Gathered Around the Fire

After I found this on the internet I thought there are probably others interested in this kind of information. So I shared it here. Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 11 Things I Learned  by Thom Rainer UPDATE: Listen to the podc ast episode about this post. I was their church consultant in 2003. The church’s peak attendance was 750 in 1975. By the time I got there the attendance had fallen to an average of 83. The large sanctuary seemed to swallow the relatively small crowd on Sunday morning. The reality was that most of the members did not want me there. They were not about to pay a consultant to tell them what was wrong with their church. Only when a benevolent member offered to foot my entire bill did the congregation grudgingly agree to retain me. I worked with the church for three weeks. The problems were obvious; the solutions were difficult. On my last day, the benefactor walked me to my rental car. “What do you think, Thom?” he asked. He could see the uncertainty...

CROATIA DECLARES JUBILEE... with limited application FOR THE POOR (NaturalNews) The small eastern European nation of Croatia has decided to let Jubilee come early for its poorest citizens: Under a new initiative aimed at giving them a fresh start, the government is wiping out their debts, leaving some observers to relate the move to an ancient Biblical pattern indicating a looming financial collapse. As reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the "Fresh Start" program will help tens of thousands of Croatians become liberated from crushing debt, leaving them with a clean slate. Some of you might remember that I have been getting bits and pieces of this and sharing them over the last two years, Declaring on the Day of Atonement 2013 what was really to happen on the Day of Atonement in 2015, namely the declaring of a Jubilee Year. All prisons open all captives set free, all debts forgiven in the year of jubilee All children of God (spiritual Israel) return to th...

NEW DIRECTION For the entire six years, we have gathered together, we were being prepared for this day and the days to follow soon. Jubilee is only a little over six months away.   The new year begins on September 13, 2015.  When we look back  in retrospect  over the last six years, it helps to understand the process that got us here. The days ahead hold great promise and we sincerely desire that each of you can find a way to connect with the teachings  of Robert Henderson about the Courts of Heaven  because  he is the 4th independent witness to speak about the Courts of Heaven in the first few weeks of the new year.  "In the mouth of two or three witnesses, everything will be established." September 22-25, 2014 -  Rosh Hashanah  -   I was standing in a federal judge's chambers in Downtown Minneapolis as a member of the jury who had spent 4 days in the courtroom and after deliberation, we had just handed down a g...

This morning at PHOP we were praying for the family of Tim Anderson, a 27 year old philosophy major at MSU who committed suicide in the library at MSU yesterday afternoon. As we prayed for this family, our hearts were softened toward all who are suffering from hopelessness, rejection, loneliness,  poor self love .  When we hear tragic news like this , what happens in our heart? Are we too quick to just move on?  Is this just another news story of a young man making a bad decision?  Are we going to leave this family to deal with their own issues. Or does our heart break with God's heart over the one lost lamb?  I felt God reach down and soften my calloused heart this morning as I opened up to His heart, I wept and prayed for all the poor and powerless, all the lost and lonely. All the rejected and loveless ones who drag themselves out of bed each morning to face another hopeless day without God.  This passage puts the responsibility on th...