CHURCH OF THE HEART PODCAST: Giving It All Away

In this episode: Keith Giles of the Mission House Church in Santa Ana, California talks about being a part of a fellowship that has as its goal giving everything that the group takes in to help the poor in the community. Dan and Keith also discuss politics, millennials, Keith’s books and a few other things.

CLICK LINK HERE TO LISTEN>

A New Chapter: Saying Goodbye To Motel Church

In April of 2004, the Lord spoke to me as I was standing on the balcony of a Motel in Santa Ana. He said, “If you want this place, I’ll give it to you.”

I said, “Yes,” a heartbeat later, not fully realizing what I was getting myself into.

What followed over the next 13 years was astounding, confounding and beautiful.

In the beginning the manager didn’t want us there, so we prayed that the Lord would move his heart or move him out of the way.

Two weeks later, the man’s heart changed and we were welcomed in.

At first we simply blessed the children and their parents. We brought a bounce house, and played games and put on puppet shows, never once advertising our church or even preaching a sermon. We simply loved them as much as we could.

Eventually, as we hoped, some of them began to ask us, “Why do you come out here every month and do this for us?”

Our answer was always, “Because Jesus loves you so much and He wants you to know that He sees you and He cares about you and your family.”

Eventually another church came and joined us, about 3 years later. Saddleback Church, [yes, THAT one], wanted to serve breakfast and share the Gospel on Sunday mornings. We helped them get in good with the manager and I volunteered to preach once a month in their rotation.

That relationship eventually gave birth to an actual Motel Church that started meeting in the back parking lot and followed a “read through the scriptures and talk about it together” style service where the people were encouraged to read the Bible for themselves, ask questions, offer suggestions and even challenge the teacher if they wanted to. [And sometimes they wanted to.]

Later, other local churches came along and helped shoulder the load of the weekly Motel Church.

Eventually, Saddleback bowed out and others came to take their place.

We saw people’s lives transformed, hearts changed and wounds healed. We also saw heartbreak and defeat and disappointment. But mixed in with all of this was the steadfast love of Christ and the ever-present power of His Kingdom held wide open for any and all who wanted to live in it and walk with Jesus.

People were baptized in the swimming pool. Some found a way out of the motel. Others found contentment to bloom where they were planted. Still others discovered a God who loved them more than they ever dared to hope or imagine and their lives were forever changed.

Above all, we were the most changed from the inside-out. I mean, I was the most changed. The Lord taught me things I would never have been able to learn from a book or a sermon.

I learned what true courage looks like. I learned what real love and family can be. I saw transformation take place in a moment, and I saw it take place over months and years.

My ideas about ministry were blown wide open. My ideas about church were radically altered. My understanding of God’s love and mercy were expanded and stretched forever out of shape and I was left with a new paradigm to grow into.

Of course, I could never have known any of this would happen as I said, “Yes” to the Lord’s invitation that afternoon on the balcony of the motel.

Today, I have made another leap of faith and responded to another invitation the Lord has given me to step aside and allow others to take this Motel Church ministry forward.

This is harder than you can imagine. I keep seeing all those faces and reliving all those stories. I wonder what the Lord will do next, both in my life and in the lives of our dear friends at the Motel.

This is the great unknown. Life, and faith, is marked by uncertainty. All we can do is cling to Jesus and follow Him every step of the way.

I’m leaving these people, and this ministry, in the best of hands. They understand that it isn’t my ministry, and it isn’t theirs either. They know that the Lord is doing a great work among them and they are thrilled and humbled to take part in it.

So, the Motel Church will continue. It will grow and change and thrive. The Lord will continue to reveal Himself in - and through - everyone who surrenders to His will in that place. Of this, I am certain and it gives me great comfort.

I am so grateful for this amazing experience. I will never forget any of it. 

Most of all, I will never forget these beautiful and amazing people. They taught me how to follow Jesus better. They taught me how to live and breathe outside my comfort zone. They helped me to see and to hear Jesus in ways I would have never imagined possible.

This chapter of my life is closing, but another one is being written at the very same time.

Change is hard, but it is part life.

Here we go…

-kg

WANT TO RE-VISIT SOME OF WHAT THE LORD DID THROUGH THE MOTEL CHURCH OVER THE LAST 13 YEARS? 

READ MORE:

My Friend Robert Higgins

Out Of Strength [Robert Higgins Testimony]

WHAT LOVE IS [The Amazing Life and Love of Robert Higgins]

Adventures in Motel Church

Miracle in the Carport

This Is The Motel Where We Serve

Freedom To Abandon Expectations [Unconference Testimony]

One beautiful thing about the Unconference was seeing so many people get set free.

