Don’t forget to join us for the ARC Midwest Gathering and our Fall Life Together Days. The Gathering will be hosted by Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley (St. Paul), MN on November 6-8. You can register by going to the home page of the ARC at www.arcusa.org and find details under the “Events” link on that same home page.

Don’t forget our upcoming Life Together Days which will be hosted in three regions of the country this Fall. Our purpose for gathering is to provide a safe place where you as ARC leaders and friends of the ARC can meet as peers in an intentional manner to share life together in an atmosphere that is safe. In these times we are able to grow in authentic relationship with one another, worship together in freedom and in an unhurried and relaxed manner, and receive teaching and personal prayer-prophetic ministry that encourage and equip us.

Because we want these gatherings to be a safe place for you as leaders, please remember that these meetings are for staff level leaders only, and for your spouses. The times for this fall’s Life Together Days are 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. The dates and locations are:

• Minnesota – Thursday, September 25th at Bridgewood Community Church in Blaine.
• Arizona – Elevate Coffee Shop in Glendale on Thursday, October 9th 
• California – Radiant Church in Huntington Beach on Tuesday, October 14th

I am very excited to announce the launching of a new website by ARC leader Robert Walter. Robert is a member of our National Leadership Team and a dear friend. A few years ago he and I were talking about a writing project on shame and grace he submitted while studying at Fuller Theological Seminary. As he shared about it his passion for the topic was obvious. Something reignited that day for Robert and he began to give renewed attention to this important area of ministry. Now, based on his research on this life-transforming topic, Robert has launched a new website and written an eBook entitled Why Do I Still Feel Bad? I asked Robert to tell us about this new website, eBook, and ministry. He writes the following:

“Too many people are hacking their way through the jungle of life. Too many people are
living half the lives they were meant to live. Some get lost along the way; many get discouraged. Others are burdened by troubles; some are hobbled by the past. Many just give up. It doesn’t need to be that way. Like many Christians, I’ve been trying to explore what it means to live the abundant life Jesus promised. This search began over thirty years ago. Along the way I’ve discovered an often-overlooked issue that seems to be one of the major obstacles to a fulfilled life.

For years I put off writing about this obstacle because I wasn’t sure I really understood it or could provide a solution. But whenever I taught about it, people were intrigued and asked for more. So I started research to learn what the Bible, neuroscience, spirituality and discipleship had to say. It was about that time that Mike Bradley invited me to teach a class on the subject at The Master’s Institute Seminary. This gave me the impetus to dig in to it and wrestle with my questions. The result was the class called ‘Shame and Grace’ that I taught for the first time in September 2011.

After taking the seminar one pastor wrote: ‘It's rare to participate in a class that can do an equally good job of feeding your own soul and equipping you for soul care to others at the same time. This seminar is nourishing, refreshing, equipping, and empowering all at the same time.’ Because of this kind of response, and a little nudge from the Holy Spirit and dear friends, I sensed that God wanted me to write a book and blog 1) to help others who were stuck in their walk get moving again and 2) to equip pastors and counselors to help others step into their destiny.

So I recently launched a new website where folks can explore issues of discipleship, spirituality, brain science and emotional wholeness. The goal is to help ordinary people (and pastors - they’re not ordinary are they?) experience the riches of God’s grace and run the race marked out for them. You can access the website and get my new eBook Why Do I Still Feel Bad at www.ongodstrail.com. For the time being the eBook is available for free.”

As Director for the ARC I cannot commend Robert and his work highly enough. I encourage you all to go to his website, sign up to follow his blog, and download his eBook. I did and am being blessed, encouraged, and equipped as a result. Thanks Robert for all your hours of research and writing that is going to bless us all!

We are happy to announce that Derek Luptak was ordained on July 27th at Grace Church in Show Low, AZ. Derek serves as the youth pastor for Grace and graduated in May from The Master’s Institute Seminary. ARC Director, Mike Bradley, represented the ARC at the ordination and gave the message. Grace Church lead pastor, Gary Wingate, led the service.

Looking back on this special day Derek writes: “My ordination day was both a culmination and a new beginning in this journey that began 17 years ago when I first experienced the transforming love of Jesus. I am thankful to be ordained into this particular network of believers. Whenever I get to interact with other ARC members, be it a Life Together Day or an Annual Gathering, I know that I will be with people who are not trying to tame God. I am honored to be a member of a network of people so passionate to extend God's Kingdom in this day and age. I am honored to be a representative of this body in the mountains of Northeastern Arizona. I am deeply grateful to Mike Bradley and the faculty at The Master's Institute for coming alongside me when I needed encouragement and training in righteousness. God has used the people of the ARC to speak into my life in deep and powerful ways. I am excited to see what God has planned for us all!”

