Red Sea Moment

Well, I'm Back

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:03:00 +0000

Sacramento airport

Probably should have posted Saturday night. Just to let everybody know I'm home safe. Sorry.

Saturday saw me leave my beautiful purple house and take a shuttle to Sacramento. Four of the same people that had been in the shuttle with me on my adventure up to Redding were also in the shuttle on the way back. Hannah {from Michigan} and I talked the whole time.

sunset

Then the Sacramento airport. Connected over Facebook with Lizi, another Austinite, and then my roommate, Amber. Then my flight to San Diego, where I stayed in the plane until we took off for Austin. On my flights to Redding, I hadn't spoken with anyone. This time, I barely stopped having conversations with the two different girls that sat next to me. It was actually pretty weird, since they both bore startling similarities:

Both still in their teens, though I thought they were older
Both thought I was younger than I am
Both involved in extreme sports {quad racing & surfing/horse jumping}
Both photographers

The only difference was that one was a Christian and one was not. The one who surfs had just come from a Christian surfing camp, so we had many similarities in wanting to be home/not wanting to be home. They both have my card; I'm hoping they friend me on Facebook, because I don't have their info. I had great conversations with the each of them, but I'm still puzzling out the similarities. It's not all that common to encounter such similar people on planes.

Anyway, got home and fell asleep. My alarm rang at 7:00AM to go lead worship at church in Canyon Lake. I have never, ever, in my whole life, woken up so absolutely asleep. But worship was so much fun. It's been too long since I've led, and to sing "I Will Sing a New Song" with Dad was absolutely glorious. I've missed that song so much!!

Came home, listened to some of my new Jesus Culture: Jake Hamilton CD. It's totally not what I was expecting. Kind of hard core country. It's not really 'worship,' per se, but very 'anthem,' and very Kingdom-oriented. It's growing on me, actually, since anthems are what I need right now: proclamations of how we're going to impact the world. {If you haven't already listened to the below track, you should. You will cry. Listen to the whole thing.}

straight angle

shoulders are straight, i promise

We had heart group last night. So encouraging. Jesus is just as awesome and alive in Texas as He is at Bethel! I won't give you all the details, but let's just say there was some impartation, and some laughter, and healing {Yay, God!}, and a word about me being in a bubble of Jesus-ness, keeping me safe from world infiltration, as it were. Oh yeah, there may or may not have been some limb extension fun going on, too. :)

All that to say, nothing is different. Oh yeah, I cried a little when I got home, suddenly realizing that I wasn't in Redding, that there wouldn't be Bethel worship the next day. But God isn't different. His power isn't lessened. He's just as real here as He is there. His love isn't limited to Redding. He wants to change the world, and He uses Bethel to change His people so they can change the world. But nothing - nothing - is confined to Redding, CA.

So yeah. Look out, world. :)

I can hear them singing in the church, now

I can hear them singing in the streets, now

Everybody is being set free

Coming out of the dark and into the light, now

- Jake Hamilton, "New Song"

{This is my last 'official' blog post. There is a possibility that I won't be able to stay away, and I may just post some more awesome stuff that Jesus is doing. But this is the end of the 'daily' updates.}

I love you - and God loves you more!

{Day 24}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 10:23:00 +0000

my diploma

Well. It's over.

It still hasn't sunk in yet. I mean, it doesn't feel real.

Yet at the same time, I'm getting so excited to see my family again. A mental countdown has started in my head without my knowing it - less than 24 hours and I'll be back home!

Back home. Where this culture isn't "normal." Where I'm the carrier instead of the one being infected.

Oh, what an intimidating responsibility. Lord, help me.

But the day. Oh yes, the day.

myself, Yasmin, and Anja

It started out with a bundle of nerves because this morning was the morning we presented our gift to Kathy. 'Gift' meaning 'gifts.' Along with all the insanity of worship school this past week, five other ladies and myself have been organizing this presentation for Kathy. It started out with a Facebook post by me saying something to the effect of, "Let's do something for Kathy! What should we do?"

The result was an expedition in leadership, delegation, and promotion. Epic. We collected money for flowers {not my committee}, wrote a song {also not my committee}, and compiled a binder full of thank-you notes and art {my committee}. It was a journey of Facebook, standing in front of workshops, of Dan McCollum promoting our cause, shushing whenever Kathy walked by, and more Facebook {we have a lively Facebook group containing 250 of the 450 students}. And then, to top it all off, we got Brian Johnson and the tech team involved. The tech team to shoot the words to the song up on screen as we all {all} sang them, and Brian to play the song. {They had changed the lyrics to "Mighty to Save."}

Nicole and I

Wow. Typing all that makes me even more surprised that we did it. But we did. Brian introduced us, we presented the flowers and the binder, Kathy cried, and then Brian accompanied Anja leading the song. {Lyrics.} And Kathy cried...a lot...more. :)

I don't yet have any video to embed here. But - guess what! iBethel got it all! Like, for reals! So if you're an iBethel subscriber, you should totally go watch it! {Or listen, depending on your subscription.} I sound super nervous and not at all how I imagine myself sounding, but my parents recognized me long distance without even knowing about our epic plan, so, I guess I sound more like Lucy Cunningham Schulz {Adventures in Odyssey} than I thought. Note to self: must get into radio drama soon.

{The first person you hear talking on the iBethel recording is Beni Johnson! It was so funny - Brian introduced her as 'my mom,' so I'm totally thinking, "Wow, this is cool, Brian's mom." It took me a good ten or twenty seconds to figure out who Brian Johnson's mom was. *rolls eyes* And then, guess who sneaked in! Bill Johnson! He stood in the back and listened to our main session. I'm so so so so so honored he broke his sabbatical to be with us this morning. I know what a big deal sabbaticals are, and I know how well deserved his was. So for him to come was a huge honor, for me at least.}

some worship art this morning

Anyway, worship was spontaneous-style, which basically means we stayed more or less on one song for a good hour, hour and a half. It was awesome. Our last song was "You Have Won Me," a new Bethel song, one I haven't been able to connect with until today. It's an anthem, but I feel like it was for us and was our commission. And then Brian and Jenn hung out and prophesied over some of us. Then more worship. Then finally the 'teaching.'

Jenn Johnson & I
super blurry, but i have a better pic coming

Jenn had a quick exhortation on not being arrogant or frustrated, and how God will help us bring back what we've learned. And then she and Brian just shared stories, stories of the supernatural that they've experienced, just to encourage us. Stories are the best. Then we got to hear the story of how they met and got married. Let's just say: you thought Kris & Kathy's "Engaged at 12, married at 18" story was crazy? Here's another. It's a lot longer {and much funnier} than this, but Brian and Jenn dated for 10 days before they were engaged. They were engaged for 7 months and were married 5 days after she turned 18.

Erinn & I

Can you tell I don't want to go to sleep? This has to be the longest blog post ever. Because once I go to sleep, I have to wake up in a new day, a day not like all the other days here, my first day without worship. A day of home, thank you, Jesus, but a day without this culture for the first time in weeks.

Ate lunch. We did 30 minutes of Creative Expressions so we got to finish everyone.
{The following song is sung in Creole by a girl from Haiti. The song is a declaration of life, of a will to live in God. It was written by her friend who died in the earthquake.}

Remember the spoken word guy I mentioned last week? Well, they brought him back. I know, that's kind of a big deal! There's a video floating around Facebook at this link, but I didn't take one myself. Go listen. It will give you chills.

Then it was fire tunnel time!! A fire tunnel just for us BSW students, comprised of Bethel staff and worship team. Fun, fun, fun.

Home. Ate. Walked up the entire hill to go to pre-service prayer. No one picked us up. I wasn't too surprised, since I've walked the hill at least four times without anyone picking me up, but this was the first time my roomates had had to do it. {Apparently one of my roomates had told God she would walk the hill once before she left. Haha.} What weirded me out this time is that I wasn't sore. The other times I've walked it, the top kills my calves. But today I was fine. Sweaty, but not hurt. Weird.

Pre-service prayer was sweet and good. Worship was led by Matt and Hayley. Ken Williams, who is in charge of Global Legacy, gave the message. A very good message about "Vulnerability & Being Known". Highlights:

"Mold grows in the dark." - Ken Williams
"The most vulnerable person is the most powerful person in the room." - Mark Peterson
"The world system is trying to separate us from each other." - Ken Williams
"God's definition of an accountability partner equals friend." - Ken Williams
God cannot remove desires because He satisfies desires.
"Cowardliness is not a virtue." - Ken Williams
The original definition of courage was "to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart."

Came home, and then went on an adventure with Lauren, Mitch, Laurel, Amber, and Dani to Sundial Bridge. Apparently people travel to see it. It's pretty cool, yes, a great hang out spot. It's been a while since I've goofed off with people just out to have fun, and let me tell you, BSSM students/grads know how to have fun.

Came home. Ate chips. Packed a little. And now I'm here. Writing a blog post. In total denial that tomorrow I shall leave this wonderful place.

And now I post this blog at 3:22AM. My alarm will be ringing in a little more than 3 hours. I haven't pulled something like this off in a long while. And what with jet lag and all...

Dear God, I need double sleep tonight.

{Day 23}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 03:25:00 +0000

wall of guitars in the sanctuary

I'm actually home early! I've been supposed to be packing for the past..oh...two hours. I haven't. I wrote a good portion of a new song {not congregational}, ate some peanut butter, now I'm writing a blog post.

Yeah, well, it was a halfway decent song. Much more interesting than packing. But now there are people in the house and we all know how difficult it is for me to write songs when people are around. {Haha, I'd be much more prolific if I lived alone.}

blank canvases ready for worship

Anyway, the day started with worship by a band from India. They have trained with Dan McCollum, and they led us in some awesome worship, first in English, then in 2 of India's 23 official languages. It was really awesome. Some great dancing. :)

Then Dan McCollum talked about his vision for the arts and the Seven Mountains of Influence. Basically a 40-minute long prophetic word. So amazing, but it's more something to tell in person. So ask me. :) Highlights:

It is a false idea that the pinnacle of Christian commitment is to do ministry for a living.
When we imitate rather than innovate, we are actually acting in the kingdom of the enemy.

watching experiments

Then we got to see some of Jerry Aaronson's experiments that he'd showed us video of yesterday. That was fun.

"Signature" by Melody

Lunch. Then an art workshop with Tricia called "Creative Freedom." Basically...we painted blindfolded. Such an awesome experience. I can't wait to bring this class home! My painting doesn't look all the great, but, boy, oh, boy, is there an explanation behind it. Highlight:

It's not until the artist signs it that the painting has any value.

Then Creative Expressions. My friend, Anja, played and sang an original song.

Lauren, one of my hosts, made an announcement about her company's upcoming iPhone app, so that was really cool because I was like, "I know her! And her epic quest for iPhone epicness." :)

Then I came home, wrote {part of} a song, ate some peanut butter, checked my email, and wrote a blog post.

Now I'm going to pack.

Really.

{Day 22}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:06:00 +0000

art in worship

Woke up. Went to school. Worship with Brian & Ramey (husband and wife; daughter of Ray Hughes) Whalen. Really, really good worship. Different style, but still epic. And some spontaneous stuff, also, as if 'good worship' wasn't enough.

Then another talk from Jerry Aaronson. This one on sound.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I'd heard rumors of this from Dad, so I have the feeling it wasn't as jaw-dropping for me as it was for others. But. It was pretty darn close. If I were to sum up the topic, it was on how everything has a frequency, everything is making noise. Everything. Leaves. Rocks. The planet Saturn. Swans {not, like the noise you hear. they're being eminates a sound that we don't hear}. Light. Human beings. You are a sound. A unique sound, that has never been played and will never be played again. Part of a great symphony that's constantly, constantly praising.

