As Director for the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC), I’m (Mike Bradley) happy to announce that Family Room Church in Roseville, MN has joined the ARC. Family Room Church is a church plant, led by Pastor Kevin McClure (pictured right). Kevin is a long-time member of the ARC and also serves as the Dean of Students for The Master’s Institute Seminary. As Director for the ARC, I’m excited that Family Room Church has joined for a number of reasons, one of them being that most of those who attend are twenty-somethings. When I asked Kevin if he’d like to tell us why FRC joined the ARC, he wrote the following:

“The short answer is the Alliance of Renewal Churches is a picture of kingdom life. It’s a relationally based, biblically grounded and Spirit-empowered partnership of people who don’t want to get bogged down in institutional bureaucracy and want to do the stuff of the kingdom of God.

ARC gatherings (I’ve been attending since the earliest days of ARC and my previous church plant was one of the charter members of ARC) are celebrations where attendees receive healing, encouragement, strategic guidance and hope.

Family Room Church is a house church. It’s unusual if there are fewer than 30 in attendance who are in the twenty-something generation. We have a kickin’ band (acoustic guitar, violin, trumpet, upright base, djembe and sometimes a keyboard, harmonica and mandolin) and we love to worship, pray, study God’s Word, eat, and hang out together.

Our vision is to connect people to God and each other using the theological framework of the Great Commandments. We feel that if we are successful at helping people do the thing Jesus said matters most, we will fulfill the Great Commission. After all, how can you love your neighbor as yourself and not be a “kiss from Jesus” to them? We hope to duplicate what we are doing in other homes. To learn more about your new family member see www.familyroomchurch.com.”

Welcome to the ARC, Family Room Church. We’re honored to chose to join our network!

The mission of the Alliance of Renewal Churches is to be a network committed to creating and sustaining an atmosphere beneficial for kingdom relationships, transformation, and mission. One of the strategic initiatives we use to help carry out this mission is to put together ministry teams of ARC leaders and send them into congregations on teaching and ministry assignments. Recently the ARC partnered with The Master’s Institute Seminary, sending ARC leaders Joe Johnson and Kevin McClure, to Roanoke, Virginia to teach a class on Inner Healing.

One of the ways we can create and sustain the atmosphere we desire in the lives of ARC leaders and congregations is by experiencing God setting us free through healing inner healing prayer. As we experience God’s healing touch in this way we are enabled to grow more whole emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. One person blessed by the presence of this ARC/MI team of Joe Johnson and Kevin McClure was ARC member, Corey Paxton (pictured right with wife Danielle, and their daughters). The following is Corey’s testimony of what God did for him, his wife, Danielle, and many others who attend the class Joe taught. Corey writes:

“Two weeks ago, our church was blessed to receive training in inner healing prayer from Dr. Joe Johnson, a leader in the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC) and a faculty member for The Master’s Institute Seminary. At the recent LCMC conference in October, some other pastors heard Joe was coming to Roanoke and they told me that I should “be ready to cry.” Although I thought they were being a bit over-dramatic and felt a little guarded about being somehow emotionally manipulated, I figured out what they were talking about the first night of the seminar. The Lord used Joe as a wrecking ball of love in our lives as he humbly taught us about the “orphaned heart” and helped us face our inner “sacred wounds.” Joe didn’t push, force, or manipulate anything; he created a safe, judgment-free atmosphere where we could bring our whole selves before the throne of Jesus.

God worked profoundly in my life during those three days. Since my wife, Danielle, and I were married eight years ago, we have been blessed with a number of counselors and mentors who have helped us to become more emotionally healthy and aware of our issues. We’ve been able to look honestly at much of our pain and brokenness, and find peace with the Lord through silence, solitude, and Scripture. However, I’ve never heard that we could find healing beyond self-awareness, communion with God through spiritual disciplines, and the Spirit producing His fruit in us.

