TATTOO on the HEART

An introduction to the nameless, faceless revival…

// July 6th, 2011 // No Comments » // EVERYDAY LIFE, FEATURED, featured_video, OUT LOUD THOUGHTS

I’d like to introduce you to the nameless, faceless revival on the West Coast. I shot this during a casual conversation with a bunch of organic firestarters at my home last night. They are not a part of a traditional church.

This is Chad & Matt from Fresno. I encourage you to watch this, because I’m telling leaders and pastors about what I’m seeing, but sometimes it’s best to see where it’s happening, how it’s happening, & who it’s happening with. This is not an anomaly.

Video is just over 10 mins total so I had to split:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4NJbgNbBN8

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ao4FeeFWA0

• Chad & Matt are both 18.
• Their gatherings started after a year of off and on fasting.
• In their opinion, church = revival. And if revival isn’t a reality then it should be the normal reality.
• In the beginning stages as Chad was pressing in, he met with pastors who he assumed wanted revival & were pressing in (because I guess that’s what pastor’s do? I don’t know) and they blew him off.
• He reached out for a relational covering with friends of ours in our larger community in SoCal.
• Healings are a regular occurrence.
• They study the Bible (they call them Glory Time) where the point is the encounter with God.
• They are out on the streets regularly feeding & clothing the poor and praying for the sick.
• Even though there is a larger impact of people (I personally know that they have a larger influence of 50 attenders) they seem to only be able to count fruit – what Chad calls “fully submitted.” And he’s almost embarrassed to talk or take credit for the 50 or so that they regularly are in contact with, much less the 100’s that they impact monthly in service.
• The organized church doesn’t know they exist and they are probably “not organized enough” to do anything with them.
• They are already fathering the next generation.

My takeaway:

Tell me what gathering to encounter God – as Chad put it: “When we hang out, what else is there?”; tell me what praying for the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, evangelism, discipleship, equipping, living in submission, etc is?

I dare to say it is Church.

The call is for a new wineskin. Some pastors might think they’d like to have these guys in their church because it would light up the rest. Truth is, these guys would blow up their churches. They would either ruin the old wineskin or they would be tamed or they would willingly leave their churches.

We’d have to admit that in the typical church there are very few that are truly hungry for Holy Spirit to move. We’re getting excited right now in some institutional churches where the Holy Spirit is making some appearances, but without a new wineskin, this can’t happen on a larger fuller scale.

It’s obvious that it’s God’s good pleasure to give these kids the Kingdom. If you want #’s, I can tell you of literally 100’s (dare I say 1000’s) of people in the San Diego area who have either gotten healed, delivered, saved or all of the above this year alone by people with no name, no face, and no budget. It’s so subversive that they organized church doesn’t even know it’s happening.

And the call for us now is to be spiritual fathers & mothers for this generation of the Church who are teaching us to be relentless, to be fearless, to accept nothing short of the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God. I’m fortunate enough to have my feet in both places – institutional & organic – and I have a hope & vision to reconcile the two (Malachi 4:6).

I’m also going to ask for a favor:

Don’t ask your churches to pray for revival. It’s already here. God can’t give you what He’s already answered. Instead, pray for hunger. Pray for alignment with what He’s already doing.

About a year or so ago, I told a 20 something that we were seeing the first fruits of revival. And he said, “What are you talking about, we’ve been living in revival for like 2 years.” I was thinking, “Yeah, but I haven’t heard about this.” But instead of doubting and questioning how a bunch of disorganized Holy Spirit seekers can call upon and live in revival without a single big name person attached to it, I said, “I’m all in.”

I hope you’re all in! You probably have a lot more seemingly to lose than I do. I still hope you’re all in.

I’m giving a relational covering to alot of these guys these days. This has become a large part of our community and I’d love to talk to you more about it if you’re curious.

Blessings. Fire fall on you & not just your churches, but on your community, on your cities.

Unsettled Now

// December 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // FEATURED, OUT LOUD THOUGHTS

This morning I got up and read the first half of Hosea.

The story – as it always has been – is one of God’s people being unfaithful in relationship.  And God being brutally, stubbornly faithful & steadfast in His love.

In Chapter 6, He says to His people: “Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.”

