|
Oct. 26, 2009
Antioch- Part 1
I have never ever been to a meeting like the one I went to in Antioch. For several weeks before going to Antioch I spent a great deal of time thinking about it and imagining in my mind what it would be like. I imagined being in a big conference room with thick, quiet carpets, chandeliers, comfortable seats, a good speaker system, and all these great people I'd read about and heard about for years in small groups quietly conversing, wearing their nice suits. I would have a chance to meet with many of them, shake their hand, get a picture taken with them. I expected great earth shattering revelations, tongues of fire over our heads kind of things. Wow, that is so laughable now!
The hotel we stayed in was adequate but not what I expected. We were in a suite type room with a bedroom, living room/kitchen area, an upstairs loft, and one bathroom with no shower curtain or hot water, or even towels. We were the first to arrive and immediately went to the downstairs bedroom with the one double bed and view of the sea. Then we find out that we are to share the room with another couple. Yikes! Miss privacy-is-sacrosanct was going to have to share a room and bathroom with complete strangers? We spent the longest time trying to decide which bedroom to take. The downstairs bedroom was the one we wanted, but to be nice we decided to take the upstairs one you had to climb a very steep staircase to. Besides, what if they were an older couple who had trouble with the stairs? Well, when Bryon and Misty arrived we realized that WE were the older couple who had trouble with the stairs! But we were already unpacked so we just stayed there. Bryon and Misty are a really sweet couple from McKinney, TX of all places, and we enjoyed their company very much.
On the second day we found out that we were getting another roommate. Some people were arriving late and they were clearing out a room for them and needed a place for one of the guys being booted out of his room. Did we mind....? Of course not. Our new roommate was Neil Cole. This surprised me a great deal. If any of you have ever read Guy's blog you will have read many quotes from Neil Cole. His book "Organic Church" is probably the book that has influenced Guy more than any other book. And that's not the only one we have. Neil was one of those "great people" that was going to be at this conference. I mean, he's ...well... famous! And he was going to be sleeping on the couch in our room? That just didn't mesh with my expectations of famous people. But I learned something very quickly about this meeting. No one, except maybe me, came with their ego. It was amazing to me that someone I considered famous was going to be sleeping on the couch. That's a far cry from some of the famous people I saw at our Baptist convention a year or so back who wouldn't deign to accept the missions brochure I was passing out before the service because it would make the pockets on his expensive silk suit bulge (it was a brochure, for goodness sake, not a book!). Anyway, I was so impressed with Neil. Not just for sleeping on the couch, but also for his willingness to talk and share with anyone who wanted to pick his brain.
In our first meeting together as a group, our leader, Wolfgang Simson, came in. He was barefoot, wearing shorts and a tee shirt. He announced several things including the fact that there would be no sound system as it was more costly and they never work anyways, or something like that (oh my, how many times have I wanted to do just that in Ecuador at some of our meetings there with the brothers!) and that we wouldn't be doing anything the next day because not everyone had arrived yet. I thought that was the kind of thing only Ecuadorians did! When everyone did get there he announced that there was no agenda. We would pray and ask God what He wanted on the agenda. I was blown away (that happened to me a lot there.). We actually sat there, IN SILENCE, mind you, for nearly an hour waiting on God to reveal what He wanted done there. Well, they did anyway. I had a hard time focusing because I'd never done that before. I mean, we always had an agenda to pray over asking for God's blessing and help. That is so much easier to do!
When we came back together (many people left to pray elsewhere) people shared what they felt God wanted to do. As they shared the group would affirm or discuss what was said. Many times we would stop and pray about a matter. Most of the people there were gifted with prophecy or apostleship (not sure if that's a word and so hope you understand what I'm saying here). Everyone was respected for what they felt God was saying, even if no one else in the group concurred. It was a meeting truly led by the Holy Spirit. Wolfgang helped to keep things on track but never took over, if you know what I mean.
This went on all week. Everyone was expected seek God and bring to the group what God was saying. It was amazing to me. There was true dialogue. No one went away and talked behind anyone's back or got upset or anything. Everyone shared (well, except for me) and was respected. As different people shared it became clear the things God was wanting to say to us. |
| •
Post A Comment! •
Send to a Friend!
|
Comments
|
Oct. 27, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Beth B.