Chapter 2

"We'd better not risk another frontal assault. That rabbit's dynamite!"

After the shock and awe campaign of the first chapter, the book now turns to look at why this Mega Shift is happening. What is causing the transition from megastar, traditional Christianity into supernatural, "everyman" Christianity?

Chapter 2 lists ten different "engines of change" that are behind this shift.* I'll only focus on one of those, but you are welcome to bring up others in your comments. I am intrigued by the concept of "rabbit teams."

Rabbit teams are small groups of people that go out into a community with the plan to quickly multiply (see pages 67-70 in the book). They gather a small group of disciples and train them to do exactly what the rabbit team does. Then this new team goes and and creates additional rabbit teams. These groups are small, agile, and focused on rapidly creating new disciples. The example team given in the book is starting about 50 different churches each year.

This concept seems to be a natural result of the idea of empowerment, that God wants to use normal, everyday people to spread His kingdom. Rather than waiting for pastors to tell them what to do all the time, this approach capitalizes on people's initiative and empowerment by the Spirit. Rather than waiting for the next big event to invite our friends to, it challenges us to go out let God use us out there in the "real world." What would that look like if even a handful of those kind of groups were set loose on campus?

It would be incredible to see this take off at Purdue. And really, that has been our heart since day 1 - that God would raise up teams of students to go out and bring God's transforming power to the other 40,000 students on campus.

I don't know if even a holy hand grenade from Antioch could stop that.

What do you think about rabbit teams? Or maybe you're more excited about one of the other things discussed in chapter 2? Take a minute and share your thoughts with the rest of us!


*(1) Intercessory Prayer - intense, strategic prayer for people and areas.
(2) Empowerment - equipping ALL of God's people to be ministers, not just the "pastors."
(3) Reconciliation - restoring people and groups that have historically been divided.
(4) Identificational Repentance - repenting on behalf of others.
(5) Spiritual Mapping - researching the spiritual background of an area in order to have more informed intercession.
(6) Rabbit Teams - groups that travel around, starting other groups designed to multiply quickly.
(7) On-Site Prayer - praying on-location for specific areas or people.
(8) Fasting - going without food for a period of time. "Praying without words."
(9) Leadership Teamwork -groups working together for the a greater good.
(10) Media Evangelism - spreading the gospel be means of radio, TV, film, and the internet.

Chapter 1

I don't know about anyone else, but that sums up chapter one. The author basically picks up a hammer and smashes apart my definition of "normal."

There wasn't a lot of traditional teaching in this chapter. He seemed more intent on using stories about miracles around the world to awaken a hunger in us for more of God. Did it work on you? I know I'm pumped for chapter two and learning more about how to change the way I live. But until then, let's take a minute and discuss chapter one.

What was your favorite story of the chapter? What was the miracle that got your engine revving more than any other?

For me, it has to be the Buddhist monk who came back from the dead (p.32-33). How wild is that? The guy dies, goes to hell, sees Goliath there (whom he'd never heard of before), gets raised from the dead, and then tells everyone that the Christians are right and we all need to repent! Wow. For me it was especially cool that he saw Goliath there. If it was somebody with a Christian background, you could chalk it up to a hallucination or something. The doctors would say that the guys was simply remembering stories he had heard and dreaming about them or something. But this guy had never read or heard the stories, and he describes these people exactly. Wow.

By the way, I tried to follow the directions in the book to get the full story, but the email he gave wouldn't work for me. I looked up the transcript online, and you can read the full version here:
http://bibleprobe.com/backfromthedead.htm
There are also pictures of him on this site:
http://worldrec.info/2006/10/29/remarkable-testimonies-buddhist-monk-athet-pyan-shinthaw-paulu-and-paul-williams-buddhist-scholar-converts-to-christianity/

So tell me, what rocked your world from this chapter?