YOUR KINGDOM RULES!

So yesterday was amazing! Cory Harrison came to visit just for a day and he taught a class on mission. Instead of talking about hypothetical mission for the Army, he decided to talk about practical things we could use in mission. He spoke about the history of the church referencing Ephesians 4:11 and the five offices essential "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowlegde of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (vs 12-13) Of the five offices mentioned in verse 11, the church as a whole has only embraced the last three in the list: evangelists, pastors and teachers. Pastors came back into the church with Martin Luther's reformation. Evangelists came next with William Booth and then, with the start of Sunday School, the office of teacher was reintroduced to the church. (Again, he was speaking of recognized offices in the church as a whole). However, the first two mentioned in the verse - apostles and prophets - have not come back yet.

Then, Cory began to speak about prophecy specifically. He referenced 1 Corinthians 14 where we are commanded to "eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." (vs1) And we are told "...you can all prophesy...so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged." (vs 31) In chapter 14, Paul also makes a point of explaining why prophecy should be desired by believers. It works inside the church and outside the church. It builds up the body of believers (vs 4) and causes what Cory called "face-plant evangelism." Which comes from verses 24 and 25 where Paul tells the Corinthians that if an unbeliever comes in to where they are and they are all prophesying, that unbeliever will "fall down and worship God, exclaiming, 'God is really among you!'" Cory told us about something that happened at his church in order to illustrate this point: It involved a teenage girl who was a self-proclaimed athiest. She came to one of their meetings and, afterwards, three people who had never met her before prophesyed over her. She went home and began telling her friends, "I was wrong - God is real." The day after she received the words of prophecy, she brought one of her friends to the person who had taken her to Cory's church and asked that person to tell her friend how to become a Christian. She hadn't accepted Christ, but the power of God caused her to become an evangelist nonetheless.

Cory spoke for a while and it was so good! God was among us - speaking to us! When he finished, since we had no set schedule for that day because our classes have ended for this term and we're about to go on Thanksgiving break, Cory asked, "Now what do we do?" And I (who hate hearing the Word and not acting on it) said, "Let's do it! Let's prophesy over each other right now!" So, Cory set a chair in the middle of the room and we came, one by one, and sat in it for the rest of the group to prophesy over us. There is no possible way to describe what it was like - especially in writing. Suffice to say that it was incredible! God spoke through Scripture verses He placed in our minds, words He gave us and visions (some pretty crazy visions too!) It was awesome! And so encouraging. I'm excited about what He said to me. I could probably write a whole nother blog twice as long as this about one word which was spoken to me. Both Nathan Holt and Cory told me that my ministry will not be according to the economy and rules of the world! I live by the economy and rules of the Kingdom! How cool is that!

Yes, Lord! Your Kingdom come! Your will be done (by Your rules and Your economy) - on earth - in my life and ministry (and everyone else's for that matter) as it is in Heaven!

Abby Hartman

Dance With God

"Everything is meaningless if not done for me." God said that to me once. And I must have lost sight of it because He had to remind me of that tonight. He reminded me that I am selfish, lazy, prideful, faithless and self-seeking. A word God gave me before I moved to Chicago was servanthood. He asked me to serve others. I realized today that I don't serve even my brothers and sisters that I spend countless hours with each day. I've lost sight of them because I'm so involved with myself. If I cannot love and serve my roommate, a fellow believer in Christ, how am I to love the beggar on the street?

Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" and then He tells us the second greatest commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)

It's as simple as that. Love God. Love your neighbor. Simple. Very simple. It really doesn't get much simpler than that. So why do we make it so complicated?

I don't love God. I don't know how to. It's been my desire and prayer that I would fall head-over-heals in love with God. I don't believe I can fall in love with God without His help. He is love so I need Him to show me how to love.

Let's tie these two together. Serve. Love. I believe, and am being taught, that to love is to serve. To serve is to love. Out of my love for God I should desire then to serve Him. And as I serve Him I am showing Him that I love Him. Simple.

I don't serve my friends, the ones I spend countless hours with each day, because I don't love them. Why don't I love them? Because I'm so involved with myself. I'm quite a selfish person, thinking of myself most of the time. It's not about me though. It's not. It never has been. It never will be.

