We Refuse to Settle

This is Confessions of a Pastor, a relentlessly real peak behind the scenes of Journey Church in Bend, Oregon. From church in a strip club to a strip mall, going where Jesus would go to reach people Jesus would reach. This is the good, the bad, and the ugly. All for the glory of God. A journey of misery and miracles. We are your hosts and the founders of Journey Church in Ben. I'm Pastor Keith. And I'm Pastor Kara. Come on. There really is hope for everyone. Hey, it's Confessions of a Pastor, y'all. I am back with my partner in crime, Pastor Kara. Everybody, I'm back from my Botox treatment. Oh, babe, I'm sorry. That was a bad joke. I regret it. I have open mouth syndrome. I've got diarrhea of the mouth. The last podcast, everybody, I

was joking because we had special guests and I said, "Kara's getting Botox and bigger lips." And little did I know that actually people do that. This is true. I regret saying that everyone. So if you get big lips and Botox, I'm sorry. That's my public apology to the world. Thank you. But welcome back, Pastor Kara. It's good to have you today on Confessions of a Pastor. It's nice to be back. Yes, it's good to have you back. It is a Monday, though. It is Monday. So, we have the holy hangover. Yes. Uh church was fire yesterday. It was. You got some revival in your bones. Oh, I do. I do. We could talk about that a little bit today. Yeah. I don't want to stop. I'm not getting younger. It's true. I want to see revival. I know. I'm believing for God's best. I want to take him at his word today. Amen. Cuz why not? Yeah. We got a short life.

We do have a short life. So, let's enjoy it. Speaking of a short life, where's our daughter today? Oh, she's in Disneyland. Disneyland. She's probably been there 10,000 times. She shows up and everybody like Mickey's like Ellie. You know, like they're not even supposed to talk, but they know her name there. That's true. Yep. So, she's in Disneyland. Uh, where would you want to be if you could be anywhere in the world right now? Oh, anywhere. Just for like one day. You get 24 hours to be anywhere. Where is it, Kara? I I somewhere warm. Really warm. Tropical, maybe. I don't know. I've never been really. I like that tropical sound. Never been to Hawaii. I think maybe we would go to Hawaii for a day. Nope. There's a big storm this week in Hawaii. Yeah, there's a big hurricane. Where would you go? I would be somewhere tropical, too. Like one of those like exotic islands in the Pacific Islands. Okay. Okay. So, like Hawaii but more private.

I like it. Like, you know, nice white sandy beaches. Let's go. So, but you know what? It's been beautiful in Bend this time of year. Yeah. I don't mind being here. It's heaven on earth. It's true. Yeah. So, so you mentioned revival, we mentioned Bend. Let's just talk about what God's doing because this is Confessions of a Pastor. And you say revival is in my bones. I Because I believe it. I know. And you know, we're getting ready for Church in the Park. And there's something different about Church in the Park this year. I think this will be our 13th Church in the Park. Yeah. and and we've done outdoor services since day one of Journey, but this year it's a little different. Why do you think it's different, Kara? Well, um I think there's a a holy anticipation. I think that we've had opposition this year that we've never had before. Okay.

And I think that creates just a little bit of like, oh, God's on the move. Whenever whenever we see God God's kingdom advance, the enemy has to advance. So I feel like there's almost a correlation with opposition comes the holy anticipation that God is going to do something. So you know we've had opposition with the baptisms the the place of where uh we have done baptisms traditionally over the last 12 years and that Ben Parks and Rex said this year we couldn't do them there and we really had to fight for it in a way. Um we've we've fought in prayer but we also fought um in in the natural as well and wisdom and shrewdness. Yeah. Exactly. and got an attorney involved and they backed down and said you can. So, praise God for that. Maybe we can tell the whole story, but let let's go back a little bit. I mean, two things that come to my mind with what you shared about opposition and then church in the park. First with

opposition, we've been doing this 16 years. I think maybe for the first oh 14 15 years as if like we're just getting this now. Yeah. Uh is opposition felt like something was wrong. uh versus uh understanding that when you're advancing the kingdom, you you know, Matthew 11, you know, since the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom suffers violence. You know, like there's it's not new for God's people to experience opposition. Yes. So, it is with the Israelites in the Old Testament, even to this day, the Jewish people have opposition, opposition, opposition. Yep. But God's people now, even under the new covenant, we're not just going to be on cruise control until Jesus returns. There will be opposition. Yeah, there will be people who oppose Jesus.

John calls it in first John, Antichrist, right? But we're now learning, oh, this is actually when you get opposition, Matthew 5, it's actually a sign of blessing. It's a sign that you're doing something for Jesus, which I think is almost the opposite of what what we either inherently conjure up in our mind or what the church has taught us. That's actually the opposite. We think something's wrong. Exactly. Like, oh Lord, why would you let me suffer? Why would you let me be persecuted? Why would you let me be in this if that's what's happening? And it's actually the opposite as we've now grown in wisdom and years. Uh it's it's really the opposite of that. So obstacles aren't a closed door from God. They're actually opportunities to allow God to do greater things.

Absolutely. So, let's let's go backwards just a little bit further into uh springtime this year when you started asking me if we should really even be doing Church in the Park again this year. What was your motivation behind asking that question? That's a good question. I I think we've been doing it for so many years and it's very expensive. Um and it it was just like what are we what are we doing this for? Like we we have food, we have bounce houses, we have you know um lots of people there and LED walls. Exactly. Which which which is expensive but um I guess I just started thinking like why why and we also are just people of change. Okay. So I like change. I like to do new things. I like to question things if I'm like what why I

don't want to just do this just because we do it every year. So that's that was the heart behind it. It wasn't like to stop the event. just let's just um let's brea new life into this. So you're the executive pastor of operations, meaning you're looking at the budgets, you're looking at how much things cost and and you're just evaluating and we've done this before. I mean the last three four years we've spent so much money on church in the park and you know we we had had people criticize us and I've told this story before when we divide up how much it costs per how many baptisms. It's like okay two or three hundred bucks per person for baptisms. Hey, is that is that worth the cost? You know, and most of the time we say yes, but there was just I think maybe the heart the thing under the thing is what's driving this? What's the why? And you really forced me to spend some time wrestling with that. And we came up with the reality that we're meeting on

the river in the heart of our city in the middle of central Oregon. And if we're going to do this, yeah, let's do it with a heart of expectation of revival. Amen. And then just starting to study the the imagery and the vision of what God has used with rivers and the fact that we baptize people in the river that our city's named after, Ben, you know, the you know, the fact that we get to uh do this alongside the river. So, we came up with a theme this year, meet us at the river, you know, and themes aren't revival, but it became the heart cry of what we're doing. So, fast forward, we get we have to let the Ben Parks and Rec know the year before if we're going to do it again. We buy our permits. The contracts are signed by March of this year, almost $7,000 in permit fees to the city to use Drake Park.

