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At that time, we were the only Church of Christ of any kind in Boston proper. We took the name, the Boston Church of Christ, because the churches in the Bible were simply called by the name of their city. In time, we also came to a conviction from chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation that there was to be only one church in one city, according to the Bible. After all, if one church multiplied disciples, then it would, in time fill the whole city with the teachings of Jesus (Acts 5:28).

During these times, we altered the form of our worship. No longer did we have Sunday school or Sunday evening services (both of these began in the 1800s in America). But we intensely studied Bible passages individually every day and together at our midweek service. On Sundays our church services became two hour celebrations of singing, communion, prayers, baptisms, fellowship and exhortive preaching from the Word!

Perhaps also unappreciated by the casual observer was the challenge to meet the needs and keep faithful the unprecedented number of new Christians - over 2,000 in the first six years in Boston! In the '60s and '70 s in the denominational world, there had been much discussion and writing on the "body life" of the church and "shepherding" one another. Thus, in the Crossroads movement, one another Christianity was expressed in a buddy system called "prayer partners," where each person chose their own "buddy."

With so many new Christians in the Boston church, I felt this approach was not directive enough. Building upon this concept, I came up with "discipleship partners." In these relationships, the evangelists, elders and women's counselors, after discussion and prayer, arranged for an older, stronger Christian to give direction to each of the younger, weaker ones. They were to meet weekly, but have daily contact (Hebrews 10:24,25). (Obviously, the younger discipleship partner also gives input and advice to the stronger disciple, as in any healthy relationship.)

We also saw in Scripture that Jesus primarily trained men through groups the apostles and the 72 (Luke 10:1-24). Therefore, we began discipleship groups for every Christian. (This group would usually meet at the midweek service.) Through this approach, each Christian could naturally build relationships with other Christians in addition to their discipleship partner.

Studies were done by several church growth experts that proved the greater the number of relationships in the church a new Christian possesses is directly proportional to his likelihood of remaining faithful to God. Interestingly, Dr. Milton Jones in Discipling: The Multiplying Ministry insightful comments, "A new Christian who has good relationships on all levels will achieve a maturity in Christ that is greater than other Christians who have been Christians for years, but only have [casual, non focused] relationships.

With the previously discussed system, everyone in the church would have people to meet their needs, and the multitudes of people being baptized would remain in Christ by continuing to be taught and making disciples themselves (Matthew 28:20). These restorations caused incredible controversy. However, the retention rate through all these years of all the baptisms has been about 50%, which is over five times as high as the rate in the various elements in the Churches of Christ.

Revolution Through Restoration

From Jerusalem to Rome, from Boston to Moscow

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

From 1983 on through the 80's, many people, especially leaders from the various elements of the Church of Christ, moved to Boston or our plantings to be disciples and to train to build churches. They were in awe of God and the unprecedented growth the Holy Spirit produced in Boston and our daughter churches (Acts 9:31).

Men and women came from traditional mainline Churches of Christ, Christian churches, Crossroads campus ministry churches, Milton Jones campus ministry churches, Springfield, Missouri (John Wilson, Tom Jones) campus ministry, bus ministry influenced churches (Garnett Road in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Williamstown in West Virginia; and Lindbergh Road in Anderson, Indiana), Stanley Shipp influenced churches, one cup churches, anti Sunday school churches, anti cooperation churches, the "black" Churches of Christ, and several students from Church of Christ sponsored colleges: Harding University, Harding Graduate School of Religion, Oklahoma Christian University, Abilene Christian University, International Bible College, Great Lakes Christian College, Northeastern Christian College, and several schools of preaching (of special note were Sunset and Preston Road in Texas).

The amazing thing is that many of these groups had several philosophical and doctrinal conflicts with each other. However, in Boston, the elders, their wives, Elena and I made every effort to forge a bond of unity between all these leaders from the Scriptures and through our working side-by-side with each other for one purpose (1 Corinthians 1:10; Philippians 1:27). We have always welcomed people from any background who are truly seeking God and we continue to be open to still others joining in our revolution through restoration of the Scriptures today more than ever.

