Misconceptions, illusions, outright lies and then, suddenly, the light comes on. The look on their face is priceless. The change that comes about in their life is nothing short of miraculous. Keeping it can be work.

Oh, what complicated webs we can weave!

Destroying the lie of who we think we are can be difficult; living as who we really are can be downright impossible.

Unless the lights come on. And the door stays locked after the “guest” is escorted out.

I’ll be explicit… I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

You cannot do it by yourself. Cell life. Its a necessity.

Ever since reading Roland Allen’s Spontaneous Growth of the Early Church and rediscovering (perhaps discovering for the first time) the growth of the church in Acts, I knew that most of the small groups I participated in came no where close to the cellular nature of what the first century church experienced. Reading the accounts of the underground Chinese church, the church behind the iron curtain and the church in Latin America, I remember thinking how sweet it would be if that were the norm for the church in the U.S.

I simply assumed that since I couldn’t find it, didn’t experience it, nor knew anyone who had, that “those times” had simply passed.

Recently reading Neil Cole’s Organic Church for a third time, I had one of those singular epiphanies that teleport your perception of everything into the future, instantly. In what might have taken years to arrive at, I saw it as clear as day. It was “cellular,” not “small.” Everything takes place at the cellular level and it is about cellular multiplication. That is where life is experienced; that is what grows a body.

Last night I remembered reading Allen’s book for the first time in 1976. I remembered the longing to experience what he was narrating. I remembered it because I was experiencing it. Nine people gathered around one who had been diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer. Nothing else mattered. He was the object of our focus and attention. In a matter of minutes we were no longer gathered around a man on a couch, we literally entered a different dimension. Seventeen to seventy-seven, sixty years difference between the oldest and the youngest, but looking at each of them as they prayed, they all looked the same – enraptured.

Over the last two weeks I’ve had three of the weekly participants tell me that what we do each week is “real church.” I’ve watched real change occur in the life of several of them – honest, profound, life-changing metamorphoses. They come to the group even when they don’t feel like it, they look forward to it, they tell others about it. Their spiritual antenna are up and twitching.

They actually want more.

Amazing.

An interesting place, the food was good. The atmosphere was different and it was packed out with college kids. The Urban Spoon has nothing but impressive accolades and rates it 4 Spoons (out of 5). To quote one reviewer: “Upon entering you know you are in for a different dining experience. The hand cut wood tables and architectural features create the feeling of entering a kid’s treehouse. The seating is intimate and cozy while still providing a comfortable feel.”

Reading several articles that had appeared in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, I discovered that they are still surrounded by much controversy and concern.

So who cares and why write about it?

Good or bad, right or wrong, they have distinguished themselves. The establishment is leery of them, the anti-establishment is impressed by both their food AND their commitment and they are making an impact.

Most of us don’t want to be “marked;” we prefer to blend in. Could it be that “blending in” is the antithesis of what it means to be a follower of the Carpenter? We may not need to have long hair, dress funny and open a restaurant with strange hours, but perhaps we need to be a bit more intentional about our desire to have what the Nazarene offers.

“Official” Freedom Tour Logo

Our stay in Fortaleza on this trip will be life altering for those on the trip and those in the city.

The trip to the interior is going to be mind-boggling.

For seven years I’ve been going to the interior of the state of Ceará and the village of Ubaúna. Each year things have gotten progressively more intense. Just when I think it would be impossible to surpass what has occurred, it gets ramped up another notch.

This year will not only be no different, I think it’s going to jump a couple of those notches.

A large gymnasium has been procured in the town of Ubajara. Multiple churches have come together for the GFB Freedom Tour and, as one of the pastors noted in an email to me, “all hell is going to break loose” (funny that they have that expression in Brazil, too). We’ll be in that gymnasium for two nights and then head for Ubaúna.

You can always expect excitement in Ubaúna!

