Stories from the Revolution

My friend, Ryan, is retired military. (West Point, Green Beret). He and his wife, Leah and three kids live in Alaska.

Ryan and Leah found LK10 about 10 years ago when their marriage was at a low point. The training they received in relational brain skills has produced great fruit in their marriage and family. Today, Ryan is a LK10 Listed Facilitator and Trainer.

In this wonderful story, Ryan shares what he has learned through Church 101, Communities of Practice and Listed Facilitator Training.

I am delighted to introduce to you another of our LK10 Listed Facilitators. Victoria Twombly and her husband, Jason, are friends of mine and both are great group facilitators.

In this episode, Victoria shares how she (reluctantly!) joined a Church 101 group three years ago. And, now she loves facilitates Church 101 groups as well as a LK10 Leader Team.

You will love Victoria's spontaneous joy and enthusiasm.

Toni Daniels tells the remarkable story of five couples in Spain who have recently gone through Church 101 and formed a Community of Practice. Their vision is to see this multiply in Spain and are taking the initiative to translate Church 101 and Relational Revolution into Spanish. This is what Roland Allen would call "The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church". Jesus is truly doing "the heavy lifting"!

What if a traditional church wanted to become a training center like Paul had in Ephesus at the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19). How could that be done? This is the second episode where I add more recommendations for any church leader attempting this.

Remember our rally cry... Every home a church. Every building a training center.

What if a traditional church wanted to become a training center like Paul had in Ephesus at the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19). How could that be done? In this episode, I share my first six recommendations for that transition.

Remember our rally cry... Every home a church. Every building a training center.

My reflections on what God has done in 2023 in the LK10 Community. And, what we are sensing for 2024.

Did Paul have a training center?  Where was it?  What kind of training did he do there?  What impact did it have?  Why should a traditional church today consider becoming a training center?

Tony went through Church 101 six years ago and has never been the same. Currently, he has facilitated at least 15 Church 101 Groups and trained more than 100 people from all over the world. Here's his story.

Did you know that 70% of pastors report continually battling depression? What if that's the result of traditional churches trying to be something they were never meant to be?

Here's the second half of Jason's story. See #91 for part one.

This is episode is a first! In addition to my regular postings, I'm excited to begin to interview people who are living out the Relational Revolution. In this first interview, Jason Twombly tells his story.

How do you know if a church gathering meets Paul's standard of success? (Hint: it's not great worship or a great sermon.)

Thankful that Christ has provided specialized trainers to equip every church member to "build the house" (oikodomeo)

What do we learn from Ephesians about God's plan for the church?

In 1 Cor 14:26, Paul tells us the purpose of a church meeting and something of how that is to happen. Most traditional churches have departed from this NT pattern.

For training, go to LK10.com

In this episode, I'll begin to explain why a gathering with only one person contributing (as in preaching) doesn't qualify as NT church.

If Marvin Wilson (Our Father Abraham) was right that in Jewish teaching "the home is more important than the synagogue", what is the role of the synagogue? And, what does that tell us about the role of the traditional church today?

The idea for house church didn't start with Jesus and the early church. It goes back to at least 586 BC. And, the main spiritual gathering in Jewish homes happened at the dinner table around a meal. Not in a special building where coffee wasn't allowed. John Piper is wrong about more than coffee.

BTW... I think there is a place for larger gatherings as training centers. Let's just don't call them "church". I'll unpack this idea in future episodes.

Don't forget to leave a comment or question. And, share this episode if it was helpful for you.

Reference: Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith by Marvin Wilson.

When I first began to learn about house church, I was frustrated because there was so little direction in the Bible about what a house church was and how it was done. Then, I found the answer and it made total sense.

Hundreds of new people are now coming to LK10 for training and community. For their benefit, this is the beginning of a series where I unpack what exactly the LK10 Community is. What is our Vision? What is our Mission? Are we more of a starfish or a spider type organization?

Kent and John unpack the idea that the five shifts that we talk about in our book are all expressions of God's love. His love is the unifying factor.

The five shifts for ReDiscovering Church as a heart to heart connection: 1. Joy Fueled. 2. Jesus Led. 3. Communities of Practice. 4. Spiritual Mothers and Fathers. 5. Ecosystems of Grace.

