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Phoenix Area House Churches Newsletter
News from the home-front of the house church movement in Phoenix, AZ.
Greetings!
The last month had a lot going on for the house
church community. Of course there was the
House2house 2006 House Church Conferences in St.
Louis and Denver. I'm not sure how many folks from
Phoenix
were able to attend. Ed hosted a BBQ
get-together at his home last weekend that
resulted in some new baptisms. Just last week, Darrell,
Jeff, and Ralph went to Texas for a week-long church
planting training course. This weekend, David Croom
hosted
Robert Fitts at his home in Apache Junction for a
great time learning about Robert's ministries. I
believe David is getting ready to start a house
church group. Read more details on these below.
Labor Day weekend has come and gone. Most of the
schools have started back. The hottest part of our
summer seems to be over. We are getting into the
best time of the year for us so lets look forward to
another valley-wide gathering in the
October-November time frame. If you are planning
something, please speak up now.
Last month I told you about my co-worker Phil who
was still in the hospital after suffering a heart
attack (actually he had 3) and a stroke. He came
home shortly after that and has been recuperating
with therapy in an effort to get back to work.
Unfortunately, he seems a long way from being able
to work. The stroke has severely affected his
balance and he is having to use a walker. In
addition, he has very little energy. Please keep
Phil and his family in your prayers.
If you are not aware of it, blogging is a big thing
in these days of internet communication. Did you
know that some of us have blogs where we publish our
thoughts on house church and other subjects. Ron
Friesen has a great blog called radicaldiscipleship.
Ron is a great writer and has been doing a series on
the Habits of the Church. Darrell Kilcup has a blog
called Air Support
. If you know Darrell, you know his blog is
about church planting. Ed Waken has Thoughts Out
There by Ed. Most recently, Ed has talked about
what the 'normal' Christian life should be like. I
have a new blog, Desert
Streams, where I comment on a variety of issues
on house church as well as occasional rants about
politics or the war against terrorism. A couple of
other notable house church related blogs are House
Church Blog and House Church
Unplugged. Most blogs welcome comments from
readers, so anyone can jump into the discussion.
Enjoy this time of year, and don't forget to, like
Ed says, get out there and cast some seeds. Also,
remember to pray the Luke 10:2b prayer.
Larry
Luke10:2b
Prayer Requests (and Praises)
From the Phoenix house churches
Please remember these prayer requests in your daily
prayers:
- Pray the Luke 10:2b prayer and ask God to send
more workers into His harvest field. Ask Him to
send the house churches of Phoenix into His harvest
field.
- Praise God that our friend Vernie Abbitt has the
opportunity for two more trips to Africa on building
missions. One will be construction of a hospital in
Chad for LIAI
and the other an orphanage in CAR for WCI. Pray
that he will raise the support
needed and for his health and safety. See here
for pictures of the current state of the
hospital. If you would
like to be a part of this ministry,
contact Larry.
- 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.
- Praise for a good report from Darrell and Ralph
who have been attending a teaching conference in
Arlington, this week. I know they are anxious to
share what they learned.
- Larry's coworker Phil recovering from 3 heart
attacks and a stroke.
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
Past Month:
House2house 2006 House Church Conferences in St.
Louis and Denver - For a great report on the
conference in Denver, see the Parousia Network's
newsletter for the week of Sept. 13 here.
ValleyLife gathering at the Wakens' home -
Here is Ed's report:
We had over 100 folks both believers and
not-yet-believers at our place for church. We had a
simple BBQ meal and a whole lot of being together
time. I'd say about 25 of those folks were not
believers. I shared just a bit about the cost of
following Jesus and how He turns what we think is
right upside down - to be great you have to be a
servant, to be strong, you must become weak, when
hurt, you should turn the other cheek, if you want
to save your life, you have to lose it etc. I then
shared that there would be people other than a
pastor doing the baptizing because Jesus wants every
follower of his to be making disciples and for them
to be baptizing folks (Matt. 28:19-20). We than had
four people share their stories and were baptized.
