Men and Church

Giles makes a great point about why men are absent from church in droves. Click here.

Radical faith in action plays a key part in moving men toward faith. If faith becomes about being morally good, taking care of your family and being safe, then men will rapidly vacate the premises. What we need is the reintroduction of raw abrasive bare-knuckled Christianity. That would be fun to be a part of.

King George III

"To be a subject of Great Britain, with all its consequences, is to be the freest member of any civil society in the known world.”

This is King George III speaking to the British Parliament in regard to the American colonist . . . . just before the American Revolutionary war.

People in power often feel that they are running open and beneficial systems. Often times leaders do not fully understand the constructs that others are asked to live under that they themselves do not seem subject to. In King George's case, he made a very factual statement, but missed the point entirely. It is not about the ability to live under a fairly free system, but the ability to design and build a system of your own, that works for the goals and dreams of the people it represents.

Hang with me now - I think this is the essence of what must happen for us to move forward in reaching students of all kinds in the US and all over the world. Good leadership must be freed up to build independent constructs (or not) to get the job done in various student categories. For 50+ years we have tried to do it all under the umbrella of the 'white middle class way' - and lets face it, it simply has not worked.

However, the Impact Movement and the Korean version of Crusade have found fertile new ground in the US by playing by rules that they themselves have created. Impact has gone from 30 movements 3 years ago, to well over 140 now (Impact was stuck at under 30 for the first 10 years of its existence under the USCM). KCCC (the Koreans) entered the US with a special dispensation from Dr. Bright to do whatever they wanted. When I first heard about this, it really trouble me (since I was to be leading the charge in this area). But, it turns out they are doing fine (shocker) - in fact, we would love to have the success they are having (no recent numbers, but they will have over 2,000 students at their conference in LA - with about 40 total staff).

Leadership in both of these student groups would be quick to tell you that everything is not perfect, but their problems are their problems to solve - and they are capable of doing it.

So here is the axiom: Good leaders, with freedom, accomplish great things.

Christianity's Real Record

This is not really on topic, but it is still very interesting. Religion, Murder and Power. TownHall.com

Good Reading: Growth and Heart

I found these three books to be very helpful in my journey. I can easily be sidetracked by activity, so it is essential that I put concentrated effort into the development of my person.

Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders (J-B Leadership Network Series) by Reggie McNeal. Reggie! - nuff said. If you ever have a chance to hear him - do it. He is winsome and real and has sage advice.

Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Henry Cloud. Henry nails issues of growth for leaders (or anybody). Rarely are we stymied by our abilities - there is usually something else in the way.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash the Power of Authentic Life in Christ by Peter Scazzero. Peter takes you on a journey involving deep positive change. As the tag line says - "It is impossible to be spiritually mature, while remaining emotionally immature."

Good Reading: Mission & Organization

Each of these are secular offerings with huge kingdom implications. 'Starfish' is a must read - it screams of kingdom activity.

On Mission:

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom. The power of decentralized organizations. Preach it!

Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble. If you are leading major change in an organization - this is a must read. I wish I had it 5 years ago!

Comanches: The History of a People by T.R. Fehrenbach. The Comanches were a decentralized power that held Western advances at bay for hundreds of years. In 'Starfish' Ori and company highlight the Apache a massive movable unstoppable force . . . but it was the Comanche that took out the Apache. A very intriguing read with tons of missional implications (and bloody unpleasent historical realities as well).

UCLA

A few weeks ago I was privileged to speak at the UCLA fall retreat. The most intriguing part (for me) was the final morning. With the whole group gathered, we set about on a missional experience. We spent about 30 minutes in discussion about the parable of the soils in relation to the farmer (throwing seed everywhere), the seed (potent stuff) and the soil (what really determined the results).

Then, In small groups, I had them identify every pocket of people we could think of at UCLA. Overall, we had to have about 100 listed on the board (or on the powerpoint & vpu). The final step was to gather by groups that you wanted to influence. This was an exercise in chaos, but in the end we had over 30 groups working out plans to influence a particular segment of campus. Some of the plans where awesome, and some pretty simple, but it was great to see the students (60% of which where freshman and sophomores) engage in missional thinking.

Ask John Book, the UCLA director, how the plans are unfolding.

Good News/Good Deeds Network

Here are few words on Good News/Good Deeds Network from Chip Scivicque <Chip.Scivicque@uscm.org>. I was a part of these meetings in Colorado. It was interesting to see how this shift is taking place. I believe very exciting things are afoot.

------
Leaders,

I wish every one of you could have been with us at Tango Lodge 3 weeks ago. The interaction (and food!) was great, and we all moved further down the road of understanding the "massive shift of tectonic plates" (Reggie McNeal's words) that is occurring in our world toward living out the Gospel in word and deed - "demonstration as context for presentation…from church-based leadership to apostolic leadership…from making disciples to deploying missionaries in a Kingdom movement." We also got a lot of work done re: next steps.

Reggie also encouraged us to "spread the virus" of combining the compassionate works and words of the Gospel in our ministry. I have had enough personal interaction with each of you to know that you are "infected," so this is the beginning of an informal network of infected leaders who can work together to spread the virus and help lead the USCM to make this shift wisely and well. Here's a slice of where we are and where we're going:

• Mark Gauthier, Marc Rudder, and Keith Bubalo are looking at freeing some leaders up to give more attention to the good news/good deeds shift - more later
• By Christmas, all the regional teams will have done the regional team exercise we proposed - discussing the direction-setting document, reading Katrina stories, and evaluating Katrina involvement from their region. The next step is asking local teams to do the same.
• A lot of staff and regions are experimenting with good news/good deeds efforts (e.g. GPI "Stop-out" to Thailand, combining campus ministry and tsunami work; Pete Kelly and his team connecting campus ministry with rebuilding the city of New Orleans; the Red River trying a community service-oriented Winter Conference, and a number of local initiatives)
• I have a list of things I'll be asking you to do during the spring that I believe will take only a little work but result in significant impact - I'll be in touch.
• We'll have website or blog (or both) up in few weeks with all the good news/good deeds documents on it, stories, a way for you to post things, etc.
  

I'll close with an Eric Swanson observation of "the new evangelistic question." Instead of us leading with, "If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?" it's the unbeliever asking us: "Who are you? And Why are you doing this?" (Mt. 5:16). Hope you have a great weekend, and happy Thanksgiving!

Chip

Rutz on Haggard

Jim Rutz has an interesting movement take on the tragic situation with Ted Haggard. It is worth a read. Jim is the kind of guy that does not shy away from sharing his feelings about the institutional church - especially in regard to hierarchy and leaders in isolation.

Here is sample.

The centerpiece of most churches today is not the "altar" but the pedestal – a slippery, invisible pedestal that elevates the pastor above the people, for better or worse.

We can blame Ted for not seeking help. But there is a much greater blame in this case, and it must be aimed at the pastor-centered church system that does not and cannot provide ongoing help and correction.

About 10 years ago, I suggested to Ted that he go whole hog and decentralize his church into a full-on house church model – which has leaders, but no clergy class. He good-naturedly said I was 20 years ahead of my time. Hmm. Perhaps I was only 10 years ahead of my time. If Ted had been in a small, high-accountability, house-church group, I think they could have kept him out of trouble.

The New Faces of Christianity

I spent part of my weekend dabbling in The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South by Philip Jenkins – an pretty intriguing read.   

Here is a summary of sorts (taking from Joel News I believe).
----
The spread of Christianity throughout the developing world has been unprecedented. In Africa between 1900 and 2000, the number of Christians grew from 10 million to 360 million, from 10 percent of the population to 46 percent.

How is this happening? According to Jenkins, at least three factors are at work:

1. the Bible as a living Word from God;
2. a supernatural worldview
3. the adaptation of the faith to the culture of the recipients. They own it.
   

Jenkins writes:

    While missionaries began the process of Christianization, they had little control over how or where that path might lead. As we trace the spread of Christianity across Africa and Asia from the nineteenth century onward, we see the role of grassroots means of diffusing beliefs, through migrants and travelers, across family and social networks. As it passed from community to community, the message was subtly transformed. Missionaries might introduce ideas, but these would only succeed and gain adherents if they appealed to a local audience, if they made sense in local terms. . . . Missionaries could successfully introduce the Christian framework and the texts that supported it, but once they had done so, these beliefs acquired lives of their own.

In Powerful Decline

There is a sad state of affairs in the old mainline denominatioins, but at the same time, this may be the start of renewall for the masses. Growing up Lutheran, I have a special place in my heart for the old systems - as flawed as they may be. Read this.

Excerpt (in regard to the Presbyterian Church USA):

[In] 1965, when membership peaked at 4,254,597, and the church's liberals proposed a new confession. "The Confession of 1967," named for the year it was adopted, downplayed the authority of the Bible in favor of assorted social issues. By the end of 1999, membership had plummeted to 2,560,201, a 39.8 percent drop.

Fireseed Anthology: A postmodern approach to ancient faith

Millie Carter started this blog as a discussion on reaching a deeply entrenched post modern culture - I especially like here description of the busy staff life.

The Fall semester rolls around and the machine keeps pumping. Two days into planning, staff member’s calendars begin to fill. Fall Retreat in October, staff conference in November, winter conference, trips to campuses around the state to give lift to ministries, staff meetings, phone calls and discipleship appointments…the list goes on. Where is the time to reach out to those who don’t know or have not experienced Christ? It is hard to find unless you call it a survey.

Under our current model of planting movements, it is my understanding that our primary method is to surface strong believing students and to coach them to lead a movement on their campus. What usually results is a glorified Bible Study with few reports of totally transformed lives from darkness to light.

