The Portal

Elaine Stedman, Pastor Ray Stedman’s wife, calls Keith McCallum “the Firebrand from Ohio.” He will be flying out from Columbus to San Francisco the third week in March.  Keith has been on the forefront of Christian radicalism for thirty years. You can read more about him on his magazine’s web-site link and a little about his plans to visit the West Coast at link. I’m looking forward to meeting him and am planning to drive down to the Bay Area when he flies in – probably with Lambert Dolphin at PBC (Penninsula Bible Church) the church Ray Stedman led for close to thirty years.

Please be in prayer for his visit. Keith’s vision closely corresponds to mine.  He too has been touched deeply by the Luke 14 vision; however, instead of calling those who attend the the supper “the dispossessed,” he calls them the “disestablished” – and includes not just the “down-and-outers,” but students as well – calling them the “unestablished” – meaning persons not yet invested in the “here and now.”  We both place little stock in the “established” – meaning persons who are deeply invested in the “here-and-now” and have, therefore, little interest and little time for the gospel. Keith has played a pivotal role in raising up a church that ministers to almost five thousand persons in and around the Ohio State campus in Columbus. (I’m looking forward next year to Cal, my alma mater, thrashing Ohio State in football.)

Additional Information:

Let’s pray to get the fires started!

Does anyone have some matches?

A lighter?

How about a blowtorch?

Let’s start praying the ‘09 school year will have more ZING than last year! Remember last year:

Are you ready if He answers our prayer?

We removed “the wraps” off the NeoZine and CBS.org Web sites, and even RevolutionaryJoy.org is quasi-functional as a decent welcome mat!

Why does it matter? Because we want to launch this year with a clear message and light some fires in this dark corner of the planet: Jesus Christ combats religion with a Revolution-of-the-heart!

But we need more voices speaking up!

Can you stop by the NeoZine.org and post some Xenos-style comments on the articles, please? It would help so much to add just one or two thoughts, and they don’t have to complicated or profound. We are ready to invite public participation and build a base of subscribers. There is so much awesome material ready to publish, and much of it from our talented and witty Bloggers at NeoBlogs, too.

The Love Ethics and Scarlet Thread sections are next.

The CBS Grand Opening!

Tom Smith and Bryan Bassett worked tirelessly on the all-new CBS.org Web site to get it ready for returning students, and they also need your help and comments at their site.

Soon we will run a few ads in the KSU student newspaper to grab Christian students looking for a Revolution, before they get chomped by the jaws and teeth lurking in KSU classrooms, Frat parties, and Emergent churches!

We need another serious prayer session as we head into this school year–and we’re going to do it in a couple weeks, so keep posted!

In the meanwhile, go check out NeoZine.org and the CBS.org!

Additional Information:

Get the Twitter scoop – sign up for Twitter and follow RevolutionOfJoy and  NeoXenos to get updates!

So what’s the diff?

• NeoXenos Twitters about Basecamp and NeoXenos-specific events; things of little interest outside NeoXenos.
• RevolutionOfJoy Twitters about the NeoZine & RevolutionOfJoy.org Web sites, articles, updates, etc., and is (hopefully) useful for those not in NeoXenos itself.

Additional Information:

The Fiscal Support Team normally meets this weekend to “Review, Plan, and Pray” (RP&P).  But, “Things just ain’t the same ’round here,” someone recently said about NeoXenos, and they’re so right!

We’re spending two days in RP&P, beginning February 6th (this Friday), and ending Sunday morning. So many ministries, so much growth, so many changes, and yet so little time!  Yet by the end of the weekend everyone should get at least a good picture of what God’s doing here, if not a clear picture.

Lessons from Veggie Tales

Phil Vischer, the founder of Veggie Tales, provides an excellent framework for our discussions (listen to his cool lecture online). Phil rose to great international prominence through Veggie Tales and the ministry he built around it. But then his business crashed, and he landed in a one-man office sitting alone, day after day, for over a year, wondering what happened. He was so full of vision! Where did it all go?

He once lived by this passage:

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained…  Proverbs 29:18

After the business collapsed, he was so defeated. Why did God give him such a powerful vision for ministry, only to end in such disaster? “How could God stand back from something that was doing so much good, and watch it collapse?” he wondered.

