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

Become A Summer Tour Partner

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HEILMAN’S 2012 TOUR MAP & SCHEDULE

Our Goal: To raise a minimum travel budget of $2000 for the entirety of the tour. This budget will be allocated for travel expenses during the tour including vehicle rental, gas, occasional motel stays and meals on the road. Yes, our tour hosts will bless us financially, but we felt God lead us to raise this travel budget to alleviate this area of our expenses for the summer in advance. It also allows us to go forth freely as SENT ONES (APOSTLES) as members of our church family send us forth. Our goal is to raise the minimum travel budget by May 25.

Thank you for your willingness to join us as a Summer Tour Partner. All of your tax-deductible gifts will be accounted for through our affiliate financial ministry: Modern Day.  There are a number of ways that you can give which include:

1) Print, fill out and mail the PDF version of the newsletter  to: 35 Abbey Rd. Euless, TX 76039.

2) Join us as a Monthly Partner for 3 monthly installments via electronic debit via the Modern Day Website.

3) Join us with a one time gift via electronic debit via the Modern Day Website.

4) Mail a one time gift check made out to Modern Day to: 35 Abbey Road Euless, TX 76039.

Remember our goal is to raise this budget by May 25, 2012. You can set up your debits for the summer at any time before this date. The debits will not be enforced until the months of June, July and August. Thank you again!

TODAY IS THE DAY! Book Launch Day – Available NOW!

TODAY IS THE DAY… 3 YEARS IN THE MAKING… THANK YOU LORD, THANK YOU PARTNERS, THANK YOU PRE-ORDERERS AND FUTURE ORDERERS… IT’S A BIG DAY FOR ME… REJOICE!!!!!

ORDER NOW AT WWW.THEPOTENTIALOFGODSPRESENCE.COM 

Why House Concerts/Alternative Venues for Heilman Ministries in 2012… and beyond…

(Written December 10, 2011)

 Last night, I went to a house concert in Dallas, TX played by a long-time friend of mine. It was incredible for a number of reasons. One, the location: I loved walking up the creaky stairs of the old building venue to apartment H. Others: I enjoyed walking in to a room full of people, sitting down on the big chair I shared with my wife, eating gluten-free cupcakes while sipping on a choice beverage as my friend released his songs and sounds over the course of the next hour and a half. I was refreshed, recreated and inspired.

One of the reasons I went was to observe; to investigate how he went about things during the entire evening. Why? Because God is speaking to me to begin doing the same thing, but in a little bit different way…

For about a decade now I’ve been traveling all over the USA, and even into some other nations, playing music at conferences, events, church meetings, etc… I’ve led for 10,000 as well as for 100. I’ve loved doing this and I will continue to do this… But there is something God is stirring in me for house concerts as well as other alternative meeting venues…

In my book, I share about a couple of times when I, my wife and our team had played in a living room, business office or similar venue. There was a dynamic in that small venue that lent itself towards a very fruitful time of refreshing, prophetic ministry. This is the kind of ministry we feel we are most called to. In fact, my latest CD “I Can’t Wear This Armor”, was recorded live in a living room with about 30 people. My favorite parts on that CD are the times when you hear the crowd of people releasing their songs… So basically, going forward, we are feeling led towards creating & ministering through venues like this on a more consistent basis.

My friend, whose house show we went to, has recently been on a 15,000 mile national house concert tour through which he’s been able to hold dozens and dozens of gatherings in only a few months time. The fact that he holds his gatherings in homes opens up a broader opportunity to release his music versus if he looked only to clubs… In a similar way, I feel led to do the same. Rather than only look to opportunities in churches, I see such vast opportunities to be able to create musical/moving/art ministry venues through alternative opportunities…

Often, I meet people (who are not necessarily in local church leadership) that love our ministry, love what we do and would desire to have us minister in their “neck of the woods.” Rather than only look for church venues to release our ministry, I believe it’s time to simply create other ways by which we can travel and do what we do through alternative venues.

