It is not often that I use this space for the E-News to look back rather than to promo some opportunity that is upcoming.  But, this week is different.

Jesus asked the question of his followers, in referring to John the Baptist, "What did you come to see?''  In other words what were you expecting?  The point of the question was that John was not like anyone they had ever encountered before and did not fit any box or title.  The same can be said of Jeff Collins.  I have never met or encountered or experienced the ministry of anyone quite like Jeff.

Jeff is not a "BIG NAME" in the Body of Christ.  But I believe he is better known by heaven and hell than many so-called "headliners in ministry."  We were so fortunate to be blessed by an unusual visitation of the Lord's presence through Jeff's time with us because Jeff walks in that presence every day and everywhere he goes.  I am so grateful that we were able to have him share with us and minister.  I am only sorry that the sanctuary was not packed both Friday and Saturday evenings.

I am highlighting this in reflecting back in order to help us understand and appreciate what we experienced and what is possible.  Jeff is a very simple-hearted and childlike minister of the gospel.  He is unabashedly captivated by Jesus.  And when he steps into a room and begins to pray or worship or share his heart, that powerful Presence is unleashed into the atmosphere and all present are affected.  There were powerful encounters with the Living Lord that were brokered by Jeff just being present in the room and opening his heart to Jesus.

One other thing I would highlight.  Jeff mentioned to me in a small gathering with leaders on Friday afternoon that he had the strong sense that he had been here before.  He knew he hadn't been, but he felt like he had.  His conclusion was that he had probably "been here before" in a dream and was just this past weekend fulfilling a divine appointment.  Chuck Pierce mentioned the same phenomena to me when he was with us in June.  He could have sworn that he had been here before, and was trying to figure out when that could have been.  I know that he has not ever been here before physically; but I suspect that he too has been here in a vision or a dream in days past.

Why do I mention this?  We are on God's radar and he is sending us some very powerful servants on assignments in order to strengthen us and to sow into the work of the Kingdom here at Wellspring.  Be encouraged--great things are on the horizon!  Be prepared for what God has in store for us and through us.  God has prepared in advance many significant Kingdom endeavors, many good works, for us to walk into.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

We met in the Men's Room.

I had been wanting to meet Jeff Collins for several days.  Debbie and I first encountered him at a staff meeting at Bethel Church in Redding, CA last autumn while there on sabbatical.  Jeff, like us, was a guest at the staff meeting.  He was brought there explicitly by one of the staff members to share an extraordinary testimony of Kingdom multiplication and supernatural increase.  As Jeff shared about how the Lord literally multiplied the harvest and resources at their ministry base in Cyprus, an incredible presence of awe and reverence invaded the room.  Before he was done telling his narrative, simply and without hype, many in the room were on their knees or faces before the Presence that rode on the re-telling of his story.  We spontaneously moved into adoration and prayer.

I wanted to greet Jeff after the meeting, but he was sitting across the room and was immediately surrounded with others.  I thought to myself, "Maybe later, if the Lord wills it, I will be able to visit with Jeff briefly."

Then I bumped into him in the Men's Room.  I know that women regularly have sorority meetings in the Ladies Room; men don't usually go that route.  But I introduced myself to Jeff and when he learned I was from Connecticut, he got excited.  He told me that he comes to New England every autumn to minister.  I asked him to come to Connecticut and Wellspring--he said "Sure."

The same story we heard in staff meeting Jeff was asked to share with the entire conference that began a few days later.  Once again, God rode into the room on the wings of the testimony.  But this time the flavor was reverence juiced with joy.  As he told how the Lord had multiplied their first attempt of processing a variety of grape that produces what is called "Apostolic Wine," the whole assembly became intoxicated with possibility and faith.  250 liters of juice overflowed the oaken barrel that held 250 liters.  They had to go and get more barrels.  Wow!  Wine from the region that gave the church Apostle Barnabus multiplying as it is poured out is a sign that causes us to be filled with wonder!

Debbie and I later had dinner with Jeff and found him to be incredibly pure-hearted and a man of unusual child-like demeanor and faith.  I got so excited at the prospect of sharing this man with the congregation of Wellspring.

So--all that to say that Jeff is coming this weekend.  Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00 Jeff will be ministering what God has given him to bring to us.  Then on Sunday morning he will be with us for both services.

Make plans to be here--you will be blessed and stretched by this child-like but powerful servant of the Lord.

Pastor Rick

Over the course of the next 50+ days we at Wellspring will be joining believers all across the nation in intentional, sacrificial prayer and fasting for the healing of our nation and the advance of a moral and spiritual awakening across the land.

This call to prayer obviously coincides with the national election, but it is not political in its essence.  Bottom line--the problems and challenges facing us have gone way beyond parties, politicians or platforms.  If we don't see a renewing move of God across the land touching individuals, healing families and transforming culture it matters very little who occupies the White House of who controls Congress.  We desperately need God's mercy that will lead us to personal and national repentance and restoration.

On Monday evenings up through the election, you are invited to join together for prayer for the nation.  We will meet in The Space at 7:00 PM.  Our gathering will be for prayer, not for politicking.  You are also encouraged to consider some form of fasting through this season.  Some of you may want to fast from sweets or meat or adult beverages during this time; or from the news media or entertainment in order to be more focused in your intercession.  Some of you may choose to do a fast from all foods on one or two days each week through this season.  Fasts are freely entered into and express to the Lord a posture of humility and our deep need and dependence for Him to intervene.

