Outside the Pigeon Holes

My top spiritual gift according to my Excavation classwork is Faith. So it stands to reason that this is right where the enemy throws down his stumbling block when he wants to interfere. Where I struggle the most in my 25 year walk with the Lord is seperating myself from toxic beliefs and lies that are lodged into my head about the nature of God and His love for me. While I could probably never remember all of the things that roll around in the recesses of my mind, I can pinpoint some of them. -Critical voices from my childhood that taught me no matter what I did it could be done better. -People in a "spirit-filled" church who represented Christ by alienating my mom after she and my dad divorced. -A friend attending Bible College who told me a story about God burning 2 people up on the street for failing to do the mission He sent them on. - A well-meaning friend who told me when my marriage was wrecked by my husband's addiction that "it...

This is why I love The Vineyard! :) Outward Focused Thought by Dave Workman If in our churches we say “come as you are”, it's going to get messy. Really messy. I always find it interesting when someone gets mad about something at the Vineyard and tells me we should be more like the New Testament church, as if that was some idyllic time in Church history and the apostles were super-dudes. My answer is “Which New Testament church do you want to be like?—the Corinthians had guys having sex every which way you can, suing each other and getting drunk at church potlucks. People in the Thessalonian churches were quitting their jobs and sitting around waiting for Jesus to return. Folks in the Colossian church were worshipping angels and beating themselves to prove how holy they were. In Galatia they were turning into legalists and racists. So which New Testament church you want to be like?” Every church has issues to deal with. Pastors often have people come from other churches, and some...