INTRODUCING: The Your Dream Project Network

Friends it’s time for something new. I’ve enjoyed blogging over the past 2 1/2 years on WordPress and The Prophetic Sound Man Blog. I’ve enjoyed the interaction with you here and I look forward to more of the same with this new Blog and Social Media Network I have just created and founded in April of 2012: Your Dream Project Network.

I want to encourage you to visit www.yourdreamproject.com and subscribe to the blog, check out the new podcast and follow the new network on Facebook and Twitter. My desire here is to cross-pollinate the two blogs and to raise awareness of the new endeavor that is The Your Dream Project Network.

I will continue to post in The Prophetic Sound Man Blog on topics that relate only to music, sound etc. More of my general blogging will now transfer to YDPN. I really encourage you again to check out the new Blog and plug in to the network. I am really excited about this new endeavor. I feel it will only open more doors to meet and interact with a growing online community.

While I consider the Prophetic Sound Man to be geared towards a very specific niche’, The Your Dream Project Network opens up a much broader door that relates to many more people… specifically their personal hopes and dreams.

I look forward to interacting with many of you and being a part of seeing your dreams manifest into reality.

Talk to you soon… Jason

Don’t resist the rest – It’s where new dreams are made

The Lord says… “Don’t resist the rest. If you’ve come to the end of a season, if you’ve seen past dreams fulfilled… don’t run about seeking for the next step… Rest… It’s in the rest where the new dreams come.”

I woke up this morning stirring with vision, right as I woke up. I feel the Lord is speaking that when we rest (sleep) it’s the place where new dreams come… If we try to fill our lives with activity trying to figure out the new thing, the next step… we will pro-long our reception of the new dreams God want to give us in the place our resting… Realize your season, and if it’s rest, embrace it for the new dreams will come and you WILL run again… GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!

Your identity is in your sonship, not your fruit… Things God showed me through a tree…

Guys I went crazy on Facebook today… So I decided to transfer these posts into blog form all together… Enjoy

A tree is still a tree in the winter… A tree is still a tree when the leaves fall and the fruit has been picked and distributed…

You are still a son/daughter in your winters… You are still a son/daughter when your fruit has grown, matured and been distributed.

Your identity is not in your leaves or fruit… Your identity is in being a tree… You remain a rooted, grounded tree in all seasons.

Your identity is not in your fruit… Your identity is in your sonship… You remain a rooted, grounded son/daughter in all seasons.

Embrace the winters, knowing you remain alive though those who perceive you may think you’re not… Embrace the rejuvenating winters, knowing you will flourish again in due season…

Embrace your winters, knowing you are alive though those who perceive you and judge you think you’re washed up… Embrace the rejuvenating winters, knowing you will flourish and run and distribute fruit again in your due season…

People judge a successful apple tree by how many apples it produces… While God sees success before the seed in the ground even sprouts open… Act like you already are, because you are… God says you are long before other people will realize you are. Don’t worry about people who judge you for acting like you are before they realize you are, because they just don’t know you and God know that you already are who you are. People will call an apple tree an apple tree once it produces apples… God calls an apple tree an apple tree when that tree is only a seed… People will call you what you are after you’ve finally done something… God calls you what you are before you were formed in your mother’s womb. I’m about to break my computer I’m typin this so hard GLOOOOORYYYYY…. I was an author before my book came out… I was a musician before I ever played a note… I was a traveller before I even took a trip… And you are what you are before you ever DO ANYTHING… Let that which you ALREADY ARE MANIFEST IN THE EARTH AMEN

When Your World Feels Torn Apart – God Sees Above and Beyond Your Now

Today, April 3 2012, the Dallas Metroplex experienced the touchdown of numerous tornadoes that caused damage to countless homes, cars and more…

Watching the news, I can’t really imagine what it must be like for those people who either emerged from or came home to a house that looked nothing like it had the day before… But I have experienced times in my life when I felt as if my entire world was torn apart…

I’m reflecting on some of these times in my life tonight, and whether you’re someone facing the loss of physical property like these tornado victims, or something else… The loss of a relationship or of a job… I pray that this post gives you perspective and hope that God sees ABOVE AND BEYOND YOUR NOW… This is an invitation to come up with Him, to come and see how He sees… There is peace and joy awaiting you in His presence, in His perspective…

