Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Hey Everybody!
Welcome to my Bethel Blog! I am trying to share as much as I can of the life at our Bethel school of Supernatural Ministry in a story-like, tangible form. School's been going since September 15th, so I'm just going to jump into the school year with you now to show you what's going on here. This first blog posting is meant to give you an introduction to what our school life looks like. Welcome again and hope you have fun!!!
I guess I should start by explaining what our school is exactly! The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry ( BSSM) is located in Redding California ( that's northern CAL.). BSSM was started just over ten years ago by Bethel church, which is led by senior pastor Bill Johnson( check out the church website at: http://www.ibethel.org/). The leaders of Bethel decided to start the school because they believe that they need to raise up a generation of believers from all generations to usher in and steward a great revival that will be used by the Holy Spirit to turn the hearts of people back to the the Lord ( for more info about the school's mission and history, check out: http://www.ibethel.org/schools/ministry/?page=128).
There are about 800 of us 1st year students from all over the globe and from all ages! I know some students as young as 17 and others as old as 72! It’s a wonderful mix of people and cultures who are all seeking the things of God together. As one can imagine, it’s a bit intimidating having 800 students, together with 2nd and 3rd year leaders AND pastors together all the time. In order to break down the numbers and facilitate friendships, our class has been divided into 10 “Revival Groups” that are comprised of between 70-80 students. Each Revival Group has a different pastor and several interns and volunteers that lead the group. We meet altogether once a week. We also meet with 4-5 students from our Revival Group once a week as a Small Group.
In terms of class schedule, we meet on Tuesdays through Fridays from 12:45-5:30. Everyday is a bit different. We all meet together in the sanctuary at Bethel to start off the day, and by the end of the day, we’re usually divided up into different classes, pursuing different types of ministry activities. When we meet together at the beginning of the day, we usually start off with about an hour of worship time. Our worship team is comprised of a huge group of 1st year students who share the responsibility of the worship on different days. I have been very impressed at how quickly and excellently our worship team has been organized and has allowed itself to be led by the Holy Spirit in its direction. The worship times are very free, they allow people to worship in various ways: Through singing, dancing, and just sitting in the presence of the Lord. At the end of the worship, one of our revival group pastors will lead the group in a prayer that they feel like the Lord has brought to their hearts. It really helps us get moving and sensing together what the Spirit has brought to us.
One of the best parts of school is the privilege of getting to hear the leadership at Bethel come and speak to us on a daily basis! Pastors Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, as well as Mark Brookes our Senior Overseer, come every week. Other members of the Bethel leadership and our Revival Group pastors come and share their testimonies of what God has, and is doing in their lives as well.
Our more academic training is taught by Dann Farrelly, who leads are Bible studies and instructs us on how to come to grips with the more difficult parts of scripture and how to study the scriptures in depth. In addition to our regular Bible reading and assignments, we are also regularly reading various books as part of our curriculum. At present, we’re reading “The Father’s Embrace” by Jack Frost.
As I mentioned, the second half of our school days are usually spent pursuing various other ministry activities. On Tuesdays, we have classes known as Advanced Ministry Training ( AMT ). These AMT’s are designed to help students get extra trained in the ministry that they are interested in or feel called to follow. I am in a Prophetic Ministry AMT that is teaching the basics of how to understand what prophesy is, and how to administer it properly. There are other kinds of AMT’s that teach how to manage your finances based on Kingdom principles, and still others that enrich our training in supernatural healing.
On Thursdays, We are all involved in a form of outreach to the community. Our outreaches just started a week and a half ago. Some outreaches go into schools and allow the students to interact and bless kids. Some students go into retirement homes and bless the inhabitants there. I ended up being placed in an outreach that I didn’t even sign up for! However, I am very happy with the result, as I was placed into a “Prophetic Arts” Outreach. This means that I and a group of people will be assigned to go into various parts of the city and bless people through the arts. Part of what we will be doing is asking people if we can paint or draw them something that is inspired by a word that the Holy Spirit has given for them. When we share these words and pictures with them, they are encouraged by knowing that there is a God that wildly cares about them!
OK, so I think that I have inundated you guys with enough info for now and I gotta wind up this blog posting! I hope that this has been an interesting blessing! More soon!