All of these leaders either went to Boston or our plantings and secured a secular job, hoping some day to be selected to be an intern or they were immediately hired as interns. But all (no matter how extensive their experience or Bible background) had to begin their training as if they were young Christians. For example, everyone was encouraged to take the First Principles Class. We found that these leaders had to unlearn their past traditions and misconceptions before they could really learn how to build churches. The training for someone baptized out of the world in Boston and for someone who moved to train in Boston was exactly the same. Before any man was sent out to lead a church, he had to become a proven builder in Boston or one of our plantings.

It was during these days in 1985 that Chuck Lucas left the ministry for personal spiritual reasons. This left a void of leadership for many churches he influenced. Crossroads campus ministry movement faded. The some fifty churches they directly influenced then splintered into many different doctrinal directions. With the passage of time, the mainline Church of Christ's concept of autonomy and the restorations in Boston, my relationships with others converted at Crossroads had eroded. Realizing this, in the ensuing two years I made a concerted effort to reach out to the leaders of this campus ministry element of the Church of Christ. Many moved to Boston.

Of special note were Sam Laing and Tom Brown who were then leading struggling congregations only partially composed of disciples. I vividly remember going to see Tom and his family in Berkeley, California. He pleaded, "I need people in my life. I want myself, my family and, if possible, the church in Berkeley to be 'grafted into' the Boston churches." I also remember flying down to see Sam and his family in the Atlanta area and bonding again through our tears. He had become discouraged and even considered leaving the ministry. God used our time together to give him a vision for one church that could evangelize all of the Atlanta area. Just before Sam moved to Boston, the church that he was serving split. Those who desired to be disciples became the foundation for our Atlanta Church of Christ planting. As Paul wrote, "There are divisions among you...to show which of you have God's approval" (1 Corinthians 11:18,19). Tom and Sam moved to Boston in the summer of 1987, as simply interns training to build churches. Others converted at Crossroads, many of whom were former friends, resented my efforts to pull them into the Boston movement. They became some of our most verbal opponents. At this time, the Crossroads church publicly distanced itself from the Boston movement because of the Atlanta planting and the many restorations from Scripture that Al Baird and I taught there. (Today the Crossroads church is simply another mainline Church of Christ with less than 400 in attendance.) In all of these trials, the elders, my fellow evangelists and I determined to stay focused on the mission.

Many of the men who were leaders in the different elements of the Churches of Christ, who came to train to build churches of disciples, discovered they had not been baptized as disciples themselves. In the world's eyes, they were rebaptized. In God's eyes, they were baptized into Jesus Christ (Acts 19:1-5). Of special note are: Nick Young, Preston Shepherd, Willie Flores, John Bringardner, Jerry Jordan, Reese Neyland, Bill Hooper, John Mannel, Dave Peden, Mike Taliaferro, Steve Kinnard, Steve Sapp, Steve Brown, John Lusk, Curt Simmons, Mike Rock, Scott Green, Grant Henley, Ed Powers, Andy Fleming, Gordon Ferguson, Tom Jones, Jeff Tabor, Ed Heinlein, Kevin Robbins, Roy Larson, Dr. Richard Rheinbolt, Tom McCurry, John Reus, Gregg Marutzky, Gregg Metten, Barry Mahfood, Mike Leatherwood, Sonny Sessions and Joe Garmon.

Others were not rebaptized, as they felt they had made the decision to be disciples (usually not with that terminology) when they were baptized: Dr. George Gurganus, Sam Laing, Cecil Wooten, Jim Blough, Marty Fuqua, Dr. Marty Wooten, Ryan Howard, Henry Kreite, Joe Woods, Jess Asper, Ed Townsend, Jimmy Allen, Jr., Jimmy Rogers, John Porter, Dave Eastman, Tom Brown, Dave Weger, Phil Lamb, Bruce Williams, Randy McKean, Mike Fontenot, Douglas Jacoby, Ron Drabot, Mark Mancini, Wyndham Shaw, Gerry Frederick, John Partington, Sam Powell, Tom Marks, Steve Gooch, Tim Huffman, Elena' s brother-in-law Martin Bentley, Camaron Corr and Dr. Jerry Jones (who later left the Boston movement). Many more came to train. A few of these later turned back in bitterness because of the "hard teachings" they could not "accept" (John 6:60-66).

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!