Interested in learning more?  This Saturday night (July 17) the Denver House Church Network is hosting Rob Turner, the teaching pastor at Apex.  Come and learn more about how God is working in this large community that fully embraces the house church model.

Click here for a short video about Apex:  http://apexcommunity.org/are-you-new/about-apex/

Where:  Confluence Ministries.  1400 Quitman Street, Denver, CO.  (West on Colfax from I-25 about one mile.  South on Quitman for one block)

When:  This Saturday evening (July 17) from 7 – 9 pm.

Questions: Post a comment and a volunteer from Colorado House Church will quickly get in touch with you.

Have you ever wanted to know more about what is house church?  Or maybe Jesus has been speaking to your heart on joining or starting a house church?  We would love and be blessed to have you visit our booth for dialog and have your questions answered.

Heaven Fest is a Christian Music Festival happening near Denver, Colorado.  Thousands and Thousands of people from all over Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah Nebraska and Kansas will be coming to Denver to see over 70 bands and artists perform on 7 stages with 7 interactive areas.  For ticket information, CLICK HERE.

Click the image for a printable PDF flyer…

Photo by John-Morgan

To learn more about School on the Way you can click on the link above to go to their blog or check out this video interview we did with Jan Cowles about School on the Way here.

ENGAGING BEAUTY

In today’s world, the average person (including the average American Christian) can easily slip through their life without ever opening their heart to Beauty–and to the life, joy, transcendence, sorrow, intimacy, romance, and pain that Beauty brings. All of us hunger for Beauty, yet few will answer its haunting call. The purpose of this class is to learn to hear that call, to recognize it–wherever it is to be found–and then learn to open vulnerably to that which we desire and fear more than anything, to allow it to transform us forever.

TIME AND PLACE
We will meet for two hours once per week for twelve weeks at Desi and Rose Starr’s house on the northeastern edge of downtown Denver. If you are interested in taking Engaging Beauty, please email me a list of all the times during the week that you would be available to meet (my contact information is below). I will try to find a time that can accommodate everyone’s schedules, if possible. My earnest hope is to begin this class the last week of January or the first week of February.

COST
The cost will be $25 per class (which is $300 for twelve classes). If you are interested in taking this class but would not be able to because of financial reasons, or if you are someone who would like to help subsidize this class for a needy brother or sister, please let me know.

REQUIREMENTS
You will only be required to buy one book for this class, The Healing Path by Dan Allender. It costs about ten dollars plus shipping on Amazon.com. I’ll copy the rest of the readings and place them on Google Documents as PDF files, and you will be able to read them for free or print them off if you want to. The reading for this course should be manageable and engaging, and I will do my best to require only what is necessary, while making additional resources available to those who would find them life giving. Along with the readings, you will be asked to commit to spending at least one hour a week alone with the Romancer, that is, in solitude and contemplative prayer. If this is intimidating to you, don’t worry, we will discuss it in depth during our first class and grow in our understanding of it throughout the course. I promise that by the end of the course you will look forward to spending your hour in silence!

MY END OF THE DEAL
In my adult life, I have probably thought about Beauty and intimacy with God more than I have consciously thought about anything else, and I have suffered much in pursuing Romance and the Romancer. I promise to bring all of my passion and desire to teaching this class on the subject I love most. If you are interested in taking this journey with me, please contact me (Alex Malaska) by phone at 330.402.2216 (yeah that’s 330 not 303) or by email at alexmalaska@gmail.com. And I look forward to seeing God transform our hearts as we engage Beauty together!

Meeting took place at Denver Seminary with about 25 people. After pizza (thanks, Susan!) we broke up into three regional groups – west, north and east. We checked in with each other (SASHET) in our groups and then spent time listening to the Lord. “What do You want to say to us about Denver?” After the listening time, each person shared what they had heard. As they shared, a picture began to emerge like the pieces of a puzzle coming together. The following is a compilation of what we heard. Perhaps this is a sort of prophetic message about Denver. Please weigh this (question, add to, change, etc.).

Comment: No one came to the Meeting with an agenda for Denver. The agenda (or picture) emerged out of a group of people connecting with each other on the heart level and out of listening to the Lord together.

The unifying picture was of the city of Denver covered with beautiful flowers. The picture and the flowers were marked by being very fresh, crisp and clear.

