[subversive underground] BBQ WAFFLES?

[orginally sent to the subscribers of the underground newsletter on Jan 24th, 2006]

BBQ WAFFLES ANYONE?
By Keith Giles

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had….There was no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”- Acts 4:32-35

As I read about the early church in the book of Acts I am amazed at their simple devotion to one another, to the poor, and especially to Jesus.

Reading about how “there was no needy person found among them” I am humbled and inspired. As I see their eagerness to share, not just to give an offering, but to take what is their own and give it away to others who are truly in need, I long to know this kind of “koinonia” or “Agape Community”.

How did they do it?

As someone who has been involved in ministry and on staff at various kinds of churches over the last sixteen years, I know first-hand the frustration of reading the book of Acts and then trying every possible program and gimmick available to duplicate this kind of simple Christian life within the congregation I’m helping to pastor.

Anyone who’s ever tried to lead a group of believers, or to pastor a church knows the pain of this same frustration. We attend seminars taught by high-powered business executives turned church consultant gurus. We buy their books, their tapes, and we try every possible way to produce the fruit we see in the book of Acts within our own church body.

What happens is, we get larger churches, we get happier churches, we get culturally-relevant churches, we get hip and cool and slick, but the one thing we don’t get is more like the people we read about in the book of Acts.

Why is that?

Here’s my oversimplified explanation. Let’s pretend that what the early Christians in Acts were great at was making waffles. They made the best waffles known to man. Their waffles were legendary. We read about those amazing waffles and we determine to make waffles like they did. So, we go to the successful culinary experts in our modern world and we ask them for advice. They tell us to buy the biggest Barbecue Grill we can find, the one with dual propane tanks and the built-in meat thermometer. They tell us to get the complete serving dish set, all the chrome cooking utensils and even a chefs hat and matching apron. We buy it all and we even put a cross on it to make it holy. Next we start trying to grill up some waffles, and of course, those waffles are lousy. No one wants our waffles and we can’t understand why.

Why won’t we accept the fact that, unless we start trying to make waffles the way the early church did, we’ll never ever be any good at making waffles?

Very simply put, I feel very strongly that if we don’t do what they did, we’ll never get what they got.

That’s why we’re starting “the mission”, so that we can begin to learn from The Holy Spirit how to actually love, and share, and give, and live out our faith the same way the early church did for over 300 years.

Even the big business executives agree-“The systems you currently have are perfectly designed to give you the results you are now getting” (Peter Senge).

If we want different results than what we’re getting, it means we’re going to have to completely change the system we’re using.

I’ll be mixing up the batter in the kitchen, please don’t forget to bring the syrup.


“All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”- Acts 2:44-47

[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.


**

[subversive underground] PRACTICE

(originally sent to the subversive underground email list on Friday, June 13th, 200)

[subversive underground] PRACTICE
by Keith Giles

My last transmission generated the most response I’ve ever received before so I thought I’d write a little more on the subject.

First, I culled my responses to several of you into a single draft and posted it on the main blog here: http://subversive1.blogspot.com

Go check that out for more on the issue of the American Poor, our Biblical Mandate to care for the poor (complete with scriptural references), and the difference between “Our Poor” and the “Real Poor” we see in Third World Countries.

I’d love to hear your reactions to these assertions, ideas, etc. on the main blog so if you do read this, please leave a comment there.

Now….
As I’ve continued to think about this subject, and to dialog with some of you, I’ve realized that there are a few things I’ve never written about or talked about much.

One thing I’ve learned is that serving the poor isn’t about curing hunger or making poverty history. I honestly don’t believe it’s possible (sorry Bono) and I know that we can’t hope to compete with or even to equal what all the various non-profits do in the area of food, shelter, counseling, community development and all the rest that goes with healing and helping those trapped in poverty.

That does not mean we don’t support organizations and initiatives aimed at relieving poverty or providing food to the hungry, it just means that our goal shouldn’t be to eradicate poverty forever or something so “out there” that we can’t get a handle on what’s really important.

What I do think it’s about, for you and I, is touching and knowing our poor.

I know that something changed in me when I stopped seeing the poor as “The Poor” and started thinking of them as Mike and his wife and kids.

There’s a family in the motel where we started our Compassion Ministry that has become very dear to us. As we began to befriend them, to eat with them, to laugh and to cry with them, suddenly we didn’t think of the poor as a large, faceless group of dirty beggars.

Suddenly they were our friends. The poor became a man and a wife with two small children. Their problems became our own challenges. Their needs became something we prayed specifically about. Their struggle began to intertwine with our own daily struggle.

Soon, I began to be changed, and I think that’s a major part of what serving the poor is all about.

When we start out serving the poor, we believe that we’re there to fix them. We have Jesus, we have jobs, we have wisdom and great ideas. We believe that these people will benefit from an association with us.

After a while, if we really see them, and if we really befriend them, what starts to happen is that they change us. We become the one’s who receive the benefit. They teach us things about life, about love, about courage, about dignity and humility and sharing that we could never have learned or experienced in any other way.