Another thing I look forward to is the relational aspect of these venues. Conversely, over the course of a year, we held meetings in a local house of prayer on a monthly basis. When 20 people showed up in a room that could seat 150, it felt a little distant. Take those same 20 into a home, and you’ll have a different experience. So the Lord spoke and said, “Jason, you’re doing the right thing but you need to shift the venue.” As I sought God on what He meant, I felt impressed to no longer try to host meetings on my own at a “neutral location”, but to work with hosts who would be willing to help coordinate venues for the release of the ministry God has called us to.

That made me really excited. House concerts, and venues like it, allow me to work with a host or co-hosts that will invite and help spread the word to others. It becomes more personal. We hang out before the meeting starts, we eat & drink, I read a little excerpt from my book and then we engage into the Presence through music, dance and the arts in a unique, warm setting. That sounds really good to me! Picture yourself sitting back in your recliner, listening to a beautiful piano/strings medley while my wife dances the heart of God amidst the soft sound of a worship artist’s brush strokes on their canvas… You were made to sit back, drink a beverage, relax and release your worship sounds in an atmosphere of God’s presence like that. That’s my calling, to create that place for people and I want to do this now more than ever before.

I’m not going to quit ministering in churches or conferences. I just feel that God is emphasizing this type of venue for us and our ministry. I’m really excited about it, and I hope you are to. Right now I am booking the 2012 Potential of God’s Presence Book/Worship Tour, and I hope you’d be interested in hosting whether you are the pastor of a church of 1,000 to the owner of a living room with a couch, a few chairs and an electrical outlet.

This writing/blog was meant to be a little intro into my heart on all this, but I have more detailed info for those willing to consider hosting us. I hope to be in touch with you soon.

(For more info please email us at contact@jasonheilman.com)

Jason Heilman

 p.s. – CD Project: We plan to record many of our upcoming house concerts for the purpose of creating a compilation album filled with the best moments from these gatherings… 

Examples of House Concerts & Alternative Ministry Venues via Heilman Ministries

I’m releasing this part of my upcoming book to give more context to some of the things that we have experienced during prophetic ministry in small, alternative venues as mentioned in yesterday’s blog post… enjoy

From Chapter 7 of The Potential of God’s Presence

Sub-Chapter: Walking In the Word

After you receive a word from the Lord, and after waiting for what can be years of standing on that word in prayer, there will come a time for a breakthrough. There will come a time when what you’ve been believing for manifests itself on the earth. It is a time of excitement and joy. It is also, oftentimes, just another beginning. Since entering the public realm of music ministry, I have ministered through music in many ways. I have played for hours in various worship and intercessory ministries. I have led corporate worship gatherings for both my home church and while traveling throughout the United States in conferences and meetings. I have taken teams to the nations and done exactly what I saw in my spirit back in school when I told others that I would have a prophetic team of artists that would travel to the nations. At this time, with all of the ministry that I, my wife and those that joined us have done, I believe we are only standing on the precipice of what the Lord is going to do.

During the summer of 2007, my wife and I led a team of musicians on a month-long tour through The Czech Republic and the UK. During this excursion, I began to notice a trend consistently occurring through our ministry. We seemed to be carrying an anointing that would produce atmospheres of rejuvenation and refreshing for others wherever we would go. I recall one such time of ministry that took place in the home of our hosts in Prague. I felt led to get the band together and we had the entire ministry leadership team from Prague sit down on couches in the living room. We then began to just play and sing over them for over an hour. It was a refreshing time for the team from Prague, and I felt so honored to be able to minister to them in that way. One of the things I thought after this was, “I wonder how often this team of leaders actually receives ministry like this.” I knew for a fact that it was not very often, if at all. I also began to feel, through that experience, that to minister in that way as musicians was something that needed to become increasingly prevalent in the entire Body of Christ, not just in our ministry.

During the summer of 2008, we again were out ministering, this time in Honolulu, HI. (No “suffering for Jesus” jokes, please.) Our team had been ministering at a mission located in the area of the city known as China Town. Over the course of that week, we had ministered to people who came in off the streets. It was a great time, and we really bonded with the team that actually ran the ministry. I was impressed by the Lord that our team needed to gather the team from the mission into the office there so that we could minister to them. This team from the mission was amazing. Many of them were formerly in similar situations to those that they ministered to. By the grace of God, they were now at a place in their lives where they could minister to others. Over the course of the week, we saw how they poured out their lives to serve these people. This team ministered there week after week, some for years, and I knew they needed a time of encouragement.

