Probably should have posted Saturday night. Just to let everybody know I'm home safe. Sorry.
Saturday saw me leave my beautiful purple house and take a shuttle to Sacramento. Four of the same people that had been in the shuttle with me on my adventure up to Redding were also in the shuttle on the way back. Hannah {from Michigan} and I talked the whole time.
sunset
Then the Sacramento airport. Connected over Facebook with Lizi, another Austinite, and then my roommate, Amber. Then my flight to San Diego, where I stayed in the plane until we took off for Austin. On my flights to Redding, I hadn't spoken with anyone. This time, I barely stopped having conversations with the two different girls that sat next to me. It was actually pretty weird, since they both bore startling similarities:
Both still in their teens, though I thought they were older
Both thought I was younger than I am
Both involved in extreme sports {quad racing & surfing/horse jumping}
Both photographers
The only difference was that one was a Christian and one was not. The one who surfs had just come from a Christian surfing camp, so we had many similarities in wanting to be home/not wanting to be home. They both have my card; I'm hoping they friend me on Facebook, because I don't have their info. I had great conversations with the each of them, but I'm still puzzling out the similarities. It's not all that common to encounter such similar people on planes.
Anyway, got home and fell asleep. My alarm rang at 7:00AM to go lead worship at church in Canyon Lake. I have never, ever, in my whole life, woken up so absolutely asleep. But worship was so much fun. It's been too long since I've led, and to sing "I Will Sing a New Song" with Dad was absolutely glorious. I've missed that song so much!!
Came home, listened to some of my new Jesus Culture: Jake Hamilton CD. It's totally not what I was expecting. Kind of hard core country. It's not really 'worship,' per se, but very 'anthem,' and very Kingdom-oriented. It's growing on me, actually, since anthems are what I need right now: proclamations of how we're going to impact the world. {If you haven't already listened to the below track, you should. You will cry. Listen to the whole thing.}
straight angle
shoulders are straight, i promise
We had heart group last night. So encouraging. Jesus is just as awesome and alive in Texas as He is at Bethel! I won't give you all the details, but let's just say there was some impartation, and some laughter, and healing {Yay, God!}, and a word about me being in a bubble of Jesus-ness, keeping me safe from world infiltration, as it were. Oh yeah, there may or may not have been some limb extension fun going on, too. :)
All that to say, nothing is different. Oh yeah, I cried a little when I got home, suddenly realizing that I wasn't in Redding, that there wouldn't be Bethel worship the next day. But God isn't different. His power isn't lessened. He's just as real here as He is there. His love isn't limited to Redding. He wants to change the world, and He uses Bethel to change His people so they can change the world. But nothing - nothing - is confined to Redding, CA.
So yeah. Look out, world. :)
I can hear them singing in the church, now
I can hear them singing in the streets, now
Everybody is being set free
Coming out of the dark and into the light, now
- Jake Hamilton, "New Song"
{This is my last 'official' blog post. There is a possibility that I won't be able to stay away, and I may just post some more awesome stuff that Jesus is doing. But this is the end of the 'daily' updates.}
It still hasn't sunk in yet. I mean, it doesn't feel real.
Yet at the same time, I'm getting so excited to see my family again. A mental countdown has started in my head without my knowing it - less than 24 hours and I'll be back home!
Back home. Where this culture isn't "normal." Where I'm the carrier instead of the one being infected.
Oh, what an intimidating responsibility. Lord, help me.
But the day. Oh yes, the day.
myself, Yasmin, and Anja
It started out with a bundle of nerves because this morning was the morning we presented our gift to Kathy. 'Gift' meaning 'gifts.' Along with all the insanity of worship school this past week, five other ladies and myself have been organizing this presentation for Kathy. It started out with a Facebook post by me saying something to the effect of, "Let's do something for Kathy! What should we do?"
The result was an expedition in leadership, delegation, and promotion. Epic. We collected money for flowers {not my committee}, wrote a song {also not my committee}, and compiled a binder full of thank-you notes and art {my committee}. It was a journey of Facebook, standing in front of workshops, of Dan McCollum promoting our cause, shushing whenever Kathy walked by, and more Facebook {we have a lively Facebook group containing 250 of the 450 students}. And then, to top it all off, we got Brian Johnson and the tech team involved. The tech team to shoot the words to the song up on screen as we all {all} sang them, and Brian to play the song. {They had changed the lyrics to "Mighty to Save."}
Nicole and I
Wow. Typing all that makes me even more surprised that we did it. But we did. Brian introduced us, we presented the flowers and the binder, Kathy cried, and then Brian accompanied Anja leading the song. {Lyrics.} And Kathy cried...a lot...more. :)
I don't yet have any video to embed here. But - guess what! iBethel got it all! Like, for reals! So if you're an iBethel subscriber, you should totally go watch it! {Or listen, depending on your subscription.} I sound super nervous and not at all how I imagine myself sounding, but my parents recognized me long distance without even knowing about our epic plan, so, I guess I sound more like Lucy Cunningham Schulz {Adventures in Odyssey} than I thought. Note to self: must get into radio drama soon.