Isaiah affirms this concept. Chapter 58, verse 6 begins with God instructing us on the purpose and process of true fasting. He says, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry, and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked to clothe him, and not to turn away your own flesh and blood? THEN YOUR LIGHT WILL BREAK FORTH LIKE THE DAWN, AND YOUR HEALING WILL QUICKLYAPPEAR.”

I’m sure noticed that last part, especially since I made it all caps. Do you see this? It’s when we care for the poor that our healing comes. It’s when we help those around us in need that our light breaks forth.

See that? We’re the ones who get blessed when we show mercy and compassion.

Now, that’s not to say we should only help others because we’re looking for the kick-back. I think God, who looks at the heart, might actually withhold our blessing if we only serve the poor around us because we’re hoping for a new car or raise at work. Still, the principle is clear. When we bless others, we’re the ones who get blessed.

And the blessings, I believe, are not material. They’re even better than that. They’re eternal. They are spiritual.

One Sunday afternoon we invited Mike and his family over to our house for lunch. We sat around the table and ate a wonderful chicken dinner. Afterwards our kids played together in the large backyard while the adults sat in the living room and shared some coffee.

Lunch turned into an afternoon visit, and then it turned into a pizza dinner, and then it turned into a movie night with everyone back in the living room.

At one point, I was playing in my boys room with my sons and Mike’s son who was about 3 years old at the time. As we sat on the carpet and played with Legos, this little boy suddenly sat up, looked around and said, “This is a house” and then went back to building his robot.

I couldn’t breathe. Tears filled my eyes as I realized that this little boy had never been inside someone’s house before.

I looked around the room where my sons sleep and realized it was larger than the entire room at the motel where his whole family slept.

In my heart that afternoon, someone rearranged the furniture and I don’t ever want to put it back again.

I could go on. There have been times when I have gone out to serve the poor and to help people in need, but when I come home I realize that I am the one who was more blessed.

That’s part of why I sometimes feel guilty afterwards. I can sense that I’ve taken from them much more than I’ve given to them. I always feel that I could have done more, no matter how massive the gift or the service may have been. I always know deep inside that I have gone home the better off for it all, while they sleep in their motel beds much the same as they were before I came.

So, serving others, caring for the poor around us, isn’t about feeding every single hungry person in our city. It’s not about changing the face of poverty forever. It’s more about engaging others, serving them and learning to see with different eyes.

I love the scripture where Jesus washes his disciples feet. It says that he wanted to show them the fullness of his love, and so he put on the clothes of a slave and performed the most personally degrading service possible by washing their feet.

Afterwards, Jesus puts his regular clothes back on and sits down. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asks. “Now that I have washed your feet, you also should was one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” He ends by saying, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13)

Do we get this? We are not blessed because we know something. We are only blessed when we do the things we know.

We cannot know that God has commanded us to have an open-hand to the poor and then expect that we will be blessed or that we will grow in Christ because we have the understanding. We have to put the words of Jesus into action if we hope to reap the benefits.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6)

***

[subversive underground] POVERTY LIGHT

[the following article was sent out on the subversive underground on jan. 9th, 2006 to the subscribers of the e-newsletter]

POVERTY LIGHT by Keith Giles

The other day I happened upon an article on MSN entitled "Poverty Now Comes With A Color TV".

If you'd like to read the entire article, (because I'm about to spend a lot of time ripping it apart), it's here:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P140067.asp

Basically, it's one of those articles that puts forth the assertion that since the "poor" in America have luxuries the rest of the nations don't have, they're not really poor.

The underlying innuendo of those sorts of articles and commentaries is that these "American Poor" aren't really poor at all and therefore they should just get a job and stop leeching off the welfare system.

It really makes me angry.

Here's a sample from the story itself:
**
"Census data find an ever-growing material prosperity, with formerly high-dollar luxury items now commonplace in even poor households."

"In terms of the items people have ... it amazes me the number of people who
are at or near the poverty line that have color TVs, cable, washer, dryer,
microwave," says Michael Cosgrove, an economist at the University of Dallas
in Irving, Texas. That's not to ignore the hardships of poverty, he adds,
"but the conveniences they have are in fact pretty good."

**
Ok, I've worked first-hand with the poor in Orange County, California, which is incidentially one of the top 10 economies in the entire world, and I've got a different perspective on poverty in the U.S.

Most of the poor I work with live in motels. Most of them have jobs, or a source of steady income. In fact, for Orange County, 80% of the homeless have a job. They work at Taco Bell, or at the local Grocery Store, or cleaning toilets in large corporations, but they can't afford the monthly rent here, along with a security deposit and the last month's rent. They can barely buy food for their children and they're lucky to have a motel room to shelter themselves in.

Think about it. Those in the motel have access to cable tv, refrigerators, microwave ovens, swimming pools, and heck, they even have a maid who comes in every day to change the sheets and provide new towels. Doesn't that sound great? How can we really call them poor?

Because they are.

I've been in these motel rooms. I've seen whole families crammed into a single room, sleeping on floors because they can't all fit on the bed. Kids toys piled up in the corner near the air conditioner, which usually leaks and barely works.

I've prayed with pregnant moms who have no insurance and no idea how they'll feed their baby once it comes.

