FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
For starters, you'll find audio of six and a half hours of frequently asked questions, from all over the world, for the last twenty plus years, on the Video page of this site. Locate "Consuming Zeal for the Father's House - Frequently Asked Questions" and you will find many, many questions answered. Everything from "leadership" to "money" to "beginnings" and one hundred other topics are covered there. These were video taped and answered extemporaneously, nearly fifteen years ago.
In addition to those rather thorough answers, you'll find additional important topics, also frequently asked, in the "Foundations" and "Romans" sections, the "Children" and "Women" sections, and elsewhere on the site. Also, many questions you'll find to be answered to leaders and saints in various countries seeking Daily Life rather than just "meetings" -- and "pictorially" answered in the "Video Clips" section.
A few questions we have received and have never thought to answer anywhere else, we can answer here...
"Why does this website exist? You don't recruit. I know from personal experience that you instead encourage Believers (me and my family) to work in their own locales for Jesus, and amongst their families. You don't take money for anything, but send gifts for free instead, I assume all over, as you did to us. What's in it for you, since you don't do what we have come to expect people to do in this day and age, whether christian authors and musicians, or churches? You don't take money, or recruit, as everyone seems to do. So what motivates you? My wife and I have discussed it, and don't get it. Why the website? What's your purpose?"
The answer may sound "idealistic" or even conjured, but so be it. It's the only answer we have, and have spent twenty plus years with this one goal: We desire that Jesus be glorified — and His Body, wherever they may be, whatever their background, to be built into His Image. Listen to the "Audio" on this site, and see if ten thousand spontaneous-answer audio clips, recorded in auditoriums, living rooms, halls, open fields, and mud huts, over twenty plus years by scores of brothers and sisters, and the many hundreds of correspondence letters on the "Foundations" part of the site to believers around the world — see if these reveal any other "agenda" than that Jesus be honored and His People be "made ready for His Return." That desire for Jesus alone to be glorified is the reason for this site. There can be no other "benefit" — nor any greater. That's the reason that there are no "biographies" and "photographs" and boasting of mere men, selling their wares or recruiting on this site or in our relationships. "HE must increase, and we must decrease." Our love for Him, and no desire to promote ourselves or any mere humans is why you won't see attention drawn to humans on this site — at least as little as possible, and yet still be accessible for the many letters we receive every day. Jesus is the reason we send free gifts around the world, every week, to those who ask. "Freely you have received, freely give."
Our hope is that some things on this site will strengthen you in your heart for Him — and all He desires for you and His People. If it does, it does. And if it doesn't — may He help and encourage you in ten thousand other ways, through whomever and whatever He chooses for you.
"I have read with interest several of the articles on your website and feel that in many ways you have tremendous insight into both the problems of the modern church, and the patterns that are established in scripture for discipleship and for how God builds that church. Indeed, yours is the only other voice I have heard in recent memory that seems to note the importance of the idea in Ephesians 4 that there is a unity in the faith that we can reach collectively. With that said, though, I have a problem, and that is that I have gone through your website, and your linked websites, and I simply don't know who you are. But, I'm confused that it seems like your website appears to be anonymous. Jesus said "Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven" and that personal acknowledgment is an imperative of effective Christian life. I am honestly not trying to be critical as much as I am expressing frustration. It is rare that I find people who are focused, not on simply constructing a church in reaction to the perceived flaws of the last church idea, but instead simply asking "what does God intend for church to be?" I want to be encouraged by what you write, and indeed some of it hits far too close to home for comfort in a very good way."
Hi..... Is refusing to promote mere humans the same as being "anonymous"? Anonymity is a far cry from our situation. :) We have relationships on various levels in 150 or so countries of every conceivable background — which all by itself means, mathematically, that almost everyone else in the world is more anonymous than we are. :) We have relationships in various places for up to 32 years, or some portion of time thereof. On a practical level, if you've seen the videos at JesusLifeTogether.com, you've even seen pictures of new relationships, and old, as well as photos of our parents, our children and grandchildren — and have seen them progress from new-borns, to the many, many 4.0 University students, to the very successful multiple advance-degreed professionals functioning daily with the best and brightest of the worlds of business and technology, and are highly respected and promoted constantly — all right before your eyes. :)
Our openness, of course, makes us all the more easy to attack by the liars and the looters. The looters are those who are accurately represented in works such as Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, and in the Books of Jude and 2Peter 2. The looters are their own first victims. They sell their cravings as knowledge, and as Peter and Jude said, seek to control others' rights, freedom, and consciences with threats and half-truths. They mask their own shapeless lives with religion or obsessions, while living as if they believe the destroyer of a Sculpture must be superior to the Sculptor.
The Earth is very very dry, and crying out for the bubbling spring of Jesus, His Truths, and His resulting Life. Maybe you, too, have seen too much that is not Him. But we know how most responded to the Light of men and Living Water, in His Day. Jesus was viewed as so "NOT a nice guy" (from the viewpoint of the culturally religious) that he was targeted to be murdered just a few months after becoming "public" in His life. That IS how it goes.
