The vision and the structure of Epic Movement has been completely different this year from what we did last year. When we first started Epic, we initially were very concerned with being business-like and professional in our meetings. Every week, we would have weekly planning meetings. There were about five of us who came together each week to check up on one another, pray, and plan. We would organize and plan for our weekly meetings that took place on Friday, we would prepare for worship, we would assign roles, and cast vision for the future. As you can imagine this was a pretty daunting task for our group who had no experience. I had no experience as a leader, and I expected way too much out of everyone. I wanted to mold people to meet my expectations. We learned a lot that semester, and we did a lot of cool events. But that is the biggest difference between this year and last year. Last year, we focused on programs and events; this year year we are focusing on building transformational community.
Instead of having weekly planning meetings, this semester we decided to try something new. Over the summer, God began to put on my heart the idea of simple church. After reading Jaeson Ma's book the Blueprint and going on a summer project to Japan with Epic Movement, I began to recognize the importance of building community versus building a corporation. In the first semester of Epic Movement, I was trying to form a business. We had business meetings; we formed a constitution; we booked programs and events. We had community, but it was based around doing things rather than first being together and enjoying one another. God began to put on my heart the community modeled by the disciples in the New Testament church. As I began to read and learn more about the church in its earliest forms, I began to see not a business or a corporation, but a transformational community. They were a family.
So coming into the Fall semester of 2008, we essentially dropped all our strategies and our plans, and we started all over again. I wanted to see Epic Movement become a place where we could be transformed by knowing Jesus and being in a community that valued one another before any program or event. My heart for Epic has thus been transformed to desire to see the fulfillment of the Great Commandment and the completion of the Great Commission in this generation. It essentially comes down to the very DNA of the church: Faith, Hope, Love. Neil Cole talks about this DNA of the church in his book Organic Church. Faith represents divine truth. We must know God and respond to His voice. The Great Commandment says Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. In faith, we know divine truth when we respond to the love God has for us. Love represents nurturing relationships. We must love our neighbors as ourselves. Developing community and love for one another is essential to the health of any movement. Finally, hope represents apostolic mission. We must go out and tel other of the great love that God has for us. We can't keep it for ourselves. Thus as you can see, the very DNA of the church represents the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
So what does that look like for us coming into this semester? Well, like I said we have dropped our man-made strategies and have strived to seek after God's heart. Now, we definitely don't have all the answers, and I don't claim to be doing it exactly right. It's definitely a learning process. Everything we do every week is very organic. For me that means, I have no idea what I'm doing for the most part, and I pray, pray, and pray some more that the Holy Spirit will guide us. We have a set skeleton that we basically use every week, but for the most part, we have left lots of space for the Holy Spirit to move. That's the major difference this year. This year, there has been lots of spontaneity and randomness. It's crazy because just this last week many of our members said it was our best meeting. I am so blown away by this because it went completely in the opposite direction of what I expected. I came with plans and an idea of what to do, but God completely turned it around and did something different. I will have more to say on this meeting, and what God has been showing me lately in a future post.
Practically speaking, our group meets twice a week. We have a Wednesday meeting that involves our core community. But instead of meeting to plan and organize like we did last year, this year, we get together and get to know each. We have become a family. Every Wednesday, we get together, and we have taken turns making dinner for one another. There are about 10 of us in this core group, and each week we take turns setting up the room and the dinner table, cooking, and cleaning. After this, we enter into a time if worship, then we go through the word, and then we pray for one another. We are essentially coming together every week for 3 to 4 hours and be the church together. No longer are we striving to do church or go to church, but we are recognizing that we are the church. This has been one of the most important lessons that I have been learning with this group. It has been crazy to see a group of new believers, those jaded with the church, and a mixture of others come together and meet for 4 hours on most Wednesday nights. We hang out together, and we make sure Jesus is invited! That's the key!
Oh and on another note, our Epic Movement has become very international and diverse. God has put on our heart a vision bigger than just the Asian American community. We realize that God has something special for the Asian American community, but there is so much more on God's heart. So this semester our core group has looked completely different from last year. God has brought us not only Asian Americans, but also, Native Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics. We are a diverse mixture of people. Our hope is that we will be able to equip this diverse group of individuals to pair together and minister to their own ethnic groups. We want to give other ethnic groups the opportunity to hear the gospel by empowering individuals from their own race to bring it to them. Thus, the vision is to multiply our simple church by eventually breaking off into the different groups that God has placed on hearts. Then, the people who have been equipped and trained in our transformational community can go and do the same with those God leads them to.
In order to minister to the Asian American community and raise up leaders within our own community, we still have our Friday night weekly meetings. What we do in our Friday meetings is to replicate what we do in our Wednesday meetings. However, instead of me or Kelly leading, we have the other leaders in our community lead the Friday meetings. It has been pretty successful so far. We have had Friday night weekly meetings every Friday, and I haven't even shown up to the last three prior this last Friday. It has been such an honor and a blessing to work with such a group of willing individuals who are hungry for more of God. It is amazing to see God truly working and transforming peoples hearts. There is still so much to learn and so much more room to grow. My challenge is to not force things to go faster or to be the way that I expect them to be. God has by far exceeded my expectations; thus, I have come to realize that God's way is truly better than my own.
As you can see, God has truly been amazing. I know that we owe everything to Him. I am especially thankful for everyone in our Wednesday group. God has definitely given us kindred spirits and has drawn us together for something special. This was all just a dream a semester ago. But God has been working in double time. It has been such and honor and a privilege to work with Kelly to empower a generation to understand their worth - we are all loved by God! However, it definitely is not a one-way learning path. I learn so much from my brothers and sisters in Christ every day. This movement would not be here without their prayers and their efforts.
One of the other major elements we have added to our group this year are PODs or discipleship groups. We have groups of guys and groups of girls that meet in groups of threes every week to disciple one another and keep one another accountable. We definitely value being known and being loved. These groups allow for everyone to be cared for. I know that I definitely would not be able to care for every single person in our group. But God has raised up people who have had a special heart to love and care for one another. I think this is the biggest reason for our retention and our growth. Our groups have responded to the call and have begun to care for one another. It is amazing to see that our group doesn't just hang out on Wednesdays and Fridays. They all hang out almost every day. I see them together at the prayer house. They eat together. We celebrate birthdays together. Our group has truly become a transformational community - a true family. It makes my heart smile inside. God is soo good!
Next post, I will talk about last week's Wednesday and Friday meetings. God has really shown a lot through those meetings, and I think those meetings were some of the best we have ever had. There were definitely spontaneous and spirit-led, so more on that next time!
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