Yep, it’s been a while since my last e-letter. In fact the last one was February 24, so it’s been a full month. Things have been a little hectic since then (to say the least). I won’t bore you with the details, because I can’t share them without sounding like I’m whining ("Would you like some cheese & crackers to go with that whine?!").

As many of you know from my last letter, I embarked on a 40-day fast, beginning on Ash Wednesday (I actually started at Noon on Tuesday, but who’s counting). I ended it on Maundy Thursday after 44 days (or as I measured it, "3 pants sizes later"). I thought it only appropriate to end it with the people whom God called me to do it for, so I had dinner at the men’s shelter where I serve on Thursday evening. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Needless to say, I’ve been asked by several people, who have watched me thru this fasting season, what I’ve learned or seen as a result of this time. Believe it or not this is actually a difficult question to answer or quantify. Why? Because a season of fasting is a period of time which we and God share, but which He - and He alone - owns. It is the kairos (season) time of God rather than the mere chronos (specific duration) time of man. Entering a prolonged season of fasting is like entering the wardrobe and finding oneself in Narnia - unexpected and unpredictable. It is a time (kairos) and place where God, the untamed lion, accomplishes amazing things in, through and around us for purposes which He fully understands but is under no compulsion to share or explain, and which we only dimly perceive. And we must learn to be OK with that. People who fast in order to "get" things from God (been there, done this) are like children playing hide and seek in the wardrobe without ever discovering what wonders await on the other side. It’s not that it’s wrong; it’s just that there is so much more . . . intimacy with God, sacrificial worship, personal repentance, and more . . .

O.K., by now you’re probably muttering something like, "He’s stalling for time ‘cuz he really didn’t get anything out of this whole deal." Nice try, Sherlock, but no cigar. Sorry to disappoint you, but I actually did come away with some things. Let me share just a couple of these. First, a friend of mine recently attended a gathering of ministry leaders from all over the city. "Guess what the dominant topic of conversation was," he asked me with a grin. "Feeding the hungry!" he announced as his "I-swallowed-the-canary" grin turned into a full-blown laugh. Like me, he fully appreciated the irony of the situation - ministries which for years had neglected "the least of these" all around them are now having spirited conversations regarding the need to address the twin issues of hunger and homelessness. What do I take away from this? One of the things I have learned in my 12 years of engaging in prolonged fasts is that God often uses it to change the tone and topic of conversation in the Church. During this season I have received phone calls and e-mails from pastors, attorneys, real estate developers and ordinary people all asking the same question: "What can I do to help"? So, yes, one of the most profound "results" of this season has been and continues to be the "ripple effects" which are spreading through the community, both inside and outside of the Church. And that alone makes it worthwhile.

Secondly, as you may know from my newsletter of February 13^th ("A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The CMA Conference") I began this season of fasting with a very powerful encounter in Matthew 25:31ff. I ended the season in Isaiah 58:6-12

Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, And if you give yourself to the hungry, And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell." (Isaiah 58:6-12).

This is the great Old Testament fasting passage from the prophet Isaiah; the one Arthur Wallis named his book after, "God’s Chosen Fast". I’ve read and studied this passage many times over the past few years, but this time was different. The people of Israel in Isaiah’s day are not very different from believers in our day. They fasted, but for the wrong reasons. They were an outwardly religious people who knew how to go through all of the right religious motions. They even gave the outward appearance of seeking to know God and His ways and of delighting in the "nearness" of God (58:2). But when they fasted nothing happened, and they were aware of it. "Why have we fasted and Thou dost not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and Thou dost not notice." (58:3) God’s answer was simple yet profound. All of their fasting was little more than outward religious show. When they fasted it was all about themselves. They were able to fast and look religious on the one hand while abusing their workers on the other, without ever grasping the hypocrisy of their actions. The genuine humility of fasting had given way to the false humility of religiosity and outward show devoid of spiritual power.

Through Isaiah, God highlighted the hypocrisy of their behavior and proceeded to explain what true fasting was all about. True fasting is about breaking yokes of bondage and bringing people into genuine freedom (yes, spiritual freedom, but spiritual freedom with practical consequences). But it is more than that. It’s about reaching out in practical ways to the hungry, the homeless and the naked (does any of this sound vaguely familiar - like reaching out to "the least of these" in Matthew 25?). When was the last time you fasted on behalf of the hungry, the homeless, the naked, the stranger, the prisoner, etc.? (The impact of this suddenly caught up with me as I was fasting AND serving dinner to the guys at the men’s shelter). There is a profound sense in which genuine, biblical fasting is about others - the least of these - rather than about ourselves.

