Last day at school - a blast!

Julian having lunch at the church, sitting outside with his wrap and salad, the meeting room from the front, Bill Johnson speaking, breakfast at the hotel for Gordon, Helen and Ian (from Croydon).

A quick update before our breakfast (on Sat morning) to say that yesterday was great. It was the last day of the school. The morning was looking at working with other churches in seeing the city transformed, the guy who spoke for the morning was very inspiring and the strategies they have put together i've not seen so well co-ordinated under one banner before. He's not from Bethel church but another church in Redding.

Gordon and I ate a 'brick' again for lunch. I'll try to take a picture so you can see the size of the cakes they have in the cafe (He-brews) at the church. They are enough for about 4 people!

Then we had Bill Johnson for a couple of hours which was very insightful, you have to listen carefully to that man or you miss it! Every other sentence is light a pea followed by prayer for impartation for each of us, we all lined up in the corridor as he went along and lay hands on each. That was particularly powerful for some!

After this we had a time where each church represented there was called up the from and given prophetic words and prayer. A couple of those with prophetic gifting (Dawna and Faith from the Sozo team) had spent time praying and asking God prior to the meeting and so they then listed off what they felt God had said. Obviously they don't know the churches so what was brought was more insightful. It was all recorded, so we can re-listen.

Here's a mention of some of what was said - Healing was spoken of, that there will be many healings happening in the church and then they listed of significant illnesses/conditions that God was going to heal including Autism, depression, bi-polar. The other main area was of evangelism, that there would be an increase in evangelism coming from within the church, not by one evangelist but that many would be quickened to reach out. That it would not all all depend on the number of people in the church but the quality and what God is doing by his Spirit.

As this was spoken the Spirit fell (as it did with each church group) to various effect! In fact throughout the day God continued to speak and meet with those on the team, but no doubt each team member can share what they experienced and what God was doing/saying with them. Actually, to be honest it will probably be hard to relay it all. It's not easy to put these things into words. It's more about what God does in us which then comes out in family, work, church and city.

In the evening we then went to a prayer meeting which was more of a soaking/encounter room which to many (esp. faint hearted evangelical brits) would seem slightly odd to as much of the room walks round in a big circle while they pray! With others lying (or crawling) around on the floor overwhelmed by the Spirit. There is no prayer agenda or list to get through here! The emphasis is on meeting with God before the meeting, people are praying in their own way, sitting at the side of the room, reading the Bible etc.

We then went to the worship of an evening conference session before going off to a restaurant about 9pm. Annu was tired so we dropped her back a the hotel before meeting with others. Bed at about 11pm!

Adam

Video of the meeting room

This is the room where we meet each day, from 9am-5pm. There are around 40 of us here and 25 from newfrontiers churches. It is interactive with time to ask questions and speak with those leading after sessions. It has an informal feel rather than conference/teaching feel. With plenty of tea/coffee, cakes, snacks, fruit and other treats between sessions.

Today at School

Sitting in the room we meet in, Danny Silk introducing Kris Vallotton for his session. Thurs afternoon.

Hi to all you bloggers

I can't believe it is now the last day of the school. Looking forward to all the speakers and especially Bill Johhnson this afternoon. It has been a roller coaster ride this week with so much to take in and digest. We had a particularly thought provoking session with the senior pastor Chris Vallotton yesterday who was challenging us about how we can truly see transformation in our cities. He asked more questions than he answered but this was good for us as it caused us to evaluate what we are doing and how we are aiming to transform our community in Medway.

The treasure hunt was great and very helpful and encouraging to us all. We were each allocated a student from the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry who were very experienced in treasure hunting and were able to lead us into good conversations and encounters with some of the local residents. The students were quite inspiring as they were so bold in their approach to people and the amazing thing was that most people that we talked to were really responsive and genuinely wanted to talk. There were a number of healings experienced by our group whilts praying for folk and we will share these with you when we return.

I have been enjoying swimming in the mornings which is a good fresh start to the day but I am still finding that i am waking up at between 4 and 5am and not being able to get back to sleep. So I get up and have a swim instead!

Last night we were invited to the house of a lovely family who are members of Bethel and had a meal with them. Dave Webster and I ended up challenging their 3 boys to a game of golf on their Wii which was fun!

Missing Lena and the girls so much and looking forward to seeing them next week.

Well, got to go now to the morning session so see you all later.

