Debbie and I have wrapped up an amazing five weeks in Redding, CA where we spent lots of time reading, reflecting, praying, resting and immersing ourselves in the life of Bethel Church.

First of all, I hope by the time you read this everyone has their power restored! What an amazing season in Connecticut to have half the state shut down twice in the span of a couple months. We have tried to monitor progress from across the country and have been amazed by the the devastation caused by that freakish storm. I can't say I am sorry we missed it all. In fact, it was amazing to experience four full uninterrupted weeks of sunshine.

By way of tallying up how I have invested my time while away: I have read several books and scholarly articles on a theme I felt the Lord has given me to explore in the next coming season. This theme has to do with how a righteous God administers justice and governs a world filled with nations, societies and individuals who are in rebellion against his goodness and his ways. This is a theme that has been growing in its importance to me over the past several years and increasingly so as we see global stresses and tensions increase.

Debbie and I also had the privilege of attending two amazing conferences while at Bethel. At both of these events and the many other services we attended at the church made major deposits in our minds, hearts and spirits. Mostly we have been stretched--big time--at all the Lord is doing in and through his people during these amazing days. The testimonies we have heard from leaders and ministers from across the globe are very encouraging to say the least. I look forward to sharing some of these with you when we return. More importantly, I hope to increase the body of testimony that is building from our Wellspring family of how the Lord is changing and shaping lives through us.

However, I cannot give the above tease without sharing one amazing testimony we heard our final night at Bethel Church. This was a "regular" Sunday night revival service, with the addition of having several folks baptized. One of those being baptized was an African-American single mom who had recently come back to the Lord and was making her way into the life of the fellowship. She lives in an apartment complex and had been consistently harassed by one bitter woman who was making life miserable for her. The neighbor had called her names and called the authorities on her several times. Not pleasant.

But "Linda," the renewed believer, had been taking training classes at Bethel in how to walk in the power and love of revival. One night the Lord spoke to her in a dream, "lupus, 34." Apartment 34 is where her unkind neighbor lived. Linda sensed the Lord calling her to minister to her neighbor. "No way, Lord. I'm not talking to that racist woman!" The next night the same message from God came again. Then a third night in a row. Linda yielded to the Lords's prompting and wnet to knock on the door of apartment #34 the next day. "What do you want?" came the 'greeting.' "Does 'lupus' mean anything to you?" Linda asked.

At this point the angry countenance behind the door melted and the woman began to sob. "I have just been diagnosed with lupus!" Now Linda knew the Lord had indeed been speaking to her. "May I pray for you?" she asked. The next day Linda got a call from Melissa at the doctor's office. "The doctor said he must have been mistaken--there is no lupus in my body!" But these tow new friends knew what was up! God had healed a body and built a bridge that transcended fear, hate and division.

Now Linda leads Bible studies in Melissa's apartment. She leads outreaches to the teen-age girls in the complex. She was asked one day by "Drunk Harry"--"Are you the woman who prays for people?" "I guess so," replied Linda. "Well, would you pray for me?" he asked. "What do you want prayer for?" Harry looked incredulous, "Can't you tell--I'm drunk all the time." Linda prayed for Harry and he received a powerful touch from God. He has not had a drink for the last month.

Revival has begun in the apartment complex!

So, with these stories and more. With lots of rest and refreshment. With loads of encouragement poured into our hearts we are on our return trip to Connecticut. We are with our daughter Kate in San Luis Obispo for a few days. Then we head east, stopping to see the Nortons in Nashville and our parents in southern Ohio. We plan to be home for Thanksgiving and look forward to seeing all of you that weekend.

Thanks again for the privilege to invest this time in renewal and for all of your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

Debbie and I have enjoyed two wonderful weeks here in Redding and at Bethel Church. We are very grateful for the privilege of being your representatives here and for the benefits of this time away.

So what are we doing here? We are resting, studying, praying and immersing ourselves in the atmosphere of this global ministry. At our first staff meeting we were the guests of Steve Backlund and listened to 90 minutes of testimonies of what the Lord had been doing through this ministry in the past week. The testimonies ranged from Berlin to Paris to the poorer neighborhoods of Redding. People healed, saved and equipped. To say it was inspiring would be an understatement to say the least.

We also have had the privilege of sitting under the ministry of Claudio Freidzen from Buenos Aires. He has been a leader in the Argentine revival for the past 25 years. I first encountered Claudio in 1996 when I went to Argentina to intersect the revival there. Then, less than a week later, we experienced the ministry of John and Carol Arnott from the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, a ministry that has been experiencing and ministering revival for the past 20 years. Bethel Church has been in revival for the past 18 years. Wow! The level of anointing flowing in these meetings was remarkable.

