Encouraging gathering...

Last Thursday was a very encouraging prayer gathering with the Hollywood pastors! More and more churches here in LA are hearing the voice of God calling them to restructure their entire system to focus upon small group communities. These groups go beyond just having another Bible study to actually working on living out the gospel in the community in which you are planted. We as Christians have heard so many sermons over our lifetime, and many of them are simply forgotten once we walk out the church doors. But what if we taught people with not only an emphasis on putting what they've learned into practice, but also an opportunity to do it? As one pastor recently revealed to me, "We as small group leaders don't move on to our next lesson until all of us in the group are putting the previous lesson into practice in our everyday lives."

What makes this so exciting for Los Angeles is that this city lacks "community" among believers. People go to church to get something for themselves and then leave. But what most of us who have ministered in this city for awhile have found is that "community" is exactly the thing that most people here long for. What if the church became that place where individuals found community -- all through the love, forgiveness, and grace of Jesus Christ? What if we became like the Church in the book of Acts and actually took care of one another's physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual needs? I am thankful that God is not only putting these very things on me and my wife's heart, but also upon the hearts of others in our area. May God guide us as we work His will out for His Body....