So what's next???

Look at this! I am back!

I want to warn you about a strange phenomenon! When you pray crazy, ridiculously massive prayers, like the ones that come from a place that is so deep that as soon as they leave your mouth you almost try and stuff them back in, guess what?  God hears those prayers and actually takes each one of them seriously. He is moved by every one of your passionate decrees. As soon as you pray it, He is faithful to begin to answer it.

So, if you want your comfortable life messed up, then keep praying prayers that scare the wits out of you! You are positioning yourself to step into what is possible through the God of the impossible who lives inside of you. He wants to do abundantly above and beyond anything we can ever ask or imagine, (Eph 3:20) So why not ask or imagine something far greater than you ever have before.

This is just the way I have always prayed. God has graced me with faith to believe that my prayers no matter how big or ridiculous would be heard and answered. I remember that as a child, I prayed AND believed for big things.  After all, He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) And so it should have come as no surprise to me when God began to place in me dreams far greater than I ever could have imagined, than I still can barely fathom.

It has been a dream come true, being here in Redding these past two years. I remember how hard I wept when I found the Bethel website and read the description of the school. Such was the strength of passion and the longing in me to be immersed in the culture they described. All I wanted was a chance to have a season where I was almost forced to pursue intimacy and power.  I knew there was so much more of God to discover, and so much more that had to be expressed through my life to the world around me. All I honestly wanted was to pursue Him, to seek His face with all I had, and I knew that this was absolutely the place for me to do that.

You know when you get a promise from God and it seems impossible with many obstacles in between you and what would make that dream a reality. But you know, that you know, there is nothing that is going to stop you from partaking of that promise. Well that was how it was when I began to pursue this dream. There were so many things that, in the natural realm, made it seem impossible.  Being poised to inherit a 7th generation successful family farm as the only son was a big one.  It being impossible financially and not appearing in anyway a smart financial decision was another.  The pain of moving away from all my family and friends, being the captain of the Football Club and having to leave a week before final's started, VISA's, having a young family with our third child still under a year old.
Whatever would make it impossible seemed to multiply around us, but we had a word from the LORD to go and NOTHING was going to stand in the way of all of those ridiculous prayers that I had prayed for years. God had set me up.

God made a way where there was no way and we did make it over to Redding and I did attend 2 years at the School of Ministry.  Although many things have been and still are hard, there is nothing as truly life giving as stepping into the very thing your spirit has longed for all of your life. This school and the experiences in it have changed me in every way and I feel so thankful to God and to everyone who has contributed in any way to make this dream become a reality.

Is there something inside of you that you know is a God dream that you just can't shake? Are there things inside of you that you know if you went after would mean your normal life would crumble around you? But you still wonder what would happen if you allowed yourself to pursue that thing that burns inside of you? Or the one area of life that really excites you but makes no sense in pursuing?

I can only say that from my families experience it has been absolutely worth it, it's been even better than I ever thought it could have been. My advice for what it is worth if it burns in you so brightly that you can't possibly ignore it then don't ignore it!

So BSSM 2nd year was a challenging, stretching and amazing year for me and the whole family. My class was full of the most amazing young emerging leaders that will be known throughout the earth in the next 20 years or so. In light of this, it can be a very challenging place if you allow yourself to start comparing yourself to those around you. I had to work through a lot of performance and fear this year. It was a whole new challenge to have things to lead and run, and at the same time unlearning any mindsets about having to be the best or the most anointed rather than the one chosen and called to lead.

I didn't realize how much of a perfectionist I was and how you can be deceived and think it's just God given excellence. It really can be a fine line between the two. God in His grace, gently uproots and exposes and leads us to change. I will always be on this journey of becoming more and more like Him, and so in no way have I graduated from that process but I feel like I progressed significantly this year in this area, and I am so thankful for that opportunity.  As I step into Christian ministry and leadership, I want to do it from a place of purity of heart and not a desire to impress anyone or protect my image.  In that respect, 2nd year was vital.

It was fun to start running home groups and be chosen to be the "Senior Leader" of our Church Leadership Track where we would run actual Church services with a congregation and everything. It was super stretching as I really had no idea what I was doing!!! HAHA, but He helped me and I grew a lot.

