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…the spirit of unity within the body of Christ will continue on! This series has touched me in unintelligible ways because it has shown me that God can do anything and will use anybody all for His glory and purpose. So many things are underneath the surface, but I know that God will bring my experiences to the forefront of my thoughts at the right time as He continues to use One Prayer to help us be a catalyst for change in Sacramento and for drawing people closer together.

With the conclusion of the One Prayer series yesterday (wanted to write this earlier–hence the title–but now it’s actually Monday), here are some of my thoughts:

• A ton of competition on the preaching this month with me concluding the One Prayer series after our church got to experience video teaching from Ed Young, Jr., Steven Furtick, and Perry Noble. Not to mention that I’ve got Gary Lamb of Revolution Church in Canton, GA on-deck for our mid-week core group gathering this week! I definitely wasn’t up to the task, but I believe God came alive in me and broke a spirit of intimidation today so I’m on my way Big Boys of Preaching!
• God sent us a church today to lead our worship time and to join in fellowship and they thought they were a small church until they met us! No matter what you think, there is always someone with less.
• Del Paso Union Baptist Church saved the day! Not only did they breathe life into our church like a holy tornado, but they were the most amazing, attentive, appreciative, joyful, and encouraging group of people I have ever had the honor and privilege of speaking to. They allowed me to get my “preaching shoes” on and let loose with a little heat in the name of love. I will never, ever forget your act of service for us as we were just starting out and God is gonna bless you to overflowing because your hearts (and actions) are in the right place!
• I found out there is a little fire burning within me that needed to be unleashed through some uplifting preaching. Lord, reign in me, reign in your fire, reign in me again, and again, and again…I need you and can’t do it without you.
• The revolution has begun, and some people are gonna wanna stop and get off. I’ll just have to trust the Lord and not be reactionary.
• As crazy as it seems to me, it was pretty evident that some in our church took a bit of a competitive spirit for some reason. I’ll need to seek God to find away to get that spirit cast out and sent away permanently as there is no place for it in Christ’s church, ever!
• I had no clue how much difference the house would feel when people received and responded to the preaching of the Word of the Lord. Wow, was I ever riding a wave of feeling fulfilled and with purpose today, even though the day started of less than desirable through my inability and ineffectual in the worship.
• So many words to describe the events today, but the one that keeps popping into my head and making me feel giddy is: F-U-N. Today was unbelievably fun and there was true joy in my heart for my God and for His people. I don’t think I would have ever imagined using the word fun to describe a church service, but it isn’t it supposed to be a celebration experience? No question, when it’s working on all cylinders it is indescribable joy in the finest hour.
• I love being around others that love God! I need to keep that kind of joy when I am around others that don’t love God. I love people that don’t love God and try to connect with many that do not share my faith, but I don’t always have the same joy when that love isn’t mutual to the Lord, and that must stop.
• Israel Houghton songs really speak to me and minister to my spirit in ways that no other songs can do. Praise you Lord for Israel and New Breed and their music!
• No matter what successes I witness, nor how affluent the community is that God puts me in, He always seems to be calling me back to my roots and never forgetting where I came from.   I feel like things will take me back full-circle and I will find myself right back where I started. If that’s the plan, I’m ready Lord! May your will be done regardless of where my human eyes want to take me.
• Lord, please send us some worshipers that want to pour their hearts and souls into loving you through songs and leading others to share in the blessing that comes only from worshiping you in spirit and truth. We are thirsty for some authentic worship that can be led by the King of King and the Lord of Lords and not through human means. No matter what, I praise you for all who surround me and pray that You will continue to cause us to grow together and become all that You plan us to be.
• If God is for us, who can be against us? Revolution Church Sacramento must be from God, by God, and for God…no if’s, and’s, or but’s. It’s GO time!

Wow…wow…wow! I am speechless. What a humbling experience One Prayer has been. What a life-changing event One Prayer has been. To have a vision given to Craig Groeschel that required few words to convey, yet resonated so loudly and clearly to all those that became connected was definitely God showing His face for the world to see. I can’t to write out my reflections on our final One Prayer service today. Oh man, what a day it has been!

When we connected at www.oneprayer.com about 1 1/2 months ago, we were part of 50 churches and 35,000 individuals. In about 6 weeks this has grown to over 1,600 churches and almost 1 million people and there are many churches just starting and continuing this through the month of July. I am in awe of God’s providence and the way He works. I am amazed at how quickly and smoothly this was orchestrated and coordinated with little advance notice. Unbelievable, yet so believable because God is even bigger than One Prayer.

What a blessing and honor to have been a part of this. Dialog has been started, partnerships have developed and relationships are continuing grow all because we felt God calling us to start our tiny little church plant a couple of months early to be a part of this global project.

Praise God & thank you Craig Groeschel! This has touched many lives and was (and will continue to be) a vehicle to share God’s love and His salvation unto some who may not have ever been touched had Pastor Craig not followed through with this. Wow…wow…wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had so many things planned for this coming Sunday. It’s our final service for the One Prayer project and our small church will triple in size this week because we have an awesome gospel choir of 30 singers coming to lead our worship time and bless us and the Lord with some amazing praise. However, it seems that other irons in the fire are causing me to stray away from some of the things I had wanted to initiate.

It is times like this that cause me to feel disappointed:

I’m disappointed in myself for not being able to do everything I had wanted to do. I’m disappointed in others around me that would rather live their lives for themselves rather than help serve others. I am disappointed that God has not brought the people to our ministry that I have been praying for.

