Staff Stories

This is Confessions of a Pastor, a relentlessly real peak behind the scenes of Journey [music] 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. [music] Come on. There really is hope for everyone. This is Confessions of a Pastor. Today I'm your host, Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick, the founder, the fearless leader of Journey Church in Bend, Oregon. And I'll tell you, today is going to be a special episode. In fact, I'm going to argue today is going to be the best episode we've ever had before because we don't just have one guest. I brought some of the crew of the Dream Team of Journey Church staff today. They're in my office with me right now. They're joining with

me. And here's the deal. We do stories every single Tuesday at Journey Church. We we have a staff meeting. So, I've brought some of them in to share just some of those stories cuz I think you need to hear. We talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, all for the glory of God here at Journey Church. Well, here's the deal. Today, it's going to be all good. At least I think it's going to be good. Who knows? Maybe some bad maybe some bad and ugly will come out. But, but I want you to hear not just from my mouth. I want you to hear from some of those on the team here today. And I'm joined I'm going to start today with with not only one of our staff, but he actually is one of my family members. Come on, somebody. That is Let's go. This is Landon. He's my son-in-law, everybody. Hey, [sighs] let's go. Landon, good to see you in the house. Landon, tell the world what you do at Journey Church.

Well, I have the honor of being the group's director. So, anything that has got community, got disciplehip, and got plenty of oil on it. I want to be involved in that. Wow. Plenty of oil. Plenty dripping to the toes, down the beard of Aaron and of Landon. So good. I absolutely love it. But yeah, so I see over all the different groups we have, journey groups, the rooted disciplehip experience that we do, I direct that um along with some amazing coordinators on the team. So it's been really great. But more than that, of course, I'm a beloved child of God and I am a part of this amazing dream team. Um and I'm also your son-in-law, Landon. Let's let's dive right in. This morning we had a staff meeting. In fact, we had all staff this morning. We shared some stories and you shared a story I think will actually be encouraging uh for our listeners because uh I think we've all prayed even the atheists out there right? Oh yeah.

I mean every every person has prayed and usually most of the time when we pray not all the time in fact the more you mature in your faith uh you do this less but most of the time when we pray we're asking for something. Yeah. And you brought up this morning I'm going to let you tell it in your own story. Uh tell us go back to uh the time in which you're going to tell the story. Yeah. So, like 6 months ago, I'm fairly new in my position and we were doing a special pursuit night service where it was uh focusing on healing if you remember. Uh and if we told them, hey, if anybody needs physical healing or a total breakthrough, just come up and receive prayer. And uh so I was there praying over people and this one guy comes up to me and there's a there's a lot of different parts to this story. So, you're getting

you all are getting the lengthened version that I wasn't able to share this morning. Uh, but this guy, uh, I had never met him before, but I believe it was his, uh, girlfriend or wife brought him up. Um, and they lived off somewhere else. They never really came to journey. It they just happened to be there. Wow. Um, from my understanding, it was awesome. Mhm. But, uh, he comes up and well is brought up and he asks for prayer, uh, for healing. He had been in a car crash and he had this huge scar, ton of nerve damage. He couldn't move most of his face, couldn't move his arm. He was just very stiff. Uh, and he asked for prayer for healing. And I think I would be able to not be the only one that whenever I am faced with any of those really big like it's either it's healed or it's not. Like it's right here of oh man, I'm

either going to pray over this guy and he's going to get healed right now or he's not. and how oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh man all the doubts start seeping in when you're in that situation. Um was it just you praying over him or were the others that joined you? I believe it was just me at that time. Usually we'd like to have prayer partners. Pastor Noah could tell you all about that, but um at this time it was just me. Um and I was just praying over slap him with oil, of course. So physically you anointed him with oil. Scriptures talk about that. Oh yeah. Okay. So you pray over him. Mhm. Now you you don't know of any immediate healing then. Did you ask them to test it or anything then? I did. Me being uh bold in that moment. I was like let's just test something out. Start trying to move things around.

And he was definitely in pain. There was a little bit of movement, but we just continued praying. And you you got to have that dova fisted faith. You know the whole Shadrach Abednego of hey, we're going to do this thing and God's going to save us. But even if he doesn't, he's still good. Let's go. Um, so that's what we were having that night and I walked away thinking, well, God's still good even though he didn't. And I went on with my life and it was great and good. Glory to God. All that. Then uh oh, oh, there's one note on that I forgot to mention. There was a little bit of prophecy that happened. Uh, I was nudged by God to talk about or pray over him as a father. I I kept having this feeling like he was e either was a dad

or was going to be a dad or something along those lines. Okay. And so I started praying over him for him as a father and that broke him down. And he said, "Uh, my girl is actually pregnant right now and so I'm going to be a dad. Thank you for praying for that." And so he was so nervous because he couldn't go back to work because of his ailments. He couldn't he wasn't sure if he was going to be a good dad. So physically, financially, relationally, this guy's just going through it. and he doesn't have community either. You pray over him. You don't really get to see the answer results. Now, fast forward present day reality. This past Sunday, tell us what happened. We were having baptisms, which is the best Sunday. Um, so I had stuck through the three services. I was partnering with people each service and then comes to the 12:30 service, last service of the day, last service. And this is confessions of

a pastor and confessions of a group's director. by the third service, you are sleepy and you have to fight those things off and you have to really push through and recognize God's moving and you have to be awake and aware and so reminded to it. So this is after the 12:30 service at the at the very end. So that you give that call to if anybody wants to be baptized, this is what it means. This is what it looks like. Stand up right now if you want to get baptized. Um and then there was that hush, that really nervous, you know, where it's like, oh gosh, is anybody going to stand up? And one guy stands up and it was that guy from six months ago that I had prayed over. Um, and so he comes up and I had actually seen him raise his hand to get saved. So I didn't even realize when I was praying over him, he wasn't even saved yet.