I think whenever I’ve looked at Israel, I’ve always thought of myself much better than them.  I never created a God out of gold and worshipped it.  I never had multiple deities that I was giving my worship to.  None of that.  And as a result, I’ve thought of myself as much more faithful and loyal to God.  I’ve seen my own stuff as less offensive to God.

And granted, people in churches have talked for years about, “Ooooh, what are the gods in your life?  You may not be worshipping physical idols, but you idol might be a relationship, or your work.”  I get that.

But I never really considered the fact that I’m honestly no better than they were.  Just because I haven’t crafted a statue doesn’t make me any better.

That’s why Jesus brings this whole subject up again in Revelation: “You’ve left your first love.”  It’s a recurring problem in us that we want something more physical, more tangible, more in our grasp to worship.

Self-worship is a huge problem in and of itself.

And in church, I think we are worshippers of many of the wrong things.  Success in the form of butts, buildings, & budgets – well that’s one thing.  What a church talks about the most is probably what they are worshipping.  Social justice – if that’s all you talk about – is worshipping serving.  You could go on and fill in the blank.

It is an amazing thing these days to see so many prolific leaders, pastors, and writers that the church goes nuts over.  And we like their stories of big churches or new kinds of ways to describe Christianity.  We love their insights.  We listen to all of their podcasts.

But  pick any one of those prolific people that you follow on Twitter, and ask yourself: “Where’s the revival?  Where’s the move of God?  Where’s God’s Kingdom manifested in the earth?  Where are the people who look just like Jesus?”

The fact is, you won’t find that move.   You won’t find those people of revival.  Because we are those people.  We’re the people who “follow” them.   It hasn’t really even occurred to us most of the time that we’re worshippers of another.  We haven’t even noticed that we’re still flapping our jaws about things either of less importance or stuff that really is a false sense of revival.

Let me just ask you then: “Is this as good as it gets?  Is this how God fully manifested in you looks?”

It’s true that in this relationship with God it really is all about grace.  And our relationship with God is held together not by our works, but by the fact that God is so steadfast in His love that He won’t let go of us.  He’ll make up the difference in relationship in all of our inadequacies, in spite of all our unfaithfulness and lack of love.

He’s committed to us no matter what.  And He’s chosen the path of unrequited love.

A question is: “Has this grace changed us?  Has His stubborn steadfast love drawn me more to love Him and worship Him?”  It’s true that everything comes through the door of grace, but does that mean that He’s not deserving of the same steadfast love?  That He’s not deserving of total faithfulness?

But His innermost desire is:

Hosea 6:6

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,  and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

It’s a poor translation to translate this as the word “mercy.”  The word really meant “loyalty, faithfulness, a steadfast love as in marriage.”  He desires people who’d be truly committed in their hearts in the same way that He’s committed to them.  Isn’t that what anyone would desire in a marriage – to be loved and desired in equal measure?

He’ll love you no matter what you choose.

But let me say this: without this kind of love and reckless abandonment in our hearts, without this utter devotion, He can’t give us what He truly desires to.

I Corinthians 2:9

“No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

You can’t even imagine what God wants to bring into your life.  That’s like saying, Imagine the most awesome manifestation of God on this planet.  Imagine what could happen if Jesus was walking down your street.  You got that picture?  Well, it’s too small.  You can’t even conceive of what that would be.

And it is not only what God desires to bring.  It’s what He already has prepared for those who love Him.

I’ll be honest: I’ve almost entirely settled for less in my relationship with God.  I’ve been successful by the perception of the Church.  Some of them have even followed me.

We’ve all seen what man can do.  He can evangelize.  He can build big buildings.  He can run a slick service with slick marketing campaigns.  He can lead a team of people toward greatness.  He can feed people in a forgotten part of town.  He can build a house for a family that couldn’t have dreamed of having a warm bed.

Funny thing is that you don’t even have to be a Christian to do those things.  Our bar is too low.  Our sights are ridiculously off.

Because what God desires to give us can’t even be imagined.

And the access to those things is to truly love Him, because His desires are in His heart – not in our minds.

Father, I want to know what You having everything in me truly looks like.  I want to know what loving You fully is like.  I’ve seen what man has done.  But only You deserve my worship.  I don’t even know how great You really are, and I’m sorry for that.  Will You show me Your greatness?  I just want to see You known for Your glory in this world.  It’s wrong than any place on the planet is worshipping any one other than You.  I just can’t settle anymore.

Let Your Kingdom come, Father.