Ever moved to a new city and had a hard time finding a church that fits you? Keep searching, but you might need to think smaller. For its first 300 years followers of Jesus seldom met in groups numbering more than a dozen or two.  Ancient houses were quite small and most groups were limited in size to one room.  This type of church was fully sufficient to meet the needs of all Christians for training in God's word, for worship and for mutual encouragement. The secret was in the bonds of true commitment to Christ that bound the small, often-persecuted group together, not in any attractive program being offered by their church organization.  They met because they all deeply loved Jesus and wanted to gather to sing worship and pray to the Father together through him.  Find this and you will find spiritual health.  If you can't find it, start one.  God will show you how.  Learn more in this week's episode of Thread.

Get the app for Android

Visit our Facebook page.

Get the feed from ITunes

The Paul was the enemy of the Christian faith and its people. In an amazing show of grace, God confronted Paul personally, knocking him off his horse, blinding his eyes, and humbling him forever. Paul languished in a friend's house, realizing now that he had hurt so many innocent people. How could he ever forgive himself? What was he to do now?

Paul was the enemy of the Christian faith and its people. In an amazing show of grace, God confronted Paul personally, knocking him off his horse, blinding his eyes, and humbling him forever. Paul languished in a friend's house, realizing now that he had hurt so many innocent people. How could he ever forgive himself? What was he to do now?

God sent Ananias to embrace him, call him brother and to help integrate him into the fellowship of those he had formerly persecuted.The role of "the includer" is a long-honored tradition, beginning with Jesus himself who came to include us into the family of God so that we can now call Him our Father. God can use you to help new people become included in the community of Jesus-followers.

Learn more about the ministry of inclusion in this episode of the Thread Podcast.

Get the app for Android

Visit our Facebook page.

Get the feed from ITunes

Have you ever been in a public place and felt that God wanted you to speak to a particular stranger?  We often restrain ourselves from following such impulses.  We are afraid of looking stupid or of causing awkward situations through our blundering. This episode of Thread is about a man who followed an impulse to speak to an influential political figure.  He didn't question the impulse and, though he had no real plan, he started a conversation and turned it toward Jesus when it felt natural. The result has been the 2,000 year existence of the only Christian nation in North Africa.  Learn more in this episode of Thread, the podcast for those who want their lives to be an influence.

There is a lot of glamor in a large public ministry.  You get to be in the spotlight with thousands on your fanpage. There is money to be made also. Because of this some who are totally unfit spiritually and morally are attracted to it. This is only one side of the coin, of course.  There is a price to be paid for participation in public ministry.  Only those who have borne the weight and responsibility and have faced the spiritual attacks of ministry can know the dark nights and weariness of soul they have experienced.  How to keep the ministry pure has always been a pressing question in the church in every nation.  Interested?  Check out this episode of the Thread Podcast.

Get the app for Android

Visit our Facebook page.

Get the feed from ITunes

Afraid of persecution?  As a child growing up in church I shuddered to imagine all the things a persecutor could do to me as a believer.  In my adult life in Asia I have met many who have gone through imprisonment and beatings for Christ's sake.  They are strong people.  Their persecution forced them to dig deeper than "bless me Lord" in their walk with Christ.  We have much to learn from them and from the biblical record of the first organized persecution of Christianity.  An average of 250,000 have given their lives annually in direct persecution  events around the world.  It is hardly reported in the secular press.

Jesus said that a global persecution is coming upon the church along with an unstoppable global expansion in the numbers of those who follow as his disciples.   We need to prepare our minds for this and allow the pressures we feel from our cultures to force us to find our foundation in God and to find more effective ways to engage society with the gospel.  Learn more on this week's Thread.

You asked for it an it's here, one of our most talked about presentations called "Why We Need to Re-Jesus the Church".  This podcast is about the way that the global institutional religion of Christianity has developed in a way that is practially disconnected from the Life, Teachings and Ministry of Jesus.  This is a serious call to a new reformation of our personal journey of the Christian life.

When God raises up a leader its because the current situation needs to be overcome and change needs to be instituted. Change agents are not always rewarded right away with popularity, applause or material benefits.  Often they pay the price for future blessings on others who will follow the new path God has revealed.  In this episode of Thread we trace the steps of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and ultimately, Jesus as they blaze a new way despite the initial resistance of the institution-keepers of their day.  Discover more food for leaders in this episode of Thread.

Get the app for Android

Visit our Facebook page.

Get the feed from ITunes

If you are intent upon living your life to influence others then this episode is for you.  Stephen was a man full of faith and power to move others toward God. In this episode we see some of the elements that gave his short life such a power and lasting influence.

Get the app for Android Visit our Facebook page. Get the feed from ITunes

How are you at handling criticism?  Nobody likes it, of course, but some people seem to turn it to their advantage while others react with an immaturity that creates secondary problems greater than the critique that started it all. In this episode of Thread see how early Christian leaders handled their group's first internal dispute and used it to multiply partners rather than allowing criticism to divide them.

Get the app for Android

Visit our Facebook page.

Get the feed from ITunes