A sit-down with Phil Fischer of Jesus Lives. ^Featured

Two years ago, Renaissance man Phil Fischer put aside his rocking music/dot com career and took center stage of another passion: leading people to Jesus Christ.

Fischer, a genius tech pioneer who launched the world’s first web-design firm, and has consulted countless dot com Giants into success, has been cultivating a progressive bible study as an offshoot of New Hope International Church. Located in Bellevue, the Thursday night ministry appeals to area locals near the “Old Town Bellevue” region, but also has the same power and magnetism as Fischer’s other pursuits with the potential to grow into a nationwide following. 

Although Fischer’s background and upbringing in a small Alaskan village is diverse and his time in the world of nerd core pop music with his former band The X-Box Boys exposed him to plenty of secular living, his sort of attitude isn’t always cultivated by organized religion and he’s become somewhat of a “revival rebel”.

This is where Fischer shines: his approach to a revival ministry is anything but conventional.

Fischer has a deep understanding that every person matters and each individual’s relationship with God is unique from the moment they meet Christ for the first time and it’s conceived all through their lives. Instead of targeting the usual “mega church” suspects for bible study, Fischer invites people from all walks of life, including those who have never set foot inside a church before. Fischer is targeting the lost, and the downtrodden. 

Fresh back from the Azusa Now conference in Los Angeles, Fischer was kind enough to catch up with Christian Entrepreneurs to talk about how his bible study has grown, what he sees in the community he’s built, and how his own testimony inspires him to keep an open mind with his congregation. We also wanted to talk about his plans for Jesuslives.com.

Phil, thanks for chatting, I’m so excited to learn more about what you’ve got going on. Thank you so much for meeting with me. Let’s start broadly—what is Jesus Lives?

I don’t know really! (Laughs), No, seriously, it all started with Seattle revival. My goal was to try and bring as many as I could and just concentrate on Seattle. As a small bible study, to be honest it came out of the ashes of my music and software career and started in January of 2014. I kept getting confused with Seattle revival center and after the Azuza prophecy I felt the Holy Spirit move me to change the name to Jesus Lives and I founded it in a small room in New Hope International Church in Enetai, Washington.

I think the first six months no one came, and it was so depressing but I kept opening up the room, starting a warm fire and just hoping one of the cards that I passed out would come in.

People would walk by the windows and see me praising Jesus with an old beat up guitar all alone in the room and I think the neighborhood and even members at my church thought I was crazy.

I’ll never forget my first member Richard walking in out of the dark Seattle rain into the room one night. I was so excited and we praised God for hours then ordered Pizza.

What brought you to Christ? How does your testimony and your life in the Alaskan wilderness influence your leadership in Jesus Lives?

I was led to Christ by a young woman that, at the time, was my girlfriend, but is now my wife. It was crazy because I was just getting ready to tour, and just quit my band right when we were charting. It was the exact opposite of what the world tells you to do. I am still surprised I quit when I did.

She was adamant that I could not date her unless I came to her church so I started to come to church for the girl, but within a few months one night at revival I really felt the spirit for the first time and was saved. It was at that time that I really started my walk with Christ.

I remember getting prayed for by my pastor Varun Laohaprasit and that’s when I felt the heat and burn for the first time and fell to the ground.

My testimony and my life alone in the wilderness help me to see the struggles people face.

People are hurting.

Humans are so sick of the world system. Google has become the enemies favorite paint brush and now with social sites categorizing our friends, culture, etc. it’s so hard to just breathe.

The people that God uses to do the most amazing things don’t come from the conventional Christian background, but the fire seems to be around people that come from somewhere hard. Where they had to change, get punched, get humbled, and rubbed into the ground. God uses those people.

When conventional Christians look at me, they don’t see themselves. My wife and I used to try and blend in at our children’s Christian school, or when we visit large Christian venues, but we’re so over that now. There is no more time to waste on trying to fit in. It’s too late for that. Were sold out for Jesus now.

Coming to the Lord? There are many different paths to find the lord, and we all have opportunities to touch others every single day.

There is no one ‘right way’ to find, celebrate, or express our faith in Christ, and that keeps me open minded.

What makes Jesus Lives different than other bible studies?

Well, to begin with, Jesus Lives and its members are on fire for Christ! We don’t water down the word. My Pastors don’t water it down at my church either.

It’s the real deal here. We don't sing in tune, and we’re not paid to serve the Lord.

We all do it for the love of Jesus.

It’s a great thing to praise God with worship leaders that praise for free. People in Seattle and Bellevue should come and get some Jesus mid-week on Thursdays and hopefully when we grow we can expand into the sanctuary and go for it.