I've stood in the rooms of the elderly who are barely able to pay their rent, (about $275 a week), and who weep with joy when you give them a small box of macaroni and cheese or a loaf of bread because it means they'll have something to eat.

These people strive for dignity and survival every day, working their guts out, trying to save their money, trying to get ahead so maybe they can get into an apartment one day, so their children will have a safe place to play.

I once walked through one of these motels in the middle of the night, trying to help a guy who needed a place to sleep for the night. I passed drug dealers, prostitutes, and drunks, on my way to the guy's room, wondering if I'd make it back to my car without getting stabbed or robbed.

And this is where hundreds of families raise their children in Orange County.

But, look, they've got cable TV! They've got air conditioning! Shouldn't that make it all better?

No. It doesn't.

I recently came across a very large report commissioned and published by the County of Orange in 2004. It was a county-wide assessment of the economy, housing, education, crime, etc. in Orange County. Here's some of what I learned from this report:

*A minimum wage earner in Orange County must work 112 hours a week to afford a fair market one bedroom apartment.

*Orange County is one of the top 5 wealthiest places in the world to live.

*Orange County households average $1.39 per household in charitable giving.

*There are approximately 35,000 homeless people in Orange County.

*70% of these are families with children.

So, when I read articles like the one published by MSN that suggest that the poor in America aren't "really" poor, it pushes a button in me. This is insulting and misleading journalism.

The truth is, we don't have to travel to Ethiopa or India to find the poor. We can get in our cars and drive five minutes in either direction and find someone who is living in poverty, who doesn't know the Gospel, and who desperately needs the love of Jesus.

The real question is, will the people who are called by His name step out of their comfort zones and make a difference?

The poor are all around us. As Jesus promised us, "The poor you will always have with you."

Are they not poor because they have cable tv and air conditioning?

I'm tired of hearing the argument that since the poor in America have it so much better than those in other countries who are "really poor" that must mean that they're not actually poor or that we don't need to take responsibility to help our own people.

If Katrina didn't pull back the covers for us and reveal the true depth of poverty in this nation, nothing will I guess.

I just know that I wouldn't and couldn't live in the places that these people have to live every day. I don't have the courage.


[END TRANSMISSION]

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

[originally sent to the subscribers of the subversive underground newsletter the week of Jan 1st, 2006]

SUCCESS AND FAILURE by keith giles

While we prepare to launch our new house church adventure here in our community, I realize that part of the process involves a new way of thinking about success and failure.

One morning, a few weeks ago, I was sitting in our den, drinking my cup of coffee, and trying to think clearly about how we’d start our house church here, what it might look like, how we might begin.

There are various ways for us to start. We’ve tentatively picked a date later this month where we’ll invite a few friends over to our house and explain our vision to them. Some will come to support us, to hear our plan, some to pray for us, others may actually decide that they also want to take a turn at being church in this way and come with us when we have our first meetings in February.

Still, there is an element of missional life surrounding our calling here in this specific house and in this exact neighborhood. Already we are making friends with the children in this community. As these kids get to befriend our own two sons, we are slowly getting to know their families. It’s actually kind of cool that, to this point, it’s mainly been our boys who have been living the missional life here, as we coach them and play off of their lead.

As I was thinking about this house church ministry, I began to wonder about how we’d know if we were being successful or not. At first I thought success might be a house full of people meeting every week here in our den, praying, worshiping, serving others and getting to know one another. Honestly, that’s what I think I’d want to be able to show to another pastor down the road if I was ever asked, “How are things going with that house church?”

Then I realized that this was a very traditional church way of measuring success. Bigger must be better, right? Growth must signal the favor of God on something, and if it’s not large then maybe something’s wrong with you.

I’ve made a conscious choice to reject this sort of measuring stick. Yes, healthy things grow, but growth doesn’t always have to be outward. Sometimes a tree grows faster and larger beneath the ground, as roots are spreading and nourishment is flowing into the trunk, limbs and branches. Growth can be measured by how deep a single person is growing in their relationship with Jesus, or in their understanding of the Gospel.

So, it was then I realized that success for us, in this house church ministry, was simply about following through with everything that God had been saying to us to this point.

As long as everyone in this community around us knows that we love them and that God loves them, no matter what, we’ll be successful. Even if only one or two people attended a weekly meeting in our home, we’ll be successful. In fact, even if no one came to our weekly meetings, we’d still be a success as long as the people in our cul-de-sac knew that we actually cared for them because we had demonstrated the love of Jesus in tangible ways.

Early in the process of our responding to the call to start this house church, I had a conversation with a friendn of mine about what we were doing. He told me he was disappointed that we would leave the traditional church to do this because we had so much potential. That and he was pretty sure that once we started this thing we'd quickly fall on our faces and fail to do what we hoped to do.

I can remember my response, mostly because it was unrehearsed and seemed to come from somewhere other than my own brain. I said, "For us, to decide not to do this just because it looks difficult, or because we're afraid, THAT would be true failure to us. And if in ten years we've got the same five people sitting in our living room, living out this vision together, sharing life and giving all of our tithe to the poor, serving others and enjoying community, then for me that would be success."

