The daily report to the church about our trip
Day 3
Greetings from merry ol' England. We are doing splendidly. The flight was long but uneventful outside of Scott and I tossing and turning trying to get comfortable enough to sleep...lost cause. Copenhagen was nice and short. The plane itself was quite incredible. Probably the nicest coach ride I have ever had. Individual screens with interactive games and independent movies, almost scary there were so many choices I decided mostly to read for the duration. Wrote some excellent thoughts on worship that I shared today in the seminar. We got into Heathrow airport and customs was a breeze except for Britteny. Her clerk decided to give her a little bad time and wanted to see all of her documentation and talk to me. She saw our stories were consistent and let us in. Got our luggage and then no one was there for about 45 minutes. two calls later, Merilee magically appeared standing waiting for us about 20 feet from where the team was seated. Three van/cars-full later we were on our way to our hosts homes. Everybody was in great spirits. We are staying in 5 separate homes: I am alone with a nice Armenian man and English wife; Dustin is alone with an Indian man and English wife; Britteny is alone with a couple; Mike and Scott are staying with a couple who were expecting teenagers so they had pizza the first night; Katie and Liz are staying with another couple from the church. Everybody seems happy with their accomodations. The driving of course is a little harrowing to say the least but we should be used to it by the time we get back.
We encouraged everybody to stay up at least till 9pm to get over the jet lag possibilities but it seems to no avail this time. Everybody woke up a lot during the night. I finally stayed up at 4:30am and studied and prayed till breakfast at 8am. Actually, it was quite good and Jesus dumped a lot more good things into my old cranium. We got to the church (Saturday) about 9am and prayed, shared and exhorted each other and then joined the local worship team as they lead worship for the first set. Dustin came in late and not feeling very well. I think jet lag hit him hard. He got up for about 4 hours and then went back to bed at 5am and overslept. He sat out a few things. Pray for him and the rest of the team for the jet lag stuff. Thanks.
There were 4 churches represented with about 60+ people there. Mostly black and very interactive of course. It was a blast ministering to them all day. We sang 'Aloha' and 'Come Be with Me' and I shared the breath concept of worship along with the picture of God that He gave me on the plane of Him 'putting' a song in our mouth. They really enjoyed all that and Amened me all the way. We hit some moments of worship that were very intense and exciting and very spontaneous as I was not really expecting that kind of a response so soon. They drew it out of me. The team was right behind me and stayed up with me for the most part. The second session was on Leading worship which was a great time of challenging the leaders. After lunch the team sang again to lead into working with teams in the flow of worship, so we did a little workshop and worked flexibility, we did God of Wonders and took off on some prophetic songs that were delicious and I told Britteny to sing, which she did beautifully. Then I had their flutist come up and play Shout to the Lord in F" with us and illustrated simplicity in complex keys and then sorta jazzed it up while she stayed steady on her F". It was delightful. Then we talked about the team concept and how God is using teams not soloists for His purposes in worship, we are called to the team, not our ministry, etc. Good stuff.
All in all, I talk too much and we went too long to get into the New Song teaching further and the individual workshops. The local people, though enjoying it were getting pretty tired and some had to leave for work, and the team was really flagging, they could barely keep their eyes open. So we sent everybody home and I rehearsed the team for an hour on tomorrow's lists, just keep them awake until bedtime. This is definitely stretching time for them and even me. My eyes are drooping and stinging as well. Keep the prayers coming. The ministry is excellent and well received. My voice is doing well. Pray for focus on Jesus for tomorrow. We found out today that they have two services so I will be leading worship and preaching twice! Please pray for my voice. I get so excited... I got Psalm 132 I am working on for a prophetic word concerning God's chosen. We have a Gospel Cafe in the evening with street kids and church kids together. We will be doing some music and drama, so pray for open hearts and open doors. Then we have a piano workshop Monday night, drum workshop Tuesday night and possibly a church-wide Song of the Lord session on Wednesday night. They were very excited about my teaching in that area and are considering having the whole church come out for it.
Thanks for all your prayers, we feel them; all in all this is a great group, no major problems, no major foulups, no health issues outside of jet lag, they are happy and spirited, just tired. Jesus has been good to us and continues to lead us in delightfully surprising ways.
