Graham Cooke - Permission Granted to Do Church Differently in the 21st Century

To Janie, my wife, my best friend, my confidant, my inspiration, and my fellow traveler for almost 40 years. This renaissance woman is the quintessential Third-Day lady!

Gary Goodell

Copyright 2006 Graham Cooke and Gary Goodell

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked KJV are fron the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken fron the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Please note that Destiny Images publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some publishers styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.

Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.
P.O. Box 310
Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310

Speaking to the Purposes of God for this Generation and for the Generations to Come.

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.

ISBN 10: 0-7684-2380-5

ISBN 13: 978-0-7684-2380-8

This book and all other Destiny Image, Revival Press, MercyPlace, Fresh Bread, Destiny Image Fiction, and Treasure House books are available at Christian bookstores and distributors worldwide.

For a U.S. bookstore nearest you, call
1-800-722-6774.

For more information on foreign distributors, call
717-532-3040.

Or reach us on the Internet:
www.destinyimage.com

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 / 09 08 07 06

Permission Is Granted will provoke new thoughts that will challenge you to change. If you are satisfied with the present condition of the Church, then this book will offend you. But if you are craving for fresh expressions of your personal and corporate faith that are relevant for today and tomorrows world, then the words in this book will stir you to action. Permission Is Granted, written by Gary Goodell and Graham Cooke, is strategically thought out, biblically grounded, and filled with vision and faith. Take the dare and let your heart run wild; dream a big dream of a Third-Day Church that has both new wineskins and new wine.

James W. Goll

Cofounder of Encounters Network

Author of The Seer, Dream Language, and

The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence

Gary Goodell has been around the block concerning the religious world. He has operated in traditional churches and seen all manner of flakiness as people seek to come into their spirituality. Consequently, he has a great perspective over what the Third-Day Church should really look like. Permission Is Granted encourages us that God is bringing great change to what we have known as church life. You will enjoy reading this.

Chuck D. Pierce

Glory of Zion International Ministries

Denton, Texas

As the Body of Christ forges ahead in this third millennium, there is a great need for pioneers, fathers, and those willing to follow the cloud. Gary Goodell has always been this kind of leader, through his many years in his Pentecostal roots of Foursquare, during the renewal days of Vineyard, and now as the apostolic leader of Third-Day churches. His new book, Permission Is Granted, is more than a model; it is a mirror of a lifestyle that Gary and Jane Goodell, as well as those who God has sovereignly connected to them from around the world, have lived and walked for many years. Thank God for those who are willing to write the story, rather than always reading someone elses. I strongly recommend this prophetic manual to all those whom God is leading into the Third Day.

Jill Austin

Master Potter Ministries

Laguna Hills, California

Gary Goodell will help you understand how Gods modus operandi changed when Israel crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan River. Now God is operating in a new way in this third millennium. Permission Is Granted will cause you to realize that this reformation is not so much about theology, but methodologyhow many of the methods that worked in the past will not work in this dispensation of time. Garys understanding of the times will stir the hungry heart to discover, to navigate, and to align with Gods blueprints and strategies that are unique to them.

Bruce Friesen

Lion of Judah Ministries

Victoria, British Columbia

Gary is one of the freshest thinkers of our time. He asks penetrating questions, just as Jesus did. He is willing to sacrifice sacred cows and then serve the meat to the hungry Bride of Christ for her nourishment. If you are looking for more, dinner is served. This book is a dangerous document. Shes loaded. But it will help you touch the dream many of us carryauthentic Jesus through the Church.

Kim Unrau

New Life Church

Kelowna, British Columbia

I am grateful to:

My two kids, Brian and Becky, for their intellect, their passion, their wit, their patience with Pop, and for their gift of my six incredible grandchildren.

The late Bill (LaVern) and Alice Goodell, my parents and first pastors. Even though they have been with the Lord for many years, I still passionately embrace the heritage of their radical faith and that genetic propensity for risk taking.

My many mentors and coaches (too numerous to count; many are mentioned in this book) who over the years have taught me how to think, not what to think.

To those lifelong friends, fans, and not-so fans, who have faithfully loved and humored me, even when we disagreed. I will be eternally grateful to this adventurous fellowship of permission givers who have incarnated the journey of this book.

And finally, such enormous thanks and gratitude to Graham Cooke for giving himself to this project, but even more so, for being my friend.

Gary Goodell

L IKE the Indian scouts of old, ear to the ground, we have been hearing the approaching hoof beats of a new and different kind of church coming our way. Some think this new church is directly related to our obsession with the cultural postmodern mind-set. Many others make reference to the release of a new apostolic reformation that will totally change the way we do church in the future. Others have concluded that this emerging church is at least, in some indirect way, connected to the new millennium.

For sure, this new church is a gutsy one. It is a risky one. It will be a church that is willing to go where no one has gone beforea Buzz Lightyear church that will go to infinity and beyond.

Christian Schwartz, a German church-growth researcher suggests that we are in the era of a third reformation. The first reformation took place in the 16th century when Martin Luther fought for the rediscovery of salvation by faith, the centrality of grace and of Scripture. It was recognized as a reformation of theology. The second reformation, according to Schwartz, occurred in the 18th century when personal intimacy with God was rediscovered. He calls this a reformation of spirituality. And now what is upon us in this third reformation is a reformation of structure, or how we actually do church.