{The first person you hear talking on the iBethel recording is Beni Johnson! It was so funny - Brian introduced her as 'my mom,' so I'm totally thinking, "Wow, this is cool, Brian's mom." It took me a good ten or twenty seconds to figure out who Brian Johnson's mom was. *rolls eyes* And then, guess who sneaked in! Bill Johnson! He stood in the back and listened to our main session. I'm so so so so so honored he broke his sabbatical to be with us this morning. I know what a big deal sabbaticals are, and I know how well deserved his was. So for him to come was a huge honor, for me at least.}
some worship art this morning
Anyway, worship was spontaneous-style, which basically means we stayed more or less on one song for a good hour, hour and a half. It was awesome. Our last song was "You Have Won Me," a new Bethel song, one I haven't been able to connect with until today. It's an anthem, but I feel like it was for us and was our commission. And then Brian and Jenn hung out and prophesied over some of us. Then more worship. Then finally the 'teaching.'
Jenn Johnson & I super blurry, but i have a better pic coming
Jenn had a quick exhortation on not being arrogant or frustrated, and how God will help us bring back what we've learned. And then she and Brian just shared stories, stories of the supernatural that they've experienced, just to encourage us. Stories are the best. Then we got to hear the story of how they met and got married. Let's just say: you thought Kris & Kathy's "Engaged at 12, married at 18" story was crazy? Here's another. It's a lot longer {and much funnier} than this, but Brian and Jenn dated for 10 days before they were engaged. They were engaged for 7 months and were married 5 days after she turned 18.
Erinn & I
Can you tell I don't want to go to sleep? This has to be the longest blog post ever. Because once I go to sleep, I have to wake up in a new day, a day not like all the other days here, my first day without worship. A day of home, thank you, Jesus, but a day without this culture for the first time in weeks.
Ate lunch. We did 30 minutes of Creative Expressions so we got to finish everyone.
{The following song is sung in Creole by a girl from Haiti. The song is a declaration of life, of a will to live in God. It was written by her friend who died in the earthquake.}
Remember the spoken word guy I mentioned last week? Well, they brought him back. I know, that's kind of a big deal! There's a video floating around Facebook at this link, but I didn't take one myself. Go listen. It will give you chills.
Then it was fire tunnel time!! A fire tunnel just for us BSW students, comprised of Bethel staff and worship team. Fun, fun, fun.
Home. Ate. Walked up the entire hill to go to pre-service prayer. No one picked us up. I wasn't too surprised, since I've walked the hill at least four times without anyone picking me up, but this was the first time my roomates had had to do it. {Apparently one of my roomates had told God she would walk the hill once before she left. Haha.} What weirded me out this time is that I wasn't sore. The other times I've walked it, the top kills my calves. But today I was fine. Sweaty, but not hurt. Weird.
Pre-service prayer was sweet and good. Worship was led by Matt and Hayley. Ken Williams, who is in charge of Global Legacy, gave the message. A very good message about "Vulnerability & Being Known". Highlights:
"Mold grows in the dark." - Ken Williams
"The most vulnerable person is the most powerful person in the room." - Mark Peterson
"The world system is trying to separate us from each other." - Ken Williams
"God's definition of an accountability partner equals friend." - Ken Williams
God cannot remove desires because He satisfies desires.
"Cowardliness is not a virtue." - Ken Williams
The original definition of courage was "to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart."
Came home, and then went on an adventure with Lauren, Mitch, Laurel, Amber, and Dani to Sundial Bridge. Apparently people travel to see it. It's pretty cool, yes, a great hang out spot. It's been a while since I've goofed off with people just out to have fun, and let me tell you, BSSM students/grads know how to have fun.
Came home. Ate chips. Packed a little. And now I'm here. Writing a blog post. In total denial that tomorrow I shall leave this wonderful place.
And now I post this blog at 3:22AM. My alarm will be ringing in a little more than 3 hours. I haven't pulled something like this off in a long while. And what with jet lag and all...
I'm actually home early! I've been supposed to be packing for the past..oh...two hours. I haven't. I wrote a good portion of a new song {not congregational}, ate some peanut butter, now I'm writing a blog post.
Yeah, well, it was a halfway decent song. Much more interesting than packing. But now there are people in the house and we all know how difficult it is for me to write songs when people are around. {Haha, I'd be much more prolific if I lived alone.}
blank canvases ready for worship
Anyway, the day started with worship by a band from India. They have trained with Dan McCollum, and they led us in some awesome worship, first in English, then in 2 of India's 23 official languages. It was really awesome. Some great dancing. :)
Then Dan McCollum talked about his vision for the arts and the Seven Mountains of Influence. Basically a 40-minute long prophetic word. So amazing, but it's more something to tell in person. So ask me. :) Highlights:
It is a false idea that the pinnacle of Christian commitment is to do ministry for a living.
When we imitate rather than innovate, we are actually acting in the kingdom of the enemy.
watching experiments
Then we got to see some of Jerry Aaronson's experiments that he'd showed us video of yesterday. That was fun.