This is one of those really cool things that I feel weird sharing here. Because some people will find it life-changing. Some people simply interesting. Some people will shrug and say it's cool, and never think any more about it. A few may think it borders too close to the New Age. All that to say, I'll post the highlights below, as usual, but I'm not going to post my video of his {previously recorded} experiment on sound frequencies, and I'm not going to post any of the videos on YouTube that will add. I'm not against posting them, I'm just tired right now, and I'm not sure if sound interests anyone besides me. By request only. But if you request - I'll post. :)

Highlights {abridged; I have 3+ typed pages of bullet-point notes}:

You only sense {feel, hear, see} about 8% of all sound.
Genesis 1:2 can be translated to God "vibrating" over the waters.
The reality you see here is not the greater reality. The reality you see here is caused by the greater reality. And the greater reality is sound. Music has taken on physical form. - a scientific journal
Observation can collapse a wave function and convert possibility to reality.
"We're busy sacrificing relationship with them [scientists] with the need to be right" - Jerry Aaronson
We think the New Age-rs are weird because they think crystals vibrate and give off energy.
{insert detailed explanation of old radios here}
Crystals vibrate and give off energy.

Stimulated electronically, they give a pulse.
Stimulated mechanically, they give electricity.

Everybody has a different frequency. Ask the guy who gives you an MRI.
"Could it be that you are the physical manifestation of a song that was in God's heart?" - Jerry Aaronson {I know, I know, you're wondering how we got from Point A to Point B. Basically, sound can create things. Basically. Long story too short.}
"If you only believe God talks through paper, that's the only way you're going to hear Him." - Jerry Aaronson
"If you have all authority, and he {Satan} has no authority, the only thing he can do is get you to point your authority in the wrong direction and pull the trigger." - Jerry Aaronson.

As I said, I have so many more notes than that. And some videos to accompany. Ask me.

After lunch, I went to Jeremy Riddle's class on Set Preparation. Strange class to pick, I know, but there were no others I had to go to, and I hadn't been to any of his workshops. I'm glad I did.

...

Um...there won't be any highlights here for that class. I took those notes in my binder, and I just realized I left my binder at school. So. Um. Yeah. First time I've done that.

CeCe & Lloyd

After that wonderful class, we had Creative Expressions, hosted by the amazing CeCe and Lloyd. Great time was had by all.

My roommate, Jasmine, did her spoken word. {You know those prayers? Totally worked. This morning she couldn't even open her mouth all the way...and by the time CE rolled around, she could. Facebook post tonight says she hasn't had Vicodin since this morning, and no pain at all! Yay God!} {And, I totally have a video of it, too, but Facebook's being weird. Not the best quality vid, anyway. Sorry. It was epically awesome.}

Aslan

the back of my journal

I hung out for a while afterward and talked with Diana. Then I went and chilled by Aslan at the Alabaster House. Then I went back and sat in on a Band Session while I completed my journal {I added a back design}. Then we went back to the Alabaster House and took some pics of Aslan and talked.

Aslan

Then we came home. Ate supper. Am so tired. It was a very emotionally draining day for me. The sort of day where you come home, and you are beat up and bruised from the battle. You won. But you're worn out. That's me tonight.

{Day 21}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:28:00 +0000

Wow, the day has been so long! This morning seems like an eternity ago!

Let's see. Worship was led by William Matthews, Matt, and Hunter Thompson {which means we got "My Dear"}. I stood in the back, a change from the past couple of weeks, so that I was able to have a bit of space. Great, great worship. William's prophetic worship is off the hook {oh, dear, I'm turning Californian}, and it was just so good. So good.

Then we heard from Ramey Whalen, Ray Hughes' daughter. She's eight weeks shy of going into labor, but she still has tons of energy. She taught on the tabernacle of David, which is important to know because it's hopefully coming back {Amos 9:11; Acts 15:16}. Did you know they're currently uncovering the ruins of David's tabernacle? Me neither. Even though we see it as coming back spiritually and not literally, it's definitely a very prophetic sign.

For 33 years {David's kingship}, at team of 4000 worshipers {out of 38,000 Levites, the rest of whom also had jobs} were in charge of worshiping God 24/7. The 4000 made up teams of 24 bands. All were led by Keniniah {which I'm sure I'm spelling wrong}, and under Keniniah were 3 more head musicians. There were 5 things required by all those who wanted to be on this enormous worship team:

7 years of training in the school of the prophets
quote the entire Bible {of the time} word-perfect
30+ years old {later lowered to 20 or 21}
had to have a well-rounded knowledge of history, current/secular poetry, current events, etc...
had to build their own instrument

"David walked in the office of prophet, priest, and king." - Ramey Whalen
To criticize other people's demonstrative acts of worship is to invite spiritual barrenness.

Then we went into a study {finally!} of the seven types of praise. You see, when the word 'praise' is used in the Bible, there's one of many words it could actually be. The English language doesn't translate it very well. However, I don't actually have them written down, because we were busy acting them out. We started this by Ramey calling up the band and us walking around the perimeter of the room, just singing out and worshiping God.

Barak. This is also often translated as 'bless,' and it means to bow or salute. So first we saluted God {literally}, and then we bowed to the floor.
Yadah. This means to praise by the lifting up of hands. Pretty basic. We do that a lot.
Todah. Similar in root to yadah, this does involve a raising of hands. But it's focused on thanking God for what He's going to do, not what He's already done. It also involves what we would call high-fives...
Shabach. To lift up a shout.
Zamar. Though this can include singing, it is focused more on the musical instrument, the plucking of the string. So for this one, we let the band play/prophecy over us through simply music. So, so good.
Tehillah. My favorite. This is the singing of praise {about time, right?}, specifically that of a spontaneous song.
Hallal. Last, but certainly not least, is the word that forms the root of hallelujah. To hallal means to dance and spin crazily like a maniac and to look like a fool. To act madly. So next time you say 'hallelujah,' be ready for some fun. :)

Lunch. Then two workshops {Worship Leading and Songwriting} with Jenn Johnson.

I love Jenn Johnson. I do not have a lot of notes from her, because a lot of what she tells are stories. But I'm so game for that. I love her stories. I won't type them here, but I'll probably be telling them for years. What notes I do have, though, I give:

Worship Leading

When there's a song you want to do in your worship set, but the band/you can't figure it out in time, capture the theme, but don't feel like you have to do the song.
Constantly realign your heart to worship.
"Connect to your senior pastor." - Jenn Johnson
"What you carry, you leak." - Jenn Johnson
Sometimes in worship, your body wants to dance, and it's you who stops it.
"Your freedom is contagious." - Jenn Johnson
Community: "We just love Jesus and food." - Jenn Johnson
Start your set list with a declaration song about who God is.
Encouragement trumps jealousy.

Songwriting

Sing the Bible.
When you get an idea, 'sketch' out your ideas/themes for the verses and chorus and work from there.
"Go write a fun song." - Jenn Johnson
She told us to go write the #1 love song in the world. Because, as Christians, we should understand love better than anybody. And God designed man/woman love. "Go write an amazing love song." - Jenn Johnson
There are congregational {"Taste & See"}, moment {"God I Look to You"}, and message {"A Little Longer"} songs, among others.
Make sure your songs are relevant to your senior pastor...and Joe the Plumber on the back row.

We got home from school and promptly went grocery shopping, then to Whiskey Town Lake to celebrate Amber's birthday. To be honest, I really just wanted to stay home, but I was able to get over that, and I had a blast at the lake. It's so beautiful. Picture a lake, surrounded by almost-mountain hills. Ah. Just lovely. Also, the weather was a good 5 or 10 degrees cooler. I'm not sure if it was the altitude or maybe we were in mountain shadow...but it felt so good. Like velvet.

Jenna showed us this magnificently beautiful creek. Just picturesque and altogether perfect. Loverly. I want to bottle up that creek and take it home with me.

the view from our picnic table

The party consisted of Amber, Dani, Jenna, Lauren, Mitch, Johnathan, Sam, and myself. We snacked on chips for a long time, then Mitch and Sam figured out the grill and managed to cook kabobs. I feel very proud that I not only bathed two chicken breasts in barbecue sauce on a foam plate, but I also cut them into kabob-size squares with a plastic fork and knife. And my hands.

another view from our picnic table

Mitch and Sam went into the lake, and Lauren and I followed after a bit. I swear we were only in the water for five minutes, but I'm still cold. Hours later. It probably lowered my body temperature by three or four degrees. Also, if I can't touch the bottom {in nature water, not pools}, I'm instantly fighting panic attacks. Random fact about me.

So the water's so cold that my body is numbing, and my mind is working overdrive in reminding me, "Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. It's okay, you're okay..." Anyway, it was great. I can now say I've been in Whiskey Town Lake at dusk. And I didn't panic.

May or may not have sat and shivered through worship, led by Mitch. It was great anyway, though. And I'm sufficiently cooled down for days, I'm sure. Then we looked up at the stars, me wrapped up in Lauren's flannel shirt, Lauren's hoodie, and Lauren's Indian blanket.

Now I'm home, and happy beneath my blankets, and going to sleep. Oh, and by the way, pray for my roommate, Jasmine. She ended up in ER last night with what's definitely a severe ear infection and could be a ruptured eardrum. She's a great sport, but she's in a lot of pain.

And on that happy note, I bid you good night! :)

{Day 20}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 06:48:00 +0000

Did nothing today.

It was awesome.

But if you want the details, I slept in until 9:40, got up, actually read my Bible, chilled in the living room with my laptop, and listened to the new music I got at the bookstore yesterday. Am currently obsessed with this song:

It's an older one from Bethel, but still awesome. The story behind how and when Jenn wrote it is pretty cool, too, but it requires voice inflection to be fully entertaining, so ask me when I get home.

Amber, making a crepe

Then Dani, my French roommate, made crepes. Wow. Delicious! Then we put Nutella on them, and they were even more awesome. I even got to pour and flip my own.

Then we chilled some more. Read a new Bethel book, The Supernatural Power of Forgiveness. Chilled, and chilled, and chilled. Messed with the blog heading.

cookies!
that may or may not be an oven rack

Then I made cookies. Snickerdoodles, though without cream of tartar. They turned out okay, tasted great though they were a little drier than I wanted them to be. But they were fun to make.

Wrote part of a song {not a worship song, so don't get any ideas; though it is a God song}. Wrote my letter to Kathy. Took a shower. Actually got dressed in matching clothes. Fixed supper - spaghetti! salad! And was just finishing that up when Carol arrived to take us to go see the fireworks at the convention center.

It was packed. Redding has a population of 90,000, someone said, even though it doesn't feel like it. We navigated through traffic and parked blocks away. {I had hopes of going to Bethel and taking our chances in seeing the fireworks from the hill, but, alas...} Speed-walked closer and closer until we arrived a tiny patch of grass in the midst of a sea of people and declared it our own. We sat down at 9:59. The fireworks started promptly at 10:00.

Fireworks make me happy. I don't know why, but they do. They make me grin. They just make me happy. So once we settled in, I enjoyed myself tremendously. About halfway through, the fireworks stopped, and a lot of people got up to leave. But we didn't, because it had been very far from finale-worthy. And sure enough, they eventually got them going again. And the finale was worth staying for.

There were a few people around us who sounded drunk {and I don't mean in the Holy Spirit}. I was a bit confused, because I'd seen the sign for 'no alcohol past this point.' But when we stood up to leave, I realized which side of the sign we were on. Uh-huh. The drinking side. But I could tell already by the...language.

And now I'm home, very tired, ready for bed, ready for school tomorrow! And then we're celebrating Amber's birthday at the lake. I'm not the biggest fan of lakes, but, yeah. Birthdays merit my attention.

{Day 19}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 06:23:00 +0000

Got up early and went to church. Brian Johnson led and Kris Vallotton spoke! Happy day! Highlights:

Past prophetic words could very well be for what you're struggling with right now.
You're going to eat the fruit of what you say.
Three keys for Joshua's victory:

the law of God was to be in his mouth
he was to meditate {think, remember, sing, speak} on it day and night
he would do all he was thinking

"You cannot be tempted by something you don't have an appetite for." - Kris Vallotton
"I am not defined by my appetites. I am defined by the choices I make concerned my appetite." - Kris Vallotton
Your heart gives your mind parameters for how it can think.
Your heart has a PR person - your tongue.
Fear and anxiety are why we don't manage our thoughts.