Wow. But this Sunday he got saved and he got baptized. He went up, got dunked, came back down. Let's go, somebody. I took him through the whole process. Salvation baptisms. Uhhuh. And this is my very human self here. He was like, "Landon, do you remember me?" And I said, "I am so sorry. You look so familiar. I don't I I'm sorry. We pray over so many people and so many people come up to talk to us and our spirits and hearts remember them, but the fleshly mind can, you know, wave. Help me out here, bro." Yeah. So, uh, he he reminded me, "Hey, I'm the guy you prayed over with that couldn't move his face, couldn't move his arm." And he was like, "I can fully move my arm now. I can fully He had the biggest smile on his face. he could move his face. That's probably why I didn't recognize him ultimately cuz his face

was so he was like a different person entirely. Um but he said, "I'm able to work and my uh kid has been born. I have a six-month-old and I can hold him in my arms." And it was just so touching. It was just how God works. So in 6 months, many miracles happened. Physically, he had been healed. And we don't know, was that natural? Was that supernatural? All we know is you prayed it and he wasn't the same person six months ago. Well, the doctors had told him that there was no way he'd ever return to work. No way he was ever going to be able to supernatural. Every sign points to it. Absolute God. And the biggest miracle of all is he comes back to church and realizes he can have a relationship with that God who heals, with the God who saves.

Exactly. And now he's getting connected and kind of get in community. So he's not in that isolation anymore. So, it's not just like it just happens one off and it's great. Good job. Now, you know, live life as normal. No, you have been fully transformed. You got a new life that you're living now. So, friends, you're get you're getting behind the scenes of a staff member at a church. We meet a lot of people and we get to see God work in a lot of ways. And sometimes we don't even get to celebrate the miracles when it happens, but every once in a while, God gives you a glimpse 6 months later, maybe even more. I think that service might have been even longer than six months ago. And then you get to see, God, you're so faithful. You're so good. You're working even when I can't see it. It's so true. And could it be that God like humbles us that if we saw every miracle, we'd start to think like, must be have something to do with me, you know? But you know what? It's God that does the work. Amen.

We just step in. We're the vessels. We pray boldly, faithfully, believing God's best. Landon, such a good story. I'm so grateful you shared it this morning. I'm so grateful you got to interact with him. You know, had it been someone else, you would have missed that miracle story. God as well. You got to meet somebody. Now he knows somebody. Now he's been baptized. Now he's a father. He's going to raise his family in faith. So absolutely cool. So come on. Would you all give it up for Landon? Let's go, somebody. Now tight. I want to bring somebody else up here. I want you just to hear from some of our crew. You're not going to hear from all of them, but you're definitely going to get to hear from some. You get to hear from someone that works closely with me because she happens to be my assistant. Everyone, Cali, typically you're behind the camera, not in front of it.

Uh, but you do get mistaken for Kara all the time. I do. I do. So, y'all could be sisters and, uh, pretty cool. I could be your father, but, uh, that [laughter] that works, too. You know, make it work. Hey, so, uh, we work closely and we get to see we get to see the good, the bad, the ugly, right? I mean, you get to see the bad emails that come in. Uh, you get to see the good emails that come in. Uh, I mean, we we get to see all of it. But you and your husband, you've been serving faithfully at Journey Church for years now. Your husband gets to work here and uh now you just get to testify of God's goodness. So, uh I just I want to hear from you just what you see working behind the scenes. So, uh pretty exciting stuff around here. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that this Sunday, a couple days ago, was a Sunday I would have in my flesh wanted to forget if anybody was there. Um Well, look, now we got to say why.

Yeah, exactly. So if anybody was there, no, you probably had to close your eyes the whole time cuz the lights might have been [laughter] flickering the entire entire worship and and most of the service and not just like a little light flickering that catches your eye like you had to close your eyes to not have a seizure kind of lighting. Let's go there for a second before we talk about any stories. When God's doing a mighty work, there will often be at a minimum distractions, right? You know, when when God's working, very rarely is it just all smooth sailing and look at God saving lives, healing people. Exactly. There's something. And the problem with that is you don't ever know when and how or what that's going to look like. None of us walked into Sunday saying, "You know what? I'm pretty sure these lights are going to be absolutely awful and flicker and and the worst distraction."

Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm surprised we didn't have more seizures. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's the worst they've ever been. I mean, if you've been a part of Journey, you know we have weird things that happen sometimes, but that's probably the worst day we've ever had. And it wasn't for like a few seconds. No, it wasn't even like a few minutes. It was like the whole service. Yeah. So, you you were taking that personally. You were distracted by those things. It It seemed like a pretty heavy day. Yeah. But God was moving despite the distractions. Yeah. I mean, it's a but God story. I mean, Sunday could have just been written off. I came in to work Monday, yesterday. Um pretty pretty not happy attitude. Um some of the staff in here knows I kept being like I just hate today. I knew I had to go fix those lights. The day before I didn't get to see the fruit because one of my areas had a big, you know, a big issue. Um so cuz you help oversee production.

