Oct. 13, 2010

Hi to all!

We are now into our 2nd year at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. It is a year of intense studies in New Testament, counseling, coaching, and deeper relationship with God. Leadership training is a main focus, and we will be accompanying some of the leadership from Bethel to various places in the U.S. this year to be on their ministry teams.

San Francisco
I just returned from San Francisco, where I was part of a team of 20 people with leader Teresa Dedmon as we put on a School of Kingdom Arts. Our amazingly creative team included ballet dancers, a modern dancer, singers, musicians, painters, photographers and writers. We held a two day workshop at one church and did a Sunday service and ministry time at another church. Both churches were in the San Francisco area.

One young man visiting the conference is an intern with Dreamworks Studios in Hollywood. He had never painted prophetically, and Teresa asked him to paint for her healing service. He painted a picture of an angel blowing healing onto a man with injuries and bandages on his legs and hand. Teresa looked at the people in the church, and asked if any in the church had problems with legs or wrist injuries and pain as depicted in the painting. Two women stood up and received ministry. One woman was completely healed of severe arthritis that prevented her from bending at the knees. She also had a cast on her wrist. After prayer, she was doing deep knee bends. Another woman had a disease that affected her balance and caused great pain. After prayer, she asked Mike, a dancer, to dance for her and she was able to move and dance with him - something she had wanted to do and hadn't been able to do in years. Her pain was gone and mobility returned.

There were many more testimonies of physical and emotional healing during the weekend - and many words spoken over the churches and people of God's anointing power bringing healing and revival to their city and nations through their hands. People learned to pray and administer healing through the arts. They learned for themselves how to paint, dance, write and sing what God was saying over each other and over their church. I will be helping to put together a website link about our weekend and all the testimonies. As soon as that is up, I'll have a link to it on my blog so you can see. Also, I will have copies of one of Teresa's sermons on the arts that I would love all of you to have a chance to hear. God is so amazing. Our Creator loves the creative!

Classes
Our classes are so wonderful. We are both taking advanced training in Kingdom financial stewardship, leadership coaching and SOZO ministry. I am taking a Transformation track that explores inner healing as it applies to dreams, SOZO, generational issues, and other forms of inner healing counsel. Rick is taking a Church Planting and Leadership class with Steve Backlund and is actually putting on services with his team of 6 one night a week as part of the class.

We consistently hear lectures from the Bethel leadership team: Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, Eric Johnson, Danny Silk, Kevin Dedmon, Beni Johnson, and more. Today, Che Ahn is a special speaker to our class as he is here for a conference.

We have major homework in Bible, book reading, and leadership training / coaching. It is all good and keeps us busy always.

Work
I am again working at the Redding Record Searchlight newspaper and love writing and doing photography for feature stories. I'm hoping to get faster at this and be able to do more for them this year. I get paid by the story, so the more I write the more I can get paid. It's funny, we had to take a personality profile and motivational test the other day, and after answering a bunch of online questions, the results came back that called me a "journalist." Hmmmmm.... AND, yes, I still hope to finish a book this year. I also have three other book ideas.

Pastor on Call Team
Rick and I are both excited to be on the Pastor On Call team, where we volunteer in the Bethel office once a week to take calls for prayer from around the U.S. and world. This is awesome training for us as we learn to listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling us for the caller. It is scary, risky, and awesome and we have many testimonies of people being so touched by the love of Jesus; set free from bondage; and healed of afflictions. Rick is also working in the healing rooms on prayer teams once a month and I am writing testimonies in the healing rooms once a month.

Stay tuned for a blog update from Rick in a few days!!!!

Miracles in Tijuana!

Here are some personal testimonies from our Tijuana trip (written by Chris).

We were able to pray for many, many people on the streets of Tijuana as well as in several neighborhood churches where we participated in special services set up for our teams. Rick had a chance to work with kids, preach, and do prayer ministry. I tried my hand at prophetic art - painting pictures in the front of the church. I gave two of the paintings away to people in the congregation that God highlighted, and was able to bless them with words I believe God was giving me for them. God also gave me a word of prophesy for a church. This was all very new for me and I had confirmations later about the words I gave.

I also saw many people get healed while participating in prayer for them. Here are just some of the things that happened:

On Revolution Street we put on a huge service of worship, complete with band, messages of God's love, words of knowledge for healing called out, and invitations to receive Christ. Hundreds gathered around our bandstand, and those of us in the crowd ministered to hundreds that night. We tangibly felt God's protection over us as we ministered.