"Signature" by Melody
Lunch. Then an art workshop with Tricia called "Creative Freedom." Basically...we painted blindfolded. Such an awesome experience. I can't wait to bring this class home! My painting doesn't look all the great, but, boy, oh, boy, is there an explanation behind it. Highlight:
It's not until the artist signs it that the painting has any value.
Then Creative Expressions. My friend, Anja, played and sang an original song.
Lauren, one of my hosts, made an announcement about her company's upcoming iPhone app, so that was really cool because I was like, "I know her! And her epic quest for iPhone epicness." :)
Then I came home, wrote {part of} a song, ate some peanut butter, checked my email, and wrote a blog post.
Woke up. Went to school. Worship with Brian & Ramey (husband and wife; daughter of Ray Hughes) Whalen. Really, really good worship. Different style, but still epic. And some spontaneous stuff, also, as if 'good worship' wasn't enough.
Then another talk from Jerry Aaronson. This one on sound.
Oh. My. Gosh.
I'd heard rumors of this from Dad, so I have the feeling it wasn't as jaw-dropping for me as it was for others. But. It was pretty darn close. If I were to sum up the topic, it was on how everything has a frequency, everything is making noise. Everything. Leaves. Rocks. The planet Saturn. Swans {not, like the noise you hear. they're being eminates a sound that we don't hear}. Light. Human beings. You are a sound. A unique sound, that has never been played and will never be played again. Part of a great symphony that's constantly, constantly praising.
This is one of those really cool things that I feel weird sharing here. Because some people will find it life-changing. Some people simply interesting. Some people will shrug and say it's cool, and never think any more about it. A few may think it borders too close to the New Age. All that to say, I'll post the highlights below, as usual, but I'm not going to post my video of his {previously recorded} experiment on sound frequencies, and I'm not going to post any of the videos on YouTube that will add. I'm not against posting them, I'm just tired right now, and I'm not sure if sound interests anyone besides me. By request only. But if you request - I'll post. :)
Highlights {abridged; I have 3+ typed pages of bullet-point notes}:
You only sense {feel, hear, see} about 8% of all sound.
Genesis 1:2 can be translated to God "vibrating" over the waters.
The reality you see here is not the greater reality. The reality you see here is caused by the greater reality. And the greater reality is sound. Music has taken on physical form. - a scientific journal
Observation can collapse a wave function and convert possibility to reality.
"We're busy sacrificing relationship with them [scientists] with the need to be right" - Jerry Aaronson
We think the New Age-rs are weird because they think crystals vibrate and give off energy.
{insert detailed explanation of old radios here}
Crystals vibrate and give off energy.
Stimulated electronically, they give a pulse.
Stimulated mechanically, they give electricity.
Everybody has a different frequency. Ask the guy who gives you an MRI.
"Could it be that you are the physical manifestation of a song that was in God's heart?" - Jerry Aaronson {I know, I know, you're wondering how we got from Point A to Point B. Basically, sound can create things. Basically. Long story too short.}
"If you only believe God talks through paper, that's the only way you're going to hear Him." - Jerry Aaronson
"If you have all authority, and he {Satan} has no authority, the only thing he can do is get you to point your authority in the wrong direction and pull the trigger." - Jerry Aaronson.
As I said, I have so many more notes than that. And some videos to accompany. Ask me.
After lunch, I went to Jeremy Riddle's class on Set Preparation. Strange class to pick, I know, but there were no others I had to go to, and I hadn't been to any of his workshops. I'm glad I did.
...
Um...there won't be any highlights here for that class. I took those notes in my binder, and I just realized I left my binder at school. So. Um. Yeah. First time I've done that.
CeCe & Lloyd
After that wonderful class, we had Creative Expressions, hosted by the amazing CeCe and Lloyd. Great time was had by all.
My roommate, Jasmine, did her spoken word. {You know those prayers? Totally worked. This morning she couldn't even open her mouth all the way...and by the time CE rolled around, she could. Facebook post tonight says she hasn't had Vicodin since this morning, and no pain at all! Yay God!} {And, I totally have a video of it, too, but Facebook's being weird. Not the best quality vid, anyway. Sorry. It was epically awesome.}
Aslan
the back of my journal
I hung out for a while afterward and talked with Diana. Then I went and chilled by Aslan at the Alabaster House. Then I went back and sat in on a Band Session while I completed my journal {I added a back design}. Then we went back to the Alabaster House and took some pics of Aslan and talked.
Aslan
Then we came home. Ate supper. Am so tired. It was a very emotionally draining day for me. The sort of day where you come home, and you are beat up and bruised from the battle. You won. But you're worn out. That's me tonight.
Wow, the day has been so long! This morning seems like an eternity ago!
Let's see. Worship was led by William Matthews, Matt, and Hunter Thompson {which means we got "My Dear"}. I stood in the back, a change from the past couple of weeks, so that I was able to have a bit of space. Great, great worship. William's prophetic worship is off the hook {oh, dear, I'm turning Californian}, and it was just so good. So good.