Currently the seeds for those flowers are under the ground but they are beginning to pop up. A few at first but then more with increasing regularity. Like popcorn beginning to pop. The seeds will multiply 30, 60 and 100 fold. Small and simple but result in viral multiplication.

The sense was that the flowers were not just house churches but regional networks of house churches. That tonight as we break into three groups for the first time is just the beginning of the multiplication of these groups. The day will come when there will be groups like this all over the city.

Some of the regional networks (flowers): Golden, Thornton, Commerce City, Aurora, Parker, Centennial, Arvada, Wheatfield, Highlands Ranch, Five Points, University Park, Littleton, Englewood, Glendale, etc.

Next step.

Sean had a strong exhortation to us about this. See his notes. Genuine honest heart level sharing. SASHET as a spiritual discipline to help with this. Each regional group (North – Hobby, East – Sean, West – Nick) will plan to meet monthly for the next two months (Dec and Jan). Quarterly meeting in Feb (Susan).

Noah + Kate Cremisino, who are part of a metro-denver house church, are moving to New Zealand in January. This Saturday they are hosting an open-house sale + furniture auction from 2pm-5pm. Come on out November 28 to support their move overseas. They will be engaging in house church planting in Christchurch + working with YWAM Oxford. See noahandkate.com/auction09 for details + pass this information along if you know someone interested!

The CO2 “tool” is revolutionary because it provides for “rhythms of attention”. That is, simple ways of paying attention to the heart – my own heart, the heart of one other person and God’s heart. As a result of this paying attention or listening, we are seeing two results occurring spontaneously – personal transformation and viral multiplication.

The October Experiment is the chance to join a gaggle of others in Colorado and beyond in connecting with one or two others daily for the month of October in a church of two. Interested? It’s not to late to join in!

There are at least two benefits to joining the Experiment. First, you get to contribute to the community what you are learning as you practice a CO2. Here’s what Rose Starr in Denver, CO had to say…

“Spending time listening every day is a new thing for me. It has been challenging since it’s a new skill and I don’t feel “good” at it yet. However since I’ve been writing as I listen, I’m amazed that in a few short days I am writing more and more. I feel that God is indeed speaking to me and the thoughts that are flowing from my head/heart onto my paper are from Him. It’s been so encouraging. I mean, why wouldn’t I want to hear from my Papa every day? Then as I gather with my LTG, or Sunday group I have all sorts of things to share about what God is teaching me!

Second, you receive a short (3 minutes to read) daily email about what the others are learning. For instance, Here’s a one minute video from Tod Brown in Midland, Tx about doing a CO2 with his 13 year old son. Check it out at http://www.lk10resources.com/practice-2.html (Scroll to the bottom.)

So, to see more about what people are learning, go to our new website:

http://storiesfromtherevolution.blogspot.com/

Want to join? On that same website, in the right hand column find the box that says “Your email address”. Enter your address and you are “in”. It’s that easy!

Glad to answer any questions you might have about this.

Your brother,

John White

 It was a tall, aged brick church building in the middle of a fairly low-income neighborhood just southwest of I-70 and Washington street. A crew from Ancient Paths house church network (who hosted the event) had been there since 10am cleaning and setting up the downstairs area for the teaching sessions and the upstairs area for the worship nite.

A group of 60 or 70 excited adults (plus children) had gathered there for the split teaching sessions. The entire group joined together in prayer there in the wide basement of the old building to kick off the afternoon. The children went into the side nursery area for childcare at this point. Then Michael McGrath, holding a lantern and dressed like a crazy man from a centuries=old Europe, performed a five minute skit from Nietzsche’s “Parable of the Madman”. His voice echoed among those gathered there as he passionately acted out his opening scene. Everyone applauded and was grateful for Michael’s passionate opening skit.

