what YOU want.#DinnerChurchQuotes: During an interview with mother Teresa she was asked, "What do you do when you pray?" She answered, "I just listen." To which the interviewer asked, "Well what does God say?" Mother Teresa paused and said, "I don’t expect you to understand this, but he just listens." (Vince Antonucci)#PracticalStuff: Is there someone on your core team that needs to share the Jesus Story at your next Dinner Church gathering? While it is good for the DC congregation to hear from their pastor often, it is great for the team to learn to be 'instant in season and out' by the way they learn to handle the Jesus Stories. So pitch the ball to someone next week.Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Closed Minds

Jan. 26, 2022.How open are you to new ideas? Similarly, how open are you to the unexplainable ways of Jesus when they happen? I find I'm quite open to new ideas, but struggle to hold the mysterious decisions of heaven at times.#JesusStories: Mark 6 records Jesus walking on the water. The back story is that John the Baptist had just been beheaded; Jesus saw the need for the disciples to take a retreat; the people saw where they were going and ran around the lake to meet them; then Jesus had compassion on the hungry crowd and told the disciples to feed all 5000. After that it was now evening when Jesus sent the disciples back across the lake to find some solitude while he went up the hill to pray. But then a storm came and the disciples were struggling to row against the wind, so Jesus cut his prayer time short and walked to them on the water. When they saw him they were afraid, and then when Jesus climbed into the boat and silenced the storm, they were 'completely confused' (vs. 51). In my minds eye I see them sitting in the boat in a state of exhausted silence. John's beheading, feeding 5000 with only a little bread and two small fish, Jesus walking on water, watching the storm instantly stop, this was all just too much. This is the backdrop that sets up vs. 52: "Their minds were closed, and they could not understand the true meaning of the loaves of bread."We all have a breaking point don't we? Nonetheless, our effectiveness in ministry requires us to do business with the mysteries of heaven and the unexplainable 'show-ups' of Jesus. That is our jobs. So yes, our faith is going to get tested against our logic from time to time. Heaven will mysteriously intervene at times, and then go unexplainably quiet at other times. And we will be left to explain the 'surprises' and the 'silences' to the church family. Equal measures of divine 'show-ups' and apparent 'set-backs' are on the agenda until the end of time. Will our minds be closed during these stormy times? Probably. Will we struggle to remember the last time an unexplainable miracle happened like a $5,000 bill getting paid with only five loaves & two fish in our bank account? Likely. But then, after a bit of rest, our minds will start to renew; we will remember the unexplainable miracles from our past; we will welcome another storm and another mysterious 'Jesus show up'. So if your minds feels a bit closed right now, don't sweat it. It won't stay that way for long. Before you know it you'll be on the other side of the storm doing the impossible along side an invisible Savior. That is what we do!#DinnerChurchQuotes: Interestingly, almost every practitioner has reported there has always been enough food, no matter how many people showed up – a mysterious connection with the miracles of bread and fish. (Christine Pohl)#PracticalStuff: Is your team expecting miraculous stuff to occur in your Dinner Church? Further, are they expecting miraculous math to occur in their own bank accounts as they help fund your tables? This is our Christian heritage, and are great discussion questions for your next team huddle. Yes?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon

Big Projects, Small Starts

Jan 20, 2022.Every once in a while we are faced with an unusually big task. When this happens to me, my adrenalin starts pumping, my sleep becomes shallow, my mind starts breaking down the project into tasks so much so that I become aloof to everything and everyone around me. Grief! Please tell me you can relate at least a little bit; I hate the thought that I am alone in this reaction, and that my wife is the only one who suffers from a detached husband.#JesusStories: The Gospel is a BIG project. In fact, Christianity is the greatest rescue mission the world has ever seen. And yes, when I first started out in ministry, I saw the Gospel as a project to be completed, and about burned out my adrenal glands running after it. But frankly, the Gospel is just too big and too life-long to treat it as a sprint. We need to apply some wisdom here.Early in Jesus' ministry Mark 6 reports that he called together his twelve apostles and sent them out two-by-two with power over evil spirits. And they went out telling everyone about the kingdom of God, forced out much evil, and healed a lot of sick people. Though it is not clarified in this verse like others, I suspect they followed the pattern Jesus used of 'healing by day and dinner with sinners by night'. I am taken initially by the fact that Jesus handed his spiritual tool kit to the disciples, and they were as effective as Jesus was. That bodes well for us, because we are Jesus' disciples too, if even 2,000 years later.But the truth from this story that grips me the most is that Jesus was called to change the world, and yet he started by merely sending out his disciples two-by-two to the small villages around them. Wow - such a big worldwide calling started in such a small way. As it turns out, Christianity has always functioned from the margins. From these days of Jesus until the present, the inbreaking kingdom has advanced with the least, the last, the lost, and the left-behind.In this day, we too are called to change to the world. And true to form we start with a nearby  isolated neighborhood, a Jesus Table in an obscure gathering place, re-telling Jesus Stories as we eat together with people who are very different than us, and engaging in prayer walks that disinvites evil and invites the presence of Christ step-by-step. These are all small engagements that are right in front of us, but somehow they start adding to the inbreaking Kingdom in such exponential ways that it changes the world near and far. Jesus' big Gospel has always advanced with small starts. Never underestimate what your simple Jesus Table efforts will turn into.#DinnerChurchQuotes: After the Moravian Agape Meal revival, there was launched 100 years of 24/7 prayer. (Susan Harper)#PracticalStuff: Have a conversation with your team that their small weekly efforts are actually connected to a HUGE Outcome. They need the encouragement from an enlarged faith perspective. Then will you lead them in a collective prayer that assumes something MUCH BIGGER than what your team should naturally accomplish?Blessings & Boldness,Verlon