Introduce yourself
I think as we have new members join it would be good to briefly introduce ourselves - i.e. where we live in the metroplex, what type of church situation we are in right now, what our interest in simple church is, etc... Here's mine:
My name is Bill Benninghoff and I've lived in Arlington Texas since 1993. I spent many years in the institutional church serving in various roles. In 2003 I read Frank Viola's book "Pagan Christianity" and that rocked my world. Found a house church later in 2003 here in Arlington and became a part of it. Since then I've been a part of three other house churches included one that I started myself in my own house which fizzled after 8 months. I learned many lessons through that experience. Currently I am part of a simple church called Refuge that meets in southwest Arlington on Saturday nights. We have been meeting together since January of 2008 and in January 2010 we multiplied into four new simple churches. We now have one church in Arlington, one in Grand Prairie, one in Grapevine and one in Roanoke. I am really excited at what God is doing with us in terms of building community and learning to function in meetings together ala 1 Cor. 14:26. Looking forward to hearing from the rest of you!
My name is Bill Benninghoff and I've lived in Arlington Texas since 1993. I spent many years in the institutional church serving in various roles. In 2003 I read Frank Viola's book "Pagan Christianity" and that rocked my world. Found a house church later in 2003 here in Arlington and became a part of it. Since then I've been a part of three other house churches included one that I started myself in my own house which fizzled after 8 months. I learned many lessons through that experience. Currently I am part of a simple church called Refuge that meets in southwest Arlington on Saturday nights. We have been meeting together since January of 2008 and in January 2010 we multiplied into four new simple churches. We now have one church in Arlington, one in Grand Prairie, one in Grapevine and one in Roanoke. I am really excited at what God is doing with us in terms of building community and learning to function in meetings together ala 1 Cor. 14:26. Looking forward to hearing from the rest of you!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Lunt on -
John Lunt
My name is John Lunt. I remember as a fairly new christian many years ago, I remember reading about the church in the house of.... I often wondered what that looked like. I even put together a kind of manifesto about it at that point. I had thought about it for years. Then a little over two years ago, I found out about Awakening in Cedar Hill. I was happy in the church I was attending, but I was curious what a house or simple church would be like. I went - and never went back to the institutional church.
Since then I started and led a simple church on the streets of Dallas called Dallas Street Church for a year and a half. We had lots of ups and downs but earlier this year, all they guys were moving off the streets and or getting jobs. At that point, the Lord essentially told me I was done there.
So, I'm still at Awakening, waiting for the next step. The Dallas Street Church still has a couple of guys meeting together for bible study and prayer each Saturday.
I am involved with a simple church network called City on a Hill Connection where I've found some wonderful friends and I'm wondering where our journey will take us. -
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Permalink Reply by Wendy on -
Hi! My name is Wendy, and I have been a part of DFW simple churches for the past two years and have been a part of simple churches for a total of four years, ever since God called me out of the church in which I was born and raised. I have been "floating around" to different simple churches in the area but will be helping to start a new group in my neck of the woods soon and will probably settle down there for awhile. I also attend a slightly more traditional emergent church on the weekends.
I help write for and edit a newsletter called DFW Organic Church Connection, which seeks to connect believers in this area and be a vehicle through which believers can minister to one another on a larger scale than they otherwise could in their smaller gatherings. (Click here to subscribe.)
I believe we are in a time of great liberation and hope, and I think it's a great time to be alive right now! Looking forward to meeting all of you! -
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Permalink Reply by Ken Halford on -
Hi Bill (and other readers), I'm Ken Halford. My wife Susan and I have meetings in our home about 10 minutes west of Fort Worth, near Weatherford. We have been meeting this way for over two years. It occurred to me one day in a traditional church that I wanted to begin meeting the way it is described in the New Testament... without any additional traditions. I began looking on the Internet to see if anyone else had the idea. WOW! I found H2H and Frank Viola... then through those, George Barna and Watchman Nee. "The Normal Christian Life" blew me away. God is doing amazing things. Our group is small but we pray daily that God would have those attend that He would have attend. No more... no less. We call ourselves the Ekklesia of Parker County. New folks are always welcome... everyone participates. God bless you all. I am looking forward to seeing what's going on in your group.
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Permalink Reply by Sheila on -
Hi All!
My name is Sheila Crothers. I have been involved in Simple Church for going on 9 years now. We meet in Decatur Texas. About an hour NW of Ft. Worth. I was raised in a very strict IC, but also very Word based, so it gave me a great legacy of being grounded in the Word. As I began to realize that GOD did not fit in that box, I became very unsettled in IC. God moved me to home church, and I love it. I have been involved in 2 more often than not. I am currently leading a Simple church in a coffee/antique shop here on the square in Decatur. God is moving in a mighty way, and lives are being changes. Looking forward to face to face meetings with you all. IF you are ever in Decatur on Saturday morning, check out Classic Antique Revival. We are probably in the back being the Bride of Christ! -
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on -
Yes Alex - let's get together soon. Give me a call...
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Permalink Reply by Brent Richardson on -
My name is Brent Richardson. After serving at a congregational church for several years in various capacities, my wife and I felt God calling us to reach out to folks that aren't coming to a church building.