One woman I prayed for with another student had been in a car accident and had much pain in her back and knee. After we prayed just a short time, we asked her to test it out and she squealed loudly - shocked that she was totally healed and had no pain in her back or knee.

A woman who had been crippled by polio was walking through the crowd in a hurry. A friend and I approached her and asked if we could pray for her. She said yes, and we prayed. Although she did not have noticeable healing, she was so mightily touched by the Holy Spirit. She bent over, weeping and hugging us. She told us her heart was healed of fear right then. She asked us to pray for her father who was ill in another part of the country. We had a mighty time of prayer. This woman taught me that the love of the Father we share in these prayers is so important - more important than the healing He brings. I always want to bring that love and compassion of Christ to every person.

Another woman in a small church my team ministered at was going through what we call a fire tunnel, where our team lined up in two lines and church members passed through us as we laid hands on them and prayed for Holy Spirit to touch them and bless them. A lady passed me and I could see she had a problem with her neck. I said a prayer for her in English as she passed by that she could not understand. But she started to shake as I said it. I found her later and asked if she needed prayer for anything. She pointed to her neck. I found a translator, and we prayed for a large goiter. Another young man came up to pray with me, and as we both had our hands on her neck, we physically felt, and visibly saw the goiter decrease in size about 50 percent. The woman was so touched, and crying as we prayed and loved her. Although we did not see the goiter completely disappear, God was certainly doing something. We prayed more, and I encouraged her to not give up hope and to know that sometimes healing is a process.

One little girl with a severely deformed face was alone in a corner. I approched her and tried to talk with her in my broken Spanish. I said a prayer for her face, but what was remarkable about this encounter was how God just filled me with love for her, and showed me how beautiful she was. I was sincerely able to tell her she was una muchacha bonita and mean it. She did not get healed that day.

I prayed for several women with stomach pain due to different ailments, and all felt the touch of Holy Spirit. All three said their pain was gone and felt they were healed. One woman felt a heat go through her body. I told her that was the Holy Spirit and that He was healing her. She was so moved.

Another woman with neck pain was totally pain free after I prayed for her. She had responded to a word of knowledge I gave after the church service.

We have been learning more about words of knowledge and were encouraged to be aware of them on our trip. On Revolution Street, I prayed and asked God to highlight someone he would like me to bless, and to give me her name. I sensed the names "Carla, or Carlotta." I boldly approached a group of  young ladies and realized the one God had highlighted did not speak English, but her friend did. I asked her friend if this woman's name began with a C and what her name was. She said "Claudia." Wow - that was close and God did that!!! I told Claudia that I sensed God wanted her to know she brings Him so much joy and that He loves her so much. Then I had the opportunity to talk with the whole group and found out they knew Jesus. I blessed them all and went on my way - having learned a lot from that experience.

There were so many wonderful testimonies of salvation, healing, and people totally touched by God's love during our trip.

We also saw people in wheelchairs get up and walk freely, rejoicing.

God is so good...

Love, Chris

P.S. Watch for more testimonies from around the world as our students return from their trips!

Ministry in Tijuana!

May the joy of the Lord shower over all of you, for our God reigns over Heaven and Earth. Hallelujah!

Wow. What a week in Tijuana. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for sending Chris and me to share in Christ's hope for all that inhabit the earth until His second coming.

I can't wait to come home and share all the spoils with you all. About 180 students went down to bless the people in churches in Tijuana. Our mission was to pray for the sick, bring deliverance, and do street ministry. Although the area in which we ministered was very poverty stricken, the churches that invited us didn't want us to do building projects as most other mission teams from around the world do. They invited us specifically to minister to the people. We saw people get healed, delivered, set free, and accept Christ as their Savior. Hooray!

Chris prayed for several people that got their physical healings, and I worked in the healing / deliverance rooms and preached. One highlight was one night we went to Revolution Street - a red light district close to the border - and did street ministry. We know of at least 2 strippers who got saved, and a bar owner who received Christ that night when they were prophesied and prayed over. It was a great time for the first year students to be activated and set on a course that reaches people in the lost and dark places. Even though we had a language barrier, it was so thrilling to see the faces light up on people when they got healed or saved. Then, when we ministered in the churches, we were humbled to see just how hungry people are to see the mighty works of the Holy Spirit. One church even had oil dripping from the ceiling in the sanctuary after we ministered. Wow, God is so amazing and fun to be with.