At a Catalytic Training school, I head a speaker who said that Dr. Bright used to say WINBUILDSEND almost as if it was one word or one thing. Often, enhanced by our structures (randoms, Bible studies, retreats, conferences), we tend to divide the process into three separate compartments and few within our ministries experience the full transformational process.

Ouch - something must be done!

Fireseed Anthology: A postmodern approach to ancient faith

USCM and Leading Change

What follows is a quickie evaluation of my leadership experience over the past 4 years. It has been a fantastic ride filled with wonderful people, Godly leaders and new and challenging paradigms.

We have attempted to lead a major shift in the thinking and functioning of the US Campus Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. The hope was to enable the orgnaization to move powerfully ahead in Asian American, African American and Hispanic contexts. Not an easy task for a 50+ year old organization that is pretty set in its ways (including the thought that we are very innovative). And we are pretty white to boot.

So – as an exercise in learning (an autopsy even), I have taken the key steps from Kotter’s leading change (remember this one) and evaluated our (my) performance. Here are the random musings (read if you care). This is by no means comprehensive, but it is a start.

1. Establish a Sense of Urgency
Well – I think this was being set in motion by the National Director (Mark Gauthier) and company and I was asked to be part of the mix. Sam Osterloh gave a wonderful talk at CSU in 2003 that really set the tone for our next steps (Cornelius and Peter from Acts 10). I felt as if we were poised for some very radical shifts (and indeed some amazing things have happened).

Unfortunately, much of what we were communicating urgently was interprited as a critique of our traditionall methodology (and I have to own this). Without intending to, the new direction was seen as a wholesale indictment of our history. We did not talk that much about the old intentionally, but in race issues, new direction can often feel very condemning of the past. My communication was not as precise as it needed to be. Much of the urgency we needed was dampened by a feeling of condemnation.

However, I think the ethnic staff felt the urgency, as well as those working in metro situations . . . .

2. Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
This was indeed a stumbling block. Upon entering the role, there were only 4 regional leaders within ESM and one interim – and no one east of the Mississippi. One person (Dirke Johnson) left to take a critical role with our African American leadership team (a good move for sure). The entire National Leadership Team was behind the effort, but I do not think any of us realized the complexity or the level of energy it was going to take in order to enact substantial change. There were a handful of local leaders who were already succeeding in doing what needed to be done, so this small entourage formed a bit of the guiding coalition. Looking back, I think we should have consolidated this group on a more official level and begin working from there. I think I over estimated how ‘in’ people were across the board and therefore I did not see how much opposition would be encountered.

3. Create a Vision
We initially were saying things like ‘ethnic movements everywhere no matter what it takes” - this being tied to “Spiritual Movements Everywhere so that Everyone knows someone who knows Jesus.” The goal was to get to at least an African American and International Student movement on every priority location (about 300+ new plants) while increasing our leadership capacity in the Hispanic and Asian American communities. (A side note: As of 8/1/06 there were 425+ ethnic student ministry plants).

4. Communicate the Vision
No doubt we under communicated by a 5 fold factor, but we also encountered a cluttered national agenda that focused on filling leadership roles, issues with women in leadership as well as various regional and national crisis's. The vision became simply part of information shrapnel flying around.

5. Empower Others to Act on the Vision
This is where I feel we really gained some new ground and found a number of ways to move ahead in ethnic ministries. Because of some of what we saw in the field and the determination of our African American and Korean American leaders, I found myself doing a 180 in understanding of problems and answers. A big thanks to Kim Dong Whan, Jacqueline Bland, Jim Williamson and Charles Gilmer on this. As a result of people responding to the vision, we have created at least 30 new approaches to planting and growing new movements on campuses. This is very exciting.

6. Plan for and Create Short-Term Wins
The biggest short term wins were the launching of the Impact Coaching Teams (African American ministry), the Destino Summer Project in San Antonio in 04 & 06 (a rally point for the Hispanic staff), a consolidated movements everywhere focus with some teams seeing successes, and the Asian American Summer Projects and the Summit in CA (hiring Tommy Dyo!). This helped us get some traction in some new areas.

7. Consolidate Improvements and Produce Still More Change
MovementLaunching.com helped us to consolidate some of the gains as well as highlight was was new. We are still seeing people create new stuff (shock and awe in the Great Lakes and now being used in the Carolinas). Good stuff and the best is yet to come. I think that many of the true blue leaders around the country will be very effective at taking these fledgling efforts and making them really solid and replicable. I like to think that we are just on the cusp of what will be created.

8. Institutionalize New Approaches
This where we are now, and we will see what sticks. Hopefully we realize that this type of effort and ministry is our future and we will continue to move forward with courage, daring and creativity. I think there are some institutional approaches and habits that we will need to unlearn before we can see massive breakthrough - but I am confident it can happen.

Please add your assesment if you would like - or forward this on to a friend so they can chime in. Nothing like a little learning to grease the wheels for the next endevour!

Lead on.

Guidelines for Simple Gatherings

From Joel News:

"The simple church revolution is not about doing conventional church in a
home," says house church coach John White from Denver, USA. "It's not
'Honey, I shrunk the church!' It's not 20 minutes of singing, 30 minutes of
Bible study, 10 minutes of prayer and then refreshments. Or, any other
prepackaged way of meeting. Rather, it's about listening. Listening to the
Holy Spirit (and each other) and doing what He says." He suggests three
'centering questions' that will help house churches to live this out:

1. What have you heard from the Holy Spirit this week that will help or strengthen the rest of us?
2. As we are listening to each other, what is the Lord saying to us as family?
3. What will we do about this, and how will we help each other?

Source: John White, Dawn Ministries via Joel News

Why Simple Ain't Stupid

I recently came upon this quote - read into it what you will about your current situation.

Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior.
Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.

Dee Hock quoted in “Getting Things Done” (David Allen), 68.

Vision and Action

"Vision without action is daydreaming, but action without vision is just random activity."
- Joel Barkers

Workin' for the Man

I have never met Sam Metcalf, but I think I would like him. Here are his tips on how to keep a young passionate leader in their proper place.

1. Force them to go to school
2. Give them too much money
3. Tell them all the reasons why something can’t be done.
4. Swamp them with paperwork and administration.
5. Give them people to lead who are excessively needy.
6. Limit their travel and keep them in mono-cultural contexts.
7. Consistently correct them when they are provocative or prophetic in their communication.
8. Make certain any initiative they take must go through multiple steps of approval.
9. Insert “conserve” and “maintain” into all their conversations.
10. Have someone who “gift projects” strong pastoral gifting supervise them.
11. Tell them to stay when they want to go.
12. Make certain they have plenty of rules and policies to live by.
13. Give them a precise, detailed, inflexible job description.

Jump to his blog for more

Natural Planting

Jay Lorenzen (smart person writing a blog) highlights three things from Tim Keller on natural church planting (movement launching).

1. Church planters and movement builders must have the ability to give away and to lose control of money, members, and leaders.
2. Church planters and movement builders must have the ability to give up some control of the shape of the ministry or movement itself.
3. Church planters and movement builders must have the ability to care for the kingdom even more than for your tribe.
   

How we doin?

More in depth take here: http://onmovements.com/?p=174

Fast

“If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” -Mario Andretti

Charismatics grow globally in numbers and influence

From Joel News:

A new ten-nation survey of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians,
considered the fastest-growing stream of Christianity worldwide, shows they
are deeply influencing the Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant
churches and are poised to make a big impact on global affairs. The poll by
the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 'spirit-filled'
Christians, who speak in tongues and believe in healing through prayer,
make up a significant percentage of the population of Brazil, Guatemala,
Kenya and the Philippines. The study also found that charismatic and
Pentecostal Christians increasingly are willing to bring their values into
public debates, which could shape government policies in the years ahead.

Full report: http://pewforum.org/surveys/pentecostal/

Intrapreneur's Ten Commandments

How do you lead change in a big organization?  Here are 10 insights from Gifford Pinchot’s Intrapreneuring:  Why You Don’t Have to leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur (I snagged Pinchot’s list from another book – Ten Rules for Strategic Innovation by Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble).  

And unless you doubt, Crusade is a corporation with a history of success and defined ways of operating.  These apply very well.

1. Come to work each day willing to be fired
2. Circumvent any orders aimed at stopping your dream
3. Do any job needed to make your project work, regardless of your job description
4. Find people to help you
5. Follow your intuition about the people you choose, and work only with the best
6. Work underground as long as you can – publicity triggers corporate immune mechanism
7. Never bet on a race unless you are running it.
8. Remember it is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
9. Be true to your goals, but be realistic about the ways to achieve them.
10. Honor your sponsors.

Steve Van Diest: Crazy-Gnarls Barkley

Van Diest is out there - and learning something for us all! I love it!

Steve Van Diest: Crazy-Gnarls Barkley

Factors in Revival and Renewal Movements by Dr Paul Pierson

Here are some interesting factoids (or observations) about renewal movements.  If you are reading this from a Cru perspective, think about if from the perspective of us needing renewal as an organization.  Often times I think we believe we are still new and cutting edge, when in fact we are a 50+ year old organization that tends to operate out of an old denominational hierarchical methodology – how we formed was pretty cutting edge, but how we continue to function seems very to be from the tried and true camp – not from the new and risky.  (Possibly the best way to make these observations is to replace the words ‘church’ with ‘movement’ and see where it takes you).

Here are Pierson’s observations:

- They always begin on the periphery of the institutional church

- They are motivated by a transforming experience (grace) of God by an individual or group. The result is the desire for a more authentic Christian life that often leads to concern for the church and world.

- Face to face groups for prayer, Bible study, and mutual encouragement are important.

- New methods of selecting and training leaders become important. These are less institutional; more grass roots and lay oriented.

- There are theological breakthroughs, that is, rediscovery of aspects of the Biblical message that have been forgotten or overlooked by the Church; usually they involve a focus on the gifts of every believer.