God is calling me to strip off and lay aside the sin that so easily entangles me. Pride. Selfishness. Laziness. Apathy. And He is asking me to clothe myself in Him. To put on compassion, love, joy, peace, kindness, humility.

This isn't just a me thing but the community in which I live is struggling with the same thing. We're pretty selfish. That's a harsh word to take, but it's true. How can we function as a church, as a body of believers, if we're thinking of only ourselves?

Another word. Pray. We do not pray enough. We do not pray enough for the city in which we live. We do not pray enough for the world in which we live. Prayer is the key to God's heart. I heard that once. The more we pray the more we know God.

We are not walking with God.

I have been reading this book, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places written by Eugene Peterson, and he mentions 'dancing with God'. I can't even begin to describe to you how powerful those words are to me .... 'dancing with God'. My only prayer is that as you read those words God will give you revelation of what it means. I don't even know what it means yet. I'm still chewing on it. But if you could imagine dancing with God, being apart of everything He does. Letting Him lead you in all you do. Never letting go. A dance that never ends.

I have a desire to dance with God. I pray that you would too. I pray that the church would dance with God. Because, whatever it means to dance with God, we are not doing it. He desires to dance with us. I have this vision in my head right now ....

I see a high school gymansium. The lights are low. There are streamers hanging from the ceiling and music is playing in the background. In the center of the gym I see God. He is standing there, holding out his hand, in my direction. I cannot see myself, but I know I am sitting in a chair up against the wall along with the rest of the church. We see Him, but we are not taking His hand. He is waiting. He has been waiting for a long time.

If we only knew the beauty of the life we would have if only we took His hand and let Him lead us in this dance. But we're scared, we're lazy, self-seeking, prideful and so we don't take His lead.

I want to know what this dance is. I want to know the beauty of dancing with my God. So whatever it takes, whatever it means, I am going to let Him lead me in this dance. This dance is more than you can imagine. This dance is bigger than you think. This dance will change your life and the life of the world around you.

Ask God about it. Seek Him out and ask Him about this dance.

I urge you to dance with God.

-Rebecca Lewis

Surrender of Control

One of the hardest lessons to learn is to surrender. Jesus said we have to loose our lives to gain it. The more we share life together as a session, the more we realize how selfish we really are. No wonder God is with holding from us those things he has prepared in advance for us to do.

Acts 2 reminds me of the disciples having to surrender even the presence of their Lord. They had images and words, but no physical manifestation of the one who had become to cornerstone of their lives. For the first time, they were alone, they were to follow his directions, they were to relinquish their plans, and just wait. The promise will come, just as He said.

How hard is it to wait for something you know is coming and yet it seems so far away. How difficult is it to wait when you know that there are people, things, and places in the way of the one thing you wait for.

How sweet it will be when it comes. How sweet it will be when this faith image becomes a reality. The day I touch, feel, smell, and enjoy the fruit of total surrender.

Come Lord Jesus Come~

learning

alright. i'm not really sure what to write about other than how i am still amazed to even be at the War College. it was one of those divine coincidences. it just so happened that i didn't get hired at the Indiana camp. it just so happened that i got hired at the Metro camp. where i just so happened to hear about and meet people from the War College. and it just so happened that i got accepted, everything worked out, and here i am. God has definitely been teaching me a lot. i was really slacking on my prayer time at home. now i have truly learned to pray without ceasing. it's kind of hard for me to gather all my thoughts together and actually explain what i have learned since i have been here. i will just say that sometimes we think we know so much about God and having a relationship with Him then he puts opportunities in our way that make us really think and realize that we can never fully understand Him and there will always be room for learning. God has already blessed this year so much. and i'm excited about the things that are yet to come.