From there we separated into three circles of chairs in different corners of the room for the first round of split teaching sessions. The first three were “Effective Parenting”, “Listening to Jesus”, and “Experiencing the Felt Presence of God”, each led by volunteer teachers from house churches all around the Denver area. The sessions went very smoothly and were each well-attended. Then we took a 5-minute break and started the second round of sessions. These were “Teaching the Hebrew Way”, “Church As A Family”, and a special session for the children. Again, the sessions went smoothly, and the children had a blast during their time together with Brittani who volunteered to teach and work with them. At the end of the second round of sessions (which went long because the teaching and discussions were so lively), the group came back together and a couple of announcements were made – one regarding “School on the Way” and the upcoming college-level class offerings from Jan & Tina Cowles, and another regarding the October experiment with “Churches of Two” from John White. We again prayed together and gave thanks to God for the wonderful afternoon, and then dismissed for dinner break. Even during break, folks were hanging out and enjoying one another – some with food from home, others with fast food takeout.

At seven, we met upstairs for the worship nite. The crowd had changed – some from the afternoon sessions had left for the day, and others who hadn’t come for the afternoon arrived for the evening. The intimate sanctuary of the old church had been decorated with Ceiling hangings, candles, and even a small makeshift cross from one of our artists at the front. Acoustic guitar in hand, Shannon Rants led the evening worship time. She was accompanied by other volunteers playing an electric guitar, electric bass, drums, an African Djimbe (bongo), keyboard, and even an electric violin. Songs were sung and the evening of singing, worship and sharing began. The music soared and people clapped hands, lifted hands, swayed, prayed, cried, danced, and the like. The Holy Spirit definitely was moving in our midst.

Halfway through the time of singing, Shannon opened the floor to anyone to share with the whole body of worshippers what they were hearing from the Lord. Slowly but surely a number of different folks present took their turn at sharing what they were feeling and hearing from Him. What a wonderful time of edification and worship! God spoke to us in beautiful ways before the night was done.

Throughout the event, we had a donations box set out to help pitch in on the costs of the venue, the childcare, and the materials and supplies that went into it. 175$ was donated, and was just enough to cover everything! Thanks to everyone who gave for the cause – this was another confirmation that the Lord was with us, and provided perfectly for the needs of this important event.

Throughout the day, a handful of individuals mentioned that they so enjoyed the two parts of the event that they asked when we were going to do it again! What a joy to see such a successful gathering of organic church families at such a crucial time in how God is moving along the front range. All glory to Him for his grace and peace that He continually pours out upon us and our efforts as we seek to follow Him in every great and every small thing.

It is important to note that this event was not initiated, planned and run by one individual or church group – but by a growing network of leaders and church families from many different backgrounds who have been connecting together on a monthly basis all around the city. A handful of different individuals from different church families felt the Lord’s direction on this, and together worked hard to follow that leading and make this event happen. What a joy to be a part of a body made up of such a diverse group of believers, all supporting one another in the different purposes and focuses that the Father Has called each of us to.

If you are a house church leader along the front range, and would like to connect with other leaders in the area, or if you or your church family would like to help with organizing or volunteering for corporate events like this in the future, take a moment to shoot us an email at info@coloradohousechurch.com.

In His name and for His glory!

Below are some thumbnail photos from the event – for larger pics, click HERE for the full slideshow on facebook.

*Click here For Full Version!  – and to read about the need for donations for Nepalese refugees***

There is a group of about 40 Nepalese individuals and families who have recently come to Denver from Nepal, and are in need of winter clothing. Coats, hats, gloves, even boots, male & female, all sizes and ages (especially for thinner & shorter individuals). A neighboring church family in Centennial has been ministering to them and has asked for help with this need. If you, your church family or network can pitch in, please bring your donations Sunday!

Denver Public School district is asking for help from house churches in the Denver area to meet different needs in each of their schools.

Here is a table detailing the needs in each school – high schools, middle schools, and elementary…

 Please spread the word, share with your church families, and let’s all pitch in as our Lord leads. Even if an individual can meet one need… If everyone meets one need, that adds up fast, and pretty soon, DPS is being served in a big way by the body of Christ in and around Denver.

Remember, Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you’ve done it unto the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me.” (Mat. 25)

A general synopsis of the needs below: A major need is for bus passes for DPS students — many schools share this need. Otherwise, other volunteer opportunities for tutoring, counseling, before or after school programs, etc, etc are below!

Together we can honor Him be acting out our faith as He directs…

EMAIL Lindsay with DPS at  LINDSAY_MCNICHOLAS@dpsk12.org to help with these needs.

General questions or trouble contacting her? Contact Sean in Aurora (a house church leader) at 303.523.2315 or email at sean_hyatt@msn.com.