Yeah. Okay. All the all the production things. So, not only did my team come in and we completely fixed it within a few hours and got to re rewire fix, I mean the problem came to like showed itself to us very very quickly. It wasn't hours of troubleshooting. So, that was just a blessing. Um, but I also with all the the hats that I get to wear, I also have the privilege of getting to steward when um someone gives for the first time, being able to just help bring that to to your attention so that we can make sure that they're reached out to and um just so we could even just start praying over them and that trust of that that step of trust they're taking and trusting God with their their finances. And um it's someone that I know and I'm not going to share who it is obviously but um a small gift but like the the widows might you know just the gift that was just trusting God and I knew that this person um two years ago now three years ago

when we um did more our more initiative that u I know we've talked a lot about this podcast essentially it's a financial campaign y we didn't like to call it a campaign but we were challenging the church to give more financially to accomplish more right we wanted to see more done more people saved, more people reached. We want to uh expand our um territory more. We wanted to do remodel and have more kids space. We wanted to pay off our debt on property. So, we didn't get all those things, but we did challenge the church to get more. And it was challenging. It was when you talk about people were offended. Yep. People don't like it. And this person I knew was offended and didn't like when we talked about money a couple years ago and was very confused why the church needs our money and would even talk to us about our money when it's just supposed to be. And even though the Bible says a lot about money, people get offended about money. And

could that be why Jesus talked so much about money? Exactly. And this the same person that had that that spirit about them a few years ago gave for the first time this Sunday on a Sunday where we didn't even really push giving and shephering like, you know, stewarding like you're teaching right now about the biblical importance that it really is. And they took that step of faith this weekend on a on a Sunday that me and my flesh would have wanted to write off, but a Sunday where 20 people were baptized. A Sunday where multiple people gave for the first time and trusted God with their little for more, but just I a name that I even got to to recognize and know that they just took a step of faith when three years ago they were offended to even talk about money in church. Wow. And there's so many I'm going to call them miracles here because I will say the enemy when he causes an offense in our hearts wants us to flee what

God's doing. Right? He wants to give room in our hearts for the enemy to work more. And that's what the devil does is he wants to take an opportunity. I've always used giving as a litmus test of spiritual transformation. Yeah. Because if someone's not giving there there's something holding them back from investing in what God's doing. So if they're coming to church, if they're worshiping church, if they're getting all those things and they're not giving, there's no judgment. For Romans 8:1 tells us, there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I don't know why someone doesn't give when they don't give. But when they do give, yeah, we can say that's a fruit of the transformational work of Jesus. Yeah. Not emotions, not anything else. We're saying someone's letting loose of something they've been holding on to, right? And it's done privately most of the time, right? It's not being right up

front in worship and showing that you worship well. We don't pass a bag or a bucket or plate. So, when you're giving at Journey Church, this is between you and God. And you're really trusting the Lord with your resources. And I'm believing God's best over this person. I love how you just shared this morning just that picture of transformation. Where somebody was 2 years ago is not where they are now. And just to see that and to celebrate what God's doing in lives. And absolutely love that. I love what God's doing. I appreciate you greatly, Cali. Uh, all the changing those cables behind the scenes. Nobody's going to see that. But, well, now all of our listeners and those who are watching, they're going to see that and hear that. If I do my job right, you guys don't have to see anything. But that's those are the unsung aspects of ministry, right? Uh, that you can ugly glorify God. You can glorify God through

changing out cables and and getting down and dirty and uh just We've got a good team. Hey, we we got the best team. Let's go. Well, hey, thank you, Callie, uh for for what you're doing and thank you for celebrating the faithfulness of God. Appreciate it. Would you all give it up for Cali? Come on. Right where you are. Hey. Hey, let's go. Hey. Next up, we've got none other than Pastor Noah in the house. Everybody, this man, he's a prayer warrior. He's like Jacob. He's going to wrestle with God till he gets that blessing. But he also might walk away with a limp. somebody. I was saying hopefully I don't walk away with a limp. That's how you know you've been touched by God. Hey, come on. You're no longer the same. Sometimes healing looks like a limp. Come on, Pastor Noah. Uh you've changed a lot over the last few years. Like physically.

No. No. Come on. [laughter] I just mean even spiritually like you you have wrestled with God. And I do think that um God has marked you in a way that you're not the same person you used to be. So, like Jacob, I just think there's been a shift uh in an Israel moment where you've um striven with God and uh I just grateful cuz because I've watched that journey. You shared it a few weeks ago. I this is going off topic of what I asked you to share because I'm asking some of the dream team to share stories from this morning, but you did share recently at our intercessor gathering. You preached a dynamic, powerful message. I mean, emotional. I I I I didn't even want to look around the room at people crying cuz I knew my eyes were swelling with tears, you know? I'm like I don't know what's in the room. Maybe dust or something. But uh when you eyelash

talking about your daughter and breathe and ru and just this just your timing of the message, it was powerful. Um but you did share a personal story about going to Africa and being like this is weird. Like I've never seen this [laughter] stuff before. And now here we are years later. Yes. Doing the weird. [laughter] Hey, doing the weird. You know, that that's probably the key. These are all my words, not yours. I'm paraphrasing if I could. Yeah. You know, just going back to when you were a teenage boy, uh, on a mission trip, thinking you're just going to go on a mission trip and then God revealing, man, there's so much more in this world than meets the eye, right? So much. So, and what's cool about Jesus is that sometimes he he [snorts] speaks when we don't even pursue him.

