Risk Taking

My wife and I were at a dinner the other night and a friend asked me a very interesting question, “What was the most risky thing you have ever done in your life?” I think the answer I gave her was quite bland and unimpressive. My friend must have thought I was a toad. I’m sure she was thinking, “what a dud!” But the answer I gave her was true! I thought about my friend’s question in light of  my response and decided that is I could go back in time and elaborate more clearly, this is what I would have said.

I have traveled to Ethiopia and driven across miles of dirt and rocky roads far from civilization. I was going to places I have never been before in a vehicle that eventually had three flat tires before we returned home. But that remote and dangerous travel in a third-world country wasn’t the riskiest thing I had ever done.

In my early twenties, my wife and I traveled to Austria. We hooked up with a mission agency that took Bibles and Christian resources behind what was then called the Iron Curtain. We had to pass through national check points with guards armed with machine guns as they scrutinized our  passports and vehicle. With this group we traveled behind the Iron Curtain to East Berlin, Budapest, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. Some in our group were caught at the border going into Hungry, questioned for hours, searched, held and eventually expelled from the country. We were aware that the secret police had the technology to listen into conversations while you were driving in the car. Times were often quite tense and scary. But this wasn’t the riskiest thing I had ever done.

Kirkuk, Iraq

A few years ago I traveled to Iraq to attend a conference of Iraqi Christians who gathered from all over their country. The war was waging, Saddam was still at large, and we had armed guards with us wherever we went. To fly into Baghdad, we had to stay at a high altitude until we were directly over the airport and then steeply spiral down to a landing. This was the only way to avoid being shot down by a shoulder held surface-to-air missile. During the nights you could often hear gun fire. But being in Iraq during the middle of war wasn’t the riskiest thing I had ever done.

Traveling remote distances in Ethiopia, smuggling Bible into Eastern Block countries, and being in Iraq during times of intense warfare all involved risk and at times were extremely stressful. But those adventures, although dangerous, did not define what I would describe as my highest risk.

The answer I gave to my friend was “church planting.” CHURCH PLANTING! Why is that so risky you ask.  Church planting in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Monterey counties is so similar to what God asked of Abram. “Leave your family, your people, and your country and go to the place I will show you.” In this type of faith response, there are no guaranteed finances, people support, or pathway. God shows you as you go. For people who like to have a plan in place before they start the journey, church planting is a killer. It is pioneering work. You are constantly going into new territory. You are doing things you have never done before.  Sure there are things you can learn from others, but the particular path God has for you is quite unique. It is not for the timid. Many times Laura and I have wanted to quit. We often wonder if we are whacked. On this road of faith there is no security apart from God.

The other three ventures I described were quite risky for a short period of time. But we are on this current road of church planting untll death. While parts of the church planting journey grow easier as we learn, there are always new unexpected challenges to face.  Most people would not think of church planting as being risky…but believe me, it is the riskies thing I have ever done.

The Power of a Child’s Prayer

A couple of weeks ago we were enjoying a Celebration Gathering of all of our Santa Cruz house churches. During our study time, four of the adults took about 10 kids, ages 3 to 14 for teaching and training on prayer.  Julie was teaching the children, in particular, how to pray for healing. After a short lesson from the Bible, we decided to let the kids practice on a real life subject.  I volunteered.

You see, about 3 months earlier I had gone down to the L.A. region to celebrate my oldest son’s 28th birthday.  He had rented out an ice skating rink and had invited about 50 friends to play broom hockey. Let’s just say I was the oldest person out on the ice by at least 25 years. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes into the game before I slipped on the ice, tried to catch myself with my forearm, and tore something in my shoulder. I heard it tear, I felt it tear. Since that fall three months ago I haven’t been able to put a shirt on without extreme pain. Sleeping has often been miserable. You can now see why I volunteered to be a good subject for the kids to practice on!

