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.
More questions! I love answering them, for serious! It gives me a chance to articulate what I've been thinking. This was about the leg lengthening we did at the treasure hunt on Saturday.
"I can understand lengthening a leg for health reasons, but how do you feel with playing around with lengthening arms and legs for no particular reason? Did you feel that exercise had a good intention?"
I did wonder, "What is the point of this? Like, we're not actually 'accomplishing' anything or showing anyone the tangible love of God through healing. Isn't it a bit wasteful? A lot wasteful? I mean, there are amputees out there who need this, and here I am just playing around!" And I came to a few conclusions in that short amount of time.
1) God is an abundant God. Just because we used up some 'healing anointing,' or whatever you want to call it, that Saturday, doesn't mean there's any less. He doesn't give us a finite amount of His power. In fact, He's infinite. So it was not a waste in that sense.
2) God likes to have fun. He's a *Father*, and He likes to have fun with His kids. That was just a crazy way of playing with us and making us smile, squeal, and laugh.
3) God likes to show off. I mean, just look at Gideon. "Hey, Gideon, get rid of some men, because I want people to look at what you do and see Me." That day gave Him a platform to do the equivalent of this:
4) It was no-pressure practice. No one's emotions or well-being or job or kids or travel plans or anything else was being challenged that day. The worst thing that could happen was us looking stupid, which I think most of us got over our first day here. But it wasn't a place where people were hoping to walk again for the first time in 10 years, or to see, or anything like that. The most at stake was a desire to be taller. And that's "frivolous" (nothing is frivolous with God) enough to be low-pressure.
5) It inspired faith. Even if we couldn't do it once we got home (why? I don't know. that's another topic), my faith jumped up by many units. I know that of others did, as well. To see, in real life, with no pressure, that we could really, really do something like that because of whose Name we abide under, was just insane. To feel that faith was a gift I hope to reproduce someday.
Last night was a Creative Expressions deal. I'm so inspired! I had a fear that it would be a bit boring, just a bunch of watching people do their stuff, but what I neglected to realize is that...they're stuff is really cool! There were singer/songwriters, dancers, a harpist, and a few spoken word artists.
The Mr. Rogers Song
Electronica
For the record, spoken word is the coolest thing ever. I want to do that. And guess what? My roommate, Jasmine, does spoken word. And she's like, amazing. Yet she has nothing recorded. :P Sorry. But she's awesome. I'll record her when she does Creative Expressions next week.
Three or four days out of the week, we share a testimony or two at the beginning of the day. Today's was exceptionally fun, so I thought I'd share it.
This guy from Norway was a worship leader and brought his guitar to Redding. When he opened it, it was broken. He said he could see through it; I'm not sure what part was broken, but it was damaged beyond repair. And he was devastated (it "broke my heart, my second girlfriend, you know," and he didn't have money for another. His talks with the airline got him nowhere. So in worship, he finally went, "Okay God, You're provider. I need a guitar." That day or the next his insurance company contacted him and said they were giving him $2100. {I'm not sure if the insurance money was guitar-relaetd or not, couldn't tell.} He went to a Redding guitar store and found a beautiful Martin originally priced at $4000 that had been brought down to $2300. He left the guitar store and got a Facebook message the next day from a friend who had heard of his guitar woes and said he was giving him $400. {At this point you're going, that's cool, but not all that impressive. Or at least, I was.} Well, he decided to buy the Martin, and he went to get it. He had $2700. With taxes, the total cost of the guitar was $2699. Haha, yeah, that is my God. {Also funny, that testimony got the most impassioned response from the crowd over all the other testimony responses. Guess that's what happens when God gives guitars away to worship students.}
Worship was led by Matt and Hunter, and it was sadly cut short. For a minute we're all like, "What?" Then we remembered - we had a special Skype call today. Paul Baloche himself - writer of "Open the Eyes of My Heart," "Today Is the Day," among many, many others - was teaching us.
Paul Baloche taking a pic of us :)
Whoa. So wish he could have been here to do main sessions and workshops. Even Brian was so impressed that he asked Paul to 'come back' next week, which he will be doing. But here are my highlights from today:
"Be faithful where God has you." - Paul Baloche
Don't let God become a job.
The number one responsibility of a worship leader is to "keep our own hearts fresh towards God." - Paul Baloche
Sunday morning doesn't have to be a fireworks show.
"Create an atmosphere that makes it easy for people to connect with God." - Paul Baloche
The job of worship leaders {one of them, haha} is to gather all the generations and diverse cultures into one, which is a pastoral heart. {We also have a priestly heart.}
When you co-write with someone, come with a bag of ideas.
Then we went straight into Christa Black's main session message:
"You will live out what you believe." - Christa Black
God never intended shame. {Genesis 2:25}
"Shame will keep you from the intimacy you were created for." - Christa Black
"Shame will always make you run and hide from the intimacy you were created for." - Christa Black
You need to learn to contend for your promise - defend your land.