This new definition of success demands a longer term vision for us than how things look a year from now, or how many people we have coming and contributing to our house church. In this new definition of success, all that matters is that we are following through with our calling to love God, love others and to express the love of Jesus in our everyday lives.

Sure, I would love to speak at a conference a year from now and tell the inspiring story of how we touched a hundred lives, outgrew our living room, spawned three new groups out of our first group, and established lasting ministry in the community around us.

Maybe one day I will get to share that story, or maybe I’ll simply be able to tell the story of how our family shared life with a few of the families on our street and allowed the Holy Spirit to direct us as we showed the love of Jesus to them.

Either way, this is God’s project, not ours. He will direct us and lead us. He will be the one who builds this church here in our home. We’re only the hosts and the servants who open the front door, and our own lives, to invite those He calls inside.

Kg
**

[END TRANSMISSION]

WELCOME TO NEXT

[originally sent to the subscribers of the subversive underground newsletter on Jan 1, 2006]

WELCOME TO NEXT by Keith Giles

What is it about New Years that makes us take on new hope?

The concept of our lives taking on a clean slate status is almost redeeming in a way.

Because we've reset the calendar, everything about our lives now seems to hum with possibility and an intangible glow of "newness".

Our minds whisper to us, 'what's next'?

My oldest son, Dylan, woke up this morning and said, "I don't feel any different today". Maybe it's because he doesn't have any regrets?

I do feel a little different. I feel a little cleaner. A little more potent than I did yesterday.

Why? Because what stretches before me is a brand new year. A chance to try this all over again, and maybe this time, to get it right.

2005 was probably one of the most challenging and difficult years my family has ever had to face. Sure, we'd been out of work before, we'd already endured the process of moving out of our home with no clue about where we'd end up next, we'd been through a miscarriage before, and we'd had our fair share of lean months where our survival depended mainly on the gererosity of God's people.

But never all in the same year. Never all at once.

I know that God puts us through these tough times to prepare us for life. I know that if He didn't steer us into these areas of difficulty, we'd never go there on our own, and we'd also never learn what it means to walk by faith, trusting Him when He's all we have to hang on to.

So, I wonder if 2006 is the year we get to take things a little easier, or if it's the year that we get to put all this new faith into practice, tackling even bigger challenges and walking even longer through the valley of the shadow.

2005 sits behind us. Like a giant encyclopedia volume of our life. It's packed full of memories, events, stories, tears, laughter and facts. Now, it's closed shut. At our feet sits a blank sheet. Page one on a large, empty ream of white, clean paper.

What adventures await us? What tests will we endure? What surprises does God have in store for us this year?

Welcome to the great wide open.

Let's find out.

kg
[END TRANSMISSION]

CONVERSATIO MOREM

[this was originally sent to the subscribers of the subversive underground newsletter on Dec.21st, 2005]

CONVERSATIO MOREM by Keith Giles

As I’ve been reading on the early church, I’ve come across a great saying used by the church fathers and I’d like to make it my own.

The phrase, “Conversatio Morem” can be translated two different ways, depending on the context. The first way is, “Death To The Status Quo”. I must say, I love this. It embodies the counter-cultural aspect of Christian discipleship that I long to embody and to inspire in others. If I ever have a tattoo, it will be of this statement.

The second way to translate this is, “Constant Conversion”. Again, I resonate with this sentiment very much. After studying the writings of Peter, James and Paul I see that they’re idea of salvation was very much a process. They all speak of “being saved” and seem to understand that following Jesus involves a gradual, daily transformation into someone who is like our Lord, and closer to someone who is fit for Heaven.

Our modern understanding of salvation seems to be much more about a single day or event in our lives where we went forward, said a prayer and maybe even filled out a little card. After that we can, and often do, live out the rest of our lives any way we want. If we get into trouble, or need some advice or a miracle, maybe then we will pray and ask God’s help, but mainly our lives after this sort of “conversion” are our own.

Paul, Peter and James see salvation as a lifelong process. All through the book of 1 Peter we see the famous disciple speaking of salvation as something which is occuring to us, or that we are in the process of receiving every day. "For you ARE RECEIVING the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9, etc.) Peter doesn't see salvation as something you take possession of until the day you’re actually at the Judgment Seat of Christ and it is then He saves you, in that day.

Paul especially sees salvation as being tied to our worship and our worship as being tied to our being living sacrifices (Romans 12). He also is pretty clear that “..your life is not your own; You were bought with a price.” (1 Cor 6:19-20) We, of course, have the hope and the promise of salvation, but just like The Gospel, it’s about a daily, ongoing submission to Jesus.

I’m trying now to get my head around a daily, “constant conversion”. The Kingdom is about following Jesus, and Jesus said we can’t even begin to follow Him unless we daily take up our crosses and die to ourselves. (Luke 9:23)

Somehow, looking at my own walk with Jesus as an ongoing conversion helps me to maintain this counter-cultural mindset in my own life. Now, I understand now that "Death to the Status Quo" is really a personal cry for revolution in my own soul. It is my status quo that needs to be put to death.

Instead of seeing salvation as that day I came forward at the Lighthouse Freewill Baptist Church in Eagle Pass, Texas at the age of 9, now I see it as a daily surrender to Jesus. I walk the aisle every morning. I bend the knee every sunrise and give Him my heart, over, and over again.