Come a few months ago, we start to get these rumblings of things that they won't let us do. Yeah. I told you months ago, I had like naysayers already tell me like, you know, Parks isn't going to let you do and then fill in the blank. inflatables. They're not going to let you do, which they tried to stop us from doing the inflatables because they told us we couldn't put stakes in the ground for them, which Munchin Music, by the way, does every single Thursday, put stakes in the ground. And praise the Lord that we use the same inflatable vendor that they use. And so he actually got on the phone with um Parks and Wreck, who the gal who was telling us we couldn't do it, and and really um got a little bit upset over it. And I think his because of the discrimination. Yeah. So the parks and recreation is requiring us to do things that they're not requiring other events to do. Same vendor,

yes, different event. And yet with us as a church, they're saying, "Hey, you can't put stakes in the ground. Other events can put stakes in the ground." So when that was questioned, they recanted that, right? They have. Yep. They as soon as after um the woman representing Ben Parks got off the phone with our vendor, within hours, she recanted it. So the same employee then tried to tell us we can't do baptisms in the same spot that we've been doing baptisms every year for however many years, right? So we can't do baptisms. We press in. I love the team here at Journey Church because we're not like fighting. So if anybody's thinking we're trying to fight with government entities, we're not like fighting. We're just asking questions. Why? Why are you not allowing us to do baptisms in the same spot that we normally do? Now, if anyone's familiar with the Dashuites River in Bend, Oregon, this place is used a lot.

Thousands, tens of thousands in the summer, maybe over a hundred thousand use the river for recreation. Yeah. Kaying, stand up paddle boarding on inner tubes, and of course, there's lots of alcohol drinking, there's marijuana smoking, but then all of a sudden, when we want to do baptisms, it's like you can't do that in that spot of the river. Now, they were trying to tell us it's because of erosion. You know, the more I thought about it with you, I was like, man, people have been doing events in our river, you know, they do it's iconic, you know, but all of a sudden it's like our baptisms are going to cause an erosion that will be irre that was the reason was erosion, which then we our team stepped in and said, "Okay, we will hire an environmental engineer to help mitigate any erosion. We'll help fix the problem." And when we offered that,

that's when she came back that same day and said, um, well, okay, you can use it. You can have baptisms there, but you will can never come back to Drake Park for an event. So, this was the So, instead of actually asking, um, the person higher up to see if we could hire engineering, that was her response. Come on, somebody. So, here's here's where the opposition is happening. We want to do church in the park. A key part of church in the park is baptisms. I love the fact that it's like munching music without the music, right? You can't have munching music without the music. All you're doing is munching, you know, like for for us, we're we're here for life change. And when people go public with their faith, that's what baptism is. And so Church in the Park is having church. Yep. We want to see life change. So now we've been brought to this solution from one employee. We We don't know if this person obviously is an employee of the

entire district. Now, if anyone's new to Bend and Parks and Recreation District, this place loves their parks. Yeah, you know, I mean this parks are I think they have a goal of having a park within a mile of every home and they're awesome parks. I mean, it's practically an idol in our city. I mean, we love our parks. We've got big ones, small ones. I mean, they're are beautiful parks, massive props, but a huge part of our tax dollars, our property taxes, a giant sliver goes to this. And so now you've got the parks district telling us, "Hey, fine. We'll let you do baptisms. Quit pushing on us. You don't need a environmental engineer. You can do them with the caveat. You never come back again. Now, that was via email. No contract written. Yeah. Fast forward one week. A week goes by. I tell the church this and the church is kind of like, what? Like they kind of fired them up in their

bones. And I think in your in our mind it was like, "Okay, well, we'll just do it and then we'll deal with it later." You know, we'll figure it out later. But that's what I said. I said, "Listen, they can't do that. That's got to be against it's discrimination. You can have pride festivals. You can have munching music. you can have theater in the park, but now you're going to tell us forever for perpetuity. Never again can we do church in the park. Yeah. But at that point, they weren't asking us to sign something. And then she came back the next week and said, "You need to sign this by the end of the day on Friday or your event is cancelled." Yeah. So things got things went from bad to worse. Right now all of a sudden it's like, "Hey, you know, you can do this, but never come back." Now it's if you don't sign this, we're not even going to let you do it this year. Yeah. Now, we have spent a lot of money already. You know, we've got everything all set up and ready to go. You know, whether it's the inflatables, the LED

walls, the truss systems, the stage. I mean, there's a lot of details. Portaotties. I mean, everything can every Yeah. We we all the stuff that goes into this. Yeah. Not to mention, we've handed out 5,000, you know, business card invitations. We've put posters all over the city, all over Central Oregon has been invited. we social media push and now they're saying by the way if you don't promise you'll never come back we're going to cancel this year's event that's when it started to get weird Kara yeah that's where it started to be like do you actually have that authority right because parks and recreation is a government entity which means that in the wonderful nation that we live in we have a say in this our tax dollars that wait a second you're going to actually discriminate and say a church can never again use this park other people can but we can't That's when we got a lawyer involved.

