100 Churches Introduction

During the course of our Nomad Quest preparations it occurred to us, what if we set out to visit 100 churches. What a passion project THAT would be! We could support the struggling and cheer the valiant. There are so many things we want to see and do on this Nomad Quest, but there is nothing we want more than enjoying people. We could interview fascinating people and share some of our conversations so the world could be inspired by stories that would not have otherwise been heard. This Quest could plant God’s light and transformative love into the lives of souls worth more than the whole world. We could offer to the individuals we meet a Fresh Start toward living more purpose-filled lives that, in the end, bear fruit to His glory! 

There are about 364,000 churches in America, but we want to visit congregations that are also decluttered theologically, so to speak  - pre-denominational Christians - minimalists of the best kind!  We are drawn to these congregations because they have not only rejected the trappings of showy materialism (Acts 2:45), they are unencumbered with the extra-biblical teachings and traditions that unnecessarily rob too many believers today of the simplicity and freedom in Christ we were meant to enjoy. We’ve found authentic, restored Christianity to be more pristine and least wasteful of energy and resources. We’ve found in primitive Christianity that God has placed indescribable freedom resulting in genuine happiness and deep fulfillment. 

God gives us all the opportunity to spiritually de-clutter our souls of sin and even our churches of every manmade belief system. Just as we will be packing light to take only the essentials on our Nomad Quest, there are some things we can’t live without. Spiritually speaking, the five essentials every human being cannot live without are 1) a deep, meaningful relationship with our spiritual Father 2) an obedient trust in the Savior of our eternal soul when He said “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16) 3) knowing and living by His one wise instruction book for life 4) becoming a part of His spiritual family 5) taking pleasure in the pristine simplicity of living daily for God’s purposes.
The 100 churches we visit will be churches of Christ - the collective word describing Christians found in Romans 16:16. Over the years, we’ve found these gatherings of believers to express their love and gratitude to Jesus from humble hearts in the very way Christ requested when He said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
They do this by walking exceptionally close to their Good Shepherd as they honor only Biblical patterns of everything from having no spiritual head but Christ, no earthly headquarters, not one additional, extra-Biblical positions of power or hierarchy, only following the simple Biblical example of funding by only the freewill offerings of church members.
Most churches say they honor God’s word, but these believers can show you a book, chapter and verse for everything they do, and expect nothing more of one another than what God expressly states in scripture. They understand that full, joyous submission and obedience to God is not legalism… it’s what Christ calls the church (Eph.5:22-24). 
Times of refreshing come from just one place― the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). He makes all things new (Revelation 21:5), including you and I. We were born for this!