School Overview

October is just around the corner but summer is very much alive and “hot” down here in Redding with temperatures remaining in the upper nineties.  As you can see from the picture we’re still rocking the pool in the backyard (I’m so glad we brought it!).

I realize I have yet to write anything about my schooling other than “it’s begun.”  I’m two-and-a-half weeks into it now and this experience has been so much to take in.  The Lord is doing such a powerful work in me through the gentle moving of his Holy Spirit in my life.  He is affirming so many things in me through so many different ways through so many different people. 

Picture of the main building from across the parking lost 

The school is comprised of first, second and third-year students (interns).  There is over nine-hundred first-year students, over one-third of which are internationals.  First-year students all have the same lecture sequence and course-work curriculum, but get to choose “Activation Groups,” where first-year students are combined with second and third-year students who facilitate a variety of weekly, community-wide outreach programs that integrate the classwork with hands-on experience to see God release the supernatural in the lives of people through ministry in the marketplace.  There are over five-hundred second-year students and a hundred-some interns who have separate classes but work directly with the first-year students as part of their leadership development training.  Bethel has a discipleship school over on the coast, but the school we are a part of here is specifically designed for leader development for ministry deployment.

We meet corporately, all nine-hundred first year students for general sessions four days a week, Monday through Thursday.  We always start with worship, which every time is the most incredible concerts you’ve ever experienced!  Imagine nine-hundred people, whom most have sold and left everything to travel half-way around the world, who are desperately hungry to see the Lord move in power ways all gathered together praising the God of the universe, all led by some of the most talented musicians you’ve ever heard… it’s worth the tuition right there!

The general sessions are lecture style classes with time allocated questions at the end.  We have a rich variety of really top-notch teachers including senior leaders Bill Johnson,Kris Vallotton, Danny Silk, Paul Manwaring and many others (you can google their names to learn more about them).

We also are assigned to “Revival Groups” of about sixty to seventy people who are overseen by a Revival Group Pastor and an intern.  We meet with our revival group twice a week.  Even in the short amount of time we’ve been together we’ve got to know each other really well. 

I hope to “unpack” some of what I’m learning along the way through this blog. 

This is a picture of the "Alabaster House" which is a 24 hour prayer chapel on the property

Back Yard Moments

Having kids there are so many funny moments in everyday life that are such a treasure. Now days, with the convenience and capability of "phones," you can capture these beauties on film in an instant and share them with the whole world, or anyone who's willing to watch your backyard videos, mostly your own parents, at least not until our boys are old enough to do backflips off the roof in the pool on their bikes or something amazing. I suppose the rest of the world can wait for our back-flipping-boys-on-bikes while the grandparents enjoy their princess on the trampoline.

The Lodger

I told my British “mate,” i.e. buddy or bro, James, we were going to be getting a guy moving in with our family and attending school as well.  He refers to a roommate as “a lodger.”

Colton, “The Lodger,” was our neighbor back home who just graduated from Thurston High School in June.  I was his mentor this past year with “A.S.P.I.R.E.,” which is a program that helps students prepare for college and apply for scholarships.  Linda, the wonder gal in charge of the Career Center who oversees the A.S.P.I.R. program was concerned that Colton was not getting his stuff done to get into a four-year school for this fall.  It was kind of funny breaking the news to her that Colton wouldn’t be going to a four-year school right out of the shoot, but going to Bethel’s school of ministry… oh, yeah, and I won’t be here next year either because I’m going too J. 

When we were building our house five years ago I never imagined that I would be “college roommates” with the eighth-grade kid down the hill. 

Colton and I rode our bikes to our first day of school today.  Powerful, powerful stuff.  I still can’t believe I’m here experiencing all of this.  Truly incredible!

Oh, yeah we had to get our pictures taken at registration.

Skype

Oh the wonders of modern technology.  Can you believe skype?!  I had never used it until we moved here.  Now we’re part of the space time continuum where life and relationships are visually connected instantaneously through high-speed fiber optics. 

 

So far I’ve given my sister a virtual tour of our home, Grandma Desie has read the kids a bed-time story and we pulled one of Josiah’s front teeth before of a real-time audience (Papa Mike & Grandma Susan) all with my laptop over skype.

(Josiah before tooth pulling)

(after)

Behold, the trophy!