Y and when we got our lawyer involved, he looked at all this and he just right away was like, "No, no, no, no." I mean, he poked like six holes in right away. He's like, "There's there's contractual agreements. You've signed it. They signed it. You've paid." Never did we ever sign ever that we wouldn't do baptisms in the spot that we've done them. No, they they never told us in advance. This was all like last minute. They added so many stipulations. So, our lawyer gets involved. He sends him a letter the same day that they said that we would be cancelled. The same day. Yeah. Before five. Yes. And then and we did not sign anything. The response was awesome. She's like, "Thanks for the email." It's like, "You're not thankful for the email." You know, she was kind, but she was professionally kind, but uh we could just sense that something was going on. And by Monday,

her boss's boss, his boss, I think somewhere somewhere much higher up in the organization, y wrote to us and said, "Yes, you can have your event. Yes, you could have baptism in that spot. We do not need to sign anything saying we will never be back again." Y we do still have the issue of potentially not being able to do baptisms in that spot in in years to come. But if we do church in the park there again or any event for that matter, maybe worship in the park. Yeah, you know, we are allowed to come back. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just the baptism piece that we still have to work through. They did add a caveat, too, just just for our listeners since you're you're getting some bonus content stuff that we didn't share at church. Uh they they asked us that they said we have to get a permit. Yeah. From the Oregon State Marine Board. So, we're talking like the one that controls water in our state. We have to get a permit. Now,

when that was requested from the Oregon State Marine Board, the Marine Board's like, "Wait, wait. What are you guys doing? Baptisms in the river. What? Why are you asking for a permit?" Because our parks and recreation district is requiring us to get permit. So, what are you doing then again? I mean, we went through all the details. We said, "We put something in the water, you know, so that it protects the ground and it allows us to not sink in the mud." We told them exactly what we're doing. We shared exactly what we're doing. We shared exactly the timing that we're doing. They're like, "You don't need a permit for that." And they wrote us back. They wrote to Ben Park Parch and Reck. They contacted Ben Park. And so just it was kind of silly. They added all these conditions to us. Well, and they they wanted us to specifically get a permit also for the the contraption that we put in the river and they we don't need a permit for that. They came uh the guy from the marine board came back and just said, "You don't need a permit for that.

This is silly." Like this is So here we are, Kara. We're going to have church in the We are It's going to be good. Meet us at the river. So now that was a long I don't know how long we just talked about that but that has nothing to do with the revival. Uh that was that was maybe uh just a slight opposition. It's not like what some countries would experience like North Korea or Iran or something like that. But it was just a little bit of friction. But I think the bigger thing that we are sensing and I can't wait for Church in the Park this year cuz I've never had an expectation like this is God is doing something. The move of God right now on Church in the Park is unlike anything we've had before. We've hyped it up. We've promoted it. We've paid for commercials on television. We've been excited before. But this year, I am really excited. I mean, we have people coming from literally all over the country. Yeah. To get baptized. To get baptized.

People are coming from all over the country to come to Bend, Oregon, to come to Church in the Park at Drake Park to get baptized. That is very unique. I mean, there is a move of God unique to this year, I feel like. Yes. I mean, we've got people coming from Rhode Island. Yeah. uh to get baptized. People coming from southern Oregon to get baptized. Uh we've got one family in our church who's flying his family out here who couldn't have would not have come on his own from Minnesota and he's hoping they're going to get baptized. I mean all over the place. I mean it's awesome. I met a guy yesterday at church who raised his hand to give his life to Jesus and he wanted to come introduce himself to me and he did and uh he I I he's got his booklet and I just asked him about baptism. He's like I'm doing it September.

Awesome. We had a lot of hands raised yesterday. It was actually really special. It was awesome. Yeah. I I talked to a gal who works at the uh Next Steps table on on your way out of the auditorium and she just was in like she was almost in tears talking about someone who had just walked out with her baby who had just raised her hand. Praise God. I said, "Did you get a chance to pray with her?" She said, "Yeah, it was really really cool." Yeah. There was just there was an exceptional amount of um salvations yesterday. There there really is and it's it's so unique and you know we've had so many transitions and changes at Journey Church and those they're always hard because I like to call church the the people business and when people leave the church it's hard but yet when you see new life when people are born again when you see someone completely changed it's exciting and I I love what God is doing. So here we have people coming from all over the

country coming to Church in the Park Sunday, September 6, 11:00 a.m. y'all. And it's going to be exciting. But you know what gets me excited is yesterday I shared with you uh 2018 church they did baptisms. Yeah. Do you remember how many baptisms were you? They were predicting 3,000 and they got like 4,800 or something like that. Can you believe that? 4,800 baptism. God is doing something in our nation. Oh, in our nation. I completely agree. I I shared with you two conferences in the Pacific Northwest this this weekend. you know, one in Vancouver, uh, Kingdom Movement Church, and the other Hungry Generation, the Pacific Northwest is right now is so ripe and and you know, we've said this for 16 years. Oh, you know, there's rumblings of revival. No, there are signs of it. There's a move of God happening in our nation that's unlike anything else. And I've never

ever ever in my life felt what I feel right now. Not not only my belly, but my spirit. And that's why I've got fire in my bones to preach about revival. Yeah. I don't know if I've ever preached a whole sermon about revival like I did yesterday. And I just want to keep doing it because I'm like, why why wouldn't we want this? I totally agree. And I thought to myself, even even just this morning, Kara, you know, like obviously uh we did not have a breakout of revival at church yesterday. Lots of people got saved. Lots of people were excited. But it wasn't like we just stayed after church for hours and prayed. It wasn't like there was people on the ground weeping, spirit of repentance. But you know what? What the Lord's been teaching me, Kara, is even if it's just one Yeah. out of Journey Church, you know, I shared with you the story of Charles Spurgeon, you know, like he was a young boy caught in a winter storm in the

early 1800s and he went into the doors of a church and the preacher called him out in the name of Jesus. You know, boy, you need to surrender your whole heart to Jesus. And he did and he became the prince of preachers. M I think his sermons have been printed more than any other preacher in history. Now just imagine if Charles Spurgeon walked into that church because of a storm and never heard the gospel. Yeah. Imagine he showed up and it was, you know, some ex Jesus explaining a text that had nothing to do with the gospel. He was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ and his life was changed. I just want to devote my life to that. Yeah. I just want if we get a young person so on fire for Jesus and I know it's more than one young person. There there's a there's like you said there's so many

decisions being made and there's people that are uh taking their life more seriously. I just went to the hospital this morning and prayed over someone with cancer. And she looked me in the eyes and she's like, "This was my wakeup call. I wasn't taking my faith seriously." She's like, "Pastor, I'm all in." You know, she was so humble. She was like shocked that I showed up. She's like, "I didn't I never would have believed you would come here." I'm like, "I'm just like you." You know, I'm just like you. She's like, "You're my pastor. I can't believe this." And she was It's like, "If it takes cancer to wake somebody up and you know, I cursed that cancer. I pleaded the blood of Jesus. I I took the promise that by the wounds and stripes of Jesus, she's healed." But more than that, God doesn't waste anything. Yeah. And I think even the Ben Parks and Wreck, they don't even realize they were a tool of God. M you know, maybe what the enemy intended for evil, discouragement, distraction,

maybe even to cancel our event, God used it to really kind of light a fire. Yeah. Remind us that we're not against parks and wreck. We're praying for them. We're for them. I did. Did you read my email I sent to them on Friday? Mhm. Did you see my line in there about praying for them? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think we've received a response, have we? No. No. That's okay. I just let them know. I said, "Hey, Ben Parks and Recck, thank you for letting us do this, and we look forward to it. We want to be good neighbors. We we want to we want to make the parks better, but I said, "We're praying for you and every employee of that that uh organization." Uh and they probably don't even know what to do with it. No. Uh but it's the truth. Yeah. Well, I mean, I like the way you put it at church yesterday even that we are a church for our city. Yes. Amen.

