Open Heavens Conference 2011 (Notes)

The attached PDF contains my notes from the Open Heavens conference we attended at Bethel Church in Redding, California, on October 12-14, 2011 (Wednesday through Friday). I’ve included a few notes from our experience at the Healing Rooms ministry at Bethel on Saturday, October 15, as well.

• Open Heavens Conference 2011 : Bethel Church, Redding, CA (that blue text is the link to the PDF).

• Note: you may need to “right click” and “save as,” depending on your browser.

Here are a few words of intro / disclaimers:

The titles. The titles here are titles I made up after listening to the teachings. I always try to boil my teachings down to one point- so that’s what I did here. The men and women spoke from a massive depth, from a life lived in tight communion with God. Thought it’s impossible to place everything they said in a since sentence, nailing the talk down to “one idea” helps me remember the talk and it’s thrust moreso than just recalling a date and time of the talk (those are placed here, too, for reference to the audio CDs and mp3s, though). In other words, blame the titles on me- not the teacher.

Life messages. It became apparent after the second talk (John Arnott spoke during the first session; Bill Johnson led the second) that these men and their wives were using very little notes. I know they had an intentionality in what they were going to teach. No one was “winging it.” They seemed to refer to what each other would talk about during the upcoming session. However, rather than being tethered to notes and manuscripts, these leaders were speaking from a deep overflow of a life lived with God. Remarkably, they are all older in terms of years. They are in a season (each of them) when many leaders are “winding down.” Yet, it seems that they are reaching the pinnacle of their ministry and choosing to rise to higher heights while pouring into so many others. In some way, these talks all seemed to summarize the heartbeat of where they are with the Lord and what He has distilled in them over the years. It was incredible to hear this wisdom from those who have “walked the talk” and are still doing so.

Notes aren’t endorsed. These notes are mine. They are in now way endorsed by Bethel Church (though I hope they represent the conference well- and believe they would say so). I was not paid to write these, I was not encouraged to write these. I simply typed as everyone was talking because 1) taking notes helps me refine what the Lord is communicating to me, and 2) my handwriting is so horrific that I must type in order to actually be able to read it! Obviously, if you learn anything here, attribute that to the speaker that is referenced. If anything falls short, attribute that to me.

Anniversary trip. My wife and I made this trip to Bethel for our 13-year anniversary. We were married on August 15- so we were right at two months later. However, this was planned- and wast the way we chose to get away. I am amazed at how much more “one” a married couple becomes- relationally, emotionally, and (yes, even) physically- after 13 years of marriage- when their spirits unite in an even greater way. We have walked in a season of oneness for quite a while (though, admittedly, we have had peaks and valleys leading up to that). I am grateful at the Lord continues doing in us, in that we were able to experience this together (I have pic of her in the last “chapter” of this notebook, by the way).

Information only. That said, what follows is “information” from the conference. You cannot capture the experience of worship in a notebook. Even if I tried to write about it. There is nothing here of the visit we made to the Alabaster Room (a prayer chapel on campus that I have pictured on the previous page), the trip we took to the Transformation Center (for an experience with their Sozo ministry), or the times we actually “fell out” in the Spirit (yes, it happened more than once). We also visited the Healing Rooms ministry. And, though it was incredible, my notes here only contain some of the mechanics I observed. The Lord touched us in powerful ways throughout the days in Redding, CA, including what He showed us in His logos (written word) as it was spoken with “life” and became a timely, living word (rhema) for the moment. You can’t capture rhema on paper- but I have tried, nonetheless.

A special note about the blue text. If you are reading this on a computer (via a PDF file), the blue text contains links to other places. Sometimes, it will take you to another place in the document (i.e, one speaker referenced another). In some instances, it will launch you to a website, if you are online.