It was a great teaching. As always, of course, but still just wonderful. :) If you have iBethel, go listen. :)

The rest of the day was spent with some food, some phone calling, some picture uploading to Facebook {nothing you haven't seen here, but at least it's all in one place}, some watching of Jenna paint a picture, and then off to church again! Getting there early so we didn't have to sit on the bleachers again.

And then we went to pre-service prayer. We had gone at TwinView during the Kingdom Culture conference and enjoyed it, gotten some prayer and prophecies. But pre-service prayer at Bethel is very different. Basically, everybody chills in the "Great Room" until about fifteen minutes before service. And then we circle and have what's basically a round-the-room fire tunnel. We pray for each other, and then the leaders go around and pray for us. Got prayed for by Danny Silk! But anyway, the pre-service prayer is where it's at. So much crazier than their fire tunnels. Pre-service prayer is where people laugh so hard they fall over. Or just fall over.

Worship was really, really good and long and spontaneous and prophetic - led by William Matthews. If you're an iBethel addict, look that one up, too. {You may actually see me in that one. Felt like the camera was staring at me a lot.} We went into some fun dancing and spontaneous worship, really cool, really fun.

Then a teaching by Eric Johnson. Also really good, though I was starting to get tired. Highlights:

There's a season for this and a season for that, just know what season you're supposed to be in.
The wineskin that you're building should be built in such a way that will contain future wine as well.
Be careful you don't keep the same wineskin for new wine.
Jesus is okay with giving you something you're not ready for.
"The Holy Spirit is not a vending machine." - Eric Johnson
When Jesus left his {three-year} ministry, it exploded. But when a lot of nation-going organizations found ministries, the ministries collapse when they leave.
If you read the gospels with a mindset that salvation is only there to get us to heaven, you get a list of right and wrongs.
There's a higher standard with grace than with the law.
If you're insecure, you don't like to empower people. And if you do empower them, you definitely don't let them higher.
When you stand in extreme security, you see God on other people.

Then a fire-tunnel. Yay! Danny Silk, and Sheri Silk, and Kathy Vallotton. Laughter. :)

And then a trip to In-N-Out. I was on a quest not to eat out this week, and I still am, but I was also on another quest to eat at In-N-Out before I left. So, that's accomplished. Their fries really are amazing. Cut and fried there, with 0 trans fats, if that makes anybody feel better. Definitely better than McDonalds {though Dani dislikes In-N-Out; she prefers McDonalds French fries. And there is no dissuading her.} Anyway, I'm so ready for a salad tomorrow.

And Snickerdoodle cookies. I so feel like Snickerdoodle cookies, and I have the ingredients to make them! Happy day!

{Day 18}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 05:56:00 +0000

The day began with me thinking I slept in but actually being up a couple of minutes before my alarm - to go to the healing rooms.

These healing rooms were a bit different since the Kingdom Culture conference wasn't going on. They used two of the conference rooms instead of the sanctuary. One conference room - roughly half the size of the CCC living room - had been dubbed the Encounter Room. The other was used as a place for individual prayer. So, you go hang out in the decked out Encounter Room, and if you want individual prayer, you fill out the same sheet we did last week and they call your letter. I didn't want individual prayer today, I just wanted to chill in the Spirit, as it were.

The Encounter Room should really be called the Party Room, if you couldn't tell that already. It's a place of joy and celebration at God's goodness and what He's done and doing and will do. Constant, constant praise and enjoyment. Fun, fun, fun.

Then a quick lull {spent mostly in the bookstore} before I set out on a treasure hunt. We had a totally different teacher {again} this time. I actually got her name this time - Christina Wagner. She was in a ridiculously good mood. I had already seen her in the Encounter Room {which became the Healing Rooms after so many people arrived and they switched to 'Conference Mode' and they prayed for everyone in one room}, seen someone pray for her ears, then watched her balance one foot in front of the other. Turns out, she'd been navigating through severe vertigo for seven days. This morning she was 70-80% healed. So she was really happy. {If you've ever seen/listened to Heidi Baker...she's really similar in her presentation.}

Anyway, the three rules in this class were:

Get drunk
Stay drunk
Get everyone else drunk

Then we drilled in prophecy, words of knowledge, healing, and various etiquette for approaching people. During the healing drill - which isn't really a drill, we're just praying for each other instead of people we don't know - I prayed for a girl with pain in her hip and knee. {I'm pretty sure she was somehow interning with Christina, definitely helping out.} The pain went down a little bit, but not all. Then I heard someone behind me mention the growing out of legs that occurred last week and how a girl with hip pain (Anja) had been healed. "Let's try that!" "Okay!"

She sat down, I took her feet. Sure enough, the right leg was shorter than the left. So I told the right leg to come out...and out it came. And kept coming, until I started telling it to stop. And she's like, "No, don't stop, I want to be taller!" So I told it to keep coming out. And then she took control of her own legs and started directing them longer and longer, almost like a symphony. And I'm sitting there squealing because no matter that I've seen it before - omgosh! Seriously! And everyone crowding around to watch, and I just sit back.

She ended up taller. Her jeans no longer had to be rolled up.

Dude.

God's like, "See, it wasn't a fluke."

Anyway, once we got started on teams, Christina asked everyone who had been on a treasure hunt before to raise their hands. How about a Bethel treasure hunt? I kept my hand raised. "Good, you'll be a team leader."

Not that any of the other teams I have been on have actually had leaders, but that seems a big responsibility.

In the end, I didn't do much leading, which was okay. One of the girls on our team was 9 - almost 10 - and had a full treasure map. She'd just gotten back from the Kingdom Kids camp {whatever it's called} and was ready to go!

We prayed for one person.

Looking from an outward perspective, it was a pretty pathetic treasure hunt. It didn't feel like it, though, to me. I wasn't down. But most people would say it was a bust. {My goals are just to immerse myself in the experience and to learn it in and out, and I think I have succeeded as best as can be expected.} However, the testimonies we got from the other teams when we all came back were astounding! I'm not going to type them all here - I ended up being the scribe and writing them all down, so I know them well - but if you ask me, I'll tell you.

Home. Supper. Jenna had a friend over, and halfway through my cooking, they're laughing, and Jenna asks me, "Have you ever been drunk in the Spirit?"

"Not exactly..."

"You should come sit over here."

dancing feet

They were a bit wasted. Someday you should hear two school of ministry students talking theology while drunk...one of them with a Valley Girl accent. Seriously. It was great. I didn't get all that drunk from them, not laughing drunk. Peaceful. Not drunk. But then...then we were off to the drum circle.

yah, we got a shofar!
but it sounds like a trumpet

The epically awesome drum circle that takes place in the Alabaster House every 1st Saturday and is hosted by Jerry Aaronson, the guy who taught on Native American culture restoration a couple of weeks ago. Anyway. It was awesome, especially since I've really been resonating with the Native American culture these past couple of weeks.

{I have a couple more videos, but yeah, ask me.}

After they finished, I didn't want to leave. So happy there. We finally did leave, though, and began the trek down the hill. Amber said I was drunk. I was, but I wasn't that drunk. I mean, I've seen people more drunk.

But it definitely felt good. It was a nice walk down the hill.

And now I'm home. Hoping to get to bed at a halfway decent hour to go to church at a ridiculously early hour to chill and then go to church again. Viola! And then, on Monday...I'm sleeping in. Thank You, Jesus.

{Day 17}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:42:00 +0000

Started out with a slew of announcements that included this lovely video for the new Bethel dating website, OnDaySix.com. After telling us that we should ask someone out today. :) {Don't worry, Mom & Dad, no one did.}

Guess what today is. You'll never guess. Canada Day! I have two Canadian friends here, so I was happy for them. They were all stoked, and Kathy let them all come up to the front and sing their anthem:

Then worship, led by Brian Johnson with backup singer Leah, his sister. It was more of an acoustic set, because Brian's voice has been undergoing some stress. But then, about halfway through the {long} set after some prophetic worship, he put his guitar down, stepped away from the mic, came down to the floor {where we were}, and gave his wireless mic to William and another to Steffany. And then they led prophetic worship {put extremely simply: prophetic worship is spontaneous choruses not previously written and that worship or encourage} from the floor. Then they handed the mic to other people - some of us students. And we were just having a blast. It was fun. Fun worship. Prophetic song after prophetic song, with Brian and William and Steffany just going at it. We had a blast. This video is of the very end, after the singing stopped, unfortunately. The first person the camera pauses on is Steffany Frizzell, then William and Brian sitting on the stage steps. I'm sorry it's so short, and that it's not actually of the song. I was finally ready to film...and we were done.

Steffany & William

Then William and Steffany did the teaching, one after the other. Highlights:

William Matthews

Tell of who God is, don't cater to what the congregation is feeling.

Steffany Frizzell

Highest praise comes from the deepest place.
"Worship was never for us." {It's for God, not to make us feeling better.} - Steffany Frizzell
Worship means laying yourself down.
Worship is to Him, and for Him, and because of Him.
Mary "went and looked for a testimony {Elizabeth} because she could not see her own promise." - Steffany Frizzell
"Don't ask God for a baby if you're not ready to carry one." - Steffany Frizzell
"Go surround yourself with testimony." - Steffany Frizzell

Then they played a couple of tracks from William's upcoming CD. And this happened:

Lunch, and then Jenn Johnson's talk on prophetic worship. A lot of practical advice that I won't write here, but if that's something your interested in, ask me about it. Anyway, Jenn is awesome and so real. So real. Just incredibly vulnerable and unashamed and real.

"Do not feel something in your heart that you're not willing to talk about."

Then Carol, Anja, Amber, Dani, and I, decided to go to the mall. While we were waiting for Anja to get out of her voice lesson with Joanna, we met a BSSM1 grad named Thais. Thais is from Brazil and awesome. She was also going to the mall, so I rode with her and found out more about her. She's married to a fellow Brazilian, and they both moved up here to go to BSSM. I love her, and I really hope to know her better. She speaks fluent Portuguese.

We went to the mall. We ate. We went to Ross. I got a duffel bag thing that I may or may not keep...for all the extra stuff I'm going to be bringing home. Then we went to church for the evening service. Worship was great, though I'm not sure who led. Steve and Wendy Backlund taught. I have a lot of highlights:

"You are not the problem." - Wendy Backlund
"Current beliefs create future experiences." - Steve Backlund
"The more truth you believe is the more hope you'll have." - Steve Backlund
"We can't be so addicted to reality." - Wendy Backlund
"I am well able to overcome it." - Steve Backlund
"The Kingdom of God is not moved forward by good conduct, it's moved forward by good beliefs." - Steve Backlund
"You don't fall from grace by sinning. You fall from grace by trying to work." - Wendy Backlund
"You can't do what you don't think you are." Wendy Backlund
"You're one belief away from a tipping point in your life." - Steve Backlund
"The only time your past can determine your future is if you live in it." - Wendy Backlund
You know what you really believe when you listen to yourself when you're not being religious.
"The God that is within me, and He will cause me to succeed." - Wendy Backlund
"You're only able to receive what you think you're worth." - Wendy Backlund
Are you living in abundance compared to His riches and glory?
God often has to answer prayers in opposition to our beliefs.
Hope and faith have to be attached to a belief.
"How we make decisions, in the long run, is more important than the decisions we make." - Steve Backlund
"Leaders are not thermometers, they are thermostats." - Steve Backlund
"If you're an encourager, people are gonna hear you more." - Steve Backlund
"There are no ideal circumstances to renew your mind." - Steve Backlund
"You're being prepared for greater influence." - Steve Backlund

Now I'm home, full, and exhausted. Good night!

{Day 16} School of Worship

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Kim & the band getting ready
that's a model in the hat

Well, the day began with a quick run to the post office and a crazy run-around the parking lot {we were with Jenna}. And then we scrambled into our {awesomely saved by AC} seats for worship by Kim Walker-Smith.