Quick Links: Hotel Accommodations, Veggie Tales Speech used, below.

For a year he struggled in failure until he finally figured out Proverbs 29:18 — he understood it incorrectly.  It didn’t teach that we should devise a “vision” and push it, the way a business might create a vision for a product line. The word really is “revelation,” as in “God’s revelation.” And there was his problem: he was pushing Phil’s vision, not following God’s revelation. The verse actually reads, “Where there is no revelation, the people are drawn away.”

Phil’s story is a marvelous description of what we face here at NeoXenos in 2009. Our vision for this ministry is really quite paltry and unimportant compared to God’s revelation about this ministry. Phil quotes C.S. Lewis on the issue: “He who has God plus many things has nothing more than he who has God alone.” What a sober reminder of what makes life work!

And this is the task before us for this FST Non-Retreat: not to create a vision or great plans for our future. Rather, we need to understand what God is revealing about our ministry, how God has been leading us, and thus our future comes into better focus. Frankly, we’re forced into a position of “planning without plans” in this ministry, because everything we’ve seen and experienced in the past year has been largely unanticipated, but certainly not unwelcome!

It’s all very exciting, but do we appreciate why it’s working so well? Certainly it isn’t any human genius at work here.

Great Expectations

The approach for this year’s retreat is very open-handed, asking for God’s revelation. Much has already been given, quite generously. But do we appreciate it, and can we articulate it? This is the challenge for leaders and workers in every ministry this weekend. We’re starting over at NeoXenos — but not really, because we’ve already started something, or perhaps it’s better to say God has already started something, and we’re playing catch-up.

Can we survive another year of so many changes and new directions? Yes! We should pray for something so great! Having tasted the excitement of God’s revelation like this past year, it’s impossible to return to plotting our own course, no matter how exciting our vision may be.

Here’s the lineup and proposed approach for this FST Non-Retreat:

• Friday, 8 pm – Keith and Mark lead us into a Bible study to grasp two major currents that are carrying us along: Meetings Without Boundaries, and Dangerous Christianity. Hopefully we will have the “Battle for the Bible” DVD available for understanding an historical framework for these two currents.
• Saturday, 10 am – Brief summary of discoveries from the recent retreat with the Sphere Leader’s Under-shepherd Ministry (SLUM). This includes some radical material from Roland Allen’s famous books, “Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?” and “The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church.” Then a brief overview of our financial picture by spiritual hit-man Greg Morscher, so we can make some financial pledges for the upcoming year.
• Saturday day & afternoon – for some, just plain fun; for our ministry groups, the opportunity to talk and prepare for the evening’s presentations; for one-and-all, a period of badly-needed, carefree fellowship (without demonstrators outside, perhaps).
• Saturday 7pm – ministry group presentations and reviews.
• Sunday ??am – A surprise that will be remembered for some time to come! (Led by Joel & Co.)

This is a Non-Retreat Retreat because we are in fact pushing forward this weekend to break new ground and rejoice together as a fellowship over the great advances the Lord has brought us!

BE SURE TO LINE UP YOUR OWN HOTEL ROOM! You may not think so now, but you’ll find yourself growing less and less inclined to leave the Holidome once you get there! There’s not only a vast pool, but also miniature golf, ping-pong, pool tables, and many other countless distractions and ways to enjoy the Non-Retreat!

Read more about it and get the details from our Talk Line!

Additional Information:

• Phil Vischer speech about "revelation" versus "vision". Also, read the Talk Line post about the retreat!

Did you know “joy” is used almost 200 times in the New Testament? Did you know “joy” is the most frequent word used in the Bible to describe Christian life?

Christians are truly God’s “Joy to the World,” like we saw at the “2008 Christmas Gala.” It was a record-breaking celebration of joy with almost 200 people! A contagious enthusiasm called “joy” filled the room (especially evident in dancing later). I think our Gala rocked more than any office party, and without the liquor! (Well, liquor was available at the Rusty Nail but I didn’t see anyone guzzling it. Did you?)

We lost our meeting place, a newspaper reporter was there investigating us (but he seems to like us), we still don’t know where or when we’ll meet again, and yet it was truly a Gala Christmas affair, by all accounts. How can anyone explain this, unless they understand the history of Christianity?

