Humans love putting labels on what God is doing. That isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just sorta funny to see it happen sometimes. The big phrase these days is “house church” and “church planting movements”. Neither of these terms are in the Bible, but similar ideas like “the church that meets in your house” and “a gracious outpouring of God’s Spirit” are all over the book of Acts describing similar phenomenon.

Below is an exciting video describing the realities of our world today. While the vocabulary words, music, and narration are kinda corny, I think it introduces people to the ideas that I’m wrestling with in my prayers and studies in just about a straightforward way as possible. In many ways, this video describes the kind of work of God that I am praying regularly about for the people of Abilene and Chicago. What would happen if a sweeping spirit of renewal hit our land? Only God knows.

Will you partner with me in praying for this? — Father, I pray that you will heal our land and bring your Spirit to every person, giving them the joy they need to live a life that matters. I pray for an unleashing of a tidal wave of workers that are sent out into your harvest, and for myriad churches to be planted and countless lives transformed by the Good News!

I love that I will not have to take charge of all that mission work! I love that people across the globe - regular, run-o-the-mill CHILDREN OF GOD have the capacity to join Father in such amazing ways! My job will/is like a “missions coordinator” simply helping along what is already taking place naturally…setting up the tee so they can take the drive. I want so badly to see God take back what is rightfully his, and this seems to be a major way he is doing that in our day.

Our heads were already spinning as we experienced the contrast between scenic, peaceful world of rock climbing and camping the night before and the multi-ethnic, cultural phenomenon of UT’s campus. But Friday night our “Urban Immersion” would put us right in the middle of South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival!

But before we hit the streets, we met Kester Smith and his family for dinner. They are planting a church in downtown Austin for those without hope (Immanuel Austin Community). While he is a pastor of a church, he also works for Book People, a huge bookstore that attracts a pretty diverse crowd right off of 6th St. To these people he’s sort of seen as the “token Christian guy” since he’s the only one working there AND is a kindhearted guy who shares his thoughts. Co-workers pick his brain to try to figure this whole Christian thing out - I’m glad he’s God’s ambassador to those people.

As the sun set, we said goodbye to Kester and headed out in pairs onto 6th St, the main hub of SXSW. The only thing that outnumbered the bars were the people traipsing up and down the streets.  Katrina and I were together, and for the next several hours our “assignment” (good ole’ Kent, always finding moments for teaching and learning…) was to keep our eyes open to what God wanted to show us, and to try to have some meaningful conversations with people.

Well, Trina and I knew that last bit was going to be difficult the moment we walked into the first bar. The music was so blaringly loud that there was no way we could hold a conversation AT ALL much less delve into the mysteries of the universe.

We walked out the back door of the bar and into a filthy alleyway. The underbelly of 6th St. It was here that we began to see what God wanted to show us. Learning to see with God’s eyes is a little like trying to figure out one of those “Magic Eye” comic strips.

At first all you see is trash and darkness. You want to get out of there as fast as possible. You feel threatened by the darkness. But soon your eyes “adjust” and you begin to remember who you are, and whose you are. Your vision comes to you and you begin to see a couple over in a corner making out, and the man looks like he’s taking advantage of an uncertain woman.

A few drunken rich college-aged students are stumbling around the corner, working hard to forget the pain that they carry around with them. We saw a woman digging through the trash with great focus and intensity, looking for aluminum cans (what for, we don’t know), and shooting harried glances up at passers by.

Our eyes began to see things everywhere that it seemed were at first invisible to us. We began to see the pain, the loneliness, and the abandonment…(and even unrestrained joy) of the entire mob of 6th St. It was unnerving.

Katrina said she was glad to have gone, saying that she would have stuck to a safe, quiet pub somewhere and just people watched. I personally get really energized by entering into unknown situations where I am completely disoriented. I just pay attention more in unfamiliar situations - and therefore pay attention to what God is doing in a bigger way.

I enjoyed my time out on 6th Street, I met some amazing people with incredible stories (or maybe it just sounded more incredible since they were screaming their stories to me over 30′ speakers). SXSW is a community well in many ways, and I believe Jesus Christ focused in on community wells, meeting women (and men) who needed life-giving water. I pray for more “training” from the Lord at community wells in my everyday life, and training in keeping my eyes open.

Our network of emerging, spiritual communities has been waiting a long time for this. Several of us have struggled over how to best connect our network with itself. We truly just don’t know the answer to “what about larger gatherings?” when people question us about our dreams for life in the Kingdom. We believe that finally God is showing us some important steps to take.

