Promotional video Dreaming with Purpose 2011 conference

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Promotional video Dreaming with Purpose 2011

Creation day for my Dreaming with Purpose promo DVD

Sitting here at Creation Films working with the team on my promo for the conference and just in wonder at Gods blessing!

I mean how did I get to this place?  Nick is in Christchurch recording a professional voiceover. Matt is in the office next to me doing the creative media to go with it. Jonathan is sponsoring this work for me. How did I suddenly become surrounded by such talented people and why are they helping me?

God is bringing together like minded people to advance His Kingdom.  That's the key.  My vision is no greater than anyone else's.  My popularity is not so great that people are banging at the door trying to assist me on what I'm doing, far from it.  But resources and people are coming together, from different church flows and even the unsaved, as God orders the steps.

When we get the courage to look outside our churches, get secure enough to stop protecting what we have and start looking for what we COULD HAVE when we co-labour with God then there is no end to the possibilities.  Nothing is impossible with God!

But you have to be courageous to let go, to operate outside the controls and protectionism of our churches.

At Horizon church, God tapped our lead pastor Tim Stevenson on the shoulder and politely asked "do you mind if I build my church!"  It is His church and He promises to build it - not us, not our preaching and programs - it's actually God that does the building.

So what are we supposed to do?  We meant to find our passions and start releasing, start advancing God kingdom into our spheres of influence.  The are many big words and descriptions of this - spheres of influence, the 7 mountains - but they all boil down to our inheritance.  We are sons and daughters of God and we have an inheritance NOW on the earth that we are meant to be taking and enjoying!

It's funny that when you take away the focus on church most Christians (including leadership) would be left dumbfounded and without a job. Why?  Because our purpose is not to build and maintain the church but to build and advance Gods kingdom! It's time we started that journey!

We are the church - not the building or the organised meetings!  We need the church to equip, heal, release us and for our "family" but the real church, the one Jesus launched is out there in the world!  Everywhere we place our feet is where Gods kingdom should be!

So back to my little conference.  It's not the greatest idea in the world, but for me it is because God planted it in my heart and told me to do it.  These amazing guys supporting me could be doing heaps of better things but God has placed a kingdom heart in them so that we find ourselves working together.  Across church boundaries, across age differences, across faith levels - but with one heart, one mind and one God!

I love this kingdom journey!  I love meeting with and working with Kingdom hearted people!  I love my God who intended that it should be this way.

God is stretching me to have more faith.

Woke up this morning and really feeling the "stretching" of my faith to go even further with God.

There are so many new things going on in the church and I'm a WorldChanger and Marketplace Christianity and they all require more faith than I have ever had!

A huge transition in Horizon is continuing and I need faith to allow God to keep changing things and restoring things.  It is so tempting in the flesh to go "stop" I want to get off!  But I know I cannot say "stop" as this journey is just SO EXCITING!  I just cannot go back to the old.

Then my "I'm a WorldChanger" initiatives are starting to gain some traction.  Jonathan and Nick's project to make a feature film showing the Fathers heart has just taken off in terms of "possibilities" and is requiring some serious input.   Jonathan's off to Singapore next month to explore some new open doors there.  And the talent being looked at for the actors is outstanding!

And my Dreaming with Purpose conference is now being promoted.  Still pulling together promotional material for the churches we are partnering with but already have a good commitment from Horizon people.

All of this excites me!  All of this scares me!

I don't have the faith or skills to get any of this done BUT GOD is saying keep on track and trust Him.

The further I go on this Kingdom journey the more my faith is tested.  I'm closer to God and yet need to be even closer.  That is the KEY!

Even if I tried to work 24 hours a day and received help from the best people I just cannot do this.

And so I find myself trying to do the one thing I can do - spend more time with God and seek Him.  It is so hard to let go the doing to enjoy the Being with God but there is no other way.

It is perhaps the biggest mindset change required through this Kingdom journey.  That to make progress we need to spend more time with God and less working for Him.  My business mind doesn't like this.  My "action" mentality doesn't like it.  But it is Gods way.

Unless my faith grows I will never take the risks to see the impossible happen!  I will always stay in the boat and achieve the "possible" if I don't know the power and person of who is calling me to step out.

Walking on water comes by faith in the one that calls us.  God is calling me closer to Him so that through my relationship with Him my faith will increase.

I would love to see all the exciting things I'm involved in succeed.  But more importantly I would love to know my Father in heaven more closely.  From that relationship and intimacy anything is possible!

Always look for fruit!

Some of you may know that God has been taking Horizon on an amazing journey of transformation and renewal.

Along the way (and into the future) there have been many scary situations and unknowns where as a leadership team we have been uncertain of the way we should go.

