Report from the International Transformation Network in Honolulu, Hawaii

Hello friends and partners,

Thank you for your prayers and support for our team here at the ITN conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. The conference was moved here rather than Argentina this year, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, so that the delegates could be a blessing to Hawaii and more accessible to people from Asia where God is moving in such powerful ways. There are 540 “international delegates” representing 27 countries, and much to our delight, another 500 Hawaiians that have joined our evening meetings! This is an answer to prayer. But even better, many of the historic wounds that have kept Hawaiians isolated even from one another are being healed!

Josh and Christina VanVooren and Larry and Kirsten Tate have been wonderful partners and representatives of Christ Church. We are enjoying our conversations with so many awesome Christian brothers and sisters from around the world. There are seven new DVD Transformation stories being introduced throughout the conference. One of them is “The Ongoing Story of Transformation in Elk River, MN.” It will be shown on the last day and I will share that morning. We filmed this summer and I’m very pleased with the result. It will be fun to show it to our church family some Sunday morning.

The overall level of testimonies and teaching just continues to accelerate. For example, last night we heard from Pastor Brian Burton from Phuket, Thailand. It was like reading the book of Acts. People are coming to the Lord by the hundreds… whole villages. Miracles are taking place on a daily basis. Seven million dollars in bribe money has been returned by officials from the government, police and business that is being used to build schools, hospitals and care for those impacted by typhoons and tsunamis.

Tonight we heard from Pastor Kong Hee from City Harvest Church in Singapore. His congregation has 25,000 members and worships in an arena larger than the Target Center. They impact 640 million people a week through a television teaching ministry. They are providing spiritual covering and teaching resources for 5,000 underground cell churches in China. His wife, Sun, is the leading “pop” recording artist in Asia with many #1 records and is impacting the whole media/music/entertainment industry. Here’s a “Transformation Church” that is training every member to be a minister in the marketplace and is impacting all of southeast Asia and China. Amazing!

I have been working closely with Ed Silvoso and Dave Thompson in coordinating the program and the workshops. With so many amazing testimonies to share it is quite a challenge to “orchestrate” these days together. We are leaning heavily on the Holy Spirit and have been very blessed by how things have come together. I have been privileged to speak and be used by God in a variety of ways. Today I led two workshops on “Developing a Transformation Church” along with fellow pastors Brian Burton from Thailand and Poncho Murgia from Juarez, Mexico. There were about 100 in attendance at each workshop, both pulpit and marketplace ministers. There is a tremendous desire for resources to give traction in the local congregation, so Faith Beyond Belief was enthusiastically received once again. A man from Japan asked for permission to translate it for the churches there. There is also great excitement for future releases of “At a Crossroads” and “Enemies No More.” So, this is an avenue of service that God has given us at Christ Church to be able to bless others around the world!

God has also put it upon my heart to host a Transformation Church Pastors Conference in Minnesota next June. Please join our team in prayer even now. As we have shared the idea with some pastors here at the ITN conference there has been a great response. We would welcome pastors from around the world for a 2-day conference at Christ Church and in our communities that would be open to people from our 5-state region. Then, we would bus just the pastors to a resort/camp somewhere in Minnesota for 3-days of “retreat time” in deep fellowship, equipping, personal ministry and lots of fun. Pastors are needing to get connected and receive at a deeper level as we develop Transformation Churches around the world. We will pray and see where God takes us!

Thanks again for your prayers and support. The witness of Christ Church and the Pray Elk River movement continues to encourage many others. We look forward to sharing more highlights and insights this coming Sunday!