Growing in Unity

This month seven of us took a road trip to Hesston, KS to speak at a school of ministry. Lauren spoke Friday night, sharing part of her story and encouraging the people by discussing heavenly visions. Paul spoke Saturday on the kingdom and how it is much bigger in concept than the local gathering that we call a "church." In light of that, he spoke on the power of transformation in a city as compared to a revival. It was very thought provoking and hopeful. In the afternoon the ministry team that came with us did prophetic ministry and worship. We were very blessed by these people who were hungry to know and experience God in their lives and their city.

In addition, Paul spoke to a group of evangelism leaders in the Kansas City area about how house churches are merely an avenue towards spiritual growth. But in order to prevent more divisions amongst the church, house churches must be viewed as a small subset of the greater body in a city. Thus, the true desire is that our city would become transformed ... as a Holy Spirit led body is unified in their love as well as their war against Satan.

The Lord is in the process of developing and unifying our leadership team, as we have added a few people to our church this past month. A major theme as of late has been adding "thanksgiving and praise" to the foundations of our faith, with the next step being a focus on "unity of brethren" as we lay aside our selves for God's desires for the larger body. It has been amazing to watch as offenses are being brought to the surface, and the freedom that comes with forgiveness and support from each other is beautiful. We are reading through the Final Quest (by Rick Joyner) right now as a group and are amazed at the revelation the Lord is downloading to us.

Some of us have started taking classes at a Messianic congregation called Adat Yeshua on Monday nights. We're learning about the Jewish culture, early church, and how the Jewish roots of our faith have been lost. They have been intense but extremely helpful. One big transition in our minds has been to think like the Hebrew people as opposed to the Greek mindset. The Jewish people can have opposite perspectives and not feel obligated to sync those up - ie, the mercy and judgment of God present a dichotomy that does not bother them. Our Greek mind struggles with these situations, whereas they are able to embrace them as the majestic mysteries of God.

We have shifted from the King and the Kingdom discussions to doing outreach in our community on Saturdays. We waited on the Lord and prayed, eventually feeling led to help out the people who live in lower income apartments near our home. We don’t know how this is going to happen yet, but we know He will open up the right doors at the right time.

Recommended Books:
Final Quest - Rick Joyner
The King of the Jews - D. Thomas Lancaster
Seated in Heavenly Places - Ana Mendez Ferrell

Recommended Music:
Simply Beautiful- IHOP

Always on His Mind - Misty Edwards

Provision Note: Last month the Lord led us to sell one of our cars and give one away. We felt the Lord told us to wait a month, and then He would provide a car for us. In the mean time, He provided us with a ride or a car anytime we needed to go somewhere! Then this past week, someone gave us a car - so we are excited to have a Honda Civic now! It is perfect for us, and it's reminded us that walking with the Lord is definitely an adventure.

Personal note: We are Proud to announce that we are going to have a BABY!!!! Yep that’s right, Lauren just found out last week that she is pregnant. We couldn’t be happier with this gift from the Lord, and we will continue to fill you in as more details unfold. We're also very thankful that Harrison has been given eyes to see into the spirit realm. Last year he saw a demon, and then a few weeks ago he saw an angel at Paul's parents' house. He said, "There is an angel sitting on the couch over there." Lauren asked what the angel looked like, and he said, "He has a yellow robe on, brown hair and brown eyes - and he's smiling." We all thought this was awesome!

Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for continued unity within our group
- Please pray for a family we can connect with during our Saturday outreaches
- Please pray for our trip to the transformed city in Guatemala (Oct. 20-28)
- Please pray for Lauren and the development of the baby’s spirit, soul, and body