My wife and I are facing some things in our near future that are “attempting” to cause us fear, doubt, confusion and misunderstanding… But I have decided to not allow it… I’ve decided to lead my wife in faith… Nobody else controls our destiny, nobody else controls our emotions and nobody else holds our future… Our destiny, emotions and future belong to the Prince of Peace alone, Jesus Christ…

So let me share a few stories with you… some of the most desperate and down times of my life… Times that I now look back upon with an understanding that they were actually doorways into new adventures that I would never have otherwise had… Times that I am now thankful and grateful for… Even relieved that they happened…

To tell the first story I need to take you all the way back to the year 2000… I had just graduated from bible school in December of 1999. I spent the next months working as many as 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week saving money and preparing to move to Lakeland, FL. I had been in a long-distance relationship for a number of years, a relationship that I felt could only progress if I made a major move. I had already been to Lakeland during that time, even had lined up a roommate and an apartment. I had saved enough money to last me a few months and even had a potential job lined up. Looking back on it now, I can’t believe I was actually about to do this ha ha…

Then, about 3-4 weeks before I was about to leave, I received a call from the girl that I was in this relationship with. She began to tell me that she didn’t feel that the timing for me to come was right. She told me that a woman in her church had told her that I was not the “right one” for her. Initially, during this first conversation, I was not really worried. I honestly thought this would blow over in less than a week. So I ended the conversation without really thinking much had changed. I didn’t take this seriously. I told her I would talk to her in a week to see where she was at, fully expecting her to have moved on from this minor block in the road… But the next weekend came, and after talking to her, nothing had changed and I was two weeks away from the moving date…

This time things were different for me… My emotions really took over and I remember doing what I often did, I went for a walk with the Lord. I can remember this walk SO SPECIFICALLY… I was confused, I didn’t understand. I was upset. I had been planning this for almost a year. I had spent time, money and effort setting up for this move. I literally thought that I would eventually marry this girl, I mean, why would I move all the way to Florida otherwise…?

The lowest point that night I can remember was when I crumpled to the ground in the middle of this field that I was walking in at 11pm at night, weeping before God… Not just crying, but slobber running out of my mouth, lying on the ground in pain weeping from a depth inside that I still can remember… And God was there! I felt abandoned by her… I felt abandoned by my plans… But MY FATHER was there, and He knew right where I was… AND HE KNEW RIGHT WHERE I WAS GOING EVEN THOUGH ALL I COULD SEE THAT NIGHT, THROUGH THE DARKNESS OF THE EVENING, WAS A BROKEN HOPE…

I wanted to paint a vivid picture of my despair, because it was very real to me in that moment… But also because it gives me more reason to rejoice as I explain what occurred in my life over the course of the next two months…

When it finally sank in that I was not moving to Florida, I realized… I need to figure out what to do with my life… This was not just a visit to Florida… This was a year of planning, planning for the next major season of my life and now it was gone… All Gone! Now What God… That was my prayer… And HE began to roll it out for me, as if He had it planned all along… He did…

I remember going to two of my best friends at that time (and no matter what happened after this season of my life with these guys, I will always remember them being there for me at this time of my life) These friends of mine were beginning a ministry in Fort Worth, TX on the campus of Texas Christian University. The first thing they did was invite me to join them in this ministry endeavor, an invitation that I accepted. The next thing they did was offer me a place to live as one of the guys was looking for a roommate anyways, so I moved into his apartment with him in Fort Worth. They even paid me a small monthly salary as a part of the ministry that covered almost all of my half of the monthly rent in our apartment… The job that I was actually going to leave ended up graciously transferring to an office they had in Fort Worth, so I had an instant job over there as well. This all occurred within the first few weeks after I learned that my life path had changed… But wait, it gets better…

About a month after we started I was ministering in the prophetic during one of the college ministry meetings, and as I glanced out into the crowd, I saw one of the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen in my life. To make a long story short, within a few months after seeing this girls smile, I knew that she was going to be my wife… That’s the story of the first time I ever saw my wife, Ann-Marie… What an exciting year and a half after that as I got to know my future wife and then married her June 15, 2002… 1 3/4 years after the time I laid on the ground in a field weeping before God… but guess what… that night… God saw June 15, 2002…

I can remember looking back at my life, about 6 months after that devastating August night in 2000. I remember the moment I realized that God really had it all lined up for me in Fort Worth… He had a job lined up for His Son, a ministry, great friends and a gorgeous wife… Wow!