We live in Wylie where we've spent the last 2 years focused on what I guess could be described as organic relationship evangelism. Much like Alex we operate the simplest house church - just our family.
Cheers! -
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Permalink Reply by Lionel Woods on -
Hello,
My name is Lionel Woods and I haven't been part of a Simple Church at all. To be honest I am a bit afraid, the problem is I believe it to be the best way for the Church to function. I have been part of the traditional church all my life but became pretty conviced on what is called Reformed Theology or at least Calvinistic Soteriology for the last 4.5 years. I guess I love the theology but not so fond of the ecclesiology. This conviction started about a year and a half ago or so, and has been consuming me since. So here I am a searching but scared and if anyone knows of anything near Denton/Frisco/Lewisville let me know.
[email protected]
www.blackandreformedministries.com -
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Permalink Reply by Scott Tedford on -
Hi,
After having spent the last couple of years involved in a home church group, we've decided to start hosting a gathering in our home. We've just basically reached a point in our walk of faith, where we don't want to consider ourselves part of a particular movement, or place a particular label on ourselves.... We love God (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and we believe strongly in community and fellowship.
We live in north Fort Worth (76179 area code, near Saginaw and Lake Worth). We're not looking to "start a church" or "lead a church." We're just looking to spend some time in fellowship with other people, sharing our walk of faith and growing together...worshipping God, through the way of Jesus Christ, led by the Holy Spirit. If you'd like to be part of this, please email me. We're looking to have a weekly meal together, participate in conversation about scripture, pray, share communion, and encourage one another.
We're also interested in forming a book club, where we could meet with others either in our home or perhaps a local coffee shop.... Some of our favorite Christian authors include Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Dallas Willard, Dan Kimball, etc. Please let us know if you think you'd be interested in this also.....
Peace,
Scott
[email protected]
http://www.myspace.com/scotttedford -
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on
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Welcome Scott! Glad you are here. The book club thing sounds fun. Let us know how it goes.
Scott Tedford said:Hi,
After having spent the last couple of years involved in a home church group, we've decided to start hosting a gathering in our home. We've just basically reached a point in our walk of faith, where we don't want to consider ourselves part of a particular movement, or place a particular label on ourselves.... We love God (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and we believe strongly in community and fellowship.
We live in north Fort Worth (76179 area code, near Saginaw and Lake Worth). We're not looking to "start a church" or "lead a church." We're just looking to spend some time in fellowship with other people, sharing our walk of faith and growing together...worshipping God, through the way of Jesus Christ, led by the Holy Spirit. If you'd like to be part of this, please email me. We're looking to have a weekly meal together, participate in conversation about scripture, pray, share communion, and encourage one another.
We're also interested in forming a book club, where we could meet with others either in our home or perhaps a local coffee shop.... Some of our favorite Christian authors include Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Dallas Willard, Dan Kimball, etc. Please let us know if you think you'd be interested in this also.....
Peace,
Scott
[email protected]
http://www.myspace.com/scotttedford -
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Permalink Reply by Steve & Celia Haskell on -
My wife and I just moved to Irving from Amarillo and are looking for fellowship in a home church community. My e-mail is [email protected]
Steve & Celia Haskell -
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on
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Welcome Steve! There are several groups represented here on our DFW page, and I am sure all would love to have you guys come for a visit. We have some in Cedar Hill, Fort Worth, Arlington, Keller, Plano, Dallas, etc...
Bill
Steve Haskell said:My wife and I just moved to Irving from Amarillo and are looking for fellowship in a home church community. My e-mail is [email protected]
Steve & Celia Haskell -
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on
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Welcome Adam! Good to have you here.
Bill
Adam Sims said:Hi all,
My name is Adam Sims. My wife Daneta, my two sons, my daughter and I live in Denton, TX. We have recently moved back to the area. We lived here years ago when I was a bi-vocational youth minister at one of the Southern Baptist churches here in Denton. I resigned my position due to the demands of raising a young family. After moving back to Bolivar, MO for a season, we became part of a fellowship of house churches there that were actually started by believers I had served with in another SBC church up there. WOW! What a relief it was to simply be the church. We truly felt a great weight lift off of our shoulders after the first time we met in the house church. We were giddy driving home from that first meeting. We do miss them. However, the Lord has us here in Denton at this time. We are currently "attending" a non-denominational church here in Denton. We have some dear friends, that we served with in the past, here that are very involved in this church. It is exhausting at times. I am also going to RN school and working full-time as an LVN why my wife stays home to raise and educate our children. So, we really don't feel we have the energy to start a simple church in our home which can involve much education for those new to the idea. I truly feel that the Lord's plan for our family is in this non-denominational church right now. The church does have small groups that meet in homes. These times are a blessing, but, I feel guilty when I can't be in church on Sunday, at men's group on Tuesday, my wife be in women's group on Wednesday as some of the men and sons meet at the same time. Please pray that we can share the wonderful discovery of the simple church with this group of believers. Also, I am always interested to hear how different house churches live life together.
In Him,
Adam Sims -
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