During our prayer time with Joe, I experienced the power of God working through inner healing prayer. Joe led us through a prayer journey of inviting Jesus to be present with us in memories from our childhood. My wife has a much more visual memory than I do, so she was actually able to see herself as a little girl in different experiences. I was able to put myself in different time periods and recognize the feelings that I had. As the Lord became present in those places, we recognized that He was present before we even knew Him. We were safe to look honestly at the pain, hurt, sin, and un-forgiveness that we carried around inside. The Lord spoke specific things to us, revealed things about our situations, and helped us to experience His love there. Joe then invited us to give over to Jesus the emotional baggage we picked up—that we could trust Jesus to deliver us from our burdens.

In one specific memory, I came face to face with anger and resentment. I’ve seen how these would spill out at odd times in my life, but overall I’ve managed to keep things pretty well under-control. During the prayer time, the Lord revealed to me the roots of my anger. Joe invited me to give over my shame, insecurity, and fear to Him, and then to forgive the people who were connected to that anger and resentment—including myself. I can’t fully describe the freedom that invitation to forgive brought into my life.

Before Joe’s visit, I would have celebrated inner healing and deliverance ministry, but I honestly didn’t really think it was for me. Although I believe in the reality of demons, spiritual warfare, and pray for others, I have never been equipped to see people healed and delivered from specific demons. My only impression of this ministry was like a loud, dramatic Hollywood-style fight that was a bit freaky. But, as Joe moved from inner healing to casting out the demons, I felt at ease. He modeled a direct, humble, and powerful method of deliverance. We had no reason to be afraid as the Lord got rid of these spirits that lurked in dark corners of our lives and feasted on our emotional baggage. They were just rats that fled in the light of Jesus.

After experiencing this ministry, our hearts are healed in greater ways, yet further broken. I have been given new eyes to see people’s struggles….and the struggles of the Church. People are carrying around weights and burdens, deep pain and anger, and our Lord wants us to receive healing, forgiveness, and freedom. Denying or repressing the pain we’ve experience cannot lead to freedom. Only Jesus’ healing, loving presence leads to freedom. He is the way, the truth, and the life. With Him, we can look back at our past and not be afraid. This gives us joy in the present and hope for the future. When we remain unresolved to our past, we will not be fully alive in the present and can remain scared of our future. There are people all around us who could be blessed and delivered through this ministry. This is heart-breaking and hopeful. In the mist of the immense brokenness in our families, churches, and communities, I believe the ministry of inner healing and deliverance is a powerful means of grace and way of engaging in the heavenly fight for people’s souls.

As spiritual leaders, I want to encourage you to consider investing in this ministry for the future of your church. Joe is currently part-time so he can travel, pray for and with leaders, and equip the church for inner healing and deliverance ministry. Could God be leading you to connect with what God is doing in Joe’s ministry? Is there anyone in your community that God could be calling to become equipped to bring people into the healing presence of Jesus? Who in your church is the Lord raising up for future leadership training at the Master’s Institute? I am so thankful for the surprise of this ministry in our lives. Why wouldn’t we want others to experience more of the love, healing, and freedom that Jesus wants to bring?”


If you’d like an ARC Ministry Team to come to your congregation to conduct a teaching/ministry seminar, contact ARC Director, Mike Bradley at: safeplacemb@gmail.com


If you’d like to contact Joe Johnson on teaching and ministering on Inner Healing at your church, you can connect with him at: jjohnson@gracehb.org, cell 714-756-0088

As Director for the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC) and a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley and Coon Rapids, MN, I (Mike Bradley) am very excited to announce that my home church has recently joined the ARC. Debi and I love being members of this church and greatly appreciate the leadership of senior pastor, Dave Glesne and his leadership team (pictured left to right): Harley Scmidt, John Niewald, Grace McClure (a pastoral intern from The Master’s Institute Seminary), Dave, Jason Deshaw, and Eric McIntyre.

Dave writes: “We are living in an historical moment when God seems to be shaking His Church. There are realignments taking place in the American Lutheran landscape of which Redeemer is a part. In this time of shaking and realignments, I think it important that Redeemer align itself with new networks and associations for mutual support and partnership in God’s mission in the world. We see an association with ARC as just such a support and partnership.”

Furthermore, I’m excited to announce that our 2012 ARC Midwest Gathering, “People Under the Word,” will be held at Redeemer-Fridley next Nov 1-3. Welcome aboard the ARC, Redeemer!

