As I began to read the book, I was amazed.  It perfectly describes our meetings at The Salvation Army Berry Street even though the authors have never been to Berry Street and no one at Berry Street has ever read there book before.

Here are some quotes:

“We frequently experience the Holy Spirit orchestrating the meeting in extraordinary ways.”

“Since God is creative, we’ve come to expect variety in our meetings; gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy, prayer, scriptural insights, and visions.  And we’ve learned not to be concerned about making mistakes.  In a sense, each gathering is a workshop, and the best way to learn is to risk making mistakes.”

“Sometimes people wonder how the Holy Spirit leads in a time together.  We’ve found that if we fully participate in what is going on, the things that come to mind spontaneously are most likely from the Holy Spirit.  For example, if someone is praising God through prayer, you might find a verse of Scripture or a song comes to mind.  Chances are that thought was the Holy Spirit, and it’s something you should share with the group.

“We sometimes ask a person requesting prayer to sit on the ‘hot seat’ while others lay hands on that person and pray for the need.  Someone might share prophetic words or pictures, and someone else might share a verse of Scripture.  We’ve found this kind of prayer to be life changing!”

“At other times we break into smaller groups of three to four for prayer.  In this way we make sure that everyone in the group can easily take an active part in the praying.”

They also describe our participatory Bible study:  ”Everyone’s opinions are valued and there is no such thing as a wrong answer.  When someone shares something bizarre, the facilitator might say, ‘That’s an interesting point.  I’ve never heard anyone express it that way before.  What does anyone else think?’”

And they even describe our neighborhood prayer walks:  ”Often they walk the streets where they sense Jesus is sending them, praying for the people who live there.  They pray blessing on those people and on the city and its services.  They repent for the sins of they area  They identify the problems of the area and pray against the spiritual powers of darkness behind them.  Prayer like this will open up an area for the gospel.”

Come and experience The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center for yourself — 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207:

Sunday morning participatory Bible study — 9:30

Sunday morning sharing and testimony gathering — 10:45

Thursday night free flowing prayer meeting  – 6:30.

Four different people, in chapters 9 & 10 of the Book of Acts, hear God call them by name.  It starts with an angry man who hates Christians and even has them killed.  He is on his way to Damascus, Syria to persecute the believers there when suddenly he hears his name:  “Saul, Saul why so you persecute Me?”  Saul asks the voice, “Who are you, Lord?” and gets this reply.  “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”  Saul is transformed from persecuter to proclaimer of Jesus.

Three days later, a believer in Damascus hears his name.  “Ananias!  Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.  In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”  Ananias, though fearful for his life, courageously obeys God and goes to see Saul the great persecuter finding him now to be a passionate believer in Christ.

Saul and Ananias were both Jewish.  Next a non-Jewish, Roman hears his name.  “Cornelius!  Your prayers have gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.  Now send men to Joppa and bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.”

God prepares the way for the messengers from Cornelius by giving Peter a vision of unclean animals and then speaking to him:  “Get up, Peter.  Kill and eat.  Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  Because of the voice of God, Peter breaks religious tradition and goes and eats with Cornelius and his family & friends.  Suddenly the Holy Spirit falls on them in power and glory.

Here is one more example from the Bible.  Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute, goes to Jesus’ tomb and finds it empty.  She sees someone who she thinks is the gardener and asks:  “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him and I will get Him.”  The supposed gardener says:  “Mary.”  Suddenly Mary realizes that the Man talking to her is the resurrected Jesus!

Are you angry and hateful like Saul?  Afraid like Ananias?  Seeking God like Cornelius?  Prejudice and religious like Peter?  Or broken and confused like Mary?

God is calling you by name.  Listen!  He says:  “Be still and know that I am God.”

Hear that one word — your name spoken by the living God!

Come hear!  God is speaking to people in Nashville at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center,  225 Berry St., 37207 — Sunday mornings @ 10:45 & Thursday nights @ 6:30.

According to his own words, here’s the best way to celebrate Patrick, the mighty man of God who brought Christ to Ireland and transformed a nation:

1)  See your sins in the Light, experience godly sorrow for them, then go and sin no more.  Patrick said:  “The Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart so that I so that I should recall my sins.”

2)  Totally surrender your life and your will to Christ and passionately follow and obey Him everyday.  Patrick also said:  “Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.”

God is alive and He speaks to human beings.  Patrick heard His voice in the 5th Century and you can hear Him speak to you in the 21st Century.

