New CATG Blog - The River

The River is ramping up for a strong start this fall. Check out their new blog.

Grab a box of kleenex, then help us help this Chinese girl…

Grab a box of kleenex and then follow this link to a special page we just put up on our church website - it’s about a girl we are desperately trying to help in China.

Here’s the link.

Florida Healing Outpouring - Is Todd Bentley a New Age Mystic?

This is my seventh post on the Florida Healing Outpouring and frankly I had no intentions of doing any posts beyond the first one. But, due to popular demand (and subsequent questions) more have come. Initially I had a burden to throw some caution out there to those tempted to occupy the seat of scoffers and so I wrote a couple posts on being careful what we speak against. Some may wonder why I’m now tackling the more controversial points - the Angel Emma, Third Heaven Experiences, is this Kundalini, Violence and the Kingdom of God. It would be easier to say nothing, there is even some potential in my own circles that I’m inviting an unnecessary controversy by even bringing these matters up.

I’m writing on these points to ready us for a move of God. No doubt, as we’ve seen in revival history, when God visits things break out beyond the sinners prayer of the traditional fruitful evangelistic meeting. People weep and wail, there are waves of joy, extravagant giving, shaking, falling out, trances, tongues, healing - the blind see, deaf hear, signs and wonders, dreams and visions, lights, angelic encounters and sightings and more. We want it to be on earth as it is in heaven don’t we? Do we really think it’ll all look like earth does now when heaven graces the earth?

As I’ve indicated, even within our own fellowship, much of this is uncharted waters for, I’d think, half our people. But I’m called to ready the rest - to prepare the way - for God to visit. This venue (the blog) has proved to be a great way to interact on a regular basis with hundreds in our church and thousands more who are seeking God right now and need understanding. So here now I aim to demystify myticism a bit. I’m trying to model how to seek God fully and openly without “passing judgment on disputable matters.” (Romans 14:1) I’m watching people throw labels on stuff that do not fit and are not fair and they do so because it’s human to label things we can’t really grasp so we can get a better hold on them. We try to box up and categorize stuff - that’s “Word of Faith”, that’s “Health & Wealth gospel”, that’s “New Age,” that’s “mysticism,” etc. I remember thinking on my last Africa trip that so many back home would think “that’s not Christian” as the African believers went “happy” during a much extended offering. The “church” is far bigger than our version of it - and God is far bigger yet.

I’ll put myself here in a vulnerable position and share a mystic experience that happened to me.

Florida Healing Outpouring - Todd Bentley and the Angel Emma

Here I decided to make a post out of some comments from my earlier posts on the Florida Healing Outpouring - Todd Bentley and the Seat of Scoffers. Those posts can be found here, here and here. The fact that Todd Bentley claims an angel named Emma visited him is creating a bit of a stir from the on-line revival police (aka the “Bible Diests” to use a Jack Deere term). First, I’ll let you read about Emma from Bentley himself. Then I repost my reflections on this which I wrote in the comment section of one of the earlier posts mentioned above.

EMMA, ANGEL OF THE PROPHETIC by Todd Bentley (entire article here)

Now let me talk about an angelic experience with Emma. Twice Bob Jones asked me about this angel that was in Kansas City in 1980: “Todd, have you ever seen the angel by the name of Emma?” He asked me as if he expected that this angel was appearing to me. Surprised, I said, “Bob, who is Emma?” He told me that Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She was a mothering-type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out. Within a few weeks of Bob asking me about Emma, I was in a service in Beulah, North Dakota. In the middle of the service I was in conversation with Ivan and another person when in walks Emma. As I stared at the angel with open eyes, the Lord said, “Here’s Emma.” I’m not kidding. She floated a couple of inches off the floor. It was almost like Kathryn Khulman in those old videos when she wore a white dress and looked like she was gliding across the platform. Emma appeared beautiful and young-about 22 years old-but she was old at the same time. She seemed to carry the wisdom, virtue and grace of Proverbs 31 on her life.