Like I think a lot of times we come with our own agenda in mind. Like that missions trip in particular. Like I didn't want Jesus. I didn't. And so when we went in my brother to and I we totally had our own agenda in mind. It was the bring skateboarding to Uganda, right? Not the missions trip. We knew religion, right? And so in that uh we came with our own agenda. Yet Jesus still meets us wherever we're how good is he? I I want I didn't like and that whole thing that that that story we're sharing about prayer in the beginning it was like I was prompted like by my mom hey do you want to pray? I'm like no I don't want to pray. Like that's that's where my heart was at that point if you're honest and real. Yeah. In the Bible we don't see like we see Jesus coming to people wherever they're at and people recognizing him. And I think what matters is our response.

So good. It's like yeah what the weird that goes around like where is my heart at? How do we gauge that and where so good? How do I respond? That brings us to the stories today, which I want to say from my heart and then you tell your story and your heart too. I feel like cuz you know uh throughout the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, we read about Jesus. He's criticized all the time for who he did go to like you just said. Yeah. And in his day, those who are identified were the sinners and tax collectors, you know. And in the group of sinners, you've got the prostitutes, the drunks. Tax collectors of course were the ones that really denied their faith. They're taking too much money. They're robbing and stealing and stuff. Today, the in the church, we've got our own judgments of those who are far from God. Yeah.

We've got our own labels, you know, and whether people say those labels or don't say that label, we we really do have our own modern day sinners and tax collectors. Would you agree? I Yeah, absolutely. Yes. And it's hard not to have your your lens kind of skewed, especially the longer you're in church. Yeah. You you start gaining this phariseaical heart like the heart of a Pharisee, right? Where it Yeah. Like we've got it figured out and they don't. Exactly. It's a religious spirit that that sneaks in if you're not careful into all of our hearts. Yeah. You know, and what I'm just really excited to testify is we had tons of baptisms on Sunday. We've had a lot of baptisms this year and behind every baptism is a story and I just I I'm constantly just shocked, you know, like, oh, okay. Like,

who else could get baptized? Oh, Lord, you're meeting people right where they are. Right. Right where they are. And there were some of those stories on Sunday. Would you maybe just share a few of those because I shared one with you that you ended up knowing more than I even did. and maybe you can just share uh at least a couple of those stories and just share the powerful work of God right now in our generation for such a time as this. Yeah. Jesus is moving all over the place and it it's important to stay attentive to what he's doing and having that heart of love, right? First Corinthians Paul is like, "Hey, pursue love and the gifts." Yeah. So, it's not either or, it's both and. And so, what we get to do is uh out of pure motives, you see the Lord work. And so you see that where he steps into the

mess of every single person, you just respond. And so one with a baptism story, um I'll say following to Sunday, a lot of times people will fill in baptism request forms online. So for those who know they want to get baptized and they they they feel that stirring of the Lord in their heart just to be faithful in that. I actually get to follow up and call. And so in that process is say, "Hey, this is what you can kind of expect of what goes on at Journey Church and baptism." So you get to hear some of the stories before they get baptized. Exactly. And so some of those uh actually the one you mentioned, I'm I'm going to put in two stories into one. So I one of them come in and um it was a lady that puts in the baptism request form just saying, "Hey, I'm I've gone through a lot. I want to get baptized."

And there there was a little bit of uncertainty in answering these questions. And so, um, I go ahead give a call before that Sunday happens and, um, I come to find out that, um, this person who filled out the baptism request form was, uh, previously, uh, they're living a homosexual lifestyle. So, this is a woman married to a woman and, um, her expouse uh, committed suicide. Oh, wow. And in that, now she's experiencing grief. All this stuff's happening in her mind, and all she knows is that, hey, Jesus is moving. and I got to respond. And so in that uh she fills out a baptism request form knowing that hey, I want to uh get baptized and put my faith in Jesus and express it this way. And so in that I give her a call. She explains all of what's going on. And I get to pray with her, which is so incredible.

And um just saying, "Wow, hey, Jesus has got great things in store for you. This is just the beginning. Amen. And I can't wait to see just uh he's called you righteous because of his blood. Like this is who you actually are. you're walking away from new identity, leave the old life. Yes. Super powerful. And so, yeah, so we that we're we're putting that in. Hey, you are new in Christ and this is what you're doing. And so, I get to talk to this uh this lady and explain that here's what today is going to look like. And I end up getting to pray with her, which turned into a whole is a whole different can of worms, which was an incredible divine encounter in that. But, um Jesus is moving. And then at the end of that phone call, she also says that, "Hey, you're probably gonna go ahead and call my boss as well because

she filled out a baptism request form." I'm like, "Oh, no way." Okay. And so, um, I I go ahead and call uh her boss as well. And it turns out her boss was also um living the lesbian lifestyle and says, "You know what? We're going to get baptized and we're going to follow Jesus." And actually right now we're me and my wife are getting divorced, right? And this is really sticky because uh they also have a child in the mix and everything and just trying to figure out what does that look like. Turns out all of them work together as well. And so [laughter and gasps] not but I will say this is I I got to pray with them all and then introduce them. They came on a pursuit night. So the Thursday before a Sunday, we got to get them some good connections with other prayer ministers, prayer warriors, uh and just family, right? So we can keep uh bearing

one another's burdens and then also continue in that journey of disciplehip. Yeah. You're not alone. We're here for you. I mean I told the one the latter that you're describing like this is going to be hard. Yeah. And she looked at me and she just like you're telling me and I was like actually I can't even tell you cuz I I can never even put myself in their shoes. Yeah. And and here's here's the reality. to truly follow Jesus in the world that we live in and to say my identity is not in my sexuality, but in who God made me in my mother's womb and who he's making me now. You are literally going counterculture. Yeah. You you're going against the crowd. And all that you've identified with, just think about that. It'd be like following a sports team your whole life.