- There is a leveling effect, distance decreases between clergy and laity, social classes, races, men and women, and denominations.

- The movement is countercultural in some ways, often because it reaches out to those who have not been valued by their society.

- Consequently there will be opposition by many in the dominant culture and church.

- There will often be manifestations of spiritual warfare. Such movements sense the reality of evil and the need to recognize the victory of Christ in the cross and resurrection.

- At times there will be unusual manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit; healings, visions, glossalalia, miracles. etc.

- More flexible structures of church and mission will be needed and often emerge, different from traditional structures.

- The movement will be led to significant recontextualization of the Christian message, which will be communicated more widely by lay persons to those outside the church.

- New music is often a characteristic.

- Biblical concepts ignored by the traditional church but relevant to the hearers are often discovered.

- There will be a growing concern for the marginalized, often expressed in ministries of compassion.

- At a later stage this often leads to concern for broader social transformation.

- As the movement matures there will be concern for the renewal of the broader church.

- As the movement continues to mature many will see themselves not only as part of the particular movement but as citizens of the Kingdom of God, transcending their own movement.

- Finally, every movement is less than perfect and often messy at the edges and sometimes, at the center. This is inevitable as long as sinful humans are involved.

100 Years Ago - Atlanta Race Riot

There are many portions of our history, especially in regard to race, that go untaught and unnoticed.  For most of my own personal history, I have lived as if race was never a big deal.  I knew some bad stuff happened in the past, but that was the past and (I thought) it was probably not that bad because people are generally nice to people.  I was blissfully ignorant in most areas concerning race.  

Over the past few years I have received quite the education.  So, I was shocked on Sunday to learn about a riot that took place in Atlanta 100 years ago this past Thursday.  These are the ugly, but true, aspects of our history that we fail to look at and then fail to learn from.  
There are many accounts of this, but the NPR site does a good job with the whole story.  You can check it out here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6106285&ft=1&f=2

From the NPR Article -
"The modern-day civil-rights movement grew out of the biracial coalitions that were established at that time. Many current leaders will gather this weekend for a series of events commemorating the 1906 race riot, including a memorial service, walking tours and an exhibit called "Red Was the Midnight," at the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site.

"What we hope people will understand is that problems cannot be ignored," says exhibit co-curator Harris. "Negative things that have occurred in the city's history cannot be ignored, and current conditions that are not beneficial to people in the community cannot be ignored. We have to address them."

Financial Stats

61% of Christians in the U.S. Believe that God wants them to be ‘financially prosperous.’

31% believe that if you give money to God, God will bless you with more money.

21% believe that material wealth is a sign of God’s blessing.

From Time / SRBI Public Affairs

Simple Summer

If you have ever logged time at one of our summer leadership development venues (referred to as Summer Projects), you can quickly see that we have these things down to an exact science.  There are variations on the theme, but the basic context of a summer has been the same since the 70’s.  Usually at a resort location (Branson marginally qualifies) with a focus on development and training in personal ministry skills.  Many o life has been changed in the course of a summer like this (including me – Summer of 87 in Myrtle Beach baby!).

This past year I was incredibly proud of some great friends who stepped out to do a little missional change in our normal strategy.  Kevin Dennis, Steve Van Diest, Joanna Meyer and Dennis & Carita Chen all started new organically focused summer projects – in Orlando, Long Beach and San Jose respectively.  Results vary (as with any learning curve) but God did some cool stuff.  Here is a quote from one student from Long Beach.

"God has been teaching me way more than I thought this summer. I originally came with a hardened heart because I was pretty sick of the structure of CRU and the general state of mind. We're all so cliquey and exclusive and sometimes I think we're all about being in CRU instead of being all about the Lord.  I was afraid summer project would be a CRU overload for me and I heard that you're kept super busy on project which really worried me.  Sometimes I go through the day planning Bible studies and doing D-Times and when it's time to go to bed I realize that the Lord was not included.  From the outside it looked like I had it altogether and I thought I had it together half the time too because I wasn't leaving enough room to think in a day to know that I didn't let God in.  Sure my day was filled with "holy things" but that's a lie because I never really asked God what He wanted me to do.  I'm learning is that prayer is everything.  You need to pray to see results and prayer should be my first step in EVERYTHING I do.  it seems like a concept I should have had down a long time ago but for so long I felt like I was wasting my time by praying for someone.  I'm still struggling with that but now I won't hesitate to sit down and prayer over someone who needs it knowing that the Lord will hear my call and answer if it is in His will."

"Man just as I get back into the school life, it is really hard to apply what I've done this summer.  It's strange that its easier to be intentional about ministering to people somewhere else than it is to do that here.  I'm already tempted to get back into my "ministry duties" rather than seeing my life as a ministry and seeking God for every moment.  But the good thing is, I'm trying, and I know with the Lord's help I can do it.  It's just been really hard right now."

"This summer was so incredible for me.  I learned to take the most of every opportunity I had and make it a ministry opportunity.  I am still keeping in contact with 2 of the women at the rescue mission.  Please be praying for them.  The mission received a grant right when we left Long Beach.  This allowed for the Mission to remodel their facility and to better equip it, but it also left the women homeless again for a month.  So, please be praying for them.  I am also keeping in contact with a girl named Mayla. I worked with her at the shoe store.  Since I have left, things at the shoe store have been kinda rough.  They hired a new manager and I hear she is kinda rough and a lot of the employees are getting discouraged and wanting to quit."

I hope we have a lot more opportunities like this.

Back at It

I meant to take an August hiatus from the blog (like an Italian vacation) but 4 weeks turned into 6 and now I am just now getting back at it.

A lot has happened in that time - but leaning toward spiritual movements everywhere by any means is still the watchword, and I am more invigorated by this mission than ever.

Crocker Chronicle: Changing a Culture

Too true -

Crocker Chronicle: Changing a Culture

Strength From Their Faith

It is great to be alive when you can literally watch God transform a nation of people. The sleeping tiger of China seems to be awakening and bringing forth a radical faith that we could all use a dose of. This article in Newsweek is a very encouraging read about just that: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13879416/site/newsweek/

Destino Project San Antonio

On Thursday I had a cheap date with most of the leadership of the Destino Summer Project in San Antonio. I offered to take them to lunch and they suggested Chik-fil-a - not a problem.

One of the interesting things they noted, especially the white staff on the project, was the need for a us to learn more about ministering in the Latino culture. For them, the project was a real eye opener. For Michelle and Mark (our Hispanic staff running the project) this provided a great training ground for what can work in the Latino context.

The project did most of their work at UTSA and saw 6 students trust Christ the first week of the project. Hats off for this learning opportunity in San Antonio.

The Sneeze - University of Marilyn

Like alot of web blather, this may or may not be true, but not a bad story of the state of things.

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away tears.

This class would not pray during the commencements----not by choice, but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.

The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.

The speeches were nice, but they were routine.....until the final spe ech received a standing ovation.

A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it happened. All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED!!!!

The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said, " GOD BLESS YOU, each and every one of you!" And he walked off stage...

The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found an unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future with or without the court's approval.

Organic Summer Projects

I just spent an incredible three days with student mission projects in San Jose and Long Beach. Both of these new projects are approaching ministry on a very simple church / organic level - to varying degrees of success. Steve van Diest and company in Long Beach have been at it a bit longer and they have watched students experience the 'detox' of not having everything programmed for them at every moment. In fact, the project schedule is so wide open that some students floundered a bit as things were coming together. But the combination of praying for the lost, identifying your 'oikos' in the community and encouraging each other to step out, has proven to produces some significant fruit in the lives of these young leaders. Many are excited in how clearly they are hearing what the Lord is calling them to. Lead on guys!! It is really cool.

Dennis and Carita (along with Gordon & Angela Ebert and Keoke & Kris King) are just starting. Their group is smaller but they are approaching things very much the same way. Keoke helped them understand G3 (similar to Neil Cole's LTGs) and already a few students have done evangelistic gatherings with new students they have met on campus. There is a real boldness to this group that I believe will yield some interesting reslults - I look forward to what God will do in San Jose.

It was bonus to see Jaeson Ma and his crew one evening while I was there. I called Jaeson to let him know I was standing on his home campus - and lo and behold he was in town. He joined us and the rest of the project for some Ben and Jerry's and good hang time. I love it when teh Lord brings thing together in providential ways.

Missippi's Katrina

Linda and I spent part of the past week with a group of students in Pass Christian MS. The students, 45+, where from 20 different states. They came to MS as part of a Campus Crusade summer project to do relief work, demolition and construction. Paul & Amy Mayer (along with a bunch of other Cru Staff) have done a fantastic job leading this beast. It was one of the most inspirational things I have ever been a part of.

Each day the crew makes their way to from the Library (the place they are staying is the shell of the old Pass Christian Library) to a place a few blocks away where a gentlemen named Randy gives them the days assignments. Of course, many assignments last for more than a day and the students are all over the city making repairs and generally helping out. While we were there we helped gut the home of an 84 year-old man who had not touched the place since the storm (safety tip: Dont open the fridge). My kids worked pretty hard along side 4 students from the University of Toledo. One of the students, Erin, was on her forth trip to the area. There ar a lot of young people doing very similart things - planning their next trip almost as soon as the leave.

The project operates with 4-5 crews focusing on different things around the city. One crew arrives at “God’s Katrina Kitchen” at 4:30am. This food tent is right of the beach on hwy 90 and serves three squares to the workers and residence alike. The food is hot and good and there are great opportunities to minister to whoever shows up.

Paul and Amy and doing a fantastic job. Watching these staff and students work made me feel proud to be part of this organization. We should have hundreds of projects like this – for this truly seems to be the hands and hearts of Christ to those who are hurting.