We are very excited to welcome Derek to the ranks of ordained pastors in the ARC. He is a wonderful example of the many young leaders we have been blessed with who are emotionally, relationally, and spiritually whole and extremely gifted by the Lord. Derek’s wife, Amanda, is a gifted leader in her own right, particularly in the area of children’s ministry. God’s continued favor be upon you Amanda and Derek.

Together we are a force to be reckoned with! I have always believed this is one of the strengths we have in the ARC. Our influence is not based on any one person or personality, but rather on our being a band of authentic brothers and sisters on mission together. Toward that end, one of the strategies we use in the ARC to develop and nurture our relationships are our Life Together Days.

Because we believe that together we are a force to be reckoned with these are times of coming together are important and worth making the effort to attend. I am not unaware that for some of you attending these days requires an additional investment of time to drive to get to wherever we are meeting. However, when those times of life come up that you need others to be standing with you and having your back, it will have been well worth it.

The purpose for the ARC’s Life Together Days is to provide a safe place where ARC leaders and friends of the ARC can meet as peers in an intentional manner to share life together. In these times we are able to grow in authentic relationship with one another, worship together in freedom and in an unhurried and relaxed manner, and receive teaching and personal prayer-prophetic ministry that encourage and equip us.

Because we want these gatherings to be a safe place for you as leaders, please remember that these meetings are for staff level leaders only, and for your spouses. We have found in the past that having members of your congregations attend can place you as leaders, or other leaders in attendance, in uncomfortable positions due to the sensitive, leadership discussions we may be engaging in. Therefore, for your own sake and the sake of others please honor this request.

The times for this fall’s Life Together Days are 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. The dates and locations are:

• Minnesota – Thursday, September 25th at Bridgewood Community Church in Blaine.
• Arizona – Elevate Coffee Shop in Glendale on Thursday, October 9th 
• California – Radiant Church in Huntington Beach on Tuesday, October 14th

We are saddened to let you know of the passing of ARC Pastor, Walter Enquist. Walt was the pastor for Christ the Messiah Church in Jacksonville, FL and was much beloved by his family, friends, and congregation. His son, Teddy, told me that Walt suffered a sudden heart attack on August 17th, only a few days after having had what appeared to be successful gall bladder surgery.

A going home celebration was held on Saturday, August 23rd. Knowing Walt and his great faith in Jesus and his love for God, that is exactly what it would be—a celebration of his life, his ministry, and his going to what he understood to be his true home with the Lord. In lieu of flowers, his family asks that all memorial contributions be made to Christ the Messiah Church. The address is 7576 San Jose Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32217.

Please keep Nadira and her family in prayer. If you would, announce Walt’s homegoing in your congregations and pray prayers of thanks for him and his leadership, and for Nadira and the family. Thank you for doing this!

Mike Bradley, ARC Director

There was a celebration on June 28th as Sharon Franta was added to the ranks of ordained pastors in the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC). This was an especially sweet day for me personally, having worked with Sharon at The Master’s Institute (MI) since 2004, watching her graduate from the seminary along the way, and having mentored and worked with her husband, Scott, in MI’s School of Ministry program. It has been a privilege to be witness to the journey of faith the two of them have been taking with the Lord these past ten years, seeing an increasing Christ-like transformation in their lives, all brought to fullness on this special day.

Sharon’s ordination was celebrated at Bridgewood Community Church where she has joined the pastoral team as an associate pastor. Sharon is a great addition to an already all-star line up of a team that includes lead pastor, Brendon Fairley, associates Mark Spencer and Diane Stores, worship leader, Matt Schurr, and youth pastors, Morgan Sanders and Mark Zamora.

I asked Sharon to reflect back on her ordination day and the journey along the way. She writes: “The journey to not settle for less and to go after all that God has for you can be a road paved with difficult and challenging moments. Doubt, fear, pride, anxiety—you name yours— hover over the stronger, underlying core belief that you are on the right path. When you dig deep, this core is what keeps you going; that you know you are doing your best to stay the course."

