Bethel Church

[Deleted12]

It was crazy, but not in the way that we were expecting.

 

 

 

The room that the service was in was very large. There were about 450 people there. The room was oriented so that the stage was on the long axis of the room which made for a more intimate space than it would have been had the room been oriented traditionally, with the stage at a narrow end of the room. The floor area had conference-style chairs, and we sat on some bleachers in the back. There were basketball hoops in the room that had been drawn up towards the roof. The back of the stage had two large screens where powerpoint slides with song lyrics, Bible verses, prayers, and so forth were displayed. There were no crosses on display anywhere in the room.

 

 

 

The crowd was very, very diverse. There were black people, Native American people, Hispanic people, Indian people, and white people. There were 50 people of color in the room, which for Redding is a lot. About one in five people appeared to be of high school or college age, and another fifth were in their 20s. Most of the young people looked hip with tattoos and piercings, and would not have been readily identifiable as fundamentalists on the street. The only demographic that was obviously missing were little kids. Most people were dressed casually. The girl in front of us was wearing a tank top, and you could see an ornate heart tattoo on her back with the words "Psalm 150" in the middle of the heart. There was also a young man with a large cross tattooed on the side of his neck and a teardrop tattoo under his eye. Most of the people brought Bibles with them.

 

 

 

There was a handout given when we entered the room with today's date on it, but it wasn't a traditional program with Bible passage citations, song names, names of speakers and pastors, or anything like that. It was more like a calendar of different events during the week.

 

 

 

During the service, about five men got up and spoke. It was unclear who the different men were, either their names or their positions within the church. They were all dressed more or less casually.

 

 

 

The service opened with Psalm 31:8 about the Lord not handing us over to the enemy but setting us down in an wide place. The speaker talked about how comforting it is that the Lord has set us down in a safe place and not on a high ledge. He asked us to pray for equity in our families and equity in Redding, and it was totally unclear exactly what he was talking about here. He then said that they had had a service earlier in the week and 30 people were baptized, and after the service they had gone to Whiskeytown Lake and had baptized an additional 19 people who were camping or fishing there in the lake.

 

 

 

Then there was literally 45 minutes of praise music. There was a singer, guitarist, drummer, violinist, bass player, keyboardist, and about 10 choristers.

 

 

 

One song was:

 

 

 

Your Presence is all I need

 

It’s all I want, all I seek

 

Without it, without it there’s no meaning

 

Your Presence is the air I breathe

 

The song I sing, the love I need

 

Without it, without it I’m not living

 

I will exalt You, Lord, I will exalt You, Lord

 

There is no one like You God

 

I will exalt You, Lord, I will exalt You, Lord

 

No other name be lifted high

 

There will be no one like You

 

And no one beside You

 

You alone are worthy of all praise

 

There will be no one like You

 

And no one beside You

 

You alone are worthy of all praise

 

 

 

Then there was a song that was:

 

 

 

I see Your face in every sunrise

 

The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes

 

The world awakens in the light of the day

 

I look up to the sky and say

 

You're beautiful

 

I see Your power in the moonlit night

 

Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright

 

We are amazed in the light of the stars

 

It's all proclaiming who You are

 

You're beautiful, You're beautiful

 

I see You there hanging on a tree

 

You bled and then You died and then You rose again for me

 

Now You are sitting on Your heavenly throne

 

Soon we will be coming home

 

You're beautiful, You're beautiful

 

When we arrive at eternity's shore

 

Where death is just a memory and tears are no more

 

We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring

 

Your bride will come together and we'll sing

 

You're beautiful

 

I see Your face,

 

You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

 

I see Your face,

 

You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

 

I see Your face,

 

I see Your face

 

I see Your face,

 

You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

 

 

 

Writing out the lyrics makes these songs sound a lot shorter than they were. Three of them were written by Bethel. The music seemed very mantralike, with a lot of repetition of verses. Two of the songs were very high energy, with people clapping and jumping, but people were waving their arms during all of the songs. During all of the songs there was a person up on stage waving decorative flags. During one of the songs the person behind us was speaking in tongues, and the girl next to me was twitching and crying throughout.

 

 

 

After the music ended, a lot of people left. I assume that they went to other services in the complex.

 

 

 

A speaker got up and talked about Bethel's plans to take over the Redding Convention Center. In a nutshell, the City of Redding has a severe revenue shortfall and was planning to close the center until Bethel proposed that they take it over. Bethel is creating a "for public benefit nonprofit corporation" to manage the center for the good of the community. Were they to take it over, then they could add 400 additional first-year students to the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. He cautioned that he didn't want people from Bethel to pressure the city council about the decision, but he encouraged them to pray about it. Ssince Redding has about 100,000 people and Bethel had about 5,000 parishioners, then Bethel members are about 5% of the population of Redding. Bethel hopes to be able to give the convention center back to the City of Redding in a better condition than Bethel received it in. He proclaimed that "We are part of the community here."

 

 

 

Then he announced that a local family is going to do a mission in Rwanda for a year. He said, "There are seriously beautiful things happening in Rwanda… even just in prayer." The family--a mother, father, and two children--got up on the stage and about 15 people came up and laid hands on them. The microphone was passed around and some of the people laying hands on them offered up fairly generic prayers for their trip. While they were bang prayed over, the father in the family went very limp, while the mother was shaking and twitching.

 

 

 

By far the highlight of the service was the offering prayer. This was the only time that the entire congregation prayed in unison. The offering prayer went as follows:

 

 

 

As we receive today's offering we are believing the Lord for:

 

Jobs and better jobs,

Raises and bonuses

Benefits Sales and commissions

Favorable settlements

Estates and inheritances

Interests and income

Rebates and returns

Checks in the mail

Gifts and surprises

Finding money

Debts paid off

Expenses decrease

Blessing and increase

 

Thank You, Lord, for meeting all of my financial needs that I may have

more than enough to give into the Kingdom of God and promote the Gospel

of Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah!!!!!!

