The new & improved Keith McCallum

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.)

On Valentine’s Day 2010, the Hughes and Michalek Home Groups gathered at the Morscher’s home to have our first-ever round table discussion. This was our first attempt at reporting the progress or our home groups using our technological capabilities.  It was a resounding success, both logistically and spiritually.

The home group members met in the week prior to the round table to pray and brainstorm about the past year’s happenings and to ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in the next year’s work. There was some trepidation at making so public both their successes and failures, but as you will see when you listen to the podcast, God was faithful in providing grace, comfort, joy, and unity.

There was a consensus among us that God has given to us a great and precious gift. We feel sadness at the fact that so many Christians have not had the opportunity to experience 1st century body life or seen the Spirit leading and working in such a powerful manner as we have. We understand, also, that it has nothing to do with our own abilities or work, but that the Holy Spirit has decided to work, let us in on His agenda, and graciously allowed us to participate. We feel blessed to be a part of that. As a result of our experiences, we would love to share it with other believers who long for true Body Life and the experience of seeing the Holy Spirit do His work through them.

The Hughes and Michalek Home Groups were at one time a combined group. In 2006, the group had grown to over 40 people and decided to split it into 2 to accommodate the growth they were seeing and to promote more intimacy. In the last 4 years, both groups have experienced their share of both success and failure. Both also agree that they have learned more from their failures than successes. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness ‘ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

You will enjoy listening to the honesty, transparency, hope, and joy these fellow believers share. Stay tuned for more round table discussions with all of our home groups – junior high, high school, college, and adult. I, for one, came away from the experience refreshed and ready to keep on with the Lord and His work.

• Podcasts available online: Michalek Home Church Leadership Roundtable Discussion, Meet the Hughes Home Church Leadership Roundtable Discussion

A few weeks ago, it was a cold, yet slightly sunny afternoon when Greg, Mark and Joel took a step of faith and walked onto the icy platform that sat atop Lake Erie. Armed with rakes, shovels and cameras, the three men boldly made the trek about 200 feet out from the shore. Looking out across the frozen tundra, it looked like a foreign planet of sorts – unfamiliar territory stretching out as far as the eye could see.

What an amazing representation this was of the discussions that were happening in the house that sat on the frozen shores of the lake in which the elders gathered to discuss what direction the Lord was leading NEO Xenos in 2010. Many items discussed had a theme of “stepping out”. It is from this Elder’s retreat that the agenda for our 2010 Fiscal Support Team (FST) retreat was developed.

2009 was a year of much uprooting, persecution and change. Yet we reaped such rewards! NEO Xenos saw salvations and growth, both in meetings and in people’s spiritual lives, and all of it created a foundation for which to launch off of in 2010. With the stage set, it is time for our fellowship to “step out,” or move forward, in the areas God is calling us. Just a few tidbits on what you will hear at this year’s FST:

Stepping Out Physically

In the last few months the elders have seen a number of signs indicating that we should move beyond Stow and plant additional bible studies. This past year we’ve been functioning as a “church without walls”, having no building to call our own. The Lord has given us the privilege to be mobile like the 1st Century church where all the members in the body are playing an important role in reaching people for Christ. Pray for the elders as they take a trip out to Berkley, California in March to collaborate with the Elaine Steadman colleagues about how to spread the revolution of God’s freedom across the country!

Stepping Out Verbally

As believers in Christ we have an awesome message of God’s love and freedom to proclaim to the world. God has given us the privilege of being able to take part in his plan to steal captives from Satan’s Kingdom and set them free! We’re on the offense proclaiming Christ to the lost and striking out on new ground! At the FST this year, we will be hearing more about what it means to have a theology of “kerygma”.

Stepping Out Intellectually

Many students recently graduated from the latest semester of the Basic Doctrine class in order to be better equipped servants of Christ. The LTC class will begin soon and it will be an exciting semester! The class will be a combination of those leaders who are finishing up LTC III as well as those who are beginning LTC I. The elders want to equip our leaders on how to effectively lead the church to proclaim the good news to a postmodern culture, so these and some additional ideas are in the works for how to do this.

Stepping Out This Saturday

This year’s FST retreat will be held on Saturday, February 6th at Lion’s Lodge in Cuyahoga Falls (641 Silver Lake Avenue). You will definitely want to hear more about what is happening in our fellowship, as the Lord is leading us in some exciting directions! We hope to see you “step out” and come to this fabulous retreat to hear more! Don’t forget to pledge before you come so the elders can better plan for this year’s financial needs. Get your form here: http://neoxenos.net/forums/index.php?topic=3051.0

We plan on meeting all day, starting off at 10:00am with Keith teaching on “”The History, How We Got Here, and the Bible’s Take On It.”. We will touch on our “stepping out” topics throughout the day and finish up in the late evening (we have the Lodge until midnight, so there may even be a spontaneous dance party!) As in previous years, we plan on having this be a time of fantastic fellowship as well as being informative. Lunch and Dinner will be provided. The cost is $10.00 per adult and $5.00 per student. Bring lawn chairs to sit around the fireplace and bring some snacks and extra drinks to share!