As a young boy Patrick was kidnapped from Britain and made a slave in Ireland.  After some time God spoke clearly to him and told Patrick to escape.  As Patrick obeyed God, everything fell into place for an amazing escape back to Britain.  Then some years later God spoke to Patrick and told him to go back to Ireland and share the love of Jesus with the people who had been so cruel to him.  As Patrick returned to love his enemies; multitudes of Irish people came to experience and follow the living, resurrected Jesus Christ.  It was a repeat of the book of Acts.

God talks to me (and you) when we listen.  Here’s an example that just happened a few moments ago.  I’ve been misunderstood most of my life because when I was nineteen I began to experience participatory, Spirit-led church (sometimes called organic church) in college, and ever since I have longed for that type of church but never could find it.  However, almost no one has understood my persist longing for something so out of the box.

Finally, 4 years ago, The Salvation Army asked my wife and me to start a non-traditional church in East Nashville.  We set it up to be participatory and to obey the Bible’s instructions on how to hold a church meeting (I Corinthians 14:26).  It has been awesome to see the power and Presence of Christ change lives.

Recently I discovered that our building is directly across the street from where a man’s home stood in the late 1800s  (John Berry McFerrin) who also believed in participatory church and prayed for it to begin to happen in churches.  Click this for a blog about him where he describes his longing for organic church.

Two days ago I was prompted to walk around the lot where McFerrin’s home once stood and pray.  As I observed that the lot was covered with clover it came to my mind that this is a sign that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is/are working to release life-giving, participatory church around the world.  In the center of the lot, I tebowed (knelt on one knee and prayed) as I wondered if that could be true.

A few minutes ago, as I was googling St. Patrick’s Day, I came across these words:  “Patrick used the three leaves of a shamrock to explain the Christian Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

So, if you really want to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day:  Bask in the love of God, get drunk on the new wine of the Holy Spirit, joyfully follow and obey Jesus!

Come and experience the Presence and power of the Holy Trinity working through various individuals as they show and tell what God has done on Sunday mornings @ 10:45 & Thursday nights @ 6:30; 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207.

Bud Adams may say:  “I want Manning.  I am ready to do what it takes to get him aboard.”  But as for me:  I want Jesus.  I am ready to do what it takes to get and maintain His Presence and power in my life!”

Boldly chasing Manning may win the Super Bowl for Bud (or it may backfire).  However, boldly chasing Jesus can do so much more — break every chain, set the captives free, and change the world.

Football’s fun, but faith is forever!

Experience the passionate pursuit of Jesus at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center.  Come, chase Christ with a group of people who want Him like Bud Adams wants Manning:  Thursday nights @ 6:30 & Sunday mornings @ 10:45; 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207.

This was my first encounter with the Kingdom of God, the presence of the actual reign (rule) of God.  Jesus had said that the Kingdom of God was at hand (close) but I had never before been aware of God’s government.  But I was that night — my heart shuddered.  I was so overcome with awe at what I was encountering that I did something I had never done before.  I began to talk to God out loud in front of people.  The word’s flowed from deep within me.

This was God’s gathering of “called out ones” — God’s active assembly, not man’s religious ritual.  Afterwards, I went back to my dorm room and wrote these lines:

Today I saw the Son

Rising From The Water,

Now wine,

And felt His warmth

Caressing me,

As I disrobed

And submerged.

I did see the Son that night (41 years ago) and I’ve never been the same.  He rose in front of my eyes from a gathering of ordinary people who seemed as common as water.  With His Presence, I saw warmth and felt it deeply — peace, love, compassion, sincerity, openness, reality, and meaning — wrapping around me, soothing my pain.

I was overcome.  My walls fell down.  My masks and coverings came off.  My problems, my obsessions, my fears, my self-focus; all began to melt as I sank into the loving reign of God.

For almost 4 years I gathered spontaneously with this group of called out ones.  They were called, not to be preachers or religious professionals.  No, they were called to passionately pursue the Presence and will of God — to seek first God’s reign and His right living.  (See New Testament verse:  Matthew 6:33.)

When I graduated and moved on, I went looking for God’s gathering of called out ones, for His ekklesia.  I went to many churches (sometimes staying for years in a particular church) but I could not find the present reign of God.  I couldn’t find anyplace where God, Himself, was allowed to be the One in control (to set up His kingdom).  There was always a strong element of human control — agendas, programs, strong human authority figures — a tightly regulated environment.

How I longed for so many years to see again God’s gathering, freely led by the Holy Spirit rather than by human domination.

Finally a call came from an unexpected place.  A Salvation Army major wanted to meet with my wife and me.  He told us that a Salvation Army corps (church) had been closed a few years before and he wanted to reopen it.  However, because traditional church hadn’t worked in that place, he wanted it to be different.  His word was “nontraditional.”  He asked if my wife and I could start something different.

