We had a wonderful BBQ at a Park on Monday evening.  I grilled up some corn and chicken, Derek made some awesome Potato Salad and Sweet Potato Pie, and a bunch of people kicked around the soccer ball trying to make it in a trash can.  My new friend, Zhen, an international student from China, wanted to read some stories about Jesus with me, so I pulled out some Scripture and we read John 2 (wedding at Cana) and John 5 (healing at Bethesda).  It was cool to hear Zhen describe a wedding in China, and then for us to relate a Chinese wedding to different parts of John 2 when Jesus was at the wedding in Cana.

We continued on to John 5, and read how Jesus healed a man who was unable to walk for 38 years.  After Zhen read what Jesus said in verse 8, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk,” he paused and said, “Wow! Jesus healed him by just saying one sentence.”  I nodded and smiled, pondering this wonderful revelation of truth.

10 minutes later, Zhen, Bing (another new friend from China), and I were standing around the table.  While in conversation, I see a man randomly running in circles around the park.  I think in my head, "why is this guy running in circles?"  A few second later, Derek walks over to me with a huge smile and says, "Jesus just healed this man's knee after over 20 years of pain! And now he's trying it out!"  A car hit him over 20 years ago, and he had knee problems since.  Derek prayed for his knee and the pain went away!  This man was SO happy.  He had the biggest smile on his face as he ran to where we stood and told us how he would finally walk and run without pain.   Then he went and ran around again!  Zhen commented on how Derek did exactly what Jesus did in the story we just read.

Yup.  Jesus did cool stuff back then, and he continues to do cool stuff today.

See original post at http://www.myleshamby.com/

Joe (name changed) had been mocking Bear for the last week. Bear lives in Joe’s dorm and is attempting to bring the gospel to his fellow Native American students at Haskell University, home to representatives of almost 130 different tribal nations from around the United States. Bear is a student missionary sent from Student CPx this last year.  Bear understands the need for students to carry the gospel into his college campus – Bear gave his life to Jesus and was baptized after a Student CPx student befriended him two years ago. To read Bear’s incredible story, click here.

An hour later, we see Joe again on campus. I’m filled with faith for this guy.

“Hey, man,” I say as I point my finger at him. “God’s got a great destiny for your life if you’ll stop running from him.”

He smirks at me and walks away.  Yes, I feel powerful and mighty.

Twenty feet later, he suddenly stops in his tracks.

Joe turns around, walks back up the sidewalk, and comes up to Bear and I, with his gaze toward the ground.

Joe lights up a Marlboro Red cigarette and says, “Ok, I guess I’ll talk to you guys for a minute. Tell me more.”

We ask Joe some questions about his experiences with Jesus, the church, and Christianity. We tell Joe the simple story of how we came to believe in Jesus and how He changed our lives.

“Woah! I’ve got goose bumps!” Joe says as he responds to hearing our personal stories about Jesus. (When you tell a personal story of how Jesus has influenced you, it carries power. It’s almost like the Holy Spirit flows in a special way to others when you tell them stories of how you’ve experienced Jesus.)

Joe wasn’t ready to become a follower of Jesus yet, but his hunger was apparent. We prayed for Joe right there on the sidewalk, certain we would encounter him again really soon, especially since Bear is attempting to start simple church community in his residence hall where Joe and he live.

30 minutes later Bear and I walk to the Pow Wow grounds on campus. We’re carrying a large Native drum my good friend Will loaned me. Five of us gather to worship God. 2 of the students aren’t followers of Jesus yet. This is where the different tribes gather for festivals. This is where I first prayed with a student at Haskell to become a follower of Jesus a couple years ago.

I turn to the small group sitting around the drum.

“Have you ever heard the story of why Jesus came to earth?” I say.

“No, not really.”

I tell the gospel story, short and simple. God sent Jesus to call all nations and tribes into right relationship with the Creator and with each other. I tell briefly who He is.  What He did. What He wants from us now….Then we invite students to worship God and Jesus on the drum.

We start to play.

We don’t know what we’re doing.  I know that every movement among unreached people groups is accompanied by new forms of worship with styles and instruments that fit their culture. It seems as I’ve traveled the United States the last few years I’ve met a lot of pagans (I mean that in a nice way; I like pagans). Why not try something creative and different to reach them? I wonder.  But it still feels a little silly to be sitting here playing this drum.

“Eeeeeya ya yaaaaaah!!!!!” Bear lets out a Native warrior cry to heaven at the top of his lungs.

I think I see a residence hall window shatter.

