Carryover from SUN

Our computer at home has crashed for awhile until we repair it so I'm writing from the office today...It just struck me while I was reading Proverbs that this verse ties in with what I was sharing on SUN.

Proverbs 29:
If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; BUT when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.

When we ask Jesus in the morning, "What are your plans for me this day?" He will reveal His plans to you. He'll take the opportunity to show you so that your day will be blessed and YOU will be blessed!

A friend of mine wrote to me SUN PM and said she left church and asked Jesus to plan the remainder of her day. She set aside her agenda and followed His. Several unexpected things came her way and yet she was able to work through them and still have time to relax and enjoy the remainder of the weekend. She wrote and said that she was so encouraged by that.

Take time right now to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal His plans for you for the remainder of this day, this week, etc. See what He shows you! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how God can utilize you when you make His agenda yours!

God's best to you! Remember to pray for the person(s) that you're inviting to our Easter celebration!

Prophetic

We've been teaching about spiritual gifts the past few weeks at our Vineyard and have had lots of questions and seen people desiring to know more about (and desiring to use!) their spiritual gifts. On the 30th of March -- a FRI night -- we're going to take a few hours to worship and then see what God wants to do...to see how he wants to speak to His people...to heal...to encourage...we're just going to wait upon Him and go from there.

It's not just good enough to know the stuff...you actually have to do it! And so, we want to provide a safe place for our church to learn and grow and step out and attempt great things for God. If you're part of the South Metro Vineyard Church family look for an email to be coming with details.

This is Jesus' church...and we are called to participate in the ministry of Jesus! Let's learn how to do this thing together!

Follow up to Monday

Beside the icy driving conditions, we had an incredible time in IA at the Heartland Vineyard Church. It was good to see all of our IA friends again and hang out with them. Our kids had a blast as well.

People have asked me, "What are some of the highlights of the conference?" Here goes:
1) Seeing God move in the room. It was cool to see people touched by the power of the prophetic! During the last session time was given to have people share specific words. Several were given and some were shared with people that I know personally and they were dead on! They had never met these folks yet God spoke through them to bring encouragement and the challenge to move forward and see what He has for them.

2) Being in worship with other worshippers. It's hard on a SUN morning when you know that you are going to teach in a few minutes to relax and focus on God. I try every week and when I do breakthrough and just relax it's incredible! But here I was in the midst of several hundred people -- no message to preach, no people seeking me out for prayer -- and boom!! I had freedom to just worship my guts out! That was good!

3) Nicki and I did a marriage & ministry workshop in the morning. I was surprised by how many people showed up and then as we closed we went into ministry time and Nicki had a word or two and then we had the couples there speak into each other's lives. I felt like God said to have the turn to their spouse and say, "I see this in your life..." That simple! And God really blessed most of the couples there! Some were in the room a half hour to 45 minutes later still praying and talking through what God was showing them. That was cool! (If only we as husbands/wives would take time daily to say that to our spouse!?! Why not try?)

4) There may be a church plant happening near my old hometown. I felt like God put a spotlight on this couple for me to pray for them. As I asked them what they needed prayer for they talked about churchplanting in Newton, IA just 15 minutes north of my old stomping grounds. That was exciting to hear! Plus what a great group of people that are wanting to do that in that community! Go God!

5) Most importantly our son, Sam, got blasted by the Holy Spirit! God really talked to him about some issues and heart conditions that he has. I know that was something that my wife had been praying about -- that he would really meet with Jesus and know his heart! That was cool. Another son received some prophetic words as well! It is so great to know that God loves you...because He wants to speak to us!

There's some of the stuff that happened -- there's obviously more, but that's enough for today.
Hope you have a great one! God's best to you!

Icy Weekend Driving

The IA Vineyards hosted their annual Area Gathering this past weekend -- kinda like a weekend family reunion where they bring in a guest speaker and all the area Vineyards bring their people and we get together to worship, to give and receive prayer, and to reconnect with friends that we haven't seen in awhile.

Our goal was to take 15-20 people from SMVC down there but due to the weather on WED & THURS in IA & MN we were left with a whole bunch of road closings and even worse than what we thought driving conditions. So, since Nicki and I were leading a workshop on Marriage & Ministry on SAT morning we thought we should at least attempt to get down there -- It's only a 3 hour cruise! (And you know what happens on those, little buddy!)

We drove to Albert Lea on FRI night and had a good drive until the last 20 miles where we started to see 2-3 inches of ice on the road and several cars in the ditch (some upside-down!) We pulled into town safely and spent the night at our friends home there -- the Hundleys, who pastor the Albert Lea Vineyard. We've known them since we all lived near one another in married student housing so it was good to reconnect with them, plus our kids all got to see each other and run around playing.

The plan was to get up at 5am and head to the church to leave around 6. The group got together and we took off. I-35 had just been opened going south and the internet said our other roads were open - but travel was not advised. We got out on the road and things were clean and clear! Until we got to Mason City and turned onto 218/18 South. It went from good to real bad, real quick. Again 2-3 inches of ice and driving at 20-25 mph. But we made it! We arrived in Cedar Falls around 9:30 and made it just in time to get our stuff ready to do our 10:45 workshop. It was just such a relief to get there! What crazy driving!

We saw semis sliding on the ice...one couldn't get up the hill. He was stuck midway up and his tires were just spinning, spinning, spinning! We saw two or three cars overturned in the median and numerous others just off the road but still far enough off that they were stuck in all the snow. The wildest part was seeing the car in front of me go sideways for about 50 feet before coming back into line -- that was my family in that car! (We had to drive a couple cars.)

Overall -- my kids thought that this was a great adventure!

I'll write more later about the Gathering and the things that happened there.
Have a good one!