Then we heard from Ramey Whalen, Ray Hughes' daughter. She's eight weeks shy of going into labor, but she still has tons of energy. She taught on the tabernacle of David, which is important to know because it's hopefully coming back {Amos 9:11; Acts 15:16}. Did you know they're currently uncovering the ruins of David's tabernacle? Me neither. Even though we see it as coming back spiritually and not literally, it's definitely a very prophetic sign.
For 33 years {David's kingship}, at team of 4000 worshipers {out of 38,000 Levites, the rest of whom also had jobs} were in charge of worshiping God 24/7. The 4000 made up teams of 24 bands. All were led by Keniniah {which I'm sure I'm spelling wrong}, and under Keniniah were 3 more head musicians. There were 5 things required by all those who wanted to be on this enormous worship team:
7 years of training in the school of the prophets
quote the entire Bible {of the time} word-perfect
30+ years old {later lowered to 20 or 21}
had to have a well-rounded knowledge of history, current/secular poetry, current events, etc...
had to build their own instrument
"David walked in the office of prophet, priest, and king." - Ramey Whalen
To criticize other people's demonstrative acts of worship is to invite spiritual barrenness.
Then we went into a study {finally!} of the seven types of praise. You see, when the word 'praise' is used in the Bible, there's one of many words it could actually be. The English language doesn't translate it very well. However, I don't actually have them written down, because we were busy acting them out. We started this by Ramey calling up the band and us walking around the perimeter of the room, just singing out and worshiping God.
Barak. This is also often translated as 'bless,' and it means to bow or salute. So first we saluted God {literally}, and then we bowed to the floor.
Yadah. This means to praise by the lifting up of hands. Pretty basic. We do that a lot.
Todah. Similar in root to yadah, this does involve a raising of hands. But it's focused on thanking God for what He's going to do, not what He's already done. It also involves what we would call high-fives...
Shabach. To lift up a shout.
Zamar. Though this can include singing, it is focused more on the musical instrument, the plucking of the string. So for this one, we let the band play/prophecy over us through simply music. So, so good.
Tehillah. My favorite. This is the singing of praise {about time, right?}, specifically that of a spontaneous song.
Hallal. Last, but certainly not least, is the word that forms the root of hallelujah. To hallal means to dance and spin crazily like a maniac and to look like a fool. To act madly. So next time you say 'hallelujah,' be ready for some fun. :)
Lunch. Then two workshops {Worship Leading and Songwriting} with Jenn Johnson.
I love Jenn Johnson. I do not have a lot of notes from her, because a lot of what she tells are stories. But I'm so game for that. I love her stories. I won't type them here, but I'll probably be telling them for years. What notes I do have, though, I give:
Worship Leading
When there's a song you want to do in your worship set, but the band/you can't figure it out in time, capture the theme, but don't feel like you have to do the song.
Constantly realign your heart to worship.
"Connect to your senior pastor." - Jenn Johnson
"What you carry, you leak." - Jenn Johnson
Sometimes in worship, your body wants to dance, and it's you who stops it.
"Your freedom is contagious." - Jenn Johnson
Community: "We just love Jesus and food." - Jenn Johnson
Start your set list with a declaration song about who God is.
Encouragement trumps jealousy.
Songwriting
Sing the Bible.
When you get an idea, 'sketch' out your ideas/themes for the verses and chorus and work from there.
"Go write a fun song." - Jenn Johnson
She told us to go write the #1 love song in the world. Because, as Christians, we should understand love better than anybody. And God designed man/woman love. "Go write an amazing love song." - Jenn Johnson
There are congregational {"Taste & See"}, moment {"God I Look to You"}, and message {"A Little Longer"} songs, among others.
Make sure your songs are relevant to your senior pastor...and Joe the Plumber on the back row.
We got home from school and promptly went grocery shopping, then to Whiskey Town Lake to celebrate Amber's birthday. To be honest, I really just wanted to stay home, but I was able to get over that, and I had a blast at the lake. It's so beautiful. Picture a lake, surrounded by almost-mountain hills. Ah. Just lovely. Also, the weather was a good 5 or 10 degrees cooler. I'm not sure if it was the altitude or maybe we were in mountain shadow...but it felt so good. Like velvet.
Jenna showed us this magnificently beautiful creek. Just picturesque and altogether perfect. Loverly. I want to bottle up that creek and take it home with me.
the view from our picnic table
The party consisted of Amber, Dani, Jenna, Lauren, Mitch, Johnathan, Sam, and myself. We snacked on chips for a long time, then Mitch and Sam figured out the grill and managed to cook kabobs. I feel very proud that I not only bathed two chicken breasts in barbecue sauce on a foam plate, but I also cut them into kabob-size squares with a plastic fork and knife. And my hands.
another view from our picnic table
Mitch and Sam went into the lake, and Lauren and I followed after a bit. I swear we were only in the water for five minutes, but I'm still cold. Hours later. It probably lowered my body temperature by three or four degrees. Also, if I can't touch the bottom {in nature water, not pools}, I'm instantly fighting panic attacks. Random fact about me.
