This weekend, at Living Waters Church, we will have with us Pastor Angel Nava, of Semillas de Vida, a dynamic church in La Paz, Mexico. This church has partnered strategically with Bill Johnson's Bethel Church of Redding California. Semillas de Vida hosts one of Bethel's Schools of Supernatural Ministry. The school is designed to raise up nationals in Mexico to begin to dream and to train them to bring revival and transformation to Mexico. They are seeing some phenomenal things take place. Graduates from this school are beginning to plant businesses, become missionaries, and move into places of influence. This base is becoming a place where people are being raised up and sent out. Angel is also emerging as a key voice of reconciliation, honour and unity among different streams, churches and ministries in Mexico, and beyond.

If you are in the area, come and join us for these meetings! Watch this space for some follow-up posts on these sessions!

Recently a bunch of dudes and dudettes from Living Waters Church invaded the Ipanema restaurant in Gibraltar. I am amazed at how important it is, for your movement to eat together! There is something about shared meals that is at the centre of life together. In our culture, a lot of important business is conducted over a shared meal (Of course, we call them " business lunches", just to give it that sense of importance, or maybe even a sense of grown-up-ness) - In other cultures, shared meals form the backbone of much of civic life, commerce and polity. If you want to foster common bonds, a shared sense of purpose, and a sense of belonging, then eat out.... a lot. Please tell me that you heard this. It is so simple that it runs the risk of seeming trivial. Simple stuff is usually overlooked. Simple stuff is often powerful. Mankind has a innate craving for belonging, especially for belonging to a mission that has a cause. When people feel that they truly belong, and form an important part of, something greater than themselves, then watch-out, you have in your hands the genesis of a world-changing and paradigm-destroying phenomenon. In other words, you have in your hands the basic ingredients that can change the rules of the game. Your movement needs that fellow-ship. It all begins happens around some good food and a healthy appetite for your mission. Ribs anyone? For the record: The obligatory evidence: [flickr-gallery mode="photoset" photoset="72157622763171440"]

I was finally doing a bit of housekeeping on my Flickr account (Which I had abandoned for a while in favour of just using FB) and managed to organize some of the photos that I had of Living Waters Church going back to 2003. Although it is by no means a chronicle of the church's history - and although there are glaring gaps when a lot was happening and no photographs were taken - it neverhteless felt good to see a photographic timeline since 2003 - the various stages of our development and growth. I am a grateful man today to have been allowed to experience these baby steps and this growth. Click here to view photographs MORE LORD!

We have just finished a couple of days with one of my favourite people in the world: Pastor Tom Rowe.

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers - Malachi 4:6

When a person like Tom Rowe visits..... you sit down...and listen.... and take notes. That's what 56 years in ministry gives you I guess..... the "gravity" to speak.... the "voice" that causes young hatchlings in ministry like myself, to take notes. We tend to place a lot of currency on the polished dynamic young preachers and speakers. That is good, and they certainly have their place, but it is also high time for the Church to recognize spiritual fathers in addition to the vibrant and dynamic speakers. There is an anointing that wows you, and that is awesome..... and then there is also the quality that says "I've been there." I have purposed in my life to pursue the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit in my life...... I want to pursue it with passion, intensity, focus and persistence - what is the point of it all if I don't? I also recognize the need to surround myself with "been there" people - "fathers", like Tom Rowe. During Tom's visits I LOVE the word He brings. I usually say that his ministry is a deep well that I turn to often. However I also find myself wondering whether I end up gleaning MORE from our conversations during the margins of his visit - conversations over a cup of coffee, whilst driving, whilst taking a walk - than I do during his sermons and teachings, deep and rich though they always are. There comes a point when a pastor becomes a pastor's pastor - Tom is, for many, a pastor's pastor. Some time ago I wrote about the gray-hair test. These thoughts are resonating in me again. I proposed the following ministry timeline:

• Childhood to 30 years: These are the formative years where you get rooted and grounded in the motivations behind your mission, and also get competent enough to fulfill it in an excellent way.
• 30 to 50 years: These are the performing years, where the actual job is done and the mission is advanced during your tenure.
• 50 to 70 years: These are the mentoring years (Reference the gray-hair test), where you take young aspiring leaders under your wing and nurture and mentor them in order to reproduce yourself in them.
• 70 years and over : These are the legacy years. During this season in your life you’d better get real busy and write as many books as you can, recording your legacy for as many generations to come as possible. During these years you are a mentor to mentors, a pastor to pastors, and a much needed source of wisdom, guidance and inspiration.

Thoughts?

We have just finished our first conference! We trust this will be the first of many. For three days, people who were hungry for the Fire of Revival and Transformation gathered in the Ince's Hall theatre in Gibraltar to press-in for more of the Lord's presence. Our three nights saw different expressions of worship, from local sensation U-Turn leading the first night, to the awesome Jaydan Gomila (Associate Pastor and worship leader at Living Waters Church) together with Martin Hosken, leading the second night, and Dutch group "Syncopate" bringing a fresh and wild sound the third night! Wow!! Our speaker for this conference was Mattheus Van der Steen, a Revivalist who is being used mightily to release God's glory over the nations. His ministry, Touch, Reach and Impact the Nations (TRIN) is instrumental in bringing Revival in Holland and other nations as well as in the care of widows and orphans in third world countries. With a most powerful anointing He exhorted us to go "lower still" and keep a heart of a child before God. That is the only way to keeping the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We saw many catching this fire and being powerfully touched by God. After the final impartation service, I believe a fire has been ignited in men's lives, a fire that cannot be put out, a fire that will spread and change a whole city, a region, nations and continents. If you were blessed in any way during this conference, please email your testimonies to Jaydan at jaydan@livingwatersgib.com.