All your jerseys, all your hats, all your posters in your room, everything is that team. And then one day you decide to switch teams. Yeah. Well, you know what? Everybody that you used to hang out with that like the same team, they're not going to like you anymore. They're going to make fun of you now. They're going to make, you know, I mean, it's just pretty big deal. It's huge. It's a huge deal because you're not switching teams. You're you're changing identities. I was about to say I think you're not switching teams, but rather you're going from death to life, right? Like no, there's something special that's happening there. And one thing we see even in this society is that people are responding to life. They're the ways of this world are not satisfying. The like the culture, the worldview, everything is it's telling you something like it's going to satisfy. It's going to fulfill your deepest needs to be

secure, to be accepted, to all those things, right? And one thing we only find that actually fills that void is Jesus. And when you respond to the Holy Spirit, like this is what we're seeing is people are like, you know what? I've lived this lifestyle, but now I found it. Like there's something else. And that's what st is what I've been looking for. Yes. And where they weren't getting it in any other place, it's only found in Jesus Christ. Yes. Well, Pastor Noah, this story, I didn't expect it Sunday. Yeah. I didn't expect it last week. And like now that we're going into June where the whole world is celebrating Pride Month, I think we're actually seeing God rewrite the story right now that the enemy is trying to make something loud and proud. But let me just say, God is working behind the scenes. There's a

move of God that I'm believing we're going to see a great awakening. And we're seeing we're seeing the glimpses of revival. And uh I I'm just I'm so proud of you and what the prayer culture you've helped develop at Journey. uh people being delivered of their sins so that they can walk set free. I totally agree. They're called from darkness into light. So good. Yeah. This is who they are in Jesus. God's not stopping just at Journey Church. I think this is like you said, it's revival. So good. And this is just who he is and the king's coming, right? It's time for everyone to know who they actually are in Jesus. Let's look up. So, thank you for sharing that story. I look forward to having you on in the future, too. Could you all give it up to Pastor Noah, everybody? [applause] Prayer warrior. Okay, I'm super excited. We have a guest here that gets to see a move of God every week in a church service full of

little people. And I'll tell you, uh, many churches have kids ministries. They have kids programs. Uh, Jesse, pull that mic right up to your mouth here. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get in there. And, uh, Pastor Jesse oversees our Journey Kids church. And when I say church, I mean touch. This is church because Holy Ghost is moving mightily. There's not a week that goes by, Jesse, that you don't share a story about what God's doing. And this week was no exception. Yeah. And uh we want to testify to the goodness of God because when a child puts their faith in Jesus, they get no lesser version of the Holy Spirit than an adult. Am I right? Oh, that is so true. Yes. So, so true. No junior Holy Spirit. No junior Holy Spirit. No kid Holy Spirit. Not one day you'll grow into the Holy Spirit. Right now.

Right now. And the cool thing is, I mean, you've been testifying this for months of witnessing a move of the Holy Spirit in Journey Kids Church. Yeah. And you've shared stories of the kids praying, kids worshiping. I mean, you've even had, we weren't going to go here, but I'm going here. I mean, you've had the manifestation of demonic showing up uh in children. Yeah. I mean, and even one of those that got baptized this week, you've gotten to see deliverance, salvation, and then baptism. I mean, that's pretty amazing. It's I'm I'm speechless. Yes. [laughter] Um which you rarely are speechless. That's I'm rarely speechless. That's amazing. I mean, I I just said this morning, I could write a book and maybe some someday I will. Pretty much every Sunday I write I write a book of all the things that happen on a Sunday.

Do you write them down? Yeah. So cool. I have to because there's so much glory happening and I don't want to ever forget a piece of it. Um I write down as much as I can, but the the glory of God is so deep. He truly just loves children so much and um to just I'm just so honored to be able to be the one to see that, you know, um because it's just so so rich. Um and like I said, that book would be really really long. So good. Yeah. Maybe it's in series. Uh so so we had six kids get baptized on Sunday. Is that right? Six. And you were telling the staff this morning in this in our all staff that it's not that you taught on baptisms, right? It's not that you prepared the kids. We were doing baptisms. Kids came to you and said, "I'm ready. I want to I want to get baptized." Is that right?

That's right. And you know, kids love to uh push the limits. you know, that's a that's a typical kid. Um, and in equal parts, they love to push the limits of the kingdom, too. And I just I see that um the more that's a word right there. The more that you uh just confirm their identity in Christ, the more they take God at his word. Wow. And so, while we did not uh teach on baptism, not that we won't or that we don't, but just that we haven't recently. Um, and you know, teaching kids comes with lots of insecurities, too. And so often, I think even on Sunday, you had said something from the stage that we don't baptize children. Uh, and so then I'm like, well, we have two six-year-olds today. Uh, cuz typically that's a little young.

I usually I never know what flies out my mouth. Uh, and I think my point when I usually make that statement, I usually say infants. Totally. And it's a clarifying statement of denominations or uh faith cultures that baptize infants through the infant baptism or whatever the the covenant is that and we just simply say we don't see that example in scripture. Right. And we you know although we might honor a tradition we we just want to follow that practice culturally here that it's after you have been saved that you get baptized. Yes. Water baptism. And typically, I don't think that six-year-olds typically have shown that that is their decision to make that step of faith in the depth of just an adult.

