UH OH.

SORRY everyone. I have been absolutely terrible with updating this thing. Second semester, for me, was a real increase to my schedule. Add to that having issues with internet availability and connectivity, and finally mix in some good old procrastination, and you have a recipe for a cold blog. Whoops.

Things here have been really great, though different from their usual pacing. Bethel has been entering into a new season as a church body, so on a large scale, there has been some intense spiritual warfare going on since christmastime. At this point in March there has been a real release from that spiritual warfare, and many have declared a "New Year" from this intense season of battle.

These past months have been an absolute transformational period for me yet again. Starting with the miracle breakthroughs that we had in January, I was brought into a season where I really examined my own spiritual DNA. Sometimes, in looking solely towards our destiny, we never take the opportunity to look at the whole scope of our lives and think of things from a multigenerational perspective. I have realized that I am not on earth for some specific assignment; that is not my first priority. My heart is to know Him intimately and to make Him known.

It is easy for believers with good intentions to become so passionate about the things of God that they misguidedly reduce life down to their attempt to fulfill the Great Commission. They begin to find their identity in how near they are to seeing their passions come to fruition, and in doing so they set themselves up for discouragement and dejection. They despise the deadness of religious institution, but create for themselves a monotonous life routine of striving that doesn't bear fruit that remains. There always seems to be an invisible boundary between the promises of God and the reality of those promises becoming tangible, and believers in this state believe that the boundary will be broken with greater effort and determination. This perpetuates their passions and keeps them deadlocked towards an uncertain end; one they hope will finally resolve their good deeds and bring the changes they so desperately seek.
One of the greatest tactics of the enemy is to convince us that His purpose in creating us is to accomplish His commission, instead of the truth that we are truly created to know Him intimately. Through intimacy we're called, but not out of His need. We're called because He enjoys including us in every aspect of His passions, and they are always for people. We certainly aren't asked to save the world (Jesus already did) and we're not asked to even change it unless He has set us up for that purpose. We are called to love Him! Ministry can be defined as "overflow".
This is the way in which God has been dealing with me. I realize that my desire to be an influence, my desire to bring about positive change, outweighed my desire to truly know Him. It wasn't what I said to Him that gave it away; it was how I spent my time, the way I prayed, and the way I ministered. I thought the substance of my life with Him was spent towards His purposes. I didn't really expect encounters because I didn't think I needed them. I was already equipped and I thought I knew what I was "supposed" to do.

We are meant to love Him, in a tangible and practical way. This shifts the priorities of every part of your life! My relationship with God doesn't have an end result anymore: I want to know Him despite the cost, whether I am a major part of His plan or not. Now I am addicted to encountering His presence and seeing Him shift things in me. This is sometimes painful! But it is worth it. God prunes those He loves.


testimony/

Last sunday at the meeting, Bill felt a grace to begin to call out words of knowledge for healing. Over the phone, the word of knowledge about 'spina bifida' was released, and there was a partial healing! The man's spine straightened and so did his leg. OVER THE PHONE! It was amazing, and the whole church freaked out. 111 people got healed that night, many of them just from when the word was released. Praise God!

New Beginnings

It has been a little while, to say the least! I had a lovely Christmas holiday that lasted only three quick weeks. Now I am back to the races, so to speak, although that is really a poor metaphor for what Bethel life is like. Perhaps I should say that I am back to an adventurous journey, or perhaps, to be more precise, I could say that I am back to my "floundering in the River". Whatever I'm doing, it's certainly good to be back, although I miss my family, friends, and girlfriend more now that I have been home for a short period.