Day 4
Greetings from London. Sunday was an incredible day at New Life Bible Church in London. We had both services, worship and the word. The team was really ready and prayed up. From the opening songs 'Aloha, Welcome' and 'Come and Have Your Way' a great song written by Dallas and Tammy Hall at LHF, the worship was filled with excitement and anticipation. Jesus sang through us powerfully and praise and worship filled that place with renewed zeal and passion. I delivered what I felt was a prophetic word of promise to the church from Psalm 132 (Rick and Dean Elders had received the same exact scripture for a prophetic service in Yelm, WA last week!) and then shared the vision I saw for the church that the Lord impressed on me during the flight over, concerning worship, the song, the release and the burden for this church. After the second service (which had people from all over the world: South Africa, Italy, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, etc.) we prayed over the local worship team in prophetic fashion and saw God minister to them in deep and powerful ways.
In the evening, they transformed the sanctuary into the 'Gospel Cafe' complete with dim lights, candles, and had a wonderful array of music and sharing. We joined in for a couple of songs and then Scott did a hilarious improv with Dustin and then with people from the audience. This format is intended to be a safe place to bring street kids and friends to present the love of Jesus in a non-threatening environment. A wonderful place of the expression of Christ. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the cafe.
Day 5
Greetings from merry ol' England. This one will have to be shorter since the team is coming in for devotions any minute now. It is Wednesday morning and I am now staying at Rick and Merilee Johnstons who extend their greetings to everyone but especially LouEtta and Pastor and Brenda, all whom they miss dearly.
We have had two great days of sightseeing during the day and workshops at night. Monday was the Tower of London and stepping back into an incredible history of regal gore. More on that later. Then we went shopping where Liz got her wallet stolen unfortunately. But we replaced her passport, got her some extra spending money and I think her card is cancelled too. So not too much pain in that. She is doing very well. Real proud of her and the team for rallying around her and praying and being upbeat all the way. Good stuff when you have Jesus. I taught a piano workshop Monday night while the team went to a local movie for free.
Tuesday, we headed back downtown for John Wesley's house and chapel as well as the graveyard of John Bunyan (Paul wasnt there for some reason), William Blake, Daniel DeFoe, Isaac Watts and others. We saw Charles Wesley's personal organ where he wrote so many of his over 5000 hymns and had an incredible time just sensing the history of God speaking to that generation through godly men and women. Then we went on to Trafalgar Square via double-decker buses. Great time and incredible views. It was dusk and cops everywhere because President Bush was flying in that night and holing up in Buckingham Palace just a few blocks from where we were. Mike and I went back to the church for a drum workshop while the rest of team stayed and enjoyed downtown some more. Mike did an outstanding job with the 7 drummers there and considering it was his first time, I sensed an anointing to impart in his life. He was gentle yet inspiring, insightful and much more. Got to go. See you in Wales. again thanks for all the prayers we feel covered.
Day 6
Greetings from merry ol' England. Well, a couple of days have transpired now. We had a very interesting day in London yesterday, Wednesday, since President George was here there were protestors everywhere we went. No incidents at all fortunately just a lot of shouting and interesting signs and effigys including a clown troupe marching in Trafalgar Square apparently pointing out that England already had enough 'fools' or something like that. They also added red food coloring to the fountain for obvious reasons; as we walked from Trafalgar to Westminster Abbey they had blocked off the streets to traffic for many city blocks and on each side street sat vans full of police eating their lunch and waiting for any emergencies. Rather eerie.
By the way, I dont know if I mentioned this before but the night previous we were in Trafalgar Square (gorgeous at night) with Rick and Merilee. Then Scott got a long-distance call from Multnomah County for a job interview by phone for a website manager position there. That has to be a first. Please pray that he gets this job. It would be a great position and a great answer to a long prayer for over a year. And to get it based on a Trafalgar Square interview, is that cool or what?
We ended the afternoon at Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey and a stroll down by the Thames River before heading back on the tubes. There were a lot more protestors around Westminster, surrounded by scores of police vans, police and motorcycles. Pretty intense but again everybody was safe. It sorta felt like we were a part of history in the making.
The joke of course is that we were the warmup band for Dubya and he came to check on us.
Last night's ministry was incredible and powerful on the new song. The team did an outstanding job in every way. They sang 3 or 4 new songs before we rotated some of their people onto the mics to try out their voices. Liz sang a powerful rendition of Yet I Will Praise which was probably intensified due to the theft earlier in the week. We involved the whole congregation in singing a new song to Jesus and they were really flowing and enjoying the wonderful moment. My voice is doing well thanks to all the prayers and the ministry seems so easy in a sense of their receptivity and the quickness of their response to what we are doing.
Today we travel to Wales (Aberkenfig - Pastor John Marshall - Frontline Bible Church) Ministry there will be Friday night, all day Saturday seminar and celebration and then Sunday regular service ministry and back to London in the afternoon. The team is doing very well, they are excelling in loving people, being gracious, stepping up for ministry, praying, devotions, exhorting and health too. They have made a lot of great friends here in London and hope to have the same experience in Wales. Of course, this is approaching the 100th anniversary of the Welsh Revival so I think Pastor John is taking us tomorrow to where it all began. Be praying for continued guidance, health and protection as well as a quickened word to a land that once was flowing in song. May He sing again among His precious people of Wales.
