The conference, held at The Rock in Castle Rock, Colorado, featured two well known speakers, Leif Hetland, and Lance Wallnau (http://lancelearning.com/.) I have heard Leif Hetland before and I am very moved each time by the simple message he brings, but with great force. He just tells people God loves them, and shows them by inviting the power and presence of God into the picture. Of course, his real passion is reaching people overseas with the gospel, preaching a message of salvation and transformation. If you have not had the chance, find out about his ministry called Global Mission Awareness.
I had not heard Lance Wallnau before, and was floored by the level of wisdom and revelation that comes from this guy! In one hour he teaches how everything works! Everything! I am not kidding, everything! Lance has taken Bill Bright's Seven Mountains of culture idea, and expanded it and built upon it in a way that is nothing less than life changing.
Here is some basic info on the Seven Mountains concept:
In 1975, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade, and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission, had lunch together in Colorado. God simultaneously gave each of these change agents a message to give to the other. During that same time frame Francis Schaeffer was given a similar message. That message was that if we are to impact any nation for Jesus Christ, then we would have to affect the seven spheres, or mountains of society that are the pillars of any society. These seven mountains are business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, the family and religion. There are many subgroups under these main categories. About a month later the Lord showed Francis Schaeffer the same thing. In essence, God was telling these three change agents where the battlefield was. It was here where culture would be won or lost. Their assignment was to raise up change agents to scale the mountains and to help a new generation of change agents understand the larger story.(from http://www.reclaim7mountains.com)
Wallnau is adept at helping people understand how God's kingdom has a claim on all of the other kingdoms and realms on earth. He declares and shows us HOW "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ." As an aside, he did say that some ask, "are you one of those 'dominion' people?" His answer was great. He said "No, but why do you think so negatively of a belief that has influence as a part of it. Because you have been taught that faith and religion only have to do with only one realm, that of personal religion." Wallnau teaches that each of the seven mountains are actually the "foothills", if you will, of the Kingdom of God, and that they are "kingdoms" of influence within our society. Others have used the term "gatekeepers" in a similar manner. Wallnau used the story from Acts 27 & 28 of Paul in the ship headed to Rome as an example of the authority God gives believers to make a shift in power structures. First, Paul goes to the "leaders" and tells them of his concern that there will be danger ahead, and even shipwreck. They respond condescendingly to this and send Paul away. That was the example of the current power structure. The example of the Kingdom power structure was that when all of the things had happened as Paul had said, an angel is dispatched to declare, to Paul, not the "leaders" on the boat, that because Paul had an appointment to meet with Ceasar, all of the people on on the ship would be saved, although not the ship and cargo. The most amazing thing Wallnau said was that "anyone with a relationship with God has a relational connection that makes them the ranking person in their sphere of influence. So God can use a guy in the mail room to effect the future of a corporation, because he is the ranking Kingdom person in the organization!
Also at the conference was Paul Yadao, a pastor from the Philippines, who shared testimonies from his ministry and the people of his congregation. His emphasis was on what he and Leif Hetland called "soaking," or spending regular time with God in a worshipful, quiet atmosphere, and letting God minister his love to you and speak to you directly. Now I know this will sound negative, but I mean well. The Toronto Blessing people were the first to call waiting on God, Christian or Biblical meditation, or what others call listening prayer "soaking." And, as usual for typical charismatics, they imagine they have invented something new. Of course, any study of Church history and even a cursory glance at the great classic books on prayer and the contemplative life reveal no shortage of material or recommendations of how to access the Presence of God in this manner, as well as the Scriptures themselves, particularly the Psalms. Wasn't it Martin Luther who said "Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart." He is also known for adding additional time to his prayers as he got busier. I could also add Tozer, Murray, Merton, Peck, Madame Guyon, Fenelon, Saints Anthony, Theresa, Thomas, Francis, Patrick and no doubt hundreds of others to the list of those who over the years have invited us to the classroom of meditation, silence and solitude. So, God bless them, these men have discovered the ancient pathways to transformation of society through society with God. At the conference Mr. Yadao shared story after story of God's faithfulness in bringing solutions to problems through dreams and visions and visitations. It was like hearing Biblical stories of God's faithfulness, and like the "Transformation" Videos, if you have heard of them.
In short, awesome conference! Let's hope and pray that it was more than that, and that the whole region here in the Front Range of Colorado will be impacted by the power of Living From Heaven's View!
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