People have 1500 thoughts a minute, and 1300 of those thoughts are negative. {You know the drill, and if you don't, you should: Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. Life and death are in the power of the tongue.}
Shame --> Fear --> Control --> Shame
Don't accept words from unqualified or uncredited sources. Unqualified/uncredited means they are not in agreement with what God has said over your life.
"Do not go soul searching without the Holy Spirit." - Bill Johnson
When God points to your struggle, He's not condemning, He's pointing to your next miracle.
Christa Black...and Anja's head
"He's {God} never looked at you and seen a negative." - Christa Black
You may have gained this from the subject matter, but Christa is very similar to Dani Johnson {for those of you who know the awesome DJ}. They have a similar passion and boldness, carrying the same victory.
Lunch time! Had a quick meeting with my fellow 'Let's Thank Kathy!' project members. I am not in over my head, but learning how to wear the leadership mantle I so long cast aside is a bit like re-learning how to, I don't know, ride a bike. I know it's there, and it comes quite easily. But I'm working within that mantle in the Kingdom now, which is different, so it's like riding a bike in different weather conditions than when I learned. Anyway, it's going smoothly. And we have Dan McCollum in on it, too, so that makes me feel a bit better! :)
I had such a difficult time deciding which workshop to go to next. There were several that looked 'good,' but none that just grabbed me. Christa had one that looked interesting, but I ended up going to Joanna Finchum's class on background vocals. {I find out afterwards that Christa's workshop went to heaven. As did the next one. Dang it.} Joanna's class was really good though. It turned into kind of a Q&A, so I don't actually have any one-liner notes. Some great practical stuff that I'm eager to take home though, especially regarding bands and the relationships within them.
Then to Dan McCollum's class. My roommates are such Dan junkies. I admit to spacing a little during it, just a little, though not too much because he is awesome. Basically, he hasn't been for me what he's been for them - and that's totally okay. I have a ton of notes, but the 'whoa' for me came during impartation.
"You will always worship at the level of your revelation." - Dan McCollum
It is a sin to be bored.
The beasts being covered with eyes around the throne of God means that they have an unlimited perspective of God.
Praise is based off of what we know of God. "Worship is my response to Him showing up." - Dan McCollum
"Do not get people to respond [in worship, in the sense of, 'you should be worshiping this way with this passion'] without a reason...that brings religion." - Dan McCollum
Learn to worship at the level of warfare against you.
"Grumbling, murmuring, and complaining are the praise and worship of the kingdom of darkness." - Dan McCollum
The bigger the test, the bigger the testimony. The bigger the wall, the bigger the breakthrough.
"You would be so bored if you didn't have anything to break through." - Dan McCollum
But the real craziness of it all came when he started doing impartation. The first one was for those who are going back to do worship at churches that...let's just say they need some worship breakthrough. And in the environments that I lead worship, like Saved By Grace and 4th Friday, I don't need that. So I sighed and didn't go up. Which saddened me, though my sadness made me laugh because two years ago I would have been out of there the way he was imparting by blowing on people's hands, and people were laughing, etc...
The next one he called was for breakthrough in personal worship, and I was like, "Yes! That's me! My turn!" So I went up. And didn't shake or laugh or fall over. Why? I don't know. I'm relatively un-phsyically-moved by stuff like that. I don't know why. It's kinda been driving me crazy since I've been here. But God and I have talked it over, and it's okay. :)
Then he started prophecying about the future of worship. There's a reason there's too many worshipers in churches. He prophecied that there will be worshipers with healing anointings, that when they release their music, people will get healed of all sorts of diseases. That struck a chord with me, because that's been told to me before about what I do. I never wrote it down, didn't really attribute it to prophecy, because I was kinda like, "Well, that's what nice prophetic people say. Instead of saying I have a nice voice, they say it heals." But I'm rethinking that position. :) I stood up for impartation for that {we stayed in our own seats this time}.
He talked about economic worshipers that will change the financial culture of areas through their worship. That's really cool, but it's not what I'm called to. And then he talked about a weather/land worship anointing. About changing the weather with one's worship. {I've tried that, yes, I really have.} About changing the land with one's worship. And then he said something to the effect of, "There are some here with a Native American heritage that have retained the relation to nature that the First People had. And we call that out and bless it."
