The Conference

So last week, I went to a conference. It was held by Yoonmi's church on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and was held at a stadium here in Seoul. I had known about it since December, well after I had decided I was coming in June. I knew I had to go.

Now, some people may be detracting, that I should've spent time with the people here instead. But trust me, this conference was a pivotal time for me spiritually.

Now, let's remember that my church prophesied the spirit of the lion over me. Also, in 2008, I attended a seminar at my church about depression with my mom. I was feeling depressed at the time, as was my mom. While we were there, an older woman who worked for TCT was there, and spoke over me that I had a "double portion, and that God was going to do great things through me." I didn't necessarily believe it at the time.

I arrived on Monday night for the first leg of the conference. I could only go to one of the two sessions that night. The first session was led by Scott Brenner, who most Americans won't know. You might know the name if you're from IHOP, as he apparently worked along Mike Bickle, but otherwise, he's relatively unknown outside America. That's mainly because he's spent a long time over here, living and ministering in Korea alongside his wife, Sunghee. He is a pastor here, and also a worship musician and songwriter, with an awesome gift. He can't speak a word of Korean outside of the Spirit, but can write and sing the most amazing Korean worship songs you could imagine. The first night, his worship team performed, and it was stunning. I had heard them last year at their church, but I was equally (if not impressed) this time around.

I had to leave after his session to go back to Durihana for evening services, but Dutch Sheets, which Americans most likely have heard of, great author, very strong speaker, finished off the night. I don't know the notes of this sermon, but Yoonmi later told me that at the end of it, he prophesied that either during Lee Myung-bak's presidency, or after, that the North Korean regime will be gone. Told you it was pivotal that I went.

Another thing I noticed that night: the banner above the stage read "Prepare the way of the Lord," and it also had a Lion in the background. That was enough of a confirmation for me to know I was supposed to be there.

Tuesday started early, at 10am, and didn't finish until close to 10:30PM. I arrived there, and heard Johnny Enlow preach. This was a name I had never heard before, but will never forget. He is the pastor of Daystar Church in Atlanta, and an anointed author to say the least. He has a book out called the 7 Mountain Prophecy, which I highly recommend to anyone to read, and will actually be buying it myself when I come home. For those from my church (and other people reading this) that have been involved in the Truth Project, this book will really appeal to you. Each of the 7 mountains correlate with the 7 spheres mentioned in the Truth Project. However, Enlow goes into further detail with them than can be expressed in an hour of video. He went through the sermon to describe the relevance of these in our lives and how we should apply these. The fact of the matter is, God is ready to invade every sector of society, and transform earth back into His original intentions, if we would take hold of this truth and run with it. If we would stop shrugging away from effecting the world and just staying comfortable in the religious area, we would see great things happen.

He then did something that really hit home. He mentioned that he usually brings a shofar on his trips, and blows it in front of the crowd at the end of his time. He then mentioned he didn't bring it to Korea. Instead of blowing a shofar, he was instead going to roar like a lion in front of the crowd, to awaken our inner lion. I almost hit the ground.

Dutch Sheets came on next, and was very impactful. He spoke something I had heard him speak in 2009 from the DVDs of this same church's conference that year, going from Ecclesiastes 3 to Acts where Peter healed the lame beggar in front of the temple gates. He used this to illustrate that there is a right time for every one and everything thing, and God is bringing Korea into a right time, and in this right time, they would see reunification.

However, he spoke something of great importance, the period of transition. In this period, God takes away things, and begins to tear away things from you to prepare you for a new assignment. In this time, just like the renovation of a building, things seem in disarray, and Satan can try to use this disarray to dampen your spirits, to keep you there. It's here when you have to hold on to the truth of what you know, and listen even closer to God's voice, to lead you to the right time.

The next one, probably the turning point for me in this entire conference, was Cindy Jacobs. I haven't read any of her books; in fact, the first time I heard of her was when Yoonmi sent me an mp3 of her speaking at her church's conference in 2008. I was already impressed then, and was ready to see what happened here.

Her main battle cry was that the church needs to transition from pathetic prayers to decreeing things into existence. If we want to see things change, weak hearted prayers won't cut it. We need to act with reckless abandon toward the things we desire. Her case in point was reunification.

