There has been much erosion in church activity in the last generation, and this has hit small and medium sized churches especially hard. At Robinwood Church, here in California, we lost at least ¼ of our membership during the Great Recession as our families moved away, seeking less expensive places to live. We had to do something about that--and with very little money available with which to do it! Our rent was eating away half of our offering, and we couldn’t generate the typical programs that draw people in from the outside.

We had been running the Alpha Course since day one, but in small congregations it can be hard to keep it going; kinda like running out of firewood for a campfire. Thus was born The BlackberryBush Course. We designed the course to solve the following problems (some are all of which your church may well share):

1. We needed to do something to backfill the spaces of those leaving the church.
2. We needed to do it on a small budget. (Running BlackberryBush costs your church about $7 a week).
3. We needed to combine discipleship for our members and evangelism/catechism for our new people. I’m the senior pastor and only very part time. We don’t have enough resources to run a separate ministry for both.
4. We needed something fresh. Something where even the most seasoned church member wouldn’t know where the teaching was going to land.
5. We needed something that was sustainable in a small church. Most courses tend to lose attendance over time. We developed a compounding attendance model that ensures that if you start with one or two tables on your first BlackberryBush semester, you can easily have three after a year and a half.
6. We wanted a course that would actually provide adult conversions and baptisms. We are doing baptisms this Sunday for adults who have come to faith in recent months. We’ve done over 30 since starting the course a couple of years ago.
7. We wanted something more culturally, ethnically, and generationally flexible. Especially in California.
8. We chose for the highest level of streaming video technology. If you have a tablet and a flat screen, you can run the Course.
9. We departed from all pedagogical (teaching children) models and instead enlisted experts to ensure the highest level of andragogical (adult) learning. Adults like to affect the outcome of a session. In keeping with this, there are no “leading questions” that try to get you to land in a certain place. We trust your group dynamics and the Holy Spirit to take care of that.

We succeeded, by the grace of God, and now would like to offer what we’ve found to you! We took the basic outline of Luther’s Large Catechism (Three major segments on God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and added a dash of CS Lewis, a dash of Wimber, a pinch of Stott, a puree of Morris and Larry, and voila, the Course was born. The course comes in 8-week segments. Currently there are three (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). There will be more coming. Think of each 8-week series as an 8-week spiritual treasure hunt. It’s also flexible. Once you purchase a license, you can use the course anytime/anywhere in your ministry area at no extra cost. At any pace, for any purpose. Creative congregations are using the course as a library for:

• Home groups
• Small groups at church
• Youth discussions
• Evangelistic gatherings in restaurants and pubs
• Workplace evangelism

You can afford it ($7/week).

We will help you run it. This is nothing you have to figure out on your own. The Course is relational and so is the national movement. Let’s set aside some time to talk. Contact me at hbhous@gmail.com or call/text to 714 907 3835 to set up an appointment and we can help you get this running in your church in less that two weeks.

The benefits for your church will start right away!

• A place to which you can invite your new people and visitors.
• A fresh course for long time church members. Good for morale.
• Adult conversions and adult baptisms in increasing numbers.
• The Senior Pastor only has to bless it. Course can be run in a small church with about 1 and ½ volunteers.

One of the many wonderful blessings God has given us in the ARC are a large number of gifted and emotionally, relationally, and spiritually healthy young leaders. On September 7th, one of those young leaders was ordained. Brendon Fairley, an associate pastor at Bridgewood Community Church in Blaine, MN was set apart for leadership and service as an ordained pastor in the Alliance of Renewal Churches. The service that day was a wonderfully anointed time.


 Brendon’s father and uncle, Brian and Joel Fairley, both ordained pastors, were among those who spoke to Brendon as part of the service. After sharing personal words with Brendon and his wife, Shanna, they laid hands on him in prayer and placed his grandfather’s ministerial robe on his shoulders. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place. ARC Pastor Sean Kelly, a longtime mentor and friend to Brendon, shared the message, speaking from his heart to Brendon and to those gathered. I was honored to preside over the service and Bridgewood senior pastor, Mark Spencer, opened in prayer. ARC worship leaders Chris Barrett and Matt Schurr led a gifted team who invited us into worship and enjoyment of God’s presence during the day. The day was made especially meaningful as many members from Brendon’s previous church assignment at Penasquitos Lutheran Church in San Diego, CA made the trip to join the members of Bridgewood in celebrate his ordination.