(Hang on to that puppy... it's worth a whole dollar at our house if you stick it under your pillow)

Lassen Peak

Labor Day morning came early with a 5:20am alarm clock.  Dean arrived at my house at 5:45am and we drove over to pick up two other guys, Justin & Josh, and then headed over to Adam’s house by 6:00am. 

Justin, a coffee connoisseur, brought two French press’s along with him of some freshly brewed black magic of some beans he had roasted the night before.  Josh, a purist health nut, brought a box of doughnuts for everyone else to eat so that he could feel better about his own health conscience choices encouraging us to “eat up.”  Dean, who is half French, half Cree Native, is easily identified by his Saskatchewanian-Canadian accent (eh?), in the same way Adam, who hails from North Carolina, is recognized by his “ya’ll.”

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Mica and I have connected very well with these guys, their wives and children.  This would include James, who was unable to make this hike, and his wife, Fiona (read Blog Entry “English Pool Party” to meet them).  We have only been here three weeks now but have shared some incredible memories with these families already.  The common link that we all share is Bethel Church – the Christian school that all our kids’ are attending as well as the school of ministry.  The common bond that unites us is Christ and our desire to see Him continually shape us and use us to fulfill His kingdom work. 

In moving here I quickly learned that our “sacrifice” in putting our life on hold back home in Springfield was not much compared to our new friends.  They have left good-paying career occupations and businesses, sold most all of what they own to travel across the states and around the world to Redding, California.  About the time I start to think they’re crazy, I realize that I’m here too. 

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We had all taken our families up to Lassen Volcanic National Park the previous Saturday to tour around: picnic, swim and hike, when Justin had suggested “the dad’s” come back to hike Lassen Peak -- the stoic, volcanic mountain standing 10,400 feet into the atmosphere, situated at the very center of the park. Turns out Labor Day was the last day the trail would be open for the summer, re-opening July first of next year (some kind of government scheduling deal), so we made it a date. 

We drove from Redding, which is about 600 feet in elevation to the base of Lassen Peak at  8,500 feet.  We arrived by 8:00am and started hiking by a quarter after.  We shared all kind of stories on the hike up, mostly guy stuff – bear attacks and cougar siting’s.  By 10:45am we had reached the summit of 10,400 feet.  This was a much more enjoyable experience compared to my hike the previous Monday up the mountain that will remain my nemesis, Shasta.  I could see her towering over 14,000’ on the horizon glaring back at me.

Standing on top of Lassen, I got a pure sense of satisfaction knowing that I had stood atop both snowed covered peaks that can be seen from Redding.  Beyond the ego of “conquering mountains” there is overwhelming closeness to our Creator that is gained from such a perspective.  The dichotomy in standing on such a vantage point is seeing my significance swallowed up in the vastness of His creation yet realizing He created all of this for me to enjoy.  The only response is a heart of worship!

Lassen Volcanic National Park

We’ve connected really well with some really amazing families in the past couple weeks we’ve been here.  The Rugg’s from England, the Carr’s from North Carolina and the Collins’ who moved here from New York a year ago.  We all decided to go up to Lassen Volcanic National Park.

We made it an all-day event, caravanning from Redding 45 minutes East toward the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.  We stopped briefly at a small, stoned-mason building, paid our dues to the park ranger and Yogi Bear, and continued on.  Brilliant, blue high-mountain lakes were off both sides of the road every so often and wonderful views of Lassen Mountain opened above bright green meadows spotted with late summer flowers.  We continued climbing in elevation as we traveled around to the East side of the mountain, where we stopped to have lunch near a lake.

Summit Lake is really amazing -- about 50 acres and about 7’ deep all the way across.  Although it is a high-mountain lake (6695’ elevation) the size and depth of the lake allows the sun to keep the feel of the lake at a perfect swimming temperature – refreshing!

After lunch we packed up and headed further around the mountain, while continuing to make significant elevation gains as we ventured on.  Creeks, meadows, grand vistas… it just kept getting more amazing as we got closer and closer to the mountain.  I had no idea we were going to be up so high!  Finally we crested between a small pass that opened on the main ridge of the mountain at 8,511’.  A bit further we pulled off and parked near a magnificently colored blue lake, with large patches of snow between the road and the lake. 