I could have wept over the closed door… But thank God I got back up and moved on to what was waiting for me…

The second story I want to share has to do with one of the most desperate times I’ve even felt as it related to provision and employment…

I was strangely, simultaneously in a mix between one of my most favorite things in the world and one of the most disruptive times I’ve experienced in life… I was on a plane to Hawaii one week after I had been told I would be laid off from my job by months end.

I will honestly say that I had not experienced anxiety like I was having ever before, nor have I since. There was such a fear of the unknown residing within me. Before I was made aware of my layoff, I had been invited by a new friend to minister with him at a conference in Hawaii (suffering for Jesus, I know…) The Lord even provided a plane ticket for me free of charge… At the time, I thought it quite amazing how I could be experiencing such favor and such anxiety at the same time in two different circumstances…

Now it happens to me all the time ha ha ha… Back to the story…

So I land in Hawaii, and it just so happened I had an entire day to myself before my friend arrived. I remember having a desire to visit Hawaii alone to just walk in solitude and to retreat, but the scenario I was in was not what I had pictured…

I just remember walking on the North Shore searching for the set of LOST and crying out to God. I later ended up near an area on the North Shore called shark’s cove, a great snorkel spot btw. I was walking along the ocean on the sidewalk when a mini van on the nearby road suddenly skidded to a halt. It grabbed my attention and I looked that way. For SOME REASON, the back door of this Astro Van had swung open and the driver pulled over to close the door… As I gazed towards the van, I was drawn to the Rainbow clad license plate which read RELAXO… RELAXO!!!

Let me first say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Hawaiian people and culture and I feel more like one of them than the German American that I am… To see this license plate in Hawaii came as no surprise at all… But the fact that I saw this particular plate out of all the cars on the island at that one moment, I KNEW it was a message from my Father… I began to just laugh out loud right there on the sidewalk that day and something changed in me that moment that has really lasted unto this day. My Father was saying to me, son… Relaxo.

It’s not always easy, but there is a PLACE of peace in the Father. I believe that what we practically deal with in our daily lives is the fact that the world and all its details tug at us to move out of this place of peace. We just need to realize that we have to continually move back into His arms if we ever get out of that place. It’s not always easy no, but it is available.

After I returned from this trip, I spent the rest of the month praying for what I would do next. This was back in December of 2005 or 6, I can’t even remember right now… At the beginning of January, a man walked up to me and handed me a check for one thousand dollars. This was part of the encouragement I needed to step out onto a path of faith, and to step into a new season…

Since that “layoff” I now refer to it as my PROMOTION… I, along with my wife, have travelled the four corners of our nation, literally, ministering in hundreds of churches… Travelled to many nations… Made life-time friends… And it’s been amazing and REALLY HARD ALL AT THE SAME TIME BUT I’VE LOVEd IT…

And what if… What if I wouldn’t have got laid off… What if I’d stayed on staff? I will never know… But what I Do Know is that I’ve lived soooo many of my dreams in the past 6-7 years since this PROMOTION. GLORY!!!

So as I look back over these two times in my life tonight, I am so encouraged. These were HOPELESS TIMES FOR ME. There really was no hope in the natural… But hope came anyways… Hope came from my Father… And He is still with me just as much today as he was as I laid in that field and as much as He was when we laughed together on the North Shore at that Astro Van license plate.

So where are WE now… My wife and I are facing some things, some changes… Some things that WE can’t control.

I couldn’t control the decision of that girl in Florida in 2000. I couldn’t control whether or not that church would keep me on staff. We cannot control some of the decisions that people are making that influence us right now… Whether they are right or wrong REALLY DOES NOT MATTER. If they are right, God’s in control… If they are wrong… God’s in control… The X factor is NOT THEM… IT’S THE FATHER GLORY GLORY GLORY

BUT WHAT I’VE LEARNED AND WHAT I ENJOY IS THAT NO MAN OR WOMAN HAS THE POWER TO CONTROL ME, MY WIFE OR OUR DESTINY as individuals and together. It’s in the hands of the Father… And what does He have that awaits us…? What I’ve learned is that it’s always better than what I’ve felt like I needed to hold on to… Haaaaa Haaaaaa

So these are just a few stories, just a few times in my life… I’ve had others… But I am getting older, wiser, and experienced… More than all of that, I’ve learned more about the character and nature of my Father. I’ve learned how to better rest in the storm surrounded boat that I’m in because Jesus is next to me… Did you ever stop to think that Jesus sleeping in the storm surrounded boat was an invitation… to do the same… ha ha