We're not just a church in the city. So that's, you know, that's a um that's that's a a byproduct of that, you know, like we love our city. We love our city officials. We Yes. Yeah. I think that's where a church starts to diminish its flame of of of the fire of God is when we just become a church in our city. Yeah. When it's just the church down the street. when it's just uh another option, when it's just uh people uh showing up because this is my church and it's no longer a burden for your neighbors, your family, your co-workers, uh for the civic leaders, you know, I mean, when we're not burdened to be a church for the city, now we've just been a church, we become a church in the city. Yeah. And and I, you know, I had someone ask me yesterday, it's so funny how people receive and um process what's

preached. You know, like I might mean one thing and somebody takes a different way. And I had one person I shared with you yesterday that was just like, you know, you're preaching revival for journey, but what about all the other churches? I'm like, it's implied. I want every church to have revival. I want every church to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yeah. But I'm not pastoring those church. I'm going to start with me. I'm going to start with my family. I want to start with the people we're shephering right here. And yes, we do pray for a great awakening in our whole region. You know, when we say central Oregon shall be saved, we mean it. Yeah. You know, we want the overflowing of the Holy Spirit in every church. Well, and you talked about that yesterday, which was I think was so good. Um just a good reminder that when you proclaim or prophesy central Oregon organ shall be saved, it's it's prophesying something that isn't as though it is. And sometimes that does feel for even like for you even you know

said it sometimes it feels like I'm crazy for saying this or I for to for me it's like this is impossible but then it is impossible. We have the God of the impossible, right? Hallelujah. But just the just to um oh just to to actually live in that that we that God calls us to prophesy his word. Amen. and prophesy forward. Things aren't as though they are. Yeah. And that's it's a gamecher. It's an absolute game changer. Kara, this is our Ezekiel 37 moment. We are in our valley of dry bones. Yeah. Unless we wake up, people are headed straight to hell. Yeah. And people are dead spiritually. And until we have the boldness to prophesy, come to life in Jesus' name.

Uh they will stay in the same stage. Yeah. But I believe what we're starting to see is bone coming to bone. We're starting to hear the sound of it. We're starting to see the muscles. And now we got to keep praying. Breathe. Come on, breath of God. Breathe from the north to the south and the east and the west. Holy Spirit, come move on. Amen. Your people, we want an exceedingly great army. Yes. And I I wonder, Kara, what would be like the fantasy of the biggest move of God that could happen Sunday, September 6th? What What does that look like for you? Just give me tastes. I have no idea. your imagination. I don't have anything. Give me a glimpse. You tell me. Oh, I I can't predict how the Lord's going to move. No, I No, I'm not asking for prediction. Just imagination. Just imagination. I I don't know.

I'll stir my imagination. Some This is not a prediction. None of this may happen. But yeah, I I remember being asked a few years ago when I was praying Pentecost moments at Journey Church, they're like, "So, are you asking for tongues of fire and for rushing when?" It's like, "No, I don't know what I'm asking for." Yeah. I don't know. I just I guess that's what I meant. So yeah, I I would love a rumbling physically. I would love the earth to shake. Yeah, literally people feel it. I would love a cloud to rest on us that's so awe inspiring that there's a reverence, a fear, and an awe of God. There's something visible. I would love people weeping because of their sins. I would love fathers to go hug their kids while they're crying, asking for forgiveness. Husbands to look in the eyes of their wives and say, "I love you." Mhm. You know, I would love people who are so addicted in that moment.

The chains of generational curses are so released that there's an air of of Psalm 85:6, revive us again that your people may rejoice in you. That the joy of being released from strongholds is so relevant that that you can see a change, a manifestation physically of strongholds being broken. I want there to be such a tangible move that it marks this region that when people go to work, the next day is Labor Day. So, let's say they go to work on Tuesday. Yeah. What the bleep just happened to you? Yeah. And all they can say is Jesus. Yeah. Amen. The the fame of Jesus gets so great because something changed with people start describing what they encountered at Drake Park and they're like, "Come on,

you gone crazy. You're making this up." Now, will God shake up the earth? I don't know. Will a cloud rest upon Drake Park? I don't know. Will chains be broken? I don't know. Will fathers reconcile with their children? I don't know. But what I do know is God's done greater things through history. So why not ask for the impossible? Amen. Why not ask God to do something at Drake Park that has never been happened before? That just sets it apart. Consecrate it. like set it apart for you know as as God told Joshua consecrate yourself for tomorrow you're going places you've never been before and I just that that's what I mean by just in my imagination will God do exactly maybe maybe not maybe he'll do more and you know what carrot whatever happens I'm going to give God the glory Amen I I want just I want it to be a a move

in such a way that no matter what happened God God gets the glory and I shared this yesterday in a statement to the church if a move move of God happens so significant journey doesn't even get the credit for it. Yeah. Amen. I mean because if it's a move of God 100 years from now nobody remembers Journey Church. It doesn't even matter. They just remember oh the Bend revival or the move of God, you know. Totally. You know that that generation where Central Oregon was saved. It sets us apart. Yeah. Amen. And just just the thought of people finding life in Jesus that are dead. Amen. Spiritually. I mean it's just it's exciting. It's very exciting. I, you know, I got a comment on social media I saw from a guy that I've never met before, but he said he's going to be at church in the park. Did you read this

comment? It was someone who said they went to Journey uh and they they were a scientific atheist. Did you read that comment? I think maybe I did. Yeah. And they live in Portland now. And he said his life was changed at Journey. Yeah. And he was thanking me because Jesus changed his life at Journey. And he says, "I thank my former um landlords, the renters." Yeah. And uh who invited him to church. I was like, "One invitation." Yeah. Can change your life forever. One invitation. My friends, if you're listening to this, the power of an invitation, doesn't matter if it's Journey Church or any church. I went to a rural country fundamentalist Bible church because someone invited me and my life was changed. It was my Charles Spurgeon moment. It was I stepped into the doors of a church. I didn't know I was gonna get Jesus, but I got Jesus because of one invitation. Oh, the power.

