[subversive underground] STEP ONE

[originally sent to the faithful subscribers of the underground on Friday, Jan 20th, 2006]


STEP ONE by Keith Giles

Last night we hosted our first interest meeting for our new house church, "The Mission".

It was a sweet time.

I had been praying all week that God would bring the people He wanted, as He promises in 1 Cor 12, and God had been showing me that the one person who desperately needed to be at this, and all future meetings, was the Holy Spirit. In fact, we should always leave an open seat for Him, invite Him, expect Him to show up, and to let Him lead the meetings exactly as He desires.

Last night we got a taste of that.

First, we had around 12 people who had RSVP'd to attend, and only one did not make it out of that group. Then, we had two people show up who were complete surprises, but very welcome nonetheless.

As Wendy and I began to share our vision, our heart, our calling into this new house church model, the Spirit began to move throughout the room. Several people even stopped to say out loud how they could sense the Holy Spirit among us during the meeting. The conversations and the responses were all very natural, organic and encouraging.

I had started off explaining how, in a "real meeting", we would all be leaders and we'd also all be followers. I explained how each of us should expect to come and to share with the whole group what God had been saying to us during the week, or share a testimony or a scripture, or anything that the Holy Spirit might be prompting.

Before I knew it, we were all doing it on the spot. As people shared ideas, or thoughts, or testimonies, I sat back and realized that this interest meeting was turning into a living example of what we were being called to do together in harmony.

So, after we ended in a time of prayer, I realized that, no matter who God calls to this church, no matter how big or how small, the best thing is that this is His church. He will build His church and He will accomplish what He desires.

I know that God's heart is much bigger than mine when it comes to the lost, the least, the forgotten. I'm praying that God would do something so astounding among us that no man could ever take credit for it.

Honestly, I feel like once this thing gets rolling we'll all be holding on for dear life as God takes us on a full-blast adventure into a Spirit-led community of dynamic interaction and discipleship.

Starting February 2nd, at 6pm, the Mission begins.

I can't wait.


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