So what can turn a bleak announcement into excitement? Getting past the initial disappointment and MOVING ON TO THE NEXT APPOINTMENT…

ARE YOU DIS-APPOINTED… WELL MOVE ON AN GET YOUR NEXT APPOINTMENT

I don’t believe God allows us to be disappointed without already having a next appointment for me… PEOPLE WILL DO THIS, BUT THANK GOD HE’S BETTER THAN US…

So I hope you are encouraged… I am… I’m ready to go on more walks with God again…

I’m ready to go hear His voice for the next thing for myself, my wife and our family…

I leave your with one of my favorite stories in the bible, when Elijah was at the brook and it dried up… He had to move on to the next place… The place of provision that he’d enjoyed ceased… If he would have moped, he would have died there… But he got up and he moved to the next place of provision… and guess what… He also saved the lives of that widow and her son… THE FATHER KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING… IT’S NOT ABOUT YOUR “BOSS” or anybody else… Just look to the Father and walk to the next place… Keep yourself moving… if nothing else, keep moving in prayer… keep seeking fellowship and encouragement from people who are in a season to do so for you…

We all feel like our worlds fall apart at times of our lives… But I trust, as Father has done so many times for me before, that He will rebuild with pieces old and new, something greater than you had before, something better that what you could have imagined, something better than if you’d simply held on to the past….

Talk to you next time…. Jason

The “BIG BREAKTHROUGH” MYTH… consistency is the key

“When am I going to finally have the breakthrough?”

It’s a question I, and probably many of you have asked yourself and others… When will I finally arrive? When will I finally get to that “next level.”

I’ll be 36 in less than a month… I’ll be honest with you and tell you I think I’ve lived a great, blessed life thus far.

I’ve been travelling for about a decade, playing music, ministering to others and it’s been a blast…

I’ve also worked random jobs like cleaning carpets, delivering/driving gigs, Craigslist gigs, selling stuff on eBay, designing websites, creating podcasts, doing focus groups, creating seminars and so many other crazy things…

I have 3 cd’s out and released my first book two months ago and have sold over 250 copies… I’ve played music from Maine to L.A. and all in between… led teams to many nations… And we are planning to go on a 3 month summer tour this year travelling from Houston TX to the Midwest and through New England… AND YET, AS MY WIFE AND I TALKED TONIGHT, SHE BROUGHT UP AN ISSUE OF “WHEN WILL THE BREAKTHROUGH COME.”

I had to tell her, and I am being candid sharing this with all of you readers, that LIFE IS A SERIES OF BREAKTHROUGHS – THE “BREAKTHROUGH MYTH’” IS WHEN WE THINK THERE IS THIS MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH THAT AWAITS US, AND ONCE WE GET THAT ONE, WE WILL “ARRIVE” AND NEVER NEED ANOTHER.

It’s just not true. It’s not true for anyone… Even those who break through to places many of us would call “arriving” often simply end up eventually descending from this precipice…

What I’ve come to realize is that life is a series of breakthroughs… You don’t really arrive at a “broken through” level in which you never have to work hard anymore or do the things you had to do to get there… In fact, once you break through, it’s often just another beginning…

What I want to do here is to RELIEVE YOU of thinking that WHERE YOU ARE NOW IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

ENJOY THE NOW… 

I’ll be honest, to me the worst thing about a break through is that you break through and then you go through what I call the “now what phase.” Realize that working towards goals are often more fulfilling than reaching them, because once reached… NOW WHAT?

I’m often thinking of my next project or tour or trip… often while I’m in the midst of a current one… Why? Because it’s called living life. There will always be a new thing on the horizon… I think that what people call “arriving” can actually be a negative thing.

Take this quote, for example, from a 40-year-old well-known actor/musician Will Smith… “It’s quite highly possible that I have peaked. I mean, I just can’t imagine what else I could do beyond this. It’s really a bittersweet kind of feeling.”

It’s great that W.S. did so much by 40, but the feeling that there wasn’t anything else to accomplish was what he referred to as a “bittersweet” feeling…

In Galatians Paul says that, “God has created us to do good works that He planned in advance for us to do…” I believe this and I believe that no matter how many “breakthroughs” I have, there will always be more until He takes me home.