Of course, these are all thoughts in my natural mind and I do my best to keep them repressed and to make them go away. Disappointment leads to frustration, and I’m still reeling over the illustrations and the powerful message from Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church that was delivered in service last week. If you haven’t witnessed it, go to revsacramento.com and click on the One Prayer link to see it. Speaking from Luke 7, Pastor Noble explained that there were two lines of people at the time Jesus was about to raise someone from the dead. One was in mourning and rooted in frustration, the other excited in anticipation for what Jesus was about to do. I can’t be in the frustration line mourning what happened or why and need to move over to the anticipation line and just praise God for all He has done and all He will continue to do.

Church planting can be a lonely place at times. It’s easy to be disappointed and frustrated. It’s not always easy to be in anticipation as we always want to see things happen now! However, I am just going to do my best to keep waiting in anticipation of what is to come. If Jesus can raise a mother’s son from the dead during his burial procession, I can’t wait to see what He is going to do here in Sacramento so that His creation will come to know His love and grace in their lives and become transformed through the Holy Spirit to love God and love others above even themselves.

I’m still in total amazement in the afterglow of Perry Noble’s One Prayer message, “Lord, Make Us Dangerous.” I got a chance to preview the message and initially when I thought about using it, I figured no one here in Sacramento was going to relate to this goofy guy from the South talking about drinking his biscuits and saying, “What up dawg?” a lot. Well, I prayed about it and am so glad that I felt led to use his video sermon for our One Prayer service. He absolutely brought down the house! I stood in the back of the room to gauge the reactions of those gathered today and everyone was following his every word and after a 35 minute message it was if they didn’t want it to end. That was some good preachin’!

Pastor Noble really brought forth an amazing message today that I think will influence those in attendance at Revolution Church Sacramento for the rest of their lives. This was definitely one of those water cooler conversation starters.

Pastor Noble, thanks for helping to ignite a fire for us to be dangerous Christians and for leading the way with your passion for God and the gospel of Good News!

Well, after having to be involved in setting up and playing on the worship team, running powerpoint, being the sound engineer and giving announcements the first two weeks, we have some help coming to support us for the One Prayer project during week 3…woo hoo! My friends from Xaris Church in Elk Grove are coming out to lead worship and run our powerpoint presentation. I’m so excited to get a break to just worship and listen to the teaching from Perry Noble of NewSpring Church this Sunday with his message for the One Prayer series, “Make Us Dangerous.” It’s gonna be great. Thanks Xaris…you guys rock!!!

Next week is gonna be even better, or as Ed Young, Jr. would say, “It’s gonna be off the chain!!!” I believe God just spoke an amazing idea into my brain and I am going to follow up on it. I’m pushing the global offering for One Prayer back a week to try and see it grow as God connects us with more people/churches in Sacramento with a heart for unity through prayer. This is absolutely amazing! More details next week..

Well, although we have been in operation for exactly one preview service as a brand new work of God here in Sacramento, CA named Revolution Church Sacramento, I figured I’d take a cue from Steven Furtick and Gary Lamb and offer a personalized lead-in video for your services if you have chosen to use my video message for the One Prayer project. Yep, I’m the Asian guy with the big head praying for God to “Make Us Uncomfortable.”

Just submit your request as a post to this blog or email me with:

1. some info on your church/ministry
2. the name (and title) of your senior pastor
3. any relevant things in your vision or mission that you’d like me to know
4. title of your church’s one prayer message for this series (if applicable)

…and have it to me by Friday, June 20th. I’ll shoot & edit the videos and have them available for download by Monday, June 23rd. If you happen to need the lead-in video for June 22nd, just have your information to me by Tuesday the 17th and I’ll have the video for you to download on the 18th.

Seeing all the power behind the other 62 video messages submitted for the One Prayer project, I’m not assuming anyone has chosen to use my message on “Make Us Uncomfortable,” but just in case you did it would be my honor to be able to personalize the message for you as we stand in unity as ONE

What a totally unexpected day at Revolution Church Sacramento! Here are my thoughts as I reflect upon the day:

• I was so geeked up all week in anticipation of sharing Steven Furtick’s One Prayer sermon video with the church.
• I was so jacked up after witnessing Steven Furtick’s One Prayer sermon video at service today…I don’t what it was, but boy did the Lord get a hold of me as I was preparing to make announcements after the sermon video. I couldn’t even get my words to come out of my mouth because I couldn’t stop crying…pretty bizarre and totally unexpected. God did a number on me through Pastor Furtick’s teaching and I am feeling the spirit of Audacity coming on in a big way!
• After getting jacked up, it was pretty obvious to me that the Lord was solidifying the vision for Revolution Church Sacramento and I am more pumped than ever to see this journey through!
• Service ran about 10 minutes over after I prepared everything as best as I could to avoid running late. If I could have just told God to wait until after service to speak to me we would have ended on time pretty easily
• We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time…that’s God’s hand upon this new thing without question.
• If reincarnation was real, I’d want to come back someday as Steven Furtick! That’s not coveting Elevation Church is it?
• It seems everyone learned the meaning of audacious and embraced it today…we may need to have a church Scrabble team now
• I’m wondering how people are going to respond to Perry Noble’s sermon video next week and if they’ll feel compelled to give towards the One Prayer project to see 500 new churches started in China, India, and Sudan. I’m gonna need to keep praying on that.
• Lord, please send us some lead worshippers with a heart for the vision of our church so I can get back to leading the team and Your people to see transformation happen in Sacramento.
• The Lakers actually won, but just barely
• Pastor Park and Living Stone Community Church have been an amazing blessing in my life!
• Xaris Church’s worship band and Pastor Perry Noble on deck for next Sunday…God is gonna get his socks worshipped off for sure!