Mike Bradley, Eric Bluhm, Joy Frenette, and Brendon Fairley played key roles along with my husband Scott and 3 of our adult children, my friends and the Bridgewood Church Community. God has landed me in a sweet place with sweet people. In response, I pondered how I could express my gratefulness to God and everyone who has walked with me and is for me. How do you say thank you to someone who saved, changed, and/or influenced your life? For me, I resolved that the best way I know how is to go out and do the same for others. To live a life that honors those who have poured into mine; to pass it on. I am honored to be serving at Bridgewood Community Church and every other place God provides a divine moment to extend his grace, his light and his love.”

We in the ARC are blessed to add a gifted sister in Christ such as Sharon to the ranks of ordained pastors in this little band of brothers and sisters who are on mission together. Welcome, Sharon! We’re glad you’re with us!

The Ordination Celebration on June 28th was a sweet place to be with God. The time was right. The place was right. I was surrounded by people who called out in me what I sometimes couldn't see. It was a celebration of God's work in my journey and his call on my life to keep going.

Finn, Gabriel, Peter, and Xan were among the hundreds who came together for the 2014 ARC Southwest Gathering, Scandalous Love. None of the four were over twelve years old, but there they were, worshipping God with all their hearts on a Saturday night as Chris Barrett and his off-the-charts young adult team led us in worship. The four boys sat right behind Graeme Sellers and me in the sanctuary of Penasquitos Lutheran Church in San Deigo. We elbowed each other to make certain the other caught a glimpse of the boys who were focused on nothing other than the Lord. Then, God did it. He downloaded a prophetic word for each of the four boys.

With the parents permission Graeme called the four boys forward and spoke prophetically over them. Each word for each boy seemed spot on, and both the parents and the boys’ pastor, Sean Kelly, confirmed as much. People flooded to the front of the sanctuary to surround the boys and pray for them. Then, Sweet Papa Joe Johnson asked the boys if they would pray over us. They did. Oh my, did those boys pray over us. It was marvelous, powerful, and prophetic.

The presence of Peter, Gabriel, Finn, and Xan in itself may have been a prophetic word to the Alliance of Renewal Churches in multiple ways. First, God may just be recalibrating our sights on not only equipping young adult leaders, but also young leaders who are children. Second, it may have confirmed a conversation we had recently begun about adding a children’s track to the ARC Southwest Gathering for next year.

Relationships: We always emphasize the importance of paying attention to relationships at ARC Gatherings, and this year was no different. Only this year it seemed like the relationship time people spent with each other was upgraded in some way. That was the testimony of a number of people who have attend multiple gatherings over the years. There was a relational energy and electricity in the air.
Looking around at people engaging with one another, one ARC leader said, “We could see the fruit of the ARC being intentional about providing opportunity to build relationships. It truly was a time of knowing that we are running as a band of brothers and sisters.” Another person wrote, “The ARC Southwest Gathering felt like a family reunion, except everyone in this family shows unconditional love to each other (whether they know you or not). What a blast! God massaged his love into my heart even more deeply.”

Of particular note was the way God broke in on some relationships and ministered forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation where the relationships had been strained, some even broken. That wasn’t on the script for the Gathering, it wasn’t in the schedule, but its evidence of what we already know to be true—if we in the ARC will be faithful to gather in the same place at the same time with the Lord and one another, good things, God things will happen.

Lifting of Weariness: One of the things we experience every Gathering are leaders who come beat up, broken, and weary. That’s what life and ministry can do to us at times. Some don’t even feel like attending, but they do. One leader who came that way this year said, “The ARC Gathering was just what I needed. Honestly, I came carrying a lot of burdens from the demands and busyness of ministry in the last year. My relationship with the Lord was re-calibrated through the time I to talk and laugh with friends, and soak in the Lord's presence in worship and prayer without ‘doing anything.' Through the worship experiences and prayer time, the Lord began melting away much of the pressure I was feeling and put my focus directly back on him so I could see the joy and freedom he wants me to live with. I'd encourage every leader to make time in your busy life to come so you can just be loved by Jesus and see what he wants to say to you.”

The Atmosphere: One of our core values in the ARC is that atmosphere matters. What’s in the air emotionally, relationally, and spiritually makes a difference. One person spoke of the atmosphere of this year’s Gathering in this way: “What I love about the ARC is the atmosphere—there is no posturing or pretense, no sense of competition or comparison among the pastors and leaders. We don't have to take ourselves too seriously in order to take God seriously. I was impacted and reminded of the central character of God: love as defined by Jesus’ self-sacrificing death on the cross—so simple, but something that is easy to forget in the real world of life and ministry.” The atmosphere at the Gathering this year was rich with a tangible sense of God’s presence, so much so that we are still hearing from people about how it is already impacting their daily lives back home. Atmosphere matters.

