Well it’s over. I just got home from the last day of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry first year. Tonight went out with a bang. First worship was awesome. Then we had two students speak. I pray that I will be as anointed as they were when I speak on Saturday afternoon. Then Steve Hale spoke and really had us answer a question about what we had gotten out of school. I hadn’t really processed that question. I have gotten so much. But as I begin to think about it, one thing stuck out. I had experienced, no been immersed in, Kingdom Culture. It is a culture where everybody is going after the same thing. It is a culture where 100 radical students really believe that they can raise the dead, heal the sick and cast out demons. It is a place where you can have differences of opinion, but still go after the same things. It is a place built around family and relationship. I have experienced this on a smaller scale to a lesser degree. But in these past 8 months I have lived it. It has become engrained into my DNA. It’s part of who I am, and I will never be the same because of it. So why, why do they have it. Why does this school in Atlanta have it to the same degree the school in Redding does. I see three reasons, and they are al interconnected. First, Steve, Lindy and the whole Hale family gave up a year in their life to go after a dream: to attend the BSSM in Redding. The cost they paid was tremendous. Most big dreams do come at a high cost. Secondly, Bethel Redding covered them and launched them to plant a church and school in Atlanta. This is huge. The apostolic covering has paved the way for miracles from day one. This school walks in the same anointing and covering that the school in Redding does. The third reason is just as important as the other two. 10 – 15 radicals (I’m not sure of the exact number) bough into Steve and Lindy’s dream of starting a school in Atlanta. They saw what God wanted to do here in this region and left Redding to come to Atlanta. This is amazing. Most people are trying to get to Redding, not leave it. They paid the ultimate price, leaving homes and families to move across the country for a dream. They give a weight to this school in the Spirit that pushes it up there with the school in Redding. I am so glad they came. It took all three reasons to come together to make this school and church what it is. I have been truly blessed by it.
Then Scott Thompson talked about our destiny and our calling. He talked about how things were accelerating, and that we were at the forefront of a movement like the world had never seen. He talked about how we in the school were going to impact the whole region, about how we had already impacted the region. This region full of religion had never seen many miracles, and we were being released to display the raw power of God. He is right, and I can’t wait to see more than I have seen. I am excited to be alive in these times. After that we ended with a big fire tunnel. This school is not about academics; it is about being released into supernatural ministry. I have had a lot invested into me this year, we all have. Now it is up to us to see what we do with it. I know that I will go the second year, then what? I know I have much to do over the next number of years. So what is next, I don’t know. I do know this. It is best expressed in one of my favorite quotes:
The economy of the kingdom of God is quite simple. Every new step in the kingdom costs us everything we have gained to date. Every time we cross a new threshold, it costs us everything we now have. Every new step may cost us all the reputation and security we have accumulated up to that point. It costs us our life.
A disciple is always ready to take the next step. If there is anything that characterizes Christian maturity, it is the willingness to become a beginner again for Jesus Christ. It is the willingness to put our hand in his hand and say, "I'm scared to death, but I'll go with you. You're the Pearl of great price."
--John Wimber
So, whatever the next step is, it will be costly. The bigger the step, the more it costs. I haven’t seen what that step is, but whatever it is, I’m ready. It’s a great time to be alive and in the Kingdom.
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