Book review: Right Here, Right Now by www.heavenreigns.com

Book review: “Right Here, Right Now: Living the Anointed Life with Jesus and Each Other” by www.heavenreigns.com

            A couple of days ago, I was at a meeting of persons involved in simple church in my metro area, and one of the persons there had some copies of this book to give away.  At the front and end of the book, the anonymous writer(s) make it clear that this book, which is available in paper and online forms, is free, and permission is granted to reproduce it so long as one doesn’t change it.  The online version is available to read at the website above.  I fully well understand the motivation to hide the names of the writers; I considered the same when starting this blog.  There are negatives to both giving and not giving one’s name, particularly in communicating about living for Jesus, as it is Jesus who is important, and who did everything necessary to make any true communication about Him possible.  Whether an individual or a group of writers, at least one person has a background in history, and has used that experience to explain, my means of story, how some details of history that unbelievers did, and doesn't necessarily make sense to us now, did to them at that time.  Also, at the end of the book in the reference list, the authors did something some of us take for granted, which is explain at the beginning of the reference list that some of the works cited are by non-Christian writers who used methods of expression that we who are believers would not consider morally proper, and are cited for the historical contribution, and not overall agreement of their point of view.

The first chapter, titled “Paradise Lost: Life Without God” is written in a style that, if for some reason one hadn’t looked at the cover to know it was about following Jesus, it wouldn’t be clear from the chapter, in that it avoids use of all traditional clichés, much like Richie Furay did in his first Christian musical work, “I’ve Got a Reason”, back in the mid-1970’s (and I really cannot think of any other comparison in my lifetime).

Whereas many writings within non-humanly organized faith in Jesus attempt to walk a line of neutrality in advocating the basic principles of following Jesus, picturing believers reading the work who still may to a degree like the status quo way of faith in the western world (buildings, paid leaders, worship services), this book, implies within the sentences that the status quo way is not what God intended.  From chapter 2 on, once the introduction is done, it is written in a way that is clearly as writers who follow Jesus, giving a story-like travel through God’s work with man and our response, but still in a manner quite different from Frank Viola’s “Story of the New Testament Church”, in that Viola, in that book, attempted to stick closely to exactly what the Bible told us, and here, the parts that are commented in the line of where some persons responded correctly, and where they didn’t.  Chapter 2 deals with the Old Covenant, and how man, and particularly the chosen people, didn’t follow God’s plan.   Chapter 3 follows how Jesus reintroduced God and man walking together, like Adam and Eve did previous to the fall, to the disciples and a group of everyday people.

  Chapter 4 is about how the apostles guided the early church to follow the same principles that Jesus taught them, and warned them about going another route, with comparisons to paganism over the ages.  Chapter 5 deals with the church beginning to wander backwards from ekklesia life towards religion, with a title comparison to how gravity pulls physical objects back to earth. 

 Chapter 6 goes into how the Roman Empire pulled the church into a twist of the forms of paganism.  Chapter 7 deals with some modern, western distortions, particularly megachurches and the pagan basis for supposed Christian holidays, and the holy day Jesus instituted (I’ll let you read it to find out what it is).  Chapter 8 deals with believers today desiring to again follow the practices the apostles taught with rejecting the syncretism of the previous fifteen or so centuries.

Clearly, a running theme of this book is that what God showed in part via the temple, and what Jesus taught is what gives believers life, and everything else is just a twist on human religion/paganism.  I have no question that this makes some of my fellow believers uncomfortable, and those who collect a salary on account of their faith even more uncomfortable.  It is a tone that is necessary for someone to express.

Since this is free, I’ve already given you a copy, above.  The people behind the book realize that there are instances in which giving a physical copy works as a matter of witness or spiritual growth better, so physical copies are available.  From the website, there is the implication that the person or persons involved in the production of this writing are from the Indianapolis area, but that it is the content, not the authors that are what is relevant, particularly in this age where we have companies with marketing plans that produce Christian stars and personalities.

