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Get Laid Divorce Advice Singlewomenadultservice Single Women Adult Service Single Women Adult Service Single Women Adult Service Hr News Sub Popfolk Single Women Adult Service

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Revolution Through Restoration

From Jerusalem to Rome, from Boston to Moscow

A Remnant Returns

In late 1986, because so many leaders from so many different elements of the Church of Christ had moved to Boston or our plantings, we decided to call to repentance all types of mainline and all types of campus ministry churches who were willing to pay the price to multiply disciples. First, we would ask the interested church's lead minister to move to Boston to be discipled and further trained. We replaced them with a Boston-trained evangelist to serve the church.

During the initial weeks of this changeover, each member was called to renew their commitment at baptism to be a disciple of Jesus, to be baptized as a disciple of Jesus, or to leave. Sometimes elders were rebaptized: Dr. Al Baird, Roger Lamb, George Havins, and Ron Brumley. Criticism came from outside our churches because, in the mind set of some, since these elders were just baptized, they became novices in the faith. The Bible teaches that a person should not be an elder as a novice so he will not become conceited (1 Timothy 3:6). Since they were already serving in this capacity, and were now humbling themselves, there seemed little chance for them to now become conceited. Thus, this character requirement was not an issue.

After these radical changes, these churches grew equally as rapidly as our plantings, for, in fact, there was now no difference. Each church would be composed solely of disciples. I called these efforts "reconstructions" after the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah. We always renamed the church after the metropolitan (city) area in which the church was located. First of all, we did this to be biblical, as these were the names for local congregations in the Bible (i.e. the church in Ephesus, Revelation 2:1 , etc.) And secondly, it gave the disciples a vision to evangelize all of their metropolitan area.

In our first reconstruction in December 1986 in Kingston, Jamaica, Phil and Donna Lamb were a great strength for Elena and me. This experience totally bonded the Lambs and us. I still remember preaching on a very hot and humid Friday night to about 70 people from a weak congregation in Kingston. The lesson was entitled "Rebuilding the Wall" from chapters 1-6 in Nehemiah. After the lesson, I figuratively drew a line in front of the pulpit and said, "If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, and a member of the new Kingston Church of Christ, and if you want to be a part of this pillar church which will evangelize all of Kingston, Jamaica, and, in time, the Caribbean, please come forward." Forty three responded! Immediately afterwards we broke up into men and women's groups. Here those who wanted to openly confessed their sins (Nehemiah 9:1-3; Matthew 3:1-6). By the next morning, all of the 43 were jubilant. Then Phil preached on the power of the Holy Spirit. He charged them to make it their purpose to be fishers of men and to begin by bringing their friends to church the next day. On Sunday, over 200 attended services!

The Kingston church started with 48 disciples, including five young leaders from Boston. The first year 115 were baptized, the second 200. The Kingston church now has over 1,000 on Sundays! Later, in the summer of 1987, I worked with the Greens and the Kims on turning the struggling Berkeley congregation into the San Francisco Church of Christ. Now God has blessed them with over 1,400 in worship on Sundays! Then in December, the Williams and I did the reconstruction in San Diego, where they now have nearly 2,500 every Sunday morning! Of great significance at the same time, London reconstructed Sydney, and Chicago reconstructed seven churches in the midwestern United States.

When we built these churches, we taught against the unscriptural church government system practiced in the traditional Churches of Christ. They believed that each congregation was independent and totally autonomous from all the others. We showed from the Bible how congregations were connected through their relationships and how evangelists directed other evangelists in the region (field) they influenced. (The word "autonomy" is not even in the Bible.) We also taught that the lead evangelist worked with, and, for the most part, led and discipled the elders to direct the affairs of a local church (Titus 1:5; 1 Timothy 5:17).

In all, we preached one worldwide brotherhood (1 Peter 2:17) for we observed that independent autonomy violated the command and spirit of Scripture. This teaching stopped churches from learning from each other and from growing, and simply produced a critical spirit toward other churches and nonimpact throughout the world. Today we have many evangelists who minister to clusters of churches in an area of the world. For example, Gordon Ferguson has recently ministered to the churches in Europe by teaching the book of Romans in short two week periods.

As Isaiah wrote, "Only a remnant will return" (Isaiah 10:21,22). I saw all the way through the Bible that God, from time to time, took the few who were faithful and separated them from the unfaithful to have a purified people devoted to him. This action always precipitated His movement in that generation. The examples are numerous: Noah and his family, Abraham and Sarah, Gideon and the 300, David and his mighty men, Nehemiah and the remnant in Jerusalem, and ultimately, the Jews who became the first Christians in the first century!

