What had us up and going was knowing that Olivia was going to be making us a hot meal before the sunday morning church service.
We got up, and with much delight, had a meal of toast, omelets, and for the meat eaters breakfast sausage. She told as a little about her job as a nurse and her experiences with patience as she would do her best to share the grace and love of God to them.
We all waked over to the church and as SC went to sit with her cousin, Olivia and I were ushered to our seats. The auditorium was fully packed this morning with regular church attenders as opposed to our measly 450 people to almost 1200 people.
Here's a glimpse of the experience:
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| Saturday afternoon |
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| Sunday morning - 50 person (I think) choir |
So Olivia sat with me for a short time before she left. So I sat 6 rows away from the front surrounded by people I had no idea of... and somehow the experience wasn't scarring.
The service was led by Ray Duerksen and it was about "Surrendered prayer" and "Warfare prayer" - how in order to even do "warfare prayer" one needs to have done "surrendered prayer" first and foremost. The service was insightful and informative, and Pastor Ray's use of greek language to define the difference between 'logos' and 'rhema' has inspired me to learn the original greek text of portion of the Bible - something that is tied to my need to take seminary at some point in the future.
After the service, the few of us left from the church renewal group, met up together to have a tour of the church facility. I was told by my youth pastor that if I could I should talk to Donavan Friesen, who has been a youth pastor, for some wisdom and insight. So when I found out he was leading a tour group, I stayed close to his side as much as I could throughout the tour. The facility was amazing and well organized, and we found out that out that there were only 50ish payed staff and the rest were strictly volunteers.
At the end of the tour I managed to get to talk with Donavan about how he finds/gets volunteers for ministry. He talked me through the concept of "cell groups" and through them they find potential leaders and train them into leaders. He told me he could talk for 3 weeks on the topic, for it is a passion of his, but he gave me the best 5-10min version of it that lined up a lot with what Ken Moser was modeling at Briercrest.
After lunch I was not able to fit a nap in, I figured after the 'introduction to the church renewal' session I would do it before if not during dinner.
The session took place in the seminar room where Pastor Ray and one of the church board members lead the time together. Pastor Ray told us how the church first started out as a conservative Mennonite church that through certain events from his personal life lead to him coming out as a 'closet charismatic,' as well as major events from his family life that the church grew in their understanding of the role of the church with the help of the Holy Spirit.
He walked us through his "Pastoral Mentorship program" saying that church renewal will be more effective with renewed pastors.
He showed us how their church functions within the parameters of Scripture as a way to filter visions, words, images, when praying and prophesying. He looked at Ephesians 4:11-13 - Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Servants, Teachers - and said, "Is everyone like Billy Graham (one of the great evangelists of our time)?" We all said "no" and Pastor Ray responded, "but are we not to share our faith and be witnesses for Christ?"
He followed up with an illustration of a time when a couple came to the church as they were growing and the wife said she was "THE prophet" and asked where her role would be in the church. He told her to talk to one of their assistants who would tell her what to do. He did this knowing the woman he was sending this self claimed "prophet" to would know how to handle her. The woman, Grace, took all the "prophet" said in stride and responded, "That's good for you, what happens now is that you need to do our program, that all of our volunteers do, in order for you to be involved with the church." The "prophet" was outraged and she and her husband left and moved back to their home town.
After the session I went to Dan and Olivia's house again, this time getting a 30min nap in -YAAAASSS.
Around 6pm the Prayer Summit started, and the church renewal group was ushered to specific seating while the rest of the church gathered in their 'cell groups' throughout the rest of the auditorium.
For the first part, we were to to confess to God any unknown sins, and then we were to ask God what personal and/or ministry related struggle we have that He wanted us to deal with. The first thought that came to mind was "Introvert" - I wrote it down. The next part we were to do was write a prayer of thanks to God. This is what I wrote:
"God, you are good and the creator of al things, and you love me, flaws and all. I ask that I would not compromise who you made me to be for the sake of others, and in your mercy, grace, and love, find joy and peace in the godly woman you are making me to be. In the time to follow, I surrender myslef to you... even if I feel embarrassed, emotional, or confused. No matter the cost, use me and help me as I surrender myself to you. Amen."