Simple Church Minute 3--origin of the sermon (revised)

Today is a revision (mainly adding footnotes) of one of the two minute commentaries (when read aloud) that I originally posted in December, 2010.

3—origin of the sermon

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            On another day, I mentioned that sermons, as we now know them in traditional churches, did not happen either among the Jewish people in the Old Covenant, or in the early church.  There is indication that if someone like Paul or Apollos visited a church, the visitor might speak, as Acts chapter 20 verse 7 shows Paul in Troas spoke a long time.  Still, the Bible calls in speaking, not preaching.  There is no indication that Paul’s speaking had the fine touches that a modern sermon, or even the rhetoric of his day, had.

            Where did the sermon come from?  Roman/Greek culture.  In about the fifth century b.c., history credits a group of teachers called sophists for inventing rhetoric—the art of persuasive speaking.  They taught others this skill, and delivered speeches for money.  They made a good living, as it became an entertainment form.  They were experts at debate, at using emotional appeals, and added to it by physical appearance—they came to wear special clothes to indicate their position—and by the use of cleaver language.  Over time, style, form, and skill were prized over factual accuracy.  They did not necessarily live by the ideas they spoke of.  In these ways, this sounds like some of today’s entertainers, minus music or cameras.  Some traveled and appeared from place to place, others appeared same time, same place.  Some would walk in wearing a robe called a pulpit-gown.  Some would quote the writings of Homer, and knew passages by heart.  Some would encourage the audience to clap.  Some lived at public expense, were celebrities, the stars of their day.  There were Greeks and Romans who were addicted to this type of entertainment.  After the legalization of Christianity, many orators “converted” and got a regular speaking engagement.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com or phone me at 757-735-3639. For a transcript of what I just said, I have it on my blog, tevyebird.blogspot.com , posted on March 16, 2012.  For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at www.hrscn.org .

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.
Footnotes:  Frank Viola and George Barna, Pagan Christianity, Present Testimony Ministry, and later, Barna/Tyndale, chapters 4 and 6.  There are further and many further footnotes there.

2015--Church salaries, Mayhew

            After varying off of the normal theme of most of these blogs, I am returning to the major theme of writing commentaries for radio on the concept of allowing fellow believers in Jesus realize a train of thought that something called simple church exists.  This writing starts as a development off of #10—clergy salaries, which I wrote in December, 2010, but as opposed to a mere expansion of what I wrote then, I am taking this in a different direction based on an article I recently read that approaches this subject from a totally different angle, referring to this subject from the angle of a megachurch pastor who wrote an article for Christianity Today, from which he has the bravery to state conclusions which run exactly counter to a defense of his occupational position.  This article is on the web, and its address is below my commentary.

2015—clergy salaries, Mayhew

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

A while ago, I read an article by a man named Ray Mayhew, a megachurch senior pastor in the Chicago area entitled, “Embezzlement: Corporate Sin of Contemporary Christianity”.  What he writes about is not the actual legal problem in modern society that every day, in the U.S., an average of five and a half million dollars is being embezzeled from one Christian church or another by persons entrusted with the monies collected, which is in and of itself a significant problem, but a matter of the heart that is connected to how over half of all money in today’s churches are spent.

  The subject of the article is what the church was like in the day that was the cultural context that the books of Acts through Revelation were written about, with respect to the subject of helping the poor.  Mayhew concluded that the early church, which I might remind you were underground groups in cities and towns, first in Jerusalem and Israel, then around the Roman Empire--that those groups were officially illegal.  Therefore, they had no fixed expenses, unlike the temples of Roman paganism.  They collected money for only two things—first, helping the poor, both within the group of believers in Jesus, and in helping their neighbors and, secondly, helping to send apostles, which meant gifted and mature fellow believers to be able to go places where the message of Jesus had not been communicated, help guide persons there to faith in Jesus, and teach them how to be the church, God’s group of people desiring to live to honor him, both as individuals and, more importantly, as a group.  Even then, the example of an apostle that the New Testament tells us the most about, Paul, in having formerly been a Pharisee and having had to learn to make tents, had a culturally transferrable skill such that he didn’t need to be tied to receiving funds from his church home, Antioch in what would be now modern Israel, as he traveled to as far away as modern Spain.