I was again nominated for the M. Earl Johnson award, which is the individual award given out to one male and one female student who best typifies the definition of a revivalist. For all the Aussies: kind of like the Brownlow medal for my school! There were 16 nominees from the whole school of over 600 so I was again humbled to be nominated.
They announced the nominees in class and the head of the school said "congratulations Ben, but you know you can't win it twice right? I mean come on Ben, what else do you want from us?'  It was funny and I was just super glad that I didn't have the stress that I had the year before with knowing I was in with a strong chance of winning and having to prepare a speech!

My two closest mates in school were both nominated and it was fun to sit and watch them squirm through the whole process while I could just enjoy it. As nominees we were each given an individual letter from the head of 2nd year, a small momento and each announced and presented on the stage.
Graduation was such a fun night for me, I had both sets of parents over from Australia which was really special as I did really miss family the year before. I also had a great night celebrating so many of my closest friends, and realizing what God had done in all of us over two years. Looking back and reflecting on all He had done, His faithfulness, His transforming power, and just getting excited with what is going to happen when 600 students of this calibre get released all over the earth, into every sphere of influence in society. Come on Jesus!!

Towards the end of school it became apparent that there could be a possibility of me becoming a staff member and a Pastor in the School. I was asked to have an interview and of course I accepted the invitation.  It was a long drawn out process and with so many amazing candidates to chose from, it was truly an honour to even be asked.

It was a case of more than I could ever ask or imagine. I can honestly say I never, ever had the thought of me being employed as a Revival Group Pastor in the school. I had come for 2 years and that was all I could have hoped for. It wasn't until I started having Prophetic words from many people in first year that they saw me doing that role, and as my identity began to change, where for the first time I saw myself the way God saw me, then, when I was given the individual award after first year I thought maybe this was actually a possibility and so a dream was born in my heart, with a word from God to go with it.

It was actually scary to begin to dream of something that I wanted so much, it was as though I was opening up this massive area of disappointment that if I didn't dream and pursue it I would never open up my heart to the possibility of such pain.
I seemed to be going along okay during the interview process but during the final tick of approval interview from the head of the whole school and the dean I seemed to just tighten up and I had a stinker of an interview and I had to wait for a few weeks to find out. I thought that I had lost my chance as it really didn't go great!  It was kind of like torture but at the same time I got to trust God, and realize that it's not about how I "performed" in the interview it was about me as a person and the call of God on my life that they could see I carried to be able to do the job.

And so I finally got the phone call that I had been waiting for and I was offered the job as a Revival Group Pastor in 1st year BSSM!  AMAZING!!! I will pastor around 65 students and lead 3 or 4 interns through the school year.   I will also be getting other pastoral/staff/ministry opportunities and responsibilities in school and different Church services/conferences during the year.

The opportunity to step into Ministry in such an incredible School and Church is a just such a great blessing. To lead in a culture that is healthy really sets up my future as a leader, where ever God takes me. To be able to join in staff meetings with some of my absolute heroes is an incredible bonus. It will be a strange transition from student to staff member, but one that I am looking forward to wholeheartedly.

So I start my new job in a week!  My first official day is the 5th of August and so one chapter ends and another one starts. We went through all kinds of fun to get our new VISA's sorted which Jo is going to entertain you with in the coming weeks. (Isn't she an incredible writer!! If you think so you should tell her because I tell her and she just thinks I am being biased!! But she really is isn't she.)

We are staying in Redding, California for at least the next two years as that is how long our VISA lasts for. It is really exciting but also a little sad, as we always miss our Aussie family and friends.  We are aware of the consequences of our decisions to stay, like our kids not able to grow up all together with their cousins and all the little things that come with being away from Australia for so long.
Like having 3 young Australian children that sound exactly like little American's! Yep it has come to that.

But we have counted the cost and know that this is absolutely right where we need to be for this season and we continue to ask for your prayers, your phone calls, Skype chats, text and Facebook messages. We really are a long way away and so value any contact or encouragement from back home as we love and miss you all so much.

I personally would value your prayers as I am definitely being thrown in the deep end which is the answer to many of those crazy prayers I have always prayed. And exactly how I want it to be but it is always uncomfortable when you feel like you can't touch the bottom any more.

We are blessed to be getting a wage from my role but we will still be getting less than what it costs to be here for a year. So any financial support is still absolutely welcome and deeply appreciated also.

So hopefully I have gotten you all up to date with the incredible first two years of this journey and can't wait for what God does in this next season. So stay tuned!