At our first book launch in January this year, I had a guy get the book and ask me to sign it. Then he turned to our pastor and said, “I got to get him to sign it in case he GETS BIG some day…”

This bothers me to no end. First of all, define “getting big.” If he means I’ll be on TBN some day, well then I’ll pass on being big. What he means is when I’ll be famous or well-known one day… (I like to say that I’m famous to everyone who knows me…ha ha…)

The point is fame is elusive, especially when you get it because someone else is just waiting around the corner, ready to replace you.

The other day, I asked a friend if he remembered a worship leader that was very well and nationally known in the mid-latter 1990′s… He remembered him right away. Then I asked him if he knew what he was doing now… He had no clue… I went on to tell him that this FAMOUS WORSHIP LEADER from the 90′s is now a pastor of a church that meets in a YMCA… Nothing wrong with that, I think it’s awesome… My point was that the limelight fades, it fades on everyone… Whether you believe it or not, some day you’ll be able to ask a kid who Brad Pitt was and they won’t know… Times changes, popularity fades…

So my philosophy… Why pursue what can’t last anyways… Jesus told us to store up treasure that will never rust or fade away…

So as I end, I encourage you to run the race James talks about… Run for the long haul… Run for the many little breakthroughs along the way… I guarantee this way of living and this perspective will help you enjoy life a whole lot more…

Listen, every trip I’ve planned, every project I’ve worked on thus far etc… It’s all been done, accomplished and it blessed lives… But then, we have to move on to what’s next… We have to enjoy it for what it is… We have to have a perspective beyond the now, that God has received it for an eternal weight that we yet don’t fully grasp and have peace with that…

What I’m saying is, don’t waste your time waiting for something that might not actually exist… In other words, don’t wait around for this “major breakthrough” that will propel you into a whole new level for the rest of your life… Life is a series of breakthroughs, and yes, some are seemingly larger than others… But I can tell you that “large” breakthrough only occurred because of 100′s of forgotten, smaller ones along the way… For example, every time I made time to work on my book over the course of 3 years was a small break through, even though I never really considered this… Each of these added up and eventually, in January 2012, the synergy of all of that effort culminated in the release of a completed work… So enjoy the process…

LISTEN, I LOOK BACK ON THE PAST DECADE OF MY LIFE AND I HAVE TO THINK… WOW, LOOK AT ALL THE BREAKTHROUGHS… LOOK AT ALL THAT I ACCOMPLISHED AND ENJOYED… NOT, WHEN WILL I EVEN ARRIVE…

Listen… I have arrived, I am arriving, I will arrive…

You have arrived… you are arriving… you will arrive…

True “arriving” is arriving at the realization that the enjoyment of this journey IS THE BREAK THROUGH…

Talk to you soon… Jason

Heilman Ministries Summer In Review

Thank you… to all of you who pray for us… to all of you who financially support us… your prayers and support enable us and equip us to do what we do… to live out our calling and dreams… THANK YOU…

This summer was extremely fruitful… I’d like to pull each “piece” together in one “bowl” to give you a glimpse into the past summer…

June

Ministered a night of worship and a dance seminar at Freedom Fellowship Church in North Houston. We really made a lasting connection with this church and God is really speaking to us about continuing to impact the Houston Region. I’ve been praying to have more impact in my own region and state this year… this summer has been a beginning for this

Held our first ever “Benefit Concert” to raise funds to take a team to Joplin, MO. With the concert proceeds we were able to take a team of four into Joplin for 3 days to minister to leaders, pastors and the people of the tornado ravaged city of Joplin, MO.

July

Made some new friends and re-connected with some old in Tyler and Lindale Texas (there’s Texas again) Had a great weekend ministering in their house of prayer and church. A lot of prophetic words came forth for the East TX region during this 3 days of ministry.

Took the team to Joplin, MO. We worshipped and prayed each night under a tent right in the middle of the tornado damage path. For more info on this trip, visit the blog post on Joplin.

Travelled to the East Coast/New England to minister for 10 days. First stop was in Waterville Maine with my good friends Jamie and Shannon Dickson & Crave. Had a great weekend with them. Made new friends in Haverhill Massachusetts at a wild night of worship and prophetic ministry. Finally got out to my friends church, Mark Sanchez, for a night of ministry at their prophetic school in Keene, NH. Ended with Mike Smith and Ignite Church in CT for a great Sunday morn and night of ministry. It was a crazy 10 days. I was going from place to place, meeting FB people I’d never met in person, rode a bus, got a ride from a lady I met on FB the week before… I loved it… These are the times that I really enjoy and live for on the road… Next time I will have my girls with me… AM and ZO – We are planning an extensive family ministry tour for the summer of 2012… stay tuned

August

After a crazy tour of New England, I returned to Tyler, TX to minister again with the same house of prayer and church as in July. We really feel this is a region that we will be in and out of a lot in the coming months.