Love Julian

Annu's American Adventures

Well I have finally managed to get the laptop off those happy bloggers (sounds kinda like happy slappers) from MFC to keep you up to date with my adventures. Firstly, I must tell Garry and Shakira, I miss you both so much and I love you. Garry I am having so much trouble sleeping without you and I find that time the hardest, I even miss your snoring! God must be doing miracles. Please pray you all, as they say here, I have not slept more than 4 hours a night.

Well there is so much to tell, I am just gonna pick my favourite bits. We are having so much "fun" as a team and it is such a laugh. I thought I might feel a bit intimidated by so many leaders of churches, but you know what they are so ordinary and so much fun, in fact they behave so silly. They remind me of my class of children on a school trip all messing around and teasing each other. There's this guy, Dale from Oxted, he's a hoot. As you can imagine it is infectious and we all keep messing around and I am so enjoying that. By the way, I was not trying to stab Gordon Natalie, he and Adam had just had a "Brutus Burger" and I was recreating the scene of Brutus stabbing Julius Caesar, as you do.

Sharing a room with Helen has been so much fun. Steve, you would not believe how incredibly tidy she is here. Her side is immaculate, mine is like a bomb has hit it and I have not even unpacked half of my suitcase. Helen says she is not like this at home and I am always tidy at home, it is like complete role reversal! It has been good just sharing stuff and being the Bethel girls.

We went on a treasure hunt yesterday and my team ended up praying with loads of people and I was so encouraged that so many of our clues were accurate. The teaching here is amazing and I have been spolit for a taste of something new, which I so desire to carry in my life and call out the gold in others.

Yesterday, a few of us met with Teresa and went through some Sozo trouble shooting and I sat in on a Sozo and also recieved a Sozo.In fact recieving, that word seems to encapsulate my experience here. Last night, my friend Sue, who is part of the Bethel Sozo team took me out for dinner with her husband and they so loved and blessed me, they spoke so much encouragement and direction to me and prayed for me. I was in tears as they just poured love into my life. It was so special and an experience I will treasure forever.

Natalie and Lena, we are bringing back changed men and husbands to you. Lena, when Julian came out of his Sozo, he was radiant, I have never seen him like it and he is so relaxed and funny, God has truly met with him! Nat, Gordy has been transformed!!!! God had met with him in a way you will discover in the fullness of time, but he has not stopped eating chocolate, cakes and biscuits bigger than dinner plates. Lord have mercy!

Well for all of those concerned about my hair, thanks so much because our hair drier miraculously started working. There is a God! Now I have straightners too, but then the rain came and ..... I turned into a frizz ball anyway. God has a sense of humour!

Love to you all, church family, friends and loved ones,
Annu x x x

Thursday already - where is the time going?

Hello everyone,

As I write (having come back from a lovely evening spent with one of the families in the church), some of you will be beginning to stir back in UK. It's 6.15am, according to my 'cell phone' (I'm picking up the local lingo) which is still on UK time. But here in Califormnia it is 10.15pm so soon we will all be asleep. How amazing that the Lord cares for us all, speaks to and holds us, challenges and blesses us, just as we need. His kindness is mind blowing.

Today we heard from Kevin Dedmon, the man who wrote 'The Treasure Hunt'. He was full of wisdom and insight. There is a great deal of joy amongst the people here, and this man excels in it. Our treasure hunt - in some drizzly rain, unfortunately - was good. We met 3 lots of people who we prayed with, all of whom were blessed in various ways. Quite a few of our clues fitted them, so it was very encouraging.

Have to close now as I'm geting tired. As you are getting up for your Friday, we are going to sleep. Have a great day, as we have a great sleep!
loads of love
Helen

PS> Great to talk to you today, Steve. Annu laughed at me jumping up and down for joy, and said it was really sweet. Praying for you as you prepare for Sunday. xxx

Good, profound, fun and positive

Athe restaurant last night, While setting up the camera it accidently went off and caught Annu trying to stab Gordon in the neck! (Helen had an early night)

Here's a list of some of the things I have found good, profound,fun and positive over the last couple of days:

1. Getting all your comments back. We miss you all and our families especially x. We would love you to all be with us, but getting the comments back is great. We read them all even though they might not all get individual responses. Keep them coming, it's good to know you are there and that you can share in our experience.

2. Finding a way this morning to get two more strokes in the pool which only takes five strokes to reach the end! By going diagonal. Julian and I had a quick swim this morning before breakfast, we haven't seen anyone else at all in there!