I’m scared. I think the devil might be, too. I feel like Kevin Costner walking into the Indian camp for the first time. I close my eyes and focus on Jesus, diverting my attention from the fact that it must look funny for a very obviously white guy to be playing a drum in the middle of this Pow Wow circle.

The time on the drum flows into some time of offering up prayers to God. We then take turns praying and prophesying over each other. It was simple. It wasn’t fancy.  It’s just five of us. Encountering God on the drum. Singing songs to Jesus. Learning Jesus words. Praying and prophesying over each other.

I go home feeling like it was a semi-victory. I was hoping for more people. But it felt like good was done, friendships were strengthened, the Holy Spirit was present, and the gospel was spreading.

I’m reminded that every big thing God builds starts small.  Every tree starts with a seed. Today we must re-learn the power of seeds - and equip people to spread them where they need to be planted the most.

Jesus talked a lot about seeds. He said the kingdom of God is like a man who went out and sowed seeds. I can’t help but think we need a massive restoration of understanding the power of “seed movements” – how the gospel spreads through lots of little seeds.  I’m afraid we too often value the big over the small, the famous over the obscure, the flashy over the authentic, the conference over the prayer meeting, the large church over lots of small churches (that might grow into others).

Jesus became a seed, died, and bore much fruit.

Will you allow God to make you a seed to a dark place on your campus or in your city that needs Jesus?

Your work may not be immediately noticed (seeds seldom are). But God just might use you to plant seeds that grow into a movement that brings light to the dark places that need Jesus the most.

-- Erik

(Original blog at http://erikfish.wordpress.com/)

You ask God, “What is Your will for my life?”

Sometimes God responds, “What is in your heart?”

Does the Lord care about your heart?

Does He care about the things your heart desires?

Yes!

As my children grow, I often ask them, “What do you want to do when you’re older?” I look to see how God has uniquely shaped them – their gifts, the things they’re passionate about – and the things that concern them about the world they hope to change.

Fathers watch for the dreams of their child’s heart, and encourage them to go for it.

As your heart is set on loving Jesus, He shapes the desires of your heart. As you keep Jesus first in your life, pursuing these desires of your heart is an act of faith in the God who designed you in His image.

This is a season to dream with God. The world is shaped by those with the courage to risk failure and reputation to pursue the God-shaped design of their heart.

In the beginning, God told the first people (paraphrased), “Be fruitful and multiply. Tend the garden. Fill the earth…just don’t eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

God had some general instructions, but He left a tremendous amount of freedom up to Adam and Eve to decide how to tend the garden and where to go as they pursued God’s challenge for them to fill the earth. He left a lot up to them for how to dream and imagine and shape the garden and the earth according to the design God put inside them – their initiative and creativity would reflect His very nature. They abused this freedom and disobeyed the one thing He told them not to do. But God wasn’t done yet. He started a process of redemption in history to restore in us what was lost in the garden.

So, what did God want to restore that was lost in the garden? It’s a theological question humans have wrestled with for millennia. Early on God saw fit to give His people a complex system of laws in order to stay in covenant relationship with Him. Why did He do this? Paul says the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ. I believe part of the reason for the Law was to show us that living by a system of rules and laws can never bring us to freedom and restore God’s dream for the planet.  Waiting for explicit commands sometimes can inhibit us from pursuing things God’s already planted in our heart to pursue.

When Christ died and rose again, what did He accomplish? Did He set us free to dream with God again out of a transformed heart?  Or did He just start a new system of Laws?

Today, God is restoring this aspect of dreaming with Him to see the world filled with people who dare to accomplish great things for God out of the passions of their heart.

The last year, my wife and I have been on an interesting adventure. We’ve experienced divine leading, supernatural open doors, specific direction, and times of waiting on the Lord. We’ve laid our lives before the Lord and said, “We’ll go anywhere you want to send us.”

The funny thing is, often we don’t sense God saying anything about where to go next. As we’ve prayed and sought God, we started to experience a part of God’s nature we had never experienced before.

We felt the Lord saying,

“What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? What do you dream about? You can do anything. You can go anywhere.”

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

(Psalm 37:4)

Here’s the conclusion we’ve come to:

“When your heart is set to obey the Lord, and He gives no specific direction, it’s time to press toward the desires of your heart.”

What is in your heart?

There are seasons when we must wait on the Lord for specific instructions. We should always be tuned to alter our plans according to His specific leading. But here’s the side of God I believe He is calling many of us to know in this season: When you delight yourself in the Lord, pressing into the desires of your heart is an act of faith.

Do we actually believe God is big enough to give us the desires of our heart, protect us wherever we go, and that pursuing the desires of our heart is actually a journey into encountering Him in deeper ways?

