FINALLY, I GET IT
I've been a pioneer my entire life ... an explorer, fearless & unafraid to challenge the status quo, a norm-buster, a paradigm shifter! Unfortunately, since my 20s, that has resulted in me being an outcast in most religious circles.
In my 20s, as a youth pastor in a prominent denomination, my approach to youth ministry was so radically different than most, that other youth ministries in my area would have little to do with me. While the norm at that time was to build a bunch of disconnected little "k" kingdoms, I was passionate about tearing down "church" walls and building THE Kingdom. I tried for over 10 years to affect change, to little avail.
In my 30s, I decided that if I was going to be taken seriously, I needed to move beyond the 4 walls of a local church, and step into the broader arena of my denomination. I resigned my position as youth pastor, and launched a national ministry aimed at broadening my efforts to affect change. For the next 14 years, I traveled the nation & the world within that same denomination, attempting to tear down those same walls and build THE Kingdom. Long story short? Over that 14 year period, my propensity to challenge the doctines of men within the denomination Ied to me being "black-listed" by the denomination I had served faithfully for over a decade.
By my mid-40s, now free from denominational ties, once again I endeavored to challenge the status quo of modern-day "CHURCH-ianity", by planting & building a regional Kingdom Center aimed at unifying churches in a central region of the state ... once again to place focus on building THE Kingdom, rather than continuing to feed the mindset of building the little "k" kingdoms of the world. And for the next 20 years, I poured my life into that endeavor. The result? While there were many joys & victories along the way, the end result was the same ... outcast by man's religious system! And so, on October 27th, 2024, we closed the doors of the Kingdom Center!
And then it hit me ... THE PROBLEM IS THE ENTIRE SYSTEM!
Most Christians would be SHOCKED to know that what we call "the church" in today's society has little, if anything to do with the fulfillment of what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 16, and what God & Holy Spirit birthed in Acts 2! The structural system of religion that men have created over the past 15-hundred years ... while it presents a FORM of godliness, it absolutely "denies the power thereof" (II Timothy 3:5).
Bottom line? If we want to see a restoration of the New Wine that was poured out in The Upper Room, we have no choice in the 21st century but to return to the New Wineskin that was created in the 1st century ... that was NEVER supposed to be replaced! It's time to return to the ORIGINAL!
I'll be writing more over the next few weeks about THE SHIFT that I believe is now occurring. Finally, I believe I am positioned to affect real change!
In my 20s, as a youth pastor in a prominent denomination, my approach to youth ministry was so radically different than most, that other youth ministries in my area would have little to do with me. While the norm at that time was to build a bunch of disconnected little "k" kingdoms, I was passionate about tearing down "church" walls and building THE Kingdom. I tried for over 10 years to affect change, to little avail.
In my 30s, I decided that if I was going to be taken seriously, I needed to move beyond the 4 walls of a local church, and step into the broader arena of my denomination. I resigned my position as youth pastor, and launched a national ministry aimed at broadening my efforts to affect change. For the next 14 years, I traveled the nation & the world within that same denomination, attempting to tear down those same walls and build THE Kingdom. Long story short? Over that 14 year period, my propensity to challenge the doctines of men within the denomination Ied to me being "black-listed" by the denomination I had served faithfully for over a decade.
By my mid-40s, now free from denominational ties, once again I endeavored to challenge the status quo of modern-day "CHURCH-ianity", by planting & building a regional Kingdom Center aimed at unifying churches in a central region of the state ... once again to place focus on building THE Kingdom, rather than continuing to feed the mindset of building the little "k" kingdoms of the world. And for the next 20 years, I poured my life into that endeavor. The result? While there were many joys & victories along the way, the end result was the same ... outcast by man's religious system! And so, on October 27th, 2024, we closed the doors of the Kingdom Center!
And then it hit me ... THE PROBLEM IS THE ENTIRE SYSTEM!
Most Christians would be SHOCKED to know that what we call "the church" in today's society has little, if anything to do with the fulfillment of what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 16, and what God & Holy Spirit birthed in Acts 2! The structural system of religion that men have created over the past 15-hundred years ... while it presents a FORM of godliness, it absolutely "denies the power thereof" (II Timothy 3:5).
Bottom line? If we want to see a restoration of the New Wine that was poured out in The Upper Room, we have no choice in the 21st century but to return to the New Wineskin that was created in the 1st century ... that was NEVER supposed to be replaced! It's time to return to the ORIGINAL!
I'll be writing more over the next few weeks about THE SHIFT that I believe is now occurring. Finally, I believe I am positioned to affect real change!
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