-Miles Mcpherson from The Rock Church in San Diego (http://therocksandiego.org/) was with us and he shared the vision and ministry of their church in reaching their community. Great resources here and an entire kit (Do Something!, you can get it at www.milesahead.com). Miles has spoken twice at TCI’s Thrive Conference (www.thriveconference.org) and we look forward to having him back.

-Jim Garlow from Skyline Wesleyan Church (http://www.skylinechurch.org/skyline/) was with us. REALLY enjoyed hearing from Jim; I had previously read a couple of his books but had not been able to speak to him. He’s the real deal…passion, wisdom, clarity. Jim’s wife Carol is battling with cancer (pray for her!), but they know that God’s hand is on them to continue their direction in ministry. Check out www.prayandact.com to find out more information about this.

-People need to see God in the Church and then they will be impressed. People will not be impressed with church because they are not seeing God. (Oh boy..I so want to insure that when we gather, we are giving glory to God and leading people to the Father and not being impressed with us–with our stuff, our technology, our whizbangs. Something like Matt Redmond’s song..back to the heart of worship).

-We simply cannot play church anymore! The time is now. We can’t allow people to be intimidated. We have to be an aggressive people who manifest the character of God: Strong, Loving, Forgiving, Graceful, Bold.

-We need to learn how to be informed and particularly be sure we know how to hear HIS voice (amen to that!)

-God not only hates divorce, He hates the divorce in your heart that happened long before the legal divorce (“Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” Proverbs 4:23)

-The Purpose Driven Life (I think God gave this to Rick, especially the PEACE plan…see www.purposedriven.com) needs to pierce the darkness!

-Join with Jesus in His John 13 and John 17 prayer (servanthood and oneness)

We had a glorious two day experience in Colorado…God moved, we wept, and our hearts remain soft to His voice and calling. If you want more information about James & Betty Robison and their ministry (Life Today), visit http://www.lifetoday.org/site/PageServer

-Pay the price or forfeit the future. Live Your Life for Kingdom Purpose. (My life mission: I want to invest my life in Kingdom Impact people and organizations to leverage my life for the glory of God).

-Why don’t we champion the faith? Are will willing to lay it down for freedom for others?

-Everything that is in His heart is not your part. What is your part? We all need to know our part and help other people do their part (TOTALLY resonated here; my book “Finding Your Place in God’s Plan” came out of this passion).

-Everyone needs a shoulder to lean on; encourage your people to be a shoulder to lean on. (How is this happening in your thriving church?)

-If people want their prayers answered, then seek to be an answer to someone’s prayer. If you want your dreams fulfilled, then lose your dreams in Him. What is on His heart?

-All pressure, pain, problems in life have either come through the hand of God or through His fingers. Why? Form Christlikeness in us. (If we really believed this, how would it change the way we respond to trouble in our lives?)

-We need to grow crops where we are planted!

-We need to release and challenge teenagers to their divine appointments! What are our churches calling people to? Stop feeding people pablum! Get into God’s heart and gameplan for today! (Note…how do I respond to this as a leader of leaders?. How do you react to this as a Christ follower?)

-The more you look like one another, the less you look like Jesus (Jesus values uniqueness, diversity, individuality)

-My note: Purposes-Principles-Paradigms-Practices lead to Impact

-He is more anxious to speak than you are to listen. Romans 10 connection. (Ouch! This is so reassuring and so convicting at once! How many times has the Father longed to speak to me and I was unwilling and unavailable to listen?)

-Themes of Faith, Family, Freedom were throughout this conference. Return to wisdom, sanity, security. Those 3 words of Faith/Family/Freedom really resonate with me. We rejoiced in the abolition of slavery, we should now be weeping at the abolition of freedom (this was a powerful and challenging section where the free market, freedom from greed, and personal freedom were all addressed). I feel particularly called to see churches and people walk in freedom and hope!

-This is a powerful prayer for us: “Show us the steps necessary to restore the fullness of faith, family, and freedom and for the Church to be who and what God has destined to be”. (Wow! Yes Lord..I long for me and for our churches to be who you have destined us to be!)