We have been in the room while several healings have occurred, including one of note. One of the Bethel pastors had a word of knowledge for someone who had their neck injured in an auto accident at least ten, maybe fifteen years ago. Oh yes, in a red car. “Did that description fit anyone?” A woman from Minnesota stood up. She was in a crash fifteen years ago driving a red VW beetle. Since then she had suffered from fibromyalgia that was triggered by the accident. Her husband had offered to send her to any spa in the country for a week in order to ease her pain. Instead she said, “I want to go to Redding and Bethel Church.” As she stood and responded to the word of knowledge, the people around her prayed. A bit later she shared the testimony that her pain was gone and her range of motion was restored. Desperate desire for healing fueled her faith and the Lord released the word that led to her healing.

So we are soaking in this atmosphere, being fed, being stretched, being refreshed. Thanks again for the opportunity to be here. We are enjoying every moment and looking forward to returning to Wellspring and sharing with all of you the fruits of what we have been receiving here.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

Pastor Rick

Greetings Fellow Americans and Friendly Foreigners!

Debbie and I logged some more amazing miles on the Pacific Coast Highway today. We sojourned into the mountains for a day to visit Crater Lake National Park. It is the deepest lake in the country and fills the collapsed rim of an inactive volcano in the Cascade mountain range in southern Oregon. The rim is about 7,500 feet high. Very beautiful. Very eerie landscape. Very remote location.

This morning we woke up and decided where to head on our last day on the road before we head into Redding tomorrow. Our decision was to head southwest from Crater Lake--back to the coast and Highway 101.

So we crossed over the coastal range and drove into California. Immediately we both felt the difference from Oregon. So good to be back in California again. When we hit Route 101 we were on the section called "The Redwood Highway." That's right. This amazing highway runs for miles through the forest of massive giant redwoods that runs along the coast here. Many of the trees are just a couple feet off the side of the road.

There is no describing these trees. They have to be experienced to be believed. Massive grandeur and hundreds and thousands of them. No picture can capture them (besides I haven't uploaded any pictures yet).

Then the bonus. In one stretch along the highway there are several herds of elk just off the roadway. We stopped and made the acquaintance of a couple of the small herds--one was about fifteen feet from our vehicle. Elk--called 'Wapiti' by the Indians, which means 'big white rump.' Yep, they have that distinctive marker.

That's the report for this day. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we roll into Redding to set up shop in our new digs for the next six weeks. We will be staying at "Glory Mountain Retreat" just north of Redding.

Blessings,

RM

My Fellow Americans (and those few non-Americans who read this blog),

Walked the beaches of the Oregon coast today. Also drove about 150 miles on Highway 101. Magnificent! Some of the best days of my life have been enjoyed driving up and down this magnificent road. Every turn presents another orgy for the eyes. Makes the Atlantic coastline look like the bank of some farm pond.


And get this--you can actually SEE the Pacific coastline from the road! For miles and miles and miles it is visible and not obstructed by houses or shoreline private roads. And you can walk on the beaches--for free! And no town or county or state charges you to park your car! In Oregon most of the shoreline is state park and totally accessible.


Some other observations about Oregon:


Personal grooming and dress are low priorities throughout Oregon. The grungier one looks the better--especially the men. Most women here at least comb their hair. But if I were to move here I would have to invest heavily in flannel shirts (ripped preferably) and hoodies--and I would have to let my hair grow and faithfully comb it once a year.

Eastern Oregon is the west and Portland is the east. Eastern Oregon is ranch and farm country and very dry where not irrigated. And Portland is liberal northeastern in its politics--but it has a laid back tempo and ethos like California. Also Portland has amazing formal gardens. It ain't called the Rose City for nothing. And you can't pump your own gas in Oregon--it's like New Jersey that way. But the gas prices in Jersey are cheaper. You think a lot about gas prices when you are logging about 400-500 miles a day.


75% of Oregon is brown and dry and 25% of Oregon is green and lush. And the people and the cities are where its green. Except a lot of where it is green are mountains and trees on a rampage. You have never seen such trees in your life! There is a reason the Oregon license tag has a picture of a Douglas fir on it.

I actually wrote more stuff for this blog post and it was brilliant, but my wi-fi connection crapped out and it got lost in cyber space. And now I am tired and going to bed.

Happy Trails!

RM