<>< Amber Ulery

The first week

In the past week it was probably one of the best weeks that i've had in a while, for so may reasons. The Holy spirit has shown where ever we are and i can tell that he has made opportunities for us to talk to others but still me personally have not taken all the opportunities but i've been working on it and its going better and God has just blessed me with the strengh to just be friends withanyone that i talk and to tell the people about him. Now that i'm here I feel so joyful to be here for him and to not not have other distractions like t.v.,ect. you guys know what i mean. Now that a new week is coming up i more excited then before because i'm looking forward to meet new people and to help the community in what ever they want because now that i'm in the war college i always want to do anything for anyone and i wont do it just for doing it but i do it because i want to. God has also given me more compassion for others and that is awsome because i've been asking him for that for a while, and feels great in a way and I recomened for everybody to ask for that. Everybody in this session is also great and I couldn't ask for anyone else, even though I'm the only guy It's still good. On tuesday we helped out with a program called infyuz in the Mt. greenwood corps it was pretty alright specially because i was just playing basketball with some of the young adults, i got to know some people and i feel like i made some connections with some of them even though i'm not that good playing basketball but good enough to school some kids. I'm good but I still want to grow more spiritually so i love it if who ever reads this would pray for me and the rest of the session.

God bless

Stephen Rivero

TWCC Conqueror's Session 2008-09

Pics from Our Divisional Prayer & Praise Youth Night & Official Launch of the War College Chicago Campus!

From the past two posts you can already sense that God is already fulfilling his purposes here in Chicago's Southside! Stay posted for more testimonies to follow as well as pics from events coming up. We are praying 24/7 this week, and already one fo our neighborhood youth has committed his life to Christ!

I leave you now leave you with a link to pictures from our official launch at our Divisional Prayer & Praise Gathering where our DC blessed us and challenged us to fulfill our calling as the Chicago Southside War College Campus.

Blessings from our CONQUEROR'S session!

Stephen Rivero (1st year)
Amber Ulery (1st year)
Abi Hartman(1st year)
Neisy Castillo(1st year)
Meghan Labrecque (2nd year)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtgreenwoodpictures/sets/72157607227918427/


JP

First Days at The War College

The first few days at the War College have been very challenging, not only spiritually but also physically. I have realized that my spiritual life with God, was not that close. This week at the corps we've had 24/7 (for those who don't know, 24/7 is an entire week of prayer 24 hours a day for 7 days). Which I just experienced for the first time, and I got to be so close to God. I felt as if he was directly talking to me with no interruptions, I think it was either the fact that I was alone with Him, or it was really early, but it felt like I had a one on one conversation with God. 

The past 3 days I've felt God closer to me than ever. I believe that today God revealed to me a calling; God wants me to be a "mother" to the "motherless." It's not that I don't want to have any kids of my own, because if you know me at all you know that's one of the things I am looking forward to when I get married. But I believe God is calling me to show his love to those who have never been loved, even before they were born. 

As I continue my journey in the War College, I feel as if I am getting stronger in the Lord, each minute. Prayer is a really big part of my life now, and I know it has just been only a few days. But now I realize how powerful prayer is. 

To those reading,

I send a blessing from the War College, and if you are feeling the calling please don't fight it, just follow it!

Neisy Castillo.

So it begins!

The War College Chicago has officially started! All the students arrived this weekend. With many hours of cleaning and setting up furniture their living quarters were very welcoming. It is exciting to see a group of people come together that have the same desire.....to further the Kingdom. The students are still coming to terms to what is going on here, but they all are very enthusiastic as to what is to come. Today they went on a tour of Blue Island, which they all seemed to enjoy and got them ready to go out and get things started. Than they went over the rules and regulations of The War College, it is always a hard thing to make sacrifices and to be submissive, but they will soon see that they will benefit from it. Than they were introduced to what youth ministry is suppose to look like. It has been quite an exciting day! All the students are enjoying things thus far!

Things to pray for:
-Students to get settled in well
-Kingdom eyes (for leaders and students)
-Alberta (Vancouver TWC student that couldn't get her visa)
-Leaders

Grace.

Congratulations INCENDIARY Session 2007-2008

Congratulations & Farewell
Incendiary Session
2007-2008

“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; and you, Incendiary session, will prophecy, dream dreams, and see visions. And you will do wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and Fire and Pillars of smoke. Joel 2:28

The sun will turn to darkness and the moon into blood. And you Incendiary session will be the light that will shine before the great and awesome day of the Lord, and you will be harvesters along with all of us all around the world for the great end times harvest. And it shall come to pass.”

On behalf of TWC Chicago Southside, we rejoice in your accomplishments and perseverance. Your preparation is nothing to take lightly or put aside once you get to where the Lord is sending you. Let the fire within you set ablaze those you will touch.

Believe for miracles; signs and wonders, for its our calling as the Day of the Lord approaches. We believe in you and will pray for your continued strength as you fight till the very end!