Yeah. Of an invite. And for me, I was a kid. Like, someone brought me to church. Come on. Yeah. I was a kid. I didn't really It wasn't like an invitation and I drove myself there, you know? Someone brought me there and I found myself accepting Jesus. So, yeah. You know, I was thinking this morning in the book of uh I just finished the book of Jeremiah. Uh really tough book for me. Oh, man. I'm halfway through and it is like trudging through mud. Every time I go through it, a chapter 29 is the bomb. That's the one I just did today. There was that little section in it. Yeah, I love chapter 29. Yeah, I know. I agree. But I just read, man, chapter 51, one of the longest chapters in the Bible. It's the sixth longest chapter in the Bible. And it's just like it just keeps going. It's like it's just like depravity and darkness and you know and it's a recap

of Jerusalem being uh you know taken captive by Babylon. And it's it's funny. I'm like God do you really need to recap this again? But I think about how many times do we hear over and over about about the Exodus of Israel being, you know, the the Red Sea parting like throughout the book of Psalms, throughout the prophet. I mean, over and over and over, you tell the story of God's redemption. And I think about that with our own stories, like, you know, you're meant to tell your story over and over and over again. Yeah. Whether it's the desecration of the temple like it was in Jerusalem with Babylon, or whether it's the the freedom of slavery with the Israelites and Moses, because God uses everything for his good and for his glory. Uh God knew that he needed to do that with the Israelites. And I just I think right now

God's writing a story in history with Central Oregon that I I think like people don't even know like just like the Israelites in Jerusalem didn't know that they were going to be taken captive to Babylon. People don't know what's about to happen in central Oregon and something something's happening. Praise God. He's writing a story right now. Yeah. Praise God. In just a significant way. Maybe let's talk about the Kingdom Conference. Mhm. Amen. Let's go there. Let's go there. Hey, this might seem like a commercial, but don't skip over this. Kingdom Conference. It's time, a new great awakening. There are moments in history where there's a stirring from God, something special. And you don't want to watch. You want to be a part of what God's doing. That's Kingdom Conference. It's coming in November. So, don't miss this. Sign up today.

Encounter God. Be a part of what God's doing. I'll see you there. Yeah. I stood at outside, you know, in the lobby this weekend and just tried to interact with people about the Kingdom Conference, try to generate some interest, you know, and um I was telling you after the service yesterday that I just I think that people um here don't really know um who who the speakers are. Um the impact these speakers are going to have. And I think when they realize that, there's going to be some more excitement for it. It's new. We've never done a conference. Um, so there's a lot of new around it, a lot of unknowns. Um, but I did have one gal who specifically said, "I'm I'm a social media person. I follow these people on social media and they're making an impact." So I think that um the I would just love to talk about it for a minute like the heart behind your heart behind it, who

you know, you put that you put it together, chose the speakers. Maybe if we could have just a conversation about what your heart behind it and then what you what you're hoping with it. Well, I Yeah. And I don't even think it was me as much as it was like a collaborative effort at the church of uh kingdom has been our theme this year. Kingdom come, kingdom come, kingdom come. And I it's like it's really marked our church in a significant way. And a part of it was just what can we do this year to continue this momentum and theme of understanding the kingdom. Yeah. And so some of that is just like bringing in other voices and what we've encountered at other churches with conferences. Why can't we do that? Offer other people the opportunity to experience a conference uh moment at Journey, not somewhere else, but in our

own house. And so that that was a part of the collaborative idea behind it. And these these speakers are primarily West Coast. There's one from Alabama, but uh there's several from uh the Pacific Northwest. And one of them, Ross Johnston, just did an event this weekend at Huntington Beach believing the same belief system we have that Central Oregon shall be saved, that that California shall be saved. And he did an event on Saturday on at Huntington Beach. 5,000 people gathered together. Uh hundreds gave their lives to Jesus. We're talking a couple days ago. So we're talking real life evangelists. Yep. In our day. Yes. This is like we're making history. If if you wonder the people that made history in the days of

old, they didn't know they were making history. They were just faithful. They took risks. They invest their finances. They they put their time, energy, efforts, and resources into doing things and they made history. And so there's guys like Ross Johnson who's just like I almost feel over him because I'm probably twice his age and probably more than twice his age actually. And I I just I I want to just call him a sweetheart. He's a young man who's just a good-looking young guy who's just eager to save a generation. And a part of it is just him telling his story. You know, this is who I am. I should be a nobody who should be in a liberal house far from God. Yet God captured my heart as a teenager. You know, this is his story. He was born via uh in vitro to lesbian moms and was raised in a house where he was

exposed to everything contrary to biblical values. But yet when he was invited uh to I believe it was youth group just like my story, he gave his life to Jesus and now he can't but help testify that everyone uh is made in the image of God and everyone has the opportunity to confess their sins and be saved by Jesus Christ alone. And he's just boldness. Just boldness. And uh so Ross is our opening speaker. And I'm just I'm excited to have a young man who's willing to profess Jesus publicly on the streets of LA on the beach of Orange County. You know, I just I love love a guy so bold. And now he's bringing that up to the Pacific Northwest partnering with Pursuit uh and you know with in Spokane, Washington.

It's just like all right, let let's save all the Pacific Northwest. So, we got Ross coming on Thursday night. And then we've got Russell, uh, Johnson, who I first heard his name during the pandemic. He's been in ministry much longer than that. A young man who originally went into politics, but God rescued him to uh, save Washington State. Yeah. And started a church in a barn and just believed greater things and was willing to take risks. And God honored those risks. and many people have been saved and one of the quirkiest human beings I've ever seen. And don't you just know that God will use anyone who's willing to step out. He doesn't use those who conform and look like everyone else. He doesn't need you to look a certain way to fit in like a certain way. But this guy,

he is so eloquent with the way that he articulates. I I feel like almost poetic, but it's probably not doesn't do it justice using biblical language. He is prophetic. Yeah. He has a prophetic voice. He preaches the Bible with boldness. He calls out sin. Yeah. And he invites voices of uh you know, the full gifts. And I have I've been challenged by this guy myself. Yeah. You know, he he went against the government when uh the state of Washington sued him uh during the pandemic. And he's just like, "Listen, I'm gonna honor God." Yeah. and uh he has stood up in his state and I just I I just love the guy. Love the guy and I think our church is going to be like I don't even know what he's going to bring. Like I don't either.