Some were set free from expectations of success. Others were set free from their fears. Still others were set free from the pain caused by being rejected by their Christian brothers and sisters.

Time and again I saw people rejoicing because they had just realized that the thing they thought was holding them back was an illusion.

One conversation I had with a brother at the event was about how he had realized that he wasn't a failure after all.

He thought he must not have been called or gifted to start a house church because once, a few years ago, he had tried to get one going with a few friends. It lasted for a while, but then it fell apart. He had always assumed that it ended because he wasn't gifted enough, or smart enough, to keep it alive.

But at the conference we had talked about how the life cycle of a house church doesn't have to be infinity to be successful.

In fact, if we're honest, every house church will eventually end. How long it lasts isn't an indication of how spiritual everyone involved might be. Sometimes the Lord may call a group together for a short season and a specific purpose before He reconnects them all somewhere else.

The scriptures tell us that the Lord puts the parts of the Body together, just as He wants them to be. [see 1 Cor. 12:18]

We're also told that it's Jesus who builds His church - not us. So, if He wants to assemble a Body together for a short time, that's up to Him to decide - and it's not a reflection on the ability of those involved.

This little detail set my friend free that night. He suddenly realized that he could easily start another group without any fear of failure or any expectation of longevity.

Every living thing has a life span. Some things live a long time. Some organisms have shorter life spans than others. This doesn't mean the organism isn't alive, or that it's not valuable or without purpose.

It's up to Jesus to decide how long a group is together. Our job is to be obedient to Him and to learn how to allow Him to lead us whenever we gather in His name.

It doesn't have to be so complicated.

Just gather with others in His Name and invite His presence to lead you.

It can be in your home, or in a coffee shop, or under a tree.

It doesn't have to be every week at the same time. It doesn't have to be the same people every time. It can be a time of worship, or prayer, or encouragement.

Just find one other person who loves Jesus and ask them if they want to meet with you to experience more of Him.

Let's lower the bar on ekklesia and raise the bar on loving Jesus.

-kg

Guest Post: What It Means To Die Well

Castine Friberg, one of the sister's in our wonderful house church family, recently mourned the loss of her grandfather. Last Sunday she read this page out of her journal which came out of her time sitting with Jesus and listening to His voice about what this all meant.

With her permission, I share this deep wisdom and beautiful insight with you here:

"The knowledge of redemption does not remove the pain of loss- it only gives it meaning. 

Jesus NEVER downplays a person's experience of loss because he is better acquainted with the deep pain of death more than anyone else. He is no stranger to sorrow and He takes it personally when we go through the valley of the shadow of death because He knows the agony that lingers there.

IT TAKES MORE FAITH TO DIE WELL THAN IT DOES TO BE HEALED. 

To die well means to continually trust in God's goodness even when your experience of Him is not good. 

To die well means to trust that He is up to just as much in His not-healing as He is in His healing. 

To die well is to cling to the truest form of faith; relationship and not results. 

To die well is to take up the cross that is set before us and follow in the footsteps of a spotless lamb who's love is so relentless that His innocent blood was shed for our sake. 

To die well is to trust that there can be just as much joy in the tears as there is in the laughter. 

To die well is to firmly state that your circumstances are not your God but instead that you trust in the eternal and ever-present goodness of a close counselor, a loving savior and a good, good Father."

Did this bless you? If it did, please share it with your friends and followers online.

Peace,
Keith

READ MORE:
*This same sister shared a previous journal with us here:
ALL THE WAYS YOU GIVE YOURSELF AWAY

How do you know if your church is really the Body of Christ?

This weekend I was blessed to fly to the San Francisco area to co-lead a weekend gathering for those interested in learning more about Organic Church.

Our event was hosted at a local pizza shop. The sign on the door said “Round Table Pizza” but on the inside all the tables were square.

To me, that felt like an appropriate metaphor of the modern Christian church in America.

We advertise ourselves as being “The Body of Christ” but then once people get inside they quickly realize that we’re not acting like a body at all.

See, when Paul uses that metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12, he is describing how the Church functions in relationship to Jesus, and to one another.

Any church that doesn’t operate the way Paul describes isn’t really the Body of Christ. Sure, it might be a Church in the traditional sense, but it’s not a Body in the Biblical sense.

Simply put, Paul tells us that Jesus is the head of the Body. That means that He is in control. Not figuratively, but actually. He is in charge. He directs the members of the Body, just as your own head directs the rest of your body parts.

We also see from Paul’s description that the members of the Body all share the ministry equally.

