Seattle

This was a great trip. I went with the interns to the Global Strategy Conference for a week in Seattle. The conference was really good and I saw some of the best speakers. This conference was mostly about how to plant and grow healthy churches. We heard from pastors all around the world: Ukraine, Israel, Philippines, Indonesia, Africa, Australia and a few other places. Some of the speakers included: Reinhard Bonnke, Brian Houston (Hillsong church pastor), Sunday Adelaja, Marcos Witt (pastors with Joel Osteen at Lakewood Church), and Wendall Smith. My favorite sessions were probably the workshops with Pastor Jude Fouquier and Pastor Judah Smith. The thing I took away most from this confernece is really stuff that I'm able to share with others. This conference was not a "self-focused" one. It wasn't about my prosperity, my giftings, my agenda, my convictions. It was focused on His kingdom, His glory, His name, His church! It was a strategic meeting; set up for those who wanted strategies to reach the world by means of His church. Here are some of the things that these speakers imparted to us. They may be short, but they are powerful notes!

>>>You must love the people over the ministry!********
(Pastor Wendall Smith)

>>>For pastors, Sunday is training for Monday's deployment of the shepherds (the church). We must be connected to a local church (go to church on Sunday) so we can be equipped to be shepherds the rest of the week. Sunday we are sheep; the rest of the week we are shepherds. We as the church are bearers of His kingdom purpose.
(Pastor Sunday Adelaja)

>>>The requirements for a leader over thousands is the same for a leader over tens (small groups). We need to concentrate on keeping the health of the church over the growth of the church because healthy things grow.
(Pastor Brian Houston)

>>>You can't know God's voice without God's presence.
(Pastor Jude Fouquier)

>>>Churches may have become monuments, but God wants a MOVEMENT! God's Word is not just a promise; it's a statement of fact, already proven. God wasn't stronger 2,000 years ago. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
(Reinhard Bonnke)

>>>We are called to be "bringers", not just inviters. The harvest doesn't come in by itself; we must bring it into the house!
(Pastor Paul Chase)

>>>God already knows what He's going to do. He is just waiting for man to agree with Him.
(Pastor Judah Smith)

The conference ended late Thursaday night with a prayer line for all the pastors from other nations. It was powerful! Also during that week they prayed over the team that will be starting the new church plant, The City Church, D.C. This plant is such an amazing miracle and work of God and its first service will be held May 18th. For more info go to www.thecitydc.org. D.C. is going to encounter God's presence like never before!

Friday was our "fun" day. Our flight wasn't leaving until 9 pm, so we had all day to just hang out. We went to intern prayer at the church and stayed through their class. After that we headed down to their waterfront (overlooks the lake) and took a bunch of pictures. I can't remember a time when we interns took so many group pictures! After we got lunch that day we had a scary encounter with a baby chick. We were enjoying our food by the waterfront when Andrew decided to throw a rock towards the water, not intending to hit the many ducks that were sitting in the shallow area. Well, he had some hard luck and ended up hitting a baby chick really hard and practically killed it! Poor Sean got blamed for this cruel attack, but instead of defending himself, he got up to help the chick. We watched him pick it up and ease it back into the water while we sat and prayed in tongues. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen because it was so helpless, writhing on the ground, pretty much ready to die. But God in his mercy saw the pain it caused us and it somehow managed to get back in the water after struggling for a little while. We joked about Andrew's mistake later, but it was really the saddest thing to sit there and watch the chick struggle to stay alive!

After the heroic rescue, we decided to head to Sean's house in Monroe, WA for the afternoon. Get this, Sean's last name is Pearson and guess where he lives?! Pearson Lane! That's right, named after the family and his extended family lives on the lane as well. We had so much fun with his family; meeting his grandma, an aunt, one of his brothers, and of course, his parents. We had root-beer floats in the kitchen and got to jump on his trampoline and sit on the swings. An all-in-all fun day and we won't ever forget it! His house had an atmosphere of faith and we felt so at home there! We took a lot of pictures there too and we left with huge smiles on our faces. A great day in Washington...it was actually sunny! Before we went to the airport we went to Red Robin's for one last time with the Seattle interns and later that night we headed home.

Now we only have two weeks left of interns and after this conference, time seems to be moving faster! I better hurry to finish this so I don't lose more time!