For the world, we have good news to offer. If you delight yourself in the Lord, you’ll discover the dreams of your heart are already in His will for you.

This is an hour for dreaming and going. This is an hour for you to respond in faith and honor God by praying and responding out of the dreams of your heart.

If your heart is set on loving God and obeying Him, then I want to ask you,

“What do you dream of?

Where do you want to go?

What do you want to do?

Dream with God and trust Him to shepherd you as your pursue the dreams of your heart!

-- Erik

The Sunday before last we had a “Joint Simple Church Gathering” at our place. One of our student church planter elders at the student church in Arizona was in town, and joined us to share testimonies of what God is doing there. We were all equally edified as we shared stories of how God is moving in our different simple churches all over the city and country. It is beautiful to see these young passionate students pursue Jesus in such a radical way. There were several people from about 6 different simple churches present. Several of those new churches were started as a direct result of Student CPx here in Austin back in August! We have the privilege of being in a community with several of the leaders from those churches, as well as shepherding them as they are sent back out into their individual contexts.

On another note:
We’ve had people visiting us here in Austin almost every weekend for the past month and a half. It’s been awesome for friends and family to come see what God is doing here as the testimonies spread across the country. Brad McKoy, one of the elder’s on the student church national elder team, and Jim Erb, a spiritual grandfather of ours have been here with us the past few days to pour into us and the students. The Taylor’s then joined us this past weekend to relax and enjoy Austin. Our place is open for anyone to come visit! Do it!

I am excited about the next few months of life for us. They will be busy, but full of fun and the kingdom.

Click Here to watch the Hot Tub Baptisms!

Zach & William live in our apartment complex. I met them soon after we moved in, and we have been in discipleship relationships since then. Zach's roommate Kyle Baptized him tonight. Then, Zach Baptized a guy he's been discipling named Jose, along with his other roommate William! This beautifully illustrates the call for disciples to make disciples as a normal part of the culture of following Jesus. Jose, who was Baptized by his discipler, now knows that he is to "do as his teacher did". Since his discipler Baptized him, he is now empowered and released to go and do likewise; this will hopefully create a spiritual down line of disciples!  Zach & William are going to pursue Jesus with us in this apartment community and trust Jesus for a new church to birth from the Harvest as more disciples are made!

I was reading Aaron Snow's blog just now and came across this: "we don’t “do” church. We BE Church."  After I read this, I thought to myself, "how many times in the last 3 years have I said, 'Let's do church!' with a smile on my face?  The answer: a large number.  

Where is the Bible does it say to "go to church" or "do church?"  Not a single verse.  We say, "We are Jesus' church" because church is a people, not a place or activity that we do.  The church gathers to do life together rather than people gathering to do church together. 

I know some of you all are thinking, "Myles, it's just semantics.  It doesn't really matter.  We know that church is not a building or activity.  We read it in Neil Cole's Organic Church."  But I think it does matter how we use the word "church."  I am a firm believer that the terminology we use to describe things often reflects are attitude.  And we may not even realize it.  

The Bible views church as the Body of Christ, the family of God, brothers and sisters - all of which are organic living things.  This living body, the church, prays, heals, preaches, obeys God, serves, loves, etc.  We need to use our subject (church, family, etc.) and verbs (pray, heal, etc.) correctly.

For the first time since I read "Organic Church" nearly two years ago, I finally understand the title: "organic" is an adjective used to describe the noun "church."  Meaning, we are to be a LIVING and ACTIVE and GROWING group of people.  

The word "Student" in front of "Church" is an adjective describing this wonderful group of believers.  "Student" describes our family, which is student-led movement of Jesus on campuses across the world.  "Student Church" is not an institution, nor a place, or some activity we partake in.  We are a group of people who intercede before God, heal the sick, preach the Gospel, love those not following Jesus, and love and honor each part of the body.  

Changing the framework and terminology that we use "church" will not only have an impact in our actions, but also in the actions of our disciples.  We want to pass along a healthy DNA that includes Biblical, rather than cultural concepts about church.  "Going" and "doing" church is part of our Christian culture rather than Scriptural.  As our disciples make disciples, they pass on the healthy concept of the church as the beloved bride and her actions being Jesus' commands.  

We don't go to church. We don't do church.  We ARE the church.  And, by the authority and power of Jesus, we DO what God commands.  

***Disclaimer: for this particular post the word “church” will be used in reference to church as a place, program, service, institution, gathering, etc. Obviously, these things should not define “church”, but we are going to look at what happens when the things above somehow sneak in and become more important than Jesus, and people knowing Him as Lord.***