Quentin and Docia Miller are in Gibraltar for a series of meetings at Living Waters Church.  These guys have poured themselves out in such a way over the years that it blows me away.  Quentin has been and continues to be a huge influence in my life, and also in Living Waters as a church.  These guys are some of our favourite people in the world!!!!!  Church meetings are always a bomb with Quentin and Docia in the house.  Guys, welcome to Gibraltar, welcome to Living Waters Church.... now lets go rock this joint!!!!! Tags: Quentin MIller, Docia Miller, Living Waters Church

• Attendance was up - summer must be coming to an end ;)
• Worship really broke some new ground this morning - One comment / compliment I received from a visitor from the UK was that for a small group such as ours, the sound that comes out of this place in worship really makes you feel as if there are more people worshipping there than in her church which is 5 times larger!!! - Only one explanation for this.....Heaven must be joining-in!!!
• I gave a short exhortation on what often keeps us from being used in Kingdom building and restoration - Three of the most frequent hindrances being a distorted sense of your true identity, discouragement from others , and accusations.
• We then released everyone into a time of ministry and prayer for each other, speaking words of encouragement, edification and comfort over each others' lives - I was just BLOWN AWAY seeing the people get in on this thing - This is certainly something that we feel led to do more often at Living Waters!
• I am SO ENCOURAGED ! ! ! ! !
• Still feeling that "Holy Hangover" ! ! ! !

1. I arrived late this morning and the worship service had already begun without me
2. The reason for this delay was that God as downloading stuff right up to 11:00am regarding certain transitions that we as a church have to undergo in order to recover a missional focus.
3. Worship was FREAKIN' AWESOME!!! In fact, worship broke me. It really undid me. Mad me realize that Father loves me SO MUCH, that should I stumble or fall, I am CAUGHT in HIS GRACE!!!! That realization compels me to want to please Him more and more! There is an anointing and a presence during our worships times that is just medicinal!! I honestly believe that we are fast approaching a time when anything can breakout in our services just because of the glory present during worship. Can it be any other way?
4. Jaydan then shared an OFF-THE-HOOK-TESTIMONY!!!!! - He had been teaching his 6-year old nephew Daniel how to play "Glory, Glory, Glory" on the keyboard at his place. After a while his nephew gets the hang of it and then spends over ONE AND A HALF HOURS just praising and singing GLORY!!!!!! C'mon!!! People, I think we have a little fire starter in our hands.. But there is more!
5. Jaydan pulls him away from the keyboard at 11:00pm and tucks this little one to bed - Daniel says that he is still singing in his mind!
6. Jaydan then hears this massive choir singing Glory! Glory! Glory! - He thought that he must be hearing things until Daniel says, "I can hear the angels singing!" !!!!!!!!!! C'mon!!! Freaking off-the-hook!!!!!!
7. Brian shared another testimony of how he was led to pray for a lady in a supermarket in Spain that had just been diagnosed with cancer, and was able to authoritatively command healing right there in the aisle!!! We look forward to hearing from her with an amazing testimony soon.
8. Ladies and gentlemen, supermarkets are now considered a legitimate ministry area!
9. This lady was not expecting this "Special Offer" when she went bargain hunting that day - She was not the one seeking, she was the one being sought, by the precious love of Father. I am just amazed by the love that God is placing in or people - they are starting to step out in public places in order to pray for people!!!
10. In between testimonies, I managed to share a few words ( :) ) on the Holy Spirit as Helper, and Friends, and the difference between moving in realm sof power and realms of authority.
11. When we move in power, God is initiating a wave of supernatural activity that we are responding to - we "ride the wave"
12. When we move in authority, we are stepping out in the authority of a son of God and a wave of supernatural activity is created by us! - we "initiate the wave"
13. Derek shared on the two heart realities of working FOR God's favour versus working FROM God's favour.
14. After the message I shared on some sessions that we will be having during September where we will be casting some vision and charting a future course for the church.
15. Many changes need to happen if we want to have a more missional focus
16. In order to manage these changes I propose to have a Transitional Leadership team set in place in the very near future with a clear mandate to help bring about that change during a time frame of 1 to 2 years.
17. During that mandate, there will be extensive profiling and gift-assessments of everyone to assess what areas of church service are most suitable for them.
18. After this mandate expires then those on the leadership team will be either confirmed, or step aside on order to set in place a permanent leadership team.
19. Please be in prayer for this.

• There were a few new faces in the crowd - I love it when we have visitors
• Made some neat connections with a couple of these visitors - I have this feeling that we will remain in touch and bless each other for the long term
• Great worship! - Jaydan and Angel ROCKED the HOUSE! FUEGO!!! Psycoloco!
• Had Fatima translating!!! This is so awesome because we had English-only and Spanish-only people in the "crowd" - Don't know what I would have done without her!
• Taught from Heb 4:12 on rediscovering the Bible as LIVING and POWERFUL and SHARP
• Shared on Lectio Divina and the practise of reading the bible meditatively and contemplatively and what this means for our transformation
• Cool ministry time after the message
• Managed to pray for my little hero Caleb!!!! We are believing great things for him!
• Our intercession team is slowly taking shape!!!! This is one key strategic ministry for me and for this church!
• Really grateful for those who come every week and give of their time and energy to set things up, take things down, translate, lead worship and so on. This church is being built with guys and gals like you!
• Really pumped about what God is setting us up for!
• Having a 2-hour "nap" on Sunday afternoon really recharges my batteries
• Re-connected with some Spanish friends from Germany in the evening - God has them on a journey and it was awesome hearing where they are at, and where they are going.