Epic

I've spent the last several days posting my thoughts here about the things Lynn and I learned about the life of ministry during our time in Illinois. Though there is much more I can share, I feel it's now time to shift my thoughts away from the past and toward the future. Where do we go from here?

There have been questions that we've wrestled with over the last 10 months that needed a degree of resolution before we could give serious thoughts to the next chapter of our life in regards to ministry.

We had to hear from God about the nature of our time in Augusta, GA. Is this time here simply a brief season in which we rest, reflect, and re-orient ourselves before being moved by God to our next assignment? Or is Augusta our next assignment? Though we've received invitations to relocate elsewhere and begin pastoring, God has clearly spoken - particularly in the last month or so - and settled in our hearts that this city is indeed our next assignment.

I also had to hear from God about the nature of future ministry. Has God indeed wired me best to be the starter of new churches? Or should I be seeking pastoral assignment in an established church? Again, God has reaffirmed what I've really known all along, and that is that I could never fit into an existing church structure. I am wired best to see and passionately give myself to things that don't yet exist. Trying to fit myself into an existing church structure would be like...well have you ever seen on the History Channel when they've unearthed a mummy and unwrapped it in the lab? The constriction of the mummification process is about what fitting into an existing church structure as the lead pastor would feel like to me.

As we've spent the last several weeks settling in our hearts that this place is our next assignment, the next task has been to hear clearly from God what He desires to do through us here. It's pretty easy for me to piece together a vision of my own for ministry. But I desperately want to make sure that whatever we give ourselves to in Augusta is unmistakably God's vision for this city and not my own.

God has been faithful to His invitation. When we set ourselves first to the task of discovering the heartbeat of God for a place or a people, God will then cause our own heart to beat in rythmn with His. Out of that rythmn God is bringing to life in Lynn and me an awesome picture of what He wants to do through us.

Epic Church of Augusta has been born in our hearts and minds and we are beginning to take the first steps in fleshing out this dream for a community of people who are radically passionate about intimacy with God, intimacy with one another, and are deeply committed to faithfully carrying out the commission of Christ to make disciples as we go about our lives.

In what ways will Epic Church of Augusta be an expression of the Kingdom of God and Body of Christ in this city? We envision three facets of this expression.

First, Epic will be a network of missional house churches scattered throughout what is known here as the C.S.R.A. (Central Savannah River Area). This network of house churches will be led by a brotherhood of elders who are deeply committed to a life of sacrificial personal discipleship, deeply committed to one another, and deeply committed to missional unity.

Secondly, Epic will gather together weekly or bi-weekly as a large group with all of the house churches coming together for a worship gathering. It won't be your typical worship "service." It will be a communal worship experience designed to intertwine the sacred with the natural rythmns of life (more on that later).

And finally, we desire to see as part of this movement a 24 hour/7 day worship and intercession

initiative. As I mentioned in "Boot Camp Chronicles; On Substance and Strategy," worship, prayer, and fasting are the lifeblood of ministry. Envision if you can a prayer and worship gathering that never ends with music that never stops and a 24/7 stream of people coming to plead with God on behalf of the city.

On the sidebar of this blog under the heading of "Influences" you see links to three different bodies of believers that are living out the expressions that I've described above. Xenos Christian fellowship is a network of house churches. Solomon's Porch reflects our vision in the way they gather together for worship. And the International House of Prayer began with a group of people gathering to pray in 1999 and it has never stopped.

This is a glimpse. In the days ahead I will start a new series of posts breaking this vision down even further. Here are some upcoming blog-post topics:

1. Why "Epic?"

2. Prayer Team Invitation

3. Why House Church?

4. This Is A Strange Looking Worship Service

5. Prayer Without Ceasing