Now, if this isn’t enough conviction for one day, notice what God says will be the result of such fasting: "If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, And if you give yourself to the hungry, And satisfy the desire of the afflicted":

1. Your light will break out like the dawn,

2. Your recovery will speedily spring forth;

3. Your righteousness will go before you;

4. The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

5. You will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

6. Your light will rise in darkness,

7. Your gloom will become like midday.

8. The Lord will a) continually guide you, b) satisfy your desire in scorched places, c) give strength to your bones;

9. You will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

10. Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;

11. You will raise up the age-old foundations;

12. You will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell."

There is a spiritual truth in the statement that God blesses His people simply because they are His people. As Paul says, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. But it is also true (hence, a paradox) that there are times and circumstances when God’s blessing is predicated upon our obedience - such as fasting for the right reasons. Do you want the blessings described here? Do you want to be known as "the repairer of the breach" and "the restorer of the streets in which to dwell" (hmmm, that sounds suspiciously like community transformation!)? Well, you won’t achieve these by attending unity prayer gatherings. Rather, the pathway lies through genuine humility, fasting & seeking after God on behalf of the hungry, the homeless, the naked, the dispossessed, the stranger, the prisoner and all those people who collectively make up "the least of these".

And this leads to my final thought . . . on the sin of divorce. If you’ve been wondering how I was going to tie this all together, well your curiosity & patience are about to be rewarded . . . and probably offended. Sorry, can’t help myself. It’s a gift. To put it simply, the evangelical church in America (can’t speak for other places. The Lord doesn’t seem to let me out much!) has committed what I am slowly coming to regard as the unforgivable sin of divorce - we have divorced the "Message of the Kingdom" from the "Work of the Kingdom". The result has been disastrous. On the one hand we have created a "message without a model" which has produced an abstract Christianity often divorced from real people with real problems. We seem to have thought that our brilliantly prepared and eloquently delivered messages would so impress and overwhelm people that they would forget about their hunger, their homelessness, their nakedness, their alienation and everything else they were struggling with in their daily lives. On the other hand, we have left the "work of the Kingdom" up to either "para-church" or non-church related agencies. By leaving it to "para-church" agencies we have sent the subtle message that if you really want to do good you’ll need to leave the church in order to do it. And by leaving such things to non-church or community agencies we have fallen victim to a not-so-subtle message that the church is irrelevant to people’s needs and that, therefore, the Kingdom of God is unnecessary (which makes this sin of "divorce" so "unforgivable"). But I believe this is beginning to change. For more than 3 years I have been hearing the Holy Spirit say that God wants His church to take the Kingdom "back to the streets." And I believe that the simple house church movement has a vital role to play in taking both the "Message of the Kingdom" and the "Work of the Kingdom" back into our homes and our neighborhoods. On the last day of my fast I was interviewed on the local ABC Radio affiliate (KXLY) by local talk show host, Mike Fitzsimmons. "Was it worth it and would you do it again?" Mike asked. "That’s two questions, Mike," I responded. "Was it worth it? Yeah, it was worth it. Would I do it again. Ask me again about 10 months from now and I’ll let you know".

In my last e-letter I raised the question as to whether or not we should sponsor a house church conference with Neil Gamble, Neil Cole and Wolfgang Simson, all of whom have expressed interest in coming to Spokane in July of this year. Now you need to understand a couple of things. First, it has been my desire for several years to establish a regular regional house church conference here in Spokane. It’s something I really want to do. But, second, I have a genuine concern that the house church movement runs the very real risk of becoming a book writing/conference speaking movement that starts more conferences than house churches. Third, before we sponsor another house church conference we need to begin a regular house church planter’s gathering for the sole purpose of strategizing how we are going to go about planting multiplying house churches in our region. In other words, if we haven’t already done what we already know how to do, what would be the point in learning more? We need 6 months or so of focus on church planting. I am already in touch with half-a-dozen gifted church planters who agree with this and who want to participate in such a gathering.

So, here are my thoughts which represent my plan. No conference, at least not now. I want to begin a regular house church planter’s gathering devoted to discussing and outlining how we are going to implement a strategy of planting multiplying house churches in the greater Spokane area. Our first step will be to identify individuals with a heart to plant simple house churches. Second, we will need to find a time that is best suited for the group. I’m flexible, and open to whatever works best for all concerned. Several people have expressed interest in using my new book "You Wanna Do What In Your House?!" (See below) as a starting point for some of our discussions. I have written the book specifically to be a house church planting tool. The bottom line here is that we need to focus on the work of becoming a network of multiplying house churches. Then, when we do have a conference, perhaps we’ll actually have some stories of our own to tell. And this brings me to my last topic . . .