Conversatio Morem!

WHAT IF?

[originally sent on Dec. 14th, 2005 to the subscribers of the subversive underground e-newsletter]

WHAT IF? by Keith Giles

What if Churches stopped meeting on Sundays?

Imagine if, instead of getting up early, throwing on your best clothes and running to a service every Sunday morning, Churches met every single morning and throughout every day, on into the evening.

Stay with me here.

What if Church met on Monday morning at your work, and on Tuesday night in line at the Grocery Store, and on Wednesday afternoon at McDonalds during lunch? What if Church met on the sidewalk, in the cubicle at work, with the single Mom who doesn't know how she's going to feed her kids this week, or with that homeless person you see outside the 7-11?

Shouldn't Church meet in these places? Shouldn't worship be something that takes place every single day, of every single week, at every single hour? Wouldn't it give life to the words, "Be ready in season and out"?

The truth is, you and I, we are the Church. We are unable to critique or to criticize or to praise the idea of Church without having it reflect back on us, because we are the Church, the Bride of Christ.

When you're in the car, so is the Church. When you're playing with your kids in the backyard, so is the Church, when you're talking with your neighbor about life, so is the Church.

I think this is actually the way God always intended for His Church to operate. I think God expects us to worship him 24 hours a day, with all our lives, and in every situation, no matter how mundane or "un-spiritual" it might seem.

Remember, you are an eternal spiritual being having a temporary physical experience, not the other way around.

C.S. Lewis admonished us to realize that we, the followers of Jesus, do not have the right to operate any longer as "mere men" but as transformed agents of the Living God.

The offering plates aren't big enough to receive all that God wants from you, because He doesn't want or need your money, He wants all of you, and all of your time, and all of your life.

This is, of course, part of why Wendy and I are feeling called to the House Church model. We both long to "be" the Church and not to simply "do" Church.

I love this quote by A.W. Tozer: “We must not think of the Church as an anonymous body, a mystical religious abstraction. We Christians are the Church and whatever we do is what the Church is doing. The matter, therefore, is a personal one. Any step forward in the Church must begin with the individual.”

As we prepare to move forward in this calling, we prayerfully ask God for wisdom and direction. So much of this is unknown to us, yet we are certain this is where God has placed us and how He wants us to serve.

Some of you have responded to me directly to encourage us, or to share your own personal struggles and story with us. For that we are very, very grateful. It's good to know we're not alone in this mission.

More later.

*I promised updates to the blog this week and there are two there now. Go see:
http://subversive1.blogspot.com

You lucky people get this 'bonus' article/thought, so Merry Christmas!

peace,
kg
[END TRANSMISSION]

STILL

[sent on Dec.12th, 2005 to the subscribers of the subversive underground e-newsletter]

STILL

You know, I love it when I'm blind-sided by God.

The other day, driving in the car with my wife Wendy, listening to a song by Alanis Morrissette (yes, I know she's a pagan, get over it), we were both moved to tears.

The song is called "Still" and it's written from the perspective of God as if He is singing to us.

Here's the part that really got to to us (see below).

STILL by Alanis

I see you averting your glances
I see you cheering on the war
I see you ignoring your children

And I love you still
And I love you still

I see you altering history
I see you abusing the land
I see you and your selective amnesia

And I love you still
And I love you still

I see you holding your grudges
I see you gunning them down
I see you silencing your sisters

And I love you still
And I love you still

I see you lie to your country
I see you forcing them out
I see you blaming each other

And I love you still
And I love you still


*It's so cool to know that God is bigger than the acceptable Christian bubble where everything is "safe for the whole family". God's Spirit is at work all around us. The Kingdom is near.

Just started to read the new book by Barna "REVOLUTION" and so far it's cool, but he's not gotten to the part that sounds like what we're doing exactly...maybe it's in the third chapter? Still, he's convinced that the next 10 years will mean a radical shift in how America defines and "does church" and it will look a lot like relational, simple, community-focused gatherings of sincere believers who are compelled to follow Jesus with their entire life, not just with their lips.

I recommend everyone get a copy and read it. It's truly incredible that someone like Barna would prophetically see this coming shift and call it a revolution. It is bigger than we think.

Barna calls it a revolution, I liken it to a subversive underground movement of Jesus-people who are driven to live out their faith in the world, to "be the church" rather than just to attend it or give to it.

I'm encouraged, however, that, like Aslan of Narnia, God "is on the move" and that The Kingdom of God is still advancing.

I'm reminded that it can't be stopped. I'm resolved to surrender again my life to Jesus today.

Happy Monday.

Peace,
KG
*watch for a couple of new blog updates this week. I've got a few ideas percolating right now and I need to get them out.
http://subversive1.blogspot.com

METAPHORS

[this was sent on Dec.7th, 2005 to the subscribers of the subversive underground e-newsletter list]

METAPHORS by Keith Giles

I was corresponding with someone this week about metaphors for ministry and for understanding our own calling.

Metaphors help us to take a step back and look at our experiences and our thoughts from a different vantage point. Sometimes this helps us to discover things that we never would have thought of before.