The world is a harsh place and it’s good to hear the word mid-week to get bathed in it, otherwise the filth of the world keeps us in bondage forever.

What is the community like? I heard you experienced some trials when Jesuslives.com started?

Yes, all kinds of crazy stuff out of my past.

My Pastor reminded me at the time that God uses people like me, and sometimes Trials are allowed to happen to mold us, change us, so that kept me strong during those early months when the enemy just beat me down hard. Finances, problems, my mother’s stroke, my grandmother’s death, but I would not give up.

We have a variety of people that come to hear the word. All cultures and all walks of life. Some have children, some are married, most are in bondage from the world, and some are alone and need love but we all have one thing in common and that is our love for Christ.

People are changing in this group and Jesus is doing amazing things. Restored marriages, jobs, etc.

Sometimes we have three people. Sometimes we have forty. You never know. Some come in one time to get through a crisis, others come and change, others stay and feed on Jesus. It’s a place to feed on the word and feel the love of Christ.

We have the same battles any small group does. I have tried cards on cars, paid mailers, and Facebook but it’s so difficult here with the culture. It’s hard to find hungry people that want to give Jesus a chance in such a liberal environment.

I have to really be careful on whom I reach out to as well. Some I have reached out to on my own come in the study for favors and some come in for money to get through a crisis. I had one guy come in to get a development out of me for one of his investments and left us an unpaid bill.

God really has taught me to rely on the spirit and not myself when evangelizing to people.

I don’t want to make these mistakes again and I find that spending time with people in the world gets them to let their guard down enough to “try”.

In the end it’s not me, it’s Jesus. My job is to follow his lead and he will bring them in. That’s what I learned going through all of this mess.

I used to try and try so hard but I recently learned from the Holy Spirit that I can do nothing without him so I quit trying to “sell” Jesus to non-believers so much and just concentrated on the people the Holy Spirit wanted me to talk too and the results have been amazing.

The enemy?

Yeah, the enemy hit me pretty hard.

The first week I started Jesuslives.com my grandmother had a heart attack and my mother had a stroke that left her paralyzed, not to mention all sorts of weird and crazy business stuff that crept up out of left field that was from the enemy, but God delivered us from all of it supernaturally and dealt with it in a really fast manner.

I felt so loved that Jesus delivered me from all of it.

My mom and Dad have now moved out close to us so we can keep an eye on them but they lost the restaurant. My wife and I are taking care of them now and we ask everyone to pray that she will regain the movement of her left side.

In the meantime we are moving on with the ministry and I am trying to find an anointed worship leader to lead worship for us so I don’t have to anymore.

Why, don’t you like to lead worship?

No, I love to lead worship. It’s my passion and Jesus knows this but when I can concentrate on worshipping Jesus and not the chords I am playing and my pitch, it’s much more powerful for me when I have to teach or evangelize to new people so I can fill myself with the spirit before I teach.

I love it when others lead worship for the group.

On the other hand, I feel more Jesus for ME when I lead worship and NOT teach. It’s hard to explain until you’re worshipping on stage somewhere and the HOLY SPIRIT comes down hard and burns you and the whole team and its easier when everyone is on fire together singing, instead of me just being on fire in front of ten new believers that are all looking at me strange because my nose is runny and I have tears in my eyes. I hope you understand.

I do and thanks. What is a typical night of fellowship like? And what is your advice for someone who has never attended church or your group (or hasn't attended in recent years)?

There is the typical worship, sharing, prayer and the word. Come starved and humble.

We always start with worship and we try to bring in new worship leaders and Pastors all of the time but for now it’s mainly myself or Neal Calkins leading worship. Then the worship is followed by an hour of teaching and then followed by prayer. It’s a great time to push in. We welcome everyone—it doesn’t matter if you’re a regular church goer, or someone who is curious. We want you to come in and check it out, have some fun and see what we’re all about.

How do you blend your secular life as a musician and heavy-hitting dot com pro with your ministry?

The musician side of me has been humbled down.

I think Microsoft killed the last hopes of The Xbox Boys and while I do hit the studio from time to time tracking for some new artist, my spotlight now is leading worship for small groups of people. The dot com developer has also turned "part time".

I am serving Jesus five days a week and it all flows together for me now. The blend is natural, since everything I do is an extension of my faith, and the secular world can be tough. But I am here to be me, and celebrate my faith in an authentic way. There’s room for everyone in Jesus, even me.

That is what Jesuslives.com is all about. Its a grassroots bible study. We don't pay our people. Worship leaders are not paid. Teachers are not paid. Its all 100% revival.