Cell groups in Ubaúna literally have almost 20% of the town’s population in them. Since our last visit there, a “young people” cell group has started and exploded in attendance and activity right out of the box. Every Friday night hundreds of them descend on the Seed of Hope house, engage in boisterous worship and then hit the streets to serve the town.

We’re going to step into that and hopefully add some gasoline to the fire.

Sobral has always been on our radar as a target for church planting. The largest city in the region, it has been a tough nut to crack. GFB now has a church in the town and we’ll be teaming up with other churches to throw a massive “party” on one of the nights and are being told to expect upwards of a thousand folks present.

Other than that, it should be a relatively calm trip.

This is going to be fun…

“Official” Freedom Tour Logo

I just received an email from my friend and compatriot, pastor Marclei in Fortaleza. He was giving me some of the details of the Fortaleza side of our Brazil trip and I’ll admit that it even caught me off guard just a bit.

We will be at three different churches on three different nights. He said that we should be expecting thousands and that on the last night we could see more than 5,000 present!

Wow!

We will have people from multiple churches present for training the day prior to everything beginning. I’m excited that pastor Ed Rocha of RAGAI (Global Awakening Network International) will be co-teaching with me. It will be our responsibility to prepare a team of almost 100 believers for the intense ministry that will occur each night and we’ll only have one day to do so.

Each night these workers will be besieged by the multitudes present. The way the crowd surges forward for prayer, healing and spiritual freedom reminds me of some of the images of tsunami waves surging onto land; these folks will literally be engulfed and must be ready to do the impossible.

Each afternoon we will be out on the streets, calling on heaven to invade the space we are occupying. This isn’t for the faint of heart! But that will just be a warm up for the evenings.

I’m stoked!

Wait til I tell you what’s waiting for us in the interior…

I suppose I’m a kind of smorgasbord type of fellow.

Yet, even with that caveat, I want to tell you about some music that has absolutely captivated me. A friend of mine, Timothy Carr, told me about this group several months ago and they’ve been at the top of my playlist ever since. His daughter, Andrea, makes up some of the fantastic vocals they put out.

United Pursuit Band.

On my drive to Raleigh yesterday morning I was so enthralled with their music that I could not believe that I’d just made a two-hour trip in what felt like 15 minutes.

I’ve heard that they are going to be at The Wilmington Prayer Furnace this Friday (the 27th) at 7:00pm. (Actually, it’s not just hearsay… it is going to happen!)

This is a case where I went to Golden Corral and ended up with five-star dining. Check ‘em out. Let me know what you think.

Cool story.

When I was a kid, I used to have a garden. The first time I planted the seeds I couldn’t really fathom what was going to happen. It didn’t make any sense how a small seed that looked deader ‘n a door nail could do anything. To my wild delight, within two days, sprouts were bursting through the soil. I marveled at the growth of the plants, going out every day to check on how much bigger they’d gotten. Image my joy when I actually started pulling corn off the stalks and watermelons off the vines.

Valuable lesson learned.

A few years back I was having a conversation with some people and I was asked if, given a choice, would I elect to receive one million dollars at the end of a month or would I rather have a penny doubled every day for the same 30 days. When I heard this, I knew that the penny doubled everyday must have been the better choice to go with as it was a little obvious to me that it had to be a trick question of some sort. But I didn’t realize how much better it would be. The 30 days would yield an astounding $5,368,709.12! More than $4,000,000 better than the mere million.

Quite a difference.

Here’s the reality. A small kernel of divine truth has the ability to do the miraculous, the impossible, the astounding. Most folks will write it off, demean it, even try to keep you from accepting it, sometimes at any cost. Simply saying that truth is a lie doesn’t change truth. It will transform you, take you where you can’t possibly imagine and create the someone you could only dream of. Only the violent will embrace it; only he who has nothing to lose or she who is desperate will succeed at internalizing it.

It can be scary…

Everyone began to get really excited.