Puzzle pieces started slamming together in my head. Whoa. See, I'm 1/4 Native American (partial US and partial Mexico). Jerry's talk last week on Native American worship sparked something in me, something I've been conflicted about for some time. I love the Native American culture. It resonates with me. I hear/see/feel it, and it calls me like I belong there. And there's a part of that that bothers me, because I'm 3/4 European. I mean, am I being disloyal to the majority of my blood? I still don't really have the answer, but I do know that when Dan said that, I physically felt the pieces collide. Because even though I'm the farthest person in the world from being a lover of the outdoors, I do have a connection with nature. I've told Mom before that, "When I worship, it makes the trees happy. I don't know how I know. But I know." I know. I can feel it. And that word from Dan freed me for...for something. I'm still working that out, working out where I belong. But that was good.
It was cloudy and raining this morning when I woke up. It was great actually getting to sleep that long, considering that I got to bed halfway early and didn't wake up until the alarm went off. We called our new friend, Carol, and she gave us a ride so that we wouldn't have to walk in the rain.
Worship this morning was by Christa Black and the Jesus Culture band (Jeffrey, Ian, Brandon, and Luke). Really good. We started out with a wall of sound, which has no reason to have felt any different from a basic shout, but it did. It felt like a wall. Anyway, good worship. She's the first worship leader here that I've felt has a similar style to myself, not necessarily in the way she worships but definitely in the way she sings with 'angelic' 'aaah's'. No one else here has done that, so I suddenly don't feel weird anymore! :)
The teaching this morning was by Kris Vallotton. Oh, happy day! He said that he'd had 'the worship teaching' all planned out and hadn't felt right about teaching it. So he taught something else, Living From Eternity. Highlights:
“The goal of the Book is not that you memorize the Book but that you get to know the Author.” - Kris Vallotton {who knows the Book better than many, for the record}
“He didn't just die for you, He died as you.” - Kris Vallotton
“Your heavenly seat gives you eternal perspective.” - Kris Vallotton
Since He is the One who was, and is, and is to come, we are tri-dimensional.
The “fact” that things begin and end is a new idea in God's world.
Your spirit doesn't sleep. And you chalk it up to a dream, when your spirit was actually out doing things.
God/angels come to people in dreams. People don't dream of God/angels.
“God didn't make you choose Him, but He knew you would, so He chose you first.” - Kris Vallotton {on Romans 5:9}
“When Jesus rose from the dead, you rose with Him.” - Kris Vallotton
“You're not living for yourself, you're living for the people that went before you.” - Kris Vallotton
“When we dream with God, we become co-creators of His imagination.” - Kris Vallotton
The people before and after you are depending on you.
Jesus said that 'the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,' not that 'the end of the world is coming.' We shouldn't join forces with the dark side (spirit of fear) to win people into the Kingdom.
“The prophets are the ones, and the prophetic people are the ones, who create the future.” - Kris Vallotton
“God is looking for a people who know that God has plans for us, {and} not plans of calamity.” - Kris Vallotton
“God is calling us to be a people who live from eternity, not just for eternity. Heaven is your reward, but heaven on earth is your ministry.” - Kris Vallotton
There was actually a lot more good stuff on this sermon that I have notes for, really cool stuff concerning the era of fear that occurred during the later half of the twentieth century. It's just a little too complex for quick one-liners here, but ask me about it when I get home. {Oh, and this is totally unrelated to anything, but I sat by William Matthews for about seven minutes during Kris' sermon! He came and sat in the empty seat between Amber and I while he rifled through his laptop bag.}
Then lunch. Everybody ate inside today, because outside is wet and chilly. Even Texans would call it on the chilly side. I brought my hoodie, and I've been thankful for it all day.
Workshop Number One: Christa Black on Worshiping Without Saying the Name of Jesus. Epically long title, I know. Christa has a (recent and continuing) background in professional music, touring with Shane Bernard, Jennifer Knapp, Steve Green, Michael W. Smith, and, most recently, The Jonas Brothers. {She's also written for Jordin Sparks and Natasha Bedingfeld, among others.} She was talking about taking God into secular environments (*cough* Hollywood *cough*), something that has been on my heart for a long, long time, as those closest to me know. I'll give you the highlights, but she shared some pretty epic stories that deserve retelling if you feel like asking. :)
If God inhabits the praises of His people, we should be worshiping 24/7.
We think that if we worship enough and the glory comes, then the lost will come. But that's not true. You don't see the Amalekites flocking to the Israelite's cloud/fire-covered tabernacle.
“Worship on the platform is simply an overflow of a life lived in worship.” - Christa Black
“Dare to suck!” - Christa Black {on songwriting}
“Everything that you do is worship. So everything that you say is actually worshiping the Lord or advancing the kingdom of the enemy.” - Christa Black
“You're either in agreement with the Father or in agreement with the father of lies.” - Christa Black
“Only wait on Him if you have a yield sign...The answer is yes and amen. Green light until He either says yes or yield.” - Christa Black
“The enemy has intimidated us into believing that he's massive.” - Christa Black
“The weird of the weird come out...and that's probably us, so, we should be there.” - Christa Black {on a hard-core pagan festival in Shasta}
“God's gonna use whoever has a vision to release His Kingdom.” - Christa Black
What if we looked at our gifts as skills instead of just gifts?