Chris and I had strength and stamina the whole time there, and then when we got home we just melted from all the activity.

Can't wait to get back home.

Love and blessings to all!

Rick

On the scene at the Bethel Healing Rooms

Right now I’m sitting at a table with my little Mac, ready to take testimonies from those who God is going to heal this morning. I’m in the Encounter Room – where people wait before going into the Healing Room. Many people will get healed in the Encounter Room today before they even get into the Healing Room.

Here in the Encounter Room, there is a group of young women dancing in one corner – beautiful ballet and graceful leaping. In another corner people are drawing pictures for people of the way God sees them – wonderful prophetic visuals of destinies and love. There is a worship band playing prophetic songs – spontaneous promises of healing. Children play on a floor canvas that is covered with crayons and coloring books. The room is filled with people today, waiting for prayer for all sorts of healing, from cancers to broken bones; from depression to broken relationships; and things as simple as an injured toe, and as complicated as multiple sclerosis. The band is singing “there is nothing impossible with God, nothing is bigger than God.”

 Words of knowledge are being called out. When people raise their hands saying they have what that word of knowledge is, a prayer team minister prays over them and some are instantly healed. Some of the words of knowledge include shoulder injury, left ankle, back injury and pain, nerve damage, cancer, hand injury, brain disorders, and migraines.

  Someone has just gotten on the mic to announce a cancerous ear tumor has just dissolved next door in the healing rooms. Also, a back has been totally healed.

  Last week, 444 people came to the Healing Rooms - a record day. That day, in the enounter room, I was part of a team that prayed for a man who came in a wheelchair and who was so weak and sick with after-effects of a heart attack. He was depressed and in terrible pain. We spoke life into him, and healing, and poured joy over him with laughter and prayer. The team got him up out of his wheelchair and in another hour he came back to me saying he was totally healed. He looked like a different man. He said God gave him back his joy, too. He was strong, pain free, and able to walk without help. No more need for the wheelchair.

  There was just a word of knowledge called out for deafness. I prayed for a man in front of my table that his left ear would open and allow him to hear. He said nothing happened. I asked God to help him keep receiving what He is doing in him. Ohhhh – for a day when I could be used by God to help someone hear!!!!

 I just got prayer in the Healing Room for my skin allergies and rash. A woman is blowing the shofar – a long horn used in Biblical times – over the room and among prayer recipients. There is a little girl in a pink dress dancing with a young woman – beautiful little dancers swaying to the music. I imagine, as they dance among the prayer servants and recipients, that they are like Holy Spirit – swirling around the room with healing in His wings. Ahhhh. Rick just told me his knees were healed. He didn’t even have that on his request sheet. He came for healing from a bad cold and a cough. One of his prayer ministers had pain in his knees and took that as a word of knowledge. He asked Rick if he had knee pain. Rick said yes. Now his knees are healed. He can kneel on the floor, grind his knees into the floor, and he is completely pain free!!!! Yay God!!!  Rick is a carpenter. He need his knees! We are trusting our other ailments we came for are already healed, too.

Photography is not allowed in these rooms, or you can be sure I would be sending some beautiful pictures.

Blessings to all! Chris

 

A week in the life...

Picture at left depicts a walk we took last Sunday on a rare, sunny day of 60 degrees. It was beautiful. Here we are (see our shadow?) standing on a bridge over the creek that feeds Whiskeytown Lake, about 30 minutes from where we live. Ahhhh...sunshine.

Here is what our week looks like...

Monday - A day off. We usually do homework, laundry, clean the house, go grocery shopping, and do more homework. Sometimes we catch a movie if there's one that looks good. We recently saw Blindside with Sandra Bullock. We highly recommend it! It's been years since we lived in a city, so we are enjoying movie theaters that are five minutes away. Lately, Rick has been doing carpentry work on Mondays, and I usually finish an article for the local daily newspaper - The Record Searchlight.