You know, they're understanding articulate I'm a sinner. Yeah. I understand eternal life. Yes. The Holy Spirit. But you know, I think you actually shared a testimony on this podcast if I'm not mistaken of um just a move of the Holy Spirit that we had um witnessed in Journey Kids of three, four, and 5-year-olds praying for their fathers. And um there was just something so special about that evening specifically. Um the Holy Spirit just came upon us. We all felt it. It was it was amazing and so beautiful. and the two six-year-olds who chose to get baptized um were in that room on that night. And so there was just it was a testimony for even me of my own self to even go back to the insecurities of a kids pastor. There's many uh but um well just yeah to go back to that and just to say like the the Holy Spirit does not have a junior version. Amen.

And so when we experienced the Holy Spirit together, I knew that they knew, right? Because they experienced the same Holy Spirit I did. So let's let's talk about that dichotomy for a moment because if I could and if I'm wrong, please correct me. I think the insecurities come with the reality of there are people that make decisions when they're children. They grow up, they go astray, they wander, whatever the case might be, and then that didn't really mark them for life, you know, and they they move on. Yeah, I got baptized at seven, but I don't really I didn't really believe. I don't know. I'm just writing that story. But then on the flip side, there are people that say, "I made a decision at five years old to follow Jesus, and I know that I know that what I made is true."

Whether that was with grandma or at church with the Sunday school teacher or whenever that was, it was a real genuine decision. And so I think the tension of, correct me if I'm wrong, is that insecurity of like, is this real? Is this going to mark them? Is [clears throat] this a a an actual decision that they're going to keep walking as a disciple of Jesus? Yes, absolutely. Um and just in no other season more than right now, um I just feel that these children understand their identity in Christ like never before when this generation is just hungry for truth and they just they take God at his word so naturally like I've never seen before. And not to say that they just they don't ask questions. They ask the big hard bold

questions and they are just truth seekers. They they want to know. They want to find it. And they believe his word. So good. And um it's just it's a movement. God God gave I truly believe that God gave this generation an extra heaping dose of just discernment in a world full of um fake AI and um demanding that they see everything. You know, when God sees them, Yes. and when they hear the truthant, they are [clears throat] so validated to the core of who God made them to be that it's not they don't need to question it. They just know it because God gave them extra discernment. My my wife has been saying for years like the pendulum always swings.

We see this in politics all the time. it it goes uh you know left and it's red and you know they they take uh positions of leadership and then all of a sudden it swings over hard and all of a sudden it's it's blue and right you know and then all of a sudden it swings over and goes back and you see this all the time I mean at a minimum every 8 to 12 years you're watching these radical shifts happen very rarely stays conservative or liberal it like swings like we don't like what the liberals are doing let's go right you know and uh You're seeing this this shift happening. And I would just say the same thing in the world of screens where children are being raised with iPads, iPhones, AI, everything's digital streaming immediately. I think we're going to see a shift.

Yeah. I mean, Kara's been saying this for years, like we're going to see a shift where this generation is going to reject non-personal uh interaction, right? You know, they want something authentic. Yeah. And I mean, um, I'm not sure many of you guys maybe remember this when we, uh, were just about to open our new kids space. Yes. Uh, we did a walkthrough and we prayed through every room, um, all the spaces. It was so good. But I will never forget walking into the entrance of Journey Kids and my heart just breaking and I don't know that I've ever sobbed so hard at work. Wow. Um, but the most random at the time, seemingly random, um, message was put on my heart that these that there

would be kids walking down this hallway that were actively detoxing from technology and screens. Wow. And that their parents were actively feeling helpless in what to do with with that. Yeah. Because it's an unprecedented season of we've never we've never seen this in the history of mankind. Wow. Um and um man, we've seen some big behaviors coming from that. But to just know that God gave me that as a preparation for what was to come, that we now are equipped and know what we're praying for. And so to be even even able to tell these kids, you are not what that screen tells you you are. And you are not asked to see us. We see you and God sees you. And that is what is firming up their foundation of faith because it's it's a different way than the world. So good.

And God prepared us in advance for the all that was going to come out of that. Yes. It's so good. And some of these baptisms on Sunday, these kids, they it's not like they have just easy lives and healthy families. Some of them are coming from brokenness. And so to make this decision, they have to overcome, as you told us this morning, fear. Yeah. I mean, what a courageous thing for a child to say, "I'm going to overcome fear for my faith." It's not like they're getting candy. It's not like they're getting more screen time. It's not like they're getting a toy to get out of this. they're doing this because their faith, you know, and that was just my favorite part of the day, I think, to just be able to have the perspective to see that the Holy Spirit also prepared them in advance in the same way because all six

of them um as I just as they're coming um into church that morning, I would just touch base with them and um see how they're doing, you know, are you still on? Are we still doing this? All those things. And um every single one of them individually not hearing anybody else told me the same similar message of God is asking me to do hard things and I have a lot of fear but I know that he asks me to do hard things but the Holy Spirit is my helper and he guides me to do those hard things. And so to just kids are saying this know that not one kid said this or two kids said this but all six had the same message put on their heart. Wow. That's a move of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit equipping his children for what's to come.

