June 9, 2005

I love attending the Foursquare Convention every year – for so many reasons. For one thing, it is like going to visit family. Now that the convention takes place just after Memorial Day weekend every year, not only is my birthday shot but we also have to miss the big 3-day weekend celebration at the lake with my family. But it is worth it.

I’ve discovered what a good thing it is for my kids to spend time with “Steve’s side of the family.” Now, I’m not just talking about his blood relatives, like his parents and brother and sister-in-law, who usually end up going to convention. But, I’m also talking about his Foursquare roots. His parents were around when the founder of the denomination, Aimee Semple McPherson, was alive. Steve was born when his dad was attending the denomination’s Bible college and his mom was working there, (having already graduated.)

Steve’s parents are both Foursquare pastors and set out from college in L.A. to pioneer a church in North Carolina. Just out of college Steve was asked to move to Los Angeles and head up the music department at Life Bible College. From there he started working at The First Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, aka, The Church On The Way, where he has worked for over twenty-five years. So, as you can tell, the Foursquare roots go deep.

It has also given our children a depth of heritage and sense of destiny that is difficult for me to explain. I’m not saying that any of our children will or will not grow up and become pastors but they know deep down that call courses through their DNA.

Steve has been producing this convention since the kids were tiny so Tucker, Haven and Clancy have grown up “helping” him every year. Spending that time together, seeing all of our old friends and Foursquare family, and enjoying all the different cities is always a highlight for us.

Another reason I look forward to it so much is because it is like church camp to me. Getting away for a week and concentrating on an extended time with the Lord always brings revival and refreshing to my soul. I’d like to share some of the things that really spoke to my heart this week by noting the points from each speaker that really hit home.

• Me – The first thing I will bring home is another testimony of God’s faithfulness. I was asked a couple of days before the first night of convention to introduce Pastor Jack. I was so nervous! I didn’t want to do it but I couldn’t see how I could get out of it. After all, it was a great honor. But it was also an awful lot of pressure. Of course, God came through and helped me to do a good job, both honoring Pastor Jack as a spiritual father and also injecting a few laughs into the intro with a “Man on the Street” segment that I filmed the day before.
  
• Pastor Jack – I would have to say that my favorite element of each day was the early morning worship hour led by Pastor Jack. What a luxury to spend an extended amount of time being led and directed into corporate worship and prayer with a family of believers. The presence of God was palpable. The Lord used these times to put a hunger in my spirit for a fresh commitment to daily worship. As one old-timer was quoted, “If I have a secret to my joy it would be that I make sure I spend time every day just worshiping my Lord until my heart is warmed by His presence.”
  
• Pastor Wayne Cordero – There was so much good stuff in this teaching that I had to buy the CD so I could listen to it at home and mine all of the nuggets. One of the main points that I appreciated was his analogy of a “Mission Impossible” type thief lowering from the ceiling to steal a large jewel. Because the pedestal is weight-sensitive he quickly replaces the stone with a bag of sand so as not to set off the alarms. Pastor Wayne reminded us that whenever we have to correct someone we should do the exact opposite. As quickly as we have to take something away by correction we must immediately replace it with a diamond of encouragement.
  
• Stormie Omartian – She reminded me of the criticalness of developing friendships. I remember a very difficult time early in my marriage. Because I had praying friends, they were the first ones I turned to. They stood by me and prayed me through a very hard season. I was blessed.
  
• Pastor Steve Riggle – He used a wonderful object lesson by bringing a pot onto the stage and ultimately cracking it and throwing away the “potsherds.” At the end of his message he had each of us kneel at our chairs and pray. All I could say over and over again was, “I will seek You, Lord. I will not seek what You can give or what I need or even for my children, I will concentrate on simply seeking You.” After the service, a complete stranger came up to me and said, “I don’t know why, but the Lord told me to tell you to read Psalm 121.” As soon as I got up to the room I looked in my Bible. What was so cool was not just the wonderful scripture but the title of the Psalm, “God, the Help of those Who Seek Him.”
  
• Pastor Al Soto – I love one line in particular from his message. “Don’t work hard at your ministry and trust God with your family. Work hard at your family and trust God with your ministry.”
  
• Pastor Ted Haggard – I had never heard him preach before but he was outstanding and very encouraging. My favorite part was at the end of the service. We were instructed to physically unwrap imaginary graveclothes from our head, hands and feet as Lazarus would have had to do when he was raised from the dead. I don’t know how to describe it but after we each did this, the life in that room was electric!
  
• I don’t remember which pastor suggested it but I’m very excited about the prospect of going away next week for three days “to the mountain.” The kids will be at camp so I am going to fast and pray and seek the Lord and worship and cover each of my children and my husband and our finances and each of the books I’m writing and everything completely. I’ve done this type of thing in the past, but never for more than a day. I can’t wait to spend that luxurious amount of time with the Lord. Convention just whet my appetite.