Grace & Peace,

The Chicago Southside Staff:
Envoy Josh & Jen Polanco
Nathan & Naomi Holt
Thom & Cassandra Moffitt

The War College
Incendiary Session
2007-2008

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Board of Reference – Farewell Greeting

Congratulations upon reaching this significant beacon of spiritual formation and training – graduation from the notorious Vancouver 614 War College. You have gone – and gone successfully – where others fear to tread.
In the weeks, months and years that follow may ‘the God who answers by fire’ (1 Kings 18:24) use you to contagiously set people, communities and nations ablaze with the combustible love of God.
Thank you for being sanctified arsonists in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver – may the lessons you have learned now spread like wildfire across the dry and barren lands of your future service.

Lt. Colonels Richard and Janet Munn – Principals
The Salvation Army
International College for Officers
and Center for Spiritual Life Development

McDonald's coffee

I am in the office today at the Mt. Greenwood Corps building. I woke up late so decided to go to McDonalds for breakfast. I drove up to the little window. A lovely lady gave me a morning greeting and asked what she can get for me. I ordered a number 8. She asked me what I wanted to drink. I ordered a coffee.

Now, here's the important thing. I have never enjoyed a McDonald's coffee.

I was sitting here asking Meghan and Amanda what I should blog about. They didn't have any ideas. I then said that I am drinking a McDonalds coffee and it's not very good. One of them said, "You already knew that though, right?" Yeah. I did already know that. The other one chimed in with a "Why do you keep drinking it?". I shrugged. It was finally suggested that I blog about that. So, here it is.

I keep ordering coffee at McDonalds because I am a person of hope. One day, I am going to order a coffee and it's going to be amazing. Right? Every time that nice lady asks me what I want to drink with my breakfast I say "Coffee please" always thinking, "It's going to be good today." Ever time I go there I carry with me the hope that it's going to be a good one. And I don't just say to myself that it'll be good. I think it. I believe it (usually until after the first drink). It's also funny because I've always disappointed when it's not good. I'm disappointed like I actually expected it would be good.

Now, why do I not carry that same attitude when it comes to the things of God? Why am I not as hopeful in the healing power of God through his people? Why am I not as hopeful when I attend church? Why do I not order a cup full of the Holy Spirit every time? Ya know what's even more funny about that? I've never been let down when I've made that order.

"What would you like today sir?"

"I will have a large Holy Spirit with one cream and one sugar."

Every time I asked for that it's been amazing. I cannot remember a time when I've been let down. He always shows up. Sometimes it takes longer than others. It usually looks and feels different. He always comes in some form or another. But, how often do I just not expect anything to happen? How often do I just not order the coffee? How often do I deny McDonalds the opportunity to make a great cup? How often to I not give the Holy Spirit the chance to show up? 

Am I making sense here? 

Sometimes I go into church, or into a situation with less faith, and less hope than I drive up to that little McDonalds window with. Sometimes I don't even order the cup of God's power, glory, might, mercy, grace, etc... I just say, "Oh, well, he might not show up. I'll just get an orange juice." Then, there are other times, when I do order the cup of God, but even before I've had a drink I've already decided that it's not going to be very good. So, there's no hope. I've given it a try, but haven't given it a chance. I've put God in a situation where He has to prove something to me. He has to be good. He has to show up and blow me away. I don't order it knowing that it'll be awesome. The problem with that is that we are putting God in a situation where if he doesn't show up in a big way he's let us down. How many of us like to be put in a situation where we know we have to do something big? Why are we starting God off on the back foot? We also put ourselves into a mode of deciding why the coffee could have been good. "I added 3 sugars instead of the usual 1 this time. That's why it was good." You see, if we already have decided that God's not going to come through we make sure there's plenty of cream and sugar around "just in case". But, when WE add something to God's work WE can then take credit for how WE improved what God gave us. Now, no one would ever say that, but isn't it true in a lot of situations? Don't we come up with plans, just in case the coffee isn't very good today? How much faith are we carrying when we do that? How much hope do we have?

What if we just ordered the coffee every time? What if, every time we did anything we just said, "I'll take what you have God. And I'll take it as you give it. And I know it's going to be good."