 

This was undoubtedly the weirdest moment of the whole thing.

 

 

 

Then the offering bags were passed. The man said the visitors should not contribute, but should instead give offerings to their home churches. The bags were passed in silence.

 

 

 

The speaker appeared to be one of the associate pastors, Kris Vallotton, and the sermon was about "The Gift of Momentum," and Proverbs 13:22A, which says, "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous."

 

 

 

In general, he said that other people gave sacrificially so that we could get to this point. He asked how many people had standing pools in their yards when they were kids, and he asked if the neighborhood kids ever got together and created a whirlpool in the pool by marching around the periphery of the pool. When the kids first start out, moving against the water is hard, but as the water starts to move, then moving gets much easier. Kids who come along after the whirlpool is already in place are able to bob along with no effort, and they don't understand or appreciate the effort it took to get the momentum going. Once there is no understanding or appreciation, then the momentum becomes lost.

 

 

 

He said, "The chief opponent of [momentum] is a poverty sprit." He said that just this morning he was standing at his front window wearing his boxer shorts and looking out at the park. A man drove up in a truck, took a trash bag out, and walked out into the park. Kris was watching all this and thinking that the man was going to go pick up the litter in the park. Instead the man walked by the litter, dug into the trash can, and pulled out recycling. He took the recycling back to his truck and was about to drive away when he saw Kris watching him. Kris said that the man shouted "What?" in a confrontational manner, and then proceeded to unleash a stream of expletives before speeding off.

 

 

 

Kris said that a poverty sprit erodes quality of life because of fear and a self-centered focus on survival and not inheritance. If you want to overcome poverty through inheritance, then you have to focus on family, educational, capital, and spiritual types of inheritance.

 

 

 

He said that we also have an intergenerational covenant as outlined in Isaiah 59: 21. ("As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD.) We can have momentum through covenant.

 

 

 

David laid up an enormous inheritance as described in 1 Chronicles 22: 14-16. ("I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. You have many workmen: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as men skilled in every kind of work. in gold and silver, bronze and iron--craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and the LORD be with you.") Solomon, however, did not use this inheritance wisely. Instead, he left the generation after him in debt, and it was a very wicked generation.

 

 

 

Wealth and poverty move through the generations, and revival in the spirit moves the same way. Leaving poverty to the next generation does not serve the Lord.

 

 

 

He noted, "This is not a works message; this is an appreciation message."

 

 

 

He then added that we are not the slaves of an intimidating master, but that God is good all the time. The momentum of cultural transformation is created by believers as God's co-laborers. God is like an enthusiastic parent cheering on his child from the sidelines of a game, and God tells each of us "You are the best, and I believe in you." God has given each of us honor, opportunity, and favor.

 

 

 

However, honor, opportunity, and favor can be squandered. Psalms 49:20 says "A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish." If we go through life without the understanding of God and the opportunities that He has given us, then we are like cows. Cows go through the motions of life without any meaning. He said that rich people don't go to work every day, they go seek opportunities and make connections. Momentum can inspire and transform, and this is the type of richness that Bethel is hoping to nurture in Redding with the civic center proposal.

 

 

 

He concluded the sermon with a long clip of a gospel breakfast with Oprah and virtually every important living black musician. Part of the message of the clip was the importance of generational progress, and passing down the legacy of the gospel to the next generation.

 

 

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6fk8t ... lege_music

 

 

 

The video clip was very high-energy, and it was very inspiring.

 

 

 

For homework, he asked the congregation to think and pray about inheritance for as-yet-unborn generations.

 

 

 

From there the service just ended. He said that if anyone wanted to be healed or saved then they should come up to the front. When most people left, we sat quietly and watched people go to the front for quiet laying on of hands.

 

 

It was very interesting and I wish more of you could have joined us.

[Lillybee]

Thank you for biting the bullet and doing this for us. Sacramento was fun but muggy.

[defrauding]

Time for a game of "Phil Wickham or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrhJT98IoaQ?"

• I see your face in every sunrise / The colors of the morning are inside your eyes / The world awakens in the light of the day / I look up to the sky and say / You're beautiful
  
• Your love is my life / You know when I'm without you / There's a black hole in my life
  
• I see your face / You're beautiful / You're beautiful
  
• I see you there hanging on a tree / You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me / Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne / Soon we will be coming home / You're beautiful, you're beautiful
  
• Don't ever leave me, Jesus / I couldn't stand to see you go / My heart would simply snap, my lord / If you walked on out that door
  
• Whenever I see Jesus up on that cross / I can't help but think that he looks kinda hot
  
• We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring / Your bride will come together and we'll sing / You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful

[Deleted12]

Time for a game of "Phil Wickham or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrhJT98IoaQ?"

• I see your face in every sunrise / The colors of the morning are inside your eyes / The world awakens in the light of the day / I look up to the sky and say / You're beautiful
  
• Your love is my life / You know when I'm without you / There's a black hole in my life
  
• I see your face / You're beautiful / You're beautiful
  
• I see you there hanging on a tree / You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me / Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne / Soon we will be coming home / You're beautiful, you're beautiful
  
• Don't ever leave me, Jesus / I couldn't stand to see you go / My heart would simply snap, my lord / If you walked on out that door
  
• Whenever I see Jesus up on that cross / I can't help but think that he looks kinda hot
  
• We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring / Your bride will come together and we'll sing / You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful

That's totally how it was.

[Lillybee]

I wonder if they are going to change the name of the Redding Convention Center.