Brett Hull is my favotrite hockey player....as of today..... he probably won't be tomorrow. Listen to these quotes from The Hockey News. This was in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Usually it's Gary Bettman pulling out what little hair he has left when Brett Hull spouts off, but this time it may be the NHLPA's Bob Goodenow who goes a little bald when he picks up the latest edition of The Hockey News and sees what one of his members is doing to the cause. "I don't think players are going to get away without a salary cap [in the next collective bargaining agreement]," Hull writes in a guest column. "We'll get away without a hard cap, but we're going to have to agree to some sort of luxury cap and we should take that money and put it towards the Canadian teams." The Golden Brett went one further on the salary issue. "I think salaries have risen to the point wherewe, the players, should be satisfied..... You have 10 goal a season scorers earning $2.5 million. We need to think about the good of the game." Wow I am sure this will land Hull in hot water with the NHLPA and the players themselves. The truth always hurts. I wonder if Hull would play for a Canadian team and collect his salary in Canadian dollars. As the commercial says, "Give your head a shake man." Still it's nice to see someone stand up and speak the truth.

Heard a cute little one liner

How does a butcher introduce his wife?

Ummmm I don't know

Meet Patty

More and more I am hearing that people are wanting to move to a simpler form of church. This morning John told me of fellow from Landmark who may be phoning me about house church. Apparently house churches are starting up in Winnipeg. I heard from Wayne that a couple from Toronto approached him about house church. Two years ago this same couple wondered what Wayne was getting into when he shared about home churches. In Saskatoon people are approaching Leighton Tebay and sharing their discontent with church the way it is. This morning John and I imagined what would church in Steinbach look like if every church got rid of it's buildings...... kinda nice to think about it. I believe it would force us to begin to be missionaries in our own backyard. 5 couples move to Ile Des Chenes to start up home groups...... 4 others to St Adolpe. The Steinbach believers sent 5,000,00 dollars to build orphan villages in Uganda and Kenya.......... imagine

My good friend John Enns is off to Africa again. He is leaving in a couple of days. He is meeting some people from Manitoba who have put up money for an orphan village. John works for Child Care International. Through John's work we have had the privilege of meeting Michael Masambe from Uganda. A few of us helped the Masambes build a new home in Uganda. Of course we didn't do the actual work. Michael works with C.C.I. in Uganda. An orphan village consists of 9 buildings that house 20 orphans apiece. So almost 200 children get help. Apparently Michael (Whoa this blog was published without me pushing any button... good thing i can edit it). has started a home church. It will be neat to see where it goes. Another person I am excited about is Gitow.... I am sure that is not how you spell it... but it sounds that way. he also works with orphan children. He and his wife have a real heart for the children in their care. It is neat to be connected to someone who can make these contacts a little more personal. If you have any interest in helping out these orphans let me know and I will let John know.

Had breakfast with a friend this morning. He said he had read my blog about church meetings and said "kinda critical wasn't it." mmmmmmmm i wonder. As I re read it Maybe I was. To me it is just a frustration..... but to others maybe it is too critical. So I am asking forgiveness to anyone who may have been turned off by the blogs. I hope that I can take to heart when someone confronts me on things.... though it wasn't a confontation. I know too many people in the traditional church that are sincere in their faith towards God. They are good people. Having said that these blogs are for the encouragement of home church and other kinds of things that God is doing in the area of breaking down the walls of institutional type church, so there will be challenges to the traditional church. Still I need to find ways to share that without being overly critical Thanks for listening and patience.

JESUS JESUS JESUS (fjd)

Let us Dance Let us Sing Let us Praise our holy King
Let us worship the name of Jesus
Lift up our hearts Clap our hands
We will sing His praises and
We will worship the name of Jesus

We will sing about the love of Jesus
We will sing about His righteousness
We will sing the blessed name of Jesus
JESUS JESUS JEE_EE_EE_EE SUS

Let us never forget who it is about.

