One Thing and God-TV

We managed to make it back to KC (with out Hadessah. She staid in St. Louis with my family until New Years Eve) in time for the One Thing Young Adult Conference. We'd never been before, and since this would be the last conference that we weren't locked into serving at, we decided to just go and soak.

One Thing is the one conference not held on the missions base. They packed out the auditorium downtown with over 11,000 people. I really enjoyed myself, though how I managed to do so is beyond me. Seriously, I hate loud music and the music was deafening. I despise crowds and it was so crowded we had to get there over an hour early to find a seat and getting to the break out sessions was mass confusion. No one enjoys lines, and the registration line might have literally been a mile long. With mostly teenagers/20 year-olds, I felt old! And very pregnant. And yet, when I quieted my spirit down, the worship (yea- even the LOUD worship) and the teaching was so, so good. And it was amazing to look around and see that many young people giving up their holiday break and New Years parties to worship the King of Heaven and earth.
What a waste in the eyes of the world, but how precious to God.

This conference marked the beginning of IHOP-KC on God-TV. IHOP is entering into a new season. The night sessions of the conference were broadcast across the world. In America, anyone with Direct TV could tune in, as well as anyone with Internet access. It's a big step and one made with both excitement and the fear of the Lord. When things get bigger, they most likely get harder. And since humility is highly practiced and treasured here, it's a challenge to stay in that place when people are watching. I'm so thankful for the leadership here. No one backed down or watered down there messages. It didn't seem any different to me than the normal, sometimes mundane daily prayer meetings that people here do day in and day out. At the end of the day, they lived before an audience of One.

On Friday night there was an impromptu prayer meeting instead of straight worship. The leadership ushered thousands into prayer for Saddam Husein. The auditorium was full of people praying for the salvation of a man who has long been considered an enemy of the worst kind. Who does that? Who prays that an evil man would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus? Who even thinks that way? It certainly wasn't on my list of prayer requests for the day, but there is such wisdom in it. What if we seriously lived the Sermon on the Mount? What if we did pray for our enemies and those who persecute us? What if we reached out in love to those who hated us? What would the world look like if the church, as a whole, looked that much like Jesus?

The prayer room will be live on God-TV during the night hours (2-6am I think). They're also revamping the webstream. The thing that excited me the most was to hear that in times of crisis (such as another Katrina) God-TV plans to cancel their regular programing and bring their viewing audience to the prayer room to respond to such situations with prayer instead of fear. I'm not sure when these things will fall into place, but they are ushering IHOP into a new season. We walk forward in fear and trembling, knowing that it's easier to keep our hearts right in the secret place when no one is looking than in the lights and cameras. It takes a work of God's grace to not be moved by the fear or praise of men. We're praying for such grace.

I'm thankful One Thing is more than a conference, but a lifestyle lived by the "big" and "small" alike here. Ps. 27:4 in reality. Lived out, not just sung about. I'm learning to be a woman of one thing. I'm learning to live a life of worship and adoration of God and derive my identity from being at His feet instead of from what I do. It's a paradigm shift. Who I am before Him is more important than any of the great things I could do in His name. So I go to the prayer room and sit in a chair. I tell God that I love Him and gaze on His beauty. I feel His love for me and intercede from the place of His beloved bride. I wait on Him when the answers to prayers are not readily apparent and I praise Him when they are. No matter what I do with children or any other work of my hands that week, I am pleasing to Him in that place. It is a valid way to spend my life. I want to be a person of one thing so that I can help to usher the next generation into that reality. I can only take them as far as I'm willing to go. "How far will You let me go? How abandoned will You let me be?"