ST. LOUIS- BREAD COMPANY:

A few weeks ago, I went to St. Louis with my mentor Shane Jason Mock and several friends. There was to be a church planting conference going on, of which the pastor from my Shane's church (Frontline, OKC) was invited to be a keynote speaker. The conference was for church planters in America. The organization that was putting the conference together requested that Shane bring a group of people do to prophetic ministry as Frontline is known as a “signs and wonders” church. Don't read too much into that though. Frontline people are very real and down to earth. They see miracles for sure, but I wouldn't classify them as they typical charismatic church. Plus, it is easy to think someone is a prophet (or as I call some of my friends “signs and wonders freaks”) if you see them get one, good word of knowledge. So we don't put much stock in reputation because reputation is flimsy. All the same, we felt honored.

We piled in the car at 5:00am. I am not a morning person. I was driving though, so I chose my music, drank my coffee and acted like I was a morning person for the sake of those around me. They saw right through me. Lots of good conversation followed, vision-casting and asking the Lord what He was saying about the weekend ensued, and then of course the testimonies of what God's been doing lately and the milestone moments in the journey. After a couple of hours though, you start reaching for the “years ago” testimonies. They are fun, but you can feel that dynamic tension of, “we've been talking about the power of God for hours.. So maybe we should start going after it again.”

Fail:
I'm not afraid to admit that I miss words from time to time. It would be dishonest to say that I didn't, and misunderstanding what God is saying in a particular instance doesn't mean I am a false prophet or that I am deceived, it means that I misunderstood. So, being riled up with hours of conversation, I found myself looking around for someone to pray for at the coffee shop/gas station break we had stopped for. I saw a guy. I went over to ask him about the picture I was seeing. With a look of angry bemusement, he said no. Dang. Missed it. But at least I tried.

Now, on the way up to St. Louis I tried giving a prophetic word to about three different people and either missed them entirely or those people were really good liars. My friend Brian on the other hand, saw three people healed and ministered powerfully accurate prophetic words at the gas station and McDonalds and wherever we stopped really. At this point the thought comes, “Maybe I am actually not that gifted. Alright. We're done for today.”

Add in two more healings for Brian, and a few more negative thoughts and I'm done. I've pretty much given up and faith has left my to dry up like a raisin.

So, we were at St. Louis Bread Company an hour before the conference is to begin. I was disappointed and frustrated. As I was eating my dinner, brewing over my missed words, I see a guy in the corner that I find myself drawn to. As I look at him, I see the word “leader” written in boldface hovering over his head. That is the most generic word in the entire world, so not very impressive. Didn't help my attitude. But I figured I had to start somewhere. So I walked over, and as I did I saw several more images come into my mind. I went up to him and said, “Excuse me sir? This might sound weird, but sometimes God gives me pictures for people when He wants to encourage them. I keep seeing the word “leader” written over your head and I saw a picture of you teaching college-aged kids.. But you actually were teaching them from the bible and I also see the word “pastor” written over you and..” As I was about to explain how I didn't mean the title or position pastor, but rather having a very nurturing, counseling and caring gifting, he interrupted me and said, “Who put you up to this?”
I replied, “Um.. No one. Like I said.. Sometimes, I get pictures from God for people and..”
He interrupted again, “Do you know who I am?”
“No.”
“Are you going to a conference by New Frontiers called Pushing Back Darkness this weekend?”
“Actually, yes.”
“Well, I am one of the keynote speakers for that conference, and I am a pastor based out of Washington.” He started thanking me and told me that he felt really encouraged as his church was just starting up a ministry to college-aged kids and he was feeling insecure about it.
Also, I later found out that the conference was actually geared towards college-aged kids.

That evening, after a person from our team preached, we lined up as a ministry team to pray for any needs that anyone might have. After some time, one of our teammates went up to call out a few words of knowledges for healing from the microphone. I had been feeling pain in my stomache all during worship, which was both unprovoked and inexplicable, so I leaned over to him as he went up and whispered, “Call out gastro-intestinal pain.” About 40 people responded to the words given. The first person came up to me and after asking how I could pray for them, the man responded, “I have GI.”
To which I replied, “What is that?”
He went on to explain that he had chronic pain in his gastro-intestinal tract. Of course, I freaked. The first guy out of 40 responding to 10 words of knowledge that had been given for healing, only one of which was mine, and he happened to come to me first. So I prayed over him. A couple minutes went by, and he confessed with tears in his eyes and shock on his face that all of his chronic pain had disappeared as he felt the tingly, hot presence of God come into His stomach. So, I freaked out again. I started thanking Jesus and went on to the next person.

Next person was a younger lady who also had GI. Two for two so far. I started praying for healing, but as I did I got a prophetic word for her. I said, “I feel like the Lord is saying that the desire of your heart is to start an orphanage in Africa and to start a school for at-risk children, but you are meeting opposition from your family and friends. The Lord wants you to know He gave you that desire and He is going to provide a support system, financially and relationally for you.” As soon as I had said the word “orphanage” the girl started weeping. She told me that she had spent her last summer abroad working in an orphanage in Africa and while she was there the Lord told her that it was her calling to start one of her own, including education for the orphans. Her family deeply disapproved and she was struggling with what she had heard the Lord say. And then, with more tears spilling from her eyes, she told me, “And.. and.. All that pain left!” I had her bend over to test it (not really sure how you test GI pain), and she said there was absolutely no pain.

Next person that came up was another young man who told me he also had GI chronic pain and that it had last several years. Three for three! I was so full of faith, having already seen two others healed, so I told the man that he was going to be healed. I told him the two testimonies and that the Lord had spoken to me that night about it. He was a little wary at first, but his wariness turned to awe after I prayed for him and all the pain left his body. That night 9 people responded to GI pain and 6 were healed immediately when our team prayed for them, and the other three all told us that that they felt something had happened but were not sure if all the pain was gone as the pain came and went. We also saw a broken septum healed, and I saw two people healed of back pain, both of which were preceded by words of knowledge. One of the words of knowledge included not only that the man had back pain in the small right side part of his lower back, but also the details of the bicycle accident that had occurred a few months prior that had caused the pain. The man was instantly healed, and he checked it by twisting his back every way he could, most of which, as he told me later, he would not have been able to do before I prayed for him.

God is so good! When He speaks people are deeply impacted, when He heals people get rocked, and when His Presence shows up love and power are released everywhere.

More stories to come!

Love,
K