Connected with great friends Jason Morse and Jake Abueg in Pasadena TX for a Creative Culture Weekend. This was an incredible weekend and we are already planning to be back in October of this year again.

Ended the summer tour with a great time in Harrison Arkansas and Branson MO with Tracy Mooney and Vanguard Ministries. Had an incredible night of worship the last night outside under the stars in Branson at Vanguard headquarters.

Each time I was able to minister, each pastor and ministry leader commented that they and their people were greatly encouraged. We really saw the fruit of Joy, Peace, Encouragement and Faith released every place we went. I again want to thank each person who prays and financially sows into us to be able to go as the Lord sends us. We seriously would not be able to do this without your support.

We ministered 10/13 weekends in the summer and had a great time catching up with old friends and making some new… We look forward to what the Lord has for the rest of 2011 and 2012 with the upcoming book release and The Potential of God’s Presence Book and Worship Tour 2012…

 

 

JOPLIN Tornado Relief Tour Update – Angelic Stories, Video and more…

The Invitation & The Sending

This trip and the entire process of how God called me to go to Joplin was very significant for me personally. I heard the same Holy Spirit that the Apostle Paul heard to go into another region and to encourage the Church. When I heard the Lord, He did not say to go to encourage a specific church. I heard the Lord speak to me, “I want you to take a team and go encourage the Church of Joplin.” This is how God looks at His Church.

This trip represents one of the truest examples of the apostolic (sent forth) and prophetic (encouraging) ministry that I, and I believe many other musicians (minstrels), are called to in this hour. I want to tell you that I was not invited to Joplin by any man, I was sent by God. Oh yes, God used relationship that I had with friend Daryl Billings, a man who has been standing in prayer for the Joplin region for over a decade. That is who God had us connect with, but I draw attention to the “God sending” here for a reason. I was invited by God, welcomed by man. I believe that I and others that are called in an apostolic ministry manner are going to more often go forth from this type of God sending in which they don’t wait for invitations from men, but they go forth from the sending of the Lord, they are welcomed by man, and they have need of nothing because they are supported and sent by their community.

Trip Summary

First of all, thanks to Dan, Tom and Welser for going with this crazy, traveling minstrel on this journey to Joplin. We arrived to some great hospitality… an entire dorm with a complete kitchen, stocked fridge and everything we needed for the weekend… Thanks to Daryl B and all those involved in hosting us.

When I entered the damage path area of the city, I was really overwhelmed by the extent of the damage, even a month and a half after the incident. There really is no way to capture through words, photos or video what it feels like to stand in the middle of 360 degrees of destruction. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Although it’s a tough thing to see, I almost feel it’s a good thing for anyone to travel to a place that is experiencing or living through a trying experience. It helps you to appreciate what God has done and is doing in your own life. It brings perspective back to you to realize the blessings you live with everyday that you take for granted.

Friday night we packed out a tent that was set up in a park adjacent to the hospital that was completely destroyed by the tornado. We led worship and then testimonies were shared, some that I will share with you shortly… AMAZING stories. We then spent the last hour interceding & prophesying through music and declaration over the people and the city. It was incredible actually. Here we were worshipping outdoors through a blaring sound system, the sound going forth to all those who drove by, to all those in the city. We were releasing a kingdom sound in the very place where the sound of devastation had been just weeks before. We released a sound of peace, of hope and of healing. It was an incredible feeling, experience and honor for me.

The next morning Tom and Welser led a worship and prayer set at the JOPHOP for an hour and we were joined by a team from IHOP-KC. After a break, we had the opportunity to split into two teams and go canvassing in some neighborhoods. Dan and I had the chance to talk to and pray with a young man who was still living in a home that had been badly damaged in the storm. His home still stood, yet all around him were homes totally destroyed. I can still remember the cool wind of his AC pouring out of his front doorless doorway as we encouraged him and prayed with him. He had a smile on his face as we left. I was amazed at this young man’s ability to have any sense of joy in the midst of the situation he was in. I made me so thankful for my little townhouse back in TX.