Tuesday - I work in the Bethel Pastor on Call office from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.; then we join the student crowd waiting to get into the 1,000 seat sanctuary where we have our lecture classes. We start with worship - and there are dozens of great worship teams that get lots of good practice with us. We have to admit, our 58-year-old ears need ear plugs most days! Next is a lecture by one of the senior leaders - Bill Johnson or Kris Vallotton or a guest speaker. This week we heard Sergio Scataglini - who has been involved with the great revival going on in Argentina and presently co-pastors a church in Las Vegas. After the lecture, we break into our AMT (Advanced Ministry Training) or Ministry Tracks. I am taking a Prophetic Arts track where I am developing a line of greeting cards with a group of about 10 people. It's creative, fun, and I am going to be able to use some of my photography and others are contributing sketches, paintings, and other forms of art to a line designed to bring encouragement and hope to recipients. Cards will be sold in book stores and at conferences. Rick is taking a Church / School Planting and Leadership Track. He is learning about how you start a school of ministry that equips others to carry the kingdom culture and message. It's about not being a Bible study school, but a school that teaches how we can do what the Bible says as we walk the earth. After that class, we go to our training for our Tijuana mission trip we'll be going on in March. Rick will be doing kids' ministry, and I'll be doing photography, recording testimonies, and even trying my hand at prophetic art. On that trip we'll be praying for healing for people all over Tijuana, conducting services in six locations, and sharing the love of Christ. After that meeting, we go to Healing Rooms training and I also have a book writing class. That takes us to 9 p.m. and by then we are quite wiped out!

Wednesday - Wednesday mornings we study. School starts at 12:45 p.m. and we have a class called Kingdom Foundations; then Grasping God's Word; then a lecture by a senior leader or guest speaker. Then we split into small men's and women's groups. We love our small groups, where we get to know other students more closely as we share our lives, dreams and prayers with them. We have people from all over the world in our groups.

Thursday - Thursday morning starts early for me with more work on my creative greeting cards with members of the art group; then we have worship with the big class, followed by lectures, and then our outreach ministry groups. Rick and I are on a healing outreach. Our group of 7 people goes to hospitals, nursing homes, and individual homes who have called for our team to come pray with critically ill people.

Friday - We have worship, then more lectures, and then we break into what they call revival groups - our group of 45 that meets with a revival pastor for testimony and group discussion.

Saturday - We attend the healing rooms in the morning as observers. We have just been trained, and applied to be placed on a team that can actually minister healing prayer. Every Saturday sees 150 to 300 people coming from all over the world to the healing rooms at Bethel. Every week there are miraculous testimonies of healing from cancer, tumors falling off, bones being healed, vision and deafness being healed, pain completely going away, and more. I have worked several Saturdays in the healing room taking testimonies from people who have had healing. It is the most humbling and exciting experience to witness these people being so touched by God. I have to testify myself that, after going to the healing rooms a few times, and having healing prayer in class, that my back - which has hurt badly for many years - is totally without pain...and my migraines which I used to have once a week, are about 90 percent gone. Thank you God!!!!

If any of you would like to come to the healing rooms here, you can stay with us!!!!

Sunday - As students and prayer servants, we are supposed to go to morning and evening services at Bethel. I also take a Spanish class on Sunday afternoons in preparation for my Mexico mission trip!!!! Hola!!!  Rick works all morning cooking and cleaning in the dining room, where the church feeds up to 200 homeless or needy people bussed in from the city.

Most mornings and on the weekend, you will also find us studying, reading, and doing our carpentry and writing jobs.

In spite of this crazy schedule, we have loads of energy and are able to keep up with all the young people!

Again - we thank all of you for all of your love and support and partnership on this grand adventure.

God is a good God, and He's in a good mood!

Please know that, although this is a school, you are also partnering with us as we minister to many, many people here. Living in this Bethel "kingdom culture" gives us much opportunity to build relationships with students as well as visitors and our lives are spent speaking into people's lives, ministering Jesus' love through prayer, and much time spent praying for people for healing, provision, and a deeper relationship with God. It is so wonderful to see how God can touch people through the hearts of his children.

Healing

We have been busier than normal this past couple of weeks. Last week, Randy Clark was here with a healing conference that filled the Redding Convention Center day and night for 4 days. We attended during the days as students, and nights as prayer servants when people came from all over to attend free night services. There were many healings of blindness, deafness, lung disease, arthritis, pain, etc. One of the most remarkable was people who had metal screws and rods in their body were healed of pain and they were able to move and flex as if they had no metal in their bodies. This happened, I think, to about 25 people.

Ministry Work

Rick continues to work on Sundays, cooking and cleaning in the Bethel kitchen as they serve hundreds of homeless who come to eat and also low income families who bring their children. Many stay for church as well.

