Are You Kidding Me?

I subscribe to a number of blogs, most of them have to do with church planting or leadership. Yesterday one of these blogs asked the question, "What is it about the first three hundred years of the church that made it so powerful?” As I read the question I started to get excited about seeing what kind of conclusions he would come to. And then I read his conclusions and thought, "Are you kidding me." Here are some of his answers.

• Passion for Jesus
• They were nonreligious
• Strong community
• Urgency
• Anticipation
• A recognition and respect of leadership
• Involvement
• Willingness to be persecuted
• They saw things happen
• They taught truth

Not a bad list, except for one thing. He says nothing about the Holy Spirit! How can you provide an explanation for what happened to the church in the book of Acts and not give credit to the Holy Spirit? Why is it we think that all we have to do is do what the early church did and we'll have a great church? Why is it we are so scared of the Holy Spirit?