1) When God tells you what to do, the enemy often moves in to tell you how, where, who, when

2) John 17 was Jesus’ great intercessory prayer. He prayed that we would be ONE. We have to learn to disagree without divorcing. Divorce is rampant in the church because divorce is rampant in the church (more on that later!). God’s heart is for harmony in the family

3) God is calling us to an Isaiah 58 season. We are to be the restorers of the fallen and rebuilders of the wall. The restoration of America will happen because of the transformation of People. The church is real sick, but God is calling the church to this role in our world. We have to love every sick and defeated church, but we must not give our people pablum. We have to tend the ground where God has placed us and be faithful in our watchcare. Go to www.jamesrobison.net for some great additional writing on this subject. Faith, Family, Freedom. Those 3 words/visions stirred something DEEP in my soul. I wept again. And again. And again…

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Thoughts on the above:

1) You remember the old saying, “the devil is in the details”. Colloquial sayings have a root in truth. I thought this was such a powerful observation. So many times when I have been clear about what God wanted me or our church, or a team of people, to do…we ended up getting sideways on the when, how, who part of the equation. We did the right thing in the wrong way, time, or people. So important for me to hear…STAY grounded and connected to God the entire way through the journey. Dependence and connection to the Father is our only pathway to peace and fulfillment.

2) This vision for harmony on the basics was huge throughout this conference. Part of my heart in Thriving Churches International (TCI) is to build a broad network of churches who have a passion for Outreach, Spiritual Growth, Developing Leaders. As that network develops, we have a core statement of faith and a clear mission and vision. We are building a relational network to help facilitate this. God is already moving…we have churches of all kinds of stripes (and no stripes!) engaged in the vision. Part of why TCI was established was this framework. I felt affirmed in this conference challenge.

3) Isaiah 58 is SO rich. I personally felt God calling me to dwell there. God’s promises are RICH! What an amazing call and promise. We have to live in this. My heart is broken for the sick and weakly condition of the church. I’m praying that God will give all of us wisdom about how we bring the Bride of Christ into the fullness of our assignment. I long to see the fulfillment of our assignment in church’s across America and around the world. God has given and called the US to an appointment with divine destiny. Let’s run to the Father’s heart and fulfill our calling!

What happens in your heart as you read these things?

Miles McPherson and James Garlow (both San Diego pastors) are here; other than that I don’t know anyone else personally. It has been a RICH time. I have wept more these past two days than in a long time. Very cleansing for the soul. Some of what was shared here was for the moment only. But there are other things I think might be of benefit to the larger Body of Christ and are worth pondering. It’s hard to “download” all that God has done and spoken here. So I’m just going to share a few words right now and then more later. TCI (www.thrivingchurches.com) wants to be cooperate with God’s work on earth, so I’m trusting that He will give us wisdom to that end.

-The more sensitive you become to God the more sensitive you become to others

-Jesus never went to the mountains to get power (He had all the power of Heaven at His disposal). He went to the mountain to hear the voice of the Father instead of the cries of the masses.

-God cannot accomplish through you what He wills to do until He is able to do in you what He wills to do.

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Those 3 things are a good start. Here are some initial responses from me:

* If I am more in love with God every day and hour, then I will love people more every day and hour

* Why am I always seeking more power, strategy, strength, techniques than seeking more of the Father? This is an achilles heel for me personally. Do I want God more than I want His resources? Is my “doing” flowing from my “being” or am I always “doing” in order to “become”. OVERFLOW!!

* Surrender to the hand of God is the daily/hour (moment by moment!) choice of walking in the Spirit vs. walking in the Flesh. How much of my life and ministry and the ministries of our churches is about us and how much is about HIM?

I want to know that what I am doing and what we are doing is coming FROM the Father and not simply FOR Him.

These are my first reflections from meeting God at the mountain!

Today was a good day because Debbie slept pretty well last night, we had a good morning with her, she took a couple of naps today, felt good enough to go out to dinner tonight (one day after her 50th birthday!), and actually went shopping at Nordstroms! We are all celebrating the time with her because we realize now more than ever that each day is precious.

So I got to wondering: Is each day “really” more precious today than it was 3 months ago? Nope. Each day is precious all the time. However, our RECOGNITION and APPRECIATION of what makes the days precious has changed dramatically in light of what we know is Debbie’s medical condition. Sadly, it often takes something like this to make us grateful for what we really have.

I’m working on being more aware and appreciative of what God has given us in the every day. I want to be a grateful person. How about you?