My heart leapt.  Did I hear him correctly?

Yes.  We were given the freedom and support to begin a Spirit-led gathering of God’s people.  That was four years ago.  As you know, I can’t keep quiet about what God has done and is doing at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center.  I written many blogs about it, such as:

A Nashville Dream Fulfilled After 121 Years

I’m Livin’ My Dream In Nashville

Be Part Of Changing Lives And Transforming A Neighborhood In Nashville

However, words can’t really show you what it is like.  Perhaps you should wander in and see for yourself (like I wandered into that gathering).  It might just be the very thing that you have been looking for all your life.

Sunday mornings @ 10:45 & Thursday nights @ 6:30.  225 Berry Street, Nashville, TN   37207.

Update . . .

After writing and posting this article this morning, I had a “stumble upon” experience, or what I prefer to call a God leading.  I saw copy of Time magazine in an office and picked it up.  It contained an article about Nones.

Nones are a growing percentage of America’s population — people who claim no religion.  However, the article said that most Nones consider themselves to be spiritual and open to God, just not religion.  The article said that denominations must decide whether to adapt to the Nones or loose them.

Thank God that The Salvation Army has chosen to be adaptable.  And our experience matches the Time article.  We have found that Nones are very open to participatory, non-religious gatherings for God.  (This is sometimes called “organic church.”)

Words are okay, but the Gospel’s a new way, of livin’.

It’s not enough just to hear it, we’ve gotta live in the Spirit.

We need to follow & obey the One who is the Way,

Everyday!  Everyday!  Everyday!

It’s not easy to live the Gospel.  For example, 2 people cannot be in control of the same thing at the same time.  (Instead of 2 pilots flying one airplane, airlines use a pilot and a copilot.)  If a someone is in control of a his/her life, then God isn’t.  We have to let God be our boss, not just our adviser.

We need help living the Gospel — we need Christian community.  If a human being is in control of a church meeting, then the Divine Being is left to copilot.  However, if the human lets go of his agenda (or program) and allows the meeting to flow in the Spirit, God will show up and show out.

So what is God’s agenda for a church meeting?  It is explained in the New Testament; I Corinthians 14:26.

Some people say that this verse is impractical — that it won’t work.  However, it is working every week in Nashville at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center.  Come and see for yourself:  Sunday mornings @ 10:45 & Thursday nights @ 6:30, 225 Berry Street, Nashville, 37207.

“The Christian Church should be a pillar of fire leading the peoples of the world, instead of an ambulance corps bring up the rear as it so often seems to be.”  –Helen Shoemaker

“A church should be a powerhouse where sluggish spirits can get recharged and animated.”  –Samuel A. Eliot

Dr. Luke, author of the New Testament book of Acts, quotes the early church as praying:  “Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  Luke continues:  “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

Dr. Luke’s observations are not just history — they are still happening.  Regular people (who religion calls laymen) are speaking about Jesus with “great boldness.”  Come and hear them “speak the word of God boldly.”  It is happening in Nashville @ The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry St., 37207.

Come and see.  Get fired up and help lead the way to victory at the frontlines of spiritual combat.

The building that helped Nashville become known as Music City was originally built in 1892 as a place for spiritual awakening — an interdenominational revival house.  The auditorium that spread Country Music around the world, was originally intended to spread the Good News that Jesus Christ is alive, present, and active in our world.  Here’s the little-known history of the Ryman Auditorium.

Thomas Ryman was a Nashville businessman who in 1885 owned a fleet of 35 riverboats and numerous saloons. That year, revivalist Sam Jones, a former alcoholic, was holding tent meetings in Nashville.  Because of Jones’ preaching  people were encountering Jesus Christ and turning away from alcohol and gambling, two things that Ryman had built his business on.

On May 10, 1885, Ryman went to one of Sam Jones’ tent revivals and found Jesus Christ that night.  His life was changed forever.  It is said that Ryman immediately ended his gambling business and threw all the alcohol off of his riverboats.

Ryman was so grateful that he decided to build a building big enough to seat everyone who wanted to hear Sam Jones and others share the Gospel so that they wouldn’t have to meet in tents.  Ryman’s desire was to help others to “turn away from their wicked ways and save their souls from damnation.”  He wanted to see spiritual awakening spread in Nashville.

The building took seven years and about $100,000 to build.  It was finished in 1892 and named the Union Gospel Tabernacle.  After Thomas Ryman’s death, it was renamed in his honor.