In this week's latest blog update, "Apple and Oranges", I take a look at how an apple tree's purpose and natural design can teach us about the Church and how it grows, etc.

As far as extended metaphors go, on a ministry level, the one that God seems to keep giving me is more along the lines of a military one.

About two years ago I received a prophetic word from a guy at church that confirmed what I was asking God that same week (about whether or not to launch a new compassion ministry at our church), and the word was about me being a "Pointman" in our church, leading the people into new territory and being careful to lead them through the dangers and towards the place that God (our commanding officer) was sending us.

Of course, the whole idea of being a pointman kinda scared the heck out of me. In real life, a pointman is the guy who takes the bullet if the unit walks into an ambush. He's the guy who had better know where they're going or else everyone will get lost in the jungle and die.

I figured if God was taking this metaphor seriously then I should take it seriously too.

Just this last Sunday the same guy gave me another word. The funny thing is, I knew he was going to have another word for me before he did. And no, this guy isn't one of those 'prophetic' kind of people who is always going around handing out words. In all the time I've known him, (2 years or more), this word on Sunday was only the second thing he'd ever shared with me.

The word he gave me was about my family being like indigenous 'special forces' units within the community. There were a lot of little details, like how we're part of the community, specialized and equipping others in the community to join with us, and teaching them to train others, etc. It was exactly about what we're doing now by starting a missional house church here in a new community.

How can I discount this sort of thing? Such a specific word of encouragment at such a perfect time and place. Like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Spencer Burke ("Making Sense Of Church") talks about having a personal metaphor. For example, he said he felt like he was a firestarter. His calling and gifting were related to helping others get on fire for what God was calling them to do.

I think I'm like a magnifying glass. I help people to see things that they might not otherwise see and to magnify the urgency or amplify the vision that God is giving them.

Everyone has a specific calling, gifting or purpose within the Body of Christ. It's God's promise and His plan to build up the Church.

Our part is to understand who we are specifically made to be and then to fulfill that calling.

So, class, the question for today is...
"What's your metaphor?"

Kg
BLOG- http://subversive1.blogspot.com


*END TRANSMISSION*

THE CASTAWAY

[orginally sent Dec. 2nd, 2005 to the subversive underground subscription list]
*This article recently appeared on the new SEED STORIES website this week.
**
THE CASTAWAY
By Keith Giles

Earlier this week Wendy and I confessed to each other that we don’t really like our new life right now.

It was an honest expression of our frustration with the slowness of things. We long, we ache for our new life to begin here.

Getting settled into the new house has been an up and down transition for us. My transition into a new role at my job has been agonizingly slow. Transitioning out of the old church and into the new house church plant has been the most difficult of all. We’re still praying, still talking, still meeting with friends and still trying to work out the how and the when of it all.

Of course, we also miss the old patterns of life we once knew, and during this “in between” time we can’t help but to turn our heads back and look over our shoulder at the way things used to be.

Maybe I’ve been expecting too much, too soon? Maybe I just miss the familiar sort of ministry I’ve been used to these last few years?

The other day I was driving around our new town and I felt like God was urging me to look around and to see “our poor” here in Orange.

Just one street north of our house is Chapman, a major street peppered with fast-food chain stores, gas stations, and a few poverty motels where families and the working homeless try to get by. The motel just across Chapman from our neighborhood is called “The Castaway Motel”. Doesn’t that just make you sick? What an awful name for a motel where people are forced to raise their children and struggle for a dime, an identity, or a handful of dignity. It makes me want to buy the motel and change the name to something that offers some hope, or to re-paint the building a shade of light, or to offer an affordable rate to these people who are working their guts out just to feed their kids and have a warm place to sleep.

Maybe, in attempting to discover these new patterns of our life, I need to get to know our local homeless? I’ve already noticed a guy who’s always sitting on a bench near the Castaway. I’ve nick-named him “Barney” but I know I need to get know his real name and hear his story.

I’ve also seen a woman, fairly young, who stands at the corner of Chapman and Main with a collection of matching black luggage. She’s usually outside the Starbucks, sitting near her small island of black bags, wearing a black dress, a black hat and black sunglasses. She looks as if she’s waiting to take a trip somewhere, or for someone to show up any minute and pick her up and take her home.

I’ve begun to wonder how I can meet them. How can I walk up to them and introduce myself, ask their name, find out their story? What would Jesus have me to do in their life?

As always, I’m usually held back by the awareness that I have nothing that I can give them. I have no great resource or plan to make their life better. I can listen to their story and I can offer compassion, but when it’s all said and done, there’s not much I can do except extend to them a smile, or a short prayer, maybe a meal or a handful of cash for the night. It seems so meager, so weak.

Of course, this small offering is more than they get from anyone else each day. Most people walk past them, maybe offer a disgusted glance, and move on.

It’s the hard reality that accompanies the ministry of compassion. No matter how much you do, no matter how great your program or the size of your offering to the poor, you always come away feeling that you didn’t do enough. At least that’s always been my experience.