I then invited anyone who wanted to receive Christ
to come on down to the pool and we'd baptize them
right there. No one took me up on it, but God moved
upon hearts. Since Sunday, I've heard of many who
felt the power and presence of God in that place.
Some compared it as an Acts 2 type of experience.
There was at least one couple there, Fred and Cinda,
who said that that type of getting together might be
something that could fill the void in their life.
Pray that Fred and Cinda do allow Christ to fill
that void.
(See the ValleyLife website
for more information.)
Church Planting Course in Arlington, TX -
Darrell sent this report:
Ralph Roberts, Jeff Evilsizor, and I spent the week
with men whom God has used to start movements that
today have hundreds of thousands churches with
millions of new disciples in them that are
continuing to exponentially increase in numbers that
boggle the mind today.
There is a multitude of thoughts as a result of the
week. I am being still before the King looking for
clarity and direction. What I know at this point is
that I can do better than I have been. One of the
things that did deepen my passion for what we are
longing for (A CPM here, now) are these realities:
Not one county in the USA has a higher percentage of
Christians today then it did 10 years ago.
Of the 193 countries in the world there are only 4
countries with more lost people then in North
America. We have around 200 million lost people in
the North America. The countries with more are:
1. China
2. India
3. Europe
4. Indonesia
5. North America
It is time to wake up. Our nation is going to hell,
and for the most part the insanity of apathy and
indifference continues. How can we continue to do
what we are doing knowing that what we are doing is
ineffective in obeying our King's commission?
The good news is that it does not have to be this
way. There are many places in the world where the
kingdom of God is expanding at an exciting rate.
They are not doing what we are doing in North
America. If we want to participate with God in what
He is delighting to do all over the world we must
change. If you are willing to change, and want to
know what to do to be a part of what God is doing I
will teach you what I know. We can do better...We
must do better...May God have mercy on us.
(See
the CPM Resources websitefor more
information.)
Robert Fitts Ministries - Members of East
Valley Grace and The Gathering house churches were
taught the ministries that the Lord has led Robert
to. We learned about Healing Houses, Ministry
Training Schools, and a Day With Jesus studying the
life of Christ using a harmony of the gospels. For
more information on Robert, visit his website.
Coming Up:
Sept. 18,19; Oct. 2,3: Air Assault on the
Kingdom of Darkness - Monday/Tuesday prayer
nights every two weeks continue for the house
churches in Phoenix and the East Valley. For
location information email Darrell for
Phoenix or Larry
for the east valley.
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
Brokeback
Pastors
What they are saying
About house church
From the simplychurch.com
blog, the September 6 post:
More Than a Meeting
Have you heard recently these common phrases after
church: “Have a great week!” or “See you next
Sunday”?
Nothing imaginable makes me cringe more than hearing
these statements over and over again, like “going to
church” is something akin to next weekend’s “golf
outing”. Until the church - be that simple, house,
or regular - sees Christianity as more than a
meeting, we will have little to offer the unsaved
masses around us.
I often reflect on these words by Roland Allen, a
little known missionary to China whose promising
career was cut short by poor health in the early
1900s. His voice is as prophetic as it gets! A voice
that I truly wish more people would hear:
“If Christ had not said, “Go into all the world”,
the word “Go into all the world” is so manifestly
the expression of the Spirit of Incarnation that
whoever had first uttered it would have been
instantly recognized as the mouthpiece of the
Spirit. The Spirit is prior to the letter. The
letter does not create the Spirit but the Spirit the
letter.” (Missionary Principles)
You must agree with me that the Spirit of Christ
wants more from us than a “See you next Sunday”
Christianity!
Read the rest of the article here.
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phone:
602-524-9400
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We are getting into a time of year when we have the
best of the best weather anywhere. If anyone is
currently planning a gathering during
October-November, please let me know.
I hope
you enjoy the newsletter and continue to help
support this ministry by making your purchases from
the PAHC
Mall webpage.
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.
I am planning a complete update to the website to
make it more interactive. I hope to switch
completely to the blog-style website during this month.
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