I will be sharing a teaching this coming Sunday on an intriguing passage from Luke where Jesus comments on the news of his day.  Jesus stands in a long line of Hebrew prophets, declaring the Word of the Lord and interpreting the "signs of the times" for God's people.  I think this perspective will challenge you and encourage you to join with me and with millions of God's people across this nation who are giving themselves to very intentional prayer at this time.

As a point of interest I will be in Washington during the first week of October to take part in a major prayer conference put on the by the National Prayer Committee and to enter into another prayer initiative put on by the YWAM DC House of Prayer.  Check it out by following this link:  www.davidstentdc.org

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

"Grandpa?" came the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hello Elijah!"

"Grandpa, did you know that Wednesday, July 18 is Jay Bruce Bobblehead Night at Great American Ball Park?"

Great American Ball Park is the field that the Cincinnati Reds call home.  Cincinnati is the city of my birth and the Reds have claimed the loyalties of men in my family for five generations-- the two before me and the two that follow.  Jay Bruce, young slugger for the Reds, is Elijah's favorite player on his grandfather's hometown team.  A bobblehead of the favorite player of an eight year old boy is the Holy Grail of any summer.  No matter that both Eli and his grandfather live in Connecticut, 750 miles from Great American Ball Park.

"Why no, Eli.  I didn't know July 18 was Jay Bruce Bobblehead Night at GABP."

"Well it is.  The first 25,000 fans in attendance that night receive a free Jay Bruce Bobblehead."

"Wow!" I replied.

A pause follows.  "Is there anything else you want to ask me Elijah?"

"Grandpa, would you please get me a Jay Bruce Bobblehead?"

"Sure, Eli.  I'd be happy to!"

I knew Eli had been told by his father, my oldest, that I would be in Cincinnati that week to help my parents adjust to life challenges as my father continues to struggle with dementia and a newly diagnosed lymphoma.  A trip to the ballpark on a mission for my grandson would be a welcome respite from the stresses  of clearing out a shed, garage, and workshop, along with sorting through jumbled financial records and a trip to the out-patient surgery center.  Not to mention visiting nursing homes, trying to find a suitable facility for my father to find the care he needs.

It was my father who first took me to old Crosley Field to see my first Reds' game when I was a young boy.  He taught me the game he played until he was well into his thirties and umpired until he was deep into his sixties.  He handed down to me a passion for the game and a devotion for the hometown Reds.

When my dad had been a senior in high school he and three of his buddies had slept in sleeping bags on the sidewalk the night before opening day of the new baseball season to be first in line to buy tickets in the bleachers at old Crosley.  I have seen the picture clipped from the Cincinnati Post recording that night-long vigil.  Then, when I was a senior, three of my friends and I skipped school to see the Reds on Opening Day at their new baseball palace--Riverfront Stadium, home of The Big Red Machine.

Eli has never been to Riverfront.  The team and the city had torn down that "modern" stadium before he was born.  But his father took in his first Reds game there when he was 20 months old.  I don't mean that we just took Mark along to a game when he could barely walk.  He drank in the entire game, his eyes locked onto the action from the moment we moved off of the concourse and took our seats.  He cried in protest when we had to leave in the 8th inning to take him back to the car to change his diaper.

Vin Scully, legendary bard of baseball broadcasters, now in his mid-eighties and still calling Dodgers' games, was asked what is it about baseball that so captures the hearts of American males.  "Dreams and memories," replied Scully.  "When we're young baseball fills our dreams.  When we're old, baseball animates our memories."

I was trying to animate my father's memory that third week in July, sitting next to him in my parents' family room.  We were watching the Reds' game on television.  My dad would "tune in" to the action on the screen intermittently.  Then we would exchange small talk about the last pitch thrown or some play in the field.  I thought I might venture across the bridge of years past and and probe some shared memories.

"Dad, do you remember Vada Pinson?"  Pinson was the fleet center fielder for the Reds in the sixties, when I was a boy and we first began to share our passion for the home town team.

"No, not very well," my dad said.  "I don't remember him much."

"Well, what about Ernie Lombardi?"  Lombardi had been a great hitting catcher for the Reds' pennant winners of 1939 and 1940 when my dad was a young boy.  I knew about the great Lombardi from devouring my dad's boyhood scrapbooks that he kept from those championship seasons.

"Now you're going way back," he said with a smile of remembrance for those bright memories of boyhood.

Baseball memories.  Points of connection between generations.  Not much is left to share when dementia has eroded the mind so severely that conversation is a frustrating impossibility.

The Reds are riding high this magical season of 2012.  First place.  With today's technology I can sit with Eli right beside me and together we can watch Reds' live game action streaming on my laptop.  Every win is a celebration.  Every hoot and high-five a connection across the generations.

I got the bobblehead for Elijah on July 18th.  Or did I get it for me?  Most likely for both of us--dreams for him and shared memories for the two of us.  For that future someday when he begins another conversation with a question.

"Hey grandpa, do you remember Jay Bruce?"