She glided into the room, emitting brilliant light and colors. Emma carried these bags and began pulling gold out of them. Then, as she walked up and down the aisles of the church, she began putting gold dust on people. “God, what is happening?” I asked. The Lord answered: “She is releasing the gold, which is both the revelation and the financial breakthrough that I am bringing into this church. I want you to prophecy that Emma showed up in this service-the same angel that appeared in Kansas city-as a sign that I am endorsing and releasing a prophetic spirit in the church.” See, when angels come, they always come for a reason; we need to actually ask God what the purpose is. Within three weeks of that visitation, the church had given me the biggest offering I had ever received to that point in my ministry. Thousands of dollars! Thousands! Even though the entire community consisted of only three thousand people, weeks after I left the church the pastor testified that the church offerings had either doubled or tripled…

I believe Emma released a financial and prophetic anointing in that place. That was the first angel that I have ever seen in the form of a woman. Some angels I’ve seen seemed like they were neither male nor female. However, Emma appeared as a woman who was like a Deborah, like a mother in Zion. When she came, she began to mentor, nurture and opened up a prophetic well. The people in the church began having trances and visions and the pastor began getting words of knowledge and moving in healing. That congregation also saw more financial breakthrough than they had ever seen before.

Regarding your question about Todd Bentley and the angel Emma… Certainly angels visit people and speak to them. They are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation.” They are angelos - messengers. In Acts 8:26 an angel shows up and speaks to Philip about which road to go down to meet up with the Etheopian Eunuch. And, absolutely, angels have names - Gabriel, Michael, etc. Demons are fallen angels and we have numerous named fallen angels in Scripture - Legion, Abaddon, Lucifer, Prince of the Power of Persia, Mammon, Beelzbub, etc. Those in our deliverance ministry will tell you demonic spirits have identities that are often related to their assignments - spirit of perversion, spirit of division, spirit of infirmity or fear. Angels are no different, some minister before the throne of God, others in the dark corners of the earth. Some bring supply, some war on our behalf. They have assignments and identities. The seminaries I went to didn’t teach angelogy or demonology - they are good evangelical schools but they have no theology of the supernatural. I had to learn this stuff right from the Bible.

Angelic activity is increasing in the earth as is demonic activity and both will continue to increase until we reach the great conflict of the ages. I praise God for angelic activity, visitations and have several stories of personal interaction with angels myself and many, many more visitations and sightings at our church.

That an angel named Emma or “Winds of Change” visited these revival leaders is nothing to fret about at all. Even the fact that Satan comes as an “angel of light” says volumes about how active angels are in the world and the Body of Christ today. Satan is just trying to blend in with what God is doing and pull a few people off course.

God send more angels! Each weekend at Church at the Gate I ask for God to send angels to minister and bring the atmosphere of heaven in our worship services. Spiritually sensitive people frequently, almost weekly, comment to me they see angels in worship at our church or around the premises or in prayer meetings. Why are we surprised and skeptical? The Bible says they are ministering spirits send to serve us?

I’ll share one personal story. My wife and I were in Idaho praying with a another couple. The man said, “Pastor Steve do you know that you have angels around you right now?” I said, “I guess, aren’t they all around?” I meant like in a generic way, aren’t angels out and about anyways? He said, “open your eyes.” I did and I looked and saw two huge angels, one on my right and one on my left.

My wife didn’t see them. But I did and so did he. A week later I was back home and was heading to the church at 6 AM on a Sunday morning. I was tired, not ready to preach, discouraged, beat up, etc. As I drove to church I prayed that God would help me and that he’d send those two angels to me again, the one on the right and the one on the left and that they would pouring refreshment and strength over my life.

In our second worship service that day I was praying and notably in full strength again. At the conclusion of the service, a college girl in our church, now married, named Marissa, came up to me with a note written on the blank half of her Sunday bulletin. I have the note under the clear plastic mat on the top of my desk. The note basically says, “Pastor Steve, while you were praying in the service today I peeked and saw two massive angels standing over you pouring bowls of refreshment on you, one was on your right and one was on your left. I thought you’d want to know.”

Marissa will tell you today that she had no idea I’d seen those angels the week before or asked God to send them to me again that day. Today I welcome angelic activity, visitations and sightings do nothing except fire up my faith that God is at work in our midst! Imagine though that I were to “go public” (as Bentley has) with the fact that two “angels of refreshment” visited me twice. I suppose the unloving and anonymous heresy hunters would have my hide too. I’m thrilled to hear angels are visiting Todd Bentley. I hope angels visit you too.