Then another {mind-blowing} talk from Ray Hughes. Some of you listened in on iBethel; if you have a subscription, you can go listen/watch {depending on your subscription} for no further charge. Same goes for Kim's worship this morning. Highlights from Ray:

{God's perspective on David} "There's a guy after my own heart, so I'm going to give it to Him." - Ray Hughes
The enemies of God's people are after the land, the harvest, our destiny, generational covenants {a huge example would be that the Messiah would come from the line of David}, and worship.
"If you're looking to promote yourself on stage, you just started dancing with a giant." - Ray Hughes
Worship leads to obedience, which leads to servanthood, which leads to passion, which leads to purpose.

I have some more notes, but they're a bit scattered. One of those 'ask-me-later' things. :) But by the way, the shout we did at the end...there hasn't yet been a shout like that. We've done our share of shouting here, but that one had some...force in it. It was an absolute war.

Then lunch and a decision on where I was going next. Decided upon Joanna Finchum's "Vocal Freedom" class. Wow. It's really hard for me to say why the class was so awesome, but it was. For a while it was hard to say what was so great about it. I felt for the first half that, while it was an amazing class, it wasn't one I needed. I didn't realize until today how confidant I already am in my voice. Such a change from before! But besides knowing everything about voice, Joanna is very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. {We almost got her drunk in the Spirit. We did. She had to force her way out of it to talk. It was funny.} So towards the end, this happened:

{And if you can watch the video at this link, it's pretty good, too. I'm not sure if you can, though.}

Anyway, that was the pith of the class. Yeah, we had some epic discussion. And yeah, we had some exercises that changed people's lives, as well. But that was the fruit of it. That was where we acted in what we'd learned, I guess. Just awesome. But I do have a couple of highlights for you:

"Fear casts out the love." - Joanna Finchum
Keys to vocal freedom {or freedom in general}

Allow yourself to fail
Allow yourself to try

1 John 4:18; 2 Corinthians 3:16-18; Proverbs 29:25; Galatians 5:13-15

Believe in yourself

After that, I had a variety of classes to pick from and wasn't drawn to any particular one. Was heading for Ray Hughes' class, when I ran into Jasmine and told her my dilemna. I'd also been thinking of going to Trisha Wheeler's "Breakthrough Art" class. She asked, "Isn't Ray's recorded?" And I was like, "Yes." "So go to the art class."

what i made
i'm now addicted to pastels

So I went to the art class. It was focused a lot on art creating breakthrough, but one could call it 'prophetic art,' emphasis on the prophetic. Highlights:

How to get unstuck:

Ask God for a picture of what your breakthrough looks like
Read the Bible
Know your identity

"He likes me, and He wants to talk to me."

Water Works!

Water Works

A quick run home to eat some food, and then off to the WaterWorks party! I'm pretty sure Bethel rented out the whole park. We had to pay $5, but they {I'm pretty sure it was the Vallottons} took care of another $5/person. With free sodas. It was a blast. The Vallottons came and just walked around and hung out. {Erinn got a picture of her with the both of them. I'm fighting jealousy.} We {Nicole, Anja, Andrew, and I} left at about 8:45, which was a tad early considering that it ended at 10, but we were cold. Then I had a craving for a frozen pizza {swimming calls for pizza}, so I asked Nicole where we could go. And she led us to the most magnificent dollar store. Like, the sort of dollar store that's not deceptive and has $5 or $7. No, everything's under a dollar. And it's a huge store! With all sorts of things! I'm definitely going back. :) It was as much fun as the water park. :)
{K, so this following video is of the park's scariest 'ride'. I did it once on a single tube. It's only scary for the first millisecond as you drop straight down, but it's pretty much sheer terror for that millisecond. Until your head snaps back when you hit the middle and you wonder if you're going to have whiplash. Maybe that's why they tell you to keep your chin down. And let's just say I know why they tell you to keep your butt up. But it's kinda hard to keep your mind on these things when you're dropping down.}

That's all until tomorrow! The schedule says that Brian & Jenn are leading worship, Brian & Steph (Steffany Frizzell?) are doing main session, and then my workshop will be Jenn Johnson's "Prophetic Song." There is no second workshop because of church tomorrow evening...but I'll hopefully be playing some ultimate frisbee on the softball/soccer field below. If it's not too hot.

{Day 16} Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:17:00 +0000

More questions! I love answering them, for serious! It gives me a chance to articulate what I've been thinking. This was about the leg lengthening we did at the treasure hunt on Saturday.

"I can understand lengthening a leg for health reasons, but how do you feel with playing around with lengthening arms and legs for no particular reason? Did you feel that exercise had a good intention?"

I did wonder, "What is the point of this? Like, we're not actually 'accomplishing' anything or showing anyone the tangible love of God through healing. Isn't it a bit wasteful? A lot wasteful? I mean, there are amputees out there who need this, and here I am just playing around!" And I came to a few conclusions in that short amount of time.

1) God is an abundant God. Just because we used up some 'healing anointing,' or whatever you want to call it, that Saturday, doesn't mean there's any less. He doesn't give us a finite amount of His power. In fact, He's infinite. So it was not a waste in that sense.

2) God likes to have fun. He's a *Father*, and He likes to have fun with His kids. That was just a crazy way of playing with us and making us smile, squeal, and laugh.

3) God likes to show off. I mean, just look at Gideon. "Hey, Gideon, get rid of some men, because I want people to look at what you do and see Me." That day gave Him a platform to do the equivalent of this:

4) It was no-pressure practice. No one's emotions or well-being or job or kids or travel plans or anything else was being challenged that day. The worst thing that could happen was us looking stupid, which I think most of us got over our first day here. But it wasn't a place where people were hoping to walk again for the first time in 10 years, or to see, or anything like that. The most at stake was a desire to be taller. And that's "frivolous" (nothing is frivolous with God) enough to be low-pressure.

5) It inspired faith. Even if we couldn't do it once we got home (why? I don't know. that's another topic), my faith jumped up by many units. I know that of others did, as well. To see, in real life, with no pressure, that we could really, really do something like that because of whose Name we abide under, was just insane. To feel that faith was a gift I hope to reproduce someday.

{Day 15} Creative Expressions

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:08:00 +0000

Last night was a Creative Expressions deal. I'm so inspired! I had a fear that it would be a bit boring, just a bunch of watching people do their stuff, but what I neglected to realize is that...they're stuff is really cool! There were singer/songwriters, dancers, a harpist, and a few spoken word artists.

The Mr. Rogers Song

Electronica

For the record, spoken word is the coolest thing ever. I want to do that. And guess what? My roommate, Jasmine, does spoken word. And she's like, amazing. Yet she has nothing recorded. :P Sorry. But she's awesome. I'll record her when she does Creative Expressions next week.

Today, Kim Walker-Smith is leading worship.

Yeah. I'm excited.

{Day 15} School of Worship

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:52:00 +0000

Three or four days out of the week, we share a testimony or two at the beginning of the day. Today's was exceptionally fun, so I thought I'd share it.

This guy from Norway was a worship leader and brought his guitar to Redding. When he opened it, it was broken. He said he could see through it; I'm not sure what part was broken, but it was damaged beyond repair. And he was devastated (it "broke my heart, my second girlfriend, you know," and he didn't have money for another. His talks with the airline got him nowhere. So in worship, he finally went, "Okay God, You're provider. I need a guitar." That day or the next his insurance company contacted him and said they were giving him $2100. {I'm not sure if the insurance money was guitar-relaetd or not, couldn't tell.} He went to a Redding guitar store and found a beautiful Martin originally priced at $4000 that had been brought down to $2300. He left the guitar store and got a Facebook message the next day from a friend who had heard of his guitar woes and said he was giving him $400. {At this point you're going, that's cool, but not all that impressive. Or at least, I was.} Well, he decided to buy the Martin, and he went to get it. He had $2700. With taxes, the total cost of the guitar was $2699. Haha, yeah, that is my God. {Also funny, that testimony got the most impassioned response from the crowd over all the other testimony responses. Guess that's what happens when God gives guitars away to worship students.}

Worship was led by Matt and Hunter, and it was sadly cut short. For a minute we're all like, "What?" Then we remembered - we had a special Skype call today. Paul Baloche himself - writer of "Open the Eyes of My Heart," "Today Is the Day," among many, many others - was teaching us.

Paul Baloche taking a pic of us :)

Whoa. So wish he could have been here to do main sessions and workshops. Even Brian was so impressed that he asked Paul to 'come back' next week, which he will be doing. But here are my highlights from today:

"Be faithful where God has you." - Paul Baloche
Don't let God become a job.
The number one responsibility of a worship leader is to "keep our own hearts fresh towards God." - Paul Baloche
Sunday morning doesn't have to be a fireworks show.
"Create an atmosphere that makes it easy for people to connect with God." - Paul Baloche
The job of worship leaders {one of them, haha} is to gather all the generations and diverse cultures into one, which is a pastoral heart. {We also have a priestly heart.}
When you co-write with someone, come with a bag of ideas.

Then we went straight into Christa Black's main session message:

"You will live out what you believe." - Christa Black
God never intended shame. {Genesis 2:25}
"Shame will keep you from the intimacy you were created for." - Christa Black
"Shame will always make you run and hide from the intimacy you were created for." - Christa Black
You need to learn to contend for your promise - defend your land.
People have 1500 thoughts a minute, and 1300 of those thoughts are negative. {You know the drill, and if you don't, you should: Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. Life and death are in the power of the tongue.}
Shame --> Fear --> Control --> Shame
Don't accept words from unqualified or uncredited sources. Unqualified/uncredited means they are not in agreement with what God has said over your life.
Experience --> Belief --> Expectation --> Behavior
"Do not go soul searching without the Holy Spirit." - Bill Johnson
When God points to your struggle, He's not condemning, He's pointing to your next miracle.

Christa Black...and Anja's head

"He's {God} never looked at you and seen a negative." - Christa Black

You may have gained this from the subject matter, but Christa is very similar to Dani Johnson {for those of you who know the awesome DJ}. They have a similar passion and boldness, carrying the same victory.

Lunch time! Had a quick meeting with my fellow 'Let's Thank Kathy!' project members. I am not in over my head, but learning how to wear the leadership mantle I so long cast aside is a bit like re-learning how to, I don't know, ride a bike. I know it's there, and it comes quite easily. But I'm working within that mantle in the Kingdom now, which is different, so it's like riding a bike in different weather conditions than when I learned. Anyway, it's going smoothly. And we have Dan McCollum in on it, too, so that makes me feel a bit better! :)

I had such a difficult time deciding which workshop to go to next. There were several that looked 'good,' but none that just grabbed me. Christa had one that looked interesting, but I ended up going to Joanna Finchum's class on background vocals. {I find out afterwards that Christa's workshop went to heaven. As did the next one. Dang it.} Joanna's class was really good though. It turned into kind of a Q&A, so I don't actually have any one-liner notes. Some great practical stuff that I'm eager to take home though, especially regarding bands and the relationships within them.

Then to Dan McCollum's class. My roommates are such Dan junkies. I admit to spacing a little during it, just a little, though not too much because he is awesome. Basically, he hasn't been for me what he's been for them - and that's totally okay. I have a ton of notes, but the 'whoa' for me came during impartation.

"You will always worship at the level of your revelation." - Dan McCollum
It is a sin to be bored.
The beasts being covered with eyes around the throne of God means that they have an unlimited perspective of God.
Praise is based off of what we know of God. "Worship is my response to Him showing up." - Dan McCollum
"Do not get people to respond [in worship, in the sense of, 'you should be worshiping this way with this passion'] without a reason...that brings religion." - Dan McCollum
Learn to worship at the level of warfare against you.
"Grumbling, murmuring, and complaining are the praise and worship of the kingdom of darkness." - Dan McCollum
The bigger the test, the bigger the testimony. The bigger the wall, the bigger the breakthrough.
"You would be so bored if you didn't have anything to break through." - Dan McCollum

But the real craziness of it all came when he started doing impartation. The first one was for those who are going back to do worship at churches that...let's just say they need some worship breakthrough. And in the environments that I lead worship, like Saved By Grace and 4th Friday, I don't need that. So I sighed and didn't go up. Which saddened me, though my sadness made me laugh because two years ago I would have been out of there the way he was imparting by blowing on people's hands, and people were laughing, etc...