            Now, this conclusion had some personal problems for the writer, who, you might recall, I said was the head person of a megachurch in a modern suburb.  The example of the early church leaves no room for 1) his salary, as a local leader of a congregation, 2) his position, as, a paid local leader by any name did not exist back then, and 3) his responsibility over a religious corporation that 4) owned buildings that need to be maintained.  In the article, Mayhew only brings up only points 1) and 4), but publicly recognizing just one or two is a theological and ethical dilemma he addresses slightly, and doesn’t offer any resolution to. 

            I believe the reason for not offering a solution is because there is none. I do wish to show respect to his publicly mentioning the problem. I know there are others in his position aware of these problems, but are not going out of their way, as he did, to mention them, particularly where in those who are not in the clergy class might hear them.  If you are listening to me today, this is a problem that is not the making of any pastor or denominational leader or anyone on earth today.  In the 3^rd century, the Roman Empire forced the church--whether intentionally or not, I have no clue--to adopt the ways of beliefs they were familiar with, which included buildings and specially trained religious ritual performers and heads over organizations in a manner similar to governments, the military, and businesses.  The problem is that that was not then or now based on scripture.  Governments, businesses, and the military have leadership grids, with one person at the top.  The tradition has been passed down from generation to generation.  In a fallen world, it works.  In the Bible, Jesus is Head of the church, and there are believers, of which some are more mature, some have a spiritual gift that another doesn’t, but are are equal in being before God, and equally a child of God. Today, if one is a leader of a corporate church, and one realizes this problem, that the corporate structure with expending most of the money collected on itself isn’t scriptural, it isn’t a matter of just refusing to accept a salary.  In almost all cases, the people on the staff have families to support, bills to pay, and almost no businesses find theological training of use to them, particularly in the amount of persons who have such training in our society’s job market, which, I might say, is where the vast majority of persons who are not believers are spending 40 or more hours per week.  I wish to believe that none of us care for this observation of A. W. Tozer:  “The church is like a constitutional monarchy, where Jesus is allowed the title, but has no authority to make any decisions.”

            For more information on simple forms of worship of Jesus in this area, visit, on the web, www.hrscn.org.  To contact me, visit simplechurchminute@yahoo.com  or call 757-7xx-xxxx. To read what I just said, I have it on my blog, tevyebird.blogspot.com, as the entry dated August 21, 2011.

            To read the article I referred to in this commentary, you can find it at:

http://www.relationaltithe.com/pdffiles/EmbezzlementPaper.pdf .

            The Tozer quote is from a sermon, “A New Type of Preacher”, SermonIndex.net.

            The statistic on actual embezzlement is from Barrett & Johnson, World Christian Trends, p. 3, quoted by Steven S. Lyzenga, Assessing the State of Simple Churches in the USA Regarding Resources Toward Finishing the Great Commission, p.19, http://house2harvest.org/docs/Simple_Churches_Releasing_Resources_S_Lyzenga.pdf .

Simple Church Minute 19--what "pagan" means

19—what pagan means

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            In other blips, I have mentioned things in the church that have pagan origins.  I wish to clarify that the word “pagan” doesn’t mean bad or evil; it refers to an ancient religion that was the state religion during the days of the early church.  Greek mythology is connected to it.  It isn’t true, no significant amount of people believe it anymore, but that’s not the point.  Having a connection to it isn’t in and of itself bad—the names of the seven days of the week come from it, we can’t do anything about it, any seven words would do.  Roman paganism used chairs and carpets in their temples before the church did.  That doesn’t make chairs and carpets bad.  If you have a picture of the Roman sun god on your carpet, that’s another story.  Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 tells us Jesus is the head of the church.