3. Spending time with the others here, from our church and the other churches. It's good to be in another setting together.

4. Seeing one person after another in our teaching/school who carry the same dna and love teh presence of God but are very different characters. Some are loud and 'crazy' (some might say!) whereas others are quiet and gentle. None come across as being copies of Bill Johnson but many have a powerful supernatural ministry which they work out in their own setting. The way they work together and honour one another is healthy.

5 Hearing Joaquin and Chris yesterday. Two guys who oversee the healing rooms and pastoral visiting and hospital visits. They clearly love Jesus and brought his presence tangibly into the room. Chris then shared about visiting the sick in hospitals and in the community and spoke about dealing with those that are not healed. It was a profound message as he has seen 100's of people healed of serious illnesses including cerebal palsy, but not all are healed. He spoke of how he had been ministering to a girl for 13 years with cerebal palsy who had not been healed - his daughter! He was very real about the struggles and spoke about needing to encourage himself, not lower his expectation.

6. Being reminded again how it is about the presence of God. Much of what is heard from a distance from Bethel focuses on healing as that is a major part of Bill Johnson's ministry and what is seen in the church. But it is not about healing but the presence of God and building a church which carries the presence of God in tangible ways. We have heard about how they visit the poor and feed them, take sunday school out to the streets to reach the children and how they clear up houses and doing ironing for people. How building loving communities and sorting out marriage and families are a priority. It's really not just about healing and having a good experience of God in meetings. That comes accross very clearly. It's difficult to appreciate that from a distance.

7. Quotes:

As we were led into a ministry/receiving time: 'Seriousness is not a fruit of the Spirit.'

Testimony of someone who became a christian 'I followed the happy people up the hill' (the church is at the top of a hill!)

8. Seeing how much of what we have been preaching on over the last few months and this year chimes with much of what we are hearing. It's a bit like being with people who have entered into a dimension and experience of the kingdom of God that you have seen from distance and spoken about but not actually lived there yet.

9. Being encouraged and confirmed personally by what I am hearing. In alot of the sessions I find myself becoming emotional in. I'm not really sure why, but I find that my eyes well up alot as i'm hearing things. I feel as if my spirit is leaping around within me all the time and that I love God. I'm taken aback by how good he is and the reality of his kingdom that is actually here. Yesterday I felt a sense of God's heat and fire on me in one of the sessions, it's as if it is always deep inside and then at moments is suddenly unlocked and floods out.

10. Having others from the church here with me. It's far better to have others to receive and then bring back. It does feel more strategic. It's been encouraging to see how God is speaking to and meeting with the others from M.F.C. They are all open and hungry for more of God.

Love, Adam

Wednesday in Bethel

Outside the Prayer House


Hi all - its been another great day in Bethel! We have all been experiencing God's blessing today especially both Gordon and I who have been sozo'd.

Before commenting on today I want to just mention a ministry time yesterday. We were all encouraged to write a message from the Father to each of us personally, waiting on God to reveal what he had to say. I found this wonderfully releasing as the Father spoke His love into my life and then I shared this with the group of 3 others in our group. They then prayed and prophesied over me and the sense of God's love was overwhelming - wonderful stuff! Just at this point, the ministry team was released on us and they started praying over each of us in the group, which meant that our prayer time became a powerful experience of God's presence with plenty of joy and laughter (this features a lot in the ministry times here at Bethel).

This was all preparation for me for the Sozo that I went through this morning. The others went off to their first meeting with Chris Overstreet while I went to the ministry rooms for my Sozo. I went in with such a sense of anticipation as I had been preparing for this over the previous week. I found that through this process God reached deep into my life and dealt with issues from my past in such a way that I found a deep sense of release and new life and joy flowing in the place of past hurts. It was great to see the way God did this so well and with such love.

Today we have been hearing about evangelism to children (like the kids clubs that many NF churches run) and this afternoon we have received ministry from the those who head up the healing room ministry at Bethel. So exciting to hear about how they send teams into hospitals and homes to pray for the sick in response to requests received.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to hearing from Kevin Dedmon on Treasure Hunts and we will actually be going out with the teams on the streets to experience this first hand - pray for us! Great to see all your responses on the blog and please keep them coming as this is really encouraging to us all.

Note to Lena and the girls - thanks for all the lovely notes in my bag! Really exciting to keep finding these little notes from each of you as I take out my shirts in the morning! Thanks also for your notes on the blog - missing you all so much so keep blogging.

Much love, Julian