So the water's so cold that my body is numbing, and my mind is working overdrive in reminding me, "Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. It's okay, you're okay..." Anyway, it was great. I can now say I've been in Whiskey Town Lake at dusk. And I didn't panic.
May or may not have sat and shivered through worship, led by Mitch. It was great anyway, though. And I'm sufficiently cooled down for days, I'm sure. Then we looked up at the stars, me wrapped up in Lauren's flannel shirt, Lauren's hoodie, and Lauren's Indian blanket.
Now I'm home, and happy beneath my blankets, and going to sleep. Oh, and by the way, pray for my roommate, Jasmine. She ended up in ER last night with what's definitely a severe ear infection and could be a ruptured eardrum. She's a great sport, but she's in a lot of pain.
But if you want the details, I slept in until 9:40, got up, actually read my Bible, chilled in the living room with my laptop, and listened to the new music I got at the bookstore yesterday. Am currently obsessed with this song:
It's an older one from Bethel, but still awesome. The story behind how and when Jenn wrote it is pretty cool, too, but it requires voice inflection to be fully entertaining, so ask me when I get home.
Amber, making a crepe
Then Dani, my French roommate, made crepes. Wow. Delicious! Then we put Nutella on them, and they were even more awesome. I even got to pour and flip my own.
Then we chilled some more. Read a new Bethel book, The Supernatural Power of Forgiveness. Chilled, and chilled, and chilled. Messed with the blog heading.
cookies! that may or may not be an oven rack
Then I made cookies. Snickerdoodles, though without cream of tartar. They turned out okay, tasted great though they were a little drier than I wanted them to be. But they were fun to make.
Wrote part of a song {not a worship song, so don't get any ideas; though it is a God song}. Wrote my letter to Kathy. Took a shower. Actually got dressed in matching clothes. Fixed supper - spaghetti! salad! And was just finishing that up when Carol arrived to take us to go see the fireworks at the convention center.
It was packed. Redding has a population of 90,000, someone said, even though it doesn't feel like it. We navigated through traffic and parked blocks away. {I had hopes of going to Bethel and taking our chances in seeing the fireworks from the hill, but, alas...} Speed-walked closer and closer until we arrived a tiny patch of grass in the midst of a sea of people and declared it our own. We sat down at 9:59. The fireworks started promptly at 10:00.
Fireworks make me happy. I don't know why, but they do. They make me grin. They just make me happy. So once we settled in, I enjoyed myself tremendously. About halfway through, the fireworks stopped, and a lot of people got up to leave. But we didn't, because it had been very far from finale-worthy. And sure enough, they eventually got them going again. And the finale was worth staying for.
There were a few people around us who sounded drunk {and I don't mean in the Holy Spirit}. I was a bit confused, because I'd seen the sign for 'no alcohol past this point.' But when we stood up to leave, I realized which side of the sign we were on. Uh-huh. The drinking side. But I could tell already by the...language.
And now I'm home, very tired, ready for bed, ready for school tomorrow! And then we're celebrating Amber's birthday at the lake. I'm not the biggest fan of lakes, but, yeah. Birthdays merit my attention.
Got up early and went to church. Brian Johnson led and Kris Vallotton spoke! Happy day! Highlights:
Past prophetic words could very well be for what you're struggling with right now.
You're going to eat the fruit of what you say.
Three keys for Joshua's victory:
the law of God was to be in his mouth
he was to meditate {think, remember, sing, speak} on it day and night
he would do all he was thinking
"You cannot be tempted by something you don't have an appetite for." - Kris Vallotton
"I am not defined by my appetites. I am defined by the choices I make concerned my appetite." - Kris Vallotton
Your heart gives your mind parameters for how it can think.
Your heart has a PR person - your tongue.
Fear and anxiety are why we don't manage our thoughts.
It was a great teaching. As always, of course, but still just wonderful. :) If you have iBethel, go listen. :)
The rest of the day was spent with some food, some phone calling, some picture uploading to Facebook {nothing you haven't seen here, but at least it's all in one place}, some watching of Jenna paint a picture, and then off to church again! Getting there early so we didn't have to sit on the bleachers again.
And then we went to pre-service prayer. We had gone at TwinView during the Kingdom Culture conference and enjoyed it, gotten some prayer and prophecies. But pre-service prayer at Bethel is very different. Basically, everybody chills in the "Great Room" until about fifteen minutes before service. And then we circle and have what's basically a round-the-room fire tunnel. We pray for each other, and then the leaders go around and pray for us. Got prayed for by Danny Silk! But anyway, the pre-service prayer is where it's at. So much crazier than their fire tunnels. Pre-service prayer is where people laugh so hard they fall over. Or just fall over.
Worship was really, really good and long and spontaneous and prophetic - led by William Matthews. If you're an iBethel addict, look that one up, too. {You may actually see me in that one. Felt like the camera was staring at me a lot.} We went into some fun dancing and spontaneous worship, really cool, really fun.
