The Lion King and the Gospel

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Tonight Rachel and I saw the Lion King in 3D. At first I have to be honest I wasn’t so excited but I figured why not, there certainly didn’t seem to be anything better on. So we had dinner at glacier brew house restaurant in Anchorage and then went to see this “kids movie”. Right from the beginning I felt like God was speaking to me. In the opening all is right with the world. The King is good and a new son is born. Kinda like the garden of Eden. BUT there is one who is jealous of the King and his son (Scar). The son is the rightfully over this deceptive, cowardly trickster but the schemer first plants a seed for disobedience and then tricks the boy into thinking he is responsible for his fathers death and that he must run to escape the shame/condemnation of what he has done. Sound like the Devil to you too? The King gives his life to save his son and tells him he will always be with him. But rather then believe this he believes the lies of His uncle and that what he has done is beyond forgiveness.

Enter two loners preaching self centered apathy that they don’t really believe deep down or they would abandon each other and  Simba in the end. So our would be prince is living in condemnation, apathy, and denial. Enter the princess who reminds him of who he is and who his father is as well as a weird monkey that leads him to an encounter with his father who tells him that he has never left him and to remember who he is.

Simba then walking in the revelation of who he is takes back his authority from the one who has brought only death and destruction to his followers and the land.   In a battle of flames the enemy is totally removed, and the King returns.

Now don’t hear what I am not saying. Those who put out the Lion King were not trying to preach the gospel. They throw in so much weird spiritual Mumbo Jumbo that you couldn’t possibly think they were trying to preach Jesus. BUT there is something in this movie that resonates deep within the soul. I think they stumbled on truth that a fatherless generation is DESPERATE to hear. Our Father loves us! He laid down his life for us (He and Jesus are one and indivdual) and he even laid down the life of his Son Jesus for us. A much greater sacrifice, ask almost any parent and they will tell you this is true. And he is with us, pursing us, calling us to salvation and to be who he created us to be, beyond lies of the enemy and even our own sin.

After the movie was over tonight I felt my heart beating a million miles an hour I knew God wanted me to speak to the packed out crowd in the theater. So I shouted out the gospel in a few sentences (that in hind sight I would speak a little more clearly or at least explain what I was saying) but that doesn’t change the fact that God had his truth, that He placed in that movie, shouted out at the top of my lungs in a crowded theater tonight. As you read this pray that everyone who goes to that movie will encounter God just as I did. That His message would push past any bad spiritual stuff in the movie and hearts would be awakened to the Kingdom of God, to Jesus Christ. Because after all the isn’t the Lion of Judah the true LION KING.

Circuit Riding in Alaska

Hello from Wasilla, Alaska! We have just finished a four week run with a Circuit Rider outreach here in Alaska. We started our “circuit” here in Fairbanks with Door of Hope Church there. Our team partnered with our leaders Tom and Donna Cole as they led the church through a pure heart seminar that they had developed while at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. We saw a radical release of the new song of the the Lord as well as a lot of healing and freedom!

From there we went to Mento a native village on the road system (as opposed to those only accessible by boat or plane). In Mento we weren’t able to do the ministry we had first planed for because of a death in the village but we were graciously allowed to join them as they celebrated the life of the elder that passed away and God opened a door for us to minister to some of those who were grieving as well at one point our team was asked to pray for the daughter of the man who had passed away by the elders this was a big open door as we prayed for her she and several other women in the room started weeping at first we thought this was pretty normal latter we learned from one of the ladies that she hadn’t been able to grieve for years and that it was a total breakthrough for them.

From Mento we went back to Fairbanks for a bit and then on to Wasilla. In Wasilla we shared with two youth groups who were on fire and in many ways blessed us as much as we blessed them. We also had an outreach at the State fair which is held just outside of Wasilla in Palmer, Alaska. There we had a time of worship right in the middle of everything and even had some of our team stand up and preach from the benches as people passed by until we were asked to stop by the security. While we didn’t see anyone come to Jesus in that time it was a huge breakthrough for our team in regards to the fear of preaching publicly.

From Wasilla we went back up to Fairbanks and right into a 24 hour prayer and worship time with the church up there in partnership with Burn 24/7. Rachel and I got to lead one of the sets together and while our set was going a ladies right knee got totally healed. In fact she was so excited about it that latter that day she was bringing her friends to Church so that they could get their knees healed too. Go JESUS!!! We also shared with a gathering of youth leaders that day and had an amazing time of prayer and worship the Holy Spirit came and encountered the meeting and brought so much freedom and joy and vision for these young kids who have a heart to take their campuses for Jesus.

From there we finished our trip in Valdez with a three day seminar and some evangelism at some of the local trailer communities. We were also personally blessed to get to spend some time with some friends Ethan and Makisha and their family while we were there.

I (Greg) was also so blessed that a group of 5 staff and one future DTS student from Homer came and spent the whole trip with us. I was especially blessed to get to know Nick who is from St. Lawrence Island where I led a short term outreach about 4 years ago. Nick is a radical young man who Jesus has set free of so much that is now fanatically pursuing Jesus with his whole heart. He is a first fruits of sorts for the YWAM base in Homer and has a great evangelistic calling on his life please pray for him as you think about him and Alaska. God is going to do great things through and in him.

Well now we are in Wasilla again and shortly we are headed to Colorado to prepare for Japan and spend some time with my family there (as well as partner with whatever God is doing there)

Love you all and God Bless

Arrived in Fairbanks!

Greetings to all!

We are currently writing from Fairbanks, Alaska.  We drove up yesterday morning amidst the beautiful changing colors of fall.  I have made this journey many times, but I don’t think I have ever seen it so beautiful.  Last night we met up with the YWAM team that is currently here and had an awesome time of worship together.  Tonight, we are headed to Door of Hope church where we will be starting a 24 hour burn with Sean Feucht.  We are anticipating what the Lord is going to do through this time.  To our friends in Fairbanks we invite you to join us!  The burn starts tonight at 6pm.

Greg will be joining some of the YWAM team in a youth gathering that is also happening this evening at the Pioneer Park here in Fairbanks.  It is a gathering of many different churches’ youth groups together to seek after the Lord.  Tonight is called “First Thirst” because it is the first of these gatherings for the fall.  We are looking forward to spending time with this group of youth this evening to pray for and encourage them.

We will be posting more soon hopefully with pictures and videos included!

Blessings.