I had never seen anything quite like it, and to this day I still haven’t. For me it was a life changing experience!!!
During the late August, September and possibly a little of Oct of 201l??? It was prior to my owning a smart phone so I have few pictures. and right before I traveled to Wyoming in Oct.
Anyhow I got the opportunity to travel along the road system of Alaska ministering in churches, youth groups, Wal-Mart parking lots and a village. This was a group of 25? people most of them in their early 20’s but their was really quite an age diversity. This group sent out from Kona Hawaii had done the very first school of the Circuit Riders. They had spent the last 6 weeks or so, in an environment that feeds and inspires faith, boldness and passion. The school at is close had divided into several groups that were going around the US to preach Jesus and the simple gospel. This particular team had come to Alaska.
One of the students in that school had recently done his DTS and come on staff with the YWAM base I worked with in Homer AK. The team needed to borrow one of our ministry van’s and a driver to go along with it. Aaron the student of the school called me and asked me to be that volunteer driver and see if I could convince some of our fellow staff to come along.
So a handful of us from the Homer base drove up to Fairbanks, AK to meet up with the Circuit Riders. We had not taken the school or shared in the bonding experience's this team had already shared in their lecture phase, but we were never treated like outsiders. We were warmly and fully welcomed into this this band of fiery evangelists. Having been a part of a lot of teams and schools over the years I was really impressed with the family feel of this particular team. No doubt it had a lot to do with their incredible leaders Tom and Donna Cole who sort of adopted the whole clan into their family for the season. We would gather in the massive living room of the lodge we stayed in and visit and pray. It had such a loving feel of kinship.
This group was some of the boldest, hungriest passionate teams I had ever been around. This trip was by far one of the most fruitful outreaches I had ever been on. I don’t recall how many people accepted Jesus or received emotional or physical healing in prayer. It seemed daily there were multiple stories of How God moved on hearts. What I do recall is the times you don’t expect deep ministry.
Like making a grocery run to Walmart, the leaders were shopping for necessities the students were given a short amount of time to get what they wanted. Coming out to the van after shopping I look out into the parking lot and see three different gathering of Circuit riders praying over an individual or family. I had actually seen the same thing a time or two in the store. One group stood just outside the van so I stepped into the circle to meet the native couple my team was ministering to. A man named Moses was weeping as my friends spoke life over him and his wife.
Another glimpse that stood out was when after weeks of travel and ministry we decided to take a day off, a much needed rest. We drove our many vans to Chena Hot springs just outside of Fairbanks. It was fun. The weather was cool and crisp though I don’t think we had seen any snow just yet, but we were soaking in a natural hot springs during the evening hours and stayed to watch the Northern Lights with a room full of Japanese tourists. Yet on that day off 3 people got saved and at-least one was baptized.
I never could pinpoint why that team was so different, then others I have known, why they seemed to be more eager to step out and why they were blessed with not only fruitfulness but favor at every turn! I knew leaving that experience I wanted to be more passionate and bold with my faith. I wanted to encourage that family feel in the teams I lead or was a part of. And I wanted to give room and encourage others around me to step out in in radical obedience to the things they felt God leading them towards even if it did not fit with my plan. I may not have these skills perfected but I have seen good fruit from my resolve in these areas.
During the outreach one of the co-leaders of the team, a good friend of mine and adopted Big Brother would take the time to sit with "my team" from Homer and talk about some of the things God had taught them during the Circuit Rider School. So we were able to get some of the teaching the others had had. (Later 3 of us went to Kansas City with one of the AK DTS teams to do our own Circuit Rider School). I kept his folder of notes and books while we traveled so that even when we did not find time to meet as smaller team I was able to still go through the material on my own. I wanted to glean all I could. So I would get up early for a quiet time and then turn to this notebook and see what stood out to me. In the left side cover of this white folder jammed with a notebook, handouts and some booklets stood a print off. I think it may have been a list of values for the school?? It was a downward list of one-liners things like
Cultivate Intimacy
It is Always, All about Jesus!
Radical Obedience
Destroy the Little Foxes and be quick to Joyfully Repent
Speak with Purity
Create an Atmosphere, and live out a Culture of Honor, Trust and Love
Reach the Lost, Revive the Saved, Disciple them All!!
I don’t recall how many were on that sheet, but they caught my attention and my imagination. Jotting them down in a notebook I kept meditating on that list through out our travels. After I got home I transferred them to my laptop and began finding verses to support each value. Over the last several years I dropped a few off their list that just didn’t hit me the same as the rest and I have added a few of my own (and dropped some of my own too). I no longer remember which ones were theirs, and which were mine as this List of Values has become my own. It is how I seek to live every day of my life, how I want to carry myself in every relationship and moment. It has become habit over the last 5-6 years to meditate and pray through this list regularly, evaluating if I am walking it out and resolving to do better. Leading Schools and sharing messages I have Incorporated them into my messages and I have even used this list as a “contract” to challenge, encourage and inspire every team I have led. In the last “hard season” I have gone back over them often wrestling with the ones I was no longer walking out and even added to them or deepened them in meaning and understanding. Over the next few weeks I plan to share them with you though if I can figure out how to video tape them I would rather share them via talking or pacing as I tend to do when I get worked up :-)
If we could really live out scripture in our life, walk it out perfectly then this is what it means to me to truly walk out the concept of “Loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves.”
I have always kept this list of values broken up under those three categories.
Loving God
1. Cultivate Intimacy
2. It’s Always, All about Jesus
3. Passionate Worship and Engaged Intercession
4. Be Thankful! Have an Attitude of Gratitude
5. Radical Obedience
6. Ridiculous Faith - Completely Trust in Him and His Word
7. Walk in Wholehearted Unbroken Communion With God
8. Destroy the Little Foxes and Be Quick to Joyfully Repent
Love your Neighbor
9. Believe the Best
10. Create and Atmosphere & live out a Culture of Honor, Trust and Love
11. Honor and Submit to Leaders as Unto the Lord
12. Give Others the Grace and Freedom to Fail
13. Be-Unoffendable and Remain Tender-Hearted
(Be Quick to Forgive- Even Without an Apology!)
14. Confront in Love and According to Scripture
15. Speak with Purity
16. Serve Unreservedly & Put Others First
17. Reach the Lost, Revive the Saved & Disciple Them All!!!
As Yourself
18. Keep God First
19. Owe No Man Anything but Love
20. Your Body is the Temple of the Living God
21. Live Above Reproach
22. Live Authentically - Be Real/Be Transparent and Keep your Walls Down
23. Speak Life, Speak Truth, Confess the Word
24. Be Teachable, Humble and Approachable
25. Develop Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith-fullness, Gentleness and Self Control.
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| Worshipping in the midst of the Alaska State fair |
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