Two Years Back

This article on Organic Church Movements is from May 2004, but it is worth the read. The article mentions 400 simple churches . . . . I believe that it is now closer to 700. Part of he artricle states:

In 1999, Cole jettisoned his traditional pulpit ministry in Alta Loma, California, to launch Awakening Chapel--founding it literally in the smoking section of The Coffee Tavern in Long Beach, an urban beach town southwest of Los Angeles. In a little more than four years, the crew he gleaned from the smokers' ranks on the patio at The Coffee Tavern has ballooned into a movement of 400 churches in 16 states and 12 countries.

I think one of the key words here is 'jettisoned'. There is a sense in which Neil could have never done what he set out to do without radically changing what he was currently doing. All to often I believe we want to simply adjust what we have and our minor surgery is never enough to truly bring radical change. We may have to kill what is in order to birth what could be.

Largest Enrollment Fall 2005

Here are the numbers for where the big schools started last fall. You can check out the last decade here.

1. Arizona State 51,612
2. University of Minnesota 51,175
3. Ohio State 50,504
4. University of Texas 49,696
5. University of Florida 49,693
6. Michigan State 45,166
7. Texas A&M 44,910
8. University of Illinois 41,862
9. University of Wisconsin 41,447
10. Penn State 40,709

Birth of Radical Prayer

So how does a prayer movement begin? Often through a vision God gives to one man. Graham Power is a man like that, and in July 2000 he received a clear and compeling vision from God. Check out the what has happened and what steps are planned next. The basic plan is amazingly simple and masses of people have rallied to the call.

Following the example of the first believers who “joined together constantly” in prayer (Acts 1.14) during the ten days between the ascension of Jesus and the descent of His Spirit on Pentecost ….. the next 5 years until 2010, a simple threefold strategy will be implemented:

1. 10 Days of day-and-night prayer from Ascension Day till the Saturday before Pentecost Sunday.
2. A global day of repentance & prayer on Pentecost Sunday
3. 90 Days of "community blessing"

College Students (from the Wall Street Journal)

From the March 25th Wall Street Journal article College Admissions: Is the Gate Open or Closed?

Here are some factoids for the US:

• In 1940, more than three-fourths of those age 25 and older hadn't graduated from high school. Just 5% held a bachelor's degree or higher.
• In 2004, about 15% of those 25 and older lacked a high-school degree, while 28% had a bachelor's degree.
• In 2005, 68% Mexican American college-bound seniors where first generation college students (neither parent earned a college degree). The numbers where 50% for Puerto Rican, 53% for other Hispanic and 52% for African American.
• Total college enrollment in all degree-granting institutions has increased by 26% to an estimated 17 million in 2005 from 1990. The Department of Education expects that number to increase to about 19 million by 2010.

Some observations for collegiate ministry:

• When Bill Bright began this crazy endeavour of Campus Crusade, the university was truly an elite place. Just 11 years prior to beginning Crusade, only 5% of the entire population had been to college - now we are close to 30%
• If ministry growth mirrors student growth, then we should naturally get to 2100 movements and 70,000 students involved by 2010 (without changing a thing - this is simply population growth). Or a better way to put it, if we achieve these numbers it only represents keeping up, not growth in light of the whole.
  
• We had better do something in the Latino community if we desire to influence the collegiate world.

Asian American Christian Leaders

This recent article in Christianity Today highlights the growing influence of Asian American Christian leaders on the elite universities of the US. Check out the article.

Freedom - the best organizer

Few in the western world would argue with this principle on a political level.  In fact, many of us would die for it.  All over the world we have seen the demise of societies that are over organized, controlled and managed from a tight hierarchy.  Communism was a disaster and most socialist states are synonymous with lame productivity and limited freedoms.  True freedom allows those who desire to organize do so, and allows those who desire for something better to go ahead and build it.

So why do I mention this on a blog about spiritual movements?  Because I believe that the same principle applies to the church at large and it is high time we accessed this power.   In many ways the church at large operates like this (who is gonna stop you from starting something new? - no one!), but organizationally we are caught in an old modern form that, I believe, greatly limits our success.

There are many among us who would say that our problem is that we do not know what to do – and to a degree that may be true.  A better explanation is that we are not organized in a way that allows us to maximize what could be done.  We spend a ton of time managing structures, systems and people.  What if we didn't?  

A Struggle for 5000

One of our stated goals in the Campus Ministry is to get to 5000 movements (a mile marker on our way to everhwere). In 1992, we were at about 180 and then we began to move toward all the schools we traditionally had not targeted. In 10 years we jumped over 1000 under a new structure some new ministry philosophy (well, the philosophy was not that new, it was simply finding student leaders from a distance - rather than working on just one campus). We are at about 1500 now.

Now I am an optimist at heart. I believe we (and certianly God) can do anything. He is looking to us for faith to believe and act on that which may seem impossible. So, in light of that, 5000 in just playing around.

But on the other hand, I think we have some serious rethinking to do if we are to achieve this mile marker. Prayer is a part, Revival is essential and Boldness in faith must happen. But even with this, it seems difficult to scale what we are doing to this number - much less 'everywhere'

Here is what I mean. Recently we did a little impormpto survey with each regional team. One of the questions related to how many teams were needed to get to the all the students. The answers were interesting. No matter the size of the region (we vary from 750k - 2.1 million) the answer was between 20-30.

At the same time, there are only a few local teams in the country that coach more than 20 movements. Some do 10, many do 3-4, but most do 1-2.

Just for fun, lets say that we could move to a point where the average number of movements coached by each local team was 10 (I know this is a a stretch, but it is good for the numbers). So, if we have 10 regions, and each region has 30 teams and each team coaches 10 movements we get . . . . only 3000.

Even to get to 3000 we will have to have someone somewhere shift a paradigm or two. And even then, we are still just at 3k and trying to run what we have built (only harder and faster - doesn't that sounds fun). We will either need to add teams to regions, or ask teams to coach many more movements.

One of the reasons (and there are others) that this will prove difficult is because of our concept of coaching and heirarchy (or we could say 'span of care'). Individuals only have so much capacity for direct reporting relationships - it is hard to be directly responsible for the conduct of 50 people - a more realistic number may be 10-15.

Looking at the size of regions and numbers of teams each region wanted - it is interesting that there was not much correlation between student populations and number of teams. My hunch is that, because of how we view direct reporting, that each region is only able to supervise a maximum of 30 and this artificially caps the numbers of teams a region sees as needed. If you go much beyond this, it really taxes our reporting system.

Of course this is part of the issue we run into on for each local team. With our current coaching philosophy, anything beyond 10-15 seems daunting (ok, Ben Rivera does like 50, but is approaching jedi status). For the rest of us, this can seem like the old 'more bricks' scenario.

So lets say we are winning, building and sending as well as planting and growing new movements - and doing all of this well. We still run into a roadblock of scalability. We are simply adding new stuff, not really multiplying from our starting point. If we have to have new movements / teams report directly, then we will be hard pressed to move beyond 3000 . . . . much less 5000 . . . not to mention everywhere.

However, I do have hope - and lots of it. I think that we simply need to rethink the way we go about getting to students and releasing students (and teams) to run after the mission. This is the point where things could get messy. But messy, with volume, is what gets the job done. Not to mention, this is what 'movement' is really like.

The question is, will we have the courage to move this way?

Crocker blogging King of the Hill

Very funny - and oh so true. Thanks Scott

Crocker Chronicle

Some Have Asked

Often people have asked me what is meant by 'emergent' and 'missional' - Andrew Jones (tallskinnykiwi) does a good job outlining some definitions and history.
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emerging
- a nod to the newness of the movement and its fluidity
- it is coming up out the previous wave of ministry, but not necessarily in protest to it.
- it displays characteristics of emergent behavior that are evident in any system when chaos finds order through self-organisation and other emergent criteria.
- the ministry is a biblically informed contextual response to the local emerging cultural context - something similar to what the wider church used to call youth culture, Gen X culture, postmodern culture, etc.
- it addresses issues of culture as well as mindset (postmodern) and life-stage (youth, genX).

Emerging Church can be used as generally as all ministries involved in contextual ministry to the younger generation or the current culture (Gen X, Gen Y, GenNext, GenText, youth culture, postmodern, alternative culture, alt. worship, fresh expressions, etc). With such a broad definition, it is therefore possible to have emergent type churches that are not emerging and emerging churches that are not emergent. If the definition includes new aggregations of believers that form around online communities and conversations, then even some anti-emerging church sites might actually be an example of cyber-community and emerging church rather than objective critics of the movement.

Some definitions of 'emerging church' are stricter and use "emerging" or "emergent" to describe those new churches that display emergent behavior (decentralized leadership, simple structures, etc) Some use it to refer to churches and networks that align with a a particular emerging church network or festival or conference.

The term Emerging Church has been around for decades. One of the books on my shelf is "The Emerging Church" (1970) by Bruce Larson and Ralph Osbourne. Another is "The Emerging Church in Ephesians" (1980) by A. John Carr. Dan Kimball's book "The Emerging Church" (2003) helped to jump-start the word in USA.

But I feel it was around 2001 when the word exploded onto the radar screens of the church. Young Leaders in USA had changed their name to Emergent, A number of European networks from UK, Spain and Germany gathered in Frankfurt for an event called "Emerge", Karen Ward started a web site called emergingchurch.org (2002?) and in Austin the Boaz Project hosted the Epicenter roundtable for leaders of emerging church networks.