The Christian Legacy of Joy

From the beginning Christian history is littered with the same unconquerable joy, like these people: “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials!” (1 Peter 1:6). The same weird thing happened when the officials “called in the apostles and had them flogged,” but “the apostles left the high council rejoicing!” (Acts 5:40-41).

Did you know “joy” is unique to Christianity? It’s not taught or held in esteem by any of the world religions, which makes sense: our joy comes from the freedom of knowing God’s grace. But man-made religions are all about good works, earning salvation, great self-effort, and very somber, dark rituals. Buddhism extols a state of serenity through severe discipline, and its “serenity” is really the absence of joy (and all other emotions). Islam is a severe religion and is spread by warfare, not joy. Jehovah Witnesses are much like the early Puritans who forbade all celebrations by law, and Mormonism is equally strict and full of foreboding. Isn’t it tragic when people think Christianity is just like the others?

It’s amazing to meet a stranger who turns out to be a Christian. Suddenly “joy” fills the conversation! I saw this recently with Yife Gao, a Chinese Christian from Craig Smith’s new Bible study at Akron University. (View their hot video online!) Yife came to America in August and barely speaks English, but we had such a blast, I can only describe it as “joy”. (Other diners at Panera bread wished we weren’t so joyous, I think!) But it was sweet to meet a baby Christian born in the outlaw home church movement in China. Those poor Christians have every reason to feel oppressed and depressed, but instead the home churches are a thriving, joyous movement, now 100-million strong and causing much embarrassment to the atheist communist government. Yife’s parents are communists, so they treat him like a traitor, and yet losing his family didn’t faze his joy in Jesus Christ!

View all the Christmas Gala pictures here >>When a Christian is bored or depressed, a spiritual problem is surely stealing that Christian’s joy. Maybe they’ve grown distant from good Christian fellowship, or maybe alienated with Jesus for some useless reason. (Why run away from someone who really loves you?) But joy should be an over-riding constant in a Christian’s life, because it’s a “fruit of the Spirit” just like love (see Galatians 5:22). There may be varying degrees of joy, because we certainly aren’t always “leaping with joy”, but a healthy spiritual life is marked by the confident optimism of Christian joy.

It’s more natural for Christians to be filled with joy (“And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” - Acts 13:52), despite oppressive circumstances (“I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction!” – 2 Cor. 7:4). Paul’s letter to Philippi was written during his long imprisonment, but it’s called “The Letter of Joy” because “joy” appears more often in this short letter than his other writings, even the long ones.

Oh the Joy of 2008!

Our own (unscientific) poll shows that 60% of us said 2008 “was a rockin’, cheese-handling jamboree spritual poop-flingin roller coaster of ecstasy”, and another 25% called it “Amazing! I grew like a kid in puberty minus the B.O.” Nobody felt bad about it. (See the full results and Talk Line feedback.)

Aside from silly polls, the evidence is clear that morale is not only high, but spiritual growth is occurring on a scale never before seen in NeoXenos. Consider how many people are taking the initiative to launch this wide variety of ministry efforts:

1. We launched and maintained an inner-city, after-school program with South Street in January.
2. We started a new KSU Bible study in August that continues to grow.
3. We started the “Western Ohio Enterprise” Bible study for three colleges near Toledo.
4. We started a new Akron University Bible study for international students, and it looks good.
5. We grew another 20-25% at CT.
6. We started a Discovery Group among Stow neighbors.
7. All our existing ministries lost their experienced leaders to these new ministry initiatives, but new leaders and teachers suddenly appeared from within the groups!

And every week it seems someone is sharing about yet another person meeting Jesus Christ, especially since this Fall. All this energy cannot originate through human devices, and certainly it isn’t our great organizational skills at work: it is the spiritual life of Jesus Christ working through many different people in many directions.

From Whence Commeth Indomitable Joy?

What a great question that is! Why are Christians so joyful?

I always knew Christian joy is sparked by the Holy Spirit dwelling inside a grateful and responsive heart, like this: “At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth…’” (Luke 10:21) But until our own recent “afflictions”, as Paul calls them, Christian joy in the midst of persecution was perhaps a bit theoretical, for me.