The next one he called was for breakthrough in personal worship, and I was like, "Yes! That's me! My turn!" So I went up. And didn't shake or laugh or fall over. Why? I don't know. I'm relatively un-phsyically-moved by stuff like that. I don't know why. It's kinda been driving me crazy since I've been here. But God and I have talked it over, and it's okay. :)

Then he started prophecying about the future of worship. There's a reason there's too many worshipers in churches. He prophecied that there will be worshipers with healing anointings, that when they release their music, people will get healed of all sorts of diseases. That struck a chord with me, because that's been told to me before about what I do. I never wrote it down, didn't really attribute it to prophecy, because I was kinda like, "Well, that's what nice prophetic people say. Instead of saying I have a nice voice, they say it heals." But I'm rethinking that position. :) I stood up for impartation for that {we stayed in our own seats this time}.

He talked about economic worshipers that will change the financial culture of areas through their worship. That's really cool, but it's not what I'm called to. And then he talked about a weather/land worship anointing. About changing the weather with one's worship. {I've tried that, yes, I really have.} About changing the land with one's worship. And then he said something to the effect of, "There are some here with a Native American heritage that have retained the relation to nature that the First People had. And we call that out and bless it."

Puzzle pieces started slamming together in my head. Whoa. See, I'm 1/4 Native American (partial US and partial Mexico). Jerry's talk last week on Native American worship sparked something in me, something I've been conflicted about for some time. I love the Native American culture. It resonates with me. I hear/see/feel it, and it calls me like I belong there. And there's a part of that that bothers me, because I'm 3/4 European. I mean, am I being disloyal to the majority of my blood? I still don't really have the answer, but I do know that when Dan said that, I physically felt the pieces collide. Because even though I'm the farthest person in the world from being a lover of the outdoors, I do have a connection with nature. I've told Mom before that, "When I worship, it makes the trees happy. I don't know how I know. But I know." I know. I can feel it. And that word from Dan freed me for...for something. I'm still working that out, working out where I belong. But that was good.

{Day 14} School of Worship

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:49:00 +0000

It was cloudy and raining this morning when I woke up. It was great actually getting to sleep that long, considering that I got to bed halfway early and didn't wake up until the alarm went off. We called our new friend, Carol, and she gave us a ride so that we wouldn't have to walk in the rain.

Worship this morning was by Christa Black and the Jesus Culture band (Jeffrey, Ian, Brandon, and Luke). Really good. We started out with a wall of sound, which has no reason to have felt any different from a basic shout, but it did. It felt like a wall. Anyway, good worship. She's the first worship leader here that I've felt has a similar style to myself, not necessarily in the way she worships but definitely in the way she sings with 'angelic' 'aaah's'. No one else here has done that, so I suddenly don't feel weird anymore! :)

The teaching this morning was by Kris Vallotton. Oh, happy day! He said that he'd had 'the worship teaching' all planned out and hadn't felt right about teaching it. So he taught something else, Living From Eternity. Highlights:

“The goal of the Book is not that you memorize the Book but that you get to know the Author.” - Kris Vallotton {who knows the Book better than many, for the record}
“He didn't just die for you, He died as you.” - Kris Vallotton
“Your heavenly seat gives you eternal perspective.” - Kris Vallotton
Since He is the One who was, and is, and is to come, we are tri-dimensional.
The “fact” that things begin and end is a new idea in God's world.
Your spirit doesn't sleep. And you chalk it up to a dream, when your spirit was actually out doing things.
God/angels come to people in dreams. People don't dream of God/angels.
“God didn't make you choose Him, but He knew you would, so He chose you first.” - Kris Vallotton {on Romans 5:9}
“When Jesus rose from the dead, you rose with Him.” - Kris Vallotton
“You're not living for yourself, you're living for the people that went before you.” - Kris Vallotton
“When we dream with God, we become co-creators of His imagination.” - Kris Vallotton
The people before and after you are depending on you.
Jesus said that 'the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,' not that 'the end of the world is coming.' We shouldn't join forces with the dark side (spirit of fear) to win people into the Kingdom.
“The prophets are the ones, and the prophetic people are the ones, who create the future.” - Kris Vallotton
“God is looking for a people who know that God has plans for us, {and} not plans of calamity.” - Kris Vallotton
“God is calling us to be a people who live from eternity, not just for eternity. Heaven is your reward, but heaven on earth is your ministry.” - Kris Vallotton

There was actually a lot more good stuff on this sermon that I have notes for, really cool stuff concerning the era of fear that occurred during the later half of the twentieth century. It's just a little too complex for quick one-liners here, but ask me about it when I get home. {Oh, and this is totally unrelated to anything, but I sat by William Matthews for about seven minutes during Kris' sermon! He came and sat in the empty seat between Amber and I while he rifled through his laptop bag.}

Then lunch. Everybody ate inside today, because outside is wet and chilly. Even Texans would call it on the chilly side. I brought my hoodie, and I've been thankful for it all day.

Workshop Number One: Christa Black on Worshiping Without Saying the Name of Jesus. Epically long title, I know. Christa has a (recent and continuing) background in professional music, touring with Shane Bernard, Jennifer Knapp, Steve Green, Michael W. Smith, and, most recently, The Jonas Brothers. {She's also written for Jordin Sparks and Natasha Bedingfeld, among others.} She was talking about taking God into secular environments (*cough* Hollywood *cough*), something that has been on my heart for a long, long time, as those closest to me know. I'll give you the highlights, but she shared some pretty epic stories that deserve retelling if you feel like asking. :)

If God inhabits the praises of His people, we should be worshiping 24/7.
We think that if we worship enough and the glory comes, then the lost will come. But that's not true. You don't see the Amalekites flocking to the Israelite's cloud/fire-covered tabernacle.
“Worship on the platform is simply an overflow of a life lived in worship.” - Christa Black
“Dare to suck!” - Christa Black {on songwriting}
“Everything that you do is worship. So everything that you say is actually worshiping the Lord or advancing the kingdom of the enemy.” - Christa Black
“You're either in agreement with the Father or in agreement with the father of lies.” - Christa Black
“Only wait on Him if you have a yield sign...The answer is yes and amen. Green light until He either says yes or yield.” - Christa Black
“The enemy has intimidated us into believing that he's massive.” - Christa Black
“The weird of the weird come out...and that's probably us, so, we should be there.” - Christa Black {on a hard-core pagan festival in Shasta}
“God's gonna use whoever has a vision to release His Kingdom.” - Christa Black
What if we looked at our gifts as skills instead of just gifts?
“I'm the lightening rod that funnels the Kingdom through.” - Christa Black
“It's not my job to change anyone. It's my job to introduce them to love.” - Christa Black

A quick break. I was having a terrible time deciding between Dan McCollum's class on “Finding Your Song,” and Christa's class, Writing From Revelation. I decided on Dan's, but I was still pinging around in my head. Dan or Christa. Dan or Christa. They're both amazing. But Dan's class, while good, wasn't what I had wanted it to be, and so five minutes in, I turned to AC and said, “I'm going to Christa's class. But I'm leaving my stuff here.” Slipped into Christa's, and I'm so glad I did. It was magnificent. {And she was pretty serious about the impartation at the end, too.} Highlights:

When I release an anointed song, I release the congregation into that anointing.
“Revelation is a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way.” - Christa Black
“God's not on a budget.” - Christa Black
Revelation is for you.
You have access to the revelations and the mysteries of God. Why? Because you're hidden in Christ.
Revelation is for all.
Keys to revelation: intimacy, discipline, hunger, and positioning yourself in Christ. But don't sake these things for the sake of revelation.
“'Should' brings shame.” - Christa Black
“What do you want the church to look like in five years? Write about it now.” - Bill Johnson

There was more to it than my small amount of notes, but yeah, it was good. Christa is kind of amazing. She has main session tomorrow, so that will be fun.

I still hadn't decided whether or not I was going to the evening class tonight. Sleep has definitely done wonders for me, and I was feeling up to it. Carol, Dani, and Amber had decided to go to KFC/A&W for supper, and Anja and I decided to join them. Fries! I'm becoming quite the fry addict since I've been here, which is rather pathetic. I just have such limited bad food in my diet! But everyone is making fun of me, the 'healthy one,' now because I eat fries, and I order burgers. *deep breath*Anyway, I opted to go home instead of back to church for night classes like everyone else was doing.

There was no one at home. I was restless. Tried playing the piano. Remembered that there was more to evening classes than Dan McCollum's songwriting class {I just couldn't stand the thought of another class of any kind, even if Dan is awesome} and decided to head up to the church. It was kinda ridiculous, since I could have just stayed in the car in the first place. But yeah, I headed out into the drizzle, ready to walk off some steam up the hill.

But some nice BSW people picked me up at the intersection, and I didn't have to. :) I went to the band session, which is where Chris Quilala himself critiques a group of people playing a song, i.e., a band. I was just planning to sit and chill, but then the band started asking for a keyboardist. I finally went up, and the lead guy was asking Chris Q if they were going to have a keyboardist, and I'm like, "I play keys." And Chris is like, "There you go."

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

I get up there, and get to fiddle around on the keyboard (!). We were going to have to go without any music to look at, but then Chris Q himself went and made us copies (Chris is awesome). We did "Oh, Praise Him." I would have chosen an easier song, honestly, but, yeah, no one asked me. The leader asked if I could do a piano riff intro, and I'm like, "Sure." It was strange, I had a healthy nervousness, but I wasn't terrified or stunned. There's something about Bethel that eliminates terror. And Chris is just so awesome and makes you so comfortable. Chris Quilala is awesome. If nothing else, he's the perfect guy to administrate a critique session like that.

So I started out the song. A bit much for me any day. I didn't start out with the exact riff that Andrew, the leader, was wanting, but it was a riff that fit the style he wanted. We didn't have a click-track because the drummer had never used one, and he was a really quiet drummer for using in-ear monitors, and the whole first verse was really slow and flowy and I'm carrying the rhythm (pity the keyboardist who is carrying rhythm). But I managed.

And the first thing out of Chris' mouth when we finish our first draft is, "I really like that intro thing."

Bam! Granted, he asks Andrew if it was his idea, which it was, kind of, and Andrew admits that it's not exactly what he wanted, but he can't exactly try to correct it now, can he? :) I say all this in fun. It was a great experience. AND I WAS ON THE BETHEL STAGE! PLAYING KEYBOARD! I cannot say how amazing this was! :) Just thrilling. Absolutely thrilling.

Then we came home, and I had the brilliant idea to post to the Facebook group if we should do something for Kathy Vallotton because she's been so awesome. Talk about being barraged by ideas. That's what's kept me occupied for an hour and delayed the posting of this blog post. I'm keeping it simple, Mom, don't worry. :)

Yah, so here I be! :) Jeremy Riddle and Hunter are leading worship tomorrow, and Christa Black is speaking at Main Session. And the adventure continues...

{PS. Is anyone having trouble with the videos? I've heard one mention of it...what about anyone else? Because I could start using Blogger video or even YouTube...}

{Day 14} Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:28:00 +0000

So I had a question this morning about Saturday's post wanting me to elaborate on my statement:

"Josh gave us permission to dance at one point, so that was awesome. And the worship team - they were a bit drunk, not going to lie..."

In the healing rooms, dancers are part of the healing ministry. Christina Chadney leads the healing room dance, and it's a very serious aspect of the healing rooms. {I took a healing room dance workshop from her my first week here.} It's just as important as the prayer team, the painters, or the musicians. You understand when you go in there that only the Bethel team is there to pray - to honor Bethel and other people, you don't individually pray for other people. Same way you wouldn't go up and join the band, or randomly start painting, you don't really dance. It's not a rule, but it is an honor thing. At the time Josh gave us permission, I was eager to dance, and so when he told us all we could dance, I was ecstatic.