Once we finished, we got into groups of 2 or 3 where we were sitting, and I ended up partnering with an elderly lady. We were supposed to pray for one another, and ask God for a word, or image, as a way of encouraging the other person; however, the elderly woman I was with did not understand this concept so we ended up praying for the other persons' struggle.
The way I see it, is that God actually took my prayer of being surrendered to Him at the cost of being slightly embarrassed by this elderly lady who did not know what exactly was going on and was able to handle the situation well regardless.
THIS IS WHERE DAN'S PRAYER SUMMIT PREP HELPED. He told SC and I that at one point we as the "Church Renewal group" were to get up and join on of the MANY cell groups that came that evening to pray. He had recommended finding the youth cell groups because their prayers were so honest - so as I tried to find the youth I ended up being flagged down by a group of young to middle aged women.
I figured - they were putting themselves out there and I've made eye contact, no going back now!
So I was ushered into one of their seats and gave my name, and my position in Hillcrest Church, as well as where I was originally from - Vancouver Island.
Then the prayer time began. I was to be the recipient of their prayers, so all I had to do was sit and wait - once a short time had passed - one of the women began.
"I got this image of a flower that opens at day, and closes at night, and reopens at the morning. Do not panic at night when it closes."
The next woman said, "I got this image of you in a subway tunnel, the light was so bright and welcoming, and you were pressing forward. I got the sense you had to put effort into moving forward, but it was not heavy. I got the verse of a city on a hill that can't be hidden. Impactful, you are like that light."
The third woman said, "I got this picture of you as a seagull flying at the beach, with patches of flash storms. You were able to fly close to the waves. God gave you confidence in the calm and storm."
The fourth lady said, "I got the saying, 'needle in a haystack' - I do not know what that needle is, but God will help you find that needle. Also, the verse from Isaiah 41:13."
The girl writing all these things down was skipped to the next woman who said, "I got the words: unity, honesty, openness, and transparency - for you and your ministry position, or possibly for the church you attend."
The woman who sat beside me said, "I got nothing"
Despite all the others being encouraging and interesting, the woman who said "I got nothing" made a HUGE impression on me - I even thanked her afterwards for her honesty... it made the experience real, but we weren't done.
The girl who had been writing everything paused, looked up at me and said, "I got the word 'joy' - the Lord is so pleased with you. your hunger for Him, work for His kingdom, leaving your homeland. I get the sense your servant heart brings Him much joy and pleasure. You are fulfilling a purpose larger than yourself."
As she said those words... I broke down and wept. I missed my home, I desired to please the Lord with all I was doing, and weeks ago as I laid in bed, tears ran down my faced as I asked God if He actually 'delighted in me'? As if that was possible... and I was hearing from this young looking girl that my servant heart brings Him joy and pleasure? It was too good to be true.
I ended up staying with that group till the end of the Prayer Summit, where for the rest of the time, with over 1000 people, we prayed for requests that were placed up on the projector and movie screens.
After that we ended with the worship band playing two songs... it is where it gets a little interesting. The songs that were played - I had never heard before, but I jumped right into them and was singing in tune and with much energy and enthusiasm even after crying.
Once the songs ended, we were all officially dismissed. The Hillcrest group gathered together at the cafe, outside the Chapel for grades 5-8 and we discussed the weekend. As it was my first time experience, I highlighted with the group how even a megachurch was still intentional with their small groups/ cell groups, and if that can be accomplished then something is to be said about our church... as well as the generosity and hospitality of the billets and volunteers of the church.
It was 9:10pm ish - and SC and I realized that we had not told Dan or Olivia that we were meeting up with our group, we rushed out to the foyer, and found Dan talking to someone as he was waiting for us. We apologized profusely, and he said it was not a problem.
Once we got to the house, SC, Olivia, Dan, Tammy, and I shared our experience and highlights of the weekend - but I will talk about that in the next blog post.
TO BE CONTINUED.
~To God be the Glory
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