There's a little nervousness like what is he going to say? Totally. But uh I he just he preached a whole message a week ago. Asked Cali for the footnotes of it. Deliver me from deliverance. And he was calling out false prophets. And yet he's saying deliverance is real, but we do not need to make a um spectacle of it. Yeah. You know that if God's moving, we need to let God move. Yeah. Not market it, you know. And I'm just like, this guy has got just this like sharp edge of a sword, you know, uh in this generation. And I think we're going to be sharpened as iron sharpens iron here. So that's Friday night, Kara. And then we've got one of our close family members, a sister of the house, Hillary Harris.

And we've heard her voice for a few years that this girl can preach. And you know, I think it was God's ordination for her to come here. Uh we were going to invite um what's her name? Uh from uh Miami. Manushka. We we I shouldn't say we were going to. We did invite Mushka uh a pastor from VU Church in Miami. And she was gracious. She prayed. she saw her board and um it didn't work out for Minutushka to come and it was like oh that's sad because that woman man she can preach I mean she brought down the house she did when we saw her at a conference in California but uh because of that we said you know what voices do we want to bring in we thought about a female voice we thought about older voices and we who are we going to bring in and specifically Hillary came to mind and

we asked her and it's like oh it's going to be good cuz her husband's coming with her her and he's a crazy worship leader. Um, anointed anointed family. Yep. So, the Harrises are coming. Hillary's going to come Saturday morning. Uh, I don't know what else going to happen on Saturday because we have other voices that could speak to us Saturday. I'm still wrestling through that, what that's going to look like. Um, but then Saturday night, we've got Kenan Clark. Tell us about Kenan. Oh, man. Kenan's young, too. and his pastor is uh become a friend of mine in Alabama that I went to Israel with and just a wise voice, a church planter. Um just a just a just a wise voice of this age and I got to meet him in DC. Yeah, Greg

Dere. And um his he's got eight kids who were most of them are pastors and just just a really uh cool family. But so Kenan moved to Alabama after speaking at a youth conference and hearing Pastor Greg and was like, "I want you to pastor me." And I mean, this guy is just he's willing to submit under authority, but he's willing to say what needs to be said in this generation. And he says it loudly. I told you recently um I don't know if y'all um Hannah or Cali saw this. They're in the room. Um Mike Winger, did you guys see that video with him? So Mike Winger is a voice uh in our generation who's called out false prophets and you know he was just kind of one of those online guys for a long time until he really went into depth of um a prophet supposed and

I do air quotes here because he got called out for um like Facebook mining is what they called it and he just called it out called it out called it out until eventually even the platforms like Bethl church where he had spoken hundreds of times times eventually had to admit it like, "Yeah, this was not of God." And so Mike Winger, he got really famous for this stuff, you know, calling out people. And then the other day he had one where it's like, "Listen to this." And it was Kenan Clark um yelling, "Did you guys see this at all? No, you guys didn't see it." And I was like, "Oh no, what's he going to say?" And Kenan, I told you this last night, Kenan's like yelling. He's like, "The most dangerous thing of this generation." And he's like yelling with all of his heart. And he's like, "It's not gun violence, you know, it's not drug addiction. It's not wars against nations. It's not nuclear bombs.

The biggest threat to this generation is false doctrine, you know, it's leading people to hell. We need the truth of Jesus." And so he just, you know, he's preaching this little one minute snippet, right? And Mike Winger, who's very conservative, he just like, "Yep, I agree. It's the most dangerous thing in this generation." I'm like, you know, like awesome. You know, like, so we got Kenan who is going to bring it on Saturday night. I don't know what he's going to bring, but he just he loves to just preach to a generation and just say, "What you need is Jesus." Yeah. You know, and and in just the most dynamic way. He's a guy that I just I I think is uh teachable. And because of that, he's able to teach well.

And that's what you need. people of humility who are willing to submit under authority to bring the authority and I so that's going to be on uh Saturday night and then uh Sunday uh we're going to have uh this guy that really our own uh staff just was like we don't have anybody uh with gray hair so they're like pastor how about you preach in your own house there so uh cuz I wanted to bring in another voice on Sunday morning Yeah. Well, we tried. We did try and instead that voice is going to come to Church in the Park. Uh we haven't even talked about that, Kara. Um talk about more opposition there, but praise be to God. So, so those are the voices speaking. It's it's me Sunday morning. And uh I really think there's going to be an anointing on this

Kara in such a way that it doesn't matter how many people are at the kingdom conference. It's what God's going to do there. Because there are moments that when you set apart moments for a different voice to speak into you, a different moment, a change of pace. Yeah. That really those are the moments that really can mark you for life. You hear from people like I went to camp and uh God hit me so hard I'll never be the same. You know, there's moments of altar calls. There's moments that just I if you create the space and the place for it, Yeah. that's that's when you know it marks us. And I don't know what God's going to do at Church in the Park, but Kingdom Conference affords the opportunity to do that. So if you haven't signed up for Kingdom Conference, I would. So you don't regret it when it's sold out.

Yeah, I totally agree. You know that we are setting this apart and we do have a small fee for it and it is very small. It's funny to me like when people get up in arms about 100 bucks for a conference when you know, you go out to dinner if if you were to take four people to dinner, it doesn't it's way over 100 bucks. I mean a burger and fries now is 25 bucks. It's true. So come on people. Like just invest in this. Like it it it's the financial investment of what are you investing in? And when Christians criticize churches that are charging for small things like this, like I get if we if we charge a,000 bucks, okay, what what is this going to? We're not going to make money on this. We're just simply bringing in voices to say this is what it is and we're simply saying would you invest in this to help cover the cost.