There is another aspect of this. Sometimes people who never dance need someone to tell them they can. When you declare permission for something in an environment, it breaks inhibitions and some of the enemy's fear stronghold. I'm not well-versed in all of this, but I know that what you say matters, and that giving permission to dance is so much more than just telling a bunch of people that they can join the healing room dancers. There's a definite spiritual aspect to it. And some people are just waiting for permission. I'm not sure which of these Josh was aiming for, but they both applied.

The worship team was drunk on the Holy Spirit, not wine. {It was early in the morning, after all.} They were still playing well, but the girl leading kept messing up words and giggling. I mean, we shimmied in the river (instead of jumped) in "Deep Cries Out."

It's difficult to compare drunk with wine and drunk with the Spirit, but just consider a worship time where the worship leader is drunk with wine and ridiculously happy. It's like that. Without the hangover. I mean, a worship leader who effortlessly combines "Father Abraham" and "The Hokey Pokey" has got to be on something...on the Spirit.

Hopefully that answers the question. I love answering questions, so if you have any, feel free to send them my way! :)

{Day 13}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:11:00 +0000

"I'm back at school and so happy!" Those were my words this morning, since we technically haven't been at school since Wednesday due to the (awesome) Kingdom Culture conference. Lots of classes today...actually had the opportunity for more, but I'm choosing to rest tonight.

Worship was led by William Matthews and Jenn Johnson. So good. We were singing "I Will Exalt" and then went into prophetic worship. Jenn just took over and was leading and prophesying and we were going deeper and deeper and deeper. A whole new level from what we've been doing. They've kicked it up a notch.

Ray Hughes was our first speaker of the day. He was introduced as being brilliant and hilarious, which is exactly who he is. He's super smart, so much so that a lot goes over my head while I'm grasping to catch the last thing he said. Personally a little hard for me to follow, but I know a lot of people absolutely love him. He is great, just not my favorite. Highlights:

If we aren't worshiping God, we forfeit the reason we exist.
'Said,' 'declare,' 'prophecy,' and 'sing' all mean the same thing.
Darkness is exposed and expelled by light.
When a generation finds God's sound, they don't prophecy what they will be, they create what will become.
'Let' there be light = 'Let' my people go
There were once three archangels, Michael (warrior), Gabriel (messenger), and Lucifer (worship leader). After Lucifer was cast down, God created an entirely new being (human) to worship Him.
"They're [demons] afraid of the sound that will be released." - Ray Hughes
"We're not here to take sides. We're here to take over." - Ray Hughes
[regarding Michal's disdain of David's worship and the consequences thereof] "Barrenness is born out of criticism. No wonder the church is so barren in the creative realm." - Ray Hughes

There was more, a lot about frequencies and black holes and dolphins and icebergs and Haydn...too much to fit into one liners. So, that's a 'I'll tell you later' deal. :)

After lunch, I was caught between Kim Walker-Smith's 'Itinerant Worship' workshop or Ian McIntosh's 'Overcoming Resistance [in Creativity]' workshop. Kim's was recorded, I don't do a lot of itinerant worship, and I am a future professional writer. So I went to Ian's. It was a hard decision, but I think I made the right choice. Highlights:

"The best thing I can do on this earth is co-create with God." - Ian McIntosh
The three stupidest people in the world are Charles Lindbergh, Steve Jobs, and Winston Churchill, because they didn't think about what it was going to take to accomplish what they wanted.
Maybe we call a lot of things prophetic when we're really co-creating with the Lord the way we were designed to do.
"Let's call our prophecy, prophecy, and our destiny, destiny." - Ian McIntosh
"Get yourself in the right frame of mind so you feel stoked about creating." - Ian McIntosh
"If I work, something will happen." - Ian McIntosh
"The (creative) battle is already won." - Ian McIntosh
There's no such thing as stress.
Choose to be more powerful than your fears and self-doubt.

A very fun class. He's a very engaging speaker.

Then it was on to Kim Walker-Smith's class on "Leading Worship Without an Instrument." Kim is, of course, amazing. {I'm listening to her "How He Loves" right now. Mmmmm...} Highlights:

"Nobody wants to be led by a miserable person." - Kim Walker-Smith
"However deep in God's presence you've gone, that's how deep you get to lead the people." - Kim Walker-Smith
"They don't need you to be perfect. They don't need you to be polished. They need you to get them into the presence of God." - Kim Walker-Smith
"The reality is, 'It's not about you.'" - Kim Walker-Smith
"It's about the people. We are there to serve the people." - Kim Walker-Smith
"Laugh it (mistakes) off. That is, like, the number one thing." - Kim Walker-Smith
"Don't be afraid of coaching the congregation." - Kim Walker-Smith
"Sing the melody!" - Kim Walker-Smith
"People are led best by example." - Kim Walker-Smith
They are tired of fake, and they are tired of perfectionism, and they are tired of things having to look a certain way. People are not stupid. They can tell when you're real and when you're not real...People are hungry for real. - Kim Walker-Smith (loose quote)
"Be the example of what passion looks like." - Kim Walker-Smith
Spontaneous worship is when what's in your heart just overflows. Prophetic worship is when you can feel the anointing on a part of the song, or on something spontaneous, and you press into it by repetition and action.

And then I came home after waiting at the bus stop with Anja. There are three night classes tonight, a songwriting class, a software recording class, and one of the band sessions where they critique a band. I would have loved to go, but I just couldn't do another late night after all the ones I've already had. So I'm sitting out tonight and staying home. I'll fix myself a nice dinner, maybe play some music or color or paint my nails (or all three) and go to bed early.

{Day 12}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:21:00 +0000

Today was the second day my whole time here that the alarm clock was actually awake before me. And, truth be told, I didn't actually wake up. I ate breakfast, took a shower, went to church. Jeremy Riddle &; Melissa Wise-How led, and Eric & Candace Johnson spoke. Highlights:

The higher that we build, the more important it is what we build on.
The reason you're free is so that you can love someone beyond what the law allows.

Walked home and went back to bed for three more hours.

And still felt tired when I woke up.

worship

Made some good phone calls, chilled in the hammock. And then it was time for evening church. Chris Quilala and Jenn Johnson led.

Then it was time for the teaching. Kris Vallotton. {Someone at my house was saying how they saw a t-shirt that said, "'That's a good word right there.'" - KV" ... If you ever see one of those shirts - I want one.} Highlights:

Your weapon is between your teeth. {The weapon being your tongue and its ability to make prophetic declarations.}
Molehills often become mountains by your words, when your words should be making molehills of mountains.
"When you believe something that isn't true, it becomes true in your life." - Kris Vallotton
When you're supposed to be telling mountains to move and you tell yourself that you're stupid... {you finish that thought}
{When you hear encouragement or prophetic declarations over your life and dismiss them because they don't feel true}, they don't feel true because you're believing a lie.
"I'm always in a valley because I keep talking to my molehills and they become mountains." - Kris Vallotton {giving an example}
"Grumbling is socially acceptable in the church, but it won't get you into the promised land." - Kris Vallotton
Consider it joy when you're in a trial so that you don't perpetuate the trial.
A lot of people are raised from the dead {saved} and then build a house in the graveyard.
"How do you become a perfect man? By not stumbling what you say." - Kris Vallotton
Your tongue determines the direction of your destination.
Once I open my mouth to curse, what was earthly and natural becomes demonic.
"Complaining in the Kingdom doesn't bring you candy."
"When you complain, you draw demonic activity into your life."
When you complain, you're actually saying, 'I don't believe God.'
"God isn't the light at the end of the tunnel. He's the light in the tunnel." - Kris Vallotton
We can't exaggerate God's love for us.

I felt so energized after the evening church service. I'm a bit tired now, and I'm about to go to bed, because bed is good, but I'm a far cry from who I was this afternoon. Just needed a second dose of Bethel to get me jazzed. Much more tomorrow! :)

{Day 11}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 06:39:00 +0000

What a crazy day! Got up early and went to the Bethel healing rooms. The line snakes all the way around the outside of the sanctuary and then into what amounts to a three-ring circus.

Or a ten-ring circus.

They arrange the chairs into different oval-like rings, and you sit there with your piece of paper until someone from the Bethel healing team comes to pray for you. The worship band is playing long, prophetic songs, very acoustic, and every once in a while one of the leaders (Josh and Kris, not Vallotton) get up and announce a testimony. In the middle of the room is a small circle of prophetic artists. Dancers move about the room and sometimes on stage, sometimes with banners. Little girls - 4, 6, 7 - dance around and through the room, and they're serious about what they're doing. It's not a game to them. Or, rather, it's not a frivolous game.

I asked for healing for the TMJ in my jaw. The guy knew I had TMJ, but he didn't know which side. He had his hands on my jaw, and I had a weird feeling on the right side. I know people say heat, and I guess I could say heat, too, since there's not a lot of words available to explain what it was. The best I can come up with is 'weird.' And yeah, I know that helps you oh so much. But it was after that that he discovered which side I needed prayer for. So, yeah, he didn't know which side before the weird feeling, and that was cool.

Long story short, my jaw is still popping in and out of joint whenever I open my mouth all the way. But during our prayer, my lip - and the skin above the lip - started trembling. Who does that? I've seen a lot of things and heard of more...but this wasn't on the list. I'm sitting there thinking, "I know they've seen everything, but I've never even heard of someone's lip flubbering around like this."

Got a prophecy that my smile is going to heal people. That was cool.

Josh gave us permission to dance at one point, so that was awesome. And the worship team - they were a bit drunk, not going to lie - invented this lovely combination of "Father Abraham" and "The Hokey Pokey." As in,

"Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, so let's all praise the Lord. Put your sick body in, pull your healed body out. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle in the river."

And people got healed wiggling in the proverbial river.

Amber and Dani went home, but Anja and I stayed to go to the treasure hunt. I was expecting a treasure hunt like last week, you know, white board and all. I was prepared to take notes to bring back home.

No whiteboard. No notes. Just this video:

Then this video:
<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Then&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>
And then he asked for anyone with a hip problem. Anja, sore from walking due to a missed bus, volunteered. One of her legs was longer than the other, causing a lot of soreness in her hips.

Let's just say that she felt the hips stretch and that her legs are now the same length and the pain is gone.

Then he had us pair up and play with each other's legs, basically. Brittany commanded my left leg out, and it went out farther than my right leg. Strangest feeling in the world. I didn't get up on walk on it, because a part of me was terrified of doing something that would make it stick that way. So we put it back - an even stranger feeling. I am still the same height.

This video is Brittany's feet. I had already gotten her legs about an inch longer. This is someone else praying for her legs to get even longer.

again, this isn't trick photography

Brittany went home 2-3 inches taller. Her mom was there, and if anyone knows, Mom knows.

And then we were just playing around and made Anja's arms longer. The following video starts after Brittany has lengthened Anja's left arm and we decide to make the right match it. {I know it looks like the angle isn't straight on, since the hands don't match up, but I swear it's straight down the middle. It's a bit of a mental paradigm shift when you watch. I wish I could have translated that experience into video, because these videos just don't do it justice, but I'm trying.}

Anja's arms are now longer. True story.

Then we did some prophecy drills. As in, you're given a category {animals}, has 5 seconds to think of something in that category that the other person reminds you of, one minute to tell them what it is and what makes that something different from all the other somethings in the category. And it turns into a prophecy. It's fun.

The treasure hunt was pretty sweet - we exited the building through a fire tunnel - but nothing compared to our crazy preparation. We had a bus stop, fire hydrant, maize, and bench with tree. We found the treasure, a Native American lady, in front of Coldstone/ice cream. Then we went to the cinema, which was within walking distance WinCo foods. Anja and I actually did some grocery shopping there, and we got to pray for a lady with a purple shirt and flip-flops (that she had almost not worn).