I asked the leader of the ministry if we could get everybody up to the office. When everybody was there, we began to play music and sing over them. The prophetic unction began to well up inside of me and in others on our team. We began to sing songs of encouragement over the workers. My wife began to dance around some of the women on the team and tears began to stream down their faces. We laid hands on the men and encouraged them as brothers in Christ. Many of the mission team had never experienced anything like this. Again, I felt honored to encourage such laborers in the Kingdom of God. To be honest, almost anyone can come in for a week and minister at a mission like we did. But these were the dedicated ones who poured years of their lives into the ministry. We were able to strengthen and encourage them in what they were doing for the Lord.

The foundation of the prophetic ministry is to comfort, encourage and exhort others in the word of the Lord. There are so many teams of people like the leadership team in Prague, or the mission team in Honolulu’s China Town that need encouragement along the way. I began to realize that a major part of our minstrel’s calling was to use our gifts to encourage and strengthen others in the presence and word of the Lord. I figured that if I could not stay in a geographical location to make a long-time impact, the next best thing would be to strengthen those that could and that were.

Second Corinthians 1:3–4 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” God had brought a team of prophetic minstrels into that mission to pass on the encouragement that God had placed in us to give. The cycle continued that next day when that team passed it on to those that came in for a meal. And we believe that the cycle will continue, as those men and women come from the streets of China Town to the place where they will be set free to minister to others in the way that they were ministered to.

It had been ten years since that spring night at Christ for the Nations when I first heard the calling to the minstrel’s anointing. In those years, I had ministered through music in churches, conferences and as a part of missions teams all across the United States and through the nations of the earth. But it had only been in the last few summers of mission tours that I really felt like I was tapping into the true minstrel’s calling and anointing. In that living room in Prague and that office in Honolulu’s China Town, we were able to freely flow in that calling and anointing.

I believe that in order to see the minstrel’s anointing flow, there are certain conditions that need to be in place. These conditions involve a venue for release, an informed and expectant people and an anointed minister or ministry team. When we ministered to the mission team in China Town, we had the venue of the mission office. We had a place set apart for us to be able to freely flow the way the Lord wanted to flow through us. We also had a group of people who understood how we were about to minister and had their expectations set to be ministered to in a prophetic way. We told them that we were going to play our instruments to create an atmosphere conducive to the moving of the prophetic. They sat in chairs, closed their eyes and prepared their hearts for what was coming. They received from the ministry because they expected to. And, obviously, we were the team ready to minister.

Order The Book Today

Day 47 of 47 days… WE DID IT – THANK YOU – This is just the beginning of a great launch -

The Kickstarter Campaign ends today with tremendous success!

Thanks to all of you who have pre-ordered and contributed above and beyond! It’s amazing to me that we’ve already pre-sold 100 books 1 1/2 months before the actual release of the book on January 23.

For those of you that still desire to pre-order before the actual release, you can continue to do so Via PayPal on the website www.thepotentialofgodspresence.com 

Again, THANK YOU ALL

Day 46 of 47 days… THE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN ENDS TOMORROW – PRE-ORDER TODAY!

From Chapter Nine – The Ministry of the Minstrel

(From Sub-Chapter – Kingdom Connections)

 As the traveling minstrels of God begin to emerge, it’s a desire of my heart to be an example of how churches and leadership can build relationships and relate to those truly called to travel from place to place as God’s “Musical Messengers.” 

 The purpose of these relationships is for much more than churches providing venues for musicians to hold concerts. These relationships are Kingdom relationships that advance what God is doing in churches, cities and regions. When I travel to different places, my prayer is that I may join in with the Kingdom purposes God has for that place. I’m there to serve the body of Christ to push forward into their specific destinies in God. Both my wife and I look forward to the many Kingdom connections that the Lord has in store for us!

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER – OUR KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN ENDS TOMORROW 11PM