            A Sunday or whatever day worship meeting is different.  An order of worship comes from paganism.  The Bible tells us about the Holy Spirit, not any person, determining order.  First Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26 tells us about mutual participation and edifying each other in worship.  That is impossible when one person does all the talking and believes its his job to set the agenda.  Preaching, as we see it today in most churches, isn’t what the Bible means by the word, and suppresses mutual edification.  Many services, when God isn’t allowed to be spontaneous, are boring.  Large numbers of people make mutual participation impossible.  How many people did Jesus mentor?  12, the disciples, and possibly at a lesser level, 70.  Personally, I’d advise against trying to do more than Jesus without specific guidance by the Holy Spirit.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 17--Gothic cathedrals

17—Gothic cathedrals

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            If I say the word “Gothic”, what comes to mind?  I don’t want to go there—it’s a distortion of an era in European history called Gothic, the 12^th century.  In theology, it was the time of the scholastic movement.  According to Alister McGrath, the question, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” was never actually debated on paper, but many other things equally esoteric and unsolvable were.  In architecture, it was the time the Gothic cathedral was developed.  The word “cathedral” comes from cathedra, which meant, the building that houses the bishop’s chair.  The idea was to create the effect of the New Jerusalem on earth.  Rich, dark colors, extremely high ceilings, and stained0glass windows were used, the combination of which was to create a feeling of awe and majesty, and which would draw the person inside to look up.  The Architects drew inspiration from Platonic philosophy and the towers of ancient Egypt.  Plato’s idea was that sound, light, and color had mystical meanings that could induce moods to bring one to the eternal good.

            Now, beauty can be good, and being or feeling inspired can and should be good, but it depends what one is getting inspired toward.  This is a huge difference from people encouraging each other and growing in true maturity of faith.  The church had lost contact with what Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 9 to 16.

            You…

The reference to Alister McGrath is from his book, Christian Theology

Simple Church Minute 15--Elizabethian pastoral prayer

15—Elizabethian pastoral prayer

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Methodism in the 18^th century was the immediate spiritual spiritual descendant of the work of British evangelist John Wesley.  This movement introduced some emotion to worship.  People were invited to sign loudly and fervently.  In this respect, they were the predecessor to frontier revivalism, the holiness movement, and the Pentecostal/ charismatic branch of the church.

            They had a pastoral prayer in their worship that covered all the different facets of public prayer.  The notable feature was that it was always done in the dialect the King James Version was written in, with “thee”, “thou”, and “thy.”  Now, this dialect wasn’t around for long; anyone who has read Chaucer and Shakespeare in school realizes that the English language changed greatly in only a couple hundred years, and the English of the KJV is somewhere in between.  When the KJV was released in 1611, the language was already close to archaic in wording.  Nonetheless, in some parts of the church, this dialect lives on in how pastors speak out these formalized prayers, with the trend more dominant in more traditional organizations.  Strangely, on the opposite side is a small branch of independent churches, often with leaders of minimal training, which insist that the King James Version is the only appropriate version of the Bible to use.  The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.  In all languages, many words do not have exact equivalents in other languages, and languages change in some ways over time.  We can believe God inspired the original writers to say what they did in languages that had just the right nuance.  We must also recognize that some translators over the years have been influenced by who was paying them, sometimes intentionally, sometimes subliminally.