Sometimes I walk around the Ryman and pray that God will fulfill the original purpose of the building by releasing a mighty move of the Spirit in Nashville.  I pray that as Country Music spread around the world by taking over the Union Gospel Tabernacle building, so God will release His power and Presence in Nashville and spread it around the world!

If this is also your vision, come seek God with us at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207; Sunday mornings @ 10:45 & Thursday nights @ 6:30.

Thank You, Lord, for 4 years of seeing You transform, disciple, and work through a diverse group of amazing people and for all the miracles You have done!

Thank you, Berry Street people, for all the love, ministry, & incredible testimonies you have shared with one another.

Thank you to The Salvation Army for supporting a non-traditional church.

And thank you everyone who has prayed for, given to, and helped Berry Street in any way.

Being a part of Berry Street has changed my life and brought me closer to God.  It has been such a joy to see God working in and through so many different people the past 4 years.  (I’ve never seen so much spiritual growth in a group of people.)

May Berry Street have many more years of experiencing God’s Presence and power and sharing compassion and ministry with one another!

We meet on Sunday mornings @ 10:45 & Thursday nights @ 6:30 — 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207.

Those present will be invited to share how they have been touched and changed by what God is doing at Berry Street.  Then after the 10:45 am. participatory worship gathering, to share in a pot luck and a birthday cake.

This is a great time to give Berry Street a birthday present.  Since we work in a needy neighborhood in East Nashville, we need outside financial help to keep this outreach ministry going.

If you would like to make a birthday donation to Berry Street, send a check made to The Salvation Army to:  The Salvation Army Berry Street, 225 Berry St., Nashville, TN, 37207.  Thank you so much!

Also, come and celebrate with us this Sunday at 10:45 am.  Mapquest can locate us for you.

I am reading through the Book of Acts for the fifth time in two months and asking God to show me why the early church had so much more passion and power than the 21st Century church.  A few days ago, as I reread the words of Jesus in chapter 1, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before — the Holy Spirit 3-step.

As Jesus is about to leave His disciples, He presents a pattern that is repeated often in the Book of Acts:  Rest, Receive, Respond.  Perhaps, if we would like to experience the acts of the Holy Spirit in out time and in our life, we should follow Jesus’ pattern.

* Rest)  Jesus tells them:  “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift . . .”  Before we jump up and start doing whatever we want, using our own power and strength, we need to wait for the Spirit to touch us, to comfort us, to empower us, and to give us specific instructions.

* Receive)  Next Jesus says:  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you . . .”  As we “wait for the gift” we are waiting for the Holy Spirit (and what the New Testament calls “the gifts of the Spirit”).   We are waiting for the Spirit to prompt us with insight and guidance.  A phrase used in the Book of Acts is:  “The Spirit said to . . .”  In the Book of Revelation Jesus repeats this commandment several times:  “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Perhaps one reason the contemporary church lacks power is our failure to hear the Spirit’s direct promptings in our heart.

* Respond)  Finally Jesus says:  “. . . and you will be My witnesses.”  In other words, you will show and tell what you have seen and heard — you will do what the Spirit says — then as you follow and obey His specific instructions to you, you will become a demonstration of God’s power and life flowing through you.

Luke, the author of Acts, then adds:  “After He said this, He was taken up  before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.”  Then two angels asked the disciples what would seem to be a rather obvious thing:  “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?”

The disciples had just seen something that no one had every seen — Jesus vanishing behind a cloud.  They were in shock — astonished.  However, they needed to stop looking for Jesus in the sky and start waiting and listening for the Spirit in their heart.  There needed to be a shift from following the physical, external Jesus to following and obeying the internal Spirit of Christ — the Holy Spirit.

So 120 disciples (including Jesus’ mother Mary) waited in Jerusalem without an agenda or a program or liturgy or a bulletin.  They had no idea what was coming or how long the gift would take to arrive.  Then suddenly after 40 days of waiting all Heaven breaks loose (see the second chapter of Acts).

How we need a earthly breakout of Heaven in the 21st Century!  Not a another program or a new technique or a special class or a great teaching or a refreshed ritual or a Christian conference . . .  In this post-Christian world, we desperately need all Heaven to break loose.  “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” If not now, when?  If not you, who?

It is time to rest, receive, & respond.  Need help?  Four years ago a group began to meet in Nashville based on the 3 R’s of Jesus.  After praise and worship, we rest, then receive, and then respond — we individually listen, we hear, and then we each do whatever God tells us to.  The results are amazing.  The Presence of God is showing up every week in amazing ways.