Black Bear Diner menu

the napkins

Anja and I came home and tried to lengthen Amber's legs (long story). And then Amber, Anja, Dani, Carol, Marie, and I went to Black Bear diner.

Amber & Dani

Marie, Anja, Dani, Amber, and me|

my dinner

{Day 10}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 07:32:00 +0000

I have so much stuff from today. Morning worship was led by William Matthews. It was good.

Morning session of the Kingdom Culture conference was with Kris Vallotton. It's kinda crazy how happy I was to see him in real life. He has a humility that doesn't come through his audio; he's not that cocky in real life. Highlights:

"You can't love someone more than they love you." - Kris Vallotton
You are not a sinner saved by grace. You were a sinner, but when you were saved by grace you became a saint.
If you believe you're a sinner, you'll sin by faith.

woah, selah

"You are seated in heavenly places with Christ and told to call God, 'Daddy.'" - Kris Vallotton
You are actually born to be amazing.
"I'm the painting, Jesus is the model, and God is the artist." - Kris Vallotton
You'll always reduce the environment around you to what you believe is within you.
You teach people how to treat you by how you treat you.
"Conviction says, 'You're way too awesome to be acting like that.'" - Kris Vallotton
"I'm not going to sing about me being a loser when God made me to be a winner." - Kris Vallotton
If you asked for it, He wants to give You more.
He's the King of kings. "You are some of the kings He's king over." - Kris Vallotton

Whoa. I know, right?

Kathy's parking space

my contribution to Kathy's spot

During lunch, I ate with a girl named Lisa and Jessica. And then someone had brought sidewalk chalk and gotten permission to decorate the parking spaces of Marlene (the Kathy Vallotton of TwinView), Kathy Vallotton, Paul Manwaring, and the 'guest speaker.'

It was our best and only way to say thank you.

Paul Manwaring's spot

After the lovely chalk art, we went and worshiped some more {not with William}. Then it was Kathy Vallotton's turn to speak. She's not a one-liner sort of person, just stories and phrasing that resonates in your heart 'til you want whatever it is. Highlights:

"Don't ever let someone else put something on you that isn't you." - Kathy Vallotton
"You never know what is inside you until the opportunity arises for it to come out." - Kathy Vallotton
Beautiful = Be You 'til You're Full

Fat Boyz

my Fat Boyz salad

me, Anja, Dani, & Amber

Supper with Dani, Amber, and Anja at Fat Boyz. {Which has an ironically good salad bar.} We had a lovely long God-conversation that hit on a variety of topics. Then back to TwinView for pre-service prayer.

I'm serious. If you ever go to Bethel, go to pre-service prayer. It's like the best thing ever invented. I spent a good twenty, twenty-five minutes sitting in a chair and then lying on the floor. It was a really monumental time for me, but I'm not going to write what happened. Here's a {slightly edited} journal excerpt:

     "I don't know what this death defying adventure call that draws me is. But I want it. I don't know what exactly it is that I want, and I don't know how to get it. But I know I want it. God, I want Your plan."
     He said, "Are you sure? You don't have to. I can set you up somewhere cozy and comfortable, and you'd be happy."
     I said, "No. I want Your best plan for my life. The best one. Because I trust You. I trust Your plans. I know they are good, and I want them. I don't want to settle for a mediocre plan if You have something better. I'm willing to go through the trials and the process. I know - I know - You have a great destiny for me. And I want it, because it's what I was made for, and I can't get away from my desire of it. I want Your best plan, God!"
     It was giving my life to the Lord. But what I was giving up was nothing compared to what I was receiving. In fact, the reward was greater than the sacrifice. God's best plan. For the first time in my life, I really trust Him. I know that His plans are good, that they're designed for me. He's not going to ask me to do something that I wasn't designed to do.

God will give you what you want
Not because you want it
Though that is reason enough for Him
But because He gave you the want in the first place
When it all began

Right after all that, I got a prophecy about my writing. It's still the craziest feeling in the world when someone comes up to you and goes, "I see you writing." Haha. "Do you write?" And it's like, "YES!" Double confirmation that I'm supposed to do writing with my life. :) {There was more to that prophecy. I wrote it down. It was mainly just a very happy moment of realizing that God actually wants us to do what we like to do {because He designed us to do it}. For some people, that would be a duh! moment, but it was really cool for me.}

Then we had more worship, this also led by William Matthews and Hunter.

Had some good Jesus-time there, too. I won't give you the whole conversation, but here was something really good:

I asked Him if it hurt, when the nails stabbed His skin
I felt a glimpse of wracking pain, made me grimace from within

Then with a smile He took it back, the memory His own

"Oh, it hurt, but there is so much more to know:

"Torture worse than nails, and pain beyond belief,

"A future never knowing you, it would have always been to Me."

worship

Of course, we were dialoguing, not talking in poetry, but it was a revelation well-deserving of poetry.

Then Eric Johnson spoke. Highlights:

A perfect man {Jesus} says to an imperfect generation, "You will do greater things than I have done."
Never use power and authority as an indication of a relationship with Jesus. {re: "Depart from me, I never knew you."}
"We are God's ultimate temple." - Eric Johnson
There's no place in scripture that gives us permission to turn off His abundance.
"Desperation is highly overrated." - Eric Johnson
Desperation is based on a focus of lack. Hunger is based on a focus of abundance.

Then we came home, laughed with Jenna about fish tanks - apparently I'm funny - and now I'm typing up this blog post. Or, rather, finished typing up the blog post. Tomorrow: healing rooms and a treasure hunt and possibly ultimate frisbee*.

* Ultimate frisbee is not a code word from some super-spiritual church event. It's just straight-up** ultimate frisbee.

** Or it could turn into revival. You never know in Redding with Bethel people. :)

{Day 9} I Adore You Because

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:29:00 +0000

I forgot to mention yesterday about the exercise we did after Danny Silk's talk. Half the room lined up against the wall all over the room, and then the other half {mine} was told to get up and find someone we hadn't talked to. And not to talk to them. {Although Chloe and I kinda disobeyed that one...we introduced ourselves because we just couldn't help it. We were strong very a long time, though, because we were both melancholies.}

Anyway, we were each given 30 seconds to ask God what He adored about that person and get three one-word answers. And then we were to look straight at the other person and say, "I adore you because x, y, and z."

It was really cool. There has been so much stuff I've learned while I'm here that I'm like, "Oh, this works in real life!" Because this gives me two things:

How to treat someone when I meet them - or even see them across the room. Ask God what He thinks, and translate that to my own belief about that person.
How to treat people I don't necessarily like. Ask God what He likes about that person and act accordingly.

That's all. I'm off to a day of Kris Vallotton {!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}, Kathy Vallotton {!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}, and Eric Johnson. Wait, he deserves some exclamation points too. {!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!} It's going to be a good day, and I'm excited. :)

{Day 9}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:35:00 +0000

Long, good day. I was up a bit earlier than necessary, which explains the new 'cast of characters' feature. I was tired of putting parentheses after every name.

Anyway, Jenna gave us a ride to the TwinView campus this morning for the first full day of the Kingdom Culture conference. Worship was led by Chris Quilala, at least an hour long, which was pretty sweet. Then Danny Silk taught on Creating Culture. There are times that he's my favorite, because he shows movie and/or YouTube clips in every teaching he does. It's awesome. Highlights:

"Culture happens on purpose." - Danny Silk
"The moment you begin to look at what God isn't doing, you become God's judge." - Danny Silk.
"What you focus on, grows," therefore, focus on the move of the Holy Spirit.
"'God is good all the time,' is a decision." - Danny Silk
In a Kingdom culture, "people are looking for ways to encourage each other."

After lunch, we had a bit more worship, about 30 minutes, which is pretty short, and Sheri Silk taught on Insert Love Here! This wasn't as exciting for me as the others were, because I've heard her do this talk in Austin. But it was still good. And she still ended with the final scene from August Rush, and that made me very happy.

"Movements start from the bottom up. Culture starts from the top down." - Sheri Silk

Then we had a 2-3 hour break. Amber, Dani, and Anja were going to go adventuring again. I was feeling very odd...not quite tipsy, but decidedly...strange, and didn't feel like adventuring. I figured I would stay at TwinView and just journal or something.

The majority of this trip's journaling moments have been hijacked. This was no exception. I went outside to finish my lunch sandwich - which I hadn't finished because I wasn't hungry because I'd put Rev3 in my shake that morning - and met a BSW student named Brittany. We talked and really connected within minutes, and then her mom pulled up from being at the Bethel campus Kingdom Culture conference.

Long story short, I ended up going to the grocery store with them, then to Yaks coffee shop {iced, blended chai with white choclate, mmmm!}, then to the house they're staying at, which is about 15 minutes out of Redding proper and in a nice neighborhood with tall pine trees. It was great to see another part of this area. {Although, I'm not going to lie, as I realized that we were leaving Redding, I was beginning to wonder if I'd just done something really stupid.} {But I was also pretty sure the whole time that God wanted me with them.} Anyway, they homeschool and actually flew into Phoenix from New York with their dad and brother, then road tripped up to Redding, and then the guys flew back home. Very cool family, I think. And then we went back to TwinView.

We'd been told earlier about a "pre-service prayer" that they had in one of the adjoining rooms at 6pm. Being there, and not wanting to miss anything, I went in. It's really cool, just some of the Bethel intercessors there to pray for you and prophecy over you and whatever. There's some cool music going on, too. Anyway, they prayed for me, and actually prophesied something over me that I got last November.

Flashback: Last November, I received a word that there was a waterfall of different colored jewels raining down. Each one a revelation, and I could pick one whenever I wanted.

The prophecy this time was that there was a basket covered in gold glitter, with different colored stones inside. As soon as she said different colored stones, I knew that she would next tell me that I just needed to take them. And that's what she said; they represented gifts. There were different colors, each one with a different meaning: pink - healing; blue - revelation; red - the blood of Jesus; gold - glory; purple - royalty. I did the...the what's-it-called: when you act out the prophecy. Of taking the stones/gifts and putting them in my heart. I counted them out in my head as I "took" them, and I got each one. And then she said, "He wants you to take the green one, for new growth."

And I'm like yes!, because this is what I've been wanting over the past week, newnewnew growth. It was just so perfect, and I took that one, too. Anyway. If you ever get the chance to do pre-service Bethel prayer, you should do it. Just sayin'.

Then more worship. Again, really good worship. At least an hour long again, and really, really good. By the end of it, the drummer was facedown on the floor. That should tell you something. I really like worship at the TwinView campus. It's more intimate...without any of the hype. Not that the hype is undeserved at 'main Bethel,' it's definitely not, but that at TwinView there's nothing to live up to. Does that make sense? I like them both, but TwinView is more relaxed.

Paul Manwaring spoke tonight about glory. He spoke really fast, and all of us were hard-pressed to get good notes. But I did my best. {This is another message to download. It's a bit ground-breaking, at least for me.} Highlights:

The word shekinah is actually not found in the Bible. It's a word used by Old Testament scholars that meant: the dwelling place of Him who dwells. The following are {in Paul's opinion} the shekinahs of history.

Eden
the tabernacle of Moses, which cost about $16,000,000,000
the temple of Solomon, which cost about $60,000,000,000 and was only 1600 square feet
John 1:14 {And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt {tabernacled} among us...}
1 Corinthians 6:19 {Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?}

WHOA. {i.e. SELAH}

"God's glory is the result of God expressing Himself." We're what happened when He expressed Himself.
The definition you place on glory will define where you expect to find it.
Science {finding out new things} is to technology {putting them to work} that theology is to the Kingdom.

Then we went to Dairy Queen, but I didn't get anything because the white chocolate chai this afternoon wasn't my most brilliant idea and now I'm fighting a sore throat. I just had a nice salad with an orange and my vitamins...and lots of water. So hopefully it will be gone in the morning.