The FST Retreat in 2010 will be remembered for a long time to come as we survey the spiritual carnage surrounding our Cleveland home. In preparation for the retreat, NeoXenos elders have suggested watching this YouTube video which helps us understand the general outlook of fellow-Clevelanders after so many demoralizing football seasons!

The video speaks for itself…

Connor found out what happens if you don't fill out a pledge form!

Read about the 2010 Elder’s Retreat, which describes how 2009 was a banner year in so many ways. More important, the issues and open doors available in 2010 will be considered in-depth at our 2010 FST retreat, but you need to fill out a pledge for that retreat!

We are now collecting pledges for 2010, after cutting our expenses to the bare minimum needed to continue the ministry. Please prayerfully consider how much you can possible contribute, and fill out our online Pledge Form, below…

Or download the Pledge Form...

Or download an

2010 Pledge Online Pledge Form

Greg surveys the spiritual landscape

For the first time in years, NeoXenos trustees gathered at an Elder’s retreat rather than a Sphere Leader’s Under-shepherd Ministry (SLUM) retreat. The Michaleks and Hughes’ were trustees, but at the the October Body Meeting they were appointed Elders by common consent. The difference is not small, because the Bible says it should be those with Elder character qualifications who lead Christian ministry (See 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1).

Together with the McCallums and Morschers, who were already Elders, the group met for two days on the shores of frozen Lake Erie to survey the spiritual landscape and get a fix on future directions.

As we see in Acts 6, Elders should focus on “the Ministry of the Word” and prayerful leadership. The challenge of an Elder’s retreat is discerning God’s leadership, understanding how God’s Word applies to NeoXenos, and discussing how “to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12)

The Ministry Landscape

The ministry in 2010 looks considerably different than last January’s SLUM retreat when we were faced with such tremendous persecution and opposition. Not only did Jesus lead us into vindication and protection, He also brought us tremendous spiritual victories:

1. All ministries are reporting salvations.
2. All ministries are seeing new and competent leaders and teachers.
3. We saw unprecedented growth (nearly 25%) across our ministries.
4. We were blessed with 12 new qualified Deacons and two new Elder-teams!
5. We expanded our support to include the Meeting House in Canada and Ray Stedman’s people in California.
6. We were blessed with free (and quite exquisite) meeting facilities at the KSU Chemistry labs!
7. And two student Home Churches split!

All of these advances are quite astonishing, considering that NeoXenos was a renegade, vagabond Christian fellowship last January. It seemed the whole world was set against NeoXenos for no reason anyone could identify!

For 2010 please pray that Jesus will continue to provide for us! Even with all these great advances, we are still a church “with only a little power.” (Rev. 3:8)

Issues for the 2010 FST Retreat

Despite all this good news, we are facing tremendous hurdles for 2010:

1. Financial shortfalls continue to limit our future prospects.
2. We desperately need to hire part-time student  interns in order to sustain our growth and take advantage of new ministry opportunities opening up to us.
3. We cannot lose our zeal for spiritual revolution, now that we are no longer facing persecution and opposition.
4. The expanding ministries with new leaders and teachers desperately require equipping in the Word.

These hurdles are significant, because we must also expand into these new and exciting ministry opportunities:

1. We must spread and export the Jesus Revolution we enjoy so much; what a tragedy it would be if this ministry remained bottled-up in Ohio while spiritual decline spreads across the rest of the country!
2. We must do more to “remember the poor” and suffering that surrounds us. New opportunities are under consideration.

The Elders emerged from their weekend with an exciting list of prospects to meet these challenges, however. And this will be the topic of the upcoming Fiscal Support Team Retreat (FST) in February!

Stay tuned for more…and fill out a Pledge Form for the FST retreat!

By Elli Morscher

Word, the Xenos high school Bible study, took a weekend away to study God’s word and to fellowship.

The weekend started with prayer followed by Rich Hunter sharing the importance of love and unity. Hunter emphasized points such as how important we are to God and how much He loves us. He also said when others see God’s love in someone they are drawn to it. Ephesians 4:1-3 says to keep the unity of the Spirit. The point is that unity in the church leads to being able to save others. The unity of the Spirit is already with the Body of Christ and we must preserve it.

Next Adam Esterle taught his peers what the Bible says about evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20, Matt. 16:15.) Esterle broke down the process of winning others starting with friendship, then sharing the gospel. He also explained different types of people to reach out to, giving students strategies and confidence to reach out to their friends. He ended by reminding the group they are “always representing” God and can reach out to people or just show God’s love anywhere.

Neil Brooks stepped up after Esterle to give students a few tips before testing what they learned. Brooks pumped up the high schoolers with Acts 1:8 saying how we have power from God to reach Stow High with the Holy Spirit! He also warned students not to get defensive and to give the gospel as early and often as possible. Brooks also had students practice their testimonies; everyone can use their story when reaching a person.