            You…

Simple Church Minute 12--clerical collar and funerals

12—clerical collar and funerals

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Today, I look at two traditions that have no connection to the Bible or the early church—the clerical collar and funerals.  John the Baptist, the prophet whose job it was to introduce Jesus, was known for his direct speech and unimpressive clothing.  Matthew chapter 3 verse 4 speaks about this.  From Luke 23 verse 11, it seems that the nicest clothes Jesus ever had was given to him as a mockery.  On the converse side, we have the clerical collar.  Fancy clothes for clergy goes back to the Roman Empire, but the clerical collar goes back only to 1865.  It originated in the Anglican tradition, but spread to Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, and, at least occasionally, almost every other tradition.  It replaced the black Cossack as a piece of clothing that could be slipped over anything to give the “man of God” look.  To this day, it is the recognized symbol of a clergyman, in the sense of it developing a social sense of the person wearing it being somehow separate of everyone else.

            The second tradition is the funeral.  For the believer in Jesus, the death of another believer is not the same as for those who have no hope.  The Bible tells us of the rewards of heaven, without much care about what is at the transportation point.  Many cultures have had much that is unique to their cultures about funerals, but the New Testament says extremely little about it.  Much of what has slipped into the church are adaptations of 4^th century pagan practices which had some connection with the Roman pagan cult of the dead. From that came funeral processions, services, and orations, which culminate in the declaration that the deceased is up above, looking down on us below.  The role of comforting loved ones has moved from the orator to the traditional church pastor in a way that just might be a little too alike to be comfortable.

            You…

Simple Church Minute 10--clergy salaries

10—clergy salaries

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Paul was the human writer of much of the New Testament.  In Philippians, chapter 3 verses 5 and 6, he tells us of how exactly he lived his life as a Pharisee before his salvation.  He was part of the Jewish religious system, and had become will known due to his education and zeal.  Historically, the Levites were dependent upon the tithes of the rest of Israel for their living.  Israel many times walked away from God’s direction, and failed to support them.  As such, the Pharisees instituted a tradition that every Pharisee was to learn a trade, just in case.  Paul came from a rich family, and didn’t need a trade, but as part of the process, learned to be a tentmaker.  When Paul came to faith in Jesus, had time to grow to Christian spiritual maturity, and prepared to spread the truth of Jesus to Gentile lands, he was prepared to not need financial help to live.  The church of that time had no professionals.  Paul taught that the church should support those who went out to spread the Gospel, and in later parts of his ministry was voluntarily supported.  It is even more amazing what God did through Paul, given that he could only minister part-time during the earlier part of his journeys.

            Today, many church leaders expect a salary.  The most extreme offense is from some denominational leaders and professors who do not believe, teach new leaders to not believe, and expect believers giving to support their salaries, to administrate against the true church.  Further, many traditional pastors are under pressure to avoid teaching all of God’s Word, as there is a person who potentially has a finger on his salary, that is offended about some point in the Word.  The pastor has no idea how to support his family if he loses his job, and doesn’t have a skill, even if he has a graduate degree.

            This is one of the results of one unscriptural practice after another.  What can they or you do now, if somehow tomorrow the traditional church was no longer allowed to exist, as has happened in other countries?  Few traditional churches have a plan.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally, (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

An excellent book on the role of vocation in the Christian life is "The Other Six Days" by R. Paul Stevens.  While I do not believe I quoted Stevens in this blip, his thoughts have definitely affected mine on this subject.

Simple Church Minute 9--collection plate and ushers

9—collection plate and ushers

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Today, we glance at two institutional church traditions—the collection plate and ushers.  The collection plate is clearly connected to the concept of tithes and offerings, which didn’t get started in the church until the Roman Empire started buildings for the church.  Somewhere after buildings being connected to churches, and probably about the time of the government wishing for others to pick up a cost they started, alms dishes or alms chests came about, where people could place donations.  The collection plate, as such, did not show up until 1662.  Since 1662, the collection plate has varied through a variety of styles, from burgundy velvet cloth with gold metal trim, still favored in some traditions, to bags so givers could put their hand totally in, so the gift would be totally private, to fried chicken buckets at some modern informal megachurches.