On Sunday, October 23^rd, Pastor Kevin Vogt was installed as lead pastor for Community of Hope in Hastings, MN. Kevin writes the following:

“It seems God is serious about life-long transformation - at least for me anyway. Just when I ‘settle in’ and get comfortable hitting my stride in ministry, God has a way of rearranging my furniture. Let me explain: For the past three years I have been involved in a life-changing ministry called Centershot where we use the life-skill of archery to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. It has been a remarkable journey that has allowed me to train hundreds of church leaders around the country (soon to be the world) to use this tool. Through that we have heard many stories about people coming to saving faith in Jesus! It has been a challenging, exciting, laborious, and joyful experience as God continues to mold and shape me as His son and as a leader.

But apparently He isn’t finished. After several conversations with Rev. Per Nilsen (ARC member and senior pastor at North Heights Lutheran Church and Community of Hope - Rosemount, I realized that God was about to use me in another way. Community of Hope planted a second campus in October 2010 in Hastings, MN, which has been led by Rev. Ryan Kowlessar (Ryan and I attended seminary together and graduated in 2005 from The Master’s Institute). For the past several months Ryan was feeling like he had done what had been needed and felt a change in leadership was best for this young church. To make a long story short, on October 16^th we celebrated Ryan’s ministry and on October 23^rd I was installed as the new campus pastor of Community of Hope-Hastings. Ryan has worked diligently over the past two years and I have inherited an amazing core group of leaders. I also have the honor of once again working with a great partner and another fellow Master’s Institute alum, Scott Boecker as he and his wife DeAnn lead the Children’s Ministry team.

Community of Hope’s vision is to bring the Good News of Jesus to 1,000,000 unchurched people every 20 years and our goal will be to continue to push that vision out into the Hastings community by investing in the lives of people in the name of our Savior.”

Congratulations to Kevin, and his family, as they embark on this new adventure in their lives! Great to have you in the ARC, Kevin!

We are excited to welcome Community of Hope and both of its sites in Rosemount, MN and Hastings, MN to membership in the Alliance of Renewal Churches Pictured are Pastor Jason Lovold (pictured left, and a graduate of The Master's Institute Seminary) and Pastor Jason Miller.

The ARC was formed to provide a network of leaders and churches who are intentional in creating and sustaining an atmosphere beneficial for Kingdom relationships, transformation and ministry. Our hope is that as a network we can encourage and connect leaders and churches to network for kingdom purposes. Community of Hope founding pastor, Per Nilsen, writes, ""Community of Hope and North Heights are already functioning in a manner that ARC membership encourages. The movement into the ARC was natural from that perspective. More importantly, we see this move as adding relational value to Community of Hope's ministry."

We are excited to welcome both sites of Community of Hope to the ARC. Welcome aboard gang!

Does your church send missions teams overseas? Or send staff members on ministry trips within the US? As Director for the ARC and President of The Master's Institute, I have to travel a great deal both with the United States and overseas. Because I want to be the best steward of our finances I can be, I'm always looking to get the best deal I can on travel; as I'm sure you do when you have to travel.

So let me recommend a good friend of mine who is helping make my travel arrangements much easier to set up, and saving me money in the process!

Diane Snyder is the newest staff member of Riverside Travel which has specialized in missions and group travel for over twenty years. Diane is passionate about bringing the love of Christ to a hurting world, whether it’s to a remote location in Africa, or simply across the street.

“Working for Riverside Travel is really a great fit for me,” says Diane. “I’ve always loved to travel, and I wanted my vocation to serve kingdom purposes.” Hearing her clients’ testimonies adds fulfillment to her job. “I remember hearing my very first clients tell about their re-building efforts in Japan. I hung up the phone and realized that was why I took this job."

Diane is no stranger to the ARC. She worked at The Master’s Institute and Lutheran Renewal when the ARC was being formed so was involved with various aspects before it officially began. She has also served on the staffs of North Heights Lutheran Church in Roseville, Minnesota, along with ARC pastors Eric Bluhm, Bob Burmeister, and Marcus Haug; and Trinity Lutheran Church in San Pedro, California, with Paul Anderson, founding pastor of the ARC.

