We had the privilege of spending time with some pretty awesome folks from Eastern Mennonite Missions's (EMM) Discipleship Ministries (DM) department today. After some shady directions (courtesy of Google) and turning into what looked like a cult like compound (really it was just a farm in the middle of nowhere) we arrived at the "retreat center". The small place had a spectacular view through a wall of windows overlooking a serene pond (which Ryan told us some interesting stories about, TMI - too much info). :>
After introductions, Sean shared some thoughts about being rooted in intimacy with God and checking to make sure that we are not rooted in something else. Thanks to Corey Martin for coming along and leading us in an intense time of worship that really opened up the doors as God began to move. Sean shared a vision that Jen had while praying for this time. (Jen was not feeling well and was not able to come along, she was extremely missed.) Jen's saw a picture of a group of people in a boat going down a river, but the boat got caught on a rock and stopped moving forward. We believe this picture means (at least in part) that God is encouraging us that even if we are in the "river of His Spirit" we need to make sure we don't get caught up on things along the way. Specifically we sensed one of the "rocks" we can get caught on is "unbelief".
Joanie Nissley shared with me a word about people wanting to be released in the joy of the Lord (Mal 4:2 confirmed this word). These words opened up the door for us to pray for several of the DM staff. It was an exciting time as everyone pressed in and shared the word of the Lord with each other.
I (Sean) was particularly impressed with the hunger and passion that I sensed from the DM staff as well as their openness and humility. I was also blessed to have the awesome support of Jason & Joanie and Correy. Thanks everyone who also prayed with us for this time. It was truly and awesome experience.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Harrisburg Discipleship Center
A team of Firestarters volunteers traveled to Harrisburg tonight to serve at a missionary training base there named "The Harrisburg Discipleship Center" or HDC. HDC is a ministry of Discipleship Ministries, which is associated with Eastern Mennonite Missions.
The staff and students gathered at around 7:00pm to meet with us. We were asked to do an evening of "prophetic ministry," while keeping it "low-key" since some in the group may never have experienced anything like this before. We were planning to do some impromptu (or prophetic) worship and pretty basic sharing and teaching, intending to keep it "low-key" as we were asked to do.
Well, we started off according to plan - with Sean sharing about having our roots deep in relationship with God. And Jen shared breifly about what "prophetic ministry" is. Jen then explained that one part of prophetic ministry is prophetic worship - and this concept is actually right there in the Greek definition of the root word meaning "prophecy" in the New Testament.
We were not sure how the group would respond to prophetic worship, so we started "slow" but they didn't keep up with our pace at all. :> They went deep and FAST! We spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how to keep up with them!
The students just seemed like sponges in God's presence, soaking up His peace and joy, scribbling His revelations in their journals, ministering and encouraging one another. We spent most of the evening simply worshipping God and being with him together.
Then we noticed it was getting late, so we asked one of the HDC staff if we should go ahead and dismiss and welcome any who would like prayer to stick around. They ok-ed this plan and we proceeded to "dismiss"... Well, dismissals only work if people actually want to leave! Many students stayed and more than we imagined waited until quite late to recieve prayer. We witnessed God bring breakthroughs and we saw many students being very encouraged.
We were inspired by this group's desire for God and we hope we were a blessing and inspiration to them too! We look forward to going back to HDC in November to minister to them one more time before they leave for outreach.
The staff and students gathered at around 7:00pm to meet with us. We were asked to do an evening of "prophetic ministry," while keeping it "low-key" since some in the group may never have experienced anything like this before. We were planning to do some impromptu (or prophetic) worship and pretty basic sharing and teaching, intending to keep it "low-key" as we were asked to do.
Well, we started off according to plan - with Sean sharing about having our roots deep in relationship with God. And Jen shared breifly about what "prophetic ministry" is. Jen then explained that one part of prophetic ministry is prophetic worship - and this concept is actually right there in the Greek definition of the root word meaning "prophecy" in the New Testament.
We were not sure how the group would respond to prophetic worship, so we started "slow" but they didn't keep up with our pace at all. :> They went deep and FAST! We spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how to keep up with them!
The students just seemed like sponges in God's presence, soaking up His peace and joy, scribbling His revelations in their journals, ministering and encouraging one another. We spent most of the evening simply worshipping God and being with him together.
Then we noticed it was getting late, so we asked one of the HDC staff if we should go ahead and dismiss and welcome any who would like prayer to stick around. They ok-ed this plan and we proceeded to "dismiss"... Well, dismissals only work if people actually want to leave! Many students stayed and more than we imagined waited until quite late to recieve prayer. We witnessed God bring breakthroughs and we saw many students being very encouraged.
We were inspired by this group's desire for God and we hope we were a blessing and inspiration to them too! We look forward to going back to HDC in November to minister to them one more time before they leave for outreach.
Friday, October 3, 2008
The First Fire Station!
Tonight we had our FIRST Fire Station meeting at the Upper Room in Landisville, PA. Thanks to our friends, the Benner family, for letting us use this wonderful facility!
For months now we have been hearing people share their desire for in depth teaching and personal ministry opportunities... And we believe this is the right season for us to start offering these things to those in the area who are interested.
Our first Fire Station was a lot of fun with a little over an hour of worship. We call this type of worship "soaking" worship and by that we mean - worship that allows you some time to focus in and "soak" in God's presence. The band gelled wonderfully during this impromptu time of being with God.
During worship two people's throats started hurting badly and it ended up being a word of knowledge for someone there who had a problem with her throat starting to hurt terribly right before she led worship. Later we realized that both of the other people who got the word of knowledge for this person were also worship leaders. We took time to pray for this person and they felt a release in their throat. We also prayed for another person who had a throat virus.
Sean shared about making sure our "root" is intimacy with God. If our foundation (or root) is anything else - we will be easily shaken in our Christian life. We took time looking into God's written word to see this concept so clearly in John 15:5. We spent some time searching our hearts, asking God what our root really is.
We ended with a time of hanging out, drinking coffee, and eating a ton of snack food. :> It was a great night - and one I find myself thinking back on often and being inspired by the things I learned and witnessed.
We look forward to more times of growth and "refueling" together at November's Fire Station meetings!
For months now we have been hearing people share their desire for in depth teaching and personal ministry opportunities... And we believe this is the right season for us to start offering these things to those in the area who are interested.
Our first Fire Station was a lot of fun with a little over an hour of worship. We call this type of worship "soaking" worship and by that we mean - worship that allows you some time to focus in and "soak" in God's presence. The band gelled wonderfully during this impromptu time of being with God.
During worship two people's throats started hurting badly and it ended up being a word of knowledge for someone there who had a problem with her throat starting to hurt terribly right before she led worship. Later we realized that both of the other people who got the word of knowledge for this person were also worship leaders. We took time to pray for this person and they felt a release in their throat. We also prayed for another person who had a throat virus.
Sean shared about making sure our "root" is intimacy with God. If our foundation (or root) is anything else - we will be easily shaken in our Christian life. We took time looking into God's written word to see this concept so clearly in John 15:5. We spent some time searching our hearts, asking God what our root really is.
We ended with a time of hanging out, drinking coffee, and eating a ton of snack food. :> It was a great night - and one I find myself thinking back on often and being inspired by the things I learned and witnessed.
We look forward to more times of growth and "refueling" together at November's Fire Station meetings!
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