The Galilee Project

Back to Basics

A Return to the New Testament Church of the Book of Acts

There are many of us who believe the New Testament Church of the Book of Acts is the model we should follow. Yet today, you would be hard pressed to find any churches operating in that power and purpose. Many of today's beliefs, traditions, doctrines and governmental structure would be unrecognizable to Paul and the Apostles. For a brief time in the 1970s, hundreds of us lived, worked and experienced a church built upon that model, and we weren't perfect and we weren't the only ones.

After the June 1967 Six Day War where Israeli Defense Forces took back Jerusalem and stood on the Temple Mount for the first time in 2000 years, the Lord started pouring out His spirit on a new generation, especially on Jews.  In the 60s and 70s we saw foundations being laid for Book of Act churches all over the world. Today, almost all of these are in a state of disrepair. But now the Lord is calling a new generation to repentance so that they can, as Isaiah says, "Rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the age-old foundations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in."

When God starts to move it comes as a time of great shaking. That everything that can be shaken, will be shaken. This shaking includes judgment and a burning away of the hay, wood and stubble used to build many churches and ministries. A tearing down of pastor driven churches, priest driven churches, personality driven churches, and seeker friendly churches. Peter says, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

The Galilee Project -- A Short History

In late August 2012 as I was sitting under the gooseneck of my horse trailer at 7,000 feet in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Lord spoke to me, “Rick I’m rebuilding my Church and I’m starting in the Galilee and nothing will stand against it. Not the gates of hell, not the Devil, not the nations of the world, but most importantly, not the religious Christian leaders of today.” (My thought was, “Lord, they are all your churches.” But then I heard no.)

Then the Lord went on to say, “Rick, I’m a Galilean like Mitch (my friend Mitch Kersh) is a Texan and you can take Mitch out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of Mitch.” It then became very clear to me that, as Mitch has a Texas “drawl,” Jesus has a Galilean accent. We see this in the story of Peter sitting outside in the courtyard after Jesus has been arrested and before the cock crows when a maid came to him, saying, “You were also with Jesus, the Galilean!” And in Mark 14:70, “After a little while again, those who stood by said to Peter, ‘You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.”’

Then the Lord said it is “The Galilee Project,” not Galilee Project or a Galilee project, but “The Galilee Project.” As I set under the gooseneck I wondered the significance of all of this? Why is the Lord pointing out to me he is a Galilean? I have friends living in the Galilee. I was just there a year earlier. Then I thought, why start in the Galilee? Why not Texas? Why not Kansas City? Why not Jerusalem? Does the rebuilding actually start physically in the Galilee, or is the Galilee a model? Like the Jerusalem model or the Antioch model for church government that the Lord showed me in the early 1970s.

40 years earlier

In the fall 1972, the Lord started speaking to me in this same manner. He talked to me about His church. About the original blueprint. About Divine Order. About the governmental structure and how it was designed to provide safeguards against doctrinal error and achieve His purpose. How it actually operated under Paul’s leadership. And why we were seeing the restoration of the apostles and prophets? The original teaching series was called Grace & Government. We started putting this into practice in our fellowship in Kansas City. Read more.

Jesus (Yeshua) in The Galilee

The Galilee is where Jesus first established His church, performed His first miracles, called His first disciples, and appointed His apostles. The Galilee is where Jesus first declared the message of His and His Father’s Kingdom, and it is the place He returned to after His resurrection.

The Galilee was the physical place chosen by the Father to be the home of his son, Yeshua. (No, for some strange reason He didn’t choose Texas). As you read the first three Gospels, you will see they are mainly about Jesus’ public ministry in the Galilee Region.

Of Jesus’s thirty-two parables, no less than nineteen were spoken in the Galilee, and no fewer than twenty-five of His thirty-three great miracles were done in the Galilee Region. Also, His first miracle, the wedding in Cana of Galilee, and his last miracle, after his resurrection, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

In the Galilee Region Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, the discourses on The Bread of Life, on ‘Purity, on Forgiveness,’ and on Humility, walked on water, and twice fed thousands of people with just a few baskets of fish and bread. In the Galilee, Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene from Migdal, the first person Jesus revealed Himself to after His resurrection.

And after His resurrection, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb where an angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” In fact, three times after His resurrection, according to Matthew, Jesus instructed the disciples to meet him in the Galilee.

So why did Jesus not have them stay in Jerusalem? For after all, that is where He gave them His final instruction: to tarry in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit. Also, Jesus tells the disciples in Luke, “This is what is written: ‘The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.’”

I believe one reason is that Jesus started His church in the Galilee during His earthly ministry. This contradicts the popular teaching that the church started on the day of Pentecost. Jesus taught in the Synagogues, in homes and on a hill overlooking the Galilee where He taught and fed thousands. Jesus did all of his ministry functions in the Galilee that we would attribute to any church. This is one reason He is rebuilding His church starting where He started, in the Galilee.

So now that the Lord is reestablishing His church and returning it to His original blueprint, we must learn how to do our part. In this church age, Jesus the Galilean sits at the right hand of the Father. He is king of kings and lord of lords, but doesn’t take his rightful place on David’s throne until the Messianic era. Until then, we are in His church age.

The purpose of this website is to explore the possibilities. To hopefully start a dialogue.  

Talking Points

I believe the apostolic writings of the first century give us a look at the blueprint for Jesus' church.  

• What is the model, or blueprint, of the church in the Book of Acts? Where do you find the blueprint? What would it take to implement, to bring the Church back to its original intent?
• The church is at a crossroads concerning the destiny of America, Israel and the church itself. It is time we learn the Lord’s original intent and how to produce it. In America it is easy to study the original intent of the founding fathers because they left so many documents, with the church, it is different.
• We know the bible is not a systematic study of how to produce Yeshua’s church. He’s waiting on the men called from the foundation to learn His way and do it His way.