Feb 25-26, River Valley Community Church, Boise, ID
Saturday: Hi from Salt Lake City. This morning I’m zipping over to Boise. I believe this will be my fourth visit to River Valley Church. I’ve struck a marvelous rapport with the pastoral leadership team, so I feel like I’m returning today to family. Just fabulous young men and women leading this work. The plan is for a Saturday evening and Sunday morning service.
Saturday afternoon: Greetings from beautiful Boise, where they have had copious amounts of snowfall this year. Today is cool but sunny and bright and gorgeous. My hotel has a lovely pool and whirlpool, and I had them all to myself this afternoon, smile. Leaving with my host in a few minutes for dinner and then the 6:30 pm meeting.
Sunday evening: I’m now at the Minneapolis airport, with a layover of almost 4 hours, I’ll get home late but am expectant to get home tonight, even if after midnight. The two services this weekend were graced strongly of the Lord. I struggled a bit with my voice, but the flow of the Spirit was sweet. Such warm responses. And fabulous people!
Feb 21, Intro to IHOPKC, Kansas City, MO
Tuesday afternoon: This morning’s session with the Intro to IHOPKC internship was very much graced of the Lord and precious. I spoke on the secret place, they soaked it in.
Feb. 18-19, Faith Fellowship Church, Robertsdale, AL
Friday: Good morning, prayer team! Today I’m flying to Pensacola, and then driving the 45 minutes to Robertsdale, AL. This will be my third time to be with my friends, Dave and Linda Kelso, and the family of believers at Faith Fellowship Church. Dave and I connected originally because he also suffered a severe voice loss. He has since recovered much of his vocal strength, but of course we continue to have that shared empathy in our journeys. It’s been nearly five years since I was with them, so this is feeling long overdue, smile.
Here’s the planned schedule: Saturday morning with the worship team; Saturday evening service; Sunday morning service.
Saturday midnight: We’ve had excellent meetings today, both this morning and evening. We had a good crowd for tonight’s Saturday meeting, an excellent spirit in the meeting, and everyone was very attentive to the word. Good ministry afterwards. And I’ve been having a great visit with my hosts, Dave and Linda Kelso. Dave even let me drive his Camaro to church tonight. It’s got 730 H.P., I’ve never driven such power in my life. Push the accelerator down, and in a couple seconds you go from 35 to 65 MPH. When you start it up, the thing snarls and growls at you. Rightly so, it’s mean.
Sunday afternoon: I’m on my way home now, after a marvelous meeting this morning. The baseball film at the close especially moved everyone. Good time of prayer and response afterwards. I’m coming home with a grateful heart for the privilege of partnering with the leadership team at Faith Fellowship Church. Thanks to Dave and Linda for hosting me so warmly and fabulously.
Feb. 12, River of Life Fellowship, Rockville, MO
This Sunday I’m speaking at a small church that is located 90 minutes south of us. I’ll leave the house around 7:30 a.m., the service starts at 10 a.m. I’ll be driving it, and am planning on going just by myself.
Sunday evening: I had a blast! The worship was very heartfelt and sweet, the embrace of the people was warm, and the Lord enabled me to speak on identity.
Feb. 10, Hope City, KC
Friday 10:30 pm: I’m just now back from speaking at Hope City, which is an inner city mission in Kansas City that is connected to IHOPKC. I spoke there last year this time, when my parents were in town. Tonight I returned to speak on an eye covenant. The group was very attentive to the message, and at the end when we provided opportunity for prayer ministry with anointing of oil, the entire room rushed the front of the sanctuary. What a delight to see such hungry, willing hearts!
Feb. 7 OneThing Internship, IHOPKC
Tuesday evening: I’m just now back from speaking to the OneThing Internship at IHOPKC. I would guess 30-some kids, around ages 18-22, are in this internship. Then we were suddenly joined by a group of adults from the Immerse program at IHOPKC, so we had a nice breadth of ages in the room. I spoke for the first time ever on the topic of Identity. I have stared at the issue of Identity for years, and have lacked comprehensive clarity on the topic. But as I prepared this week, the Holy Spirit dropped some things into my understanding, and I found the strongest clarity on the subject that I’ve ever enjoyed. As it turned out, the impartation of the message was powerful. The group responded with enthusiasm, with some great feedback afterwards. One young lady said I really must write a book on this topic, smile.
Dec. 31-Jan. 1, Calvary Full Gospel Church, Fairless Hills, PA
Saturday: This morning I’m zipping over to Philly, and then by car from there up to Fairless Hills, PA. This will be my umpteenth visit to Calvary Full Gospel Church, smile. This time I’m doing a Saturday evening end-of-year service with them, and then Sunday morning, first day of the New Year. I look forward to having these times with them of positioning our hearts for 2017.
Sunday 4:00 pm: Greetings from the Philly airport, where I am about to board my plane for Minneapolis (and then connect to KC). The Lord’s grace was with us in a rich way this weekend. I was rather uncertain about my message last night because it was somewhat subjective—I spoke about a couple ways that I pray in the Spirit, and gave some details on how these prayers work for me personally. I just didn’t know how the message would translate and be relevant to others. Today I received feedback from several who said the message was very helpful and enlightening for them. And then today the Lord’s grace was strong, and at the close of the message everyone received the anointing of oil and personal prayer. Followed by corporate Communion. The presence of the Lord was strong in both services, and we sensed that the kingdom of God was advanced among us by His enabling grace. I’m so grateful to God!
Besides all that, the affection was very sweet in being reunited with this church family. It’s been 2.5 years since I was with them, and it felt overdue. The love that we share in Christ is just marvelous, isn’t it!
Now I am taking the month of January for prayer retreat. What a privilege to come aside like this and sit at His feet. Ministry will resume for me on Feb. 12.