Awkward Moment

Last week our men's group (better known as the 3G group: God, Guys and Guns) decided to change the place we meet every Saturday morning.  For the past several months - ever since we closed the Angry Llama Diner - we've met at another local restaurant for breakfast and Bible study.  The two young ladies who usually serve us just about had all our names and favorite dishes memorized, so no complaints from the old guys on that score.  The problem has been the lack of space to easily seat 15 guys where we could all hear what was going on, and where everyone could join in the discussion.  There's a principle to church growth that applies just as well to small groups:  once people perceive that there's not enough space or when the room starts to feel cramped, the numbers start to drop.  So this past Saturday I gave our waitress the bad news, but she apparently didn't pass the information on to the owner.  About mid-way through our meeting the owner came over to our table to ask if we have some kind of fund for our men's ministry.  "Um, not really" I replied.  "Well", she said, "I want to donate 15% of the proceeds from your breakfast back to your group" and handed me $30.  There was a brief moment of silence, then one of the guys said out loud what we were all thinking: "She doesn't know, does she?"  Awkward pause.  I sure didn't see that one coming.  "Um, well, um...."  I cleared my throat to gain a couple of seconds. "I'm afraid we're moving to a new venue next week.  It's nothing to do with you or your restaurant... we just need more space."  "Oh", she replied, "Where are you going?"  At that moment I was so glad that we weren't moving to another restaurant!  I explained that we would be meeting in the barn on our church property because it will give us the needed room to divide up into small groups.  I promised her that we would sorely miss her awesome breakfasts and that we would come back regularly for a fresh cup of coffee.  You gotta love those small town moments.

That Whisper In My Heart

I just started a book called "The Gift of Prophecy" and I'm loving it.  It doesn't take a new believer long to learn that while all Christians believe in the existence of spiritual gifts, we certainly do not all agree on which gifts are still in operation today.  For much of my Christian life I could probably have been characterized as a Cessationist (meaning the belief that "supernatural" gifts such as healing, prophecy and miracles ceased at the time the Canon of Scripture was established), but in my own experience I was a closet Charistmatic.  I could not deny that at certain moments God had broken through into my normal existence to speak to me in supernatural, undeniable ways.  The problem was those experiences didn't fit my theological perspective at that time.  Today Daphne and I believe both Biblically and experientially that all the spiritual gifts are alive and well.  The past five years have been an incredible adventure as God has communicated with us through dreams, impressions, prophetic words spoken over us, or prophetic words spoken through us.  None of those experiences was spooky or weird in the least, but we came away each time with a deeper sense of wonder and delight at how the Holy Spirit speaks so sweetly and intimately through whispers in our hearts.  Most recently while I was speaking in Gainesville, at least three people (totally unbeknownst to me) had a "God moment" during one of the services where the Holy Spirit spoke to them in an out of the ordinary experience.  And the best part?  I had no idea it was happening  (Actually, that's not totally true; I did have a strong sense during the last service that God was up to something - I just didn't know what).   I spent an hour-and-a-half on the phone with one of the three last night as he shared with me all that God is communicating with him.  At the end of our conversation we both agreed on one point: once we've been surprised by the voice of God, we're ruined for life:  Never again will we be content with only a pragmatic, intellectual faith.  We've been touched by the supernatural.