Day 7
We arrived in Wales on Thursday in time for dinner. Scott is doing an exceptional job driving us around on the wrong side of the road. He is by now (Saturday night) an exceptional chaffeur. The countryside of course is astounding in its beauty and simplicity. The guys are all staying in a beautiful home with Pastor John and Joan Marshall near Aberkenfig which is the city with their church. The girls are all staying with the music person Lorraine and her husband Mark in Port Cawl. When we arrived they asked us to supply the worship for a special meeting in a small church near there named Bethlehem church, Pastor Mike. Tony Kiwalsingh from Trinidad was the special speaker and of course the team's response was a resounding yes. I have known Tony for about 15 years from back in PBC days. His son Chip married one of my Welsh students Sarah Glave and now pastor up in Leicester, England. It was wonderful blending our voices with theirs. I tell you the Welsh really sing. very powerful time of worship and Tony shared a great word. an unexpected pleasure. The following day we had the great joy of going to Moriah Chapel where the whole Welsh Revival started with Evan Roberts and the gang. The guide was an impassioned older man who wept openly as he shared the details of the Revival like they were yesterday and he was personally there. He has relatives who were actually in the revival and shared some of their powerful stories. Dustin and I got to stand at the pulpit where Evan Roberts spoke from. I felt a prophetic sense for him to feel that place and what God did for that generation that changed a nation and many others. I got to sing their most famous song, Here is Love, from the hymnal. Powerful words. we will bring them home with us. Incredible place.
Then we went to see the coast and more beautfiul Welsh land and ended up in an old Welsh village that has been restored from many different eras. A step back into a wonderful history. The team really enjoyed that strolll through there.
That night (Friday) we shared with the local worship team a few thoughts, encouragement, got them to play and sing with us some, and taught them a few of our songs. Lot of fun.
Saturday we had our seminar in the afternoon and celebration in the evening. I tell you, the flow of these services is unprecedented in my experience. The team is doing exceptionally. There werent a lot of people at either service but the minstry was so consistently full of Jesus and moving that many were on their faces and many openly weeping throughout the whole afternoon and evening. We did a shortened version of my Breath of Worship seminar with a lot of worship and new songs thrown in. At the end of the afternoon session we had three people come up and sing a new song from scripture and it was powerful.
In the evening we just didnt want to stop and neither did they. Pastor John took over at the end and kept the song and worship going for another 45 minutes. It really was beautiful. We do have a sense of a new song being birthed in Wales. Lots of freedom here. Apparently everything I shared throughout the day was confirmed by the whole worship team. They were amazed. I think the word they used was 'Revelation' God is moving. Keep praying. The team is holding up very well and getting bolder and more confident daily. At this rate we could go pro in a couple of years. : )
Well, I'm pretty tired and we have one last big meeting tomorrow at the church. Please pray. I have a great sense of the ministry for it but it is new stuff that the Lord just dumped on me two days ago. Pretty fun though. I know this is a 'for such a time as this' kind of thing. Praise God. See you all in two days.
Tomorrow night we will be back in London and will try to send out one final email. BTW, Pastor Tony from Trinidad has tentatively invited me to join him for a tour of the Caribbean Islands as well Rick Johnston would really like me to join him in India in 2005 for healing and evangelistic meetings. God keeps stretching.
Day 9
Greetings from merry ol' Wales. Actually we are back in London now and it is midnight before we leave. But I thought I would send off one last email. Our final day in Aberkenfig, Wales was astounding and delightful. The church was filled with Welsh voices, such full-throated beauty, I really love it. In fact, they sang for us, the hymn that was the main hymn of the revival, Here is Love. All four verses plus one in Welsh. When they get to this one part it is like the whole place went into hyperdrive and soared with passion. They are a very passionate people and are looking for God to touch their land again, soon. The team did wonderfully and powerfully throughout the whole time. We drove back with no major sicknesses, no lost luggage, no forgotten items, no accidents, no boo-boos. Scott is just a great driver. What can we say, plus of course there is God.
We are tired but thrilled with the great response we had from every seminar and every meeting. I do believe we are precursors to what God is going to do in Wales. We were able to teach and facilitate a great flow and new song in the congregation and worship team.
For some pictures on our trip see the Slideshow at Scott Bettis' site: http://www.scottbettis.com/index.php
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