Post No.11 - The Best is Yet to Come!

The birthday cake from Harrods

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you..." Well, today I'm 57 years old.Wow, that's old! I've been reflecting on that over the last few days, as you do, but in a positive way - I don't have time to be morbid! I've been thinking about what I've achieved with my life, especially in relation to the things of God, and I've decided the best is still to come! The best with my family, my friends, my marriage, my golf handicap, my ministry, and St Andrew's! The culture of Bethel does that to you - it is the closest I've come to experiencing a truly kingdom culture, one that is totally confident that what God is about to do is always better than the past because that is the nature of God and his kingdom. It's not that the past is unimportant, just the opposite, but we don't live there, we live now for his future.

Combining work & pleasure!

We are well and still having a ball, but we are starting to look towards home! We've had our last Sunday at Bethel, which also means the last worship experience - they've been fabulous! And the other day we ran into Bill Johnson who prayed for us; that was special. We had prayed that God would set up an opportunity for Bill to pray with us before we left, and God did! On Friday we leave for Bainbridge Island, Seattle to spend 5 days with Jenni & Grant (my sister and brother-in-law) at their church. On the way we are going to stay the night at Molalla with Linley Meisch (nee York - Ken & Wenda's daughter); in fact we are going to be staying in the home of Wenda's sister, Linley's auntie. On the Saturday we will drive through Portland and onto Seattle. While we are there I hope to start writing up my sabbatical report along with a bit of sight-seeing and shopping, I suspect. The following Thursday we fly out of Seattle to SFO (about a 3 hour stop-over) and then on to New Zealand. Hopefully one of our boys will be there meet us at Auckland airport... hint, hint!

Our Anna's hummingbird (female)

We are going to miss the Bethel community as they have been so genuinely welcoming and encouraging; and we're also going to miss our swimming pool. The water in Seattle is cold (brrrrr!) so I think that might be it until the NZ summer. And we will also miss watching the hummingbirds! We have loved these amazing little creatures feeding at out front door. Lenda has spent hours trying to photograph them on our little camera - not as easy as you think! It has been a spiritual experience in its own right, like the redwoods, just different - the big and the small - God is so amazing!

Please pray for us, as we transition once again, that God will continue to provide for our needs and set up encounters along the way where we will be able to witness to his goodness and salvation. Blessings, Ian & Lenda

Post No.10 - God is Good!!

Lenda standing beside a big Redwood

One of the key beliefs of the Bethel community is that God is always good! It's one of their core beliefs - it fuels their quest for God's manifest presence - it pervades their worship - it's at the heart of everything they do! And one of the things they do well is host people like us from all parts of the world. They go out of their way to make space for us to experience the Bethel culture so we can take it home with us. It's been a very humbling experience for us to be so openly part of their vision to bring revival to every nation of the world.through his Church that passionately seeks his presence, his face... This emphasis is perhaps most obvious in their music and worship. The greater majority of songs they write and use are about seeking more of God's presence. It makes their worship times wonderfully intense and filled with passion and expectation - we love it; we can't get enough of it! I (Ian) spend a good deal of my time in tears... surprise, surprise! I just can't help it...We have bought the Bethel Worship and Jesus Culture CDs and are soaking in them... We are so hungry to be baptised again and again in the Holy Spirit and power.

The king of Stout Grove

Many of the songs are lyrically very simple, like this one called "My Soul Longs For You" off the Jesus Culture album "Come Away":

'My soul longs for you. My soul longs for you. And nothing else will do. Nothing else will do.

I believe you will come like the rain. So Let it rain, Let it rain.'

How they take such simple, heartfelt lyrics and use them in creative and extemporary ways is something to experience. The music is full, and the singing passionate and powerful. It's transformational! Their service structure also is geared to encourage and accommodate the presence of God. At times they will do away with the sermon to follow what the Spirit is doing. Bring it on!

The Boy Scout Tree

On Wednesday we had the privilege of sitting in on the weekly leadership staff meeting chaired by Bill Johnson. The first part from 9 am to 11 am was the Global Legacy emphasis (international focus of Bethel) with most of the senior leaders present. They spent their time telling stories of what God was doing through their ministries, stories of signs, healings and miracles. It was great seeing these seasoned leaders excited about what God was doing, whoop-haring, and yeh-haring at every story - it was very inspiring! The second part up to lunchtime was with the leadership responsible for the local Bethel context. This was chaired by Eric Johnson, Bill's son, and focussed almost exclusively on the space problem they have on Sunday and how they logistically could add another service to their schedule. It was interesting to see how they were trying to come up with a solution that accommodated very one's needs, and especially the visitors to Bethel. Next week we will attend the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministries (BSSM). Both the first and second years are now well under-way and we, again, are privileged to be able to sit in and participate.

The Brotherhood Tree - Trees of Mystery, Klamath

On another level, and the reason this post is late, is that we have done a bit of travelling around this last week. On Monday-Tuesday we went to the coast (Crescent City) to see the Redwoods, and what an amazing experience that was! In fact, one of the most awe-inspiring we have ever experienced! They would have to be one of the wonders of the world. We have never seen so many huge trees... They are supposed to be the biggest living things on planet earth. We wished we had been able to stay another day and just hike (American parlance) through them. Wow! The only problem was our camera battery failed just as we got into the big trees and we had to use our cell phones. So I apologies at the poor quality of some of the photos.