Come on. That is a It's I mean the no exaggeration. It's a mighty move of God happening in our Journey Kids Church. And we've been calling out revival. We've been praying for a great awakening. We've been declaring Central Oregon shall be saved. And I'm just so proud of you, Jesse, uh of what you're doing, how you're doing it, uh the humility that you bring, the posture. I think it was important for people to hear today that God is moving in this generation. Yeah. Because you think about the next decade, 15, 20 years, next couple of decades, these kids are going to be in leadership. And if Christ doesn't come in that time, I would just say that there are going to be some leaders that are going to do things in our generation that have never been done. Oh, and it'll be because you've been sewing seeds and you've been watering with your dream team and just amazing. So, thank you. Yeah. Oh, they're leaders of leaders.

You know, we need a bigger church because they are already the church and they're going to be bringing all their friends and all their families and all their wives and kids. And so we revival in the schools, everybody come with this. Here we go. We're seeing it. Well, hey, could y'all thank Pastor Jesse, everybody? Best kids pastor ever. All right, we're going to close this up with someone who's normally behind the scenes making all this stuff happens. Come on, Hannah. You Hannah is in the house, everybody. Hannah does all things communications. And what that means at Journey Church is she's got about 3,000 jobs, everybody. Uh I mean, that's the best job. You are juggling so much [snorts] so often that you often find massive spelling errors

all the time because you are literally have one hand on the keyboard over here, one hand on the keyboard there, pushing out graphics, social media, uh, video, these podcasts that you help with every other week. I mean, you are doing so much, Hannah. I don't even know how you do it. Well, a really, really, really cool team of superheroes that serve all the time. Yeah, you do. I was going to say I know why. Because you're a mom. True. That helps. Moms are able to do so much more. Hannah, you're amazing. And uh I just I had to at least pump you up because you do so much um here and I'm super stoked to have you on this team. And I just think you have one of the coolest hearts and spirits I've ever known. Uh like when you pray, I'm just always moved in

the spirit. I just I love it. Your voice changes. It's like you're talking to your daddy and uh it's just a move. And um I I'm trying to even remember what was your story this morning. Bring on here. I found out more about my story since this morning. Are you kidding? So, I'm going to share more of the backstory if that's okay. Oh, you had multiple stories this morning. I did. One of them was of my son that just was like, "Oh, praise God." You know, shout out Pastor Jesse and all of Journey Kids Church because he, you know, being a PK can go one of two ways. You can either hate being at church cuz you're here all the time or you can love it and look forward to it. And he told me on Sunday that um he's like, "Mom, if I only come to one Journey Kid service, that's not an okay time. I'm really sad.

It's not enough." But I have to come to at least two, three, or four. And I was like, "We don't even have four services, but okay." [laughter] But he was like, "That is what really makes me happy." And he's four and this is his favorite place to be. And so like what better story of transformation than that? But I do have some other And to clarify, uh, a PK for anybody that doesn't know what a PK is. Yeah. Sorry. Is a pastor's kid. So typically pastor's kids grow up and they're dysfunctional and they don't want to go to church cuz they're always at church. PKs just have a really negative connotation. I got it from my three kids. People be like, "Oh, you're a PK." Well, My wife and I are first generation Christians. Yeah. And so I'm like, I didn't even know PKs were a bad thing, right? You know, but there's all the stereotypes. And so your story is a testimony of no, the PKs at this church love church. They love the Lord. And

they aren't going to follow the generational curse that somehow PKs have to be hate church. So I love that testimony that your son loves church. what I'm believing over just my kids and the other PK's here. Just even church rats as we call them. Like they're not necessarily a PK, but they are here all the time, whether their parents are superheroes or whatever. And they get to run behind the scenes where other kids don't get to go. I'm just praying that they don't just get a secondhand experience with Jesus or or their parents' relationship leftovers with Jesus, but they have their own encounters with God. And it in 20 years they're not saying like uh the church burned me or this happened or whatever, but instead they're saying, man, when I was 12, I laid hands on someone and they got healed. I got to experience the power. Like I want them

at 24 and 22 to say like I've got 10 years of testimonies of watching God move through me. Not a testimony of being a prodical and coming back, although the Lord works all things for good. But I want my kids to just to be transformed. Amen. Yeah. Well, I I stand in complete agreement with you. Absolutely love it. So, one testimony was your family. Tell us more. Tell us more. Okay. So, the other one um goes all the way back to in the fall, um Noah and I led a rooted group. Shout out groups director Landon. Come on. Um and we always love leading groups, but a member in our group, his name's Burr, and he uh has Burr. We love Burr. His life's been changed by Jesus. his life has been changed um by Jesus. And then we've just Noah

and I have gotten just like a front row seat to get to watch part of just that transformation unfold. Amen. Um to get to do life with Burr and his family a little bit and we're still in a small group with them. And so we just love them so much. But um I say this because Burr's life was transformed. His family life his family's life is being transformed. Yeah. um he got baptized a few weeks into rooted and it is like spilling over into everything he does like his who he works with and all these things. And so this brings me to my story of transformation from this week where um I have a lady who does my hair who I've known for a long time but like not well. Um and I like for the last year and a half have been inviting her to church, inviting her to church and she's always like, "Oh yeah, baby sure. Okay." And

like five weeks ago, um her husband comes by himself. Oh. And then comes back the next week with his wife and kiddo. And they've been here the last four weeks. Wow. That's dope. It's so great. Starts with the husband. Let's go, somebody. And so, um, on Sunday, I ran into her in the lobby, gave her a hug, and was like, "I'm so glad you guys have been coming." She was like, "Oh my gosh, we love it so much." Um, ah, she didn't know what she was missing. No, she didn't. And she says, "He's going to do the baptism thing." Oh, come on. And I was like, he's getting baptized. The baptism thing. Yeah. And I'm just like, I love this so much. And she was like, yeah. And he's been so weepy. And I'm just like, wow. Grown like manly men being transformed and leading their heart heavenly father.