But the new forms of churches now generally recognized as "emerging" or "emergent" trace their history back to the 80's and are precedented by models first seen in the late 60's as a response to the countercultural movement. The similarity between early churches in the first century and their counterparts in the emerging church have led some to refer to emerging churches as "post-Christendom", referring to the Christendom period in Western culture from Constantine to the recent past.
More: What is Emergent?, Emergant, Emergent Vocabulary

missional
you will often hear the word "missional' added to "emerging" to form the description "emerging-missional church"

The word "Missional" has been adopted by many North American missiologists and theologians. According to Milfred Minnitrea (Shaped by God's Heart), the first person to use the word "missional" was Charles Van Engen (missiology professor at Fuller School of World Mission) who referred to "missional relationships" in 1991. He was followed during the nineties by the contributors from the Gospel in Our Culture Network on the Missional Church, often with a passing reference to Missio Dei and British Lesslie Newbigin. Young Leaders (Pre-EmergentVillage) also used the word missional with an acknowlegement of its roots in Missio Dei.

'Mission Shaped Church' became popular in UK. The book of the same title ties the history of the name to missio dei. Newbigin, btw, did not use the Mission Dei terminology very much but certainly helped in the formation of its thinking and impact on mission in a post-modern, post-Christendom society.

Missio Dei, meaning the Mission of God, was coined by Karl Hartenstein in the 1950's, immediately after and in response to the IMC missions conference at Willingen, Germany. It tapped into the trinitarian emphasis of Barth and Hartenstein in the 1930's and moved the thinking beyond the ecclesiocentrism and individualism of the time. The emphasis was put on God's mission rather than ours - we participate with the Triune God in what he is doing. Jacques Matthey is the unofficial guardian of the Missio Dei concept.
emerging-missional

The term, "emerging-missional church", favored by Aussies and Kiwis, seems to tie together the two strands of missio dei and missio ecclesiae in one phrase. Without the missional, emergent is just style. Without the emergent, missional pours the new wine backwards into old containers, and often without regard to context.

Thats why I like to keep the combination of words intact.

Bob Roberts

I like this quote from Bob Roberts - from the National Church Planters conference in Orlando (I was only able to make it for one day).

You have a Church Planting Movement when it’s growing so fast you can’t count it. It’s growing so fast that your systems can’t cope.

You would be wrong to think that church planting movements are a white man’s idea. They are not. We are trying to implement in the West what we are seeing God do all over the developing world. We have been the last to get it.

Decisiveness (from Fast Company)

Leading Ideas: Decisiveness Generates Momentum

"The percentage of mistakes in quick decisions is no greater than in long-drawn-out vacillation, and the effect of decisiveness itself 'makes things go' and creates confidence."
-- Anne O'Hare McCormick (1882-1954), First woman to win a Pulitzer prize for journalism

Contrary to popular belief, your decisions don't drive your long term success - your decisiveness does. Said another way, when you reach a crossroads on any issue, the act of choosing creates power, not the choice itself. The issue is momentum. No matter what you choose, when you commit boldly with conviction, you create momentum. When you hesitate you don't. And success is built on momentum.

One of the most common breeding grounds for indecision is to-do lists. One of my clients had over 100 items on his when we first met. He wanted me to help him create systems to get them all done. I told him the most powerful system I know is the 3 D's - Do it, Delegate it, or Delete it. We carved up his list and actually deleted 75% of it in about 30 minutes (including some items that had been on there for 2 years!) The process was painful for him, but ultimately very freeing. "It was cathartic," he later admitted. "Actually making the choice NOT to do all those things took a huge weight off my shoulders and allowed me to focus on things that were truly important."

Try This:

1. Get a copy of your to-do list
2. Be decisive about each item - are you going to Do it, Delegate it, or Delete it
3. Write out steps and a timeline for things you need to do.
4. Do it
5. Recognize that the more decisive you are, the easier the process gets.

Six Observation from One of the Biggest Movements in History

This is total plagarism from Steve Addison, but this summary jumped off the page for me.

Last month marked 100 years since the Asuza Street revival that launched Pentecostalism as a movement (and loads of controversy since). Towards a Pentecostal Missiology for the Majority World by Allan Anderson does a great job of unpacking what happened in the Pentocoastal movement of Christianity that makes it so diversified, rapid and prolific. Addison points out that this is perhaps the 20th Century’s most successful movement of any kind.


Addison's summary is worth the read. Here are the main observations from this movement.

1. Pneumatocentric Mission (Spirit Directed)
2. Dynamic Mission Praxis (Spirit can and will operate in power - signs and wonders)
3. Evangelism: Central Missiological Thrust (sow broadly and rapidly)
4. Contextualization of Leadership (expecting quick transition)
5. Mobilization in Mission (democratization of Christianity - everyone plays)
6. Contextual Missiology (uh . . . the style of “freedom in the Spirit” that characterizes Pentecostal liturgy has contributed to the appeal of the movement in many different contexts)

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I really like this, but I have always been somewhat resistant to #2. A few strange experiences and it became easy for me to write off the whole category. What is striking to me is the emphasis on the spirit and how that sounds very much like the history of campus crusade. However, I think many of us would agree that this does not necessarily characterize us today. I think there are at least three reasons why - Moving away from teaching on the Spirit, an intellectual / thinking based theology and an uncomfortableness with the chaotic operation that the Spirit often brings to things He leads.

But now I feel convicted.

Speaking of Simple

I just stumbled across this note I had copied from MegaShift - on simple.

The Catholic, Orthodox, and old-line Protestant churches tend to parcel out empowerment rather sparingly. They are all run from the top down, with leadership mainly by position rather than by example or gifting. Typically, to even get started as a pastor or priest, you have to earn a three-year seminary degree. Authority and power don't just flow from God's thrown straight to you. This limitation puts members of the more traditional churches at a great disadvantage in adjusting to the string of a million and one emergencies we call life.

In the new, more open churches, you don't have to wait for someone to give you permission for every little thing. You just do it

MEGASHIFT by Steve Rutz pg. 89

Poeple Get Ready

This is a great snapshot of the future of ministry. NGL - The New Generation Latino. Are we ready for thes young leaders!

Five Global Trends

Five encouraging developments worldwide

Often the best news doesn't make it into the newspapers. At the start of 2006, Joel News International lists a simple top-5 most encouraging developments.

1. An unprecedented growth of the prayer movement worldwide;
2. God's Spirit being poured out in many places, marked by conversion and miracles;
3. Many new partnerships and networks are being formed on a city-, nation- and even continental level, linking prayer, saturation church planting and frontline missions;
4. More and more Christians, churches and ministries are engaging in a transformational process to bring godly change to their societies;
5. Radically simple and innovative forms of church are springing up in many places, reaching the unreached.


Source: http://www.joelnews.org

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I think the toughest for us to deal with will be #2 & #5. There is something about the miraculous that is really troubling to the evangelical world. I mean, we would all say that God can (and does) still do miracles, but the frequency and verasity that is being shown worldwide is a bit alarming to our tride and true ways of doing missional business. I think we are going to have to embrace the reality of the gospel going forth in power if are to fully understand how God is choosing to move in this day.

Combine that with the simple expansion of the kingdom through simple people and you have a very ACTS like set up. Many villages and communities were won in Asia minor by the display of healings and miracles . . . and many of the new leaders of these churches could not even read. They could not even have a quiet time the way that we typically teach students to have a quiet time. I am sure they pondered the new truths they heard and simply listened to God to hear more. This is very simple - and in may ways scares us to death!

I am not sure why. Part of it is our desire to have good sound doctrine - and even to protect doctrine (as if God is having trouble doing this for himself). Another part is our need for control. Our western idea of having things structured and organized. This is neither. A third aspect is credit. It is hard to point to one person, organization or event that can take credit for what happens with this kind of simple expansion - and I think that somehow troubles us (ok, it troubles me - you can be troubled by your own troubles).


But at the end of the day the lost are being saved (and the blind are given sight). It is hard to argue with the numbers and the passion of the church growing in these areas. Not seminary trained, no buildings and no professional help - and yet the church expands at an explosive rate.

Dinner with Neil

I had the great honor and privilege to have dinner with Neil Cole the other night. I heard, on a whim, that he was headed to Otown for a church planting conference. Of course, as providence would have it, that day was a Campus Crusade for Meetings day. I asked my compadre John Waidley (Intercultural Ministries guru in California) for Neil’s contact info – on the outside chance I could grab some time with him.

So on Monday evening I found myself sitting with Neil and Mark and Kristi Gauthier, Carrie Walker and the fantabulous Linda. And I have to say – I love the way Neil thinks and the information he has put to paper. And it is not just information – he is not just spouting theory, but really trusting the Lord to build organic rapidly multiplying church movements. We bought Neil a big steak and then proceeded to ask him so many questions he could barely eat the thing.

There were many nuggets of wisdom put forth, but here is one I found intriguing: Neil asked . . . . What is your goal? If it is to plant 50 churches [movements] then add couple of more zeros. If your strategy cannot get you to 500,000 then you are doing addition and not multiplication. If you start with the essence of multiplication, then top end is attainable.

Neil – thanks for the time. I look forward to more conversations.

World Evangelism Today

Check out this link – interesting:   http://guide.gospelcom.net/resources/populationticker.php

Students

Every once in awhile this is worth repeating. Just to keep us in the game.

· Statistically 90% of all Christians come to Christ before the age of 25.
· Students are the most open to the Gospel and if trained to serve Christ with a missions mind set today will serve Him with a missions mindset tomorrow
· Students are the future government leaders, business leaders, educational leaders, local church leaders who will lead our cities and nations.
· Nearly every great revival and missionary movement started on the campus with students

UCLA! - Jaeson Ma

This is worth posting from Jaeson Ma – seeing God work at UCLA


Dear CCN prayer team,

The below is a report of the Holy Spirit's outpouring at UCLA in the last 10 days. I have not been able to respond to email because outbreaks of revival are taking place on campus and I must focus my energies and time there. Please pray for me and our team as we continue on the work at UCLA believing God to start a new awakening here & on college campuses across this nation. Pray for our protection, strength and wisdom to carry on. Something is in the air, it smells like revival.