I took a real beating from the Christian music scene after the release of “New Believer”, and it really opened my eyes to the work of the enemy even in our world.

I think you were at one time # 2 on Myspace? You were getting millions of downloads a month on BOTH bands, what happened?

I don’t really know. I have never seen anything like it. 

Phil Fischer was # 2 depending on if Tila Tequila wore something more revealing and then we would drop to # 3 or # 4. A Christian artist # 2 on Myspace! Unbelievable they did not spin my music instantly but there was a consorted effort not to spin the music. I think The Xbox Boys were # 4 (Laughs), it was a strange time and I just assumed that there would be a rush to spin the Christian CD when it was finished but they would not do it unless I signed one of the "distribution deals". Totally controlled by the enemy. 

I was thinking here was someone that came from the world INTO Jesus and not the other way around. I just assumed I would get airplay for my music but they would not spin me unless the agreement was in place. Its a form of control.  I sent it to every Christian radio station in the US, and that’s when I learned from their responses that if I wanted airplay I would have to “work” through their PR firm and sign the distribution agreement. I declined. 

You have to pay to get on the radio?

Oh Yes.

I don’t want to name the company but they own most of the Christian radio stations. I think the agreement was that they would spin one of my singles 8 times a day on Christian radio for three months. It was a small 6 figure sum. I flipped. I was like “Wow this is just as bad as it was when I was in the world”.

I think my label Apple Hill paid half as much to get play for my single “Cobblestone streets” back in the day. The song charted but nothing has a chance unless people hear it on the radio.

The final straw for me was when I went to 105.3 in Seattle, my hometown Christian radio station and they turned me down too. I was really miserable and angry at God for a long time over that. They were spinning other Christian musicians in Seattle and not me, so I just walked away from it all and gave up.

That was a low point in my life and when that happens you turn to Jesus and that's what I did. 

After the radio play thing I jumped into selling Jesus and that has changed me. That experience has really been amazing for me and that’s what I do now. The CD is on shelves at Christian stores nationwide or on my website www.philfischer.com .

Introducing people to Jesus is in many ways more gratifying than music and I can lead worship for a small group and teach, which is also important and sometimes you have to let go of a dream to find God’s destiny in your life.

Amazing testimony and attitude. With that, do you feel you're uniquely equipped to help people in 2016 develop a relationship with Christ? What happened at the Azusa now conference?

Our dream is to bring true revival to Seattle, and then the world. I want to see 10,000 people worshipping in Marymoor Park.

They say if you can lead someone to Jesus in Seattle you can do anything and that's what we want to do. We want to usher in the presence of God right here where it’s needed the most.

Some of my church elders and one of my good friends Julian Valentine, who runs Jesuslives.com with me, wanted to attend Azusa Now and we decided we were going to fast meat and carbs and eat only fruits and veggies and occasional fish for 40 days up until the Saturday Azusa Now started. It was the hardest thing I had ever done since quitting smoking a few years ago.

The last day we were eating peanuts and salad sitting in the rainy stands at Azusa, but the results were amazing and I had my breakthrough.

One of the speakers at Azusa Now on the first night in the park prophesied over me that I would see revival break out in Seattle and that the ministry would explode in Seattle. He said that I would be the father to the fatherless. This happened again the day of Azusa, and none of them had ever met me before. Several speakers at Azusa prophesied the same thing over the weekend that had never met me, so I left really on fire and excited about revival in Seattle.

You got to plant the Azusa Now tree?

I helped plant the Azusa Now tree.

I think you can see me in the video on You Tube with the shovel while Lou Engle is praying. Roy Fields was worshipping in the back ground. It was an amazing thing to be a part of. Helping plant that tree was symbolizing a new start with Jesuslives.com for me.

 

What are the goals of Jesus Lives in 2016 and beyond? Travel, projects, performances, etc.?

Our main goal is to follow the will of God. I don’t get calls from churches and rarely appear on television so you probably won’t see much travel other than to the church and my house for the next few years accept for the occasional jaunt to World Revival and IHOP in Kansas City or to the middle east.

Our second goal is to try and invite more people and get the word out about our small bible study to anyone within ear shot and get it filled with people praising Jesus, and changing.

We want revival in this place, and I am willing to dedicate my life to make that happen.

Thank you so much for your time Phil. I feel something just talking to you and I feel this is going to work for you. God bless you and good luck.

Thanks brother.

Although Fischer’s bible study is small and less than two years old, keep your eye on it—it’s sure to continue growing and inspiring other followers to rethink their approach to Jesus and it just might be the spark to set Seattle free.