God distributes spiritual gifts to each member of the Body for one reason: So they can build one another up into Christ.

In the round table model, everyone is equal; everyone’s voice is just as important and necessary as everyone else’s. Every member of the Body shares in the work so no one gets burned out and everyone gets to participate.

In the square table model, there is a human boss, typically referred to as the Senior Pastor, who makes all the decisions and quite often does most of the spiritual work alone rather than relying on the members of the Body to accomplish the work cooperatively. You know, like the various parts of a human body.

If you’re going to follow a square table model, that’s up to you. But please don’t refer to yourself as a round table when those four corners are so obvious to the rest of us.

For what it’s worth, both tables are useful, but one makes it easier for everyone to serve one another and use their gifts to build one another up.

If you want to keep your focus on the Lord, try putting 1 Corinthians 12 into practice.

If you want to put that chapter into practice, you’ll find that sitting in a circle makes it much eaiser.

Where you meet and when you meet matters much less than what happens when you meet.

Put Jesus in the center, gather around Him and use your gifts to build one another up in love.

That’s called the Body of Christ.

-kg

No Stranger To Love

All of us were once strangers to righteousness. Holiness was an alien concept to us.

Then we met the One who loved us into life again.

His touch rearranged our DNA.

We began to die in that moment. Our old self was crucified, but our new self came alive.

This intimate knowledge of the Infinite conceived a new life within us.

The resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead was now unleashed within us.

Soon, disobedience to our Abba became strange to us. We became aliens to this world around us.

Who we are now is all that matters. What we once were is not worth mentioning again.

We stand now, as new creations, calling out to the Creator as beloved children made in His image.

We are remade for righteousness.

Our new nature is hard-wired to glorify Him with a clean heart

and lips that speak of grace

and voices that magnify His Holy name

and hands that comfort the broken

and arms that support the weak

with eyes that seek for truth

and ears that listen for the still small voice of One so very big.


You, oh God, are remaking us into a people who are like you,

even though there is no one like you,

and even though

“eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and no heart has yet imagined 

the things that God has prepared for those who love Him…

God has revealed all of this to us through His Spirit.” [1 Cor.2:9-10]

“We have the mind of Christ” [1 Cor. 2:16]

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” [2 Cor. 5:17]

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” [Phil. 1:6]

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control....and those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” [Gal. 5:22-26]

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” [2 Peter 1:3]

-kg

INVITATION: Jesus At The Center Conference - Nov. 12 and 13, 2016

Are you curious about house church? Or are you interested in learning more about how to realize Jesus as the actual, functional head of your church gatherings?

This is conference is for you!

Join us in the Bay Area of California for two evening sessions where we will answer questions, provide practical examples and explore what it means to allow Jesus - not a pastor or a teacher - to actually lead the Church on a regular basis.

DETAILS
Session 1: Saturday, Nov. 12 at 6pm
Session 2: Sunday, Nov. 13 at 6pm
Location: In the Bay Area of California (Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco, etc.)
Note: Actual address to be announced soon.
Hosts: Herb Montgomery, Keith Giles and Ross Rohde [tentative].

Cost: FREE!

RSVP at our Facebook Event page HERE>

5 MINUTE VIDEO: How To Build A Better House Church

What if you could learn how to experience Jesus in a brand new way? What if your house church could learn how to gather around Him as your actual leader? What if you could all learn how to eliminate all the other junk that seems to get in the way of seeing, knowing, and experiencing Him more?

Let's take 5 minute and talk about it.

5 MINUTE VIDEO: Part 5 - Women In Church? [5 Fold Women]

Many hold up the 5 Fold Ministry as the pillar of strength that is essential for the growth and health of the Church.

But are these 5 gifts - Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers - exclusively for men? Or is there any evidence in the New Testament that women can also hold these positions in the Body of Christ?

Take 5 minutes and hold on to your hats as Keith looks at New Testament evidence for female Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Pastors and Evangelists.

5 MINUTE VIDEO: Part 4 - Women In Church? [1 Cor. 14]

Take 5 minutes [or more] and listen as Keith explains what's going on in 1 Cor. 14: 34-36.

Why does Paul say that women should remain silent in the assembly? Why does he appeal to the Law? Why does he say that "it is shameful [disgraceful] for a woman to speak in the church"?

And what is the missing word in most English Bibles that might provide a huge clue to what's really happening in this passage?

You'll know these answers and more in about 5 minutes.