So that is my rant about church meetings. But it still does not get to the essence of what I believe church is. What will happen to home groups if they simply pull the existing church service into the home. My fear is that eventually, could be a year or five, they will return to the current form of how church is done. The question is, “Are people ready for a complete paradigm shift when it comes to what it means to be church or simply tweak the already existing system? This is what I am finding when people are discouraged about their church. Most people I encounter are simply bored with one aspect of their church. For example, they wish the singing was better. Or if only they had a better teacher/preacher. These are by far the top complaints. The church hopping begins. They are satisfied until the preacher gets tiring…. Or the singing gets monotonous. Then they are off to another church. They hear about home fellowship. They give it a try. At first they think it is neat but soon afterward start pushing for a church service in the home. For them the singing is never quite as good and they miss just coming there to sit and soak in what someone has prepared. It isn’t too long before they are back to a congregational church
A very common scenario is found in couples where the husband or wife is ready but their spouses aren’t. Usually the husband is ready but once in a while it is the wife. The other scenario is that both the husband and wife are ready but they haven’t got the courage to make the break. Perhaps what friends and family will say prevents them from moving out. Or they are guilty that they are leaving a form prescribed by God Himself.
Two other situations are common: First, people come into a home fellowship or start one with the intentions of renting a school if the numbers get bigger. Eventually they will build a building and recreate the very thing they were frustrated with in the first place. Secondly, the most common concern is “what do you have for the children?”
So who will embrace the home fellowship? First let me tell you who will not embrace it. First, the 40+ crowd. (with exceptions). Second, those who see nothing wrong with the church form as it currently is. Thirdly, technicians and maintenance people. Fourthly, leaders (who are paid) who are afraid to lose their jobs and their priestly functions.
Who will embrace it?: First, those who know deep inside that it is the system that needs changing and not simply parts of it. Second, 35 and under. Third, those who desire a deeper sense of community. Fourthly, visionaries.
From this time onward my blogs will be dedicated to the encouragement and edification of this new way of “being church.” I would like to bless those who choose to remain in the traditional form of “church.” Let’s build bridges together. Let’s get together and pray for each other. Opening the word to each other. Sharing our struggles. Let’s invite each other over and talk about the Lord and what kind of dreams He has put on our hearts. That the glory of the Lord may spread through Southern Manitoba as the waters cover the sea.

PART 3 Read the first two blogs
I am reading a book called "the Heavenly Man" It is the story of Brother Yun from the Chinese House Churches. Reading it feels very much like reading Acts II. Lots of miracles. He was in Toronto last fall and he was talking to a group of Pastors. Yun said "I have two things to say to the North American Church. First, Stop building church buildings. there was an uncomfotable silence among the pastors. Thinking about that really begins to shift the focus doesn't it. Of course you can begin home churches and drag the Sunday morning Service into the home and then it begins to look like church in the home. Listen to some of the quotes from his book. When Yun says the cage he is refering to the State run church (The three-self churches) in China.
"The true church is not an organization contolled by the rules of men but a holy collection of living stones with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone."

"We see the three self believers as caged birds. Yes, they are able to sing to the Lord, but their enviroment is controlled and their wings are clipped. They are free to sing only within the restrictions imposed on them. In the house churches we enjoy the freedom to fly around wherever God leads us and to sing from the depths of our hearts. We have been released from the cage and never intend to return.

"It is a known fact that birds confined in cages have a hard time reproducing. ......... house church Christians love to be free, to roam around the country wherever the Lord leads them and to proclaim the gospel to all people.' These quotes are from the book "The Heavenly Man" with Paul Hattaway......Monarch Books 2002
Whoa, as i am writing this I went to the chapter "Reflecting on Four Years in the West" Last night as I was sharing that this book both encouraged me and discouraged me. It was like reading acts but I said that we don't experience miracles like that here in the west. He explains why in the book. OUCH.