All the children gathered around and laid hands on me. I think it was a 10 year old girl who began.  “Jesus,” she said sweetly, “will you heal Mr. Gschwend’s shoulder….by tomorrow.” With that short plea, a little 3 year old girl piped in, “Amen.” Then the other children began to pray for me…some with boldness…some with timidity…but all with the phrase at the end, “by tomorrow.”

To be honest with you, I didn’t think much more about it. The next day, in the afternoon, I was changing my shirt and expecting to flinch as I felt that anticpated pain…only there wasn’t any. I slowly began to move my shoulder and arm around in positions that were usually quite painful…NO PAIN.  Then I remembered their prayers, “by tomorrow.”  Nahhhhhh, I thought. Could it be?  I decided I would test it out by sleeping on it that night. Me of little faith! To my surprise I had a great night sleep without any pain.

Here I am a month later…still no pain. My shoulder is healed. It made me wonder, how often do we underestimate prayer?  How often do we underestimate a child’s prayer? However, I think the Heavenly Father is mighty partial to the prayers of faith of little children. As a matter of fact, I think that the prayers of adults would probably see more answers if we approached God from the position of humility and vulnerability of a little child. You see…we are children and there is real power in a child’s prayer. God does heal today. I know that. So do the children in our church.

Be Prepared

The California fires in May underlined a stark reality for the Gathering- we were not ready or prepared to be first responders in the event of a disaster. Like many others we had not learned a thing from 9/11 or Katrina. People were made homeless in our own backyard and we didn’t know what to do or how to do it. Worse yet, we did not have the mindset that when disaster strikes we would be the first in line to help.

BE PREPARED!

It was partially through the efforts of Jim in San Jose that things began to change. You see right after the fires occurred on the Summit Rd in Santa Cruz, Jim went up to see how the people were doing. He found 30+ had lost their homes and half did not have any insurance. People were sleeping in their cars, in tents, without running water or food. Many lost everything they had. “What are we going to do about it” he asked us?

It took three or four weeks of prodding by Jim before our first volunteers went up to the fire victims to help. That began the emergence of a neighborly friendship between the Gathering and those who had suffered devastation. Jim was able to mobilize other churches too and that site is going through clean up, reclamation, and hopefully rebuilding. You often wonder what one person can do…but in Jim’s case, not only was he able to bring hope and help to our Summit neighbors, but he was able to catalyze many followers of Jesus to live out their faith in practical service.

As a result of these events, we believe the Lord would have us be FIRST RESPONDERS in the event of a disaster. Be it the ever famous California Earthquake that will someday be here, a devastating tsunami, more fires, or a neighbor who experiences a tragic loss, we want to automatically step forward to help. We have discovered that to be a volunteer in the event of a disaster, agencies require that you have a measure of training first. So for this season, we have encouraged our people to be trained.

This past Saturday, we have now had 19 of our adults complete the CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training being offered by the fire department. A few others are still in training there. We have had two people complete the Red Cross training and are already deployed to both Gustaf and Ike in the South. We are offering Pastoral Crisis Intervention training on the 26-27th of September which provides certification to act as a “faith-based” counselor for those suffering trauma in a crisis. More than anything, I am encouraged to see people step up and be ready to volunteer in times of need. That mental switch has been thrown…people see themselves as First Responders in the event of disasters.

We want to bring the love of Jesus to people in times of need. We see three practical steps for anyone to take to be a FIRST RESPONDER.

1. Make sure your own house is order. Is your family ready for a disaster? Do you have a family plan, extra supplies of food and water, a first aid kit, the necessary tools, and clothing? Do you know how to shut off the gas or water from your home, do you have fire extinguishers and do you know how to use them? We have some links to great resources and pdf files you can download from our web site to help you get personally ready (www.gatheringbythebay.org).

2. Get training. We have a list of great training resources on our web page. In most cases, if you are not trained you will not be allowed to serve. We highly recommend CERT training for people as a great way to get prepared for any disaster.

3. Be ready to disciple interested people. Tragedy tears down walls. When you come in with Jesus’ love people often want to know more. Be available to disciple interested parties and introduce them to Jesus. We have fifteen people right now learning how to disciple inquirers, new believers and peers. We avoid being obnoxious and we won’t make any service or love conditional…but if God opens doors in people’s hearts we want to have the joy of sharing Jesus with them.

