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Phoenix Area House Churches Newsletter
News from the home-front of the house church movement in Phoenix, AZ.
Dear Larry,
Welcome to fall in Arizona. What a glorious time of
year! So far, I have not heard from anyone on
hosting a house church gathering this fall. If this
is something you have been planning, please let me
know and we will get the word out.
In recent years, one of the highlights of this
season for me has been Promise
Keepers. John,
Aaron, and I made the trip to Glendale last weekend.
Thanks to
Brennan Basler for again providing the tickets.
This year
the theme was 'Unleashed, Releasing the Raw Power of
Your Heart'. The speakers always have their own
unique story.
Reggie Dabbs was again the MC. He speaks to
youth in the public school systems all over the
country. His story starts as the son of a
prostitute. Bob Reccord gave the message and
invitation on Friday night. He has a Southern
Baptist background so he was very persistent in his
invitation, if you know what I mean. We were told
later that around 450 men
answered the call. Bob has a ministry to families
called Total Life
Impact. He has a great personal story of how God
orchestrated his adoption to free him from a life of
extreme neglect.
Joseph Garlington lead
the first two sessions on Saturday. The notes from
his sessions are available on the Promise Keepers
website here.
He talked about unleashing your heart and talents.
The afternoon had Paul Baloche in concert. He has
written songs recorded by Michael W. Smith, John
Tesh, Sonic Flood, Randy Travis, and others.
Vietnam Veteran Stu Weber used his experiences on
the battlefield to relate how we are empowered by
the Holy Spirit. The last speaker was Dobie Weasel,
a Native American with a clear evangelistic gift.
He talked about how we can release our true
potential.
Of course the worship music by PK7 was fantastic.
It was truly a great time in the Lord.
In the last couple of months I have told you about
my co-worker Phil who suffered a heart
attack and a stroke. He is really having a tough
time. I talked to him last week and he seems
depressed because he does not see any progress and
does not know when he will be able to go back to
work. The stroke has severely affected his
balance and he is having to use a walker. In
addition, he has very little energy and sometimes
has difficulty articulating his thoughts. Please
continue to pray for Phil and his family.
Enjoy this time of year, and don't forget to pray
for opportunities to share the love of Christ.
Larry
Luke10:2b
Prayer Requests (and Praises)
From the Phoenix house churches
Please remember these prayer requests in your daily
prayers:
- Continue to pray the Luke 10:2b prayer. Ask Him to
send the house churches of Phoenix into His harvest
field. Ask Him for divine appointments to share
God's love.
- Praise God that He has provided the funds for our
friend Vernie Abbitt for his two trips to Africa.
He will be leaving for the first one October 22.
This will be construction of a hospital in
Chad for LIAI
. The other trip early in 2007 will be for an
orphanage in CAR for WCI. Pray
for his health and safety. See here
for pictures of the current state of the
hospital.
- Praise God for the hundreds of men who made
decisions for Christ at Promise Keepers.
- For the 16 year old daughter of one of our
brothers to find peace and come to Christ.
- For the next house church gathering.
- For one of our house church families going through
some challenges.
- For the continued success of the Alpha group being
taught by Darrell of Big House. And for wisdom for
Darrell for issues he has been confronted with.
- Aaron Spence who has enlisted in the US Navy and is
going on active duty in November.
- Larry's coworker Phil recovering from heart
attacks and a stroke.
- For the elections coming up in November. Pray
that God's people will get out there and vote for
those officials that stand for Christian
principles.
If you have a prayer request that you would like to
send to the Phoenix Area House Churches, please send
an email to me
and I will be glad to send it out with a newsletter.
Whats happening
Within the house church community
Coming Up:
Oct. 24, Nov. 7: Churches in the East
Valley meet for prayer. Call 602-524-9400 or
email Larry
for times and location.
Oct. 30, Nov. 13: Air Assault on the
Kingdom of Darkness. Email Darrell for
location and time.
Oct. 27-29: Greenhouse Weekend Intensive
First Story Conference in Saddlebrook, NJ Go here
to register and for more information.
Nov. 3-4: NVisioning weekend in S.
Dakota Go here
for more information.
Dec. 14-16: UNCONFERENCE III WITH THIRD
DAY CHURCHES Go here
for more information.
Jan. 26-28, 2007: First Annual CMA
Conference - Members of CMA and others
interested in organic church will want to attend
this. Complete information can be found here.
The lighter side
A little humor for the month
Copyright Gospel Communications
International, Inc -
www.reverendfun.com
What they are saying
About house church
From the House Church
Unplugged
blog:
Just how easy is it?
Posted on Monday 2 October 2006 by Zane Anderson
I’m occasionally informed that house churching is
easy - so easy and simple that anybody could do it.
Certainly, if God is in it, it can and it will
happen. Surely, churching of about any kind - even
house churching - has frequently been made more
complicated than originally intended.
House churching would need or at least want, it
seems to me, some sort of a stable household. This
would disqualify many, if not most, in the US where
the divorce rate for the saved is about the same as
the lost. Of course, folks remarry and start again
but there are a lot of unstable households even
where one or both parties are believers. Where such
marriages are intact, there is often great
disharmony which would make the gatherings a strain
on everyone. Who would want to be in the
cross-fire?
Both spouses should be in general agreement about
doctrinal things, ‘twould seem. Then, there might
ought to be a basic agreement on the format of the
meetings. Then, there should be a willingness to
love everyone else involved at all times. Then,
there should be a willingness to be open and
intimate in one’s home setting which is a little
like being on an examination table.
Anybody left? Anyone can declare themselves to be a
church but how about all those one-another commands
which require dying to self?
Again, almighty God can cause these would-be
barriers to instantly evaporate but is house
churching really easy? Has it been for you? For me,
I’d have to say yes and no. More no than yes, I
suppose, as I reflect today. Rewarding? I’m sure
about that. But if it is so easy, why are there not
more of us? Why is the fold up rate of house
churches so high? What’s the hold up if it’s so
simple and easy?
( Comment : In the years that I have been involved in
house church it has become evident that the personal
dynamics involved with a small, very closely knit
group of believers can be very sweet, and can be
painful. For myself, I love the interaction on a
spiritual level and the helping each other every
opportunity that comes up. But because I have only
a limited amount of time each day, problems within
the families can distract me from our mission. It
is a balancing act between work responsibilities and
what I feel is God's call in my life.
I invite everyone to express their experience with
house church. Send me an email and I'll put them in
the next newsletter. How easy is house church?
-Larry )
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phone:
602-524-9400
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With the new website format, I encourage anyone from
the Phoenix area house churches to use the website
to send out prayer requests or other items of
interest to the house church. Since it is dynamic
and can change any time, visit often.
Thanks to those who have helped support the website
and newsletter by making purchases through the links
on the website. If you would like to see a specific
retailer on this page, let me know and I'll see if
they can be added. Or, if your house
church would like to sponsor one or more months with
a gift, email me.
Until next month, God bless.
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