Before the ordination Brendon had encouraged those of us leading the service to listen to anything Holy Spirit was impressing us to do or say and then to step out in faith in obedience. As a result, a prophetic word was spoken over Mark and Morgan, the two young youth pastors at Bridgewood whom Brendon has trained and mentored. This was a particular blessing for Mark Spencer as the senior pastor at Bridgewood who following the service said, “It was great to see Morgan and Mark get ministered to. They are integral to what's happening at Bridgewood. Furthermore I am believer in that when one part of the body is being recognized (i.e. Brendon) all the other parts better be ready to be impacted!” Of the service Mark also noted, “I was really touched by the Father's blessing from Brendon’s dad...what an incredible inheritance Brendon has!”

When asked what the day had been like for him, Brendon said, “I was overwhelmed, moved, and taken back by the loving encouragement from Sean. His message was dead on! I was emotionally destroyed by my dad's blessing over me; and by my uncle and dad passing my grandfather's mantle on to me. It was a life-changing moment. It is rare for a father to bless his son in the way my dad blessed me. That will surely be a moment I will never forget. Having my family there to celebrate with me in what Jesus is doing was something I'll never forget. The whole service has become a pivotal highlight of my life. Lastly I was overwhelmed and humbled by all of the love and encouragement of not only my friends and family, but of my Bridgewood family. What a wonderful church to be called to!”

Congratulations, Brendon! Your fellow pastors in the ARC rejoice with you and look forward to many years of being beside you as we seek to live on the radical edge with God, kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight!

God is sending leaders from the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC) around the world to minister His love and healing touch to others. As these leaders go, they are taking the non-negotiable values God has given us to make real to Christians and non-Christians alike. ARC Leader, Joe Johnson, is one of those God has sent overseas, having recently returned home from ministering at the Oase Conference in Norway. Joe is the Director for Heart of the Father Ministries and has been a longtime friend and mentor to many of us in the ARC (including ARC Director, Mike Bradley). Following are some of Joe’s reflections on his time in Norway.

Oase conferences are held annually in Norway. For the last 15 years I have been teaching and praying during Oase conference and weekend seminars. The last two years I provided inner healing counseling prayer ministry during the conference. I am also doing this at home in ARC churches like Living Water, Sacramento and Wonderful Mercy, Gilbert, AZ.

Summer Oase is a wonderful setting to do healing prayer ministry. Everyone is soaking daily in worship and teaching with hearts expecting to hear from God for five days. It is like a Bible camp with ministries for all ages. Many of the 3,000 registered for at least part of the week are living in tents right next to the meeting hall and eating together with family and friends.

Beginning on July 10th, I taught on healing and overcoming shame. I shared with those gathered that joy and honor heal shame, encouraging them to remember a time they received honor. Then I asked them to tell someone, and smile at them and enjoy the smile they returned. When someone is glad to see me I experience joy and this joy can impart God’s healing touch within.

On Saturday of the conference I invited everyone who longed for a father's, mother's or sibling blessing, love, affection to come forward to be held by whomever Jesus reveals is holding them. About 80 participated in being held and holding one another. During the sharing time after this experience one man expressed gratitude for receiving healing of a sister's love (she died from suicide). During my teaching I shared that part of healing of my father wound happened when I forgave my father for dying. After the seminar a young adult was very excited to tell me that when I prayed with him during Oase 2012 I invited him say to his mother, "I forgive you for dying and leaving me." After we prayed he had been set free to sleep after years of not sleeping well or very little. How blessed I am to participate with Jesus' healing ministry.

Following Oase I preached Sunday morning at Mortensrud Lutheran Church in Oslo. Wonderful friend and Senior Pastor Trond Løberg asked me to speak on “Father’s Love.” This is my life message. When fathers walk out the front door of our lives by being absent, unavailable emotionally or do nor give us affection or express delight in being in us shame walks in the back door. We believe something is wrong with us, it is our fault, we are to blame. I taught on how to receive healing for this shame. Tears in saying goodbye to Norway surprised me. Tears also surprised me when I flew into Tromsø (after Oase) and saw the beautiful mountains coming down to the sea and when I saw the Midnight Sun for the first time. Tears for me are a response to the manifest presence of God. I also believe tears are a sign people are l praying for me. I appreciate all you who have been praying during a wonderful ministry time in Norway.