Be careful of listening to the scoffers online whose “doctrine” is based on their experience in things supernatural - or in this case their lack of experience. The Word of God says God uses angels to minister to us and even speak to us.

UPDATED: A big thanks to LadyofFe for sharing this verse in the comments section. The verse speaks of two female angels “Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork….” Zechariah 5:9 This is an interesting and important reference as some in the seat of scoffers are making the absurb claim that angels can only appear as men.

Florida Healing Outpouring - Todd Bentley and the Seat of Scoffers part three

This is my third post discussing those discussing Todd Bentley and the Florida Outpouring. If you have yet to read the earlier posts you can do so here, and here. Two weeks ago I ventured down to Lakeland for a few days with some folks from our church. This past Sunday I decided to devote my message to what is unfolding there. Those of you who are used to a 25 minute sermonette each week will need to take this in two parts because it’s 58 minutes long. It’s probably easier to grab it off itunes and plop in on your ipod, or you can get it off the podcast link below which is on our church website. Feedback is welcome though I prefer you read the earlier posts first before commenting as I’m not interested in giving scoffers a greater platform.

Is this that? Relections on the Florida Outpouring - Matthew 11:1-19

Can you say OCCUPY!

We are celebrating here at Church at the Gate because yesterday we were granted OCCUPANCY! The inspectors signed off on the building and we can now occupy the children’s and youth addition. It’s a brand new day around here! I shot some hoops over the lunch hour yesterday in the new gym and it’s a blast seeing the rooms full of kids this AM. One great moment came when Thomas and I walked out of the worship center with the fire inspector following behind and our new youth/young adult pastor Jared (not seeing the fire inspector) threw something at Thomas. Of course Thomas ducked (or Jared missed) and he hit the fire inspector!

All week we’ve been packing our offices and the church staff will mostly be homeless for a month until they finish our new office suite. Also underway right now is a coffee shop and bookstore area in the existing building. Very cool.

Pulpit Freedom Sunday - September 28

Doesn’t the Bible say we are to disciple nations? Until a hundred years ago, our nations pastors did this through a variety of means including the annual “Election Sermon” which was given the Sunday before an election. The purpose was to shed the light of God on the affairs of man and keep our nation headed on a divine course. Things have changed. America is off course. Pastors are quiet, intimidated, threatened, muzzled by fears we’d lose our sacred 501c3 status.

Enter… PULPIT FREEDOM SUNDAY, September 28, 2008. I love this headline in last weeks Wall Street Journal… Pastors May Defy IRS Gag Rule.

A conservative legal-advocacy group is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics. Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit, is hoping at least one sermon will prompt the Internal Revenue Service to investigate, sparking a court battle that could get the tax provision declared unconstitutional. Alliance lawyers represent churches in disputes with the IRS over alleged partisan activity.

I thank God for my friend Gary McCaleb, Senior Counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund. Alliance Defense Fund exists to counter the dark influence of the ACLU and today is a massive and well-funded legal group solely focused on religious freedoms. I met Gary a few years ago here on the frontlines of the battle for the unborn in South Dakota. He came to our state to offer the full legal support of the ADF - at no charge to South Dakota pastors. On numerous occasions since I’ve run what I am doing here by Gary to see if I’m still “legal.” He gives me great counsel at no charge - tells me to call him on his cell phone - even on weekends he gets right back to me. The Alliance Defense Fund offers to pay the full legal expenses of any pastor who gets in trouble for being God’s voice to our culture.

Last week in DC I was excited to hear ADF is launching this “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” initiative. They are encouraging pastors all over America to exercise their First Amendment right to openly discuss the positions of political candidates and other moral and social issues from the pulpit. They hope to get some lawsuits rolling that will regain the pastors freedom to speak freely in America again. Here’s a bit more from ADF’s website or you might prefer to watch this video clip:

“Pastors have a right to speak about biblical values from the pulpit without fear of punishment. No one should be able to use the government to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “The government can’t demand that a church give up its right to tax-exempt status simply because the pastor exercises his First Amendment rights in the pulpit. Groups like Americans United intentionally trigger IRS investigations that will silence churches through fear, intimidation, and disinformation.” Prior to 1954, churches were free to evaluate the positions of political candidates on moral issues without fear of the Internal Revenue Service revoking their tax-exempt status. That year, then-Senator Lyndon Johnson amended the tax code to add the threat of IRS action against churches if their pastors mentioned the positions of specific candidates from the pulpit. Citing that rule, groups like AU have repeatedly threatened to report churches to the IRS if they speak out on such issues. Many tax-exempt organizations are permitted to evaluate candidates’ positions based on the values important to those groups. Organizations which are tax-exempt but do not have the same speech restrictions the IRS places on churches include civic leagues; labor, agricultural, or horticultural associations; business leagues; chambers of commerce; real estate boards; boards of trade; professional football leagues; clubs organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofit purposes; fraternal beneficiary societies; and cemeteries. “The intimidation of churches by leftist groups using the IRS has grown to a point that ADF has no choice but to respond,” said Stanley. “The number of threats being reported to ADF is growing because of the aggressive campaign to unlawfully silence the church. IRS rules don’t trump the Constitution, and the First Amendment certainly trumps the Johnson amendment.”

If we don’t use our freedom to defend our freedom we will lose our freedom. I’m excited about this. In fact, I’m going to have trouble restraining myself until September 28.

Can’t get off ’cause the bus won’t slow down

So much is going on. We are watching the Florida outpouring and have plans to go dip in the stream there on May 21-24 with numerous other CATGr’s. I have more to say about all that but I’ll let it cook a while longer.

We had great services this weekend and, like I said in one of them, it’s getting harder and harder to step up after the worship time and transition to the next thing. Can anybody say - linger? How about “let loose?” For years I’ve seen myself as the leader of our weekend worship services. It’s quite different now. About halfway into the second/third song I’m typically relegating my role there to Him and telling Him to let me know if I’m up next or He is. It’ll be interesting to see where we are in a few months if this continues. Am I the only pastor who wonders… who will stay if He does come? We had someone leave our church recently because, get this, they loved our church but are leaving because they didn’t know week to week what would happen in a service. God bless them but that comment seems a compliment to one who has been summoning the Wind of behalf of the dead that they’d come alive a vast army. Isn’t there a verse about “the wind blows whereever it pleases… you can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going.”

After the CityChurch service on Sunday night, I stayed up real late with Thomas making a catapult that can launch a pingpong ball size object 30 feet - a project for school. Yesterday I really tried to slow down some. I’m not sure I succeeded. I mowed, got sunburned forearms, worked some more on the chicken coop - only two of our 120 broiler chicks have died here in the first week. The rest are happy and strong. Last night the boys and I cut up a huge dead tree and then entertained the girls with the mother of all bonfires. Surely it was visible from the moon.

It’s a bit of a scramble today with appointments and getting ready to head to DC tomorrow until Friday. A wedding is on the slate for this Saturday and Mothers Day services are coming this weekend. Then Caleb’s graduation the next week which means… a day or so to get the place ready for a big celebration. Then the following week I’ll go check out what God is doing in Lakeland. Oh, and we are about to break ground for our home addition.

Here’s my 525 page slowdown plan for the plane tomorrow. Thanks to Nicole O. for the tip on this new book which looks like it goes right in the flow of what I’ve been hammering on from the pulpit. Like I need more fuel for that fire. Kristen still thinks a fiction book will relax me more and says things like… “a book shouldn’t make you mad.” I don’t know about her but I get a baptism in God-infused energy and zeal when I read about the war we are in for LIFE.

I’m bAAAaack - laughs and lessons from our Birmingham trip

Sorry to disappear from the blogosphere for a few days. I hope you were able to function for a few days without my life-giving insights into whatever I’m interested in. (Blame a hotwire.com $39 a night La Quinta hotel room that promised wireless internet but apparently the wires were missing that would have made it actually work.)

We just got back from Birmingham late last night. Went with 11 CATG peeps to Church of the Highlands for a spectacular church planting conference. Many things are rolling around in my head right now that will soon gel into more vision and passion for what we are doing right here in SD!