For really the first time, the Jesus Family Network is hosting a gathering for anyone invested and leading Kingdom of God communities here in Abilene and West Texas. Organic churches, neo-monastic communities, life groups, families living as outposts for God’s Kingdom in poor neighborhoods, you name it - we’re desperate to hear from everyone, because we believe that the Spirit has things to say to everyone, through everyone. What is Christ up to in our region? What will it take for us to join him? I honestly don’t know the full answer to that - but I can contribute to the conversation, and through others I can learn so much!
Here in a few weeks, we’ll take a Saturday afternoon and turn it into a beautiful web of conversations. Around tables, we will laugh, share, and search for God’s word for us. What would it take to see a vibrant family of Jesus in close reach of every person in West Texas? Then we’ll hop up from that table, and share what we’ve learned with another table, cross-pollinating the whisperings of the Spirit as we continue to share with more and more people. We’re calling it Wikicclesia because God’s church (ecclesia) is about hearing from the Lord through his people - a sort of mass collaboration (Wiki) that brings us closer to the Truth.

This is our first attempt at living as a “starfish“. Wikipedia learned that when you release people to talk about what they are experts in, you see a huge proliferation of genius and breadth of insight. Of course, you also have to sort out the wackos…
Nevertheless, I believe that the Spirit has something to say in each of us, and that we are missing out when our “church meetings” involve a singular “sage on the stage”. Why can’t every person who feels invested in God’s life share what he’s been up to, and benefit the whole body? In a sense, Wikicclesia is only the beginning.

The Jesus Family Network is just as it’s name implies - a network that is coherently synthesized as a family; consistently sharing love and insight. I have seen this happen regularly in a smaller way through JFN, and now I believe God is allowing us to try things out on a larger scale. I have invited a few people that I know and think may benefit from being there. Others have done the same.

This is about natural relationships, not about broadcasting the event on radio and newspaper. Those who need to be there will be there. And God only knows what will come of it!

Thinking about leadership in this new paradigm of life in the Kingdom has got me thinking about ways to describe it. Most words in the English language regarding leaders and the communities they lead only reinforce the old way of thinking about leadership models. Teaching, lecturing…even the word leading connotates a heirarchical structure which places one person closer to the truth than another. While this might be needed in some instances, especially when working with marginal members of the community, I believe many of these words represent a paradigm that can become destructive when leaders deal with other leaders. So how to describe this new paradigm? I had a good conversation with a friend and mentor the other day who brought up the perfect word: eduction.
e‧duce  /ɪˈdus, ɪˈdyus/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[i-doos, i-dyoos]
–verb (used with object), e‧duced, e‧duc‧ing.

To educe an insight, solution to a problem, or a gifting from the Lord out of another person is to step out of the way and watch them bloom. Eduction happens when a committed believer comes alongside another committed believer and begins to draw out from within the other what the Holy Spirit has already put there. From personal experience I have learned this can be an amazing switch from traditional styles of learning and teaching. Thinking of people as acorns, rather than buckets, we allow the DNA that God put in them naturally develop.

But the question comes: do we REALLY believe that the followers of Christ that we are working with actually have something latent or potential within them…even before we show up? God is already at work within them, we may be there to ask the right questions, or probe certain issues, but true eduction takes place when we see lives changing on their own, and continue to do so even after we are long gone.

I've been reading through the Gospel of John lately. As I read and prayed through John 4's story about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, I was struck by Jesus' comments he makes later to his disciples.

The conversation between the promiscuous woman and Jesus Christ seems to continually intrigue preachers and scholars alike. This is one of the most revealing conversations Christ has about himself (is there anywhere else in the Gospels where Jesus openly admits, "I AM the Messiah"?). The woman meets Jesus, and by the end of the conversation she is running back to town to tell everyone that she has met a prophet who might just be the Messiah they've all been waiting for!

Just about that time, the disciples return. John describes their worried confusion - (could they have suspected that their Lord had less than pure motives meeting alone with this Samaritan woman?), but they offer him some of their food nonetheless. Jesus refuses it saying "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God." He pulls the conversation to new levels as he says, "Wake up and look around you! The fields are already ripe for harvest!" He explains that the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life in God. He continues this mysterious parable with, "I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest."

What harvest of people is he talking about? Who are the "others"? Look at their circumstances! Jesus had gone before them in paving an inroad to the little Samaritan village, and the real "work" in planting the harvest was being done by the Samaritan woman running about from house to house sharing the Great News that was changing her life! All the disciples had to do was sit back and wait for the people to return to the well to greet them and worship their Messiah.

Jesus Christ is hard at work, molding and tugging on people's hearts. His "prevenient" work (always going ahead of us) is what brings his harvesters the greatest comfort. As his disciples move from one harvest field to the next, they can know that Christ has been coming alongside people just like this Samaritan woman, preparing them for to be a worker in the harvest field. Truly, all disciples have to do is to be there to share the Good News when people have been so caught up with Christ that they absolutely MUST hear how they should respond. What's even better is that Jesus says that these laid back workers will be paid great wages for the easy work they get to do in bringing in the fruit of the harvest! I'll take that job any day!