Awakening: Jesus Culture and Hillsong - Part 3

Last day of the Awakening: Jesus Culture conference went amazing. Here's the rundown:

We woke up, ate, and dashed out the door! Our alarm didn't go off again (technology...) but we made it before the first song started! Jesus Culture was back (yes!) and they played:

Sing My Love
Father of Lights
We Are Hungry
I Will Not Be Silent
"You Are My Everything"
I Want To Know You (Just the Bridge)
What Can Wash Away My Sin

After the amazing worship time Cindy Jacobs got up and spoke on standing on the shoulders of giants. She said that it's possible for a generation to set a precedent that becomes a promise for the next generation. Building on the lives of others so that the ceiling of the Christian fathers and mothers becomes our floor.

Lunchtime came and went and then came the Jesus Culture Band with three guest worship leaders: Bryan and Katie Torwalt and Kristene Dimarco. Fabulous time, they played:

Holding Nothing Back
"You Are Glorious"
Faithful
Break Every Chain (One of my new favorite songs)


After their set was through Banning, the director of Jesus Culture, comes up and asks them to play "You Are Glorious again, (which was a great decision) and they ended the set with a big shout.

Following worship was two testimonies about miraculous healings that happened today at the conference. People who had scoliosis doing cartwheels and carpal tunnels getting healed. Awesome stuff.

Mr. Reinhard Bonnke came up again and gave a word about signs and wonders. He used the story of Jesus miraculously healing the 5000 men and their families.

After our Chipotle dinner we walked back to the arena. On our way back we noticed a large group in the parking lot. Probably about 150-200 people in a tight group, all raising their hands and making a ruckus. We get a little closer and realize that they aren't just worshipping. They're praying for a man who just got out of a wheelchair, and is slowly, with help, walking into the stadium. As he walked the 50 yards or so, we got his story from the people there. He was injured in a car accident and has been in a wheelchair for 6 years. He's not walked this far and this long since. He ended up walking around the lobby for an hour after that.

When he scan his ticket to get into the arena, some people passed another guy in a wheelchair. He said he was paralyzed from the waist-down. They asked to pray for Him. (I was about 10 feet away when this happened.) They prayed and drew another large crowd of intercessors. After about 15 more minutes of prayer he said that he started to feel in one of his legs!

Neither of these people were dancing or doing cartwheels, but we're called to celebrate the little miracles too. Bill Johnson said later that night that you have to celebrate the first indication of God's presence. Don't wait for the entire room to erupt before you rejoice. Zach 4:10 says to not despise the day of small beginnings!

Jesus Culture lead worship next. Everyone was expecting "You Won't Relent" or "How He Loves" but they ended up rocking the house with other songs. They said later that they were recording for another live CD so that makes sense. Here's the setlist:

The Chorus of I Will Worship - "I will give You all my worship, I will give You all my praise for You alone I long to worship, You alone are worthy of my praise"
Your Love Never Fails
Awakening
Father of Lights
Fill Me Up
One Thing Remains

After the song ended, Banning got up and encouraged everyone to give one more shout to God. At that one little phrase the entire crowd of 15000 people shouted and kept shouting for 10 minutes (minimum). Amazing shouts full of intense thankfulness and praise. After those long minutes of a capella worship, someone, somewhere started the "oh oh ohhh ohohohoh" of Hillsong's "Your Name High" and it spread to everyone in the building. After a dozen choruses of that the band got on board and backed it up for another couple dozen measures. Awesome time of obviously spontaneous worship. Also, the lights people did an awesome job rolling with it. Fantastic spur of the moment, perfectly synced light show.

Bill Johnson, senior pastor of Bethel Church in Redding California, spoke on starting a revolution fueled by honor. He said that honor is recognizing people for who they are without getting distracted by who they're not. He shared that giving honor to someone releases their reward into your life. Matthew 10:41 says "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward." Whatever honor you give someone releases into your life the reward that person gets for being who they are.

And of course they ended with worship. They played a new song, "Dance" which is pretty much a sock in the face to people who think you can't make good Christian upbeat dance music.

The Jesus Culture Awakening Conference gets 10/10 stars from me. Wonderful wonderful wonderful. I've been to a lot of conferences and I've never been to a conference with this many spiritual leaders, this much musical talent, and this much hunger for God in every person in attendance.