Then a teaching by Eric Johnson. Also really good, though I was starting to get tired. Highlights:
There's a season for this and a season for that, just know what season you're supposed to be in.
The wineskin that you're building should be built in such a way that will contain future wine as well.
Be careful you don't keep the same wineskin for new wine.
Jesus is okay with giving you something you're not ready for.
"The Holy Spirit is not a vending machine." - Eric Johnson
When Jesus left his {three-year} ministry, it exploded. But when a lot of nation-going organizations found ministries, the ministries collapse when they leave.
If you read the gospels with a mindset that salvation is only there to get us to heaven, you get a list of right and wrongs.
There's a higher standard with grace than with the law.
If you're insecure, you don't like to empower people. And if you do empower them, you definitely don't let them higher.
When you stand in extreme security, you see God on other people.
Then a fire-tunnel. Yay! Danny Silk, and Sheri Silk, and Kathy Vallotton. Laughter. :)
And then a trip to In-N-Out. I was on a quest not to eat out this week, and I still am, but I was also on another quest to eat at In-N-Out before I left. So, that's accomplished. Their fries really are amazing. Cut and fried there, with 0 trans fats, if that makes anybody feel better. Definitely better than McDonalds {though Dani dislikes In-N-Out; she prefers McDonalds French fries. And there is no dissuading her.} Anyway, I'm so ready for a salad tomorrow.
And Snickerdoodle cookies. I so feel like Snickerdoodle cookies, and I have the ingredients to make them! Happy day!
The day began with me thinking I slept in but actually being up a couple of minutes before my alarm - to go to the healing rooms.
These healing rooms were a bit different since the Kingdom Culture conference wasn't going on. They used two of the conference rooms instead of the sanctuary. One conference room - roughly half the size of the CCC living room - had been dubbed the Encounter Room. The other was used as a place for individual prayer. So, you go hang out in the decked out Encounter Room, and if you want individual prayer, you fill out the same sheet we did last week and they call your letter. I didn't want individual prayer today, I just wanted to chill in the Spirit, as it were.
The Encounter Room should really be called the Party Room, if you couldn't tell that already. It's a place of joy and celebration at God's goodness and what He's done and doing and will do. Constant, constant praise and enjoyment. Fun, fun, fun.
Then a quick lull {spent mostly in the bookstore} before I set out on a treasure hunt. We had a totally different teacher {again} this time. I actually got her name this time - Christina Wagner. She was in a ridiculously good mood. I had already seen her in the Encounter Room {which became the Healing Rooms after so many people arrived and they switched to 'Conference Mode' and they prayed for everyone in one room}, seen someone pray for her ears, then watched her balance one foot in front of the other. Turns out, she'd been navigating through severe vertigo for seven days. This morning she was 70-80% healed. So she was really happy. {If you've ever seen/listened to Heidi Baker...she's really similar in her presentation.}
Anyway, the three rules in this class were:
Get drunk
Stay drunk
Get everyone else drunk
Then we drilled in prophecy, words of knowledge, healing, and various etiquette for approaching people. During the healing drill - which isn't really a drill, we're just praying for each other instead of people we don't know - I prayed for a girl with pain in her hip and knee. {I'm pretty sure she was somehow interning with Christina, definitely helping out.} The pain went down a little bit, but not all. Then I heard someone behind me mention the growing out of legs that occurred last week and how a girl with hip pain (Anja) had been healed. "Let's try that!" "Okay!"
She sat down, I took her feet. Sure enough, the right leg was shorter than the left. So I told the right leg to come out...and out it came. And kept coming, until I started telling it to stop. And she's like, "No, don't stop, I want to be taller!" So I told it to keep coming out. And then she took control of her own legs and started directing them longer and longer, almost like a symphony. And I'm sitting there squealing because no matter that I've seen it before - omgosh! Seriously! And everyone crowding around to watch, and I just sit back.
She ended up taller. Her jeans no longer had to be rolled up.
Dude.
God's like, "See, it wasn't a fluke."
Anyway, once we got started on teams, Christina asked everyone who had been on a treasure hunt before to raise their hands. How about a Bethel treasure hunt? I kept my hand raised. "Good, you'll be a team leader."
Not that any of the other teams I have been on have actually had leaders, but that seems a big responsibility.
In the end, I didn't do much leading, which was okay. One of the girls on our team was 9 - almost 10 - and had a full treasure map. She'd just gotten back from the Kingdom Kids camp {whatever it's called} and was ready to go!
We prayed for one person.
Looking from an outward perspective, it was a pretty pathetic treasure hunt. It didn't feel like it, though, to me. I wasn't down. But most people would say it was a bust. {My goals are just to immerse myself in the experience and to learn it in and out, and I think I have succeeded as best as can be expected.} However, the testimonies we got from the other teams when we all came back were astounding! I'm not going to type them all here - I ended up being the scribe and writing them all down, so I know them well - but if you ask me, I'll tell you.
Home. Supper. Jenna had a friend over, and halfway through my cooking, they're laughing, and Jenna asks me, "Have you ever been drunk in the Spirit?"
