Family, tacos, & revival...

THIS LAST WEEKEND was crazy.

A group of about 30 young Jesus-loving fire-breathers, who were all connected somehow & now living throughout the state of california, gathered together to simply BE family & seek God's face as a family. We worshipped together with no end, studied the Word together, shared each others' dreams for California, we prayed together & over each other, & we ate TONS of Mexican food & In n Out. It didn't stop there though. When authentic community happens around the presence of the Lord, there is a natural overflow into the streets...that is revival, & that is exactly what happened.

About a week before all of this, I was praying for this gathering & I saw these bowls of intercession tipping over & pouring out fire over the whole state. I wasn't sure what to expect, but what happened far surpassed anything I could have dreamed of.

The first friday night that we were all together, we spoke at New Song Irvine's college group & prayed over almost 100 students who had all reached the point of desperation for more of God. Then the next night, after a full day of the Lord pouring out His spirit, reminding us of who He is & who we are, & renewing the joy of our salvation, we unanimously decided that we had to go out & tell someone about all of this! So all 30 of us went to the Irvine Spectrum-a giant outside mall with shops, restaurants, a movie theater, & a giant ferris wheel-& definitely saw the fruit of the joy of our salvation...more salvation!

Two of the girls on my team led an atheist in Barnes & Noble to the Lord, Jeff Reid & Eddie Brown-the two spiritual fathers of the group who are crazy!-led two young high school boys to the Lord, & beyond that, we prayed over everyone we could, spoke into their identity, & also got rejected quite a bit. But it was all worth it! Here's where it gets ridiculous...

When we gathered together to debrief the night & share testimonies, some random kid that we didn't know jumped onto the fountain right behind us & started preaching about God's love! So we figured that if went over there, it would draw more people in. And sure enough, a crowd of about 100 gathered, a kid ended up throwing off his shoes saying that he wanted to get baptized right there in the fountain, security came & said he couldn't do that, they escorted the young evangelist out, then one of our guys jumped up & told everyone that we all love Jesus & would love to pray for anyone who wanted it, then a boy came up shaking under the presence of the Lord asking what was happening to him, He got saved, & then a few more got saved.

So there you have it-the world's longest sentence & the craziest night Irvine's ever seen. I think my team's expectancy for these last two weeks in LA has escalated a bit after all that, & rightly so. Keep praying that God would release the fullness of what He has for this place!

the winter is past & the springtime is here

"My lover said to me, "Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one! Look, the winter is past, & the rains are over & gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come..."

Song of Songs 2:10-12

It's a beautiful season on the West Coast. The hills of Los Angeles are greener than usual, a strange hope is in the air. Something is changing here, something big is coming. My team came not knowing what to expect, but with one simple word from the Lord to run with: spring is here.

We started ministry on April 1st at the University of California in San Diego (UCSD), coincidentally on the same day that former president Bill Clinton was starting off a conference focusing on global change. We walked around the campus praying & worshipping-enthroning Jesus in His rightful place, high above the humanism that is so celebrated there. HE is the only solution to all the injustice on the earth, amen?

The next night, two worlds collided as my family & childhood friends came together with my new ywam family for a night of worship. We simply ministered to the heart of the Lord, & He was faithful to come & inhabit our praises, sending waves of His love & healing. We saw many hearts encouraged as we prayed over one another & also one partial healing (the pain went away in someone's shoulder, not sure if it's fully healed). We joined together with one family praying for salvation for their children & got word the very next day that the oldest daughter had accepted the Lord into her heart that night! I was so humbled & thankful to see the Lord pour out His faithfulness & open heaven over my home!

Next, we moved on to Los Angeles, & on day one of ministry there, at Venice Beach, my team shared the gospel & prayed for over 30 people. We had the opportunity to bless some incredibly anointed rap artists who were believers, & we ran into a young man who was temporarily homeless & had just been robbed the night before AND it was his birthday!-so we bought him a root beer float, a new sweatshirt & some shoes, & we prayed over him. His name is Robbie, & the Lord is radically pursing his heart & he knows it! Oh, & one of the ywam LA guys we were with led a kid to the Lord at the skate park. The kingdom of heaven is near!

So our schedule for LA is simply this: hitting the streets during the day, doing evangelism, prayer walks, & worship, & then helping establish the ywam base's house of prayer at night, doing sets four days a week. We're also partnering with a local youth group, Models for Christ, Kid Works-an after school program for children at risk, & some other local ministries. We've connected at a heart level with all of these people rather quickly with the help of a similar word of the Lord for this season-the winter is past & the springtime is here!

Here's the rest of our schedule, so that you can be praying for us along this journey!

April 3-29: Los Angeles, CA

April 30-May 2: Redding, CA

May 3-10: Corvallis/ Albany, OR

May 11-June 13: Seattle, WA

Also, you can join our group on Facebook for more consistent updates

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/home.php?sk=group_102865653130263

Ps. I'm sorry, I just realized I haven't introduced my team!...

Katelyn Leavitt-25, from Alaska, co-leader

Alex Graves-24, from Washington, co-leader

Megan Heller-17, from Kauai

Elisabeth Melkerean, from Norway

Jaimie Kim, from Korea

Victor Chun, from Canada

Jen & Michael Arsenault, from Florida (Jen's pregnant!)

...& that's the family.