“Toto, I’ve got a felling we’re not in Kansas anymore.â€Dorothy, in The Wizard of OzNo matter how one looks at our world, the nation, and our personal lives today, one thing is certain. Extremely major shifts are taking place at this point in history on a global scale, and it is essential for even our survival to understand these. Our institutions as we know them: government, medical, economic, educational, and even the church have often become nonfunctional. Unless you understand this shift and how to lead through this you are going to have a serious problem.Unfortunately for most of us, we build an illusion around that somehow, in some way, things will keep on going. And we keep on going like we always gone. We stay in our illusion and try to muddle on. Like the old cliché, however, if you keep on doing what you always done, you will keep on getting what you’ve always got. Unless there is a sense of desperateness (dissatisfaction), it is difficult to initiate change. This sense of desperateness is already sweeping a nation.I like the story in the Bible of blind Bartimaeus as Jesus is leaving Jericho on his way to Jerusalem for the last week of his life. As the man is screaming to Jesus for mercy, Jesus replies with what seems like a really stupid question.“What do you want Me to do for you?” Mark 10:51The reply of the man is the heart cry of each of us.“Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Mark 10:51bEach of us is trapped in our illusions and we can’t see what God is really doing and our part in the Kingdom Enterprise. Until we can see that and claim authority in our lives in terms of this, nothing changes and we remain trapped in our illusions. Jesus will give us that vision if we ask, just like He did with Bartimaeus.
Dr. Wallnau speaking on the 7 mountains
In an earlier posting we mentioned that Dr. Lance Wallnau will be speaking April 3-4 at the Portland Christian Chamber of Commerce conference. As we mentioned, Lance Wallnau, a business coach, has identified 7 cultural mountains: business, government, arts and entertainment, media, education, family, and church. Christians should be involved in leading the transformation that is needed in each of these.Lance is a dynamic teacher with a gift for imparting the Word of God. His anointed messages are remembered years afterwards, He captivates his audiences by humor, illustrations, drawings, and a fresh vocabulary which penetrates deep into the heart with incredible authority, clarity, and personal application.Lance’s prophetic teaching helps people see a clearer path into transformation. His unique style and humor are designed to keep you smiling so it isn’t too painful when the truth hits home. Such high intensity in the Holy Spirit, accompanied by his pointed, colorful delivery, and use of diagrams and instruments enable him to impact his audiences and clients worldwide. His teaching is an unforgettable experience.If you can’t make the conference or want to hear him free, you can catch him speaking at the International Life Center on Saturday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. No reservation is necessary. The address is 10014 NE Glisan, Portland, OR.
Transforming a city, nation, or a region
One of the problems in the Church today is that God IS calling His people to stand up, speak, and be heard. If they don’t, God holds them accountable. We have too many geldings in the Church instead of the stallions God is calling men and women to be. Geldings are nice, but they don’t bring life – they are sterile. And, as C.S, Lewis said, the problem with the churches so often is that we don’t have the stallions – we have a bunch of geldings. We castrate the stalliion and then tell him to bear fruit.One of the best books speaking into this is John Eldridge’s Wild at Heart. Then read his Waking the Dead. It is one thing to read these books, it is another to act on it. It is time for the men and women of God to stand up. And I don’t mean just writing a letter to your congressman/woman.Last month in Atlanta change agents gathered from 13 countries and 30 US states for the 2009 Church in the Workplace – Reclaim 7 Mountains of Culture International Conference. Leaders such as Lance Wallnau, a business coach, have identified 7 cultural mountains: business, government, arts and entertainment, media, education, family, and church. Culture is actually controlled by a small number of people at the top of each of these cultural mountains. These are the cultural gatekeepers. The Church needs to launch a broad-base attack in each of these areas to effect the transformation necessary in our culture. It is not impossible. George Otis, Jr. with the Sentinel Group has already identified hundreds of cities in the world where it has already happened.
Updating the web site
There is some major updating going on on this site. Right now we are working on the new library menu and you will find a lot of the old stuff there as we transisition. I worked on the Finding Vision option there today. We’ll be doing more stuff there – core values option should be next.There will be more books referenced on the site, mostly in theiir specific areas of interest; i.e. books will be with “Finding vision” . There will be more quotations added. The blog will be updated.Expect a lot more photos, quotations that change each time the page is reloaded that’s already true on the home page), and more.Please forgive at the moment if a link doesn’t work or you are missing something temporarily.Thanks for your patience.
