Awesome Head, Tragic Body

I have just returned from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, where I met the men who are taking their D.Min. majoring in Cell Church Leadership. One of these fine brothers is a Korean whose English name is "Daniel." I discovered he was one of the translators of my Equipping Track series a few years ago while living in Korea.

As we concluded a session studying Bill Beckham's presentation on God-Made Cells, Daniel referred to Steven Hawking, the author of the second-largest selling book after the Bible, A Brief History of Time.

Hawking's Motor Neuron Disease has caused his brilliant mind to be completely disconnected from controlling his body. In spite of that, he has blessed the world with a book.

What an illustration of Christ and his contemporary "body." Instead of the Holy Spirit calling in those who are to form His new body, converts are called into organized structures that dump dismembered arms and legs and inward parts into buckets called "programs." They never experience the awesome body Christ uses to reveal His Presence and Power.

Randall has now gone into the final stages of preparing my new book for release (advertised at Amazon and on www.touchusa.org).

I am anticipating a flurry of criticism over the term "Bodies" of Christ. That disturbing term is the whole point of the book. We must realize that the "Body" of Christ is the sum total of the Basic Christian Communities (bodies) who together compose that greater Body.

Instead of a top-down understanding of this great truth, I am starting at the base (basic) and proposing that until we understand the makeup of the authentic body, we have a brilliant head (Christ) who cannot function with all the legs and arms and inward parts stuffed into wicker baskets called "programs."

This is a time in the history of Christianity where we simply MUST withdraw from the lack of community we now experience in traditional church life.

There is a heaven and earth difference between a "small group" and a Christ Body! Only in the latter will Christ be the Head and in charge of how the body members function.

I am very interested in knowing what you think about all this. If you took the time to read my blog, please take another second to respond, either with a positive or negative thought. Let's begin to work through what it will take for Christ to have a functioning body!