Dan and I had the opportunity to drive a Baptist pastor around to all of these homes. This Pastor had been in the community for over a decade and I was so blessed by all he was doing for the people. The Baptist church was actually contacting each and every homeowner that had left their homes without giving the city a right of entry, thus potentially saving each of these former homeowners upwards of $4000 each. I was so blessed by what they were doing in the community. Dan and I were able to pray and prophesy over this Baptist pastor in our car before dropping him off at his church. It’s amazing how the denominational walls fall away in the midst of a situation like what is taking place in Joplin.

After a break for dinner, we held our second night of ministry in the tent. It was equally powerful and the tent was packed out again. We had a man from Houston actually share a little that night and he brought a cross that he had made from the very rubble of the tornado. He himself had been in Joplin for over a month just praying and ministering to whomever he came into contact with. Let me tell you that I really experienced another  realm of community kingdom culture here in Joplin. It was as if “church as usual” was off… Anyone could share on the mic at these meetings. There was such a sense of family, of spontaneity. The spirit of professionalism was so far away. I looked down at my dusty, sandaled feet and thought of how Jesus and the disciples had stood and ministered the same way on dusty, dirty hills to the people… Man, it was just awesome.

I want you to know that the people in Joplin, especially some key leaders in the house of prayer movement in the city were VERY blessed by us being there. I want to thank all of you that prayed and that supported us to go to bring hope, joy and love from Dallas to the Church of Joplin. Another south Missouri tour is in the works for September 2011 and we hope to stop by Joplin again very soon.

Testimonies & Stories

Some of the stories I heard were too incredibly detailed for me to write it all here, so I will list them in short summary. These are stories I heard directly from people who spoke to me on Friday night after the meeting. (I have not confirmed these stories in any way, I share them as I heard them from others)

One story I heard had to do with a 4-year-old boy who was found in a field behind what was formerly the Home Depot. When they asked him where he lived, he was too young to tell them his address, all he knew was his name and his parents names. This boys parents were in touch with the police in order to find the boy. Once they were reunited, they realized that the boy had been found FIVE MILES from his home. When they asked the boy how he got to the field, he told them, “The angels carried me through the tornado.” Are you getting the same chills that I did when I heard this?

Another story is one that I actually found & confirmed online. A girl was with her grandma in a car when the tornado was picking them up off of the ground. The grandma told her to start praying and she did. The girl said she could see her guardian angel during the incident. A metal bar actually came through the roof of their care and pierced this little girl into her shoulder and through her abdomen, totally MISSING EVERY VITAL ORGAN. The doctors simply removed the rod from her body and she survived and fully recovered…

I talked directly to a woman who was actually in the Wal-Mart that was completely destroyed by the storm. She showed me a picture of the Wal-Mart right after she got up from the floor… there were no roof or wall that remained. She told me that when she got up and looked around, she saw more that one “large black men” walking around the Wal-Mart dressed in white picking up large chunks of rubble off of the people in the store. When she looked for these “men” later, they were nowhere to be found.

One story had to do with a man who was praying in his basement and felt the Lord tell him over and over to “go outside.” At first he was like, “Are you crazy, why should I go outside during a tornado?” But after being prompted continually, he obeyed to find a group of ten people outside of his home, people who had no basements, people whom also later said that they also felt “something” telling them to go outside. This man called them all into his home and into his basement. All of these people survived, only to later find that the basement-less homes that they had vacated had all been completely destroyed. The still, small voice…

One older woman was in her third story apartment. After the tornado hit, she tried to go down the solitary stairway out of her place only to find that the stairs were gone. From nowhere a giant man came up to her, picked her up and set her down on the stairs. He then thoughtfully grabbed her walker and handed it to her. She never saw this “man” again.

One man, we will call him Andrew, was in his basement with his family. After the tornado ravaged their home, he went to the bottom of his basement stairs to look up at the top to see a black man dressed in a bright white t-shirt. The man asked, “Andrew are you and your family okay?” Andrew first wondered how this man, whom he’d never seen before, knew his name. Secondly, he wondered how his shirt looked so clean. After Andrew answered yes, the man walked away from the stairs. Later, when Andrew went up the stairs, he realized that his home had completely caved in with no clear way of coming in or out. They had to dig their way out, afterwards realizing that no man could have gotten into their home to the top of their stairs and kept their clothing completely clean!

Once again, these are all stories that christian men and women told me after the Friday meeting. I just stood there in awe at their stories and testimonies. I left Joplin with a renewed sense of the reality of the supernatural realm. The craziest part is that I know that these are just a few of the many, many supernatural stories surrounding the Joplin Tornado.

