There are only two things you can do with power: hoard it or give it away.

In The Starfish and the Spider, the authors describe two kinds of organizations. Spider organizations rely on hierarchy, headquarters, and org charts. Starfish organizations are decentralized—movements fueled by leaders giving power away. Alcoholics Anonymous is one example; F3 is another. But this isn’t new—the Spirit used the same model in Acts to give power to the movement of the early church. This is how the Gospel was spread through the world.

In Acts 18, Paul preached grace in the synagogue of Corinth. His message threatened the institution, and Paul left battered and exhausted. Yet when he entered the home of Titius Justus, one relationship became the spark. Titius was changed, then Crispus the synagogue ruler, and from there the gospel spread throughout the city. Transformation came not through an institution but through life-on-life discipleship.

I’ve seen the same. After an F3 workout, a young man said, “You’re a pastor? You don’t act like one—my pastor would never do this with us. You’re just one of us.” Then he shared his heartache and fears. If he didn’t already have a nickname, I’d have called him Titius Justus. That encounter sparked the movement to leave a safe, ladder climbing career to move nextdoor and into the lives of the Southparkians the Lord had called me to.

At a formative moment in my life, a man once said, “I wish I had spent less time on the business and more time investing in relationships.” That warning has never left me. Too often the church drifts into spider-like hierarchy and loses sight of people.

The Spirit still calls us to give away power—not through programs, but through presence. By entering into the living rooms, parking lots, and coffee shops in order to meet people where they are. This creates space where grace is not managed by an institution but shared through relationships that change lives.

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Equipping (ordinary) people to share the Gospel in their places of influence.