            Of course, if collection plates are to be passed, there are ushers to assist in their passing.  The original predecessor to the usher was the porter.  Started in the 3^rd century, the porter, at that time, was considered lesser clergy, and his job included locking and opening the church doors, keeping order in the building, and directing deacons.  Just before the Reformation, in England, the porter was replaced by the church warden.  The usher came about when Queen Elizabeth the First reorganized the liturgy of the Church of England.   Ushers were responsible for walking people to their seats, in part to make certain that people who paid for reserved seats would have them when they arrived.  Ushers were responsible for collecting offerings and keeping track of who took communion.  Almost none of what I have said has the slightest connection to any of the directions God has given the church in the New Testament.

            You…

Simple Church Minute 6--oration

6—oration

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            A few days ago, I mentioned that oratory became an entertainment form in the Roman Empire in the days of the early church.  Apollos was an orator before his conversion to Christianity, and Paul grew up in Tarsus, the “city of philosophers.” The early church was taught that all believers were kings and priests of God, per Revelation 1 verse 6.  All were important in each other, which is growth in both mind and spirit.  Still, over a couple of centuries, mutual ministry faded, being replaced with religious specialists.   Over this time, some orators and philosophers became Christians, and some of their skills entered the church.  Paid specialists came from paganism; Jewish rabbis of the Pharisaic side, which appear to be the only type that survived the revolt of 130 AD, learned a trade so they did not need to either charge for their teaching or depend on the tithe, in case unbelief swept the Jewish community, as happened at times during the Old Testament days.  History shows that converted orators spoke in a style that was similar to before their conversion, which may not be all that surprising, quoting scripture instead of Homer. Eventually, as the church became formalized, the person giving the sermon was required to have studied rhetoric, and those without such training were not allowed to speak.  Orators called their speeches homilies; the Catholic church uses that term to this day.  The legalization of Christianity by the Romans solidified the Greek style of speaking and professional clergy.  By the time of the Reformation, it was taken for granted that the sermon was how “lay people,” another concept foreign to the Bible, learned the Christian faith.  Of course, in the Middle Ages, non-professionals did not have access to the Bible to know whether what they were being taught was true.  That was what Martin Luther’s 95 Theses was about.

            Speeches do not teach well.  That’s why, in school, there is a mix of studying texts, hearing lectures, having discussions, and doing presentations.

            You…

Simple Church Minute 4--ordination

This is read at a really fast pace to get into 2 minutes.

4—ordination

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            In the early church, elders came about through time.  In the world, an elder meant one of the older, experienced persons.  In the church, it meant one not just physically older, but experienced as a believer, who had grown to spiritual maturity.  It was not a title as used today.  There are three places where elders were recognized, and in one, First Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, there had been 14 years between the time of the founding of the church and the recognition of elders.  This recognition was only recognizing seniority and godly service these persons had been doing in all those intervening years.  A believer should be growing day by day into this role from the day of first believing on Jesus to the day one passes away, without regard to whether there is any person to comment on it.

            The word “ordain” did not mean to place into an official position.  In the early church, there was only one office—head of the church, occupied by Jesus.  Ordain meant to recognize and endorse what was already taking place, insofar as believers desiring to serve Jesus.  How did ordination get its meaning of placing a person into an official position?  The ordination ceremony was borrowed from the Roman ceremony for appointing civil servants, even to some of the words used in it.  By the 3^rd century, ordination became a ritual that marked a person passing from laity to clergy.  After the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire, church leadership became interconnected with the societal structure of Rome.  Gregory of Nyassa said the priest, as was the title at the time, by ordination was (quote) invisibly but actually a different, better man. (unquote)

            That was far from what the apostles taught the early believers.  First Peter 5 verses 2 and 3 directed, which commands, “shepherd, serve, willingly, not dishonest, eagerly, not as lords, examples.”  This is not to be critical of traditional church pastors; almost all honestly desire to see the church of Jesus go forward.  Its just that there isn’t solid scriptural precedent for our traditional structure.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or (an area’s local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.