Over the break, I read two books (well, one I just finished today) about how two churches came to be - Mars Hill in Seattle (Mark Driscoll) and Antioch Community Church in Waco (Jimmy Seibert).



(The Church Can Change the World by Jimmy Seibert and Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll)

Some excerpts from Seibert's:

"Sometimes I couldn't grasp Robert's [Robert Ewing] deep teaching, but there was something about his intimacy with God that drew me to him. I asked him, 'Robert, how do you love Jesus so much? How do you live such a pure life and carry the presence of the Lord so wonderfully?'

Robert replied, 'First of all, Jimmy, you need to know that it is not me, but God working in me. For the last thirty years, I have started off my days by meditating on Scripture about the cross ... I meditate on the cross every day and I identify with it. I roll off my concerns and anxieties into the person of Christ, and then I go into my day and I walk with the Lord. At the end of the day, I come to the cross again and I unburden the hurts and struggles of the day. I wake up in the cross and I sleep in the cross. That is how you live free in love. That is how you remain pure and holy before God.'"


"Christ must be the One consuming us, and out of that we do His bidding for His glory. We have found that intimacy with God is the hinge on which every issue in life turns. If we are connecting wholeheartedly with God, then we are able to live in His presence and accomplish what He has created us to do. Without Him, we are truly nothing."


"Love God. Love each other. Love the lost. Do you think these values aren't worth living out? Do you think it isn't worth laying it all down so that you can see lives changed? This is worth giving our lives for. There is no cost too great for all to hear and know, for all to see Jesus glorified. If we love Jesus and are obsessed with Him, if we love the church and have biblical conviction, then what else can we do but give our all?"


(by Carl Gulley...)
"But I refuse to be caught up in the small stories that seem brilliant at the moment, but soon become faded glory. I desire to be taken into His story. Into Your great plot for me and mankind. So I leap into the chariot of fire and ask for humillity and courage to leave it all behind: no matter the cost! Because You deserve it. And they need it. Because I love You. And they need You. And the Spirit and the Bride are still crying out, 'Come, Lord Jesus'. And You will. You always do."

I am more convinced every day that the local church living out Kingdom values is the most exciting thing happening in the world today, and that I want to be a part of it! I mean, this is life-changing stuff. If you want to become more excited about this and read about what God is doing around the world through His Church, read one of these. It really does matter. God IS moving! If we all pray fervently for it, I believe He'll come like the rain. But are we praying for it? Do we even care?

Chains be broken
Lives be healed
Eyes be opened
Christ is revealed.
-You'll Come by Brooke Fraser