Worshiping Outside the Traditional Church Walls

The "revolution" continues:

CBN News -- Focus- Worshiping Outside the Traditional Church Walls

"James Ryle, who helped start Promise Keepers commented, '[The House Church Revolution] merits more than a disdaining blow-off by the religious elite.'

Ryle started Promise Keepers with Coach Bill McCartney, at the time a member of Ryle's Boulder, Colorado congregation. Ryle says that his booming church was too much about him.

'I fed portions of my ego off the growing mass of people who were scrambling to get a good seat to hear James Ryle preach,' Ryle admitted.

But Ryle walked away from all that, and believes it is crucial that much of the Revolution is happening outside the traditional church because 'we've created a monster that we have to feed,” Ryle explained. “And the monster is the institution of the church, which has taken the place of the mission.'

He now lives in Franklin, Tennessee, getting much of his fellowship from a group of mostly businessmen who meet weekly in the side room of a Franklin restaurant. They call themselves 'The Holy Smokes.'

Ryle said they '...share scripture with one another and have profound experiences in the presence of the Lord, in sharing truth with one another. I mean life-defining experiences.' "