At the times when you least expect it…

03.01.08 l Baltimore, MD

I have come to the simple conclusion that God loves showing up in the most random, unexpected and awkward places.

I have this seen this pattern over and over and over again this year already. Its a beautiful thing when it happens because you know - beyond a shadow of doubt - that it is HIM in the room.

Here is a perfect example of that last weekend. So I get invited to lead worship and share at a conference on the east coast along with Mike Pivalachi. He’s a real father in the UK and all over Europe that started Soul Survivor and mentored Matt Redman, Martin Smith and all those monster songwriters. The movement was born out of crazy revival…where thousands of young people were healed, saved, delivered, and lit up by the very Presence of God. Their meetings would go on for hours and hours because the glory was so thick and no one wanted to leave. Simply put…God showed up over and over again and people’s lives were changed. That’s the churches main issue in the west right now…we just need to get GOD to show up and give Him room to move and He’ll change the calloused hearts of men and all those wild things will happen. When Jesus comes in the room…so does healing, restoration, deliverance and POWER. You can’t get one without the other.

Anyway…so I was just coming off cloud nine in Australia and New Zealand where for two weeks we saw the most incredible things happen in the meetings. Jesus touched, healed, saved, and restored so many people…we worshipped and prayed for hours and hours…and the BURN was ignited in the hearts of HIS people in the land down under. I had one days rest with my gorgeous wife and then we hit the road again for this conference on the East Coast. I was really thinking that momentum was building there would be a climactic explosion from the first strum of the first gathering. Well…I was wrong. What I didn’t know going into this was that this was a gathering of the youth groups in Anglican churches all over the region. Now…this wasn’t a bad thing…and I’m not saying that I would not have come had I known this prior. I’m just saying that it didnt start out with “assie-style explosion” I had thought it would. The kids were way more reserved and kinda checking me out before they would even sing along at all. Its one of those “pastoring” roles you have to take on as a worship leader. You worship leaders know what I’m talking about. You have teach and coach along with leading to get people involved and interacting with God. Its a very good thing God wants us all to get back to sometimes so we can remember the simplicity of what we are doing. Its not all about crazy manifestations and stuff…but simply us interacting with Jesus.

So..we starting with the basics and moved on from there…it was steady growth…but it was growth none the less. I had to pull out some old school youth group jam songs which brought me back to my days learning how to play in Virginia. The times where I had so much passion and so little skill that I would consistently break 2-3 strings on my guitar per worship set!! Those were the days!! We could hang out on 2-3 chords for hours because that is all we knew!!! Anyway…so it was the second night of this conference and we had the best worship time yet….God’s presence really came in thick and the kids could totally feel and understand it. Trust me…regardless if they know or dont know the song…or if the style is thier kind or not…NO ONE can deny when HE comes in the room with. That is what we are going for with each worship time. That HE would actually come in the room so we can get to know Him better and interact with the King of Kings! After the worship set…Mike comes on stage and looks to me and says…”I think He’s here…lets just hang out for a minute.” So we hung out in silence for 10-15 minutes waiting for the Holy Spirit to do what He wanted to do. (When is the last time you and your worship team did this??? you should try it!). He obviously came for a reason and it sure wasn’t because our music was so good. We have to learn to embrace the awkwardness of these silent moments…when everyone is checking their watches and wondering when we are going to move on and you hear a few loud “coughs” echo around the room - WE MUST WAIT…WE MUST SIT…WE MUST REST. The one thing we will find out in these times is that HE ALWAYS COMES WITH AN AGENDA. And WOW…did He have an agenda this time around.

From the back of the room..people began to weep…and i’m not talking about sniffles and just a little cry. Kids were wailing at the top of their lungs!!! The Holy Spirit was doing His stuff and you could feel the literal wind in the room. Then it the most unexpected, crazy, wild thing happened in middle of this quaint Anglican youth retreat. This girl at the front of the room began to yell at the top of her lungs and a massive long shriek came out of her as the demons tormenting her were released. I looked over at Mike with astonishment and asked “did this JUST happen here?!” He smiled and was like…”uh..yea…THAT just happened HERE.” We were both laughing and celebrating what God was doing even though it was a complete scare and bewilderment to the kids in the room. They had NEVER seen anything like this before and many were frightened at what was going on. I loved Mike’s incredible way of teaching them and assuring them things were alright. He said in the classic Brit accent “What I do when i’m worried and frightened on a plane flight is look to the cabin staff…and if they dont look worried…then there everything is OK. But if I dart out the back door to get out of here…then you better be right behind me.” This was so good for them to hear and let them know that what was happening was really GOD!

The whole thing just cracks me up…because I even had specific people tell me and others before the conference that they did not believe in healing…even though they needed it in their own bodies!! Then God showed up and healed them anyway!! We had more reports of physical healings this weekend than anything we’ve done this year and it was at a place where many people were not used to it and didn’t even believe in it!! Along with this came restoration, inner healing from deep issues, and an ignition of a fresh passion for God!! Kids were shaking on the floor God was moving so powerfully through their bodies! We weren’t even playing music at all when this whole deal broke out…so it was not just some “mood” set by the music or manipulation thing….it all came out of silence and waiting on the HOLY SPIRIT. And these people aren’t acclimated to the prophetic flow….so they don’t know how to manifest “on cue” or anything. Thats how you know it was so legit. I think God does things this way so only HE can get the credit for what is happening. He’s the only person in the world that has the right to be an ego-maniac. Thats the way He likes it.

Reports are still pouring from kids all over the nation who had their life changed in this incredible Anglican youth conference. We were renewed and brought back to the simple principle that God can do whatever He wants, wherever He wants, whenever He wants. We want to keep it that way and always believe that HIS Presence can quickly destroy the doubt and unbelief that we carry.

We are going to see an increase of HIS POWER released in the least expected places like this…as long as we give Him TIME and SPACE…We will get what He came to give. We will be empowered and actually go out from these times ready to change the world. It will make our lives more efficient and effective in every way.

These are the times we are living in…get ready.

for generation and nations to see..

sean