“God’s Improbable Provision” in a year of living more generously is a word from the Lord to us in the ARC these days. It is one of the keynote messages we hope will be preached, heard, and received throughout the ARC this year. It is more than merely a message; it is a reality already being experienced by a number of ARC members.

If you have not heard this word yet, you can through one of two ways. ARC Director Mike Bradley is preaching this keynote message in ARC churches and you can invite him to be in your church this year to preach this word. Another way is by going to the ARC website at www.arcusa.org and click on the “ARC Spotlight Message” icon on our home page There you will find a series of four messages by ARC leader, Graeme Sellers, unpacking this word for the ARC.

God’s Improbable Provision does not merely concern financial provision, though it does include that. Following is a testimony from one ARC member concerning God’s improbable provision for a relationship which she thought was irreparably broken. As you experience God’s improbable provision this year, please write your testimonies and send them to Mike Bradley at safeplacemb@gmail.com so we can build up each other’s faith for God’s improbable provision in our lives and our churches.

From California 
I was sitting at the church my husband pastors, listening to our dear friend, Mike Bradley give the sermon. That morning Mike was preaching on God's improbable provision. Being a pastor's wife, I am intimately acquainted with many narratives in the room and I am often praying that the message would touch specific people. I really liked this topic because there were people with financial, marital, substance abuse issues standing right near me that I just knew would be encouraged and transformed by this message.

As Mike shared and had each of us search our own lives for ways God might be wanting to do something improbable, a disrupted friendship flashed across my radar. It passed quickly because I felt like this one was "far too improbable," in fact I really had lost all hope and didn't want to test my faith even contemplating God's movement on this one. Later, Mike revisited the idea that we might have something to lay before God for him to do something improbable. I again was struck by this ruptured friendship but at best could only mutter a prayer of "Lord this one is probably just what it is..."

When I returned home from church that day, I finished making lunch for our family and the phone rang. I stared for a moment at the contact name...it was Sarah. The first words out of her mouth were, "I am so sorry. I have no idea what has been happening to me. Will you forgive me?" We talked for some time and Sarah cried, sharing how difficult the issue that had disrupted our friendship had been and how much she had struggled to express it to anyone.

I reflected when I got off the phone to the image of me standing in church, barely able to hold a thought about God doing something so incredibly improbable. I find that in ministry I am always looking to see where God might move in others and often leave myself out because my needs are not the right size or nature. This was an incredible reminder that God sees me and wants me to trust him to supply all of my provisions, no matter how improbable they may seem.

There is a lot going on in the ARC this summer. The works of Jesus (see Luke 4:18) are being carried out through a variety of strategies including a longtime summer staple – Vacation Bible School. A number of children – and teens and adults – are still being impacted for the kingdom of God through Vacation Bible schools. We are hearing exciting testimonies of God working through this long practiced strategy from churches in the White Mountains of Arizona (Grace – Show Low) to a Midwest mega church (North Heights Lutheran) to the left coast (Good Shepherd in Irvine, CA), and more. Along with VBS, a number of leaders and members of ARC churches have launched out in missions of various sorts, including ARC leader, Bob Mabry, who is on his way to Indonesia! Outreaches to the homeless, ministry to the poor and hungry, and loving the forgotten in places such as crisis pregnancy centers are happening through the ministry of ARC churches across the United States. All this and so much more. Thank you all for continuing the works of Jesus through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

Following is some of what we have in the works this summer to help serve you more effectively as you and your congregations continue serving the Lord:

• Prayer – There is continual, contending prayer going on in the ARC this summer. Intercessors, prayer groups, and congregational prayer meetings are engaging in prayer. Prayer is preparing the ground for the work God is going to be doing in and through the ARC this year. There is also intentional, personal prayer going on for each of you as ARC leaders by name – prayers for you, your families, and your congregations. If you have a specific request you’d like to have prayed for, email it to ARC Director, Mike Bradley, at: safeplacemb@gmail.com. Or, send him a message via Facebook.
• Ongoing pastoral and leadership care-giving. ARC Director, Mike Bradley, along with other ARC leaders, continue to provide ongoing care-giving for pastors and leaders in ARC congregations throughout the summer. 
• Planning and Preparation – Planning and preparation for our 2014 ARC National Gatherings, Life Together Days, and Life Together groups is ongoing this summer. The planning and preparation we are doing now will help set the stage for what God wants to say to us and do in us as we gather together in the same rooms at the same times with one another and Holy Spirit.
• Continued prayer and preaching on God’s Improbable Provision. We continue to pray for and preach a message God has given us for the ARC concerning His improbable provision in a year of living more generously (see testimony on this in this edition of your E-News). 
• Advancing leadership development. Plans are underway to continue advancing leadership development in the ARC through the hosting of Building Healthy Leader seminars and working in partnership with The Master’s Institute School of Ministry in five different locations this year. Providing teams for ministry training. Teams are being organized and prepared to be sent out around the country where requested to provide ministry training for members of ARC congregations in regards to various ministry skills which can help equip them for ministry in their congregations, workplaces, and homes.