{Day 8} Banning Leibscher

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:22:00 +0000

Last night we went to the TwinView campus for the first time to begin the Kingdom Culture conference. {As much as they love us School of Worship people, we take up a lot of room. So they have live worship and live speakers - the same speakers who are speaking at Bethel - at TwinView just for us, and any other overflow!}

I'm not sure who led worship last night. Anna (host) said it might have been Ryan and Haylie, but she was just going off the fact that the girl had a English/Australian/South African accent. {I'm getting better about telling them apart...but not that much better, yet.} Brandon and Luke played bass and drums, respectively.

And it was amazing worship. I'm not going to say it was better because it's hard to have "better" worship, but it was definitely good. The element of "omgosh, Jenn Johnson is leading worship!" was gone, and it was just straight up worship with other people who love God. Anyway, it was really good. We did some old songs like "Holy & Anointed One," "Arms of Love," and "The More I Seek You." And we ended with the best bridge:

"I don't want to talk about any other lover/You're the only one 'n' there will be no other for me now/no other for me now."

Apparently it was spontaneous once in Bethel from Steffany Frizzell, and it's stuck around. I wouldn't be surprised to find it in a song someday.

Banning Liebscher {Leeb-sher} spoke. It was my first time to see what he looks like or hear him speak.

Wow.

Let's just say it was a very convicting teaching - perhaps the most convicting of my life, and I've heard a lot of teachings - and I was a bit wrecked at the end. There are going to be some changes, changes that will be better in the long run but that I'm not particularly looking forward to now.

What, you still want highlights?

"Community is a massive deal, and community is a choice. And there is a war against that choice." - Banning Liebscher
John 17 is "a prayer of community and oneness."
Life without grace is a slip-n-slide without water.
"If community was easy, it would not be a humiliating act." - Banning Liebscher
"Community flat-out works." - Banning Liebscher
"The decisions I make in community are safe decisions." - Banning Liebscher
Sometimes God feels silent because God intends to speak through people.
"If you're disconnected from community, you've disconnected yourself from the voice of God." - Banning Liebscher
"The Lord is not going to bypass discipleship." - Kris Vallotton

Then we went to home with another student by a rather interesting route {okay, we were lost for a few minutes}, ended up at McDonalds, where I got french fries. Salty, greasy stuff has been pretty low on my menu, so that was really good. But not exactly what I wanted. I'm still searching for that. I still haven't found what I'm looking for, in terms of salt and grease.

Actually, I think I may be having MSG withdrawals. Which is weird, because I don't eat that much MSG in the first place.

i am turning into my mother
with my protein fix of choice

yes it's my arm. no, it's not a tattoo. but i really like it.

the view when i wake up in the morning.
those lit windows are the bathroom.

Anyway, that was pretty random. We're about to go back to TwinView for a day of more Kingdom Culture, so I will update later!

{Day 8} School of Worship

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:53:00 +0000

worship this morning, Chris leading

Worship this morning was Jesus Culture + William Matthews - Kim Walker-Smith.

In other words, it was legit.

We opened with "Deep Cries Out," which is a fun one, and then did "Burning Ones," "I Want to Know You," and "Obsession." So good. This was my first time to worship from the front of the room, in front of the stage, instead of the back. Fun up there.

Brian Johnson spoke on songwriting for our main session. Highlights:

"Music in and of itself is prophetic." - Brian Johnson
"Songwriting isn't just self-expression, it is communicating how you feel and getting others to feel the same way." - Brian Johnson
He emphasized that all his 'rules' were not rules, just guidelines.
"Put lyrics to the joy and the passion and the emotion in the room," during congregational worship. - Brian Johnson
"When you're passionate about something, that's where your anointing is going to be." - Bill Johnson
"Write what you feel, not what you're supposed to feel." - John Mark McMillan
"God never runs out of ideas." - Brian Johnson
"Make the listener want to hear it again." - Brian Johnson
Love the church. Writing to be famous will be very different than writing out of a love for the church and a desire to see her enter into the Kingdom.

Afterwards I stood in line to possibly volunteer in an upcoming Bethel music video. There were a ton of people wanting in, and they only need 60, so they're going to pick randomly from their list and email us if we're in. So we'll see what happens! :)

inside the Alabaster House

Then I went and soaked in the Alabaster House for about 20 minutes. I love it in there. It's so peaceful. Downside is that I'm always sleepy afterwards.

Went back to the main church building to pick up a parking pass - that I probably won't need - and encountered Kathy Vallotton. I don't know if I've yet commented on her awesome-ness. She is awesome. Omgosh. Anyway, long story short, I asked her to pray for me for something and she did, and it was really cool. I almost fell over, which would have been really awkward, but it was all in all really cool. That's a tell-you-later story, but yeah. She's incredible.

And now I'm home. We only had a half-day of school today because the Kingdom Culture conference is this evening. Amber (Alabama) and Dani (France) went to go experience Redding, and Jasmine (Dallas) is asleep. So it's quiet here, but I'm about to play the piano and/or journal and/or draw. I'll post later about the Kingdom Culture conference tonight.

{Day 7}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 06:45:00 +0000

Worship by Gabriel Wilson this morning. Really, really good. I like the way he does his songs. For anyone who knows the style, they could totally rock "New Song." And his passion is awesome. He lived up to his teaching yesterday.

Kim the Awesome & Adorable

Kim Walker-Smith spoke during Main Session. Highlights:

"Worship is a constant pouring in and a constant pouring out." - Kim Walker-Smith
"We are created to respond to Him, and to respond to His love." - Kim Walker-Smith
This generation of teenagers is "fed up with fake! They are fed up with production! ... One glimpse of God's love, one glimpse of passion, and they are hooked!" - Kim Walker-Smith
"If you can find a way to find that passion and put it on display, people will come running." Kim Walker-Smith
Biggest things that come against worship teams:

Perfectionism
Criticism
Judgment
Jealousy

If you want more creativity, start eliminating judgment and criticism.
When you honor, you are inviting favor.
"One day I will live in the fruit of this moment."
"God, I desire Your presence more than I desire the answers."

I'm stopping there. There's more. :) Next I went to Judy Franklin's {Bill Johnson's assistant} heavenly realms talk. It was pretty cool. I found out that I'm not weird in my previous experiences with Jesus, experiences that I was pretty sure weren't just my imagination...but not quite. This was an affirmation of that. She called Close Encounters of the Third Kind one of the most prophetic movies ever made. Dad - keep your ringtone. :) {This is a hard class to detail on a blog. If you want more on it, talk to me on the phone or when I get back. It was good, though.}

Then we took Jerry Aaronson's testimony of how he is a Native American evangelist - both to the Native Americans, and from the Native American culture. So good. It resonates with me, even though I feel a bit weird being 1/4 "Indian" and 3/4 European. I'm going to ask him about that. He mostly had inspiring stories, not as many one-liners. He's part of a Christian Indian group that goes around the world. They got to go to a New Age festival in Israel - located where the tribe of Manasseh did something stupid and were told they would always be serving other gods - to honor the First People of First Peoples, and to spread Jesus' love. New Agers would come up to their hill and tell them that it felt so much better there than the other places. There were such cool stories, and I would love to detail them...but not now. That's a lot of words. Another thing to talk to me about in person/phone. :)

the ceiling

the center of the ceiling

Then Amber, my Alabama roomie, and I went to the Alabaster House. We told each other we would be in there an hour, tops. We were in there an hour, but it didn't feel that long at all. Just to sit there and soak, it was great. There's quiet music going, and a fountain in the middle, and windows on every side. I'll try to get some real pictures later. For now, all I have are pictures of the ceiling.

Tonight we sat out and talked way longer than I was anticipating, but it was good.

Oh, and I finished my journal today! {Or, the front of it. I've decided now why not put stuff on the back, eh?}


my journal cover. metallic pink water bottle not part of cover. words say "HIGHER," "State of Grace," "Every child is treated like royalty," "Nowhere is life richer," and "It's a different culture, a different world."

{Oh, and Kim Walker-Smith took off her shoe and smashed a spider on the podium. That was a pretty epic moment. She "doesn't like bugs."}

Also, I got ahold of this MUCH BETTER video from yesterday's worship and the new "My Dear" song. Still not sure if it's a Bethel song or not, but it's good. Listen and enjoy. The quality here is pretty sweet.

{Day 5} Fire Tunnel {Day 6}

noreply@blogger.com (Melody) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:57:00 +0000

I forgot to mention yesterday (post 1, post 2) that we had a fire tunnel. It was a ton of fun {though in terms of intense and...crazy stuff...Leif Hetlund's is still #1}, and my AL roomie and I went through twice. :) Lauren, my host, was even allowed to be on the fire line, since she's a BSSM2 grad, and I think it's super cool that I'm living with her. {Jenna is also allowed to do stuff like that. She did ministry team stuff Friday night.}

Today I was able to work on my journal some more. Still not quite done - should finish tomorrow - so no picture yet! :) Then worship, led by Brian, Jenn, and Hunter. There's this epic new song that kinda rocked my song world, and I'm excited about it. I'm not 100% sure that it's a Bethel original, but it feels like it.

{I apologize now for the terrible audio quality. I was mainly trying to get a guideline for doing the song in the future.}

But the worship wasn't over:

This was pretty awesome. Again, sorry for the audio quality. And yeah, there's not much to look at because I was aiming for sound. {I should have set it to record just audio, but, yeah...}

Gabriel Wilson, Bethel School of Worship 2010 grad and worship leader at a church south of Redding, spoke. Best. Main. Session. Ever. So far. Which is kinda what I've said about all of them, but this one was insanely good. If you were waiting for a recommendation of what to download off of iBethel, this is it. Highlights:

"Cool is only cool for as long as cool as cool." - Gabriel Wilson

"Because cool changes." - Gabriel Wilson

What does it mean to move the heart of God? What does it take for our generation to be a generation that moves His heart?
"You being who you are in the wake of who He is is everything." - Gabriel Wilson
"Let the Lord validate you." - Gabriel Wilson

I realize that these notes, compared to the other one-liners I've posted, seem pretty lame. It's the sort of talk you have to listen to the whole thing for. The topic of discussion was all about ministering to God's heart. And it was just incredible.

Then lunch. I ate with two girls from Norway, a girl from London, and a guy from South Africa. I actually had a short conversation with the South African guy: I was speaking Spanish, and he was speaking Italian. And we understood each other. {He did speak English quite well, though with a crazy thick accent. We were just trying out our highschool languages.} Anyway, I thought that was funny, the American girl having a Spanish conversation with a South African guy speaking Italian.

And then I arrived at the room designated for Kim Walker's first talk...and they were turning people away. They're hoping to have a night class for it later, but I was sad. I glanced over someone's list and decided to go to Gabriel's workshop on visual media in worship. It was quite good, and I'm glad I went, though later I discovered that a class of Ian's that I'd wanted had been going on, also: the role of a keyboardist in a worship band. It was the one of Ian's that I most wanted to go to, and I'd been going to miss it because of Kim Walker.

So now I'm a bit confused and asking God why it was so important that I attend the visual media class. I mean, it was good and everything, but it wasn't epically life-changing or anything like that. But I was a hair late for Kim's class, and I totally blanked on Ian's, both of which are weird, and so I'm trying to figure out why I was there.

But I did get to go to Kim's second class, all about women in worship ministry. It was really, really good. She's so awesome and adorable, and has such wisdom. And she gave us chocolate.

you can kinda see my hair

Chris Quilala & William Matthews

Came home and got ready for the rollerskating party hosted by Chris Quilala and William Matthews. Special guest DJs: Kim Walker-Smith, Banning Liebscher, and Jenn Johnson. I got some video, but, I mean, once you've seen one roller rink, you've seen 'em all. But I bet you haven't seen that. -->

Now I'm ridiculously sweaty, or salty, rather, and am sosososososo sore. Tomorrow's hills are already laughing at me.

got that lovely thing from a fall against the carpet-covered wall, yep, yep

{P.S. If you're reading this via email, you aren't seeing the videos I'm posting. Just FYI. Also...um, yes, well, there was something else, but I can't remember it. Must not have been too important.}