5 MINUTE VIDEO: Part 2 - Women In Church? [1 Tim. 2:11-15]

Take 5 minutes and listen as Keith explains what Paul is talking about in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 and why we can't just take this difficult passage at face value without first considering the cultural context of the place and time - as revealed by looking at Paul's previous experiences in Ephesus [where Timothy was when Paul wrote him this letter], and as Paul explains his purpose for writing the letter in the first place right at the beginning.

This and more are in today's video post.

We hope you're enjoying this series! Please subscribe, leave a comment and ask any questions you might still have after watching the clip.

5 MINUTE VIDEO: What About The Kids?

The number one question everyone asks about Organic Church is simply this: "What do we do with the kids?"

Take 5 minutes and listen as Keith responds to this question and offers a few ideas from his experience over the last 10 years.

5 MINUTE VIDEO: "When You Come Together" - Organic Church Practices

So, what happens when the ekklesia comes together to realize Jesus as the Head of the Body? 

How do you do it? What does it look like? 

Take 5 minutes and listen as Keith Giles explains practically what organic church gatherings look like when they work together to see and hear Jesus. 

BACK TO CENTER

Ten years ago my family and I made a conscious decision to step away from the traditional church model in favor of a more organic form of church.

Instead of pastor-centric gatherings, we wanted everyone in the Body of Christ to use their spiritual gifts to build up one another.

Instead of a programmatic order of service, we wanted to embrace the freedom we all have in Christ to be led by the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you've been there?

Here's what I've noticed: Some groups tend to swing too far in one direction and miss the point entirely.

For example: You say your group doesn't want to be pastor-led, but does that mean you should have total chaos instead? Is that really what we see in the New Testament ekklesia?

Hardly.

In fact, Paul even makes a point to say "For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace", and he does so in the very same chapter that many organic churches look to find their model. [See 1 Cor. 14:33]

Here's the real problem: The ekklesia isn't about liturgy or a lack of liturgy. It isn't about structures we choose or the celebration of our freedom in the gathering.

The ekklesia is about Jesus.

If you miss that, you've missed the entire point.

So, let me ask you: How does your gathering place Jesus at the center?

Better yet: Imagine what would happen if Jesus physically appeared to everyone in your church gathering. How different would that gathering be compared to the way your meetings currently look?

Now, let me remind you of something: Jesus IS in your midst every single time you gather together in His name.

If you could see Jesus with your eyes and hear Him with your ears, your meeting would probably look different, I'm guessing.

But since you know, by faith, that Jesus IS in your meeting, what can you do to see Him and hear Him better?

The answer to that question is exactly what your organic church should be working on together - every time you meet.

Here are some ideas to get you started:
*Sit silently together with your heads bowed and your eyes closed
*Wait on Jesus to reveal Himself to you
*Only speak to Jesus, not to one another
*Sing spontaneous songs of worship to Him
*Thank Him for His goodness
*Praise Him for His majesty
*Read specific scriptures out loud that speak of His wonder, and power and love [See Col. 1:15-22; Romans 8:31-39; Rev. 5; Heb. 1:1-13; Eph.3:14-21, etc.]
*Continually work together to keep Jesus the center of your attention for as long as you can

More and more, your organic church can begin to experience the presence of Jesus in your meetings if you will collaborate together in this way to realize His authority over each of you, and to submit completely to His leadership.

If you try this, please share your experiences in the comments below or send me an email to let me know how it goes!

I can't wait to hear how the Lord Jesus reveals Himself to your church family.

Peace,
Keith

5 MINUTE VIDEO: Organic Church 101

Take 5 minutes to listen as Keith Giles describes what the ideal Organic Church meeting should be like, and why it often fails.

5 MINUTE VIDEO: Discipleship [Part 5] "Spiritual Gifts & Love"

Got 5 minutes? Listen as Keith explains why Paul always pairs love with spiritual gifts and why so many organic churches struggle to realize the presence of Jesus when they come together.

[PODCAST SERIES] HOUSE CHURCH 101

HOUSE CHURCH 101 - WHAT IS IT? Is it a bible study? A church that meets in a house Or...something else?

 

 ** HOUSE CHURCH 101 - What's It Look Like? If you were to walk into a house church one Sunday morning, what might you experience? Keith shares his own experiences and talks about who should - and who should not -start a house church group in their home.


*

* HOUSE CHURCH 101 - WHY IS IT SO HARD? Participating in an Open Meeting is anything but easy. Why is that? Keith talks about the challenges of an open participatory meeting and how followers of Jesus can work together to help the Body to function as Jesus intended.


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* HOUSE CHURCH 101 - LEADERSHIP What does leadership look like in an open meeting? Keith Giles shares his experience in the organic church and outlines what to do, and what not to do, to facilitate a New Testament style church gathering.