Under the mercy,
Jaeson Ma

[www.campuschurch.net, www.campustransformation.com ]

UCLA IS SHAKING!!!
24-7 Prayer at UCLA Shifts the Spiritual Atmosphere!
Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
Hosea 6:3

A few months back UCLA established a day of 24-7prayer for campus revival. Ever since this happened, nothing has been the same. The Holy Spirit has been pouring out His Spirit on this campus like no other. At the same time, our ministry ( www.campustransformation.com, www.campuschurch.net) has tracked over 80+ 24-7prayer rooms on different major universities all across the nation since the month of January. Something is stirring, the power of God is falling and the Holy Spirit is preparing a generation for a last great awakening that will shake the nations and finish the Great Commission in our generation.

We recognize without prayer nothing is possible, with prayer all things can be done. Prayer is the fuel behind our evangelism. The below is a report of what the Holy Spirit has been doing in great grace and great power at the UCLA campus. We are not just satisfied with good prayer rooms we want to see the power of God encounter a generation & we are seeing it happen right before our eyes here in Los Angeles once again. Yes, one hundred years after the Azusa Street Revival in LA an expectancy of God's visitation upon Los Angeles is pregnant in the hearts of many once again. Yes, 50 years since the beginning of the greatest student spiritual revolution started on the UCLA campus by Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ we are at the threshold of another great student revival awakening. Do not relent, press in with prayer, fasting and a bold Gospel witness. The below is my own story of the powerful things God has been doing through a small band of students in our house church network who are united with other like minded Christ followers at the UCLA campus.

Completely Satisfied yet Utterly Dissatisfied
When I came to you brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
What has been happening at UCLA the last 10 days is unprecedented. The spirit of God is stirring and we are experiencing a new outbreak of revival like we have never seen. In the last week we have witnessed scores of salvations in the middle of campus, divine healings and the power of God break in. This is just the beginning of something great. Please let me give a preface to what has been happening.

I thought I was losing my mind the last week. I had become so dissatisfied with the state of American Christianity and the lack of power in the preached Gospel. Why do we preach the Gospel and yet there is no response? Why do we see the power of God operating in the book of Acts but we don't see the power of God operating today? Where is the power & presence of God in my generation? I had lost it¡K

I couldn't do my regular ministry duties. I could no longer just settle for Church meetings, Bible studies and casual prayer meetings. I wanted something more. There had to be more. I kept reading 1 Corinthians 2 and Acts 4. Paul never preached with human wisdom, human knowledge, he preached with the power of God. Yet, today all we have is human knowledge from our pulpits, but no Holy Spirit power. A Chinese house church leader once visited some major mega-churches in Los Angeles California and when asked, "What do you think? He responded with, 'It's amazing what your American Churches can do without the Holy Spirit." Lord I pray for mercy on Your luke warm Church here in the United States. Last week I read Acts 4 over and over again.

Now, Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy Servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were in one heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. Acts 4:29-33

The apostles preached the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power. I am desperate to see that great power at work in my generation. If not, I don't know what to live on for. I did not sign up for a program, an organization or a religious institution. I found Christ at the age of 17 & was radically changed. He transformed me, encountered me, saved me from going to jail and I have never looked back. But here I am again, desperate as the day I met Him. God where is your power in my generation?
I became so desperate last week. I simply prayed a prayer of Jeremiah 6:16
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."

I lost it. I dropped everything and went back to the place of prayer. For days on end I just sought God's presence in the morning and through the night. I found rest for my soul. I found His presence and He had become everything once again. The only way I could describe how it felt and how I feel at this moment is this, "completely satisfied and utterly dissatisfied."

I am completely satisfied in His presence, but I am utterly dissatisfied with the state of Christianity in my generation. Oh God, oh God, oh God¡Kif you don't do something, I don't know what else to do? Where are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in this generation? 40,000 students at UCLA and the majority do not know this glorious presence I know. Millions in my generation are leaving the Church because they have encountered a dead religion instead of encountering the manifest presence of God. I am distraught and God you must do something. I only live for one thing, to see your name lifted High, to see revival come, to experience heaven on earth, if not, take me home. Revival or death! I don't mean to sound extreme, but this is how I feel.
This last week at UCLA I sensed a stirring and experienced a Holy Spirit power I have not seen in a long while. God is here, He is moving and hell is shaking. This is just the beginning. I feel like we have struck water. The well of revival is stirring, but we have to keep pressing in. May God do what He did with Bill Bright 50 years ago on this campus once again! Start a spiritual revolution among students on campuses all across the United States of America, but this time even greater.

The 7 foot Cross on Campus
I thought I was hearing things. But through a series of confirmations I sensed the Holy Spirit tell me to bring a 7 foot Cross into the middle of Bruin Walk and preach. A sister in our house church on campus had found this 7 foot Cross and borrowed it for our 24-7 UCLA prayer room. When I saw it, something in me stirred. I knew it was meant to be carried and preached with. I asked her if she could ask the owners to let us use it for outdoor preaching on campus. She asked the owners and they gave it to us graciously. This 7 foot Cross had been sitting in my room for over 2 months. I did not feel led to carry it on campus just yet. But this last week I was compelled to bring it out on Thursday April 13. I had told no one that God had purposed in my heart to take out this 7 foot cross to campus. But the night before Thursday a student leader asked me if I would go with them to worship and preach on campus Friday because it was "Good Friday." When I heard this brother tell me it was Good Friday, I thought to myself, "If there is anytime to bring out a 7 foot Cross on campus it would be Easter." I was encouraged, yet scared. What would people think? I would be labeled a freak, a fool and fundamentalist. I didn't care. I just had to take the chance to be obedient.

Thursday morning I get out to campus. The night before I had emailed out our house church to pray for me because I would be at Bruin Walk from 12-2pm to pray and seek the Lord direction. As I began to walk down Bruin Walk holding this large cross, students everywhere started looking at me with funny looks. Some laughed, others jeered, but I kept on walking.
I got into the middle of campus and with few of our student leaders we began to worship on the Bruin Walk steps. It was difficult to worship, it was hard to stay focused. The spiritual warfare was felt, but we did our best to keep worshipping and praying. A few of us got up to preach, but there was no effect. Students walked right by us. Others laughed as they saw us holding this large cross & preaching.

After about two and a half hours of no response I became disillusioned. I thought to myself, why does this Cross have no power? Why do I not see the book of Acts happen the way Paul and the early apostles did? Is it just because we are in a different generation and we are to resort to seeker sensitive, relational evangelism? I'm all for personal evangelism, but no, no, no, no, there has got to be more than this! I had lost it¡K

At about 3:30pm I was just standing still on the Bruin Walk grass hill with this large cross on my shoulder. I then made my way down to the Bruin Walkway where all the organizations were tabling. I began to walk up and down the walkway singing to myself my favorite Lifehouse song. "You are all I want, You are all I need, You are everything, everything!" Over and over again, I sang to myself for about a good half hour. I wasn't singing to get attention, I was singing to God. I had lost my sense of reality. I didn't know anymore what was real and what was not real. I just knew God had to be God and He had to do something.

All of a sudden I began to talk about God out loud. I began to share about the Cross. I shared about the power of the Cross and that it is not just a piece of wood. It is not just a religious symbol or something you hang around your neck for coolness sake. No, it is the power of God unto salvation! I preached passionately for a half hour to no one. I just preached to the air because I was so frustrated that the cross in the eyes of UCLA was just another religious ornament. Then something of heaven broke open.
People began to listen. Maybe 60-80 students started gathering to listen. One girl was sitting on the steps by herself. I preached to her. She was listening intently as I explained the power of the Cross. She began to understand that the Cross came with a price. It cost the Son of God His very life and blood. Others started gathering to listen. A fraternity member I had been praying for was gripped by the message. He almost converted on the spot when I challenged him, he said he wanted to, but still needed time to seek more. I prayed for him. Next thing you know, the UCLA TV station is filming the whole scene and asking to interview me.

After preaching an hour or so, a crowd of a hundred had gathered. The presence of God was thick and the Bruin walkway was silent once again, like it was earlier in the year when we preached outdoors. I didn't feel the need to challenge them to respond, I just needed to share my heart on how I felt about the Cross. Many did respond though, including a Muslim student, a whole Pilipino dance group and Latin sorority. When I had told the crowd I was done preaching, I walked down the Bruin Walk and the whole crowd began to clap for me. I thought it was interesting, I didn't know what to make of it. I just knew I had to share the message of the Cross. I had to get out my frustration to let UCLA know this Cross has power and it cost blood. It cost the blood of God's Son. Later, the UCLA TV station interviewed me asking me what made my message different than those other street preachers who condemn others to hell. I simply shared that I had no strategy, but simply was compelled to the love of God in my heart for all to hear. I preached the Gospel when they interviewed me and who knows how many students watched it and got saved. Whatever the case, in my spirit, I knew something had shifted. The heavens were opened over Bruin Walk in a different way. This leads me to the next part of the story where the real miracles begin¡K

Divine Healing & Prophetic Evangelism breaks out @ UCLA
"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel---not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of is power." 1 Corinthians 1:17
"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." 1 Corinthians 2:4-5
"But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you." 1 Corinthians 14:24-25
The Gospel was meant to be preached with power, not with persuasive words. This last week God broke out in divine healing and prophetic power in the middle of UCLA. What happened was like it came straight out of the book of Acts. This is only the beginning¡K.