We were chewing on the concept of what an encounter with this Being we call God might look like. It started innocently enough but quickly escalated to dangerous levels. Suddenly, we found ourselves on the slippery edge of a razor blade of thought that, if we pursued it, would slingshot us into the unknown and even the “heretical.” Being crazy enough to always want “more,” I jumped, only to discover nine others following me in free fall, exhilarated at the prospect that the free fall might just turn into flight.

Yeah, I know that sounds a bit theatrical and perhaps not a little intriguing. But it was very real… and exciting.

You see, we got into painting what church might look like if we literally took the presentation of both Jesus and the book of Acts as reality. Thought the first response was that nobody does that and nobody would do that, we had let the cat out of the bag, or better, invited Holy Spirit into the discussion. In the blink of an eye, we were plotting the overthrow, ruminating on what it would look like and how it might be achieved.

That’s when I said we needed to hunt God, just like you’d hunt a grizzly bear. We needed to set a trap, on the paths He always followed, and pounce when He passed. He’d never see it coming; He’d be caught completely by surprise; then we’d have Him and our rebellion could begin.

Just like a dad, being chased by his six year old, is so easily caught, because he wants to hug him, tussle him and smother him with love.

People who are not the least bit keen on church suddenly had a sparkle in their eye…

Could this really be done?

I’m not sure why those who are not Christian would really have any inclination to become one. The feeding frenzy that occurs when someone says anything that is not “correct” in terms of the status quo, Christianly speaking, is horrifying. We are quick to condemn the Islamic response that is so brutal when someone is perceived to go contrary to a particular facet of a particular branch of a very diversified politico-religious system. We use words like “intolerant,” “unjust,” and “uncaring;” we explicitly and implicitly castigate them for such “unbelievable” points of view and belief.

Yet, THAT is exactly who we have become.

We so easily write off that part of the world who doesn’t believe that particular facet of a particular branch of a very diversified politico-religious system to which we adhere. That is at least understandable. What is disturbing is the way we consume our own.

Years ago as a pre-teen, I visited a friend of mine on a farm. She was showing me some newborn piglets. They were lying in thick, stinky mud. Mama sow came over and began nudging them with her snout. Six of the eight got up, moved over and stood expectantly; two seemed to have difficulty getting up. Mama began stomping them, killed them and then began eating them! I was horrified! My little friend simply said, “That happens all the time.”

That repugnance all those years ago is the same that I’m dealing with now. As my friend ruminated, it happens all the time.

The most recent manifestation is the Rob Bell phenomenon that is occurring. If you don’t know who Rob Bell is, you probably want to simply stop reading and just say, “There goes Joe, again.” If you know who he is, you know what I am referencing.

In our flavor of Christianity as marketed in the West, theology trumps love, “correctness” trumps Jesus, every time. It has nothing to do with right or wrong, though we loudly proclaim it does. Tell the person who hasn’t “made a decision” to “accept Jesus in his heart” that we do it because of love. Tell the person who has run from “church” because of the hypocrisy and hate that it our obligation to present truth. They’ll willingly embrace it.

Not.

I’m afraid we’ve ripped the “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” right out of the Word. In our fervor to present Jesus, we do everything to protect him; in our desire to find truth, we become keepers of the law; in trying to find salvation, we run the lost away.

Really. I’m disturbed…

I’ve been camped out in Galatians now for over two weeks and, quite honestly, the book is becoming quite disturbing.

I’m discovering that the situation Paul was confronting two millennia ago is still an issue that faces the church today. I keep thinking about the adage that those who don’t study history are condemned to repeat it. I really don’t want to do that; I want to get out of the first grade and get on with the next level. I’m too old to be repeating grades in primary school, especially when I should be in grad school.

Take this, for example:

You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!

When you are spelunking in a cave where bats roost (Yes, I know bats don’t “roost;” I just don’t know what you call it and I’m not going to take time to look it up!), you are going to get slimed with bat guano. Most of us have been crawling on our bellies through such above mention bat guano for most of our faith-lives. So were the Galatians.

Paul called them crazy, under a spell, out of their minds. I wonder what he’d call us?