  *

* HOUSE CHURCH 1O1 - FROM PULPIT TO TENT-MAKING How do you transition from a career in the pulpit to a job in the workforce? Keith shares his personal story and provides key insights into what it takes to trust God for everything.


 

SWEET HOUR OF THANKSGIVING

Our house church family is going through a really beautiful season lately. One thing I've been loving is how much people are genuinely interested in being together and spending time with each other.

Last Sunday, after our house church gathering in the morning we shared a potluck lunch together, which was pretty amazing [as always]. A few people couldn't stick around but some of us did and our conversation started to drift into an exploration of "What Makes Us Happy?"

Most assume that what makes us happiest is money or fame. But there have been plenty of academic studies which disprove that theory. In fact, I just recently wrote a blog for my employer about this and I got to bring that up in our conversation with the house church family.

I've also blogged quite a bit about this here on my personal blog.

It's also true that those who win the Lottery are typically bankrupt, divorced, estranged from their families and in debt [or sometimes even dead] after only a year or so.

So, if money and fame and wealth don't make us happy, what does?

It turns out, Jesus was right when he told us not to worry about tomorrow, or to worry about what we will wear or what we will eat, etc. but to seek first the Kingdom of God and focus our energy on serving others, making people around us happier and being thankful [or content] with what we have today.

That's exactly what all the studies show, anyway.

Wealth and fame do not pull happiness in their wake. Actually, it's being content and serving others that tends to pull success and happiness behind them.

Today at lunch several of my co-workers also began to share more about the blog I wrote about happiness and we also affirmed this principle of being thankful and how it connects to being happy.

Then, as I was leaving lunch to go back to work, I saw an email from one of our dear sisters in our house church family. She wasn't able to join us the other day for our conversation about what makes us happy, but she had read about it on our house church page online and sent us all this note:

"Hi Fam!

Missed y'all a lot yesterday but was blessed to hear how the conversation went over lunch. It's rad how God puts similar things on the hearts of his people... in my prayers, the word "gratitude" has kept coming up and I felt the Lord nudging me to take it more seriously and put it into a concrete discipline.

Basically all I'm doing is recording something I'm thankful for every hour. It may seem silly and at times the thing I write down are kinda silly but it's actually become something that I look forward to every new hour and a really good reminder of God's relentless love and provision. 

Here's yesterday's list: 

5am- a place to call home

6am-family to drink coffee with

7am- transportation through the sky

8am- best friends

9am- unique personalities 

10am- the privilege of worshipping

11am- languages of all kinds

12pm- the opportunity to travel 

1pm- deep relationships 

2pm- rain!!

3pm- food on the table

4pm- protection from the weather

5pm- a job where I can love people

6pm- chocolate covered items 

7pm- good and Godly mentors 

8pm- human diversity

9pm- good tunes 

10pm- time to rest 

If any of you wanna join me in this, I think it'd be fun to do together. "

How awesome is that? Imagine being thankful every single hour of the day!

Isn't that what we should be doing as followers of Jesus anyway?

Just to close the loop, I forwarded that same email to one of my co-workers as an example of how this practice of being thankful and being happy was being practiced by people in our house church.

His response was this: "That's pretty cool. Did you hear the quote that says, 'If you ever meet God and the only thing you ever said to Him was 'Thank you', that would be enough'?"

I thanked him for sharing that quote and told him that I agreed. "What more is there to say?"

Isn't that cool?

My challenge to you is: Could you do this for a week? Just make a list of what you're thankful for every waking hour for the rest of this week and see how that changes your attitude and affects your level of happiness.

If you decide to do this, please share the results here in the comments section. I'd love to know how it goes!

Blessings,

Keith

EPISODE 18: "Hard Conversations" - Dan Notti & Keith Giles [Video Podcast]

When and how do you have that hard conversation with a brother or sister in Christ who needs gentle correction or rebuke?

Dan and Keith share from real life personal experience how hard it can be, and what not to do, the next time you have to sit down with someone in your life who needs to know about their blind spot.

Humility, love and sincere concern are essential. Never undertake this process unless you genuinely love and care for the person. 

Recognize your own blind spot, too, and keep in mind we're all in need of people in our lives who have permission to show us an area where we are not yet formed into the image of Christ.

Episode 16: Dan Notti & Keith Giles "Personal Revelations"

After a 2 week hiatus, Dan and Keith share some of their personal testimonies about what God has been showing them after some down time.

Including:
*We still have a lot to learn
*Neither of us has it all figured out
*God always reveals our weaknesses in the positive, not through condemnation
*It really is all about Jesus
*And more!