We have not wanted to make a mess of things but equally , and more importantly for us, we do not want to miss out on God!

So we have truly taken our hand off the steering wheel and let God direct our steps.  We have "tried" some things we felt right and allowed some ministries we were uncertain of - and then assessed the fruit of it all.

I have to say 20/20 hindsight is very assuring!

But honestly, do we really understand what God is doing or what the Holy Spirit can do?  And understand it enough to filter everything in the church through "our" understanding?

I know I don't!

So fruit is an important sign.  Even if the teaching appeared sound - what was the fruit?  Equally if my "flesh" squirmed a bit with the "style" of ministry, can I discount it if God shows up and there is lasting fruit.

I'm starting to find this when talking to people about their future, their issues.

What is the fruit in their lives?  They may have the strongest convictions about an action or opinion, but if there is no fruit or bad fruit then they are just wrong.

I have seen so many lives changed in the past 12-18 months that I cannot ignore what and how God is moving.  Life, joy, a passion for God, attendance and generosity improving because people are meeting God - encountering Him in our meetings and in their homes.

Our Lead Pastor, Tim, is a great teacher and inspirational man of God.  Even he would admit that it's much better when God turns up!  There is more fruit.

So my thought for the day is to look at the fruit of what is happening.  Look at the fruit in peoples lives more than what is coming out of their mouths.

God said a good tree can only produce good fruit - and by our fruit we will be known.

If there is Godly fruit in what you are doing - keep going.

If there is no fruit or bad fruit for goodness sake CUT DOWN THE TREE!

A little "Godly pruning" now will reap a great harvest in the future.

But do you want good fruit or are you satisfied with what you have now?

How hungry are you to SEE Godly fruit in your lives.......

Great day with Gods men today.

Morning coffee with a friend chatting about life's challenges

followed by a business planning chat and viewing premises where another visionary wants to start a business

then meet a new network connection helping Christians at university transition into the marketplace

and finally another new connection focusing on getting salvation's from men in business through quality testimonies from REAL men.

If you open your eyes you will see many great people taking Gods kingdom out into the marketplace.

There is still time for you!

The latter rain is falling in the marketplace

Had a prophetic word at Horizon last night that the latter rain was falling in the church.

Several months ago Ian Johnson shared that there were two types of rain that fell in the promised land - that enabled it to be so fruitful.

Firstly a softer, gentle rainfall that softened the ground and prepared it for the latter rain which was heavy and actually produced the great crops and harvest.

I believe this is a useful principle and prophetic word for what God is doing around the world through His people in the marketplace.

God is raising up sons and daughters all over the world, across denominations and styles of churches, who are going out into the workplace, the community and nations to bring change.  They are releasing the Kingdom of God into their spheres of influence and becoming the salt and light that God intended his disciples to be.

We are to light up the world, not just the church!

But just as there are two rains that fall in the natural there are two "spiritual" rains that need to fall on the body of Christ (the church) in order that it is capable of bearing fruit and producing a good harvest.

In my own life it is manifesting in two distinct seasons - a planting season and reaping season.

Now I'm not at the second season yet and that is helping me to understand the importance of Gods timing in the process of bearing fruit in our lives.

The "first" rain has definitely fallen.  I have planted seeds in obedience to Gods prompting.  All around me there are signs of a softening of the ground.  New contacts are being made with like-minded people across the Christian spectrum.  People are coming forward to offer assistance in my projects.  The changes in our church as we move on this Kingdom journey are starting to shift from deconstruction (breaking the old man made ways) to a season of reconstruction and restoration where God is putting in what will be needed for the future.

In this we are seeing an increasing focus on the "world" outside the church.  It's as if we have been hidden by God whilst He rebuilds us but now He is getting us focused on taking His kingdom to the world.

And so as a person with a passion for the marketplace, outside the church, I am sensing a shift towards fruitfulness.  God has prepared the ground in our ministry.  He is strengthening it through relationships and making the base much stronger than it was on my own.

And with the sense that the "latter rains" are about to fall I feel more confident in the plans God has placed on my heart.

Honestly, I can do nothing more.  It is in His hands.  But with the promise that God will bring to birth that which He plants, I feel expectant and excited for the seeds that have been planted.

Soon, as Gods favour and blessing are released through the "latter rain" of His spirit and power, I'm expectant to see fruit from my projects (and much fruit) because God is in this.  He is pouring out His rain that will water the initiatives and plans and ideas He placed in peoples hearts.

To those that have planted seeds.  To those that have allowed the "first rain" to soften the ground and prepare the way.  To those a fruitful time lies ahead!

God, let it rain!