Sierra Nevada Brewery

On Thursday-Friday we went down to Chico (an hour south of Redding) for the night to stay with an American couple who own a walnut farm. They hosted us so amazingly well it was almost embarressing. We had lunch at the Sierra Nevada Brewery, which some of you may have heard of. It's becoming increasingly well-known for its boutique beers; not that we would have known that! They drove us around the area showing us the walnut and almond orchards that dominate the area, and the rice farming which is a big deal in the Sacramento valley. It was great to spend some time with a conservative, Republican supporting, couple and listen to them talk about their view of the USA and how it was going to the dogs under the Democrats, and what needed to happen to put things back on track. In fact some of it made sense - less government, greater personal responsibility, less handouts, and a return to the values of hard work, family and community. It was hard to disagree with them!

Apple Pie America!

Our time here is fast running out - only 11 more sleeps before we head up to Seattle. We will be sad to leave Bethel as we feel it is only the beginning of something wonderful... But we are also excited about the journey St Andrew's is on and what the heart of God is for his Church! We're looking forward to coming home. Put your safety belts on... Ha, ha, ha... 

Blessings, Ian & Lenda

Post No.9 - Bethel

Bethel - Worship 6.30 pm service

Wow! Bethel is an awesome place. There is such an air of excitement and anticipation around it. And it is busy! There are so many people coming and going. There are a number of reasons for this: it has a Christian school (BCS) of several hundred children, so there are always parents around; the 2nd year School of Supernatural Ministries (BSSM) meets in the main auditorium (the first year students meet in the Redding Convention Centre which is in one of the down-town areas - the school has 1900 students this year, from all around the world), so there are students everywhere; and then there are people like us who have come to experience the place. It has a book shop and cafe which are always busy. Then there are the staff and the ministry volunteers. The car park is huge, accommodating hundreds of cars, much of it reserved for the BSSM students. Bethel has a staff of nearly 500! Let me say that again. Bethel has a staff of nearly 500! Wow! While this includes the BCS and BSSM, it also has a large international ministry and any number of professional musicians and creative people. The American culture, by nature, tends to discourage volunteerism due to their attitude to work and recreation. They are work-driven and have virtually no holidays (about one week a year). By the time many spend 60-70 hours at work or commuting, and factor in family-time, it doesn't leave a lot of time to give to anything else. Likewise, their kids are driven. They start school about 7.00 am and finish about 3.00 pm, plus there is homework and lots of extra-curriculary activities. They are just so driven! Evidently, this is part of the entrepreneurial and success psyche that underpins the American dream. Hence, Bethel (American churches in general) employ staff to do the work of what we in NZ would expect volunteers to do.

The main building is impressive by New Zealand standards, but not by American standards (see photo in Post No.8). In fact, it is a problem for them; they just don't have enough space. The auditorium (only part of the complex) holds about 1,200 people, but they need at least double this. Bill Johnson mentioned this on Sunday and said they are working through their options. Sunday was so full it wasn't funny! We attended the 8.30 am service and struggled to get a seat. Everyone had to be seated (safety regulations) or go to an over-flow room and participate by video link. Evidently, getting a seat at the 11.00 am service is harder still. They have just implemented a new policy of not letting people in until 10.50 so the first service is able to exit properly before the rush starts for seats; as we exited there were long queues...!

Baptism during Worship

We also attended the 6.30 pm service, arrived 30 min early (having learnt from the morning), and only just got seated (see photos); a few minutes later and we would have been in the over-flow room! It was a baptism service (first Sunday of every month) and the longest service we've ever attended - over 3 hours! The first 1½ hours was worship, which was fabulous, with the baptisms happening simultaneously. As people worshipped, in the main freely, they would cheer as each person came up out of the water; it was fun! Both services were much simpler and unstructured than we thought they would be, and refreshingly so! The basic structure was: worship, community (notices, promotions, testimonies, healing), preaching, ministry. We loved the experience. Bill Johnson preached at the 8.30 am service and was brief and to the point (30 min), while Kris Vallotton preached in the evening and took a long time (about an hour) to make a simple point, but was very funny at times.The service finished with a tunnel of fire - this is where the staff and ministry team line up to bless people; again, it was fun!

We have fallen on our feet in coming to Bethel at the start of the new semester because all the key staff are around. Bill had just returned from a month overseas speaking at conferences, including NZ; he said he had done 60,000 air miles! Tonight (Wednesday) we are going to sit in on a New Members Class because they (Bill and Kris) spell out the culture of Bethel so people know what they are signing up for - it's this we came to experience. On Friday we are having lunch with Joaquin Evans; we are hoping he will be able to organise for us to sit in on a staff meeting. Here's hoping... Most days we are spending an hour or so in the Prayer centre (see photo in Post No.8) which is peaceful and powerful. And then there is the pool.... Pray for us to be filled powerfully with the Holy Spirit and his anointing. Blessings, Ian & Lenda

The Sargeant family while in Canada

PS. We got an email from Martyn Sargeant about the bikes that were stolen in Birmingham.We have offerd to pay for their replacement. He says, "Don’t worry too much about the bikes – these things happen. We should probably have warned you that it’s not Harborne, but we feel it’s where God has called us to be. We think the bikes were taken by somebody local. Somebody we know a bit down the road has already indicated this (and we were offered them back for £30), so we’re just working out how best to handle that!!"