 Personal Reflection

For me personally, standing on a dusty hill playing music in a tent overlooking a city is probably the most precise representation of the calling on my life and the function of my ministry as a “prophet with song.” We were literally a light on a hill, a light to the city. As we worshipped with the distant hum of the gas-powered generator, I really don’t think I could have felt more “in the pocket” of what I feel I was made to be and do.

It’s easy to write a book about living out the life of a prophetic minstrel, to talk about taking teams of people to places to bring hope and joy through the music and the prophetic word. It’s another to really do the 12 hour round trip drive, to get your feet filthy on the dusty hill and to really sing ‘til you can’t anymore over the sound of a generator and grimy guitar amps. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Not just for the experience, but because lives were touched and will continue to be touched. His Kingdom Came, His Will Was Done. It wasn’t awesome because it was “a great conference” in a “hip building.” In fact, these meetings offered nothing to the senses. You had to walk in the dark to sit in a tent in 90 degree weather with dust flying around in the middle of utter devastation. And all the while, I could not help but think, “This is what having church is all about!”

TO WATCH THE MINI-DOCUMENTARY JOPLIN CLICK THE LINK BELOW

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2249816290624&comments

 

Renew Our Minds Daily: BEING under the sound of God

Romans 12:2  talks about not being conformed to the present world, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds. I don’t know about you, but this is something that I need to do on a consistent basis… I did not have ONE mind renewing experience years ago that has lasted for me… I had some cares of this life that came on me yesterday that I was not carrying the day before, it just happens…

So, this morning in the house of prayer I was just thankful for the time and the opportunity to come into a place where I could linger in the presence of God under the sound of His Word. Over the course of the hour, I rarely sang or did anything. I don’t feel pressured that I have to do anything just because others are singing. I just BE IN HIM… I start to change in this place, my mindset changes, my mind starts to come back into alignment with what my spirit knows… And now, I am a changed man… AGAIN…

CHANGE is not an event… CHANGE is a daily experience… I wish our minds were not so easily swayed, but sometimes they are.

My point of this post is to just encourage you to BE in the presence of the Lord… to just get in HIM… He will conform your mind back over to the Kingdom, away from this present world… away from focusing on circumstances that you can’t change by worrying and dwelling on them…

Blessings… Jason

Check out this feedback from the post: Healing Testimonies

Hey, I just wanted to share some comments from my post a few days ago about Healing Testimonies… Got a few hundred hits on the post this week and wanted to cut/paste and share some thoughts people had… Thanks for reading

Comment 1 -I’m glad to know this is happening again [in the Church]. It was similar experiences – way back in the early to mid ’80s – that taught me the higher purpose of music, particularly when that of the Minstrel. For three years it became a pretty regular thing that either some of the band or just myself would simply play, no singing. And healing amongst the congregation would happen.

Needed to compose you that little note to finally thank you once again with your wonderful techniques you have documented on this website. This has been quite strangely generous of you to provide without restraint just what some people could have made available as an e-book in making some profit for their own end, even more so seeing that you could have done it if you considered necessary. These good tips likewise worked to become a great way to understand that other people have a similar eagerness really like my very own to find out a good deal more in regard to this condition. I believe there are millions of more fun instances in the future for those who discover your blog post.

I’m thankful the Lord has made opportunity for you to do what you put together in January. If not committed to being elsewhere that weekend I would have loved to been amongst the brethren at the Rejuvenation Convergence…and especially among fellow Minstrels.

Comment 2 – Needed to compose you that little note to finally thank you once again with your wonderful techniques you have documented on this website. This has been quite strangely generous of you to provide without restraint just what some people could have made available as an e-book in making some profit for their own end, even more so seeing that you could have done it if you considered necessary. These good tips likewise worked to become a great way to understand that other people have a similar eagerness really like my very own to find out a good deal more in regard to this condition. I believe there are millions of more fun instances in the future for those who discover your blog post.

Comment 3 – Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such magnificent information being shared freely out there.

 

 

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This book has been written by a musician & minstrel with a passion to see people experience the vastness of the person, power and presence of the living God, Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in Psalm 34, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” I believe that God has laid before every one of us the opportunity to consistently, and without limitation, partake of the immense banqueting table of His character, nature and manifest presence. This book will inspire the soul and practically propose ways by which we all may continually make the most of this constant opportunity! Please visit the official Potential of God’s Presence book website www.thepotentialofgodspresence.com for videos, previews and more information.

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