Update - More about Kings

Hillsong Worship Pastor, Darlene Zscech was at Kings Church Friday night and she spoke on Prayer. She spoke about the importance of pure, zealous prayer. Prayer and praise go hand in hand. Don’t complicate the goodness of God; Thank Him in everything – it is His will; don’t fret or have anxiety about anything but in everything give Him thanks; Prayer is about trust; keep your mind on Him and you’ll have peace. These were all points she made about the power of prayer and praise. Darlene, or Darls as she likes to be called, shared of a time she went to Lima, Peru and was able to see dire, complete, desperate poverty. She teared up as she told the story of one woman who had nothing, who had broken a ligament in her leg and could barley use it and was in crippling pain with no medicine or medical attention, but she wanted to thank God for her life. She wanted to praise Jesus for her family and for the beautiful day. Darls shared about that experience and how it wrecked her. She was so ashamed to be called a Christian when standing next to this powerful prayer warrior. She wanted to be as adamant about Jesus as the woman in the dirt hut was. And Darls shared that she is now becoming so much bolder in her prayers. She encouraged us to prayer with expectancy and with thanksgiving in our mouths for the miracle. It was really powerful! After the service I was able to talk with her as she was heading upstairs to the leaders lounge. And I told her about the Watch on Friday nights and Pastor Mahesh’s book The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting. I thanked her and Hillsong for all of their worship and told her we’ve been doing their stuff for years and are so thankful for their hearts. She thanked us for doing the Watch and said that they [Hillsong] was right there with us and were adamant about prayer and fasting as well! She gave me a big hug and it was amazing. I almost started crying talking to her – she just leaks the presence and spirit of true worship. Oh it was powerful!
Then Saturday night was Empire Youth and I was invited to come to the leader’s meeting beforehand and told the schedule of events for the evening. The setup is at 6pm everyone arrives and the back of the church is set up for games – table tennis – a huge Wii screen with couches and chairs, and three bungees hanging from the steel beams of the ceiling and kids were just free to play and swing and talk. There was coffee and Milo [which is delicious and I’ll bring some home – worry not] for kids to drink and music videos up on the screens in the front. Then at 7 the band starts up and everyone comes to the front. All the lights are out except the stage lights and it’s set up like a concert. And they did just one song and then an announcement video came up about upcoming youth events – camp, the monthly youth focus – Generosity, etc. Then Pastor Dusty (youth pastor) asked if anyone suffered from fear attacks and that God wanted to deliver them and we laid hands on them and prayed for kids. And then we went back to the back for a group game called the cube of death. Two people were wrapped in blow up mattresses and tied up in the bungees and hanging about four feet off the ground. And the bungee in the middle was tied around a mattress. One team was on each end of the back with a big foam cube and a person on top of the cube. The goal was for each team to make it to the other side without the person falling off the cube. The catch was that the two people in the blow up mattresses were being swung around by two guys and the middle mattress as being swung as well. So they had to dodge the swinging people and mattresses. So, needless to say it was very exciting but the mom in me came out a few times and I did the classic mom gasp and cover your mouth. It was fun though. There was also a skateboard ramp set up outside the church. When you get to Empire Youth, the foyer has loud music playing with a sign in table with info cards for new kids and some greeters. After the cube of death we went back for more worship and Dusty speaking on Generosity. We also watched a video that some guys at the church made – called Jeanerosity. Where this one guy goes up to people in the street and asks them if they like his jeans and tries to give his jeans away as a means of being generous. It was hilarious but the kids enjoyed it. They don’t care if they break the rules and act stupid, they do things to attract young people and then once they’ve got their attention, they love on them and bring them to Jesus. It was great! Then offering, another song, and the end. But afterwards, people are free to keep playing Wii and eat pancakes. So it is a really great time and loads of fun. Probably 150 kids there. I even swung on the ropes and have two bruises from the rope – not so fun, but still a little fun.
Kings is really about getting people out to church events. At each service there are video announcements about the next months activities and functions. There is a Charity Golf Game, A Vintage Fashion Show Tea, and lots of other things. One thing they are doing next Sunday is Servolution Sunday. Where they set up booths for each of the departments you can serve in and they require you give a six month commitment. And each six months they do it again and it keeps people involved but gives them the freedom to get involved with something else after six months. I haven’t seen their Heros kids church yet but I have a class with the Kids Pastor and will be speaking with him more about it. Aaron, you would have fainted if you had seen the size of the mac in their editing suit. OH MY GOSH!! It was beautiful! All cordless mics, different drummers set up their own kits, two soundboards and a light board operator. Only musicians have in-ears. Everyone else has their own monitor and the sound is cranking!! And guess what…NO FEEDBACK!! What!!?? I know, miraculous. Ha! There is a soundboard stage left off the stage and that guy mixes the musicians in-ears and singers’ monitors. I like this guy. The stage is really cool. It has a catwalk that comes out from underneath and stairs for it that all get pushed into the front. Speakers and light coming out of your ears and guess what else – they can film in the dark!!! Super cool, I know! There could be three can lights on and they can still use the video cameras! Ha ha!! So, yeah, they have a really good set up and they use technology really well.