Then, Brooks pulled out his props to impersonate a stoner, a jock, and a nerd while students tried to invite him to a Bible study. When this exercise was over, Keith and his shock troops held an evangelism-off, calling on students to use the tips they just learned. Jordan and Adam faced Kate as an ambivalent girl who gave little more than a shrug to all of their efforts. Elli and Catie faced Jeff playing a pervert, scooting his chair closer as they insisted on giving him the gospel. Catie finally stumped Jeff for a moment by “keeping it real.” Keith’s character hit on Ryan and Nick, before Tom scared Brooke and Brandi—and everyone else—as a hater of religious institution. The conversation was eye-opening and motivating to most students.

In addition to practicing evangelism, Word made serious decisions during the retreat. At the students’ suggestion, and after much prayer, they decided to have home church every week. This requires the students to take a more active role in their meetings. They got a jump start on such participation as Ryan Yoerger, Mike Bogs, and Catie Hicken each shared moving testimonies about God’s work in their lives.

Since the retreat, the knowledge gained proved useful, with attendance soaring as high as 48 students at one meeting.  The freshmen comprise the largest class of Word, so the home church decided to split, freshmen vs. the rest. The two home churches meet on the same day but at different locations. Students are extremely excited to take responsibility for their church and to be growing so much. The Holy Spirit is working and the wordies seek to follow His lead.

Adam explains 'Split Theory'

Dear High School and College Students:

You are the true heroes of this fellowship, there is no doubt.

It’s been amazing to watch how flexible, joyful, willing, and dependent upon the Holy Spirit your faith is. Most (or all) adults in your situation would surely flee from the many trials, persecutions and hardships you people endure with such joy!

And it’s more than your youthfulness producing so much fruit, because people in your age group are typically the most-selfish and uninterested in Jesus. Yet clearly, the majority in your churches break all the trends of your age group, and it’s because of your radical, “take-no-prisoners-alive” faith in Jesus Christ and his Word.

This week you’re all splitting your home churches, and it may seem weird, frightening, uncertain or maybe even difficult, but you’ve already shown the world who’s your “daddy” — and it’s our Savior and King, Jesus Christ. Following that kind of leadership, there’s no way to loose.

Toward that end, we dedicated this video to your most-excellent leadership: see Growth Through Disestablishment.

Keep it up. We’re following right behind you!

Sincerely,

An Old Man Faithfully Representing His Generation’s Sentiments

The leaders look younger every year

What changes did these leaders encounter? The list is long, but left everyone edified!

Last year’s retreat called for more leaders, and this year forty-five servants, including ten first-time DMTers, represented seven home churches and four other ministries.

The first night opened with a review of “the year of the open door” by Keith McCallum. In the past year our fellowship has truly become a “church without walls” and experienced persecution as a means of church growth. We moved love ethics from the classroom into relationships, and the baptisms demonstrated the victory of love. Love ethics laid the groundwork for Revolution and Disestablishment with new ministries starting as the gospel is scattered. The Identity Project is covering new ground by engaging millennial Christians, who are responding in droves. And other home churches are launching Discovery Groups to reach more people.

The best part is, no one knows what they’re doing, so God is working powerfully as we learn to cling to Him. Keith called it “riding the roller coaster of The Mystery,” and perhaps this mindset accounted for the retreat’s uniquely-emotional, transparent tone.

Each home church presented, along with its usual evaluation, a beautiful reflection on the mysteries God is revealing. The Michalek church gained four new leaders who were thrown into leadership in July 2008 as a radical “experiment.” The results are in and it was an overwhelming success. The new leaders said they experienced God’s grace, mercy, and faithfulness in a shocking new way: “We suck. . . but God doesn’t!” Sara Cartellone summarized.

The Hughes church sustained a similar loss of experienced leadership, which produced real humility and a new commitment to build unity. They’ve also launched a Discovery Group which has taught Eric and Andie Schoofs tremendous lessons. “I’m not the most talented guy,” Eric said, “but God is really powerful.”Andie was “so afraid” of trying the new method, but it’s still going strong almost six months later.

Rick Yoerger of the Stow home church also encouraged the group to “think outside the box and try something new.” His cell group extended their boundaries, leading to a baptism and new discipleship. Rick was clearly touched by God’s powerful working in the hearts of typically harder-to-reach adults. And this is happening frequently as parents investigate their children’s spiritual transformation.

The Stow home church’s pioneering Discovery Group planted a home church this year, and its people have taken immense ownership. Now they aim to deepen relationships in the group.

The Identity Project relayed the excitement of meeting in public,  interacting on campus, and seeing their friends accept Christ. The students worked through persecution and demoralization to become a student organization with a Bible study attended by up to forty.

Jordan Yoerger and Elli Morscher represented Word, whose new motto is “Whose ministry is this?” as it strives to be student-led. Jordan shared how he’s learning to grow up and “Act like men!” Elli said God’s teaching her about gaining love authority. And the whole church is growing as a result of persecution at the high school, which already started again this year.

Chill and JHQ also have new leaders, new kids, and the excitement of a new school year. They hope to build a solid yet radical foundation for the future of this fellowship, especially as the students move into high school and college.

The International Student Bible Study saw its first salvation this year, Oasis started a nursery, and South Street boasts an unprecedented number of volunteers. God is certainly opening doors all around us. Let us pray that we will be like the church in Philadelphia, to whom Jesus said, “I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (Revelations 3:8)