I’ve driven away from the motel after a Saturday afternoon where we’ve had a free bounce house for the kids, passed out free bread, diapers and water, had a game time, puppet show, music time and prayed with the families there, only to have a feeling in my heart on the way home that it was all for nothing…that we didn’t do enough. No matter how much I pour out, the insignificance of the offering is monumental and overwhelming.

Still, I can’t help it. I have to keep going. I have to keep in touch with these people. I have to know how their children are doing. I have to know if they’ve found a way out of their situation yet. I have to make them smile, I have to lay a hand on their shoulders and pray God’s mercy and blessing over them.

It’s the lack of this that has me in such a place of sadness lately. This is the pattern of life I long to return to.

We need to develop new patterns for our life now. The old patterns are gone. It’s this process of finding the new pattern that is so difficult for us to endure.

What I want is to have a life where I go to work and make a difference. I want to have time to stop the car and spend time with these people in our community who are homeless. I want to get back to visiting our friends in the senior centers. I want to start meeting in our home with other believers who are hungry for community and a relational form of Christian life. I want to see our friends at the motel on a regular basis. I want to preach and teach and pastor again…and for now we’re in a season where all we can do is to wait for God to open more doors and reveal the patterns to us.

There’s a senior home just about two miles south of us where about five or six of our friends from the Hacienda are living now. The activities director there called me just before our move to ask if I’d be willing to preach a Sunday service there once in a while, and to ask if we could bring the kids and visit them on Saturdays. Of course, I said yes, but now I wonder how and when we can actually begin to serve in this way. I long for it, I desperately want to make room in our new life for this, and maybe in a very short while we will see these patterns emerge again.

For now…we continue to wait…and to hope…and to dream.
kg
**
"It is not how much we do but how much love we put in the doing that makes our offering something beautiful for God." - Mother Teresa


*END TRANSMISSION*

BIGGEST LOSER

[orginally sent Nov.28th to the subversive underground subscribers]
The Biggest Loser? By Keith Giles

Yesterday I heard someone praying out loud that we could all live the ‘Victorious Christian Life”. It makes me wonder, where do we get that from?

I guess, on one level, I wonder where the phrase comes from? I honestly can’t remember Paul or Jesus or any of the disciples talking about living the “Victorious Christian Life”, and then I have to ask, “As opposed to what”?

I mean, if I’m not living this “Victorious” kind of life, doesn’t that suggest that I’m a loser?

Nobody wants that.

So, of course, when I hear this prayer for us to live the victorious life, I immediately must strive to either live that sort of life, or admit the shame of my failure to do so.

I don’t know exactly what this guy was referring to in his prayer, although he did mention our soaring with the eagles alongside Jesus and claiming the victory through the blood and things like this…but honestly, I’m not sure what the practical application is for our lives.

Now, I don’t want to pick on this person. I’m sure that I’ve prayed something just as vague and full of ‘Christianese’ myself numerous times before.

What I’m getting at is, where do we get this idea of what victory and success are in the context of following Christ?

Does the victorious Christian life mean I never experience frustration, suffering, temptation, or spiritual warfare? Does it mean I experience rest, comfort, and plenty because I’m a child of the King?

When I look at the life of the actual “Child of the King” Himself, I don’t see a life free from sorrow, opposition, temptation or pain. Far from it.

What about the cross? Didn’t Jesus say that it was impossible to follow Him without taking up my own cross daily?

Maybe I just have a knee-jerk reaction to statements like this because it smacks of the same old “easy believing, kick-ass” versions of Christianity I rebel against with all my being.

Maybe…

When I think of following Jesus I think of Paul’s statement that the power of Christ is revealed in our weakness, not in our success, or talent.

Where do we locate the victorious Christian life in our weakness? We forget that the soaring with eagles promise comes only after we’ve endured the long season of waiting upon the Lord, which everyone hates passionately.

I think what I am concerned about when I hear the success driven, prayer of Jabez stuff is that we are living within a culture where we attempt to shortcut true discipleship.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life
for my sake will find it. – Matthew 16:25

Maybe being a “loser” is the better life after all?

We want the joy, the peace, the fruit and the anointing without actually spending any time at the feet of Jesus, enduring suffering as He did, serving others without accolade, waiting for the answers, praying with bitter tears and holding on to Jesus like there’s no tomorrow.

I think our focus, too often, is on the good life that we think God owes us because we have prayed the prayer and paid our dues, instead of on the simple loving trust in God with our whole lives, no matter what.

David Ruis makes a great comment about how Jesus said He was sending us out like lambs among the wolves. But, we want to be the one’s who swagger in like the movers and the shakers, we want to snap our fingers and have God rain down fire from heaven. We want to pray in faith and receive the bounty of plenty, to the awe of our heathen neighbors.

That will show them.

We are enamored with the way of the wolf. Yet Jesus said he was calling us to be like sheep among the wolves; The weaker ones, not the ones with sharp teeth; The humble ones, not the ones with the cool factor; The vulnerable among those who snarl.

Does this mean we have to hang our heads and accept defeat? Not at all. But, if we are to actually learn to live a life of victory in Jesus, it will be found at His feet, in our weakness, shouldering a cross day in and day out, with our focus on the One we love, not on the victory party in the executive suite.