Diane is currently on the leadership teams of Lutheran Evangelistic Movement and Life Together Churches with ARC pastors Peter Churness, Bob Mabry, and Tom Hilpert. As a member of North Heights Lutheran Church, Diane is involved with launching missional communities.

For more information, check out www.rivertrav.com. Or you can contact Diane directly at diane@rivertrav.com, or 651.251.9372.

By Benjamin Bradley


Your plane has landed. Nairobi, Kenya.

The sky is overcast. It’s crowded. The air smells of car exhaust. You have been traveling for the last twenty-four hours, half-way across the earth. And while you’d like nothing more than to lie down and sleep, the leadership conference you’ll be teaching at is set to begin in only a few hours. My advice for you? Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Have faith.

Faith that you will say the right words to people who call the slums “home.” Faith that you will have the strength and endurance for vigorous leadership sessions. And, of course, faith that your driver will deliver you safely through the utter chaos that is Nairobi’s rush hour traffic.

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.

***

In August, the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC) had enough faith to send a few of its leaders to Africa. And while the main objective was to teach on leadership and invest in the lives of young leaders along on the trip, the team came prepared to learn from their hosts.

“I want to equip future leaders with the ability to distinguish what the essence of the Christian faith is,” said ARC leader Michael Bradley (young ARC leader, Heidi McClure pictured on left, praying with Kenyan women). “[The Kenyan people] have been living out a Christian life, facing challenges we can’t even dream of. So we have a lot to learn from them, in order to go back home as leaders and do a better job of Christian mission in our own culture.”





The team began their trip by speaking at the 2011 Soaring Again Conference, which was held in Kabiria, one of Nairobi’s many slums. Hosted by Rev. Emmanuel Kisemei (pictured below, right) at his church, Life Changing Sanctuary, ARC leaders spoke on a variety of leadership-related topics, including community outreach, growing in genuine leadership, and evangelism (pictured left with children from Kabiria are team members Debi Bradley and Tara Mabry). Kisemei, whose church is part of a broader organization called the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya (FPFK), then led the team south to a town called Loitokitok, where the FPFK Leadership Gathering was held. Throughout the trip the team built numerous relationships with local leaders, and along the way they encountered several troubled individuals who came to faith in Christ, receiving them as new members of the church.


The team, representing several organizations and churches, included leader Dawn Lundgren, an ARC pastor (pictured left with Pastor Kisemei, praying with a man to receive Christ as Savior and Lord); ARC Administrative Assistant, Heidi McClure; ARC pastor Bob Mabry and his wife, Tara; Jan Erickson and Marcy Braman; and ARC Director Michael Bradley, his wife, Debi, and their son, Benjamin.

The lessons learned are certainly difficult to articulate.

Each day was met with the confrontation of a new reality that few Americans can truly comprehend. In Kabiria the houses are nothing more than tin shacks, packed shoulder to shoulder. According to IRIN, a global humanitarian news service, the population density of Nairobi’s slums can reach alarming numbers, with around 2,000 people per hectare (roughly two and a half acres). Trenches are dug along the side of the crowded streets to be filled with human waste and garbage. For many, basic necessities like water must be obtained from boreholes or purchased by water trucks at an inflated price. Although a liter of water can cost only a few cents, every purchase is trying for families whose net income is around thirty dollars a month.

Braman, who has been on several mission trips and four times to Kabiria, paused when asked about the emotional changes she underwent before and after her first trip. “I don’t think we have the capacity to even ask the right questions…coming back, we don’t even understand,” she said. “Maybe it would be better to ask my husband or my family what the difference is [when I came back].”

Yet, while the people of Kabira face many hardships they are not without hope. Kisemei, who lives in Kabiria with his family, stands a true example of leadership. He lives in Kabiria by choice, experiencing the same conditions as his congregation, and does not see escape as the answer. Instead, he has worked with the community of Kabiria to improve the conditions of the slum. Currently in his eleventh year as lead pastor for Life Changing Sanctuary, Kisemei has seen change come slowly but surely. Last December he connected Norwegian Pastor Anita Nystrand and her church, The Way, to build a much needed water well, which now supplies the community with clean water at a minimal cost. The profit allows the facility to be maintained and, when the time comes, to be replaced so the people will continue to have access to clean water.