Are you ready? How prepared are you?

Birthing the “Sidewalk Church”

The Sunday before Christmas, God put it on our hearts to serve the day workers in front of a local Home Depot instead of have a having a “traditional” Christmas service for our house churches. After all, the Son of God was born as a stranger, in a foreign land, in difficult circumstances so why shouldn’t we serve those that He would have felt very at home with?

Gathering our families together we took breakfast burritos and horchata, $15 gift cards from Home Depot, Billy Graham’s Peace with God pamphlet translated to Spanish and our Christmas greetings to the 55 men standing on the sidewalk around the complex. All appreciated the food and greetings; some hung around to talk and shared of their longings for their families back in Mexico during this season. We were able to pray for a few requests. What used to look like a bunch of strangers loitering around Home Depot took on faces and names and stories and personalities. We were blessed, they were blessed and “Christmas service” took on a whole new meaning.

Every Sunday morning after that, Brandon and Matthew and sometimes others would go down early to hang out with the guys on the sidewalk. Most times they would take some tangerines or food, open God’s Word, read it together,discuss what was read, pray together and go. Anywhere from six to sixteen guys might participate. Brandon and Matthew began to get to know the various men, and one of them would always be willing to translate for those who didn’t speak English.

This last Sunday the group decided to do something different. Reserving a room in a nearby pizza parlor, they invited as many of the guys who had not found work that day to meet for lunch for a deeper study. Nine guys showed up. Taking a DVD called, Esperanza (Hope), they showed 15 minutes of the video depicting God’s story from Creation and the Fall pointing to Jesus. The entire DVD is 80 minutes in length and it chronologically goes from Creation to Christ. Brandon asked the group how many had ever heard the story of the Creation and the Fall. Only two guys raised their hands! Brandon then shared his testimony while Hector, a Hispanic believer who was invited to help, translated. After translating for Brandon, Hector challenged the men, if you want to receive Christ, pray after me.  Amid many tears, nine men prayed out loud in the back room of the pizza parlor to have Jesus forgive them of their sins and take charge of their lives.

Months earlier, when the initial idea was raised to work with the day workers my initial reaction was “it won’t work.” We don’t know Spanish, we are not a part of their culture, it is a transient group, we have no place to meet, there will be no continuity, were all my concerns. All legitimate obstacles. I forgot that God is the one who says, “say to this mountain be cast into the sea” and it will be done for you. I am so proud of Brandon and Matthew and all who have lovingly labored in this field. Thank you Lord for this fruit. Thank you for these men and others who will come to know you through their testimony! Forgive us Lord for thinking “it will not work” without seeing you as the God who moves mountains. Thank you Lord for the birth of the “Sidewalk Church.”

Church Planting Movements

The U.S. has been in the forefront of mission work and kingdom building so long that we are not used to looking elsewhere for how best to see God move in the U.S. Yet today, while the church is expanding rapidly in so many places around the globe, in the U.S. we are standing still…at best. When we see how and why the church is growing so rapidly around the world, our natural instinct is to say, “Yea, but can it happen here?”

I believe that response (one of which I too am guilty), has more to do with the radical shift we would have to make here in the U.S. to see a similar movement. We are talking about a radical shift from some old wineskins of which we have grown accustomed, to some new, lighter, more flexible wineskins to hold the new wine God desires to pour out on us.

In his book, Church Planting Movements, David Garrison surveys what God is doing around the world and then comes up with 10 Essentials in Every Church Planting Movement, 10 Factors in Most Church Planting Movements, and the 7 Deadly Sins that would impede movement. For this blog I want to list out the 10 Essentials for people to ponder. How is your church doing in these areas? Do you think this would work in the U.S.? The top 10 are:

1. Extraordinary Prayer

2. Abundant Evangelism

3. Intentional Planting of Reproducing Churches

4. The Authority of God’s Word

5. Local Leadership

6. Lay Leadership

7. House Churches

8. Churches Planting Churches

9. Rapid Reproduction

10. Healthy Churches

Can these things happen here? Mmmmnnn…extraordinary prayer…abundant evangelism…lay leadership…local leadership…house churches…churches planting churches…I say WHY NOT! I have to admit we are not used to a lot of these…but they are right out of the Book of Acts. I think that describes the first century church quite well. I for one, want to see it here.