Come see for yourself:  Sundays @ 10:45 & Thursdays @ 6:30; 225 Berry Street, Nashville, 37207 — The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center.

Yesterday at Nashville’s Berry Street several people shared stories about how God has asked them to surrender various parts of their life to Him.  Near the end of the meeting I asked:  “Does anybody want to surrender to God this morning?  A man jumped up and rushed forward.  He began to share how much people’s testimonies had touched him as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“I really want to surrender to God,” he said.  He knelt down and the group gathered around him.  People began to pray for him.  It was a moving and visible manifestation of the power and presence of Christ.

This story was also shared on Sunday:  “A Nashville Dream Fulfilled After 121 Years.”  Next Sunday we will celebrate the fourth birthday (anniversary) of The Salvation Army Berry Street and our non-traditional, participatory worship meetings.

Come & experience B.S. for yourself:  Sundays @ 10:45 am. & Thursdays @ 6:30 pm. — 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207.

For instance, when people are stressed out, caught up in a harmful habit or addiction, or struggling with depression; one of the most effective ways for them to get better is to be a part of a support group where they can show and tell what they are going through and gain encouragement and strength from one another.  Examples include AA, Overeaters Anonymous, and Narcotics Anonymous.

However,  being an active part of a show and tell group can help anybody improve her/his life.  It even works in church.

Several years ago I had a dream.  I was in a church that had no pulpit or altar.  It had chairs instead of pews.  There was a big sign hanging up that read:  “Show And Tell What God Has Done.”

Shortly after that dream, my wife and I were asked by The Salvation Army to start a “non-traditional” church in East Nashville.  We we given permission to be creative and to do church a fresh way.  So we set it up where people have the freedom to show and tell what God has done.

Each Sunday morning we have a different person lead us in passionate praise and worship.  Then instead of having a sermon, we ask:  “Who has something to share?”

People begin to testify about what God has done.  They share Scriptures, prayers, words of encouragement, and gifts of the Spirit.  It is always amazing how it all comes together in a beautiful symphony of God’s Presence manifested in our midst.

This is not a new thing.  The New Testament teaches participatory church in I Corinthians 14:26.  The Quakers practiced it.  The early Methodist practiced it in what they called “class meetings.”  It has been the way of worship in the modern Chinese House Church Movement.  Many others around the world are engaging in support group style church meetings — sometimes called organic church and/or simple church.

Come and see how wonderful it is when God’s people show and tell what He has done.  Visit us at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry Street, Nashville, 37207 on Sunday mornings @ 10:45 & Thursday nights @ 6:30.

This is an amazing thing to experience.  8 to 13 people gather.  Once the prayer starts it is carried along spontaneously and has even lasted up to two hours.  Everyone is amazed because it seems like only 20 or 30 minutes.

Come and see for yourself.  God will touch and heal your heart.  225 Berry Street, Nashville, 37207.

A man who lived in Nashville in the late 1800s prayed a prayer that God answered 121 years after his death.  (Read about it by clicking here.)

John Berry McFerrin (1807-1887) was an internationally known Methodist revivalist and magazine editor who lived in East Nashville.  The last 11 years of his life, he lived at the corner of Berry (a street said to be named after him) and Meridian Streets.

McFerrin had a Nashville dream.  He wanted others to experience what he had experienced when he was 16 years old.  He joined a Methodist class meeting, which was a weekly, participatory meeting for prayer and mutual encouragement based upon the sharing of personal experiences (something like a Christian support group).  Here is what McFerrin said about it:

“The meetings were greatly blessed.  We read the Scriptures, we sang, we prayed, we spoke often one to another, and the Lord listened and heard.  Here I heard much of Christian experience, and learned to understand the wants of others.  Here I learned to give words of exhortation and comfort, and here I learned to appreciate the trials and temptations connected with the life of a Christian.  Fifty years have passed and the precious seasons that I enjoyed then are still fresh in my memory.  I regard class meetings as among the greatest providential means of grace ever instituted in the church.  They did much to keep me in the path, and gave me many encouragements through hearing the experience of older and wiser Christians than myself.  Class meeting is about the best theological school ever organized.  It was a sad day when it declined in the church; and I hope and pray the time may come when it will be revived in the church.”

McFerrin died in 1887 without seeing his dream fulfilled:  “I hope and pray that the time may come when it (class meetings) will be revived in the church.”

However, in March of 2008 (121 years after his death), The Salvation Army opened up a non-traditional, participatory church based on open sharing and testimonies, in a building at the corner of Berry & McFerrin streets, right across the street from where  McFerrin’s Nashville home once stood.  These meetings are Spirit-led without human programming or control.  They are incredibly powerful.