That that's the point of this. You know, we're not charging for church on Sunday morning. Yeah, you know, we're not charging for pursuits, you know, like this, that's not the point. And when anyone tries to even compare like the flipping of the tables in the temple, y'all don't know your Bible, you know, we're we're not charging people so that they can have a fee to come in and do their sacrifices. That's not the point. And the truth is, I'll even say this, I've not said this publicly yet, but if someone can't afford it, come serve at it. Come serve. Yeah. you volunteer your time and we'll let you come experience the conference for free. Yeah. How about that? Somebody, you know, we we live in such a selfish culture that they want spoonfed feeding for free and there's no sacrifice. If there's no cost to it, then you're you're not even expecting God to do something. David didn't want to give a sacrifice unless it cost him something.

And I think Christians today should be willing to invest in their lives. And it's not just invest financially in conference. They should be given to their churches financially. Amen. They should be serving other time sacrificially. And so I I can't wait for this. I I can't believe these speakers actually said yes. And truthfully, they didn't cost a lot of money. Yeah. And um so I just to have the opportunity to have this happen. I'm looking forward to it. I am too. We mentioned that we did invite somebody to speak on Sunday. He was unavailable because of a prior commitment, but he did say yes to Church in the Park. He did. Uh we're talking about Pastor Travis Hearn, chaplain of the Phoenix Suns, and he means a lot to us. Why does he mean a lot to us, Kara? Well, we went to his church, for those of you who haven't heard this already, we went to his church for 3 months when we were on a sbatical in 2022 and very burnt out and um just needed a reset.

Yeah. And we sat together as a family and we sat under his teaching in his church uh for 3 months and it was a very healing, very powerful experience. Um, the church is just anointed. Um, the worship is off the charts. His messages were everything that I needed in that season. I have a whole journal full of them. Let's go. And, um, it makes me want to cry. He means a lot to me. So, I just can't believe that he's coming. Yeah. I mean, really, for uh, almost four years, we talked about Pastor Travis as like this person, almost like a celebrity to us. And I would tell people our story all the time. And people would be like, "Oh, you're going to connect with him." I'm like, "No, I'm not." This guy rubs shoulders with celebrities. Uh he he is a pastor to many athletes, very very big athletes. Uh you know, he

he has a lot of connections. He he's crazy humble, but he's just he's connect he's well connected and we always just talked about him as out there. Yeah. And out of nowhere this year, God has expedited connections and relationships in 2026. And one of them was Pastor Travis and Natalie Hearn. And can you believe it that we've now become friends? I know it's crazy. With these people that we never thought we would ever even meet. No. I mean, we got to sit in his office area and spend hours with he and his wife. And they were they're so humble and just real and go through things that we go through. Like it was a really powerful experience for me. So, so when I connected with Pastor Travis last week, uh I got on the phone and we were supposed to talk church in the park, but come to find out like leading up to

Church in the Park, he's going through hell right now. And when I say that, I I don't mean it as just like this crazy adjective to describe this. I mean there's so many things happening in his family and his wife's health and just there there's so many details of like opposition opposition. I offered to Pastor Travis, I said, "Pastor Travis, you don't have to come to church in the park. Please, like, take care of yourself. Take care of your family." You know, he's like, he's like, "Pastor, I'm coming." He's like, "I'm a fighter. I don't give up. I'm not going to let the devil win on this." And I'm like, "Okay, I'm not going to stop you." Yeah. But I really think that the fact that he's going through this, the opposition we faced, something's going to happen. friends, if you don't have plans to come part, you

should come just to see what's going to happen because God's trying to do something so big that the enemy is trying to stop it. And so you you should just want to show up with the anticipation of really is God going to do something? I think he is because the devil's trying to he's trying to hurt that family. He's I mean, so I'm just I'm humbled to have him come up here. He he really is a humble humble humble humble humble man. way more than I anticipated honestly because of who he is and what the impact that he has. Oh yeah. I did not expect him to be as down to earth and humble as he is. I mean the fact is if you go read the reviews of Google of Impact Church and go to the one-star reviews, people are nasty and they will get really specific. People who don't know who he is, people that have never spent any time getting to know him. They'll visit the church one time. There's an example of the opposition.

Yeah, I mean the guy is reaching people in that area in Scottsdale, Arizona and the greater Phoenix area more than anybody else is like that's so that tells me where there is traction there is significant opposition. The more the opposition the more kingdom traction you have. Amen. I mean, he just did a series uh not too long ago, just a few weeks ago, for a while, was called changed. And it was all about the metamorphosis, the that the scriptures talk about that when you believe in Jesus, you're no longer the same. You've been changed. And it it is from the caterpillar to a butterfly. And he preached this week after week after week after week. And he had testimonies of people whose lives been changed at Impact Church. And we're talking porn stars from like uh Exactly. only fans who literally were uh in some sense prostituting themselves until their life was changed at Impact

Church leave a career of pornography uh to follow Jesus. And it's like powerful stuff. I mean, people just complete changed over and over testimonies. I mean, we heard the testimony of Pastor Natalie's assistant. I mean, just awesome stuff who's now on staff at the church. They're doing such crazy cool things raised Jewish to being born again by the Jew himself, Jesus Christ. I mean, awesome stuff. So, Pastor Travis is coming. I can't believe it. We're now friends. Uh just just crazy stuff. I I love what this this year, I've said it before on this podcast, but 2026 has been my favorite year of Journey Church ever. I would agree. I just I can't believe Yeah. what he's doing in our staff, the friendships he's brought in, the people with Bishop Robert Sterns, Montel

Jordan, Pastor Montel. I mean, over and over. Pastor Dave, we had we had Pastor Dave Patterson here. He He was He spoken to our staff last week, Car. Yeah, I know, man. What was a nugget you took away? Cuz Pastor Dave just stopped by. We did a leadership lesson, all staff meeting. He just went through, I don't know, 10 points. Yeah. of what it means to be a leader. Uh do do you remember any of those points? Sort of. Just paraphrase one. I don't know. How about you? Well, there was a lot uh leaders ask questions. Yeah. Uh leaders are humble. Yeah. Um I mean he he he gave some really really great points that I just felt um challenged our staff in a way that uh leaders are are learners, you know. Um, but there was the the dynamic place of

where Pastor Dave Patterson is as a leader today because he's on the board of Ark Associated Related Churches. He's on the board of MFI, um, Ministers Fellowship International. Uh, he has his own network of churches, uh, the Father's House network, growing and growing, growing. He's got at least five campuses or more. They've planted so many churches. So, here you got this dynamic leader coming into our house. And uh I just I think there was a lot of leadership lessons that um I mean just just the even the one alone of just asking questions. Uh Pastor Brandon talks about this all the time like being curious. Yeah. If you're not asking questions, why do we do what we do? You know, what is God doing right now? You know, asking question. Pastor Brandon's phrase is is uh pride assumes and humility asks. Yeah.