Now I see it, and I see why joy is so tightly-coupled with Christian persecution: it is the elation of the heart released from tangled thorns: “The one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22) The Kosmos suffocates spiritual life with a mountain of counterfeit hopes and dreams, and it’s so dreary to live by “the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Col. 2:8) With persecution we reach the end of our hope in such bland living, and reach instead for “the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

At least, that’s what I saw last weekend at the Rusty Nail.

Additional Information:

• Christmas Trouble, which is a podcast of the Christmas teaching; also Christmas Anecdote, by Becky. It\\\'s a good insight into the sacrifice Christ paid to step into this realm.

“They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.” These words from 2 Corinthians 8:2 could easily describe NeoXenos this past month.

The turmoil this past month was amazing: losing our CT meeting, dealing with accusations from all directions, lining up unplanned meetings, Body Meetings, Prayer Meetings, and more – yet we were able to “be diligent to preserve the unity of the body” (see Ephesians 4:2) in a most amazing way, as last week’s Progressive Dinner demonstrated.

Despite all this harassment the Body of Christ was amazingly generous, giving $14,803.25. That was our best month of the year!

Isn’t it amazing how wonderfully our Savior, Jesus Christ, is taking care of us?

Now we must find new facilities, and do it immediately. This will increase our budget as much as $15,000 for 2009.

We’re at a vital crossroads: when we talk with new landlords about renting another facility, we must demonstrate some financial stability, and our buffer is our only asset.

In order to rebuild our 2-month buffer and stay on-budget for 2008, we still need $13,531 this month!

The Lord has blessed us with a great fellowship. We’re impacting in ways we never envisioned earlier this year. How edifying it is to hear about the new International Bible Study and the Western Ohio Enterprise (a.k.a. “WOE”) at last week’s prayer fest – where did all those new ministries come from?

The Lord is moving!

We’re seeing growth, salvations, and more excitement than we’ve ever before seen in our groups.

Fill out an ACH form for direct withdrawal. We highly encourage you to use the ACH option for your giving if you do not already do so. This is critical in this time of flux. You can also mail checks to our address:

NEO Xenos Christian Fellowship
PO Box 1631
Stow, OH  44224

Additional Information:

Riverwood has been a great stop-off for the Xenos caravan, but we never meant to overstay our welcome, of course. We may wish to review our Xenos.org Web which puts our Riverwood meeting in perspective (below).

We’ve done well, and met there for more than two years, but we were always their “guests”, and as we’ve been growing, it’s obvious that we’re taxing Riverwood’s resources and imposing undue hardships on their peaceful church.  Quoting the famous Old Testament prophet, Riverwood might ask, “How long, oh Lord?” (Ps.6:3)

For more information:

• Come to our Rockin’ Rusty Nail Christmas party December 20th, and learn more about our future plans.
• Read the Joys of Refugee Life and our current activities.

Is Riverwood ready for this?

Newly-licensed teenage drivers and more seasoned ones are pouring into the spacious parking lot at 1407 Fairchild Avenue…but everyone — especially teenagers — are committed to exercising courteous behavior as guests of Riverwood Community Chapel (one of the many plants from “The Chapel” of Akron).

Additional Information:

They feasted on a hot breakfast buffet of breakfast burritos, coffee cakes, scrambled eggs and more, and chatting like it was normal fellowship at a Xenos Central Teaching.

But as the crowd settled down, they studied Bible passages about handling persecution and opposition as Christians.

“Worship Christ as Lord of your life,” Greg Morscher read from 1 Peter 3:15-16. “And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.”

There are three common elements found in the Bible’s “Languange of Persecution”, Greg said: “Faith-oriented prayer, alertness, and keeping Grace at the center of our message and attitude.” (See [cref the-christian-message] for more.)

Keith McCallum taught from Galatians 4 and 5, “which is very coincidental,” he said. “I was scheduled to teach this, but it’s also incredibly helpful for understanding why people persecute Christians.”

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free,” Keith read from Galatians 5:1, then said, “Christianity always brought freedom wherever it spread. For example, ‘there’s no distinction between male or female, or slave or master,’ the Bible says, and this is radical freedom in the 1st Century — words unparalleled for nearly 2,000 years, and certainly never taught by any other world religion.”  This “Christian Freedom” frightens people sometimes, Keith said, “especially if they aren’t used to freedom — it seems chaotic.” (See [cref christian-freedom] for more.)

