House to House

God whispered to me as I was shampooing my hair on New Year’s Eve a couple months ago. I was praying into what the Lord wanted to speak for the following year. 

“Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” (Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭46‬)

Of course, this is not an unfamiliar Scripture to me, to many of us, but I feel this to be a bit more of a global word for the Body of Christ. I have a long-standing commitment to the lifestyle that Acts 2:42-47 encourages. But, I’ll share with you where that commitment first began for me because it feels pertinent some 20 years later. I sense that God is perhaps producing for many this year “full circle,” promise-fulfilling moments. 

When God whispered this simple phrase to me on New Year’s Eve during our time at UPPERROOM’s EOY Conference, I was instantly transported back in time to my early 20s when I found myself at another large gathering of young people similar to what the UPPERROOM hosts at the end of the year. It was a gathering full of passionate worship, teaching, prayer, and well, thousands of really hungry hearts. It was beautiful and holy. My 21 year old self walked into that massive conference center with Jason Upton singing “A Power in Poverty,” and honestly, I haven’t been the same since. It was life-changing in so many ways. It was there that I developed an even greater understanding for what it means to be the Beloved of God—to stake my life on this one thing…that my identity comes from His gaze. It was there that I received the gift of prophecy as “friendship with God.” It was there that my heart first caught ahold of the Church’s need to return to the place of prayer if there was ever any hope left for “revival.” This conference and the moments there were foundational and transformative. 

But fast-forward to a couple days later when I was thrown into another “conference,” only this one, much smaller. There were 25 people max. My best friend and I were the only two white girls amongst the majority of Asian American Believers. And this crew was next level. The hunger in the basement of that home in Kansas City was palpable. We had just been filled up at this massive conference, and we were ready to be sent out two-by-two from this small home gathering. This was a “campus church” conference where we were trained in the way of sharing the Gospel, discipleship, raising up leaders, and “simple church” multiplication. It was there that my heart got lit on fire 🔥 with the potential of ordinary Believers, filled up with the love of God, spreading His Good News with both word and deed and meeting simply in homes—sharing in the Word and in fellowship and in prayer. It was there that I got delivered of fear in a powerful way, received new gifts of the Spirit, and received God’s heart to see my college campus and campuses around the nation transformed with the Gospel. It was there when I developed a deep desire to see prayer and mission married. 

I was not the same after that conference. My heart was lit ablaze, and I had only one goal…to see little communities of believers lit up everywhere with the love ❤️ of God and the fire🔥 of His Spirit. My best friend and I left with a mission…1) Establish 6 AM Prayer every morning to pray for our campus 2) Preach the Gospel with signs and wonders 3) Open the Word and break bread house to house in authentic community. 4) Train others to do likewise…Rinse. Repeat. 

And I want to say that with the grace and measure of the Spirit we’d been given, we did that. Now, we fell a little short of our “goal,” which was every college campus;) but no doubt, we saw God move powerfully through our little “Yes.” 

Why do I share that? Well, I feel like this past December felt like a sort of Jacob’s ladder moment. Jacob had this encounter with God as a young man, and some years later he returns back to the place he first heard. It was “full circle.” Big gathering. Small gathering. 

The Big is unto the little. The Prayer is unto movement. The Gospel is unto authentic community and discipleship and neighborhood transformation. 

The winds are stirring and I believe the Church is desperate to get back to its original, simple, not flashy state. Let this be the year that we see God move in the big AND the small and experience …

Acts 2:42-47 🏡 ✝️❤️‍🔥

Get FIT with us. And let’s see the world 🌎 turned upside down with the Good News. 

Blessings,

Kristi Louis