The Fall ARC Life Together Days (LTD) are scheduled. We will host the Midwest LTD on September 12; the Arizona LTD on September 19th; the SoCal LTD on September 24th; and our first ever Life Together Day in Florida on October 29th. The Life Together Days are designed to provide a safe place where ARC leaders and friends of the ARC can meet as peers in an intentional manner to share life and grow in authentic relationship with one another; worship together in depth and freedom; and receive teaching and prayer ministry to encourage and equip us.

Bill Bohline of Hosanna in Lakeville, MN will be our teacher for the Fall Midwest Life Together Day. We’ve asked Bill to share lessons he’s learned over a lifetime which can be important for all of us, no matter what stage of ministry we are in. Following his time of sharing we’ll provide opportunity for you to ask Bill some questions and then in small groups we’ll take time to identify a lesson he shared that struck a chord in our hearts. We’ll pray with one another, and as always, share a good meal together. The speakers and topics for the Arizona and SoCal dates will be announced soon. I will be sharing at the Florida LTD.

Be sure to put these dates on your calendar now and make plans to join us. Also, be thinking of who you might invite to attend with you – spouses, staff members, ministry team leaders, and other pastors you are in relationship with. See you there!

As I look back on my ten years as executive director and president for The Master’s Institute, I am thankful for the almost 500 students who have graduated our seminary and school of ministry programs. Just think, there are almost 500 people who have been transformed to think, speak, and act more like Jesus; have been grounded solidly in God’s word; and have grown in their leadership skills. They’re out there now, across our country and overseas, making a difference in people’s lives. I wonder how many people are being impacted for the kingdom of God through these graduates?

As great as these past 10 years have been, I am looking forward to the next 10 with an even greater sense of anticipation. On the approaching horizon for The Master’s Institute is the very real possibility of accreditation and the development of educational technology which will allow us to expand MI’s sphere of influence. This accreditation and educational technology will allow us to take the MI mission, values, and philosophy of education across the country and overseas to impact another 500 leaders, and more.

MI is doing seminary and leadership development the way it should be done. We are equipping the heart, head, and hands of leaders in the kingdom of God through spiritual and character formation, biblical teaching, and leadership training. This has been our God-given mission for 12 years and will continue to be the mission as we move into the future God has purposed for us.

For the last five years I have served The Master’s Institute and the Alliance of Renewal Churches on a part-time basis. Both ministries are on a growth trajectory which requires each having a leader who can provide a full-time presence and focus. That both ministries are growing and need full-time leadership is exciting. However, I cannot be the full-time leader of both. Thus, it is with mixed emotions I announce I will be stepping down as President of The Master’s Institute on June 28th and transitioning into a fulltime position as Director for The Alliance of Renewal Churches.

As I do, I am very blessed to know God is already providing leadership of great character and competency to lead this school forward. Our Board of Directors is conducting a thoughtful and prayerful search for our new president. As this process is carried out, I am very pleased to announce we have identified and appointed an Interim Director who will lead the staff and students of The Master’s Institute into the Fall without missing a step. Our Dean of Students, Kevin McClure, has accepted the position of Interim Director and I could not be happier.

Kevin is a mature, gifted, and proven leader; he is a man of godly character and has been tested by fire. Having worked closely with him for the past 4 years, I’ve had the opportunity to see Kevin in action and have been blessed by his leadership, wisdom, and authenticity. Our Board of Directors could not have made a better choice. So it is with great pleasure that I invite you as leaders in the ARC to join me in encouraging and supporting Kevin McClure as he provides leadership for the staff and students of The Master’s Institute this year. God bless you, Kevin, and The Master’s Institute.