And it's just so profound because it's true, especially in leadership. Yeah. Amen. He talked about submission, how uh leaders submit to authority. You know, there's uh definitely I I I'll just be blunt. There's a demonic spirit that we've even encountered in this house of just, you know, people who are under authority and yet they challenge authority as if like they're nothing, you know, they've challenged me, they've challenged us, they, you know, like this with a disrespect and a dishonor. Yeah. You know, but leadership, a part of it is the humility to submit under authority. And when you do, you get to subject yourself to what God designed. And you know, the scriptures are clear. The humble are exalted.

Yeah. Uh God gives grace to the humble. I mean, it's just it's so I I found it to be a really challenging time. Yeah. We also got to go to dinner with them with Pastor Dave and Pastor Donna. That was fun. Uh about a week ago. That was super fun. um got to know them even a little bit more and just asked them a little bit about their story when they, you know, they were meeting at a strip mall like we are um for a lot of years and then built their their campus that they have now and just got to pick their brain and ask them questions and it was a really profitable time I thought. Amen. Guys, there are moments of momentum and seasons of moves of God and they've they've experienced it. So to ask them those questions. Yeah, it was really an honor to be able to sit across the table from them. Amen. and um ask them questions and eat together. Yes. Yeah.

Exciting times at Journey Church right now and just to look forward to as you mentioned kingdom conference to look forward to church in the park and to see these moves of God at Journey right now and and a greater part of what God's doing. Yeah. That if if if we are experiencing a new great awakening and if if we're going to get to see in our generation and our kids are going to get to see it and be a part of what God's doing, I want I don't want to miss it. Yeah. You know, like we've talked about the Jesus movement in the 1970s. There are many people that missed it. Yeah. You know, and there are many people who are marked by it and changed it. And of course, it it shaped and changed a generation. I I don't know what they're going to call this generation, this new great awakening, but I think we're we're in the genesis of it. And we are getting to be a part of it. I told you yesterday, you you know, we could talk about this more in the months to come, but I'm going to be 49 next

month. Yeah. And I just I'm sensing in my spirit a year of jubilee in my own life and ministry that there's going to be a freedom, a grace, a deliverance, a setting free uh in our church, in my life that it's like I'm not going to slow down. Yeah. In my faith. I want to grow. I want to experience more. And uh I don't think we've experienced it yet. You and I talked about this yesterday. The healings, the um signs, the wonders at Journey Church. I actually think we're just just scratching the surface of what God's going to do. And uh people are going to be unleashed. You've been you've been prophesying it for years. I don't think we just knew what it was going to look like. And I don't still don't think we really know what it's going to look like yet, but it it's going to come. Yeah. Amen. Here it comes. Here it comes.

Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. I'm ready. Uh I'm I'm getting ready, too. So, uh here we go. This is our last Sunday of the summer. This coming Sunday, Kara, August 30th. I'm anticipating it. We're going to go to deeper places this Sunday. Okay. Okay. We're not going to stop. Okay. I'm excited. As deep calls to deep. Amen to that. So, we ought to go. There you go. Uh we don't we don't want to go into the um deep end and be like, "Oh, yeah, that that's as deep as it gets." You know, this well does not run dry. So, uh yeah, I'm just with anticipation. And I'm looking forward to study time tomorrow with the staff cuz I just think God is just he's he keeps revealing to each one of us, you know, the word, the Holy Spirit's doing it. So I say I say, let's go, somebody. Let's go. Let's go. So Luke chapter Luke chapter 5 is where we're going to go.

So I just throw that out into There we go. the atmosphere of the podcast world that if you want to get into God's word, let God's word get into you and say, "God, speak to me." Yes. Let the Holy Spirit bring his word to life. So, amen. Amen. Well, Kara, good conversations today. We talked about Church in the Park. We talked about Kingdom Conference. We talked about why we do these things because there's got to be a why behind it or else it's just an event. But we're not asking for an event. We're asking for a move of God. Curiosity breeds answers. So, be curious, people. Ask questions. So, I'll just close us in prayer. Yes. And we'll just see what God's going to do. So Lord, we thank you in the name of Jesus Christ for what you're doing through your church for such a time as

this. Not just Journey Church, but all over the place for the 4,800 baptisms that 2819 Church had in Georgia. We give you the glory, God. And we say, Lord, would you move at church in the park for Journey Church? We say, God, would you mark this as a moment where you get the glory? Where we just simply say, God, it wasn't because it was manufactured by man, but Holy Spirit, you are doing a new thing. We pray for a new great awakening in the Pacific Northwest. We pray for every church to overflow with the power of you, the Holy Spirit. So fill us, Lord, with your Holy Spirit. For anybody that made it this far in this podcast, God, I'm asking that you fill them up, that you would burn in their hearts with revival. God, may your word come alive as Psalm 85:6 asks the question, "Will you not revive us again? Oh Lord, that your people would rejoice in you." We prophesy that over this generation. Will you not revive us, Lord? We thank you until your Holy

Spirit's poured upon us. We're just dead. But we know that God, when your breath comes in us, like Ezekiel 37, dry bones come to life. We are an exceedingly great army. And I'm calling upon an army in this generations that we would be equipped. That we would not allow the false religions of this world, Islam, to increase and grow. We would not allow false doctrine like uh the the LDS or Jehovah's Witness. But God, we would be true and faithful to your word for such a time as this. That your kingdom would go forth, that your will would be done right here on earth as it is in heaven. So thank you, Jesus, for your great grace. We declare over every mountain in front of us, it is not too great for you, God. Grace, grace to it. You will accomplish these things, Lord. And so I just thank you in advance. I thank you that you're going to give us a boldness uh to preach your word with clarity. And while we do that, we say,

"Let your mighty right hand heal. May there be signs and wonders. And may we get to see a shaking in our generation." Oh Lord, we thank you in Jesus name. Amen and amen and amen. Well, God bless you all. Thanks for joining us on Confessions of a Pastor. We will see you next time.