I volunteer for the church's "Pastor on Call" ministry team for three hours one day a week. We pray with people over the phone who call in for prayer. My first day was last week, and I talked to about 5 people from around the country who called in. Two other people worked the same morning. The phones were busy. I am learning so much by doing this ministry. I am also filling in for the testimony writer at the healing rooms while she is in Haiti with the Bethel team that is on its way there. I did that for the first time last Saturday and it was quite an experience to talk with so many people who had experienced a healing touch from the Lord that morning. I'll be doing that again tomorrow morning.

Rick and I love to host some of the students for dinner occasionally. They love a home-cooked meal and we love to get to know them better in this way. They are remarkable young people from around the world that have such a heart to serve the Lord and love Him so intimately. We are learning so much from them, and I think they like and need to be around us mom and dad type people.

Remembering to "Be Still" ...

Rick has a job lined up for tomorrow installing a garage door opener. We are still asking for God's hand in a job he can do around school hours. I've been so busy with Bethel this past two weeks, that I haven't been able to work much for the paper. But they did approve six ideas I had for stories that I'll start working on next week. I find myself so drawn to all that Bethel is doing for classes - both school and night classes - and wanting to volunteer that I realize I can't do it all. I have to cut back. Most importantly I can't forsake the quiet time I need every day with the Lord - learning to listen - learning to rest in Him. From that place I get direction, clarity, energy and creativity. Whew - we all have to remember that important secret place with God. It's not about us being busy doing His stuff. It's about our relationship with Him - our quiet times with him - and out of those, understanding what He's doing and entering into that. So...I am spending the weekend rearranging and cutting out some of the extra things I'm doing so I can still do my job with the paper, have my quiet time, and keep up with school.

By the way - I'm on Facebook - find me and be my friend! I'm listed under Christine Krohn Tracy - Northern Colorado

Love to you all!!!

Mission Trips

(Please be in prayer with us for the people of Haiti.)

We are preparing to go on our mission trips scheduled for March.

Rick will be going to Arcata, California - a coastal town - where he will be ministering through carpentry and service to the people of this community. Chris will be going to Tijuana, Mexico - just over the California border, (her first mission trip!) where she will be joining a large team to bring night-time services, healing ministry, and in-home visits to wonderful people who are hungry for God's love.

If you would like to support this outreach, in prayer - or financially  - we would be so thankful.

We are needing to raise an additional $500 toward these trips. (Chris - $300; Rick - $200).

Thank you so much to all who continue to pray for us and to all who have given so generously to our time here at Bethel School. We have been so amazingly and deeply blessed.

Donations may be made to Kremmling Community Church, P. O. Box 1330, Kremmling, CO 80459. (Please attach a note with our name so it will go into our account.)

2010 - A year of blessing and increase

Happy New Year to our friends and family!

Rick and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve and day together, cooking, studying and watching movies. It's been a quick Christmas break, and we're almost caught up with the bunch of homework we have due as soon as we get back on Tuesday.

We had a great time with our daughter, Bess, who was here for Christmas and stayed nearly a week. We took a road trip to see the mighty coastal redwoods and were amazed at their beauty and how small we were next to them.

We also enjoyed having our young international friends over while Bess was here.

This past few days we have learned more of what it means to be still, relax, rest, and soak. We are learning that God meets us in the secret places of our quiet times, and in those times, fills us with himself, his purposes and a new and surprising knowledge and experience of His love for us.

In this New Year, may we all experience that love. The "no matter what" kind of love that doesn't ask for performance, busy-ness, or anything...but loves us madly with the Love of a kind, good, happy Father who is so proud of us and loves to spend time with us.

Our senior leader here, Bill Johnson, in his New Years message, said he felt God was giving him permission to share a promise that had been given to him years ago. Bill now felt God wanted to give that same promise to us. And Rick and I feel God wants us to hand it forward to you, since you are partnering with us!

Isaiah 45:2-3

I will go before you;

and  make the crooked places straight

I will break in pieces the gates of bronze

and cut the bars of iron

I will give you the treasures of darkness,

and hidden riches of secret places

that you may know that I the Lord

who calls you by your name,

am the God of Israel.

Bill said the crooked places are our problems and challenges and roadblocks - God will straighten them out.

The gates and bars keep us from His promises - and he is breaking barriers down.

The treasures of darkness are people. Our loved ones who don't know Christ, who aren't free.

Hidden riches can be many things, including financial provision. But also blessings, gifts, and spiritual things.

May this bless you in many ways!!!

We spend a lot of time in prayer and would love to pray for you. Let us know how we can pray. Write to us at ctracy@mac.com, or send us mail. Our address info is on this page!

Rick and Chris