Word Time in the House Church

The house church context provides a unique environment for the study and application of God’s Word. When you have 10-20 individuals gathered in close proximity, it is different than speaking to 1000 people in an auditorium or even 40 people in a classroom. The house church gives a great opportunity for people to ask questions, to develop their understanding in a group, to share what the Holy Spirit is saying to them, and to develop points of application in community. In the context of the house church setting we do not want to be the “Sage upon the stage but the Guide along the side.” As such, we have the following guidelines for those who lead the “Word Time” in the House Gathering setting.

Our Goals:

1. Life Transformation The target of our time in the Word is not just to grow in knowledge but to change lives. Knowledge is a beginning step…it must move on to understanding, motivation, and obedience. If what we are studying does not lead to application in our personal lives, we have missed the target. As we apply and obey the Word, we are transformed by the Spirit into the image of Jesus. The content of the study, then, is always the servant of application and obedience. Jesus told us to “teach them to obey all that I have commanded you.”

2. Growing Self-Feeding Followers of Jesus From early on, we want believers to be able to go to the Word, have the Spirit speak to them, and be able to feed themselves. Too often believers have relied upon others to feed them. Too often those who have been fed learn to stay in a dependent state for much of their spiritual lives. Jesus said in John 14:25-27, But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. We seek to grow followers of Jesus who can go to His Word and by the work of the Spirit receive spiritual food for growth. Our time in the Word in our House Gatherings then, will emphasize everyone getting into the Word, hearing from God, obeying what we hear, and contributing corporately together.

Our Philosophy:

1. It is Bible Based: Whereas there are many great books out there written by people, our Word Time is focused on the Bible. The majority of time we will focus on a passage of scripture that is a part of a book study or the controlling text of a topical study. In topical studies we want to avoid jumping around to scores of individual verses. Some studies might need to be that way but that is not to be normative for our gatherings.

2. It is Simple and Reproducible: We see ourselves starting new groups with new believers. These new believers will be trained in a “Word-Time” method that can be easily applied thereby avoiding dependency. If we modeled a method that required seminary-trained leaders, everyone would likely stay in a dependent mode. That means we will de-emphasize the preaching/teaching model for our House Gatherings and lean on an interactive, application oriented, corporate study of the Word. We want to initiate the process of “divine discovery together.”Again we are more interested in people obeying the truth they are hearing than having 10,000 bits of new information crammed into their heads!

3. It is Relevant: The Word of God is relevant. It speaks to all cultures and all people throughout all of time. That means a big part of our Word Time will be discussing and applying biblical truths. Word Time must touch our heart, lives, relationships, identities, our failures, our sins, our purposes, our struggles, our missions, and our humanity

4. It is Engaging: Very few of us can hold an audience and keep them engaged for very long. That means we do not see our Word Time as one person doing all the talking. The role of the leader is to open the Word, have it read, and then lead the group in discovery and exploration arriving at a point of personal application. They must study the Scripture first, let it raise provocative and relevant questions, and then guide the group into interacting with the Bible. For the teachers and preachers among us, we must put aside our biases and preferences for the good of the group. Our preachers and teachers will need to find other venues outside of the House Gathering setting to express those gifts. We envision times during our Celebrations, retreats, trainings, and workshops where the teaching/preaching gifts will be more employed.