"Not exactly..."
"You should come sit over here."
dancing feet
They were a bit wasted. Someday you should hear two school of ministry students talking theology while drunk...one of them with a Valley Girl accent. Seriously. It was great. I didn't get all that drunk from them, not laughing drunk. Peaceful. Not drunk. But then...then we were off to the drum circle.
yah, we got a shofar! but it sounds like a trumpet
The epically awesome drum circle that takes place in the Alabaster House every 1st Saturday and is hosted by Jerry Aaronson, the guy who taught on Native American culture restoration a couple of weeks ago. Anyway. It was awesome, especially since I've really been resonating with the Native American culture these past couple of weeks.
{I have a couple more videos, but yeah, ask me.}
After they finished, I didn't want to leave. So happy there. We finally did leave, though, and began the trek down the hill. Amber said I was drunk. I was, but I wasn't that drunk. I mean, I've seen people more drunk.
But it definitely felt good. It was a nice walk down the hill.
And now I'm home. Hoping to get to bed at a halfway decent hour to go to church at a ridiculously early hour to chill and then go to church again. Viola! And then, on Monday...I'm sleeping in. Thank You, Jesus.
Started out with a slew of announcements that included this lovely video for the new Bethel dating website, OnDaySix.com. After telling us that we should ask someone out today. :) {Don't worry, Mom & Dad, no one did.}
Guess what today is. You'll never guess. Canada Day! I have two Canadian friends here, so I was happy for them. They were all stoked, and Kathy let them all come up to the front and sing their anthem:
Then worship, led by Brian Johnson with backup singer Leah, his sister. It was more of an acoustic set, because Brian's voice has been undergoing some stress. But then, about halfway through the {long} set after some prophetic worship, he put his guitar down, stepped away from the mic, came down to the floor {where we were}, and gave his wireless mic to William and another to Steffany. And then they led prophetic worship {put extremely simply: prophetic worship is spontaneous choruses not previously written and that worship or encourage} from the floor. Then they handed the mic to other people - some of us students. And we were just having a blast. It was fun. Fun worship. Prophetic song after prophetic song, with Brian and William and Steffany just going at it. We had a blast. This video is of the very end, after the singing stopped, unfortunately. The first person the camera pauses on is Steffany Frizzell, then William and Brian sitting on the stage steps. I'm sorry it's so short, and that it's not actually of the song. I was finally ready to film...and we were done.
Steffany & William
Then William and Steffany did the teaching, one after the other. Highlights:
William Matthews
Tell of who God is, don't cater to what the congregation is feeling.
Steffany Frizzell
Highest praise comes from the deepest place.
"Worship was never for us." {It's for God, not to make us feeling better.} - Steffany Frizzell
Worship means laying yourself down.
Worship is to Him, and for Him, and because of Him.
Mary "went and looked for a testimony {Elizabeth} because she could not see her own promise." - Steffany Frizzell
"Don't ask God for a baby if you're not ready to carry one." - Steffany Frizzell
"Go surround yourself with testimony." - Steffany Frizzell
Then they played a couple of tracks from William's upcoming CD. And this happened:
Lunch, and then Jenn Johnson's talk on prophetic worship. A lot of practical advice that I won't write here, but if that's something your interested in, ask me about it. Anyway, Jenn is awesome and so real. So real. Just incredibly vulnerable and unashamed and real.
"Do not feel something in your heart that you're not willing to talk about."
Then Carol, Anja, Amber, Dani, and I, decided to go to the mall. While we were waiting for Anja to get out of her voice lesson with Joanna, we met a BSSM1 grad named Thais. Thais is from Brazil and awesome. She was also going to the mall, so I rode with her and found out more about her. She's married to a fellow Brazilian, and they both moved up here to go to BSSM. I love her, and I really hope to know her better. She speaks fluent Portuguese.
We went to the mall. We ate. We went to Ross. I got a duffel bag thing that I may or may not keep...for all the extra stuff I'm going to be bringing home. Then we went to church for the evening service. Worship was great, though I'm not sure who led. Steve and Wendy Backlund taught. I have a lot of highlights:
"You are not the problem." - Wendy Backlund
"Current beliefs create future experiences." - Steve Backlund
"The more truth you believe is the more hope you'll have." - Steve Backlund
"We can't be so addicted to reality." - Wendy Backlund
"I am well able to overcome it." - Steve Backlund
"The Kingdom of God is not moved forward by good conduct, it's moved forward by good beliefs." - Steve Backlund
"You don't fall from grace by sinning. You fall from grace by trying to work." - Wendy Backlund
"You can't do what you don't think you are." Wendy Backlund
"You're one belief away from a tipping point in your life." - Steve Backlund
"The only time your past can determine your future is if you live in it." - Wendy Backlund
You know what you really believe when you listen to yourself when you're not being religious.
"The God that is within me, and He will cause me to succeed." - Wendy Backlund
"You're only able to receive what you think you're worth." - Wendy Backlund
Are you living in abundance compared to His riches and glory?