In the many elements of the Churches of Christ and Christian churches where there was no desire for help, we felt an obligation to God to call out the true disciples (or people who desired to be true disciples), asking them to move to one of the Boston churches, sometimes called "multiplying ministry churches." Thus, we purposefully set about to glean the remnant into what now was clearly a new, modern day movement of God.

After pushing myself so hard for so long, I was exhausted and became physically sick during Christmas of 1986. While in bed I realized from my condition that I, and all the other Christians, needed to rely more on God through prayer. During the congregational workshop in January, I stressed the need first for myself and then for the entire church to repent and draw closer to God. Consequently, there was a spiritual revival as I began to teach this in all of our churches. We greatly intensified our focus on Bible study, prayer, fasting, the Holy Spirit, and our personal relationships with God to endure the rigors of the Christian life. Frank and Erica Kim were a great comfort at this time.

I found when praying with them that their prayers were very aggressive in fighting Satan and his demonic angels. The Kims have been an upward call for the entire brotherhood as they are always up before daylight to pray to the Father (Mark 1:35).

It was during this period that some of the influential Churches of Christ (Garnett Road and Sunset), as well as the Christian Chronicle, the most prominent Church of Christ publication, stopped considering us a part of the Church of Christ fellowship. The major issues were: who is a Christian, independent autonomy of each congregation and rebaptism. I am convinced that jealousy over our growth, which exposed their lack of growth, was a major motivation of this separation(John 3:20, 12:42,43). The charges against us were filled with emotionally laden words such as "love bombing," "brainwashing," and "cult."

The Bible teaches that Christians should not be surprised by persecution (1 Peter 4:12). Jesus also was falsely accused with the emotionally laden words, "demon-possessed" (John 10:20), "blasphemer" (John 10:33) and even his own family said he was "out of his mind" (Mark 3:21). To Pilate he was accused of subversion, opposing taxes and claiming to be king, these last charges being two lies and a half-truth (Luke 23:2). Even the early church was accused, "we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect" [cult] (Acts 28:22).

My challenge to all of the critics in the Churches of Christ has been: Where are the souls you are saving and where are the churches you have built? We do believe "by their fruit [or lack of fruit] you will recognize them." (Matthew 7:20) Some of our churches then decided to change their names from Church of Christ to other godly names (like Christian Church or Church of God) to avoid unnecessary criticism. Historically, theologians are marking this hour. For the first time, Dr. John Vaughan in his publication, Church Growth Today, will separately list the Boston family of churches from all the other Churches of Christ. He calls us the "International Churches of Christ (Boston Movement)."

In 1987 I was very honored to be asked by my good friend Marty Wooten (we had met at Harding Graduate School) to be a member of the editorial board of a new magazine. It would have a scholarly orientation yet would be useful for even the newest Christian. He named it Biblical Discipleship Quarterly (later called Discipleship Magazine) and it would include challenging articles, news reports and interviews. After I reconstructed the Denver church in 1988, I asked Marty to move to Boston to train. Together we shared a new purpose and vision that Discipleship Magazine would be based in Boston and become the official documentation and information for the Boston movement. (Up to this time, the. Boston Bulletin had served this purpose.) Later I asked Roger Lamb to become the editor, as Marty felt that the Lord had called him to lead the evangelization of Germany and Eastern Europe. (Marty and Cathy Wooten are doing a superior job in their God given field as the Lord has already raised up two churches, Berlin and Munich, both of which are rapidly increasing in disciples.)

As of this year (1992) we changed the name of the magazine to UpsideDown from the title of the musical based on the book of Acts written by Steve Johnson and Sherwin Mackintosh. This has indeed become the anthem of our movement, as well as our goal: to turn the world upside down with the gospel (Acts 17:6 RSV). Plans are under discussion and prayer to begin a Spanish version of UpsideDown in 1993 edited by Jess Asper, who coordinates the Spanish-speaking ministries in the United States. Phil Lamb would be responsible for distribution throughout Central and South America.

In 1987 and 1988, the following key foreign mission teams were sent out from Boston: Mexico City with Phil and Donna Lamb (chronicled in Andrew Giambarba's book, Bent on Conquest), Hong Kong with Scott and Lynne Green, Bombay with Jim and Donna Blough, and Cairo led with undaunted courage by Bob and Laurie Tranchell into the heart of the Muslim world. Also the Kims joined Dr. George and Irene Gurganus in Tokyo.

The Gurganuses had started a mainline Church of Christ in Tokyo immediately following World War II. They returned to the United States 10 years later. Upon completion of his doctorate in cross cultural communication, George started the missions program at Harding University and later directed the missions program at Abilene Christian University. After he had been retired for two years, I asked George and Irene to move to Boston for I was convinced God still wanted to use them. There they became like spiritual grandparents to Elena and me. Following their training in Boston, they inspired the whole brotherhood by returning to the Japanese mission field at 70 years of age!