It was an impromptu Sunday meeting, scheduled only 24 hours earlier when Riverwood asked Xenos to hold off meeting there until they look into the sudden controversies raised by a Stow resident. Her adult son was baptized recently after becoming a Christian, and she was convinced Xenos manipulated his decision, despite his efforts to explain it to her.

She took her protest to the entrance of Riverwood Chapel last week with signs that read, “Xenos is a cult” and “Don’t drink the cool-aid”. A student joined her protest because someone from the “Word” high school group mistreated her, a school official said, but the details are still unknown.

It is Riverwood’s policy to place staff on “Paid Administrative Leave” when controversy like this occurs, Riverwood pastors told Xenos leaders.

“Since you’re not Riverwood staff, you guys need to hold off meeting here while we figure this out,” said Brian Bales, Riverwood’s senior pastor. “We’re giving you the benefit of the doubt, because we agree Xenos’ teachings are biblical,” and the differences in our groups are issues of personal taste, not significant doctrines, Brian said. “But we always treat complaints seriously, and we need to get this resolved.”

“If you follow what Jesus taught, your life will be turned upside-down, and you’ll get persecuted.” – Brian Bales, Riverwood PastorBut for the large group stuffed in the Howell’s house that Sunday morning, the sudden meeting change proved the Christian life is grounded in personal joy, not facilities. They gathered again at the Morscher’s house for several hours last night to pray and enjoy their fellowship together. It’s been riotous gatherings of fun-loving people not bothered by the criticisms.

“I have an idea,” one of them said. “Let’s stand in front of Riverwood with signs that say, ‘We’re the cult, not Riverwood!’”

“It’s really impossible to squash ‘Christian Freedom’ — it’s not an institutional freedom. It’s a freedom of the heart,” Keith said. “When you invite Jesus into your heart and find out how much he loves us, it’s really a fear-killer.” This is why Christian freedom spreads like a chemical fire when water is poured on it, he said.

“What Jesus taught was counter-cultural,” Brian Bales said at last week’s Riverwood meeting. “If you follow what Jesus taught, your life will be turned upside-down, and you’ll get persecuted.” People in Xenos home groups agree it gets tough, but it’s so worthwhile. When people discover “The Grace Awakening” that Charles Swindol wrote about, freedom becomes a way of life.

Watch Tom’s baptism online:

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7766260070848411567&hl=en[/googlevideo]

Additional Information:

When classes are finished, we will have a Body Meeting Christmas Celebration Gala. There are several exciting and inter-connected efforts in-motion which we must explain beyond the few leaders and workers currently involved. As fast as we can, we’re posting it in the NeoZine, as podcasts and YouTube videos:

The Columbus Love Ethics Seminar now has its own Web space which also provides (new and improved) material for NeoXenos ministries.

Christian Persecution 101: view it at the bottom of the page or as a full-page Powerpoint presentation of Keith’s teaching at the recent Word/CBS worker’s meeting. (You can also see the full teaching as a 30-minute Google Video)

Revolutionary Christianity: related to persecution is the biblical mandate for Christians to impact the culture. Unfortunately, Christianity is meek and growing meeker – is it happening with us? Watch out for these provocative studies and insights.

Future High School and College ministries – Xenos reaches “church outsiders” with the Gospel message; but how can we reach more “Millenials” alienated from Christianity? Related to this, a growing bias against Christianity in public policies (especially in education) provide wonderful opportunities to spread the Gospel, we think. These policies violate constitutional freedoms specifically for Christians, and federal judges are overturning them fast, but they keep growing. These are welcome trends, and we want to jump on them and understand how to work with them.

Uncommon Sense – a booklet similar to “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine. Keith and Kalie Brooks are collaborating to write a simple, readable, small booklet for the MySpace generation. It is a series of pictures contrasting the Kosmos and God’s Kingdom. The reader is invited to pursue a hopeful future. The booklet is tied to Persecution 101, Revolutionary Christianity, and our school strategies.