By the end of their stay in Kabiria, the ARC team had the privilege of seeing the foundations of a new church building being constructed. Kisemei hopes to raise the rest of the funds needed to finish the project and make room for new members. As the church continues to grow there may be a need for more land as well. The going rate for an acre in their neighborhood is 3.5—4 million Kenya shillings (roughly $43,300 U.S. dollars). In the meantime, his church continues to be a cornerstone of support for the community of Kabiria—a community that is not waiting for the aid of others, but building.

This encouraging image was needed before traveling south, where the team’s work grew more demanding. In the dusty town of Loitokitok, located at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the team only took breaks for their meals. Teaching sessions doubled. Evenings included speaking at crusades, where ARC leaders would preach on stage to the general public, with people coming to faith in Christ each evening. And when the sun had gone, the team would return to the Loitokitok church for one final session before getting some well-deserved sleep. Then they would wake up to do it all over again.

The ARC speakers taught on lessons ranging anywhere from Lundgren’s “You have an appointment with God,” to Mabry’s “You have beautiful feet” (see Isaiah 52:7) (ARC Pastor Bob Mabry pictured here with Kenyan interpreter and pastor, James). Powerful, striking, and at times particularly quirky, each lesson helped break down cultural barriers and impart important insights on leadership.



Bradley discussed the importance of such cultural validation later, saying that “Unless what you’re teaching can be taught in every culture in the world, it’s not truly Kingdom of God teaching, it’s cultural teaching.” Such opportunities, he said, allow leaders to better understand the core strength of their lessons and build upon them as they return home.

Bradley (pictured left with his son and team member, Ben Bradley and ARC pastor, Bob Mabry) especially understands how such experience is invaluable to the ARC organization, as it seeks to develop young leaders. “Trips such as these will help us be very intentional about investing in and developing the growing number of young leaders in the ARC,” said Bradley. One such leader, Heidi McClure, proved to be more than a capable. McClure not only taught at both conferences, but spoke at two evening crusades—preaching in a town square where locals set aside their daily routines and listened to her message.

Later, McClure would meet with Bradley to discuss her experiences. “Leaders are not built in a classroom, leaders are built in the context of relationships with experienced leaders,” said Bradley. “Much of leadership is learned in the context of being ‘with’ someone who is a safe place; someone who is whole and healthy enough to share their life experiences of victory and failures…to spend time helping a young leader process and integrate all they’re learning.”

Next year the ARC will be preparing for trips to South Africa, Brazil, and Kenya, where it hopes to continue to offer younger leaders a chance to broaden their global perspective. According to Bradley, these trips “Expand the world view of young leaders,” and lead individuals away from a westernized perspective by bringing them closer to a “biblical worldview.”

Throughout their journey the team had many powerful encounters. They prayed over orphaned children. They received several individuals who were troubled by alcoholism and drug abuse as new members to the church (ARC Director Mike Bradley and Kenyan Pastor, Daniel are shown here praying with a man to receive Christ as Savior at an open air crusade). In one particular case, a woman came forward bearing a rope. She was prepared to kill herself. But after listening to the message that morning at church, she had found God. Her hands still shaking after the service, she handed the rope to over to Lundgren.

***

Exhale. Open your eyes.

On the last Sunday service of your trip the clouded sky finally clears. The sun shines down on your shoulders. A cool breeze travels across your neck. And while the church comfortably seats a hundred the service must be held outside. There are simply too many people. Wood columns hold up a make-shift tarp roof, made up of flour bags that are stitched together. A new church is under construction to meet the demands of a growing congregation, the second church you’ve seen being built in two weeks. Nothing looks so promising as the piles of red earth that have been dug up to lay a cement foundation.

And as the lead pastor of the Loitokitok church thanks you and says goodbye, he leaves you with this message from 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”