It’s always great to travel with friends. Lots of laughs… like yesterday when Pastor Dennis mis-spoke during a conversation about his baldness and talked about his using viagra and how that didn’t help his hair grow (he later tried to assure us he meant to say rogaine.) We flew from Birmingham to Dallas with Brian Houston - that was cool for the star-struck among us. I want to publicly thank Kathy for packing light this time… we knew you could do it!

Here’s some highlights:

- The greatest church planting “tool” is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his followers after three years of equipping… stay here in the upper room until you get what you really need to go out and take territory. Jesus sent people out to plant churches with POWER!

- Great word from Brian Houston on how we often focus on what we don’t have and only take notice of the lack… we miss what is right here in our own house- people, potential. We learned THE Darlene Zschech was once just a lady in his church named Darlene - now her song made America Idols top ten list - shout to the Lord! We often don’t see the “oil” in our own “house” because it doesn’t look like its going to look like when God touches it. We’ve got to raise people in our midst up and release them!

- Regarding prayer… a man on his face never falls from that position. Do we as leaders, at our core, really believe that prayer matters? How we run our ministries reveals whether or not we really believe that is true. The hard days in prayer are more important to God than the easy days.

More later…

Waves of healing tonight at Church at the Gate

The Global School of Supernatural Ministry at Church at the Gate ended tonight with several wonderful waves of healing. Sessions on hearing the voice of God, the five-step model for healing prayer and how to receive Words of Knowledge set the stage for God to move. No hype, not even music, full lighting, yet the atmosphere of God in our midst was tangible. Twenty or so words of knowledge came forth and then the testimonies started popping up. A couple dozen people noted at least 80% improvement. We asked God for more.

My testimony tonight is my right shoulder is pain-free for the first time in months and I have full range of motion. CATG Doc’s have told me I have rotator cuff surgery in my future but that I should wait until its intolerable - Dr. Myles at church has been working on it weekly for a few months.

If you have a testimony to share, click on the comment link under this post heading and share it!

God is good!

Supernatural activation underway at Church at the Gate - Testimonies of God’s Touch

The Global School of Supernatural Ministry got underway here at Church at the Gate this afternoon. Things are off to a very strong start. Several had personal prayer appointments with the team prior to the first meetings. The first session covered some of the basics of prophetic ministry and the protocol there. Session two focused on the Kingdom of God in the marketplace - meaning… teams of three or four were equipped and sent out into the community (Mall, Walmart, where-ever God led) to pray for people. I’ve heard some great stories already from that time.

Tonight, worship was powerful which opened a great door for a great word on the life of David. The message was that God took one whose identity was a lowly shepherd boy and gave him a new identity and a new name. And, that God is taking us out of the miry clay and saying we are royalty - appointed and annointed to do Kingdom works. Our identity isn’t sickness, defeat, etc. Satan is trying to kill our identity in God. But, we must walk out into our new identity as stewards of the Kingdom and everything around us is affected by the Kingdom in us. We ended with prophetic ministry and praying for healing.

If you are in the area and can make it to the session tomorrow night (7 P.M.) I promise you’ll be blessed. If you attended today and God spoke to you, challenged you, or touched your life in any way, USE THE COMMENT LINK TO SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY WITH THE REST OF US.

Global School of Supernatural Ministry comes to Church at the Gate

COMING to CHURCH AT THE GATE - - APRIL 7, 8, 9
There is a lot more to the Kingdom of God than what we have experienced to this point. That will be the central message when Church at the Gate hosts a team from the Global School of Supernatural Ministry of Mechanicsburg, PA. These teams have traveled nationally and internationally teaching people to pray for healing and hear from God. We are asking God for powerful miracles next week - if you are local, invite people who need a touch from God to come. Randy Clark, international speaker and author with 30 years of pastoral experience is the President of GSSM. Unless otherwise noted, the meetings will take place at Church at the Gate (6820 W. 26th St.) in Sioux Falls.

