Late last week I received a pleasant surprise, a phone call from my fiend, Al, who wondered if he and I could have lunch while a mutual friend worked on Al’s car. Lunch with Al at the local Chinese Buffet is somewhere between an experience and an event which, generally speaking, cannot be achieved in under three hours (although, technically, we were done in two hours and forty-five minutes).

Al has been a friend for several years. We met through the Off-Broadway Family Outreach in the West Central neighborhood of Spokane. As a local prison chaplain, Al had befriended Larry Whiston (my ministry partner in West Central) while Larry was still a "guest of the state." Al’s friendship with Larry led to a friendship with me. Our friendship over the past couple of years grew as Al expressed growing interest in the house church movement. I have often mused that "cell church" might be more descriptive of Al’s ministry. You see, Al has spent the past 20 years as a volunteer prison chaplain, maintaining a "day job" in construction and other ventures to pay for his ministry habits. Al has the heart of a pastor and the spirit of an Apostle. Like a Pastor he has a genuine love for the lost sheep of the penal system, but like an Apostle he tries to think strategically about what these wounded "lepers of society" will need long term in order to survive, prosper and grow on the outside. As our conversations have progressed over the months Al has come to the realization (no thanks to me) that "house church" is exactly what he has practiced over the years - a small community of committed believers who share their lives intimately with one another and hold one another accountable, while being overseen by someone with a 5-fold calling and gifting. It wasn’t until he began reading material from our friends, the Dales, at House2House, along with such "house church radicals" as Wolfgang Simson and Frank Viola that Al found a name for what he already had a passion to do.

Lunch with Al is a humbling experience. You see, he is doing what the rest of us talk about. He is currently overseeing four "house churches" (note, I didn’t say "leading" because the groups are raising up indigenous leadership). Two of them are "on the inside," one at each of the two long-term correctional facilities outside of town, and two are "on the outside." I know it is hard to grasp, but more than one former inmate has told me that the Christian communities behind bars are large and quite healthy. They actually get bored and frustrated with well-intentioned Christians who come to the Prisons to preach and do evangelism. In the words of one inmate: "We do our own evangelism. What we need is discipleship!" One told me that his own experience was that there were more "committed disciples" in prison than in churches. Why? Because life in prison must be "real" if you are going to survive. There are no masks to hide behind, and your faith could cost you physical harm . . . or worse. These men tell me that their hardest transition is from the committed, tight-knit discipleship community behind bars to the "phony" pseudo-community (to use Dr. M Scott Peck’s description) of the average evangelical church. As a result of this (and other pressures related to re-integrating) many Christian ex-inmates stumble.

Enter house church. What Al has seen is the potential to teach and model on the inside how to do house church and build genuine spiritual community so that men leaving the close community on the inside can re-created that sense of committed community on the outside, thereby increasing their chances of success once they are released and on their own. So now, Al and his men are doing house church, both inside and outside of prison. They are leading their own meetings, building community, holding one another accountable and growing to the point that a couple of the groups are about ready to multiply! As part of their growth and accountability they are using Neil Cole’s "Life Transformation Groups" as their core structure. Oh, yes, did I mention that one of Al’s house churches on the outside specializes in reaching convicted and released sex offenders - redeeming and discipling the true "social lepers" of the 21^st century!

Al is on the front lines of house church (or simple church, or whatever "nom de jour" we are using). He is having to deal with confronting addictions, strongholds and generational issues which most us seldom see. Our lunch conversation ranged over all these areas and more. We explored theology regarding the origin of the soul in our discussion of generational "curses" and I suggested that the reformed doctrine of "traducianism" (i.e., that the soul is passed from parent to child) might explain the origin and mechanism of generational issues.

Like Moses at 120-years old, at 71 Al’s eye is not dim and his vigor hasn’t abated, inspite of some chronic health problems. His pastoral heart is as big as ever and his Apostolic spirit is looking ahead. Utilizing his years in the construction industry, Al has a vision for a work training center where inmates coming out of prison could receive practical work training and employment opportunities by building modular homes in a facility dedicated to that purpose. Al doesn’t know if the vision is something he will need to give over to someone else to implement, but he is open. What he clearly sees is that the combination of a committed house church community combined with job training and work opportunities could spell long-term success-in-life for the sheep committed to his care.

