Below is a testimony from Annie, one of the women living at the I.G. house in Las Vegas. She shares about an experience that happened recently in which the Lord moved her heart and taught her some valuble lessons about His love through seeing “the one” and serving ”the least of these.”
The past couple of months have been full of adventures, but there is one testimony in particular I would like to share. It all started with a desire to have a Dairy Queen blizzard. As my boyfriend and I ventured out on our quest to Dairy Queen, we saw a woman with a cart on the side of the road. It looked as if she was frozen to the spot since as we drove, she did not seem to move at all. The Dairy Queen was closed and we wanted to see if the lady was okay. We pulled up next to her and asked her if she was okay, to which she didn’t respond. We thought that maybe she couldn’t hear us, so we decided to pull over and got out of the car to talk with her. It was clear that she was homeless, but it also turned out she had just been released from the hospital, couldn’t walk very well, was freezing, and her clothes were substandard. As Michael prayed for her, I was talking with Papa and asking him what in the world I was to do. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just bring her home without my roommates first being asked, but I certainly couldn’t expect another person to take her in either. God reminded me about the good Samaritan. It dawned on me that the good Samaritan didn’t take him home, but rather put the man he encountered on the side of the road up in a room. So we did just that.
Getting her to the Motel 6 down the street was rather hilarious. She had a hard time moving her legs and the jeep was quite high, so Michael was on one side pushing her up while I was attempting to pull her in as she was talking to her leg saying, “I’m trying to move you leg, now listen and move!” I’m sure we looked a bit hysterical. We made it though and got her settled in a room. The other challenge in this whole situation was that she knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to voice it, so to some extent she was coming off as if she was giving us orders and demanding things from us. We could have been offended by that (especially since we were the ones helping her), but God was speaking to us about a servant’s heart and the position he took when he washed His disciples’ feet being a model for us to follow. By washing their feet, He was doing the job of the lowliest slave during that day and age. So it’s hard to be bitter when God asks us to take the position of a servant without complaining or grumbling. We also recognized that this woman desperately needed help. In the end, we were able to get Maria (the homeless lady) the things she needed and share the gospel with her.
Through this one testimony, God put together many lessons that could be shared with the community at my house and apply it to our relationships with one another. I was able to talk to everyone about Romans 14 and John 13 in particular. We are meant to help bear one another’s burdens and watch each others backs. The idea of being servants to one another is also made even more evident when you live with each other. Even simple matters like doing chores around the house play in to this, since you are no longer just cleaning for your self, but now chores become an opportunity to serve those that you live with.
Hope all is going well for the rest of you, and I hope you are just as blessed by this testimony as we are!
Connecting to Facebook
Connecting to Facebook
Help our friends, the Ramirez’, in Sudan to raise $2000 for tools to empower the people there to be self-sustaining as they share the Gospel and plant churches! You can give, & learn more by 
We got the garden started at our house! 
Morgan is 32 weeks pregnant now! 
Our little boy will be here in May!
“Preaching” vs. “Good Teaching”
Dec 31
Posted by admin in Things Must Change | 2 Comments
A close friend of mine who I love and respect asked me this question over text message a couple weeks ago:
“What role does preaching play in simple/house churches? Strengths, weaknesses, ways it could grow, ways it could teach the church.”
This friend of mine has been a part of many types of churches. We have also had the pleasure of starting a house church with his family and some others. He is sharp, loves Jesus, and wants the best for The Church. We have an incredible relationship, and sharpen one another in the areas we may disagree. The mutual respect is refreshing in a day in time where it seems all anyone wants to do is argue their viewpoint. My friend places a high value on “good teaching” (primarily in the form of sermon style preaching) I do not yet have the answer to this “issue” in terms of a house church setting. Below are the initial thoughts I sent back to him via email regarding this topic based upon our observations and past several years pursuing Jesus in the context of simple/organic/house church settings: (Would love to hear your thoughts on either/both ends of the spectrum. Us “house churchers” definitely have a lot to learn about how to champion “good teaching” & placing a high value on the Word of God in our various settings)
“Hey buddy,
The role of “preaching” in simple/house/organic churches is relatively non-existent in my experience. However, in some older generations of house churches their gatherings look much like a typical church service in a living room. The only difference is the type of structure they meet in…(even chairs in rows, and a podium, etc.-haha!=) In our experience (much different from the above described older generation HC’s) we have moved from a desire for good “preaching” to the pursuit of healthy’good “teaching”. (These are not synonymous in my mind, and the minds of many we have observed/practiced with) You see, many of us spent most of our lives listening to sermons. While they are not completely absent from the lives of those pursuing “house church”, it typically does NOT happen in a house church gathering for various reasons, and on purpose. (many may continue to find good sermons online and enjoy listening to them for various reasons) Our reasons for not involving “sermon style teaching” are numerous, but the most basic are below:
1) Practically speaking it has been proven that humans retain about 20% of what they hear. The percentage goes up drastically as you factor in SEEING (visual), WRITING, DOING, etc. So, I look at it (preaching) as a very use of time/energy based upon those findings. I know that growing up I was lucky to remember more than 1-2 “good points” I heard from a sermon. I might remember a bit more if I took notes-rarely would those notes be referenced in the future.
2) In a HC setting there is a high value for EVERYONE participating. If one person is PREACHING this becomes difficult, and we fall right back into spectators coming to hear a sermon. We place a high value on the Holy Spirit speaking to every believer, and know that Spirit speaks to everyone for the mutual edification of the body.
3) So, we seek for what we feel to be more effective ways to “teach”/equip the body. Of course, we are far from figuring this out, and it constantly changes as we pursue being more effective. Here are some examples of things we’ve done in the past:
-Inductive studies: these involve little to no “prep work” on the part of anyone, but make it easy for a believer of any age (including a brand new believer) to be empowered to play an active role. Sometimes ONE person WILL do some before hand research or read commentaries, etc. in order to guide the group as tough questions come up. This usually involves helping the group to understanding the historical context of the scripture, who is writing, who they are writing to, etc.
-Breaking up into groups to discuss portions of scripture. Coming back together to share findings/revelations/etc.
-Sharing at random what the Lord has been speaking to individuals throughout the week during their own personal time, etc.
-Reading through a section of scripture together and then discussing it as a church family. This is so fun because everyone involved has different backgrounds, knowledge, perspective, etc. Everyone benefits, and walks away sharpened, more equipped, and knowledgeable of the scriptures.
These are just some off the top of my head thoughts/responses to your question. I do think that “GOOD TEACHING” could improve in HC’s, and a higher value placed on studying/knowing scripture. However, I’m not convinced that this will be in the form of sermon style preaching. Again, preaching and teaching are much different to me. I also cannot ignore the sermon style preaching that is found in scripture. I wonder, though, if these types of “preaching moments” took place more in the form of evangelistic pursuits rather than the day to day equipping of disciples who make up the Church…this plays into my strong feelings about church services not being for the purpose of evangelism. Most sermons or churches try to accomplish both discipleship and evangelism in a once/week sermon. This is impossible to do, and BOTH get watered down/suffer.”
Again, I’d love to hear any thoughts/additions from you guys from your experience/convictions regarding this topic. Have fun, and keep it civil! =)
Tags: aaron snow, bible study, commentary, discipleship, evangelism, good teaching, heresy, Holy Spirit, house church, inductive bible study, intentional gatherings, learning, organic church, preaching, sermon, simple church, teaching