After quoting McFerrin’s dream (see above quote), his biographer, O.P. Fitzgerald, said:  “Moral forces do not die; they transmigrate.  The soul of a seemingly spent movement enters a new body . . . Tides of energy reach their limit in one direction, and then gathering again in mighty volume sweep with resistless power in a new path.”

I woke up early this morning with a prompting on my heart to search for more about McFerrin.  (I first learned about him about a month ago and wrote about him in a previous blog.)  This morning is when I discovered that McFerrin lived right across the street from our non-traditional church, The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center.  Later this morning I opened an email that was sent to me last night.  It was from someone I don’t even know and read:  “I stumbled on this article today and thought you might find it interesting.”  It gave me the link to the very internet page about McFerrin that I had found this morning.

God is working to fulfill John Berry McFerrin’s vision; reviving class meeting type gatherings of his church around the world.  Today these open, participatory meetings are sometimes called simple church or organic church and they are happening all over the globe.  Click this line for other names for organic church.

Nashville dreams do come true!  Come and see for yourself; Sundays @ 10:45 am. and Thursdays @ 6:30 pm.,. 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207.

Definition of tag-team:  Tag-team is an activity where people take turns participating as team members.  The best known use of the term tag-team is in reference to wrestling where it refers to wrestlers who fight as a team, acting alternately in the ring.  One tag-team member doesn’t enter the ring until the other tags him/her and steps out of the ring.

Definition of tag-team church:  A gathering of believers where individuals listen to God and take turns saying and/or doing what He tells them to.

Operating principle:  Jesus is alive and actively present whenever believers gather in His name.  He is a much more capable leader than anybody else at the meeting.  Tag-team church allows Jesus to direct the meeting instead of following a pastor, a priest, or a program.  “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Scriptural basis:  “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14 KJV) and “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.  All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.” (I Corinthians 14:26)

Results of a tag-team church meeting:  As individuals are tagged by the Spirit and do what He says, it becomes obvious to everyone present that what is happening in the meeting is not random rambling, but that God is actively directing the participants.  “But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted and examined by everything that’s happening, his secret, inner heart will become known, and so he will bow down to the ground and worship God, declaring, ‘God is truly among you!’” (I Corinthians 14:24-25 ISV)  I’ve actually seen this happen many times in tag-team church!

A tag-team church prototype:  A prototype is a working model of a product or idea that serves as an example to illustrate its viability and usefulness.   If you would like to see an actual example of tag-team church, there is a prototype in Nashville called The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center.  It gathers every week on Sundays at 10:45 am and Thursdays at 6:30 pm. and functions as described above.  The address is 225 Berry St., Nashville, TN, 37207.

Footnote #1:  About three years ago a sister in the Lord and I were praying together when she suddenly said:  “God is telling me that Berry Street is a prototype.”

I responded:  “Wow!  That’s exciting. “

Then she asked:  “What’s a prototype?” (It is amazing how God spoke to her using a word that she didn’t know.)

Hopefully this brief description of tag-team church answers that question.  Come and experience this working model and you will be amazed at how God demonstrates His power and presence right before your eyes.

Footnote #2:  There are other prototypes of tag-team church around America and around the world.  They are sometimes known by other names, the most common being — organic church and simple church.

The Voice?

The Prince of Peace said:

“My sheep hear My Voice.”

Listen . . .

Hearing Jesus

Personally speak to you

Is life transforming.

I once asked God why He spoke to people in Bible times but wasn’t speaking nowadays.  Immediately this thought came across my mind:  “The problem is not that I’m not speaking, but that you’re not listening.”

Here’s a quotation I found from Alfred Hughes:  “What is important is allowing the Holy Spirit to touch the depths of the human heart.”

We have to open the door to The Voice.  We have to be quiet and listen for the Holy Spirit’s promptings.

Sometimes it helps to be in a place where a group of people are gathered, not to hear a sermon from a man, but to directly hear The Voice of God.  There is such a gathering in Nashville, Tennessee at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center.  If you are in the area, come and listen with us:  Sundays @ 10:45 am. & Thursdays @ 6:30 pm., 225 Berry Street, 37207.

“Filled with wonder and amazement . . .”

“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

“Performing  many signs and wonders among the people.”

“We must obey God rather than human beings.”

“Preached the word wherever they went.”

“Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit.”

“The Lord’s hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

“Earnestly praying . . .”

“These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here.”

“Openly confessed what they had done.”

“Knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept . . .”