Our Methodology

Some are rightly concerned that it is important for people to know how to interpret Scripture in context. Some texts are fairly straight forward and directly apply…others will take a little more explanation of the context. One of the best ways to teach people how to do that is to practice it corporately in our House Gatherings. Some basic questions that those who are leading the Word Time should ask include the following:

1. What does the passage say?
   • What happened?
   • What is being said about God…people?
   • Is there anything in this text that seems odd to us today?
   • What questions does this passage raise that you want to explore?
2. How was this understood by people in its original context?
   • Is there any background information we need to know to help understand? (This is where the leader can do some background study and act as a resource.)
   • What was going on when this passage was first written?
   • Are there any events leading up to this passage that help us understand it?
3. What are the truths to learn, principles to apply, commands to obey, examples to follow, or promises to claim that apply to us today?
   • How does this impact your relationship with God?
   • How does this impact your relationships with others?
   • How does this change the way you see your own identity?
   • What area of your life is being challenged here?
   • What is the Holy Spirit showing you about this passage?
   • Where are you struggling as it relates to this passage?
   • How does this impact God’s mission and call in your life?
   • How would you live differently as a result of this passage?
4. What do I need to apply, obey, confess and repent, or put into action as a result of this study?

Our goal is to make followers of Jesus like Jesus. We thank God for gifted teachers and preachers but we also recognize that growth and transformation must go beyond information. What a unique setting we have in our House Gatherings to press into teaching techniques that lead to application and obedience. The House Church model provides a unique setting where each member helps others to learn how to read, study, come to the Word, ask questions, and hear from the Holy Spirit. The House Church model provides a unique setting where Word-Time can be reproduced and multiplied in thousands of homes across the Central Coast Region. This type of Word Time is part of the DNA of The Gathering by The Bay.

You Can’t Hide in a House Church

My wife and I got in a good ole fashion argument on a Monday morning. Both of us found it quite painful. The problem was that it was the busiest week of our lives…we had commitments and meetings all day every day and we couldn’t get to resolving the issues.

Saturday rolled around and we were on our way to our House Gathering. We decided to see if we could work out the issue. Big mistake. About half way there things began to escalate and eventually hit the break down point. My bride had had enough and asked to be taken home. She couldn’t imagine trying to go to the group and pretend. The problem was I was teaching that night.

I pulled over to the side of the road, called the host, told them that we weren’t coming and that we needed to go home and work through an issue we were having. I gave them the passage to be taught and asked them to handle it and to please pray for us. We then turned around, went home, and had three uninterrupted hours to talk, listen, and work through the issue. It was the right move to make.

The next week when we met, we thanked them for flexing for us. Everyone was very accepting; there was no sense of judgment from them. It was hard to admit we have those kinds of days though everyone said they could relate.

A few weeks later, I called one of the members who was teaching the group while we were away. I asked him how it went. He said it was good and bad. I asked him what the “bad” was.

“Oh,” he said, “we had a ‘Gschwend moment.’”

“A ‘Gschwend Moment?’” I asked. “What is that?”

“Oh, you know,” he said, “when you get in a fight with your wife on the way to the gathering…we had one of those. I had to take my wife home.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be honored or offended. A fight with your wife on the way to church was now known as a ‘Gschwend Moment.’ I wondered how long it would take before it was officially in the dictionary. I guess it will show up between the words, “grysbok” and “G-strophanthin.” Nobody wants to be known for fighting with their wife on the way to church…even a house church. On the flip side, it does reflect a level of disclosure and honesty that we want in house churches. I am a leader, my wife is a leader, and we sometimes fight on the way to our gathering. We don’t hide it, we aren’t pretending everything is OK, there are times the wheels come off and we need to stop and work on the wagon. It’s hard to hide in a house church. I find the level of disclosure and honesty both refreshing and challenging. There is something attractive about the authenticity that can be found in many House Churches.

I’m still not sure if I should be offended or honored though.

Insanity: Doing the same thing and expecting different results!

We are all familiar with the definition of insanity. It doesn’t always stop us from acting in insane ways, however! There are times we are so stuck, or we don’t see other options before us that we just continue to do the same behavior over and over and over again. Sometimes it doesn’t sink in until the PAIN level of the results gets our attention and we can look outside of our box for new solutions.