Amen. Are you kidding me? And so he comes and not only him, but two of his co-workers all get baptized. They were the first three people to get baptized at our first service. And I'm just like, this this is going to start a revival. And so all this Hannah, we had so many men get baptized Sunday. Seriously, I was like, what is up with men right now? Godly families. Let's go. Come on. Oh, that was so exciting to me. Oh, for real. Cuz like we know that when a husband is truly encountering Jesus, their families, they just get transformed by default. Like it's just it's beautiful. The devil just lost. Yeah. And um so anyways, come to find out that I had been inviting my hair, so this guy's wife Burr in our small group had been

inviting him to church. And so I'm just like, "Oh my gosh, God's economy. I cannot like I can't I can't pay it. He loves people better than we do." He totally does. He's always doing way more than than we see. But it's just it's so good. Amen. Yeah. So, oh, now now all I remember now why I invited you on here. That's why cuz God's doing cool stuff. We get to see it. And what you just said reminds me of what revival really is. It's not that God never stops being God. His spirit's always moving. We just join with him and what he's already doing. He's already pursuing people. Yeah. He's already doing the work in people's lives. Now, when our hearts are aligned with his Yeah. Everything changes. We get to see the fruit. We get to see lives changed. And when you like get invited to like interceding for people and then you see

your very specific prayers get answered in their lives, like when you just ask the Lord to like just let me in on it. You're already doing cool stuff like this. I get to be a part of it and like then you get to see those prayer those very specific prayers that you're like there's no way I would have prayed that outside of just spending time with the Lord and having him put things in my heart that I he wants me to be interceding for and then you get to see them answered. Like there is just literally there's no greater joy than to just get to be a part of what God's Amen. I think that's going to be the challenge of this podcast today. Just let me in on it, Lord. Just let me cuz God never stops being good. He never stops being faithful. He never stops being true. Never stops being loving. Never stops being merciful. Just let me in on it, God.

And that I that that just hit me. I I'm going to be challenged by that today. It's like a kid helping their parent cook, you know? They're not really doing a ton. I mean, yeah, they are. Let me just That's a great Amen. Let me in on it. Yeah, let me in on it. I mean, that's what kids want to do. They want to be a part of what their parents are doing. The parents are going to do it regardless. Totally. So, let me in on it. Yeah. Let me cook with you. It's so good. Oh, man. That's a powerful word. Well, Hannah, thank you for what you do in the kingdom. Thank you for how you do it and what you're doing. I just say while you're here, I'll just do a quick commercial plug on one of the things you're starting to push is that is the kingdom conference coming this fall. Come on. That is inviting God's kingdom come and his will to be done here on earth is in heaven. We've got some of the most dynamic speakers coming. We've got just some modern day, I would say even go so far as to say prophets. I mean, we're going to see some massive evangelism.

We're going to see some healings. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday morning, Saturday night. Yeah. Sunday morning. It's going to be so good. It's going to be so good. I think that Kingdom Conference is going to mark Journey Church. I agree with you. I think it's going to mark people individually. Like, the Lord's going to set people apart at this conference. He's going to speak words that I don't know that we've seen before. But I also think it's going to mark Central Oregon. And I think O central Oregon is going to look different post this kingdom conference received this I have zero context for what that looks like but I just I have a holy anticipation for what's going to happen for sure so that's our commercial everybody if you want to sign up just go to journeyinandinben.com and you will find events go to events

find kingdom conference sign up today space is limited you want to get in on it somebody oh Hannah thank you so much for sharing thank you for the anointing that's on your life on family. Uh just love seeing what God's doing and what he's going to do. And uh if you all didn't know, Hannah's married to Noah, who was on earlier. And so you guys are the dynamic duo. Uh just love you both. And uh love you guys for sharing. Pastor Jesse, Landon, Callie, thank you guys. That's just a part of the crew here. This has been a great episode today. I would love to end in prayer for all those that have stuck around. We we believe in an impartation that what you've heard today can happen in your life. Uh that God is omnipresent. He can be with you wherever you are. The Holy Ghost is with you in your workplace,

your home. If you're listening in your car, I want to encourage you. So pray with me. Lord, we want to be we we want to just do what you're already doing. So Lord, I thank you for that invitation that God, your kingdom can come, your will can be done. We celebrate you and we thank you, Jesus, that you can change anyone lives. We've been reminded today that even when we didn't see it coming, what this this world that's confused, the culture of even the government bringing these things into the school systems, you are reversing the curse. You care about people. You love them. And the testimonies today are a reminder of what you are able to do. So Jesus, we give you the glory today for every single story. And we say, Lord, we want more. You are able to do more than we could ask or think. And we're saying, God, would you do more in our families? God, would you do more in the kids of this generation? God, would you continue to rescue and redeem even more who have lived a lifestyle that they thought was

who they are, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, any of the identities that's not of you. We say, God, call them into a right relationship with you. And we say, Lord, thank you for inviting us into this story. And there's no judgment on this. We just say, Lord, all we want to do is see lives transformed by you. So we thank you for every living testimony today of what you're doing. And uh God, until next time we come together, I say Lord, would you remind every listener today that you're doing it in their lives as well. May we be the disciples that you've called us to be in Jesus name. So be it and amen. Well, hey, thank you friends for joining us on Confessions of a Pastor. Until next time, come on, you go live this out. God's work in your life. There's hope for everyone. See you next time.