You have just read a series of sound bites taken from a detailed history book about the first Christians.  It was written by a medical doctor, Dr. Luke, who personally knew many of the first followers of Christ.  It is known as the Book of Acts.  It shows how normal Christians act.

I want to act like an Acts Christian, don’t you!  I meet regularly with a group of people who want to see Acts acted out in the 21st Century.  If that is your desire, come and see our support group style meetings as we seek to recover the Acts lifestyle.

We meet on Sundays at 10:45 am. and Thursdays at 6:30 pm. at 225 Berry St., Nashville, TN, 37207 (corner of Berry & Meridian Streets).

*  The outrage that has been demonstrated by Romney’s words shows that there is a belief that the living God, the Creator of all that exists in the Universe, has put in human hearts, that it is wrong not to be concerned about the very poor.  Most people will at least say that they believe that people have a responsibility to help other people in poverty.

* Words often don’t mean much.  While many people voice concern for the very poor, often they actually do very little to help poor people.    Our words say that we are concerned, but our actions may say that we aren’t.

* Poor people need more than words (and more than a hand-out).  They need equal, personal relationships with people who are better off than they are.  (It is very difficult to improve your life if all the people you know are in the same boat you are in.)  In America, most people who the government considers to be in poverty, live in neighborhoods segregated from the middle class and from the rich.

Perhaps the best thing the church can do for the poor is to go beyond words and to economically desegregate their congregations — to bring people of all economic levels together in close Christian community within individual churches.  Perhaps the church should build close, mutual friendships that cross the gaps between those who aren’t poor and those who are poor.  When people who are considered to be poor have caring personal friends who are better off financially, amazing changes begin to happen.

If you would like to see this in action, a church in an East Nashville urban neighborhood (considered by many to be poor) has crossed economic boundaries and is building caring Christian community that bridges financial gaps.  Come and see for yourself what God is doing:  The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207, Sundays @ 10:45 am. & Thursdays @ 6:30 pm.

Meanwhile, the Super Bowl is considered to be one of the most exciting annual events in the USA.

Why? Let’s think about it . . .

What if every play of the Super Bowl was preplanned and published in a program? That way the fans could know what to expect as the game goes along. Good idea or bad one?

Of course, programming the Super Bowl in advance would kill all the excitement. Few people would want to sit through a game when they not only knew the outcome, but also knew every step toward that outcome ahead of time. I sure wouldn’t!

Isn’t that what we do to church meetings — kill any excitement by planning every step of the service ahead of time and giving people a program that tells them almost everything that is going to happen? No wonder so many people look away, yawn, and nod off.

But what if we made the church like the Super Bowl — what if we kicked it off and then allowed it to spontaneously flow? Church would become exciting because we wouldn’t know what is going to happen next. Wow!

Would you like to experience an exciting, unprogrammed church meeting in Nashville? It will thrill you — honestly!

Anyway, why not give Nashville’s unplanned, participatory church a shot? You have nothing to lose but your boredom. Come on down . . .

Sundays @ 10:45 am. and/or Thursdays @ 6:30 pm.,
The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center
225 Berry Street,
Nashville, 37207

If you are in the Nashville, Tennessee area come and experience the action of the Holy Spirit in person at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry St., 37207, at 10:45 am. on Sunday and/or 6:30 pm. on Thursday.

We gather for passionate praise and worship led by different people each Sunday.  Then we allow the Holy Spirit, Himself, to direct the meeting in whatever way He chooses.  People are free to do whatever the Spirit tells them to.

Each Thursday night we have a prayer meeting where people spontaneously pray as led by the Holy Spirit.

The results are always amazing, exciting, and never the same.

Everywhere the followers of Christ went, there was either a revival or a riot.  Those passionate believers could not be ignored — brushed aside as irrelevant.  Their words and lifestyle was polarizing, calling forth a response.

Acts is not an aberration.  It is normal Christianity.  The deviation from God’s norm for His people didn’t happen in the book of Acts.  The aberration happened afterwards.  After the earliest believers died, the fullness of their zeal for God was not passed on.  Over generations, faith became intellectual rather than Spirit-led; traditional rather than heart-felt; a small appendage of life rather than life’s all-consuming passion.

So nowadays we live in an abnormal faith environment — Sunday-go-to-meeting, doctrine over lifestyle, lethargic liturgy rather than fiery faith.  Meanwhile the handbook for anointed action and advancement surrounds us, buried in the Bibles that abound in our country.