Monday - Asian Fraternity encounters the power of God
On Monday I was compelled again to bring out a 7 foot wooden Cross to the middle of the UCLA campus. I didn't feel like brining it. But when does your flesh ever feel like brining out a 7 foot Cross to preach with? When I got to the middle of Bruin Walk students everywhere were staring, laughing and giving me weird looks. I didn't care. I was at a place in my Christianity that if I didn't see God show up in power like He did in the book of Acts I wasn't willing to go on. I met up with a few of our house church student leaders and some of them began to preach. There was not much response from the onlookers. Once again, I became disgruntled in my spirit so I took the Cross and began to walk around Bruin Walk praying silently to myself. For over an hour I stood in the middle of Bruin Walk, holding the cross and staring at the hundreds of student organizations tabling. I felt Jesus heart of compassion for them, for they were like lost sheep without a shepherd.

One student organization tabling in particular was one of the largest Asian Fraternities. I had been praying for the salvation of this fraternity for over a few months. As I stood there praying for them I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, "Today I give you this fraternity!" I thought to myself, could this be? I began to envision myself preaching the Gospel in front of their table and seeing members call out to God for their salvation. Then it happened¡K

As I was standing their praying to myself in the middle of Bruin Walk I began to pray out loud. Pretty soon, my out loud prayer, turned into preached words and then into a rap. I had never done this before but I began to rap out loud the Gospel message. It sounded like slam poetry, but the message of the Gospel was communicated clearly through each rhyme and sentence. Students around the Bruin Walk began to stop and listen. In a moment it looked like a crowd of 100 had gathered to listen. Next thing, I found myself in front of this Asian fraternity table and preaching the Gospel directly to them. There were maybe a dozen or more frat members and they were all listening to me preach for at least one hour and a half. I shared about the meaning of passion and the suffering Jesus went through to save our souls. I explained the Cross is not just a religious symbol, but the power of God unto salvation. I shared my life story and called the entire crowd to Lordship in Christ and repentance towards God. By then, Bruin

Walk had been dead silent for over one hour listening to me preach the Gospel. As I gave the challenge to commit to Christ, students everywhere began to raise their hands to give their lives to Jesus. It must have been at least a dozen and half committing their lives to Christ. More importantly, many of the members of the Asian fraternity raised their hands to give their lives to Jesus just as I saw beforehand in my spirit. It was a holy moment. They prayed out loud with me and when they had done so, I shouted for joy! I explained angels were here and in heaven rejoicing at their decision. No one wanted to leave, so I continued to preach the kingdom.

In my heart I felt led to teach them how to pray. I was amazed, all around the hundred over students continued to listen to me teach in the middle of Bruin Walk. I then went on to teach about the power of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues, the power to cast out demons and to heal the sick. It was at this point a divine out break of miracles happened¡K
Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding 1 Corinthians 14:13-15

As I preached about the power of the Holy Spirit I felt inspired to speak a message in tongues. I began to speak out loud a divine message in tongues from my spirit. I asked God to give me the interpretation once the tongue was released. I spoke with my understanding and the interpretation spoke of God's hand being sovereign over creation, His power to do all things and the need to forgive others. At this point, many all around the Bruin Walk were coming under the power of God and were beginning to tear up. I knew at this moment the Holy Spirit wanted me to pray for the brothers in this large Asian fraternity. Looking at them, I asked them if I could pray for them, they all nodded. I walked up and stretched out my hands to pray a prayer of blessing over each.

Once I began to pray, immediately I received a word of knowledge about one of the fraternity members there having a mother who was sick and needed prayer. I asked, which one of you has a mother who is sick in this fraternity? There were maybe a little more than a dozen frat brothers there and one raised his hand. He told me his name, his mothers name and then I said, "The sickness is cancer isn't it?" He said, yes! The moment this word of knowledge went forth the entire crowd was astonished. One fraternity member who was not a Christian began to break down crying uncontrollably. I looked at all of them and told them to immediately pray and believe his mother would be miraculously healed.

I began to explain that it was God who knows all, is sovereign over all, and has the power to heal. They were all bewildered. Then I looked to my left and saw one of the frat brothers who listened intently the whole time sitting on the table with crutches. I knew in my spirit God wanted to heal him. I asked him, "Why do you have crutches?" He said, "I think I broke my foot yesterday playing basketball, I can't walk or move my foot at all and it hurts like hell!" I told him, "Jesus has the power to heal the sick and I'm going to lay my hands on your foot right now and you will be healed." The moment I laid my hands on his broken foot I felt the power of the Holy Spirit shoot through my hands. I knew God had healed his foot. I told him to immediately take of his crutches, stand on his two feet and walk. He looked at me like, "Are you for real?" I told him, "Yes, get up right now and walk in Jesus name!" He got off the table without his crutches and was at first hesitant to take a step, but I encouraged him to step out in faith. As he took his first step I asked him what is happening? I said, "The pain in your foot is leaving isn't it?" In shock he responded, "The pain is leaving!" I said, "Keep on walking and the pain will completely go away!" A miracle happened. He began to walk all around the Bruin Walk in front of over a hundred onlookers. The entire crowd was in awe. As he took each step, his eyes began to well up with tears. He kept saying, "The pain is leaving, it's almost completely gone!" The power of God was healing him and it was a witness for all to see the miracle working power of Jesus.
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:30-31

Many of the fraternity members were locked in, watching, amazed and in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The one frat brother who was crying uncontrollably began to explain to me, "Many people have shared the Gospel with me, but I could never believe in a God I couldn't see, but when you told my friend that his mom had cancer, I knew that was impossible, because we don't even know that!" Paul said, "That your faith would not rest in the wisdom of men, but the power of God."
We owe this generation an encounter with the power of God. If we think it is only seeker sensitive evangelism strategies that will win the lost, then we are going to lose a generation. I am convinced God's word is true, that if we preach the Gospel He will confirm it with signs, wonders and miracles.

What happened at UCLA Bruin Walk this Monday was proof. More than half a dozen of the fraternity members gave us their contact information & have committed to meeting regularly to learn obedience to Christ. We will now plant a house church among their community.

That same day, an Indian student was listening to me preach the Gospel the whole time at Bruin Walk. While I shared the need to repent, be baptized in water and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), he immediately, rose his hands in the air and said baptize me! We took a large water bottle and immediately poured water over his head and baptized him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He began to give praise to God and was a public testimony for all to see. It was a beautiful moment.
Many more God encounters happened on Monday, too many to count. The Holy Spirit has been pouring out His presence at UCLA like we have never seen. There is something in the air and it is the power of God. This generation is hungry for a real encounter with the Holy Spirit and not a dead religion or social program. We must contend for heaven to encounter earth. This can not just be talk it must be put in action. God's power does not come without spiritual violence.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force Matthew 11:12

If we want to see God's power show up on our campuses there is a price to pay. We have to press in, pray, fast, do spiritual violence and soak in the presence of the Holy Spirit until we are so filled with Him, nothing but His presence and authority flows out of us. When that presence flows out of us, it manifests itself in a bold Gospel witness where we see the Cross preached with power, sicknesses healed, demons cast out and souls saved soundly. Now is not the time to hide in our prayer meetings. If we truly believe for God's power and revival to show up when we pray, then we must step out in faith to see it happen. Faith without actions is dead. A revival prayer meeting on our campus that does not result in us taking the Gospel to the lost¡Kis just a prayer meeting. We must be moved from prayer to action. By sustaining both, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we will see our campuses flipped upside down for the glory of God! I challenge every student who reads this to go out two by two on their campuses and preach the Gospel. Whether it been in the middle of campus, in a dorm, a classroom or anywhere, believe God to encounter the lost! Step out in faith, preach, prophesy, let the Holy Spirit lead you to pray for the sick and down trodden! Change your campus in the power of the Holy Spirit!

Oh God, would you raise up a generation of fools! Those who will be fools for the Gospel, those who would not so much care about their reputation, but would only care about advancing the kingdom of God in their generation. No matter what the cost! This is the hope we have, what are doing with it? Are we going to settle for just good church meetings, campus fellowship gatherings, social events, outreach activities week after week, school year after school year? I didn't sign up for a Gospel without power. God is God and let Him be God. Stop putting God in a box with your theologies & believe Him to be the God of the Bible, the God of Acts, and the God of now! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and I refuse to believe anything less, but to see him walk the streets of our campuses in divine power.
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son my bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:12-13

Jesus may you send revival to my generation. Send revival to the college campuses of America. Send revival to this nation and bring glory to your Father. This is just the beginning¡KGod continues to move daily at UCLA there is more to come....
Tuesday ¡V Latin Fraternity encounters the spirit of prophecy
Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10
But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 1 Corinthians 14:3

On Tuesday I went out once again with the 7 foot cross to the middle of the UCLA campus. As usual, I had no plan but to seek the face of the Lord. There were a few of us from Passion Church and students from other fellowships meeting at Bruin Walk to worship and pray. As we went out there one of our student leaders Sam began to preach in the middle of the square. He spoke with passion & there were some listening. After a time he felt led to walk up to students to speak with them. I followed suit. I didn't sense the Holy Spirit telling me to outdoor preach that day, but waited on Him for guidance. As I walked down the Bruin Walk I saw one of the Asian fraternities passing out flyers for an event they were promoting. I told them I would help pass out flyers for them and they laughed, but I really did it.

It was fun, but also strategic. I began to announce the hip hop event they had going on with jokes and humor. The surrounding organizations were laughing with me. One of them was a Latin fraternity. They are the largest Latino fraternity on campus. I asked them if they wanted to attend the event and struck up conversation with them.

