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.
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.