We must embrace the Truth. The Truth is that every life has moments of bliss, moments of joy, and every life has moments of pain, disappointment and sorrow.

So, rather than seeking after the elusive “Victorious Christian Life”, maybe I’ll settle instead for a walk beside my Master who said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart for I have overcome the World.”
**

blog updated several times a week
http://subversive1.blogspot.com



*END TRANSMISSION*

[subversive underground] SWEPT CLEAN

[orginally sent Nov. 26, 2005 to the subversive underground subscribers]

Hey there,

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

We celebrated with our usual "misfit" crew made up of friends who, like us, have no family nearby and need a place to spend the holiday.

It was so great to have our new house filled with people, friends and adopted family. Now it's beginning to feel like "home" around here.

I spent about five hours yesterday with my brother, Lito working on the new Soul Survivor "AWAKEN '06" website launch. It's nearly done...take a peek here if you're interested:
www.soulsurvivorcamp.com

Today I drove back down to the empty storage unit in Tustin and swept it out. In the silence of the moment I began to reflect a bit more about how all that I own can squeeze into a 12 x 20 cubic space. Yet, my life is so much more than this. "Isn't life more than food and clothing?" - Jesus asks in Matthew 6:25.

Good question.

And the answer is that, yes, life is so much more than food, or clothing, or belongings.

I know that our family is rich in all the things that really matter...and even in a few areas that really don't.

God has taken us through a difficult time, and I'm thankful to Him...not only for getting us out of the valley, but even for the decision to take us through it in the first place.

We would never choose on our own to take a walk of faith. We all prefer the safety and comfort of life to the testing, trial and unanswered questions. That is why God chooses to take us down the path of uncertainty, because He knows we need to learn to walk by faith.

So...the lock in my pocket and the broom in my hand, I walk back to the old Saturn and start the engine.

Our old life now officially swept clean and closed shut, I leave slot number 578 for the next customer of life.

I need an oil change. Can't forget to run by the ATM machine and make a deposit before I nose the car back towards the city of Orange and into the new adventure God has lead us into.

Tonight we cook s'mores over a firepit with friends and share a pizza.

*
If you're curious, I've got two new articles published online now.

First is at SEED STORIES, a new site by The Ooze for church-planters and emerging network leaders.

It's here:
http://www.seedstories.com/articles/article.cfm?id=11

The other is online at RELEVANT Magazine here:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7021

Granted, avid readers of my blog will recognize these two articles, but if you haven't read it before, it's new to you!

NOW READING:
"Faith and Wealth" by Justo L. Gonzalez
"The Church Comes Home" by Robert & Julia Banks

IN THE CD PLAYER:
Switchfoot-Nothing is Sound
Crowder- Beautiful Collision
Kids In The Way
Starflyer 59-Talking Voice

*END TRANSMISSION*

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

This blog is exclusively a place for me to post the contents of my weekly e-newsletter [subversive underground] online.

These articles are written specifically for those 30 or so people who are subscribed to the newsletter.

My main blog is here: SUBVERSIVE1
http://subversive1.blogspot.com

Some of these e-news articles sent out on the list have already been published, or may become published, elsewhere. However, I will not publish the articles from the e-newsletter here, or anywhere else, before they are sent out on to those on the list, in order to keep the list subscription "special" and meaningful.

Some of these are thoughts in progress and may one day become full-fledged articles on either my blog or on another magazine or website. I'm also preparing a manuscript for a brand-new book and those on the newsletter will receive those chapters-in-progress directly. I will probably not post those online here until the book is actually published.

Here is our first e-newsletter (sent November 23rd, 2005).
***
welcome to the first edition of the subversive underground.

this is will be an email newsletter/stream of consciousness/random thoughts signal sent out at various times each week. i will not bombard you, i promise.

if you want off now, or at any time, just hit me back and say 'please remove' and I'll take you off, no questions asked.

sometimes i'll send out questions where i'd appreciate feedback, of course you're always free to hit reply and tell me what you think about anything i send at any time.

so, let's start by a definition of what it means to be subversive:
What is “Subversive”?- It’s a systematic overthrow of one system or power by those working from within.

Jesus came to announce that His Kingdom was coming, and that, even now, is available to all who know Him. This was the Gospel message.

Now we, the followers of Christ, are compelled to make a difference in the old order by working from within, changing one person at a time, advancing this new kingdom with every tool, talent and resource available.

This is what I hope to inspire. This is what I personally aspire to.

Just last night, while watching the semi-dreadful "American Music Awards" I had this thought: "No one gives a crap what we believe. Show us your convictions in the way you live, not in the words you speak."

I think this is one of the main reasons that I love working for Soul Survivor, because they're mantra is 'actions speak louder' and they operate from this assertion.

We have to stop pontificating. We have to begin to simply love, not just with words, but in action and in truth.

We have to question. We have to ask why. We have to be willing to take a chance, to risk for the sake of the world that waits to see with their eyes if what they've heard with their ears is possible.

I hope that there's a growing number of people who are willing to make it possible.

I hope that together we can spur one another on to live a life of simple obedience to the words of Jesus.

Welcome to the underground.

END TRANSMISSION**
kg