Worship: The worship teams led by Chris Barrett, Armen Babyan, and Bob Mabry were absolutely off the charts. They led us all into times of unhurried, passionate worship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we gathered morning and night to worship together, the Lord broke in and manifested his presence in a variety of ways. He spoke prophetic words to young and old alike. He performed works of healing for broken bodies, emotions, and relationships. And the Lord set captives free, freeing a number of people in a number of different ways.

Chris and Armen’s teams were both comprised of young adults who were not only gifted musically, but had the hearts of worshippers. The team led by Bob included his wife, Tara, Danny Mullins, Dr. Lin from Hope in Long Beach, and Greg Boyd on drums. They brought the relaxed, peaceful acoustical style that Bob brings wherever he leads worship, a style many have come to love over the years. Each team brought something good to the table.

Keynote Speakers and Workshop Presenters: “Greg Boyd, Grace Johnson and Danny Mullins brought truth and challenge in their teachings. Even to call them teachings seems inadequate. There was an anointing that challenged and transformed me. I am expecting that as I process their words, I will be brought to a new place, both personally and in my ministry.” So said one of the ARC leaders at this year’s Gathering. Larry Gomez, a lay leader at Hope Community Church in Long Beach, CA wrote: “I was very surprised at how much impact the gathering in general, and the teachings and worship sessions had on me. Greg Boyd was amazing by the way!!! It wasn’t until Sunday morning when I updated my congregation on what happened at the Gathering that I began to understand.”

It seemed that all three keynote speakers brought exactly what people needed to hear. “Grace Johnson took us exactly where we needed to grow,” wrote one person. “Danny Mullins helped me connect with God’s love in a way I hadn’t in a long time,” wrote another. One person said of Greg Boyd, “I was pleasantly surprised with Greg’s vulnerability, offering his personal struggles with judging others and then providing biblical answers to help us break those judgmental patterns, replacing them by loving others upfront.” Then this same person recounted one of the best lines of the entire Gathering as they remembered a quote from Greg about the ARC: "What I love about the ARC is you care about biblical truth...but you're not buttheads about it!" Any thoughts on making this the official tagline on our website, anyone?

Each keynote speaker and workshop presenter brought more than merely an informational download this year. They brought truth that will transform. Having heard them already, its exciting for me as director for the ARC to look forward and anticipate how people are going to be impacted and blessed at this year’s Midwest Gathering on November 6-8 at Redeemer Lutheran Church in the St. Paul area.
Prayer Ministry: As usual, prayer ministry was breaking out all over the place during the Gathering. Of course we had prayer teams up front, but people were also praying with one another in the pews, they were praying with one another outside the church, and they were praying with one another back in their homes and in their hotels. There was prayer everywhere.

Teen Track: PLC Youth Pastor, Danny Scarborough, and a team of youth leaders did another outstanding job of planning and hosting a teen track for the event. They invited ARC leaders Brendon Fairley and Danny Mullins to join them to share with the teens about what God had laid on their hearts for them. Teens came from as far away as Florida and Minnesota to be at this year’s gathering, along with youth groups from Arizona and California. We are so grateful to Danny and his leadership that made this all possible.

Hosting Church: Once again, Jane Joseph and her team of volunteers from Penasquitos Lutheran Church did an outstanding job in hosting the ARC Gathering. Attention to detail, servant-heart attitudes, and a truly welcoming spirit characterized the hospitality team Jane organized and led. So many unseen details go into making it possible for an event like this to take place. And it is the work of a group like Jane and her team that help create the space where we can all gather together at the same time in the same place with one another and the Lord. Their work truly made it possible for so many of us to hear what God said to us and to experience what he did in us. Thank you Jane and PLC Hospitality team!

The Midwest Gathering: This is just a snapshot of what happened at this year’s ARC Southwest Gathering. There is so much more that happened, so many lives were impacted by God’s love and power. And we’re looking forward with a heightened sense of expectancy to what God will want to say and do at the Midwest Gathering. We’ll gather on November 6-8 at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley (St. Paul area), Minnesota. You can register now by clicking HERE. Information on the Gathering will be under the “Events” link on our home page, including a list of available hotels for those coming in from out of town. For those planning to attend, if you register before October 10th you can register for the early-bird registration fee. So save yourselves $30 by registering early. We hope to see you there!