I began to ask them if they went to church, some did, most were of Catholic origin. For some reason one student begins to open up to me. He tells me that his best friend had been killed in Mexico over the weekend after I shared with him about God's love. I began to share with him comforting scriptures from Psalm 23 & 91. I asked if I could pray for him and as I did, the Holy Spirit gave me a few words of knowledge to comfort him. He showed me, "his best friend was a child hood friend who grew up on the same block with him, both their parents were very close, he and his best friend played a lot of sports together and that his friend's death was quick and not painful." As I spoke these words of knowledge over him he began to cry, he affirmed that each was true, and at that moment we both knew God was present. The funeral was the next day and I know Holy Spirit used that moment to give him comfort for the trial. He was so thankful. As his other frat brothers witnessed this we were able to get their contact information and get a few of them to start a Bible study to learn more about Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

That was Tuesday, more of God's power to come on Wednesday¡K

Wednesday ¡V Christians at UCLA unite to worship in the public square!
"And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." 41Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:40-47

On Wednesday we tasted a bit of Acts 2:46 so continuing daily with one accord in the temple. Christian students from different campus fellowships and local churches gathered together in the middle of the Bruin Plaza to worship God together in unity. From 12 noon to 2pm student leaders from different Christian groups gathered to worship, intercede, and declare God's glory over UCLA. It was a humble yet powerful beginning. All together maybe 50 students had come together, but it was a powerful bunch. As they gathered on a grassy hill next to the Bruin Walk steps you could sense the unity & very presence of God. The praise went up and it could be heard above all the other student organization activities surrounding the Bruin walkway.
Some students began to exhort the Christian's there through Scripture. They shared and declared God's Word while explaining the purpose and power of worship. They shared how blessed we were to have the freedom to worship in public and declare God's fame without fear of persecution. I can't explain to you in words what I felt at that moment. It was an Acts 2 moment where the Body of Christ had truly come together in unity, love, prayer and purpose. For when God's people will love one another, the whole world will know we are His disciples. That is what happened¡K

The early church did not meet inside the four walls of a building as we do today. Instead, they met daily in the temple courts, which was a public space for religious activity. The temple court was full of different philosophies, religious practices and public speech of non-believers. Similarly, the courtyards of our nation's universities can be likened to modern temple courts where bands of students share their philosophies, beliefs and practices daily in the public. It was in this kind of public place the entire early church would gather daily to worship, pray, break bread and give themselves to the apostle's teachings. No wonder God added to their number daily! The early church had a citywide presence that was powerful & visible. The power of God was displayed daily in the public through the unity of the Church and the miracles of the believers. They had favor with all the people meaning those who were not of the faith. This means they must have been visibly in the public declaring their faith to the world. Those who were added to the Church daily were made healthy disciples from house to house in networks of simple house churches. It happened then it can and should happen now!

What happened at UCLA on Wednesday was to me a glimpse of the early church. As this band of 50 Christian students worshipped in unity thousands of UCLA students encountered the presence of God. Many walked by, many stopping to listen and some to watch. It was powerful. As we finished the time of public worship and declaration you could sense a wonder and awe in the atmosphere. I was walking down the Bruin Walk when an unbelieving student sitting on a table said, "Thank you for singing today, it was great!" I realized as I left the Bruin walkway we had Church in the public square of UCLA. It was more church than I had ever experienced in a long time. God was making Himself known and His glory famous to UCLA.

What would happen if daily hundreds or even thousands of Christ-followers worshipped God daily in the middle of our university campuses? Not to protest, not to promote, or to even evangelize. Rather, it was simply to worship God and do what the early Christians did: break bread, pray together, fellowship, devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, shared all things and showed compassion to the lost. This would transform our campuses and turn them upside down. The Church would be an unstoppable force of love in the eyes of the unbelievers. In the days to come, when the great revival hits the shores of our college campuses once again, you can be sure that daily outdoor worship, or may I say Church will be happening in the middle of our universities with hundreds and even thousands bringing glory to God daily! As souls are won, simple networks of house churches or missional communities will be established among every pocket of students on our universities and into our cities to disciple the great new harvest.

Thursday ¡V The Holy Spirit falls & fills students on Bruin Walk!
I was amazed when I witnessed the power of God encounter students on Bruin Walk again on Thursday. I really didn't expect God to show up with the same level of intensity as He did the days before, but our God goes from glory to glory. On Thursday I had arrived to campus late and got to Bruin Walk around 1:15pm. I only had 45 minutes till my next meeting, but I still wanted to believe that God could do anything, even in a short time.

Some students from other fellowships had heard what happened the previous days so they joined us to pray and worship in the public. About 1:45pm I was carrying the 7 foot cross again and began to walk up and down the Bruin walkway where all the student organizations were tabling. I started praying to myself asking God to move in power. Again my prayers turned into preached words and a crowd began to gather and listen.

This time I sensed I was to teach on the Holy Spirit. I began to preach on the person, power and presence of the Holy Spirit. I was then led to share about an encounter I had with almost being killed in a gang fight & having the hand of God save me from death. I continued to preach on the Holy Spirit and its power to save and deliver. Finally, as many students were gathered around & listening I challenged them to commit to Christ. I couldn't believe it, but again more than a dozen began to shout out the sinner's prayer as I led them into repentance and faith in Christ.

I asked the crowd if anyone was sick and needed prayer, believing God would heal them. As some students shared their sicknesses (minor colds, coughs, headaches) prayers for divine healing went forth. An interesting thing then happened. There was a woman who walked up and asked us to pray for her digestive stomach problems. Recognizing this opportunity to glorify Jesus I asked the entire Bruin walk crowd to believe by faith for her healing and straight out their hands to pray for her. They did it. After we prayed for her she said she immediately felt her bloated stomach was shrinking and being healed!

At this point, I knew the crowd was hungry to understand the power of the Holy Spirit. I shared with them the only way to live a righteous life was not in our own strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. I asked them if they wanted God's power to live holy and many all over raised their hands. I then told them they would have to surrender their lives to God so they could be filled with the Holy Spirit. With that, I challenged them to pray for the infilling and baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues or any other spirit given manifestation. All over students began to pray with me out loud for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Once they prayed I began to ask Jesus to fill them with the power of the Holy Spirit all over the Bruin Walk.
Behind me there were two brothers from the Latin fraternity who had prayed out loud the prayer. I asked them if I could lay hands on them to pray and they said yes. As a few of our student leaders and I prayed for him to receive the Holy Spirit he closed his eyes and came under the power of God. He looked back up at me and told me that he felt like waves of energy were going through his body. Then he said he could feel his tongue moving and wanting to pray out loud. I knew he was being filled with God's Spirit!
He then looked at me and said, "Hey pray for my friend!" So I turned to his friend and his friend prayed with me to receive the Holy Spirit. Again, he looked up and said he could a feel a warm presence over his body. I told him it was the presence of the Holy Spirit. I said how do you feel? he smiled and said, "Great!"

The same thing happened as I went to go pray for another Asian fraternity member who prayed the prayer also. We prayed on the Bruin Walk steps to receive the power of the Holy Spirit and he was touched deeply. Immediately, he decided to join the house church we had planted among their fraternity community. God is good!

More and more students all over Bruin walk that day committed to Christ were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and are now being grafted into the family of God.

What has happened in the past week is unprecedented at UCLA. We hear of reports of God moving in power through other Christ followers all over campus. In my spirit I believe there is an "open heaven" over Bruin Walk. Since the beginning of the school year we have been praying and asking God to breakthrough in power. We are now beginning to see the fruit of these prayers. Students are open to the Gospel and desiring for the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is just the beginning. These last few days have been but a tiny glimpse of what God wants to pour out continually, daily and extravagantly in our generation. God wants to encounter this generation in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is jealous for their hearts and so must we be equally as jealous. Let us seek God relentlessly and pursue this generation fearlessly. I believe with all my heart we are at the tipping point and the beginning outpourings of the greatest revival this nation has ever witnessed. Another spiritual revolution is stirring. May we ask God to give us a passion for prayer, a passion for power in evangelism and a passion for planting simple churches to take in & multiply the harvest at this hour!

The Cost of Suffering for Revival
Revival does not come without suffering. Revival is warfare. It is a spiritual battle where the enemy will want to intimidate each one of you who contends for this vision. On the first Thursday when the Holy Spirit broke out at Bruin Walk there was a direct spiritual attack on my family back home. I will not get into details, but my mother was robbed and assaulted the same day the power of God broke out at UCLA. Interestingly, before I got out to the middle of campus on Thursday, I was reminded of my mother being spiritually and physically attacked in a similar way when God used me in Hong Kong and Taiwan two years ago to birth a revival among the youth. When I was reminded of this memory while walking to Bruin Walk, I stopped and prayed for my mother's safety and protection. Hours later I get the news she was robbed in front of our new home, assaulted, but by the grace of God was not seriously hurt.

I am thankful to God my mother is okay. Yet, I am furious at the enemy for violating my family. My mother is strong and full of faith. She even prayed for the robber who assaulted her afterwards for his salvation. I ask each of you to keep my family, especially my mother in your daily prayers. She is the most precious person in my life. Please I ask you for your daily prayers and protection for my family. Thank you.

Do you understand the cost? There is a cost to revival. There is a price to pay and a real battle to be fought. But whatever the enemy throws at us, we will not give in or give up. We must press on towards the upward prize in Christ Jesus. We must not only start the race for revival, but finish the race for revival. In this world we may have troubles, trials and persecutions, but fear not Jesus Christ has overcome the world. Following Jesus is not a game, it is not a Sunday service ritual, it is a denying yourself, taking up your cross daily and following Him even unto death. You may pray and contend for revival and never see it happen, but maybe your children will. What are you contending for? Are you going after revival and God's purposes for your sake or His?

When things don't go your way, when you face a little persecution, when your prayers don't get answered or your hopes for revival get shot do you throw in the towel, or do you keep walking by faith? We must walk by faith and not by sight. This world's got nothing on me. I don't belong to it! I don't want or desire anything in it. Give me revival or give me death. By God's great mercy, may we be completely and utterly obedient to His will and His will alone, no matter what the cost. For He is worthy of our worship! Send revival to this generation Lord, start with me.
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Corinthians 4:8-12
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:34-38