Since returning home, the theme around here has certainly been "New Beginnings". The number 8 in scriptures symbolizes, among other things, the concept of new beginnings and it prophetically denotes a 'fresh start'. This has most definitely been true for both myself and my classmates, as we have seen incredible changes within ourselves and through our ministries. The church itself is planning for some new endeavors, and the leadership is modeling the habits that are necessary for big changes. We have been encouraged at Bethel by Bill and the senior leadership to write down our goals and dreams for the year, and to partition them into specific categories. The three categories intended were those dreams that were "Probable, Improbable, Impossible". The reason why these divisions were made in the list was so that as we position ourselves to live out these dreams, we continually realize that God makes everything on our list possible through faith. In this way, it is easy to see what level of faith we live at, as we are the ones who decide the difference between "impossible" and "possible".

I personally have committed to adventure into the depths of God this semester. I feel a stirring to go deeper and really 'sink my teeth' into this stuff. So far, it has been overwhelming! Normally, I would reserve testimonies for the end of my post, but because of the nature of this testimony, I will write about it now.

My friends and I felt we had a word from the Lord that spoke of us seeing "seven miracles in seven days". We began to seek out opportunities to put this word to the test and found ourselves all about Redding, hungry to see God work. We weren't hunting miracles per se, but instead looking for chances to express God's love the way we believed He said He would.

Within one week, without any special impartation or divine encounter, only with the boldness that came from the word we recieved, we saw the following miracles:


Shoulder pain, healed; Dormitory

Arthritis in the hands, healed; BestBuy

Deafness, 95% healed (only words spoken at a long distance [over 30ft.]were still slightly muffled but she reported 95% improvement]; Walmart
Blind Right Eye, healed; Walmart

Man in motorized cart with long list of ailments, partial healing and pain subsided; Walmart

Shoulder pain, likely healed (likely meaning that they felt the presence of God, they could not test it out, and we could not later confirm that the pain had stayed away); Mall booth

Liver Cyst, likely healed (again, felt the presence of God but would have to go for tests); Mall booth

Broken Right Ankle, healed; Starbucks

large Bruise, disappeared; Starbucks

Scholeosis, healed; Starbucks

Leg grown out; Target? (Unsure of location)

Hip Problem w/ use of cane, partial to full healing; Parking lot

Ruptured disc, healed; Walmart Mcdonalds

Carpal tunnel, partial healing; Walmart

Charcot-Marie disorder/disease, healed; Walmart

Car Accident victim, divine appointment to pray- full recovery and man's health bills were covered; parking lot

Deafness, healed; Stop-light

Cold, healed; Walmart

Deafness, partial healing; invited to person's home

Knee problems, healed; Walmart

Sympathetic Muscular Dystrophy, partial healing; Walmart

Praise God!


Unfortunately, I don't have the time to recount every single story through this medium, so I hope that this list will whet appetites. If you need specific breakthrough in one of these areas, or if you would like to step out with boldness to see these same testimonies repeated through your life and ministry, then I will try to send the story behind it. I am truly sorry that I can't fully testify of such an amazing week through this blog.
I personally have had other amazing God-encounters and transformative experiences outside of this week in particular, and it has truly been an honor to be brought into a new place through the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm excited for what lies ahead, and I'm radically thankful for what lies behind me. God is moving, and I will never be the same again!


Blessings,

Connor

Living by Faith Alone

Hello again!

It becomes more and more true that God never sleeps and never grows weary; when we partner with Him, in an environment of faith and trust, we can count on Him to continue to work even when we are simply going about our normal life. Suddenly ordinary circumstances become encounters with heaven and kingdom-building opportunities!
I am not sure whether I have communicated this yet or not, but most of the miracles at Bethel Church happen out on the streets. This has become so true that many visitors coming to Bethel for a breakthrough often do not receive their healing during an altar call or prayer ministry, but instead get healed afterwards by randomly meeting someone from Bethel on the street! (Or in the store or wherever)
These past two weeks have been very different but altogether wonderful (like the Tim Hughes song says). My mother and sister came to visit Chad and I during American Thanksgiving, and we had a great time with them. I'm sure that they have shared their experiences with many of you, but for those that haven't heard, we traveled to San Francisco, met Bill at a special Thanksgiving Q&A, took in a few services, went shopping, and ate out quite a bit! (The cafeteria on campus was closed for the week)

It's impossible to experience so many new environments and not change your perspective on everything. Sometimes these perspectives aren't wrong, but underdeveloped, as you really can't form an opinion about something until you experience it first-hand. One such experience I have been placed in again and again is the opportunity to observe how effective the church is. More specifically, I've been able to observe how effective the church is in the real world.
When your dreams and passions are about the Kingdom, you begin to imagine and believe for revival across every city, culture, and church worldwide. This becomes your goal and one ambition. But when your experiences remain solely in the church, these goals and ambitions, these faith declarations, become nothing more than blind optimism.
There is a type of optimism that is dangerous to those that want to be Kingdom builders: Optimism that takes precedence over faith. Any optimism that denies reality and forces the believer to live outside reality gives a person the illusion of being effective, but the truth is that they are actually living on the sidelines.
I do not deny reality; I simply live from the perspective of a better one. Faith is not denying the natural, only believing that there is a reality that supersedes this one. In that sense, there are many Christians pretending that their diseases do not exist and dropping their treatment while the symptoms persist. In a similar way, many people hope for revival but never risk the chance of dashed hopes through the act of actually sizing up the mountain that we plan on moving.

We as believers truly have a lot to do. Being in San Francisco, or even simply ministering on the streets of Redding, can quickly give you a good guess as to the impossibility of this God-given task to bring heaven to earth! But He said we could do it, so I am going to take His word over my human instincts. People in San Francisco in particular are in desperate need. Many even here in Redding are suffering with drug addictions and broken families. Worse yet, there are countless millions that go through life spiritually disabled, without ever struggling with the pitfalls that churches usually target (and therefore often slip through our ministry 'radar'). I am more and more dissatisfied with any approach, conventional or cutting-edge, that does not fully rely on God's power and love to be effective. It has even been personally embarrassing, at times, to minister in such a way that God has to show up: I have prayed for people who didn't get healed, I have given words of knowledge that weren't accurate, and I have stepped out when it was naturally humiliating to do so. However, I must make this into my only method of building the Kingdom. Anything I can do out of my own efforts, I'm probably accomplishing without Him.

This is not a discouraging word! It puts our faith into practice as we force ourselves to step out each and every time our faith can be exercised. All of the excess 'ministry' in our lives that does not involve His presence or power can be left behind, freeing us up to be more virtuous, relational people. Instead of trying to build the church, we allow Christ to build His church, and we can finally have the time to pick up His commission for the Kingdom!

testimony

Chad Dedmon is a youth pastor whose Father is on staff at Bethel Church. He spoke to many of us over Thanksgiving break and gave us this testimony from his junior youth group:
Many of his kids, inspired by God's commission to walk in power, have decided to try to emulate the miracles of Jesus. One such miracle that they were excited about was Jesus' ability to walk on water. Because was not the only one who did it, and because He told us that we could do greater works, they decided to literally 'step out' every night across a backyard pool during Bethel's youth conference. They would stand at the pool's edge, pray until they felt they had enough faith, and then step out onto the water. Each night, all ten of these junior high boys would get soaking wet as they fell in the pool.
Some time later, their junior youth was having a baptism time at a local lake. These same boys, still determined, decided to try to walk on water again.
This time, all 26 of them joined hands and walked out towards the water's edge.

This time, only 25 kids fell in.

One boy, who had been attempting to walk on water with the others long before that day, walked 6 full solid steps slowly out onto the lake, taking a second to look back at those onshore. With nowhere else to go, he too fell into the lake.

People clamored around him to find out how he did such a thing. Individuals out on the water came to shore to find out how that was even possible! This young man was able to share the gospel with everyone on the beach that day, due to the miraculous power of God!

Blessings,

Connor

Living in a Kingdom Culture

I am continually amazed at the balance and direction that the revival culture here at Bethel maintains. God is doing an incredible work in me, week by week, day by day, and this is true for everyone involved! This area is definitely a place of transformation, and the Kingdom Jesus planned for this earth is visibly being established. It's unfolding with each moment, as you see slaves become sons and take their place in the way God has called them to live.

Things are very practical around here. People are down-to-earth, genuine, and invested in each other. Again and again I realize that it's actually quite "supernaturally natural" to continually live in the state of revival, with perpetual increase and true fellowship. I have never been this close to a legitimate revival before, so sometimes I have to pinch myself when a supernatural moment occurs. Most other times, however, it feels very comfortable just to live life and be yourself at all times in Bethel. Often I have to remind myself that my experience has not been normal for much of the church up until this time in history.

Bill Johnson says that how you define revival will determine the fruit you receive from one. Many want to see revival in their church, and in their own lives, but they have not considered that their intentions for revival still carry an agenda that cannot be sustained without human effort. I love how Bethel has been established in such a way that it practically lives and breathes as a church with only the Spirit's presence as the fuel to continue.

I thought, in coming here, that one major area I would grow in was the working of signs, wonders, and miracles. Although I've received instruction in this, and although I have seen many supernatural occurrences, this has not been the most significant thing that has happened in my life, nor is it the emphasis of this school. They encourage students to find their true identity in Christ, and live out of that identity in the fullest confidence. Out of your identity in Christ comes a supernatural lifestyle, as "these signs shall follow those that believe". Furthermore, it becomes easy to stay in a place of fruitfulness and faith when you remain in Christ and what he provided for us.

One thing that is very strongly being emphasized in our teaching right now is the concept of the Sabbath, and learning how to rest. Every one of the ten commandments was reiterated in some form by Jesus in the New Testament, except for the command to keep the Sabbath. Some have taken this to mean that the Sabbath is not important, while others have taken the other extreme to believe that the Sabbath standard is still in place. However, God's intent is that every day becomes a Sabbath day! Hebrews talks about how we have entered into the rest that God has promised us, and how we can now work from rest instead of for it. Through this teaching, I began to see how this revival is so easily maintained. What has happened in Redding could happen anywhere else. It is simply a collection of people who understand who they are, realizing that God responds to their faith and not to their works, being people who are willing to share their energy and life with one another in the true spirit of fellowship and unity, willing to sacrifice anything for more of the Spirit's presence. Out of this atmosphere, the biggest and best things can happen, and they're happening every day! (Read the testimony below for a great example)

Recently we had the Leader's Advance here at Bethel, which is an invitation-only leadership training seminar put on by Bethel's leadership for churches moving in this same revival. We as students were not able to attend, but we were called upon to serve in the various functions of their gathering. We fed 800 pastors and leaders on three or four separate occasions, and it was an incredible time. Someone joked that this was really a job expo for many students, as you could tell that some leaders were keeping an eye on those that were serving as possible job candidates! The church treated these leaders really well. There was a prophetic appointment pre-arranged for every leader in attendance, and the main prophets assigned to speak over these leaders were young prophets that had come out of Deborah Reed's children's ministry! The youngest was 6-7, and the oldest was 12. They met with the leaders for 10-15 minutes, along with a supervisor/prophet that looked after the child. Apparently it was a very powerful time!

I pray that these blogs are encouraging. I will try to post more often, as I am quite busy most of the time around here. I hope you don't find me too repetitive about Bethel, and please, feel free to ask me questions via comments or emails! I would welcome that.


testimony

Two days ago, a first-year student and a third-year intern were dropping off some food to one of the senior's centers in Redding for their assigned outreach. The third-year intern was unloading the food and was in a rush, so when one of the center's staff came and tried to get his attention, he essentially ignored her. Finally paying attention to her demands, she informed him that an elderly gentleman had just died, and that he was not a Christian upon his death. Immediately the two men ran into the room where the elderly man had just died, and began speaking life into his body. Amazingly, and within minutes, the man came back to life! They were able to ask him if he wanted to accept Christ, which he did. Three minutes after accepting Jesus, he died. WOW!


Blessings

Connor

Growth, Change, Direction

Hi Everybody! You're expecting me to tell you what a great past two weeks it's been here at Bethel, so I won't tell you it's been great. Instead, I'll be more honest and say that it's been absolutely out-of-this-world, beyond-belief, life-changing. (that was a lot of hyphens!)

These two weeks have honestly been likely the most significant in forming my identity and destiny. Some things have happened in my life that are so wonderful they cannot be explained through text on a blog, and others are still being processed, so I won't go into incredible detail. I mentioned a little bit about the work God was doing in me personally on my last post, and now I realize that that period was a launching pad into a much deeper work that God was doing in me. I am still in the midst of that movement, and until it resolves I don't want to jump to conclusions on everything God is telling me to do and be. I am just excited about all of it! This culture lends itself to prophetic words, and words of encouragement. I have been getting lots, and lots of them are the exact same thing! God is so good. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday, and I believe it was God bringing up my identity on purpose because of this birthday season! The picture is of the cake that some other students bought for me. They're great around here.

This period of Bethel life is busy. We just got through our first conference, the Open Heavens conference, which was quite an experience. Che Ahn, Bill Johnson, and Kris Vallotton spoke. There was an emphasis on apostolic teaching and impartation at this conference, and we saw many healings and miracles. Before that, there was 'The Call' in Las Vegas. The Call is a cool ministry that organizes large prayer gatherings in different locations across the States. These prayer gatherings are just times of intercession over the city it is hosted in, as well as intercession for the nation. No guests or worship artists are announced, as people simply come to pray. Bill Johnson went down with some 2nd year students to minister healing in a special tent at The Call, and they saw a woman with late-stage-MS become completely healed and get up out of her wheelchair in the first hour of the healing tent being opened!
Next is the Advance, which is a leadership training conference for invited guests here at Bethel. We can't attend these meetings, but we're allowed to volunteer as servants at the luncheons and different events that are connected with this event.

On the last day of the conference, I decided to go with a missions team down to San Francisco and minister the gospel of the Kingdom to the homeless on the streets. It was quite the adventure! There were 15 of us from Bethel on this team, and we drove down in three vehicles eagerly expecting the unknown.
We arrived in front of SF city hall at about 8PM, and immediately there is a mild culture shock that hits you as you realize the extent and scope of a city like SF. On our way, we were blocked by thousands of cyclists who were protesting something-or-other through blocking traffic with their procession, dressed in funny-looking attire. Some weren't dressed at all!
The ministry sets itself up in the plaza in front of city hall, and we had a time of open-air worship and quick preaching. The mini-service lasts for about 20 minutes. Any homeless who are gathered may hear the message, get saved, then receive a hot meal afterwards. We divided our bethel team into two different teams, and there were probably another 40 individuals who had come to this outreach from other churches and events. Our smaller team was assigned to Polk St., which is one of the worst for prostitution in the city of SF. We were given food and roses, and we were asked to feed the hungry, and bless prostitutes on the streets with a rose to tell them that God thinks that they're beautiful.
Now, this is quite the experience when you realize that 9/10 of the prostitutes in SF are male transvestites. In fact, you feel uncomfortable not only by their demeanor, but also by the fact that you are trying to minister to them with honor, and that includes respecting their own understanding that they are female! They have had many encounters where the love of Christ, through the presentation of these flowers, results in immediate deliverance from deception, and the gender-confusion immediately ceases. We were prepped in advance for any possible dangers, so that brought us some confidence.

Many people on my team had incredible divine appointments. My leader, Andreas, met a man in a small convenience store and struck up a conversation. He asked the man, "Would you like to feel the power of God?" and the man said "Yes!". Andreas took the man by the hand and prayed with wisdom that the man would feel incredible peace in his heart. After the prayer, the man said, "I asked God today for peace! You guys must be angels!" They found out that his man was addicted to drugs on the streets of SF, but had the ambition and dream to one day go to culinary school and become a chef. They prayed against his addictions and spoke encouragement to him.

My personal experience was definitely more about God changing my perspective. I met a man named Jeffery, who was an addict that asked for some food and for the rose I intended to give to one of the prostitutes down the street. I told him he could have the rose, but I asked him what it was for. He told me that he intended to "give it to his love", and that he would soon see her. I asked her who she was.
He began to tell me his story, about how he fell in love with a woman named Tracy who worked downtown in a used bookstore. He showed me her business card, and he explained that when they started dating, he kept up in steady employment, and began the process of getting off the drugs he was on at the time. Two years ago, Tracy died. Since then, his life has spiraled out of control, and he is now living on the streets, doing any drugs he can find and drinking non-stop. He explained his depression and recognized his depravity, telling us that he has considered suicide and will probably not survive this winter. Although clearly intoxicated by many chemicals in his body, Jeffery was still very cognizant and intelligent in his conversational skills. He was honest and open about his pain.
So here i am, standing on one of the worst streets in San Francisco, with a man named Jeffery who is almost at the verge of tears as he pulls out his wallet and shows me his picture of Tracy. She is sitting, and he is standing behind her smiling. As I look at the picture, he pulls another travel bottle of vodka out of his pocket and guzzles it, saying that it's his seventh for the night. I was overcome by this man's need, and by the terrible pain that exists on those streets. I felt this overwhelming need for the love of Jesus to tangibly impact people like Jeffery. Suddenly all church squabbles and christian opinions didn't seem to important. Suddenly, the most important thing in the world to me was trying to express the love of Jesus to Jeffery's heart.
He wouldn't let us pray with him, as he felt that if God took away his pain, he would forget Tracy's memory. We didn't push him, as we were emotionally grieving with him through this time. We just continued to listen as he poured out his heart. Eventually he needed to go, and the only words we could impart to him was the encouragement that he was a good man, and that we believed he would make it through this winter and recover his life.
I believe that God will change Jeffery, but I am certain that my encounter with him has changed me.

testimonies


This story is from a Bethel student alumni, so it still counts! We have seen many miracles and there is not the time for me to recount every one, but just an occasional story of encouragement that will bless you.
This former Bethel student travelled to the Philippines to work in the orphanages in that nation. After returning to the US, he still felt a burden to go back to the country, so sometime later that year he went back on his own, without any direction or plan. In one part of the city he arrived in, he met a man who was almost completely blind and asked if he could pray for that man. The man agreed, and as they prayed, 50-75% of his eyesight returned! The student asked if he could continue to pray for the man, and the man agreed. After the second prayer, his eyesight completely returned to full function!
This miracle astounded the former blind man, so he asked if the student would be willing to pray with the man's blind friend. The student agreed, and so they went off on a journey through the city to find this man's blind friend. When they found her, the former blind man explained things and they entered into prayer.
When the student laid his hands on the woman's closed eyes, he realized something that literally vacuumed out all of his faith for that moment: she had no eyeballs in her eye-sockets! After he prayed, she opened her eyes and he verified that that was the case. Although he had just seen a miracle, he recounted that his faith was completely gone in this circumstance. Even still, they pressed into prayer again.
As he laid hands on her eyes, and only prayed for a moment, he could feel eyes beginning to form in her empty sockets! Eventually when he could sense that the eyes were fully formed, he asked her to open her eyes. They were completely white, lacking an iris/pupil! Now his faith was back in order, so instead of praying, he simply said, "God, complete the work."
At that instant, with her eyes opened, he states that he watched the hand of God literally paint her iris and pupil onto her eyes. Although he could not see the hand of God, or the brush with which he did this, the student recounted that there was a physical "colouring-in" of the eye. She had her full vision! Isn't that crazy?!?


Blessings,
Connor