Here’s the schedule for next week:

Monday April 7
1-4 PM “Prophetic Protocal & Marketplace Ministry workshop” at the Holiday Inn Express (”The Barns” meeting room) 2502 S. Shirely Ave.
7 PM Worship, Training and Healing Prayer

Tuesday April 8
1-4 PM “Deliverance training workshop” for the Cleansing Stream Ministry Team. The Tuesday afternoon session will be held at Staybridge Suites, 2505 S Carolyn Ave.
7 PM Worship, Training and Healing Prayer

Wednesday April 9
7 PM Worship, Training and Healing Prayer

Topics covered will be a five-step prayer model for the sick, how to receive and operate in words of knowledge, and how to hear from God. You can attend one session or all. There is no admission fee. A love offering will be taken in the evening services. The GSSM ministry training manual will be available for purchase ($20). Prayer is available by appointment Monday and Tuesday morning or Wednesday afternoon for those unable to attend the evening sessions. Please call the church office at 357- 8136 to schedule.

I’m quite excited about this and expect great things as we go after more of God together! Join me in praying God will visit us mightily during this time and that many people will be touched and released into greater Kingdom works!

This was a first for me!

Leaders know that when you are fighting the good fight people say stuff about you, both good stuff and bad. Being human we tend to give more weight to the bad and let it bother us more. It probably takes three affirmations to outwiegh one low jab. Church at the Gate is filled with affirming people and I’m blessed. But today I got a big blessing from a CATG mom who forwarded on her eighth-grade daughters language arts assignment to me - it was about me! Gulp. I’ll post it below.

This is a first for me and quite an honor! Had the realization that this next generation is indeed looking up to us for models. That’s not something to take lightly. I also know these young gals and guys wearing pro-life shirts and buttons to public schools are heroes in their own right and take substantial flack for the stand they take. Even “coming out” as pro-life to a teacher can be huge. This will be the generation that wins this war. I love their boldness.

Look around you today - who is watching the stand you are taking? (It is okay, isn’t it, to share stuff like this with friends without it coming across as prideful?)

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Stepping Out in Faith, Stepping Up to the Challenge

Many people like to become “robots” and act like everyone around them. They just want to follow the crowd, but how many people actually stand for what they believe? My pastor stands for what he believes and

Praying Forward

This past weekend during one of our worship services I noticed some of the lyrics we were singing were basically visionary prayers. As I reflected on this, I felt led to say a few things about “Praying Forward.” Within a day or so a couple emails came in saying it was quite helpful and important. Kristen suggested I develop the thought a bit and submit it as a guest post on her prayer blog. So, I did just that and you can read more of what I’m thinking about Praying Forward here.

ONE PRAYER - Coming to Church at the Gate this June

This June, we are planning to partner with hundreds of other churches to do a series together called One Prayer. The series will begin on the weekend of June 7-8 and run for a total of four weeks. The premise of the series is: “If God would answer ‘one prayer’ for the church at large, what would you pray?“

This series serves several purposes. Specifically, we believe it will… 1) Promote unity in the body of Christ for the larger work of God in his church. 2) Cross-pollinate our church with other key ARC churches. (Hundreds of other churches are participating but we will connect with others in our network) 3) Infuse spiritual passion into a typically challenging month. 4) Raise money for a mission project as participating churches pool offerings. 5) Simultaneously link our hearts with many others fasting, praying and seeking God.

The general concept is this: I’ll start off the series off, then in the following weeks I’ll pass the baton to other key ARC pastors who will speak at CATG weekend services via video cast. Some of the other ARC pastors who are participating are Craig Groeschel, Rick Bezet, Chris Hodges, Dino Rizzo, Greg Surratt, and Stovall Weems.

A couple thoughts on how God is using technology. It used to be we’d have to spend big bucks to fly-in special guests to benefit from the anointing flowing in other sectors of the Body of Christ. Today, we can stay where we are and still be right in the midst of what God is doing elsewhere.

Having already launched a video campus, video messages are nothing new to CATG’rs. However, it is still new to many and on occasion I hear how it’s “second best.” My main reply to this is that we are so spoiled. In other parts of the world, Christians huddle in fields around appointed rocks to listen to a crackling transistor radio of a Bible teaching coming in over the airways. We need to be thankful that we are in a place where we can have a full-size, full color, front row seat to the key things the Spirit is saying to the church today. Technology is a gift from God and he’s increasingly using it to his glory here in the End Times. Stay tuned for updates.

Origins: God’s Green Earth… starts this weekend at Church at the Gate

Every spring, God’s green earth comes alive! This was God’s promise to Noah… “as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” The verse also indicates this present earth won’t endure forever. Evidence abounds, our planet is fallen. Everything began with excellence at Creation, but the created order is on a path of degeneration.