God often has to answer prayers in opposition to our beliefs.
Hope and faith have to be attached to a belief.
"How we make decisions, in the long run, is more important than the decisions we make." - Steve Backlund
"Leaders are not thermometers, they are thermostats." - Steve Backlund
"If you're an encourager, people are gonna hear you more." - Steve Backlund
"There are no ideal circumstances to renew your mind." - Steve Backlund
"You're being prepared for greater influence." - Steve Backlund
Kim & the band getting ready
that's a model in the hat
Well, the day began with a quick run to the post office and a crazy run-around the parking lot {we were with Jenna}. And then we scrambled into our {awesomely saved by AC} seats for worship by Kim Walker-Smith.
Then another {mind-blowing} talk from Ray Hughes. Some of you listened in on iBethel; if you have a subscription, you can go listen/watch {depending on your subscription} for no further charge. Same goes for Kim's worship this morning. Highlights from Ray:
{God's perspective on David} "There's a guy after my own heart, so I'm going to give it to Him." - Ray Hughes
The enemies of God's people are after the land, the harvest, our destiny, generational covenants {a huge example would be that the Messiah would come from the line of David}, and worship.
"If you're looking to promote yourself on stage, you just started dancing with a giant." - Ray Hughes
Worship leads to obedience, which leads to servanthood, which leads to passion, which leads to purpose.
I have some more notes, but they're a bit scattered. One of those 'ask-me-later' things. :) But by the way, the shout we did at the end...there hasn't yet been a shout like that. We've done our share of shouting here, but that one had some...force in it. It was an absolute war.
Then lunch and a decision on where I was going next. Decided upon Joanna Finchum's "Vocal Freedom" class. Wow. It's really hard for me to say why the class was so awesome, but it was. For a while it was hard to say what was so great about it. I felt for the first half that, while it was an amazing class, it wasn't one I needed. I didn't realize until today how confidant I already am in my voice. Such a change from before! But besides knowing everything about voice, Joanna is very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. {We almost got her drunk in the Spirit. We did. She had to force her way out of it to talk. It was funny.} So towards the end, this happened:
{And if you can watch the video at this link, it's pretty good, too. I'm not sure if you can, though.}
Anyway, that was the pith of the class. Yeah, we had some epic discussion. And yeah, we had some exercises that changed people's lives, as well. But that was the fruit of it. That was where we acted in what we'd learned, I guess. Just awesome. But I do have a couple of highlights for you:
"Fear casts out the love." - Joanna Finchum
Keys to vocal freedom {or freedom in general}
Allow yourself to fail
Allow yourself to try
1 John 4:18; 2 Corinthians 3:16-18; Proverbs 29:25; Galatians 5:13-15
Believe in yourself
After that, I had a variety of classes to pick from and wasn't drawn to any particular one. Was heading for Ray Hughes' class, when I ran into Jasmine and told her my dilemna. I'd also been thinking of going to Trisha Wheeler's "Breakthrough Art" class. She asked, "Isn't Ray's recorded?" And I was like, "Yes." "So go to the art class."
what i made
i'm now addicted to pastels
So I went to the art class. It was focused a lot on art creating breakthrough, but one could call it 'prophetic art,' emphasis on the prophetic. Highlights:
How to get unstuck:
Ask God for a picture of what your breakthrough looks like
Read the Bible
Know your identity
"He likes me, and He wants to talk to me."
Water Works!
Water Works
Water Works
Water Works
A quick run home to eat some food, and then off to the WaterWorks party! I'm pretty sure Bethel rented out the whole park. We had to pay $5, but they {I'm pretty sure it was the Vallottons} took care of another $5/person. With free sodas. It was a blast. The Vallottons came and just walked around and hung out. {Erinn got a picture of her with the both of them. I'm fighting jealousy.} We {Nicole, Anja, Andrew, and I} left at about 8:45, which was a tad early considering that it ended at 10, but we were cold. Then I had a craving for a frozen pizza {swimming calls for pizza}, so I asked Nicole where we could go. And she led us to the most magnificent dollar store. Like, the sort of dollar store that's not deceptive and has $5 or $7. No, everything's under a dollar. And it's a huge store! With all sorts of things! I'm definitely going back. :) It was as much fun as the water park. :)
{K, so this following video is of the park's scariest 'ride'. I did it once on a single tube. It's only scary for the first millisecond as you drop straight down, but it's pretty much sheer terror for that millisecond. Until your head snaps back when you hit the middle and you wonder if you're going to have whiplash. Maybe that's why they tell you to keep your chin down. And let's just say I know why they tell you to keep your butt up. But it's kinda hard to keep your mind on these things when you're dropping down.}
That's all until tomorrow! The schedule says that Brian & Jenn are leading worship, Brian & Steph (Steffany Frizzell?) are doing main session, and then my workshop will be Jenn Johnson's "Prophetic Song." There is no second workshop because of church tomorrow evening...but I'll hopefully be playing some ultimate frisbee on the softball/soccer field below. If it's not too hot.