Renee
Welcome to my Bethel Blog! I am trying to share as much as I can of the life at our Bethel school of Supernatural Ministry in a story-like, tangible form. School's been going since September 15th, so I'm just going to jump into the school year with you now to show you what's going on here. This first blog posting is meant to give you an introduction to what our school life looks like. Welcome again and hope you have fun!!!
I guess I should start by explaining what our school is exactly! The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry ( BSSM) is located in Redding California ( that's northern CAL.). BSSM was started just over ten years ago by Bethel church, which is led by senior pastor Bill Johnson( check out the church website at: http://www.ibethel.org/). The leaders of Bethel decided to start the school because they believe that they need to raise up a generation of believers from all generations to usher in and steward a great revival that will be used by the Holy Spirit to turn the hearts of people back to the the Lord ( for more info about the school's mission and history, check out: http://www.ibethel.org/schools/ministry/?page=128).
There are about 800 of us 1st year students from all over the globe and from all ages! I know some students as young as 17 and others as old as 72! It’s a wonderful mix of people and cultures who are all seeking the things of God together. As one can imagine, it’s a bit intimidating having 800 students, together with 2nd and 3rd year leaders AND pastors together all the time. In order to break down the numbers and facilitate friendships, our class has been divided into 10 “Revival Groups” that are comprised of between 70-80 students. Each Revival Group has a different pastor and several interns and volunteers that lead the group. We meet altogether once a week. We also meet with 4-5 students from our Revival Group once a week as a Small Group.
In terms of class schedule, we meet on Tuesdays through Fridays from 12:45-5:30. Everyday is a bit different. We all meet together in the sanctuary at Bethel to start off the day, and by the end of the day, we’re usually divided up into different classes, pursuing different types of ministry activities. When we meet together at the beginning of the day, we usually start off with about an hour of worship time. Our worship team is comprised of a huge group of 1st year students who share the responsibility of the worship on different days. I have been very impressed at how quickly and excellently our worship team has been organized and has allowed itself to be led by the Holy Spirit in its direction. The worship times are very free, they allow people to worship in various ways: Through singing, dancing, and just sitting in the presence of the Lord. At the end of the worship, one of our revival group pastors will lead the group in a prayer that they feel like the Lord has brought to their hearts. It really helps us get moving and sensing together what the Spirit has brought to us.
One of the best parts of school is the privilege of getting to hear the leadership at Bethel come and speak to us on a daily basis! Pastors Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, as well as Mark Brookes our Senior Overseer, come every week. Other members of the Bethel leadership and our Revival Group pastors come and share their testimonies of what God has, and is doing in their lives as well.
Our more academic training is taught by Dann Farrelly, who leads are Bible studies and instructs us on how to come to grips with the more difficult parts of scripture and how to study the scriptures in depth. In addition to our regular Bible reading and assignments, we are also regularly reading various books as part of our curriculum. At present, we’re reading “The Father’s Embrace” by Jack Frost.
As I mentioned, the second half of our school days are usually spent pursuing various other ministry activities. On Tuesdays, we have classes known as Advanced Ministry Training ( AMT ). These AMT’s are designed to help students get extra trained in the ministry that they are interested in or feel called to follow. I am in a Prophetic Ministry AMT that is teaching the basics of how to understand what prophesy is, and how to administer it properly. There are other kinds of AMT’s that teach how to manage your finances based on Kingdom principles, and still others that enrich our training in supernatural healing.
On Thursdays, We are all involved in a form of outreach to the community. Our outreaches just started a week and a half ago. Some outreaches go into schools and allow the students to interact and bless kids. Some students go into retirement homes and bless the inhabitants there. I ended up being placed in an outreach that I didn’t even sign up for! However, I am very happy with the result, as I was placed into a “Prophetic Arts” Outreach. This means that I and a group of people will be assigned to go into various parts of the city and bless people through the arts. Part of what we will be doing is asking people if we can paint or draw them something that is inspired by a word that the Holy Spirit has given for them. When we share these words and pictures with them, they are encouraged by knowing that there is a God that wildly cares about them!
OK, so I think that I have inundated you guys with enough info for now and I gotta wind up this blog posting! I hope that this has been an interesting blessing! More soon!
Renee
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