Meetings without boundaries – the New Testament church was highly mobile, and we are studying this further. This Fall we stepped into some “meeting fluidity”, and we are now studying how the early church managed this. Our interest is to plant and plant without getting stretched too thin in the process.

Additional Background

For about six months we’ve been generating some articles which provide some background to these new initiatives:

• The Protestant Reformation Series at the NeoZine surveys current church movements from a historical and biblical perspective. It explains the need to break away from Institutionalized Christianity. Noteworthy articles include:
  • The Fears in Legalism – the rise of Christian legalism and the differences between Old and New Covenants in the Bible.
  • The Dawn of Covenant Theology and Heartless Institutions – help Christian workers explain the problem of church history, which is a popular objection today.
  • The Fear Factor – is a bridge to these new ministry efforts, especially the “sending” strategy underway.
• “I had a dream…” is an anecdotal (humorous) background for these “sending strategy”. (A followup is due shortly.)

Please pray for us!

We need help!

• We need help researching, organizing, sharpening and publishing useful tools for our growing ministry!
• We need to catch up with our finances, because money is quickly becoming a limiting factor in this effort!

Additional Information:

The Cool Poole-Pollock Ideas

The fearless Howells and Morschers launched a Discovery Group of their own

First there was Doug Pollack’s book “Irresistible Evangelism” and his presentation two years in a row at the Summer Institute. Then there was the somewhat alien (by Xenos standards) “Bush Group” approach of Gary Poole’s book “Seeker Small Groups” and it’s plethora of real-world examples. Then there was the Xenos example of the fearless Howells and Morschers who launched a Discovery Group of their own.

Hearing their stories caused excitement and interest. Then the clip from the Dawkins/Lennox debate at CT attracted us and reminded me of our training in apologetics. Our men’s cell group viewed the entire Dawkins/Lennox Debate DVD. It was a ready-made presentation for an outreach group. We decided to invite some non-Christian friends to view and discuss the debate. Call it “Delusion I” (a play on the “God Delusion” title of Dawkins’ book).

Great Resources

We get so defensive when we witness to unbelievers

Our group set the date, and Michael and Rick listened to audio versions of Dawkins’ “God Delusion” book. We found a wealth of online resources at William Lane Craig’s site (www.williamlanecraig.com), including debates and great evidence to believe in the Bible. In one of his audio files Craig said, “We get so defensive when we witness to unbelievers when we don’t know good answers to the questions or objections unbelievers give.”

I was amazed at the sophistication of the arguments piling up over the centuries. When compared to Dawkins’ arguments against Christianity, I really began feeling embarrassed for him. He did little to prove atheism or disprove theism.

It’s great to know the evidence for God’s existence for several good reasons:

1. Great evidence is available!
2. It’s very difficult to answer Christian evidence in one night.
3. Since it may take several nights, weeks or even months to plumb the depths, it’s a new Discovery Group approach!

Then we prayed and prayed again and again.

And THEN…

Alas, two self proclaiming atheists and an agnostic showed up from Michael Toth’s long list of friends (one even grew up in the Riverwood Community Church!). Following a relatively short time of getting acquainted while eating hors ‘dourves prepared by chef Jordan, Michael, Bill, Katrina & I sat down with our guests to watch the first half of the debate DVD.

I thought, “Whoa, I have no idea where this is going…I may have to bite my tongue.”

I believe Lina was right in her Discover Group article: when you provide a safe forum in which to discuss the “big” questions of life, non-Christians feel comfortable enough to discuss their own views. One of our guests admitted to being a “closet atheist” in her work environment for fear of how fellow work associates might react to that fact. She apparently felt totally at ease sharing that with us. That was cool beans man!

The issues were varied and strayed from those brought up in the first half of the DVD. We determined “rabbit trails” to be fine for now. In fact, very little control was exercised.

Then one very interesting question came up: “What would it take for you to lose your faith?” Without blinking, Bill said, “if Christ had not been raised, our faith is worthless.” And I added, “Yeah, the Apostle Paul said we would be of all men most to be pitied.”

Is it possible to begin a potential Discovery Group, deliver your testimony and the gospel, all in the first night? Sure it is! We did it! It really happened so naturally.

Our guests are looking forward to “Delusion II” on Friday, October 17, 2008 and apparently an additional person will come along.

Please pray for us!

Additional Information: