3 Things You Shouldn't Tolerate in Life

Life is crazy sometimes. So much has happened, so much is happening, and who knows what will happen tomorrow? Do you ever get through a day, or a month (or a year!) and feel like you are finally catching your breath? Sometimes we run too fast to see where we're going, and we end up wondering where we are or how we got there.

That's when it's easy for different thoughts to enter in, thoughts that demand our attention and offer a consultation on where we stand. Some thoughts are good and helpful, while others seek to bring you down and take away any joy you are holding onto. I want to talk about 3 mindsets that we should be actively destroying in our lives.

These 3 thieves are shame, distraction, and fear.

Shame will try to rob you of your past. It will tell you that you are stained, that your story has already been written as inadequacy. Shame will claim that it's too late, and things will never be as they should have been. It will replay your mistakes so often that your victories seem worthless. You might have even befriended shame in the hopes of avoiding repeating your past. Time to un-friend shame.

Isaiah speaks of hope that is available to us when he says "Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion." (Isaiah 61:7) If you are in Christ, this upgrade is for you! If not, why wait any longer?

Shame destroyer tip: Think about how amazing Jesus is. Dwell on that for awhile and then think about how he gave you His record and identity. God looks at you and sees Jesus. It's true!

Distraction will try to rob you of being present. It will whisper that you should be somewhere else, doing other things, being with other people. It will tell you your life isn't good enough, and the things you do aren't worth investing in. It will present you with many good things while a great thing is unattended to.

This doesn't mean that anything unproductive is a distraction. If it's what you decided to do and you're focused on it, then you aren't being distracted by it. But it seems like from now on there will only ever be more distractions. So you have to choose what (and who) you want to allow in your life and what you want to put value in.

"Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil." (Proverbs 4:25-27)

Distraction destroyer tip: Write down the things you want to do this week/month and make time for them, focus on them. Put them on your schedule. Make sure to plan for rest and leisure too!

Fear will try to rob you of your future. It will create scenarios in your head of failure and pain. It will remind you of the reasons why you haven't pursued your dreams for all these years. It will masquerade as the voice of reason keeping you on a safe track.

The Bible is pretty black and white on this one - "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7) Don't tolerate this in your life! If you do feel fear (come on, we all do) there is no shame in that (see the first point). But we can't let it stay and influence our decisions.

You were born with an awesome destiny and all the tools you need to get there are available to you. Don't let fear stop you from doing what is in your heart to do.

Fear destroyer tip: Ask God if he is afraid of any of the things you fear. He's with you, after all. Pray for more of His love in those areas. Do something good this month that scares you. 

Changing bad mindsets is not always a quick or easy thing to do, but it gets easier with practice. If you want an amazing practice regimen, check this out!!

Back to the blog!

It's been awhile since I've posted on here, so this is my step towards getting back into it. I took a break for Summer and have been pretty busy with Second Year at BSSM, but I'm learning to manage all that better now and I'm excited to write again. 

This post will be about my upcoming trip to Thailand and Cambodia this March!

I'm going on a two-week long mission trip with Bob and Kimberly Johnson, a wonderful couple who have a heart for the poor and broken. Our team’s main focus will be bringing the solutions of Jesus Christ to the issue of sex trafficking. We will work alongside Destiny Rescue in both nations to pour into their staff, the rescued girls and at-risk children. We will also have the opportunity for nightly street ministry in the red light districts. Because of the sensitive nature of the ministry, we’ve been taking weekly classes on trafficking after-care and learning more about this injustice.

My heart flows with compassion for these women and children that are taken advantage of, but also for the traffickers who perpetuate this cycle. They are in just as much bondage, held captive by lies about who they are or where their identity comes from. They are all just one encounter away from receiving the Father’s love and living as sons and daughters of the King. I long to see restoration and purity abound in these nations, and I would love for you to be part of that!

We’ll be in Thailand and Cambodia from March 18-31. Please pray that my whole team is able to raise the needed support and that these nations are forever changed. If you would like to support me, I need to raise $3,150 for the trip, but $200 has to be in by tomorrow morning as a deposit. The easiest way to give is online, by clicking this link but if that doesn’t work for some reason you can search my name at trips.ibethel.org. 

You can also write a check to Bethel Church (with a note that has Thailand/Cambodia and my name on it) and send it to:

Bethel Church
ATTN: Short-term Missions
20 Lake Blvd.
Redding, CA 96003

I'm also on the worship and media teams for the trip which means I'll get to bring the creativity of heaven into these dark places and document it all through pictures, video, and blogging. I've had words spoken over my life about leading worship around the world and this is part of that being fulfilled! I'm so excited to see all that God does!!

Homework - Where is your sting?

We learned in school that making memorials of what God has done in your life is necessary to properly steward what he has given you and to keep your faith alive that He will do it again. The Israelites did this by piling stones on top of each other after they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, so that when their children ask about the stones they can give the testimony of God parting the waters and providing for them. When my children ask me about this blog post, I will get to tell them how God supernaturally empowered me to read 16 books over the course of 8 months at BSSM (and 1 the preceding Summer).

Yes, you read that correctly - 16 books. To graduate, you have to read every book. And there are no Cliffs Notes (you have to sign that you read it anyway)! So I'm not trying to brag or anything, but this is kind of a big deal. When I was a freshman in college, I read the Lord of the Rings for an English class (great class btw, so many metaphors to explore). I'm pretty sure this takes the cake. I also remember when I was researching BSSM, I could NOT find the book list anywhere. I realize now that all of the books are covered in tuition so they probably don't want students buying them beforehand, but I figured I'd post the list here just in case anyone is wondering. 

So here is the book list for the 1st Year of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry:

My top 5: (in order of awesomeness)

1. Culture of Honor by Danny Silk (the bread and butter of Bethel culture!!!)

2. The Supernatural Power of Forgiveness by Jason Vallotton (read it!!)

3. The Supernatural Ways of Royalty by Kris Vallotton (all about identity)

4. Strengthen Yourself in the Lord by Bill Johnson (short and sweet)

5. Moral Revolution by Jason and Kris Vallotton (buy this for any teenager you know)

6. God's Generals by Roberts Liardon (so good I couldn't stop at 5)

Here are the rest: (in the order we read them)

-When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson

-Hosting the Presence by Bill Johnson

-30 Days to Understanding your Bible (I was one of a few people who liked this book)

-A Practical Guide to Evangelism Supernaturally by Chris Overstreet

-Basic Training for the Prophetic by Kris Vallotton

-Experiencing the Father's Embrace by Jack Frost

-The Supernatural Ways of Royalty Workbook by Kris Vallotton

-The Happy Intercessor by Beni Johnson

-Spirit Wars by Kris Vallotton

-Grasping God's Word by Duvall and Hays (loved it; hated it.)

-Christian History Made Easy by Timothy Paul Jones

So now we're down to our last week of school, with graduation on Friday. What a year it has been! So much growth, revelation, and experience. So many awesome relationships built. I can't wait to see what 2nd Year holds (officially got accepted last night!!). Here's a pic of me and Raj outside the Civic (I'm gonna miss it next year):

After a city-wide Good Friday service

And here's the one picture I took at our revival group party today. I love these people who have become family this year. Young and Hannah Kim took us under their wing, whispered softly to us at times, slapped us into reality at times, and never stopped loving. This picture captures the moment right before Andy (in the pink) is thrown into the pool (I was next).  

They're not hugging; that's an ambush.

If you're reading this, I care about you (not because you are reading it, but because you are amazing). So keep doing what you do, because nobody can do it better than you (honestly not sure if I came up with that or took it from Dr. Seuss)!

The featured song of this post is Wonder by Amanda Cook of Bethel Music. It's a spontaneous worship song (i.e. she made it up on the spot, led by the Spirit)

Pics or it didn't happen

Hey everybody, we're back from Korea and here are some pictures to prove we really went :)

Thanks again to everyone who donated to send us; you should be getting a letter soon!

The trip was a huge success, thanks to all your prayers! Our team got to speak and minister to people at many different churches and conferences, mainly focusing on unity and family, while empowering the people at each location. Unity within the church will be a key to revival, but we also got to focus on the unity of North and South Korea. We went to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) one day and got to look into the most closed-off nation in the world and pray for reconciliation and peace. Then we had lunch with the vice-mayor of a city right on the border which is pushing for the reunification of Korea. It was a very powerful day. Overall, we did a lot of battle through prayer and many people were encouraged and activated in ministry! We got to love the people of Korea and tell them how much the Father loves them and who he created them to be. 

No more pain!

That lady, holding up the peace sign, owns a shop in Daejeon. We found out she is a Christian and had pain in her back. After we prayed twice, all of the pain left and she was all smiles. She gave us free handkerchiefs and when I tried to buy a framed picture for $30 she gave that to me for free too.

Barriers turn into breakthroughs

This was my first prophetic painting ever! It's a vision I had before we went on the trip, of a chain dissolving over Korea and watering the revival that is to come. I feel like it means that God will use the things that used to keep us down to actually propel us forward. When I was praying for the lady on the left, I felt like it was for her, so I painted it that night and gave it to her. 

That's North Korea out there

We got to climb a small mountain and look out over North Korea. We had an amazing time praying, declaring freedom, and worshiping at the top.

Grill right in the table

This was at a Korean BBQ place where you take the raw meat and cook it right in front of you. It's buffet style so we got to try a little bit of everything. I even ate a little baby squid!

He who is skilled will stand before kings. Prov 22:29

This is Dustin with the vice mayer of Yeoncheon, a city right on the border of North and South Korea. Before we went on the trip, Dustin was given a piece of Korean currency by a homeless man at Starbucks. Random, right? Maybe not…the money was from 1953, the year that the demilitarized zone was established and the Korean War ended. As a prophetic act, we gave this note to the vice-mayor , declaring that finances will come for all of his plans to improve the area and foster peace.

Adorable and powerful

These kids are student at Little Heaven English school. They pretty much learn all the same stuff we learn at BSSM but they have the child-like faith that Jesus said was so important. They're also bilingual and cute. This was the honeybee classroom, and we got to teach, sing, and play with them. 

Here are some other testimonies that I don't have pictures for:
-A lady had back pain because one of her legs was shorter than the other. God grew her leg out and the pain left. Pain can’t stay when it meets the Kingdom.!
-Shoulder pain was healed when a lady’s daughter helped pray for it.
-One man came for a prophetic word but left with a relationship with Jesus! He had said a salvation prayer before, but not in his own language, so he was still unsure. Not anymore!
-A lady had cartilage restored to her knees when one of our team members sang a song over her, which she had never memorized but remembered on the spot.

It was a great trip with a great team! Now just 1 month until graduation. Here we go!

To the Core

Hey everyone, it's been a few weeks since my last post, so here's the scoop! (As to the weird highlighting of the text, I am not sure what happened...)

I leave for South Korea in 12 days! Trip paid in FULL (for everyone), and we have one more team meeting before the launch. I probably won't blog while I'm over there, but I'm in charge of recording stories and testimonies for the trip so I'll definitely have a lot to share when I come back! We're praying HUGE for this trip, so please join us in that from March 22 - April 4. 

My best bud Chris Harris visited for a week so we explored Redding, shot some guns, played ultimate frisbee (oh hey cardio!) and ended the trip in San Francisco. Here's the crew marching up the ridiculously steep Lombard Street:

Aaron's doing his famous long jump ski pose

Here's the view from the top! With part of the Bay:

Part of it looked like pictures of Brazil or Central America

So since that week, I've applied for 2nd Year here, gotten caught up on homework, looked at some apartments, and enjoyed the bits of sunshine we've had (February seemed to be the month of rain). Today I found this awesome flower:

Spring is coming!

As I prepare for South Korea, I've been thinking about my core values and why it's important to know them before you need them. Decisions aren't as hard in the heat of battle when you've already decided beforehand how to act. As my venerable small group leader, Ron, said to us, the best soldiers can risk it all because they've already died to themselves before the battle. When we get to this point with Jesus, where we consider ourselves crucified with him and no longer living for ourselves (Galatians 2:20), it really frees us to be brave. Dead people also don't care what others think of them.

So what are your core values? We have a bunch here at BSSM, but I have 4 simple ones that I think about almost daily: Love, Honor, Purity, Power. I try to do everything with these in mind. Even though every situation is different, I can usually make a pretty quick decision about whether something fits in with the character I want to portray by thinking about these words. They might mean slightly different things to you than they do to me so here's a very brief explanation: Love means caring for and helping people through sacrifice. Honor means seeing everyone like God sees them and treating them likewise. Purity means fleeing from sin and keeping my eyes and thoughts on Christ. Power means taking responsibility for myself as well as displaying the full gospel, revealing the God of the universe to humanity.

Don't let every situation sway your values, but rather establish your identity in Christ and many will flock to the security that you have in the Father. 

Here's a new song from Hillsong United's new remix album, the White Album: Like an Avalanche

Shine

I don't have any new pictures for this post, so if you normally just look at those, see ya next week.

I got a job!!! Praise Jesus, Bankers Life and Casualty hired me as a recruiter (so Redding people, if you need a job, hit me up). I started Friday, and I'm still learning the ropes and the computer system that we use. I wasn't going to be able to do 2nd year if I didn't get a job, and I've been looking since I got here in September. So in the first 5 months I got zero job offers and was wondering what's up. Then the DAY that applications opened, I got this job offer, and the next day I got another offer as well. What. A. Coincidence (wink wink, nudge nudge, Jesus).

This past week in school we learned about the glory of God, and how we all carry it throughout the day, even if we don't feel like we're doing anything spectacular. We also learned about the power of joy, and laughed at a ton of lies together. When you laugh at lies, they don't have any power over you because you are putting your hope in the truth instead. Let's try one together: "I'm too busy to experience God's presence". BAHAHAHAHA He's inside of every person He's in relationship with, and we can experience Him with every movement, every thought turned towards Him.

Festival of Cultures was last night, and it was awesome! It's a night to celebrate all the amazing people from all the amazing countries in the world who have come to Bethel. They dressed up, made delicious food to pass out, and entertained in various other ways, including some pretty cool dances.

Earlier I mentioned that my sister gave me the word "power" for this year, and then I also got the word "shine" during a worship set. I have 2 things to say about the second word. First of all, we should give thanks for our God-given talents and not think less of them. When I was younger I was very prideful and so as I matured I think I started to associate being good at something with being prideful. But excellence is not pride. Daniel and Joseph are two Biblical examples of men being promoted because of excellence. They used it for God's glory. Proverbs 22:29 says "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men."

Also, God is all about that shine. He loves the radiance of beauty that His creation emits. Paul says that through purity we are to shine like stars in the midst of a crooked generation (Phil. 2:15). Nobody lights a candle and then puts it under a bowl (Matthew 5:15). God lit you up when you entered into relationship with Him, and he intends to show you off. That doesn't mean being in the spotlight all the time, but people will want the gospel if they notice a difference in you. I'll end with this quote from Kris Vallotton - "True humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less."

Here's an old pic, but it shines

Wow wow wow this song! Mount Zion by Jonathan Hesler. He and his wife led worship at Bethel this past week. 

Countdown to Korea: 34 days! I still need $650 by this Tuesday to make the deadline. If you would like to donate, click here :) 

My first vlog

It's a video blog, about South Korea!

Song of the week: Beautiful Exchange by Hillsong

What do you agree with?

Hey everybody. Or "Hey everybody!" I think I feel slightly in between those (getting sleepy).

Hey everybody-

It's been an interesting week. On Monday my Indian roommates and I wore traditional Indian clothes to school to spice things up. We (at least I) got plenty of weird looks but it was so fun and quite the cultural experience. 

I'm the white guy

Then Tuesday we welcomed Randy Clark and his team who were here for the rest of the week for a healing conference. He spent a couple days just with us students and then a few with anyone who registered or showed up for the free evening services. SO many people were healed in these few days (as in hundreds of miracles). Most of them involved pain from an accident or surgery but we also saw deaf ears opened and people were even being healed through phone calls and texts. Randy would call out different problems and said that if anyone knew others with those problems, they should call them and release the healing over them. I only know about 1% of what happened so I wish I could share more testimonies, but we would praise Jesus even if only 1 person was healed this past week. 

Wednesday I got to meet with my core group (20 or so) at Westside Pizza. The pizza place is owned by Bethel people so they let us come worship and pray in there while they ran their business as usual. They even joined in on the worship in between making pizzas. We got to ask and answer some deep questions in groups of 4, trying to learn more about the hearts of these people I'm in community with. It's so easy to see them every week without truly knowing and being known by them. So that was fun. Speaking of fun, I made this sandwich a couple minutes ago: (Got the idea from the Internet somewhere)

Grape and strawberry jam, honey, Nutella, and peanut butter

My thought of the week is about what we consent to and how our thoughts are powerful. I have an example to illustrate! Some amount of time ago (to be specific), I was listening to music on my phone via Google Play. In the middle of a song a message popped up that said "Google Play has stopped working." It had a big Okay button at the bottom of the message. BUT the music kept playing. Nothing was wrong. I listened for a bit longer and then decided I didn't want the error message on my screen anymore so I clicked Okay. Of course, right then the app crashed and in came the empty silence that follows a song ended before it's proper time. 

I think many times Christians get bombarded with false accusations and lies from the devil which literally have no power to change us. That is, unless we agree with them. If our identity is rooted in Christ and what he did for us on the cross, then nothing can move us. But the enemy would love to get our help in taking us down. Ephesians 1:4 says we are "holy and blameless in His sight." Philippians 3:16 says "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." That means the hard part is over, we just have to agree with the victory. So sometime you might get a negative message in your head about your life, and it has a big Okay button attached to it. Feel free to ignore the message (even better, reject it) and keep believing what God says about you!

Another song from Bethel music this week: Fall Afresh featuring Jeremy Riddle

50 days until I leave for South Korea! $1350 to go in fundraising. Click here if you want to give. 

Jesus, You have won me!

"Jesus, You have won me. You have broken every chain with love and mercy."

These are the lyrics from the song at the end of this post, and right now they are the cry of my heart. I find myself feeling an overwhelming optimism for the future and for what God is doing on Earth right now. Jesus has won me, and I'm living from His victory instead of for my own victory. Nothing seems like too bad of a situation anymore. He made a way for us to have joy, peace, and righteousness in every part of our lives. This past week has been filled with singing, dancing, and rejoicing at His goodness. I've also been writing this paragraph for over 20 minutes because I'm listening to worship music and can't do both at the same time. I really should commit to one or the other.

We hit the ground running at school after break, and now it feels like we have a huge amount of momentum pushing us forward. The metaphor one staff member used to describe the teaching so far is that the first half of the year was spent building a car and the second half is spent putting in the engine. So the topics for our first week back were servitude, sacrifice, and surrender. Like everything else in the Kingdom, these values seem backwards in our culture. Why would we go low to be raised up? Why would we serve to lead? Why would we die to live? (hint: Jesus already won it all)

So here we are nearing the end of January and I haven't really said anything about 2014 as a whole. I made a list of goals for this school year before I came (climb a Redwood tree, CHECK) and a new list for 2014, so want to keep pushing towards those and live with a mission. My wonderful sister, Roo, gave me the word "power" as a one-word prophetic goal for this year. And I also felt like the word "shine" was going to be a big part of my life this year. I'll write more about that another time.

SHINE with POWER

Right now I'm thinking I want to stay here another year and try out for the 2nd Year school worship band. One factor in the decision is whether or not I can find a job. I've been looking for QUITE a while but most places are looking for day-time work, not another student who can work evenings and weekends. Please pray for a job :) I also hear there is less homework in 2nd year, which will be good since I may have gotten locked out again this past time (let's be real here). But even THAT won't get me down because it won't happen again.

So let's make this an amazing year. We'll start with another amazing week, as Randy Clark is coming for a conference and we get to go or help out with most of it. It's gonna be a good time.

From this point on, I won't remember if I'm repeating a song I've posted on an earlier blog, but this is one of my favorite songs from Bethel Music: You Have Won Me

Short Update

Hey! Here's a short update of the last month since my last post:

Hiking: Did that at Whiskeytown.
Christmas break: Awesome time with family and friends; tiring.
First week back: Heidi Baker came. Her film, Compelled By Love, is amazing.
Homework: Relentless
Job: Still looking
South Korea: Still going ($1,460 to go in fundraising. Click here if you want to help out :) )
Weather: Sunny and 70's. My kind of January.

We climbed a mountain!

Longer update in the next post!

Christmas and bears

Hey everybody! The snow has melted but we are still feeling the Christmas cheer here in California, as we drive with our windows down and feel the warmth of the sun on our faces (did you know Redding is #2 on the list of sunniest cities in America??). We had a tree-lighting service at Bethel during the winter blast, which really made things feel Christmasy:

A bundled up Jeremy Riddle led us in some carols

Then today I went with some friends to a nursing home, where we got to spread some joy by singing carols. They were very appreciative and said we did bring cheer to their environment, which they don't always get to experience. It was a great way to pour out love, which actually makes room for us to receive more love in return. It's a nice little cycle.

Earlier this week we had an Encounter Day, which was basically a small personal retreat followed by a time of worship and sharing with our core group. If you're confused about the seemingly endless list of groups, we have revival groups (70 people), core groups (20 people), and small groups (5 people). So for my encounter I went with my small group leader to Whiskeytown lake and hiked on the trail:

The actual lake is much bigger. This is more like a creek on the side

Right when we got there, we saw some fresh BEAR tracks in the snow! At least we thought they were bear tracks. But I'm no doctor...

I was scared, I'll admit it. All alone on the trail, my imagination running more wild than anything I came in contact with. I thought about how the bears are probably eating more now to prepare for their winter hibernation. But then I realized that if I'm living my life on a mission towards a vision, I shouldn't be scared of death in any way, because I'll only get as much accomplished on earth as I have days given to me. And God will provide for what needs to happen.

I think this is choice we simply have to make before we get into a difficult situation. Much like "Will I defend Jesus if someone I respect mocks him?" or "Will I worship Jesus even when I don't feel close to him?" That last one is a toughie because it's so easy for me to be led by my feelings. Feelings make a great thermometer for how things are going inside, but they make a terrible master.

That's all for now. 3 days of school this week and then I'll be back on a plane to Cincy :)

For your Christmas enjoyment, my favorite carol - O Holy Night sung by Josh Groban

SNOW

There is no escape. Whether you live in Ohio, Texas, or California, winter has come and dumped a freezing blanket of awesome on us all. What started as a few flakes looking out of place against the palm trees turned into this:

"Those are not palm trees." Yeah but it's a nice pic.

My revival group had gathered for a Christmas party and gift exchange, but after dinner the decision was made to end it early so we could drive home and be safe. So some friends and I went to the Civic Center (where we have class) and had a snowball fight. We also took advantage of the glorious packing ability of the snow and rolled a giant snowball. It ended up being about 6 feet high:

That's the silhouette of a champion.

After building a wall of snow in front of a friend's front door, we called it a night. And what a week! This past week was relationship week at BSSM. So we heard a variety of amazing talks on friendship, dating, marriage, and all that good stuff. Danny Silk brought a life-changing message about boundaries, and one of my favorite events was Men's Night. The ladies had one too, which I heard was fantastic. But I got to gather with the other men in my class to worship (interesting sound with just the low voices, very powerful) and hear from a speaker. It ended with some ministry time and guys seeing breakthrough in different areas. For some odd reason I felt less distracted on that night...

So here's the thought for this week: the bar is always being raised. Think about it. Humans are designed to want to succeed and explore. We were called to subdue the whole earth, and it's natural for us to want to reach new heights and set records. This desire, harnessed in the wrong way, led to things like the building of the Tower of Babel, where people tried to reach heaven and show off their pride in humanity. But no matter how you look at it, it's clear that when we reach a certain level, there is expectation to go above and beyond.

This is also true with spiritual things. When we reach a level of intimacy with God, he wants to bring us even closer. When we do something great, he wants us to do even greater things. Now there are two ways to look at this bar being raised. You can look from a worldly perspective and say that you never have enough, and that you are never good enough. It may seem that God is never fully satisfied with your work. Or you can look with a heavenly lens and see that God went to great lengths to raise us up himself, and he is SO satisfied in us if our identity is in Christ. God would love you the same if you never prayed another prayer or read another Bible verse. But he knows that there is so much more for us to experience - so much more of Him to know. So he calls us to come, and to reach.

Listen to this song and get pumped up! The Anthem by Jesus Culture. Wow!

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I'm sure you've already read a lot of posts about what people are thankful for, so I'll try to avoid making a big list, but I hope everyone was able to reflect on all we've been given in life. If you're reading this, you have access to a computer or phone, which not everyone has the privilege to enjoy, so there's a start!

Monday we had a Thanksgiving meal as a revival group, since that's they day we meet normally. We got to share in pairs things about the other person that we are thankful for, as well as give small gifts, so it was a cool time of getting to know people a little better. 

I was also thankful for beautiful California weather to play football in, and for my safety after we ended up playing tackle football with some guys who were a bit bigger than us:

The "Turkey Bowl" - they've been doing it since '76

On the big day, the other BSSM students from my apartment complex and I banded together and made an amazing feast. For most of us, it was the first one away from home, so the fact that all of our kitchens are still in tact is pretty cool (minus one small burner-on-fire incident). We also took in some other students who needed some awesome company to celebrate Thanksgiving with. Here's the gang:

I contributed the corn pudding and jello salad! Thanks Mom :)

It's been great seeing all the international students post pictures of their "first Thanksgiving". They got to experience this American tradition with us students or families from Bethel who volunteered to host them for their meals. Overall, just a whole lot of smiles and good community. So again, I hope you had a great day or week of celebrating and being content, no matter your situation. Thank YOU so much for reading this and for supporting me in my journey here at Bethel! I pray that you receive many blessings of peace, love, and pumpkin pie!

This week I don't have a song but watch this 6 minute clip from Graham Cooke! About how much God loves us no matter what:

In His Gaze

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far to my South Korea trip! The first payment deadline was met (with 2 hours to spare!) and I have a month and a half until the next one. You can still donate here if you want to.

The past two weeks have been amazing. There are no crazy events that stand out but it seems like every day we get hit with a new truth or revelation about a concept that's spoken on. Kris Vallotton has been blowing our minds with a couple talks on truth, the Bible, and how nobody can accurately interpret the Bible without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We get to download 10 of the talks for free (3 bucks a piece after that) so I'll definitely try to get some of the more impactful ones to save a share. I'm also enjoying worship more, and it's definitely a highlight of every day. Sometimes I wish I was up on stage playing but I know that I already have plenty of things to do with my time.

A few days ago some friends and I went to Whiskeytown lake to have a late-night bon fire under the stars. The next day there was a fire by the lake on the news but we are 95% sure it wasn't our fault:

Don't worry, we covered it up with sand afterwards

One thing we sang during worship one day was the phrase "You never take your eyes off me." I don't think it's from a particular song, but I love the idea of God constantly looking at each one of us. It's a gaze so loving that no deformity or sin will turn it away. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him in (John 6:44) so even the most rebellious souls are being wooed daily. The stories of people "finding God" are actually stories of people finding out that God has been chasing them their entire life, and He actually knit them together in the womb (Psalm 139).

He's not like a celebrity that people follow on Twitter, limited by time and space. He has enough mind-space to concentrate fully on everybody, all the time. And we're engraved on the palms of his hands (Isaiah 49:16). God delights in us and loves looking at his creation. He knows when we sit and when we rise, when we go out and when we lie down. He is extravagant in his pursuit and extremely optimistic. He is awesome!

I've been jamming out to this on guitar recently: Great I Am by New Life Worship

Annyeonghaseyo!

Hey family and friends!

For those of you just joining the weekly frenzy of this blog, I want to catch you up and get everyone on the same page.

Here's a little refresher, at no extra cost: For the past 2 and a half months, I've been in Redding, California studying (we’ll call it that) at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. We are learning how to encounter Jesus and help others encounter Him as well. We get a lot of practical training in ministry, Bible study, and growing in intimacy with God. It’s been an amazing ride and I can’t wait to see what is in store for the remainder of the school year.

One exciting adventure that I will be part of is a 2-week trip to South Korea next March! I’ll be going with a team of about 20 people, including my revival group leaders, Young and Hannah Kim. They were both born in South Korea and want to see the people there meet Jesus. So we're going to introduce them. 

This is Seoul, the nation's capital. We'll be spending most of our time here, teaching, preaching, and showing them honor in any way we can (one of BSSM's core values is having a culture of honor). We will get an opportunity to teach at supernatural school ministries that have started in Korea, preach at church services, lead treasure hunts, pray for the sick, and minister to Korean celebrities who are hungry for Jesus and influential in their society. Young and Hannah also led a team here last year, so they already have people inviting us back to be with them. I'm praying that we will be able to meet PSY, a very famous South Korean celebrity who has grown in popularity recently. With music videos getting over a billion views, imagine the people he could reach if he found out what Jesus did for him:

He could be the next Billy Graham!

I can't wait to visit Asia for the first time and surprise South Korea with God's love. Please mark March 22 - April 4 on your calendar if you want to partner with us in prayer. We'll be meeting as a team to get to know each other and pray a couple times each month until the trip. If you want to contribute to the $2,400 it will cost me to get there, there are a couple different ways to do that. You can make a check to Bethel Church (with a note that it's for Nick Hunter's South Korea trip) and send it here:

Bethel Church
ATTN: Missions Dept
915 Twin View Blvd
Redding, CA 96003

Or you can just click here!

  

Thank you in advance for sowing into what God is doing throughout the world! One hundred years ago Korea experienced a powerful move of God's revival and from that historical outpouring of the Holy Spirit birthed churches all over the nation. Korea was split into two nations after Korean war and to this day is separated. We are going to be Jesus' hands and feet to bring renewal, revival, healing, restoration, identity, and reconciliation to these wonderful people.

Kamsa Hanmida! (Thank you)

This song is awesome, especially when it gets to the bridge! Alleluia by Jesus Culture

Sacrifice

November is in full swing and it's still sunny and in the seventies here :)

This was part of the inspiration for last week's post:

We've moved into the second term which means new AMT's (electives) and now tracks are emerging. A track is basically an in-depth elective that will last longer so you can go deeper. I was accepted into the counseling/inner healing track, so I'm excited to be starting that on Tuesday! One thing we'll be talking about is the Sozo ministry at Bethel. I'll be in this track for the remainder of the school year. 

My revival group had our first City Project last Friday, so we got to go to a park and do various feats of physical strength and cleaning. Mine involved wearing a very cool jet-pack (leaf blower) and clearing the path of leaves for an event that weekend:

We just passed a homework milestone, which is the monthly date where they will actually start locking you out of the attendance system if you have missing assignments. Since we don't really have tests at BSSM and there really aren't that many rules either, this is probably the biggest measure put in place to make sure students are actually doing work, not just getting drunk on the Holy Spirit and having worship parties, as awesome as those are. So we've all pretty much settled into a (barely) regular rhythm of reading:

One thing that has been on my mind lately is the idea of sacrifice and how it surfaces in almost every area of our lives. We were saved by a sacrifice and though we no longer have to make physical sacrifices to atone for our sins, we have chances every day to sacrifice to our King. He is certainly worthy of our time, our money, and our to-do lists. I think God enjoys when we "waste" our resources on him. Like when the woman poured a bottle of very expensive perfume on Jesus' head (Matthew 26:7) and he said it was a beautiful thing. The disciples all said "Why this waste?" but they didn't understand that the woman was showing that she was truly willing to give up everything for the Savior of the world. 

David was man who understood sacrifice. He writes in the Psalms, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). What God really wants is our heart. And Proverbs tells us that everything we do flows from our heart (Proverbs 4:23) so what happens inside will manifest on the outside. One great story from David's life that I've heard taught on a few times here comes from 2 Samuel 24. King David is told to use another guy's land to build an altar to God which will stop a plague on Israel. When he goes to buy the man's land, the man offers to give it to David for free along with cattle for sacrifices because he knows it's for the Lord. But David refuses the gift and says "I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." If love doesn't hurt a little, we're not seeing the full spectrum of love. Sacrificial love is the kind that endures through hardship. 

So we have many chances to sacrifice to God. Not to earn his love but to demonstrate our love in response to His. Sometimes it means giving up our comfort or our reputation. God does not command us to be outcasts but Jesus promised many times that following him would bring hardships. In the end, we are His children who don't need to worry about lacking anything. Our Dad owns it all and he "has been pleased to give [us] the Kingdom" (Luke 12:32). Living for God is not easy but it's joyfully hard.

Our first payment deadline for mission trips is coming up in a couple weeks! It's been so cool to hear the different testimonies of God's provision flowing in. If you want to sow into my trip to South Korea, you can donate here!

This week's song is a good, intimate one: Worthy is the Lamb by Brian Johnson.

A Christian's defense of Halloween

Halloween is unique, to say the least. Like every other holiday, it involves food (in this case, 2 of the 4 main food groups according to Buddy the Elf - candy and candy corn). But unlike other holidays, the season culminates in a 2-hour game of make-believe followed by a candy coma and the realization that you've taken in a week's worth of sugar in one night. The holiday takes a lot of flack for its spookier connotations, and many Christians take cover and suffer through it, happy to be one day closer to Thanksgiving. But I want to share what I love about Halloween and some characteristics that I think God loves too. Instead of writing about its origins (which have mixed Christian and pagan roots) I want to call out 4 great things I see in it today:

Creativity- God is the ultimate Creator, and since we're made in his image, we've got some pretty active creative juices flowing in us too. People go all out on creating the best costumes, sometimes planning for days what they will wear for a few hours come October 31st. Whether it means popping some tags at the thrift shop or popping holes in a cardboard box to make a robot, everybody loves a creative costume. Even if someone is making a gross, inappropriate, or in some way "sinful" costume, they can't help but use their God-given creativity, which has potential to one day lead them closer to the One who gave them that gift.

Generosity- Isn't it fun to give?? Jesus said "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). That may be a hard principle to teach the kid sitting on his bed surrounded by Milky Way wrappers and the unopened Bottle Caps that nobody likes, but everyone who has seen the delight on a child's face when they get candy can attest to this truth. Obviously Christmas kind of takes the cake for bringing about generosity (though Black Friday shoppers certainly hide their generosity well) but people generally enjoy sitting on their porches with their fog machines and flickering lights, waiting to give without asking anything in return.

Fellowship- How many nights a year is it socially normal to visit all your neighbors' houses and see parents walking with children on every sidewalk? I'm not saying that broken families are made new because of Halloween, but it certainly has a way of bringing people together and creating friendships. Now you could leave it at that and decide to only talk to your neighbors once - Hey...Bill. How have you been since...last Halloween? - or you could take advantage of one of the many conversations starters made possible by Halloween - Hey Fred I love how you used a mop on your kid's head to make the evil minion's hair from Despicable Me 2. Did you find that on Pinterest? - the possibilities really are endless. Find a couple people who seem cool or maybe who don't seem cool at all (they could probably use some friends) and start some relationships. It's what we're built for.

Being like a kid- Jesus said "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). There are a lot of childish ways that we shouldn't strive to emulate (being irresponsible, selfish, or rude) but there are SO many child-like characteristics that we often lose when we make the journey into adulthood. Children have faith, they trust without questioning, they rely on their providers, and they sleep soundly even during troubles. God wants us to have an awe for him like a child watching his dad work on something amazing. He wants us to talk to him just because we can, not only when we're in trouble. Halloween brings out the kid in everybody. You get to dress up like anything you want and eat every Reese's cup in the bag. You get to go to dance parties, watch movies, and laugh a lot more than you would on an ordinary day. The main event happens after work hours and ends early enough for everyone to participate.

So there you have it. We're made to look like God and even those who don't know that yet find themselves acting like Him somehow. Halloween comes with a lot of weird baggage, but when you boil it down to its celebration, you can see little glimpses of Heaven invading Earth. And superheroes invading your front lawn.

The Box

I'm back in Redding after a great trip home to see my wonderful cousin, Alexandra Richard, marry Andrew Canada! It was a fun weekend of getting to know new people and celebrating with friends and family:

The beautiful bride and her good-looking cousins

I'll never get tired of looking at clouds from a plane, and I took this shot as we broke through the cloud barrier that covered Chicago. It reminds me that even on the cloudy days, the son is still shining above us:

Insert caption about how God is the same way

The latest news in the BSSM world is that today was the official day when mission trips for the Spring were announced. I'm going to South Korea! We'll be in Seoul training Christians, ministering to celebrities, and releasing God's Kingdom in a country that is home to some of the largest churches in the world (Yoido Full Gospel Church, for example). I'll send out a letter later with more details, but if you want to come alongside of me to help make this happen, you can give here. Pretty much the whole school will be covering the globe at the end of March, so please pray that people experience Jesus in radical ways.

We've also been training for our city service projects. These are practical ways that we are investing in the city of Redding to see it become more whole and filled with love. I'll be helping to lead a kids' program in our neighborhood every Thursday. We've already met many of the kids here so we're excited to see them meet the power of Jesus!

There are a lot of references here to the box that everyone carries. It basically signifies our understanding of God and how he works. If we hear or see something that's not in our box, we question it at first because it's not what we're used to. Everyone is born with a pretty big box, but it shrinks under the extreme pressure of the world and our experiences. As we grow in faith, our box gets bigger and we're open to newer and crazier things that God wants to do. Jesus had a very big box but the religious people he spoke with usually had tiny boxes. In fact, religion has a way of making the world's smallest boxes.

I love that Jesus doesn't try to shove his message into everyone's box. Like when he tells the people who are following him to eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6:54). He had just fed the 5,000 and walked on water and was running a pretty great ministry in our eyes. But after this statement many people abandon him because the teaching was too hard. In their box, they wanted a king that would destroy their oppressors and be awesome, not cannibalistic. But the 12 disciples stayed close because they new that he carried "the words of eternal life."