It's a fair question, but when you ask about "anonymous," you do know firsthand I'm sure that most who profess Jesus have very little knowledge of even anyone else in their "congregations" day to day. They barely notice their children, and share little to nothing of their lives outside of a "meeting" or "program" — even for decades on end. Meanwhile, exactly opposite of that, we've been very open with our lives, our children, conversations in living rooms and large auditoriums and mud huts, and restaurants — even recordings by the thousands amongst ourselves, and amongst leaders, authors, academics, from millionaires (from whom we have never accepted a cent) to the penniless or illiterate, in many countries. Our phone numbers, literally scores of us here, have been "listed" in the white pages since the days there WERE white pages. We live, in this city you've asked about, in urban neighborhoods within the city limits, in a high-crime township. There are 1.2 million mostly unBelievers all around us everyday. The Believers here work in jobs from management to trades to professional and scientific jobs of major corporations and small businesses and everywhere in between. They share Jesus continually in personal ways, risking jobs or popularity where necessary. And this Acts 2:42-47 Life has been here in this city for nearly 12% of the time that the United States has even existed as a country. :) We're clearly not hiding much very effectively if people from all over the world write everyday, and even know our children's faces and many know their names and have seen their lives. :)
Certainly we understand your frustrations in the religious world and your fears. The world, and the religious world most would say, are a MESS. But, it's hard to be more transparent than you having access to 50,000 personal letters and recordings and songs from 25 years of our lives together here and in other cities and countries that are on the site accessible to all. You may be confusing the fact that we don't do any SELF PROMOTION of mere humans such as the world has brain-diritied us into believing is Right. Joe Schmoe Ministries and pictures and bios and human-promotion and money begging are profoundly and uncharacteristically absent from our sites, we admit. And we didn't just remove all of the self-promotion and selling of wares and such from the sites. In nearly 30 years we have ALWAYS given away free everything we can to those who are hungry, and have ALWAYS embraced the attitude, against the tide, that for JESUS to increase, we must DECREASE. It's actually almost funny how that is opposed far more vehemently than the many, many "pastors" wearing unBiblical titles with millions of dollars in their bank accounts from "buying and selling" the Word of God, and promoting themselves on posters and book jackets and such, controlling money, controlling who teaches and what, controlling all of the decisions as if it were their personal (as one "pastor" said in our hearing) "family business" to be passed down. THAT is all "okay" with almost everyone, but when we do none of those things — we're suspect. Almost as if raw "numbers" of adherents to something means that it must be "right" and everyone else can be called names. In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's day, 95% of all of the "christian world" was supportive of Hitler, and those who were not were called a "cult". Numbers make one "right"? Then Jesus was wrong, by that same method of evaluation.
No, we don't claim to be anyone, are not anywhere CLOSE to "the only ones" — as is marvelously clear by the many thousands of letters we get from courageous, wonderful, passionate followers of the Risen Jesus Christ from this country and many, many dozens of other countries, languages, and backgrounds. We decided almost three decades ago that we will never yield to the flattery or tirades of humans who want us to be look-alikes to a broken system, with men's fingerprints all over everything. Can't do it. Not that YOU were asking us to, but you were expressing the "edges" of a complaint we hear now and then: Why don't you do everything like everyone else does? And the answer is, because we don't WANT to turn out like most everyone else does when we grow up. :)
There are names all over the website. The Day of Small Beginnings novel lists the 20 or so people who wrote it. Other books like Meetings in His Kingdom, Traditions, Jesus in His Fullness, and many others, have the writer's name on them, sans the photo biography nonsense borrowed from the pagan marketing system, of course. It's just never been our thought that something more than having some names here and there is REALLY needed to be helpful for Saints to have a chance to hear, weigh, and apply Truths from the Bible (in hopes).
For some reason, we don't even know who wrote the Book of Hebrews, but LOVE that Book! And many other Books of the Bible are credited to someone or another that the "experts" contend may not actually have been the writer. We don't know "names" of hardly ANYONE from Thessalonica or Ephesus or Philippi, but we don't think they were all attempting to be "anonymous".
We've never thought we needed to know for certain who wrote the "Hebrews" Book. And similarly, whatever meager things one can find on this website or our books that may help change their lives, marriages, evangelism, and spiritual relationships with brothers and sisters, may JESUS increase and mere humans decrease. God does NOT want to share His Glory or "credit" with mere humans, and we simply have chosen, against the tide, to refuse money in payment for Truth (as is the practice of modern religion with sermons, books, and music), as well as any mere humans being placed in "prestigious position" or "title" — forbidden by Jesus Himself.
We've never believed that WE have anything really to do with whether something is true or not. So, even the pictures of LIFE and children and grandchildren and grandparents and Saints we know in other countries are somewhat superfluous, but they're all over the place on the sites anyway. :)
"Acknowledging JESUS before men," and always "ready to give a Reason for the Hope WithIn" — is remarkably different than marketing humans and bios and self-promotions, right? We of course get crucified for that posture, while those who make millions of dollars off of God's lambs by promoting themselves and thus DECREASING Jesus.... well they are not only not scrutinized for such unBiblical and corrupt practices as selling the Word of God, they are heroes. But, so be it. :) Hope that helps at least a little, brother. :) We know it's a tricky subject because "numbers of adherents" is so often equated with "therefore anything else must be suspicious." But, our experience has been that some good folks in almost every congregation on planet earth have already spent much of their lives questioning some of the things we have questioned. We'll take the "beating" for them. :)
"I love what i've read from you guys, but what is your creed? There is so much weirdness out there."
We totally respect your question, although the apostles never really expressed a creed, did they? There is nothing from James, or Jude, or Paul or Peter in some succinct form that would be extractable as a creed. Though the apostles never did it, and we don't feel comfortable in doing such a thing either, if you were to read the text on the JesusLifeTogether.com homepage you would find more than enough to satisfy your heart that all we are about is Jesus being proclaimed from the mountaintops.
May He Bless and Protect and Embolden all who would seek His Face, and His will for their lives and His Church, wherever it may be, in these Last Days.
In His Love, for the Lion and the Lamb — Jesus of Nazareth
From the church here in Indianapolis
2006