“I'm the lightening rod that funnels the Kingdom through.” - Christa Black
“It's not my job to change anyone. It's my job to introduce them to love.” - Christa Black
A quick break. I was having a terrible time deciding between Dan McCollum's class on “Finding Your Song,” and Christa's class, Writing From Revelation. I decided on Dan's, but I was still pinging around in my head. Dan or Christa. Dan or Christa. They're both amazing. But Dan's class, while good, wasn't what I had wanted it to be, and so five minutes in, I turned to AC and said, “I'm going to Christa's class. But I'm leaving my stuff here.” Slipped into Christa's, and I'm so glad I did. It was magnificent. {And she was pretty serious about the impartation at the end, too.} Highlights:
When I release an anointed song, I release the congregation into that anointing.
“Revelation is a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way.” - Christa Black
“God's not on a budget.” - Christa Black
Revelation is for you.
You have access to the revelations and the mysteries of God. Why? Because you're hidden in Christ.
Revelation is for all.
Keys to revelation: intimacy, discipline, hunger, and positioning yourself in Christ. But don't sake these things for the sake of revelation.
“'Should' brings shame.” - Christa Black
“What do you want the church to look like in five years? Write about it now.” - Bill Johnson
There was more to it than my small amount of notes, but yeah, it was good. Christa is kind of amazing. She has main session tomorrow, so that will be fun.
I still hadn't decided whether or not I was going to the evening class tonight. Sleep has definitely done wonders for me, and I was feeling up to it. Carol, Dani, and Amber had decided to go to KFC/A&W for supper, and Anja and I decided to join them. Fries! I'm becoming quite the fry addict since I've been here, which is rather pathetic. I just have such limited bad food in my diet! But everyone is making fun of me, the 'healthy one,' now because I eat fries, and I order burgers. *deep breath*Anyway, I opted to go home instead of back to church for night classes like everyone else was doing.
There was no one at home. I was restless. Tried playing the piano. Remembered that there was more to evening classes than Dan McCollum's songwriting class {I just couldn't stand the thought of another class of any kind, even if Dan is awesome} and decided to head up to the church. It was kinda ridiculous, since I could have just stayed in the car in the first place. But yeah, I headed out into the drizzle, ready to walk off some steam up the hill.
But some nice BSW people picked me up at the intersection, and I didn't have to. :) I went to the band session, which is where Chris Quilala himself critiques a group of people playing a song, i.e., a band. I was just planning to sit and chill, but then the band started asking for a keyboardist. I finally went up, and the lead guy was asking Chris Q if they were going to have a keyboardist, and I'm like, "I play keys." And Chris is like, "There you go."
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
I get up there, and get to fiddle around on the keyboard (!). We were going to have to go without any music to look at, but then Chris Q himself went and made us copies (Chris is awesome). We did "Oh, Praise Him." I would have chosen an easier song, honestly, but, yeah, no one asked me. The leader asked if I could do a piano riff intro, and I'm like, "Sure." It was strange, I had a healthy nervousness, but I wasn't terrified or stunned. There's something about Bethel that eliminates terror. And Chris is just so awesome and makes you so comfortable. Chris Quilala is awesome. If nothing else, he's the perfect guy to administrate a critique session like that.
So I started out the song. A bit much for me any day. I didn't start out with the exact riff that Andrew, the leader, was wanting, but it was a riff that fit the style he wanted. We didn't have a click-track because the drummer had never used one, and he was a really quiet drummer for using in-ear monitors, and the whole first verse was really slow and flowy and I'm carrying the rhythm (pity the keyboardist who is carrying rhythm). But I managed.
And the first thing out of Chris' mouth when we finish our first draft is, "I really like that intro thing."
Bam! Granted, he asks Andrew if it was his idea, which it was, kind of, and Andrew admits that it's not exactly what he wanted, but he can't exactly try to correct it now, can he? :) I say all this in fun. It was a great experience. AND I WAS ON THE BETHEL STAGE! PLAYING KEYBOARD! I cannot say how amazing this was! :) Just thrilling. Absolutely thrilling.
Then we came home, and I had the brilliant idea to post to the Facebook group if we should do something for Kathy Vallotton because she's been so awesome. Talk about being barraged by ideas. That's what's kept me occupied for an hour and delayed the posting of this blog post. I'm keeping it simple, Mom, don't worry. :)
Yah, so here I be! :) Jeremy Riddle and Hunter are leading worship tomorrow, and Christa Black is speaking at Main Session. And the adventure continues...
{PS. Is anyone having trouble with the videos? I've heard one mention of it...what about anyone else? Because I could start using Blogger video or even YouTube...}