Eco-gospel prophets like Al Gore are blowing the trumpet that we are in a planetary crisis - but, it’s confusing because their ideology is based on the belief that earth is evolving upward, from worse to better. (Evolution, mind you, isn’t a science; it’s a belief – a belief that actually runs counter to science and the evidence.)

Surprising some, science and Scripture agree about our origins. Once we understand our origins and God’s mandate that we steward creation in this age and the age to come, our identity and role in both come into focus. More to come this weekend at Church at the Gate…

URGENCY TOUR - 12 SD cities, 5 days, 300 pastors

I hit the state this week with my friend Matt Lockett for another 12 city tour of South Dakota. I’m calling it the Urgency Tour because we have 30 days left to get signatures to put an abortion bill on the November ballot that would prohibit abortion from being used as birth control. It’s a big deal with huge national implications. You can find out more about the tour here.

Kicked it all off this weekend with a message today called - A Great Urgency. You can listen to it here, or through the podcast links on the church website or through itunes. Feedback is always welcome on the messages. I’d covet your prayers as we travel this week. I have plans to update my pro-life blog but posts here may be intermitent. But, then again, maybe not.

I’m super proud tonight of the CATG family - huge offerings this weekend for the Urgency Tour - HUGE!! And, 33 people showed up tonight with their cell phones to personally call 300+ pro-life pastors in our state and invite them to the meetings.

Warm thoughts with Pastor Steve

Found myself in deep intercession this AM for global warming. We don’t ever want to manipulate God but I will confess I was decreeing that we’d hit the 20 degree mark so we can continue to rock and roll on the east wing expansion at the west campus. We will OCCUPY in April. Check it out…

I know when its real hot people in the desert can hallucinate (remember the old Road Runner cartoons?). Don’t suppose that works when it’s really cold but regardless, I’m not advocating that here. And, without getting into any sort of new age visualization, what does God show you when you look at this picture? What do you “see” and “hear” for this place, say, six months from now? Share those warm thoughts with me.

The Firestarters and Bound4Life at CATG this weekend!

For the locals tuning in here… the Firestarters are at the River tonight (CATG West Campus) at 8 P.M.. We expect it to go until it stops. I’m expecting God to move mightily so I hope you can come. Tomorrow afternoon they are doing a seminar for us on prophetic dance.

In other news, Bound4LIFE South Dakota invites you to participate in prayer with us tomorrow, Saturday January 26. 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM - Prayer Siege at the Planned Parenthood, 6511 West 41st in Sioux Falls. You may park at the Assemblies of God west parking lot. It is going to be in the 20’s - downright tropical! My friend Matt Lockett, Director of Bound4LIFE International will be there. Matt will be at CATG West Campus Sunday morning. He’s not preaching but I’ll twist his arm to say something. I’m going to hitting the subject “Enemies of Greatness - Part Two” so buckle up for that. There are other activities here on Saturday with Matt and Bound4Lifer’s from a five state area. If you are interested call the church office (605) 357-8136 for more info.

Aborting Abortion A to Z

Another life message from me this past weekend. And, collected a few hundred signatures for the petition to put the initiated measure on our November ballot prohibiting abortion as a form of birth control. Pretty good day.

Play to your strengths

My world is increasingly bigger than I can manage.  Those around me regularly tell me something has to change.  I’m making some of those changes so I can go the long haul.  One of our trustees told me this past year he senses God telling me to “play to my strengths” this coming year.   

One of my strengths is putting my thoughts on paper.  I guess I should let you be the judge of that - but even so, every one of us ought to have some sense of what we are good and gifted at and also the areas we are weak.  My wife tells me I can’t write a short email. I type as fast as I think. I hate the phone. So, I’m going to blog.

I also want to increase my exposure to people.  Being an Introvert (did you note the capital “I”?), the circle of those who converse with me is limited.  I’m hoping this blog will change that and give many people an opportunity to talk to me.  I’m hopeful that through this venue the people at Church at the Gate will feel they are current with what I’m thinking and dreaming for our life together.  My hope is to connect with people I’d never have a chance to visit with during a weekend service.