Axiom Update

We are very excited about this new movement! The response we have received is incredible. Friends from Yucaipa, Orange County, Ventura, Washington, Michigan, Texas, and even England have shown their support of Axiom. This is truly an exciting time. Please continue to pray for us as we start this new Organic Church. Axiom will be a place where people can experience church without politics, without religiosity, without the hypocrisy but instead will be a place where Jesus is honored, relationships are cherished, and where everyone is loved.

A few things to pray for:

People that will be coming to Axiom, we don’t care where they come from, we just want to love and accept all that come.
Our paperwork has been sent into the state to receive our Tax ID and register with the state to be a recognized church. Please pray that everything goes smoothly!
Internet/Graphic Artist – Axiom desires be a church that people can connect with on the internet as well.
Be His!

Welcome To Axiom

Welcome to the Axiom website.

We are a group of people who desire to know Jesus intimately and live out his teachings.
We desire people to know Jesus and to follow him.
We love because Christ first loved us.
We choose to live out the Gospel and let our actions speak for themselves.

34 day’s until we start Axiom! We had a great meeting last night and I shared my vision and heart about what Axiom is and will grow into being. We are starting out as a house/simple/organic church. Just a group of people meeting together who desire to see lives changed and find out what it really means to be a Christian.

Axiom

Continue to pray for this new endeavor. We are praying and seeking God in starting this new “church.” Honestly, it’s really scary that God is moving in this direction. We are not seeking to start a church for just because; but because we see the need in peoples lives.

I have heard stories from men and women about how their “Christian” friends have abandoned them during some of the most trying times in their lives. Situations like divorce, unemployment, sexual identity, and even choices over friends.

Axiom seeks to be different in that we will embrace diversity without throwing away the very basic tenets of our faith, which are, to love God and love people.

For us, church does not mean a building. It simply means a gathering of people who come together for worship, fellowship, prayer, sharing, and communion. We plan on meeting in homes, parks, beaches, schools, offices. Basically anywhere people can meet and hang out to talk about God and share their lives with one another. We hope to be honest and open with each other in the hope that as a group we can build each other up in our faith.

We also seek to work out the teachings of Jesus in a real and practical way in our community. We desire to see lives changed through acts of social justice, be it through feeding the homeless, taking care of the elderly, or volunteering with such groups as the Red Cross or in our local schools. We want our communities to know that we love them just beCAUSE.

If you are looking for a community of Christians to connect with you can email me at mykelpickens@gmail.com or visit http://axiomvv.com for more information about when we will start meeting.

Friends, Vegas, Porn Stars and Red Stripe

My wife and I went to Las Vegas yesterday to meet up with an old friend who was in town for a car convention. We went to dinner and then head over to Margaritaville for a few drinks and while I was there I received a call on my cell. It was girl who said she wanted to meet up with me and that she was headed over to where I was. I didn’t think much about it until I received another call asking me to come out and meet her on the street. I handed the phone to my friend and he saw her on the corner and he waved her over. Basically this was just a wrong number but what transpired was totally God. She said she was a porn star, has cancer, moving to Los Angeles, a stripper in Vegas, etc. My wife and I along with my friend talked with her a good 20 minutes getting to know her and eventually prayed for her and her cancer and her life.

She texted me today thanking me for the prayer and for caring for a stranger and that because of us talking with her she is now rethinking her porn career choice. God is totally awesome!

Message I Preached

Peace through Prayer – Living a life of Sozo

Boomp3.com

Axiom Update

So…..I feel God calling me to start/plant a new church. I will be praying about this and if you are reading this will you pray for this as well?

God is moving me to do more.
So here it is….
Get ready….

1 Timothy Chapter 5

In reading Chapter 5 we see that Paul is charging Timothy to take care of his people. To make sure that the widows are taken care of. I wonder if we as the church are taking care of our widows. Those women who have no husbands. Not only through death but because of divorce, or other circumstances. I’m wondering what it would look like if we went back to actually being the church as it looked like in Acts. It may just hurt a little, it may just be a little uncomfortable, is my guess.
Also, do we do a good job of making sure the families of those who have widows, single parents homes, etc are taking care of their own or is the church doing more than what we are suppose to be doing? Because if we are we are not being effective in ministry. We are allowing others to not share in the work of the ministry and those who should be doing their part are missing out on a multitude of blessings.
I believe that God wants it this way because the church has a specific mission to accomplish and if we are doing things that are the responsibilities of other family members than it takes away and makes it difficult for the church to accomplish it’s mission.

1 Timothy Chapter 4

Continuing with 1 Timothy we see that Paul warns Timothy about the false teaching that was going around at that time. Some of the teaching that was going around was called gnosticism. It had to do with Jesus not really being God, or how you had to still be Jewish and follow the rules of Judaism to follow Christ.
Notice that Paul says that the false teaching comes from within the church not outside of it.
I had a conversation with a friend recently and we talked about the apostasy that is occupying within the church right now. He does not like the Emerging Church Movement and i haver backed off on my support for it (though I believe many of the people in it are great people and I love the energy and new ideas that they come up with) because I believe they tread on dangerous ground, like was Jesus God? Was Mary a virgin? Can I be gay and Christian? All good questions but its the answers that they are giving that is scary.
So we can see that 2000 years later, the church is still dealing with false teaching that is coming from within the church.

The second half of this chapter deals with spiritual training. I believe Paul put this in there so that Timothy could handle the challenges he would be facing with these false teachers and gnostics arose in his church but this is good advice for us all.
How many times have we been asked a spiritual question by a friend only to not have the answer and now it makes us look like what we believe is really weak?
Paul says that we need to train ourselves in godliness. Stay away from myths and old wives tales. We need to be studiers of God’s word. I dont believe you need to be a Bible scholar but you need to know what you believe and why. I think this is why it is important to go to church, to be around others that believe the same as you. So that you can ask questions. A teacher of mine in college always said that no one learns anything if you dont ask questions.
So ask questions!

1 Timothy Chapter 3

Chapter 3 deals with the requirements for a leader or pastor of a church but these requirements are also good for just being a good person or a mature person. I remember reading a book years ago called Measure of a Man by Gene Getz. I recommend this book to any man and actually to any teenage boy wanting to know what it means to be a man.
Paul lists some great requirements, and I have to admit, I fail at a lot of them sometimes…

1. A that is above reproach – Integrity is the key here. When no one is looking, are you still an honest and blameless person?

2. Faithful to his wife – Are you a person who honest and will stick with their wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend through thick and thin?

3. Exercise self-control – Are you a person who does not go overboard?

4. Must be gentle, not quarrelsome – Can you you control your anger or does your anger control you?

Now this is not to say that if you fail in these areas that you are disqualified from leadership, no I don’t think that is what Paul is saying. I believe Paul is saying that these are things that are desirable and things people need to work toward. This is also not to say that it is ok to have a drunk or wife beater as a leader of the church, no we need to use discretion and wisdom as well.

I also like that Paul does not dismiss women from leadership. In verse 11 Paul calls on women in leadership to have these same qualities. Too many in the church today discount women as leaders. I believe for a church to operate properly it needs a good mix of women, men, young, old, etc to be really effective.