In this episode, Kent Smith and I discuss nine aspects of Discipleship Movements.  Similarities and differences between LK10 and organizations like DMM and T4T.

Dr. Kent Smith and John White continue their conversation about Discipleship Movements.  In particular, they talk about a very different approach that LK10 has to making disciples.

The "He Gets Us" Campaigned has paid 20 million dollars for two commercials during the Super Bowl.  Why this man made marketing program is a hugely inferior substitute for God's very own two stage marketing program.  

Places where the Coach stopped me as I listen in on Church 101 Groups.

Dr. Kent Smith and John White dialogue about Discipleship Movements.  In particular, they talk about a very different approach that LK10 has to making disciples.

I celebrated my 75th birthday in September (2022) and I took four month off from this podcast.  I stepped back and reflected on where I am in life and what the Lord has for me in this next season.  With this episode, I'm back with this podcast and more excited than ever about sharing more stories and insights about the Relational Revolution that is under way.

In previous episodes, I've explained why I think this $100 million dollar Campaign will, sadly, fail.  No doubt, it is well intentioned but my contention is that it is fatally flawed.  In this episode, I shift gears and begin to share about an approach that really would work because it's worked before.  And, it's based on Jesus' strategy for reaching the lost.  

This is episode four in a series where we explain why we believe the “He Gets Us” Campaign will fail.  More than simply a critique of this particular campaign, these episodes explore fundamental flaws in how contemporary Christian culture approaches evangelism.

Why the “He Gets Us” Campaign will fail (3).  This is the third episode where we are explaining why we think the $100 million dollar campaign will fail.  Take a listen to see why Toni believes that the people behind this Campaign, although certainly well intentioned, have misdiagnosed the problem.

Lots of adults are actually stuck in the child stage of development.  Even some church leaders and pastors.  That is, they have never learned to be both-centered (vs. self-centered).  As a result, they almost always default to talking vs asking questions that matter.  They don't know how to be gently curious.   In this episode, we'll explore this simple but important relational brain skill.  What is gentle curiosity and how is it developed?

At the end of Feb (2022), I had the opportunity to do a Zoom call with five legacy (traditional) church pastors who have transitioned to house churches.  The first half of that call became episode #64 which I posted last week.  In that episode, I was teaching about why the LK10 Community came into being about 15 years ago.  The big idea = the skills needed for "big" church do not translate to house church.  A house church is not just a smaller version of "big" church.  It's a "whole different animal".  LK10 trains leaders with this new skill set.

As those legacy pastors have started house churches, they are now discovering exactly that.  There are lots of questions that they don't have answers for.  You get to listen in on our conversation in this episode (#65).

In this episode, I have the privilege of sharing with a group of legacy pastors.  Here's the "big idea"...What we've learned over the last 25 years is that the skill set necessary to lead a traditional or legacy church does not translate well into the house church setting.  The need for new skills is exactly why LK10 came into being.

In 2009, 48% of Americans reported that they attended church weekly.  
In 2020, only 29% of Americans reported that they attended church weekly.  And, that was before Covid!

People are leaving traditional church in droves.

No wonder traditional church leaders are often discouraged and disoriented! 

However, there is hope!  A growing number of those leaders are coming to LK10 for training.  Stephen Johnson is one of those leaders.  In this episode (part two of my interview with Stephen) you will hear more of how that training is transforming his church in powerful ways.

When we started LK10 in 2008, we thought we were to focus exclusively on house churches.  Little by little, we saw that the Lord had a larger vision.  Increasingly, LK10 Values and Practices are being implemented in traditional churches.  Here's one of those stories.

That Sunday morning in 1998 was one of the worst days of my life.  I felt deeply betrayed by brothers that I had helped.  And, I carried resentment about that in my heart for 20 years.  This is the story of how Jesus reframed that event.

Key topic for LK10 Leader Teams for the month of Jan. 2022.  

The number of gifted mega church leaders who have fallen into sin is shocking.  Try Googling that sometime - there are dozens!  My contention is that these leaders (almost all are men) have painful events and/or relationships, abuse in one form or another, in their past that have never been healed.  Never been reframed by Jesus.  As a result, the abused becomes the abusers.  This same process of reframing is critical for all of us in order to become healthy spiritual mothers and fathers in the Revolution that is underway.