Millions now reject Christianity.  Millions are leaving churches every year because they find them boring, uninspiring, and tradition bound.  Yet perhaps those who reject faith in Christ are unaware that they are rejecting an abnormal form of Christianity and that they are not rejecting the real deal.

So if you have rejected Christ (or church) based on what you have seen and/or read about church and the people who call themselves Christians (nowadays or in history), you have rejected a faded copy rather than the real thing.

To be fair, you need to learn about authentic Christianity.  The place to do that is the book of Acts.  It is a short book.  I challenge you to have an open mind and read Acts today!

If you live in Nashville, come and visit a non-traditional church seeking to follow the lifestyle presented in Acts:  The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207, Sundays @ 10:45 am. & Thursdays @ 6:30 pm.

For example, have you read or heard about some of the amazing stats for the Denver Broncos and Pittsburg Steelers post season game?  As the University of Florida quarterback, Tim Tebow used to wear “John 3:16″ in eye black under his eyes, however this is not allowed in the NFL.  After the game, Tebow had thrown for 316 yards, averaged 31.6 yards per pass, and the Nielson rating was 31.6.

The odds against all of that are all but impossible.  If it was a coincidence, it was a once in a lifetime one (however, in my life, those incredible statistical improbabilities are beaten not just once in my life, but many times every year).  If you seriously ponder such mysteries (laying aside any prejudice against the idea of something supernatural) you realize that there has to be something beyond nature at work.  Perhaps, God is using Tebow and his stats to say “Wake up!  I am real!  Surrender your life and heart to me!”

Here’s another example of incredible statistical improbabilities.  For more than 5 years my wife and I and others have been prayer walking in the McFerrin Park Neighborhood of East Nashville carrying The Salvation Army Flag which stands for the blood of Jesus and the fire of the Holy Spirit.  We pray for a mighty move of God to wake up the neighborhood to the point that people feel God’s convicting presence, even if they just drive by.

Four years ago, The Salvation Army asked us to start a non-traditional church in a chapel located right in the center of the neighborhood.  No one knew what to name the new church which is located on Berry Street.  Finally our Area Commander suggested calling it Berry Street Worship Center.  We felt led to have Sunday morning meetings where people are free to testify and share as led by the Holy Spirit and God has done and is doing amazing things in and through many people.

Yesterday, we felt prompted to stop at Parnassus Books, a new, independent bookstore in Nashville.  While browsing, I saw a book that told how various streets in Nashville got their name.

I looked up Berry Street.  It was named for John Berry McFerrin, a nationally known Methodist leader and passionate lover of Christ.  My mouth dropped.  How could both the street and the neighborhood that God has had us to pour out our hearts and life for during the past 5 years, be named for a man with a similar passion?  What are the odds against that?

When I got home and goodled John Berry McFerrin.  Here is some of his bio:  He was born in 1807 in Middle Tennessee.  For many years he was secretary of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  He also edited the Nashville Christian Advocate and was the agent for its books.  McFerrin wrote The History of Methodism in Tennessee.  He was a man of wide influence in his denomination and was a delegate to the ecumenical conference in London in 1881.  He frequently wrote articles for both religious and secular periodicals.

One writer describes camp meetings that were led by John Berry McFerrin this way:  “Entire neighborhoods and sections of the country were taken.  The attention of the thoughtless was arrested, the obduracy (hardness of heart) of the wicked was overcome, the prejudices of ignorance and bigotry were removed, the consciences of the assembled multitudes were aroused and their sensibilities stirred to the depths , and in the sweep of the religious excitement, opposition broke down and many turned to the Lord.”  O, Lord, do it again on Berry Street in McFerrin Park!

Here’s a quote from McFerrin:  “The Christian religion does not consist in mere forms and ceremonies and outward observances.  In a word, it is what we call experience — a glorious realization in our hearts that God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”

When we gather at Berry Street on Sunday mornings, we encourage people to listen to God and then say and/or do whatever He tells them to.  Here’s another quotation from McFerrin:  “It is a fearful thing to resist the Spirit of God and fail to do the work to which we are distinctly moved.”

At Berry Street, we have seen Jesus miraculously set several people free from bondage to drugs.  John Berry McFerrin said this:  “I thought of the poor man who had a legion of devils, and Jesus came along and cast them all out at once! That’s His way.”

Coincidence?  Or is God confirming the vision He has burned in our hearts for McFerrin Park?

Want to read more about the vision?  Here are two articles:  I’m Livin’ My Dream In Nashville and Be Part Of Changing Lives And Transforming A Neighborhood in Nashville.

Or come visit us at The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center, 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207, Sundays at 10:45 am. and/or Thursday nights at 6:30 pm.