Welcome to house church. If any of you in Spokane who know Al happen to see him, tell him I said thanks for lunch. It was a feast . . . and I’m not referring to the buffet!

Our podcasting project is progressing, although there has been little response on the part of people donating to the project. One friend wrote back: "Divide the number of free range chickens by the amount you have to raise, then expect 50% to ignore you. The remaining 50% should cough up their fair share. I will." Well, they haven’t yet, but we’re pressing on. I have created a page on the website to explain what we are doing. Give it a visit. We have posted pictures and individual explanations of the equipment we are looking to purchase. You can access the page at the following link:

www.parousianetwork.org/Parousia_Podcast_Project.htm. We are also progressing with the technical arrangements to make our weekly e-letter available as a live feed on your browser (known as a live RSS feed). Unfortunately, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer does not support live RSS feeds, although the new Explorer 7.0 will. I have switched my internet browser to Mozilla Foxfire, a superior browser which supports RSS live feeds and which you can download free at www.mozilla.com/en_US/ (They also have a free e-mail program I am considering switching to). I’m being encouraged & guided through all of this by my 27-year-old son who is a card-carrying member of the iPOD generation and a professional website designer. This old dog is working hard to learn new tricks from the next generation.

My thanks to all of you who have expressed support and interest in the Feed Spokane project which I am involved in. This week is National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (November 13^th –– 17^th). For those of you in the Spokane area who would like to know more, Feed Spokane, in conjunction with Shalom Ministries, will be hosting a "Hunger Awareness Forum" this coming Wednesday at Central United Methodist Church, 518 W. Third at 6:00PM. You are invited and a lite soup dinner will be served. I will be giving a brief presentation and explanation of Feed Spokane and how people can get involved. It would be great to see you there.

I received numerous positive responses from last week’s e-letter, And Then They Repented? Reflections On Ted Haggard, Repentance & Revival. If you missed it, you can still find it posted on our website at www.parousianetwork.org/Parousia_Weekly_E_Letter_For_11_06_06.htm.  This coming Friday, November 17 we plan to "practice what we preach" by having an evening of listening, worshiping and repenting. This will be a time of reflecting on what we are all hearing from the Lord about what He is doing in His Church and, specifically, in our area in this season. We need God's input on recent events in our area, and what we as His church ought to be doing. This is also a potluck. Please join us if you are available. We will gather at 6:00 PM (rather than our usual 7:00) for potluck. Bring your favorite dish with enough to share. Directions upon request. Call (509) 926-7743. We have also created an informational page on our website for our Friday evening gatherings at: www.parousianetwork.org/Friday_Night_House_Church.htm

Here's Your Chance To Escape (Unsubscribe - Although Why In The World You Would Want To Is Beyond Me!)

One of the "side effects" of our recent computer upgrades, etc, is that all of our e-mail addresses got combined into one mondo list. Yep, that includes people who had previously unsubscribed from the e-letter but were still being carried in our "general" contact list. So, thanks for your patience (no irate e-mails threatening to contact our ISP, please) and now is your big opportunity to rid yourself of this weekly source of conviction and irritation. To UNSUBSCRIBE please type UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line of a blank e-mail (without any nasty & disparaging comments about my dog's pedigree) and send it to: newsletter@parousianetwork.org. We will forward your request to the Klingon high command who have agreed to arrange for your incineration on our behalf (which is actually easier than trying to find you in our antiquated database!). Conversely, you can SUBSCRIBE by typing SUBSCRIBE in the Subject line of a blank e-mail and sending it to newsletter@parousianetwork.org. Your reward will be a personal invitation to come over to the house some time and help me watch "Shore Leave," my 2nd all-time favorite Star Trek episode (my all-time favorite being "City On The Edge of Forever" - sorry, but "The Trouble With Tribbles" is third on my list!).