What the Obama Inaugural Means
Watching the inaugural today was a very emotional experience for me. I lived in Washington, DC from 1962 to 1968. I walked that mall back then during that March on Washington (August of 1963) at the mall when King spoke and gave his I Have a Dream speech. The emotions of that moment still flood my mind. It is still amazing what happened from that astonishing non-violent action.Then JFK was shot (November 1963) and I was caught up in the emotions of Washington with the loss of this leader with his vision of a coming Camelot and our responsibility to make it happen . Part of that vision was to put us on the moon. And that we did. I got to be a part of that vision. After three astronauts died when their capsule caught fire, my company sent me to Houston to check out things there for ideas on how to make those flights safer.I remember walking the streets of a poor part of Washington one day much later and not seeing not a single person. Off in the distance somewhere I heard shouts. I finally found a lonely walker and asked what was happening. One of the Kennedys’ (probably Bobby Kennedy) was moving down the street in (probably an open) car, and the people were shouting greetings with hope in a coming Camelot.Then Martin Luther King was shot in April of 1968. Again the emotions of another leader’s death shook the city. I was working at the coffeehouse of a church in the inner city that night, and calls were coming in to us that the city was burning just a few blocks from where we were. We stayed at the coffeehouse. And not even a single window was broken there that night as we worked.Then, a few months later (June, 1968), we saw the death of Bobby Kennedy. Camelot never came.Today, again, at this same mall we see the visions that these leaders held in the past beginning once again to break loose of the bondage that has held them for years. The most important thing about President Obama’s inaugural speech, however, is that the President only used the word “I†about three times. What really happens here in this change is up to us. It wasn’t “A change I can believe in†but “A change we can believe inâ€. The responsibility for leading is with us – not President Obama. What are you going to do about it?
Disciplines for the New Year
What gifts would you like to bring to the Christ-King? Pick from the list or create your own as the Spirit leads you.
The Seasons of Life
Enjoy this story of the seasons of life.The Seasons of Life
No More Excuses
A special message for those wondering if God can use them during this next year:Noah was a drunkard, Abraham was too old, Isaac was a daydreamer, Jacob was a liar,Joseph was abused, Moses was a murderer, Gideon was afraid, Rahab was a prostitute,Timothy was too young, David had an illicit affair, Elijah was suicidal, Job was bankrupt,Peter was hot-tempered, Mary Magadalene was demon-possessed,the Samaritan woman was divorced more than once,Zacchaeus was too small, Paul was too religious,and Lazarus was dead.No more excuses.
Changes and Transformation
I like to talk about change, and during the next few months you will see some changes here I think you’ll like. Here are some of these you can expect to see:
- Main menu changes to include The Journey, Prayer, Healing…
- Better usability, such as interactive buttons.
- The addition of professional graphics
- The updating of resources
- Additional cool content from Carl.
The changes will be slow and over time. I stay very busy with clients and this site is a ministry of love and calling. My financial resources limit what I can do in a given time frame. We need a new and faster computer as well as additional financial support to put more time here. We pray for that!
What the Church Needs
On December 4 I had the privilege of sitting in a conference with Tom White and George Otis as they shared about their perception of what God is doing today. The place where we met was a Rodeway Inn, and functions to the world as a part of that larger chain. In reality, it’s a church that draws over 500 for worship on Sunday, with businesspeople staying there the weekend finding Christ before they head on home from the nearby airport. A few years ago, the motel was the largest center of prostitution here in Portland. Some of those same rooms now serve as half-way housing for kids on the way for finding jobs, Christ, and directions in life.Tom White had been responsible for getting George in – a challenge in itself with George’s busy schedule. Tom introduced some issues for George, but it was Otis that really dropped the dynamite on us.In summary, Otis said that we are at a very dark time in history. A time when strange leaders have weapons of mass destruction with the intent to use them and other leaders seem powerless to stop them. A time when political, economic, social, and the rest of our human systems are failing us. And this is not just at national levels, it also true in cities and regions. He’s releasing a video in about two weeks detailing this, but it is short – probably 20 minutes or so. The video shows the story of how we’ve built human institutions with time (League of Nations, United Nations, etc.) and these have all eventually failed us. The world, Otis said, faces almost certain destruction without a supernatural intervention from God.The Good News, Otis said, is that this supernatural intervention is happening. When Otis did his Transformations I video back in 1999, he had identified about 12 cities worldwide that were totally transformed by the power of God politically, socially, spiritually, and economically – any way you could measure it. Moreover, these were sustained transformations involving the entire city that continued there over time. (Only one was in the U.S.) The video showed what happened in four of these cities.1 A few years later I asked him the count at that time and he told me had about 24 cities. This week is said the count is now over 250 cites and growing very rapidly. This is not just revival, but a supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit with stories you would not believe. George spent Monday night telling us some of the stories. Moreover, he has identified some 550 what you might call “salty places†where the fire has begun to burn and already has begun to explode. Like an appetizer for a meal, in these places there is already a deep hunger for the main course.Thousands of cites have contacted him to come and help them get started after seeing the first video. George says he has no program. He’s only researching what is common to all of these and reporting what he sees. George says you can’t imagine yet what God wants to do. Moreover, he says taking our coffee into the Sunday Service and doing our chit-chat isn’t going to do what needs to happen. It won’t happen until there is a deep, deep, deep hunger for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In these cites people became desperate for spiritual awaking. Then the Holy Sprit comes. Moreover, here is an interesting quote from him:
The greatest breakthrough today is where the Spirit of God comes down and attaches Himself to the broken and humble. It’s where God goes when He wants pleasure.
At various conferences I’ve met several of the pastors that have led these transformations in the cities. They all fit this definition, even to the extent of these pastors being ridiculously humble. Otis says what he is seeing is much like Ezekiel 8 and the supernatural story there and the humility of Ezekiel.To hear the sessions:http://www.prayersummits.net/?pageid=59321