We set off on the trail to take us to our final destination “Bumpass Hell,” named after some dude that fell into a boiling pit and torched his leg… I’m supposing his name was Bumpass. The mile-and-a-half trail takes you to a “concentration of hydrothermal features,” as the signs say, which means the place looks like the surface of an alien planet and has large cauldrons of boiling goop that reeks to high heaven of egg salad.  All the kids did awesome on the hike, and the main highlight was the snowball fights that ensued at the same stopping point at the half-way mark.

We ended the day gathered around the campfire back at Summit Lake, roasting hotdogs and eating smores.  As darkness fell and the stars shown bright under the clear sky we sang worship songs as Josh lead us with his guitar and head-light illuminating his sheet music.  This seemed the most appropriate way to end the day – giving praise to the Creator who made all of this possible.

Hiking Mt. Shasta

If you’ve read any of the previous entries you’ve learned of my new friend from England, James.  He mentioned to me about a week-and-a-half ago that he’d like to do some hiking.  My friend Jesse had just told me about this amazing backpacking trip in the Trinity Alps, less than two hours from Redding.  Lassen National Park is also very close and offers spectacular hiking attractions.  I referenced these destinations as being great hiking options but James simply pointed North to the snow-covered volcano towering above the skyline and said in his classic English accent, “What about that mountain, I reckon I’d like to have a crack at it.”

We talked to the National Forest Rangers, as well as a few locals and figured we could do it.  The following Sunday (Aug 28^th) I picked up James from his house at 10:30pm and drove an hour-and-a-half north to the Clear Lake trail-head located at the South slope of the mountain, situated at 6,400 feet in elevation, nine miles from the asphalt highway at the end of a maze of dust-covered, jeep roads (I was surprised we actually found it in the middle of the night by the directions we printed off the internet).  We started hiking through the black forest under the direction of our head-lights at 1:07am.  I can’t remember the last time I’ve pulled an “all-nighter,” never for a hiking trip, that’s for sure.

By 3:00am we had cleared the alpine and found the Clear Springs where we refreshed our water and continued climbing.  We were indebted to the GPS “App” I downloaded for the handsome prince of $9.99 to my iPhone the night before which showed our climbing route and current location continually throughout the night. 

The night sky held no moon and brought forth the most brilliant stars I have ever before seen in my life – truly amazing.  We had the entire mountain to ourselves and praised the Lord, prayed for our sleeping families resting in the valley below and prayed for each other intermittently as we shared with each other. 

By 5:00am the first dull, red haze appeared on the on the Western skyline and over the next hour we watched the most spectacular sunrise – the full spectrum of colors scrolling up from the horizon until the sun pierced the darkness and started the day. 

The climb that ensued was the most difficult physical challenge I have ever endured, including the marathon I ran last spring, which was absolutely brutal.  Hiking up loose volcanic rock is almost equivalent to trudging up a sand dune.  I’m unsure if it was the 14,000 foot elevation at summit that messed with my head or simply my “lack of” current physical conditioning at the time being, but up and down that mountain in one day was a tall order.  We reached the top by 11:30am, snapped a couple pics and started our descent. 

Downhill’s better than uphill by a long-shot but still incredibly abusive to the body.  I could not believe how far it seemed going down being that we hiked up so far in the dark we lost perspective of the enormity of the mountain.  Stopping at the springs I had the bright idea to slide down an fifty-foot snow drift on my back-side using my trekking poles as a make-shift braking system.  Let’s just say the “braking system” failed and the rocks below did the stopping of the gravitational pull on my body.  I was grateful to only end up with a boo-boo on my knee and shin which didn’t do any major damage for my stupidity.

We were a bit too delirious hiking back downhill to enjoy the incredible view along the wooded ridge into the tree line, but it was wonderfully beautiful.  The Creator sure is masterful in His handiwork.  We made it back to my pick-up by 3:07pm, 14 hours from the time we started, and ready for a break.

Two thoughts I’ve taken from this experience:

1.       I’m sure if we were able to see just how big that mountain really is up close, as we did when driving away in the daylight, we would second guessed our attempt to tackle that beast as a day hike.  However, we were not intimidated because we could not see anything until we were halfway up the mountain that morning.  Sometimes I think the Lord conceals the magnitude of some obstacles He wants to have us go through in order to reveal more of His greatness that we would have otherwise missed by succumbing to our fears.

2.       Partnership is required to undertake great challenges and genuine camaraderie is the outcome.  I’m looking forward to building more friendships this year by climbing more mountains.  I just hope the size of the mountains don’t limit my faith – not faith in what I can do, but what my God can accomplish through me.