Jesus also told parables to hide things from people who didn't have a big enough box to receive his message. Jesus says "I speak in parables, so that, 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand'" (Luke 8:10). The humble and hungry people who truly seek out Jesus to learn more are the ones who understand his messages. Proverbs also says that "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings" (Proverbs 25:2). God likes when we search for him.

I've noticed many times that I try to bend and fold the gospel in such a way that it will fit into someone's box. I think it comes from a good heart, wanting everyone to know the truth, but God doesn't need us to make him look good. It's his nature. Sharing his love and power with people will always sow a good seed, and that is more important than we may think. Just keep sowing.

Here's a new song that I like: Shores by Bryan and Katie Torwalt from Jesus Culture.

Forgiveness

The feeling of being caught up on homework is a great one. I hadn't felt it since falling behind when we went to retreat but now I sit knowing that I've read and written all that's required of me for now. I even had time last weekend to go to the driving range with some friends:

They opened up sign-ups for mission trips that will happen next March and we all chose our top 5 trips that we would like to go on (we'll be placed in only 1). So by the grace of God, I may be going to one of these 5 places in the Spring: South Korea, Hollywood, Mozambique, Israel, or South Sudan (that's a country now!). I was drawn to South Korea because my revival group leader, Young Kim, and his wife, Hannah will be leading the trip. All of the trips will be around 2 weeks long. We also got the opportunity to go to a ropes course as a revival group and spend time growing closer and doing cool activities together. You learn a lot about trust when you are holding onto 7 other people 40 feet up in the air:

Another awesome group I'm part of is the Single Life Workshop (about 800 people!). It sounds kind of weird, but it's something that I wish more people could experience. It was started by a couple who ran a workshop for married people, and then they realized that if they taught these principles to people before they were married, there wouldn't be so many marriages that needed saving. Their biggest focus is to be open and have nothing hidden, so we get really close with our small group of 8 people. One tactic they used was to have a time of silent listening where we wrote down things that God was telling us about ourselves. Then after the time was up they told everyone to read what they wrote down to the small group. I love being forced to be vulnerable (get weak), because it feels so good afterwards.

So far we've read 4 books for school (a miracle by itself) and my favorite is the one we just finished, The Supernatural Power of Forgiveness. It was written mostly by Jason Vallotton but his dad, Kris, wrote the last two chapters. I highly recommend it! Anyone who has ever experienced pain will benefit tremendously from this book. I'll end this post with my favorite nuggets (as my dad would say) and quotes from the book:

-Time does not heal wounds. There is a healing process that takes time, but without this process (of recognizing and mourning the pain) the wound will just fester and hurt more.

-We are the ones that hold the keys to our own happiness, but we can give those away if we decide that we can only be happy when others are. "Victims believe that their external world has to change in order for them to be okay."

-"Insecurity is actually security rooted in the wrong resource."

-Forgiveness does not mean reconciliation or trust. Trust is earned through relationship, but forgiveness was purchased by Christ on the cross.

-"The day that Jesus was crushed for our sins, He revealed the meaning of true justice. Justice was no longer found in revenge, but in forgiveness...true justice is only found when each person gets what Christ paid for on the cross."

This song literally would not get out of my head this week: For the Cross by Brian and Jenn Johnson

FOMO

What a week! Last weekend I went into the mountains to a retreat with my revival group and 4 other revival groups. We hit the ground running, as we were met by a group of enthusiastic 2nd year students who were waiting to prophesy over us. That was actually one of the highlights of the retreat for me, as they illustrated how easy and casual it can be to call out the greatness that God sees in people. It's really encouraging and I'm happy that the culture here is so full of it. During the remainder of the retreat, we spent time worshiping, listening to speakers, and inviting the Holy Spirit to come (and he doesn't need a second invitation). It was also very cold! So I was happy to get back to my home (it's home while I'm here, Mom) in the Valley.

Mt. Shasta, enjoying its new coat of snow.

We got a new world map for our apartment (I was pretty excited). It's not just any map though - it's a reversed map. Chew on this for a little bit:

Who said North was up anyway?

Ebi and Raj also cleaned out the spice section of Walmart to begin bringing India (and all of its smells) to our apartment. They are always generous and offer to feed us. 

This past school week was purity week for us, which meant we got to hear amazing talks from some of our pastors and a ministry called Moral Revolution. Kris Vallotton (pastor at Bethel) started the ministry and they travel all over, calling people to a higher standard of purity and setting people free from unhealthy baggage. It's really remarkable what they do. We were able to laugh and cry through this subject that many churches see as "touchy" or taboo. 

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is huge here. There is just so much to do. So many people to meet and so much of God's goodness to enjoy. Sometimes I have to sit back and tell myself "There are a lot of people out there who are going to do a bunch of amazing things that never involve me." Wait, really? Yes. And that's okay. Here's another thought that helps me - "Jesus is enough." Just him is enough, without all the other stuff. We don't ever have to worry about missing out on him because he's always there waiting to encounter us. 

Longing for more of him is good though. Usually when we find longing in our life, it's from lack. If you don't have something, you long for it. But so many things are opposite in the Kingdom of God. The more you get of God, the more you want him! And I heard a great word from someone about this tonight: Jesus is the one that leads us to God, so when we feel a longing for God, that itself is God in our lives. I've often been praying for more of God, wondering where he is, and not realizing that this longing for more is his Spirit inside of me, burning. Wow.

Go ahead and miss out on something. "For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom." (Luke 12:32) 

Song to check out this week is Spirit Break Out by Jesus Culture.