Why have i done this. Simply because I believe the church needs to change. It is not a matter of liking different styles. It is a matter of releasing the church to be priests and ministers. To send the church into the world instead of trying to call people to "go to church". All over the world the Lord is trying to get people's attention. The church is changing. The new church will be marked by getting to know The Trinity, loving one another and going out into the world. It will be organic, meaning that relationships and friendships will be the agenda and program. More and more the Lord will raze the institution of church and raise an organic, living church with Jesus as the cornerstone. The poor, the widow, the orphan will once again be taken care of. The least will have their say and leaders will become servants. This is the new way and frankly speaking I want to be part of it. Imagine if we aren't giving our money to pay for buildings and pastors salaries, then where can we give.....................??????? God Bless you
"The glory of Jesus being spread all around Southern Manitoba as the water covers the sea"

This is my rant which is related to the blog just before this one. So you might want to read it….or not. I was eight or nine years old. We were opening our gifts and my sister got this neat telescope….or what looked like a telescope. She held it to her right eve and pointed it at me and said “EVER NEEEEEAT.” Well my sister had never said that kind of thing about me before so I guessed that it wasn’t me she was really looking at. Then my mom said, “While you’re holding it up to your eye turn the front end.” Well my sister did that and further exclaimed….”WOW EVER NEEEEEAT.” Well it took me the better part of the morning before my sister let me look into it. When I did I said “EVER NEEEEEAT.”
Now I don’t wish to demean the way people like to meet but I would like to throw a wrench into how we do church and more specifically the way we meet. If you haven’t guessed it by now, the telescope we were looking into was a kaleidoscope. When you look into the kaleidoscope you see a panorama of bright colors and when you turn the end the colors begin moving causing you to say words like, groovy, far out, cool, freakin’ out man……. or the more generic “WOW EVER NEEEAT.” (back in the early 60’s we were a lot more generic). The assembling together of the believers is designed to be a panorama of different gifts. It is a gift of God given to his people to “edify one another and to spur one another on to good works.” And how are we to edify and spur one another on? A bible study?……NO. A time where we have 20 to 40 minutes of singing?…….NO. Is it a time we’re supposed to hear a monologue from someone who has prepared for 20 hours that week?…. NO. God’s chosen method is a panorama of different gifts. Everyone has a treasure to share. God’s chosen method is diversity. “One has a psalm, one has a hymn, one has a teaching, and another has a revelation. One has a poem, one has a testimony, one has a devotional, one has a chorus, one has a story…. and another has cookies to share. One has a tongue, one has a special number, one has an object lesson, one has an encouragement, and another has……….. there are limitless possibilities. GOD LOVES DIVERSITY WHILE MAN LOVES SAMENESS. Man is totally committed to cookie-cutter Christianity. Tell me, what did you do in your church service last week? I’ll tell you. It was the same as the week before that, which was the same as the week before that which was the same as …… What will you do next week….. get my drift. God did not plan it that way…..man did. When we start a new church we automatically press the green photo-copier button.
I’ll have to wrap this up. Last night a friend and I, from Winnipeg, were discussing man’s bent to retain the temple mentality of worship. New Testament Christian’s (today’s version) do not fully understand that the God who used to reside on Mount Sinai, the arc of the covenant, the holy of holies…. No longer resides there. HE resides in living stones: you and me. But man has a bent towards temple worship and constantly seeks to worship God through altars, icons, holy furniture, form…… Man has this uncontrollable urge to put God back behind the curtain. Last thought. If I, in Moses’ time, ambushed Moses and went up to the mountain and tried to meet God, I would have been struck dead. If I touched the arc of the covenant, same result. If I entered the Holy of Holies, DEAD. But I am teaching you something totally different ……..The God who used live in these places, now lives and makes His home in you and me…… and the best thing of all, it was totally HIS idea. Learn how to become priests. PART 3 QUOTES FROM A BOOK ABOUT A HOUSE CHURCH LEADER IN CHINA..
Check out these resources; http://www.solidrock.net/library/anderson/essays/discovering.the.purpose.of.church.meetings.php

Wolfgangs Simson's, "Houses that change the world." book page 98 to 101

Mike Bishop's article......http://www.next-wave.org/jan03/242.htm