What if I carried the same expectation of God as I do that cup of McDonalds coffee? What if I lived with that same hope, that same faith? The day I get that great cup of coffee with be a great day indeed. How much more faithful is God to us than McDonalds? Won't he come through every time? Don't we believe that? Maybe we should start acting like it.

This means war

We're at war right? I'm not talking about Iraq. I'm talking about the spiritual. What do you think? Are we at war? Well, if we're not than we should disband the Salvation Army for sure. If there's no war to fight than we should all take it easy and just enjoy God in worship and fellowship and feasting. But, there's a war on. We will have plenty of time for that stuff when we get to heaven. Right now, there's a battle to be won.

The War College is all about this war. We're looking to train soldiers for battle. There are many fronts where battle takes place and all those fronts make up the great war of the spiritual realm. Very early in the War College Chicago Campus' life we've come against an enemy attack. The war is on.

We, here at the War College Chicago have officially declared war on negativity. Yeah, that's right. Negativity.

I have had a personal battle with negativity my whole life. It's everywhere in our culture and it's not right. There's nothing right about it. There's never a time where it's okay to be negative about things. Is there? Correct me if I'm wrong please. Before you do though, imagine a world free of negativity. Heck, imagine a church free of negativity. Imagine if we didn't complain about things every week after the service. Imagine if we didn't gossip about people. Imagine if we didn't pass our thoughts on a person "just so they know what they're in for". Imagine if we didn't lace everything we say and do with just a little bit of negativity. 

What would we do? We'd be positive!

Don't call me cheesy (that's negative). Call me an idealist. Call me someone that believes that this world can be better than it is. Call me someone who believes that the church is meant for so much more that bickering over lunch after the service. Call me someone that has pulled out my sword, strapped on my shield, and told negativity to turn back and go tell it's master that it doesn't have authority in God's church.

How am I doing this?

1. I've decided to carry an attitude of warfare. Negativity is my enemy and I will treat it as such. I will not brush negativity off as something that just happens, or something that's just human nature. When I see negativity I will unsheathe my sword and fight. 

2. I have made sure that people that I'm close to know that I'm at war with negativity. I warn them that if I hear negativity I will challenge it. I let them know that I'm not fighting them, I'm fighting negativity. If they say something negative I will ask them to counter it with something positive. But, I only do this with people that understand. If they don't understand I simply pray against it when it rears it's ugly head. That said, there are very few people that I spend any significant amount of time with that don't know that I'm at war. They all expect it.

3. I pray about it every day. I pray that God keeps negativity far from me. I pray that God equips me for the battle. I pray that God heightens my awareness of it.

4. I equip myself with the Word at all times. It's my sword and negativity knows that it's sharp. The Bible doesn't talk much about negativity. It talks about being positive. I've noticed this in my study. So, I have to fight it the same way. I don't want to talk about negativity. Instead, I want to talk about the good things. I want to focus on things that are good and pure. Like the Bible, I don't give negativity the time of day.

5. I fast for this warfare. Every Friday the War College Chicago and Mount Greenwood Corps people fast. While fasting we have prayer focuses. Mine has been the battle at hand. 

6. I spread the word and ask for help in this battle. I can't do it alone. I need people to come help. The more people that join this fight the more ground we take for the Kingdom. We're an army after all. Let's claim that and push back negativity with all the positivity we can muster. 

Come join the battle.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Nathan Holt

You must have found us

If you're here we can only assume that you found our web site. If not, we apologize for the assumption. You can still go to our web site and learn some more information about us at www.thewarcollegechicago.com.

If you've managed to find us than you'll know that we've got a War College in Chicago South Side!

Whoohoo!!

Excuse me... that was an outburst.

I'm Nathan Holt. I am the Program Director at the Salvation Army Mount Greenwood Corps in South Chicago. My wife Naomi and I came here in mid February of this year. Our main purpose for coming was to take part in the War College.

What's the War College you ask? Check out our home page. That will give you some info.

This is all new stuff here in Chicago South Side. We're putting together our promotion materials and our application packs. Recruitment has started and we've got 10 slots to fill. If you want to find out more about applying check out our APPLICATIONS page on our site.

This blog is going to be taken up by staff and students. Please check back in every week to read what's going on in Chicago South Side.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Nathan Holt