In some fashion, pastoring in a church has a level of insanity. Having lived in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas for over 30 years, I recently surveyed the results of the Church’s impact on our region during that time. What became very apparent was that the number of followers of Jesus has pretty well stayed the same or declined over the last 30 years in this region. Yes people have come to Christ…some have moved out of the region… some have moved into the area…some have died…some have been biologically born into Christian homes. We have seen some churches grow in attendance and many decline. However the NET RESULT is that we have not seen an increase in followers of Jesus in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas. Most church growth is a reshuffling of dissatisfied believers from one church to the next “hottest” church. Does this cause anyone else a measure of PAIN?

I believe God is calling forward a new way of “being the church.” It will be quite different than anything we have ever encountered. It will entail a return to the church reflecting a more organic and Spirit-led life illustrated in the first century. We will see an increase in meeting in homes and public places. We will see the Next Reformation of the releasing of men, women, and children as priests and ministers of the Lord. It will also entail some of the following characteristics:

It will be a movement – because one new church is not enough.

It will be church planting- not growing megachurches, but growing many churches.

It will be pioneering – we will be going where none of us have gone before…fortunately Jesus is leading the way.

It will be community-based – the focus will be on relationships and not on programs.

It will be simple – so it can be easily transferred to daughter and granddaughter churches.

It will be New Testament- meeting in homes for Body life ministry and in the public places for Celebration Gatherings.

It will be founded on prayer – we aren’t smart enough to figure this out on our own; nor strong enough to do it on our own power.

It will be outside the walls – we will be with Jesus in our local communities and not asking people to come to our buildings.

It will be new wine skins – the priority will be on the new wine; wine skins are here only to serve the wine.

It will be about healing – our mandate is to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed and declare the year of favor.

It will be Spirit empowered – relying on the Spirit to release all the gifts to all the people that all may serve as priests in ministry unto the Lord.

It will be transformational - we will see life change as central to the gospel; we will see change in people, families, cities, regions, and nations.

It will be future oriented - we will see ourselves raising up the next generation as leaders of society and the church.

It will be apostolic – we will see many new leaders whose calling it is to saturate our region with new, independent but a voluntarily associated family of churches.

I think anything less will not be effective in discipling the nations and fulfilling the call Jesus has placed on the church. Anything less just might be INSANE.

That Nagging Feeling!

Soon after I became a pastor, I found myself questioning how I was spending my time. I was amazed at the percent of my week that was spent in meetings, committees, and discussions of church “business.” It was clear to me that the church would have a hard time functioning without getting the business portion worked out, but somehow it always left me with that nagging feeling. Jesus would not “do church” this way. As a novice pastor I just had to trust those who had been doing this much longer than me that this was the way to do it. I had to push that nagging feeling down and keep moving forward.

The nagging feeling would return from time to time. It got worse as I rose up in the ranks of the leadership and was myself the one who was running committees, meetings and insisting that others attend to the business of the church. I secretly resented devoting so much of my time to church business and not spending more time with people. I found myself very jealous of other pastors who managed to be out with people serving, caring, mentoring, and using their pastoral gifts. In my heart I would say, “that is how Jesus would do church!”

During a desert period of our lives, my wife and I found ourselves attending a smaller church that functioned like a large house church. It felt like I had come home. It had everything I believed the church should have. Relationships were key, the people were the church – not the building, people were using their gifts to serve each other, they were listening to the Holy Spirit and following His lead, there was a clear sense that Jesus was leading and they were journeying with Him.

At this point the Lord was clearly speaking to us about our next ministry assignment. It seemed that our choices were to become a teaching pastor in a traditional church model or to begin a movement of reproducing house churches. One choice came with a nice salary, benefit package and great group of people…the other came with no guaranteed salary or benefits, a great group of people but a call from Jesus to follow him on a new pioneering journey. We chose the latter. Now that old nagging feeling is gone but it is often replace by new nagging feelings. Things like “what was I thinking?”…”were we crazy?”…”Do we know what we are doing?” But ultimately we know we are on a journey with Jesus and we wouldn’t have it any other way.