However, she took a random turn at the end of her sermon, and asked the youth at the conference to come to the front. She started with people 25 and under, which caused me to wince, because I missed the cutoff by one year. But then, she said something else "Now I know someone out there is saying, 'Cindy, what about me? I'm only 28.' So I going to open it up to people 30 and younger." At this point, I'm STILL not sure if I should go up, even though I fell into the age range, I'm not exactly Korean. However, I see Yoonmi's mother motioning to me to go up. Can't really say no to momma, right?

We were up there maybe 20 minutes in prayer, when she starts prophesying over people. She called one girl to start an orphanage, one man to start a campus ministry, and be against abortion in this nation. Then she points at me. No joke, and waves me to the front. And then, asks me to say my name, which she didn't ask anyone else (probably because I was clearly foreign, and it would be easier for her to say my name). But this in itself was what needed to happen: Yoonmi was upstairs working in the bookstore for the conference, and they had monitors and PA's in the bookstore so the workers could hear. She heard, "Corey" and turned around in shock.

She then proclaimed me as having a double portion. That confirmed what she was about to say further, because immediately, I was brought back to that seminar in 2008. She felt God's calling on missions in me. She then called out the name Eric Liddell on me. This broke me open; his life has mesmerized me since I first learned of him through the film Chariots of Fire. Then she started to call out nations: "I feel God's calling in you for..." and my mind started to fill in the blank with North Korea, but then she finished her statement with, "...China and Mongolia." And my jaw dropped. Neither country was anything I could've concocted in my mind. In fact, last year, I was quoted in November as telling Yoonmi that I would never even try to learn Chinese, that the tonal part of the spoken language was too much for me to handle, then to top it off, to learn how to read and write it?! Not for me...

...but yet, in my heart, I knew what she was saying was right. And all I could do was thank God for showing me another leg in my journey. She went on further to say I would stand against injustice, and that while I was on my trips, I would do church planting and preaching. I think I blacked out after that, because Yoonmi and her mom both corroborate that she told me whatever I give to God will be given back tenfold. There was another, but Yoonmi was the only one who remembered it. I need to ask her again, so I can write it all down.

At any right, I was floored by this whole thing. I went back to my seat, trying to write it down, and couldn't, because Yoonmi's mom came and grabbed me, and hugged me, and was just telling me how happy she was and thanking God. I was later told by Yoonmi that her mom said when I went up, she started praying that I receive revelation and confirmation. Prayer granted.

I then went to find Yoonmi in the bookstore, but she was busy and couldn't talk, but just told me how happy she was and we would talk later. I was then approached by the guy who had campus ministry prophesied over him, and his older sister, who wanted me to go to dinner with them. They had previously approached me leaving the front, with her asking me, "Do you know Chinese?" And then I laughed and said, "No, but I guess I will soon!"

So with that, I was off with Jennifer (She introduced herself by her English name) and Seungjun for some bibimbap and some discussion. It truly was a gift from God. I had eaten lunch alone, which I didn't mind at all. But to have company and fellowship for dinner before the next session? It really was wonderful. The reason I struck them to want to dine with me is that her brother is also called into China, so he wanted to connect.

The next speaker was Che Ahn, a Korean-American from California. I had only heard his name through Yoonmi, but she rarely made mention of him. I began to think he was less anointed than the other speakers, but I well underestimated him. He has a strong healing ministry, which is something I connect with, but he did a very strong presentation on how the church is changing. He spoke on 8 dynamic shifts that the church is going and should go through to see us return to the NT church and the power that comes with it. If I tried to write everything down, it would be a full day's task, but I will write down the 8 shifts:

1. Shift from denominational to apostolic alignment.
2. Shift from preaching the Gospel of Salvation to the Gospel of the Kingdom.
3. Shift from ordained pastors to commissioned servants.
4. Shift from traditional education to new models of equipping.
5. Shift from traditional evangelism to discipling whole nations.
6. Shift from traditional revival to revival in this new era.
7. Shift from a negative to a positive eschatology.
8. Shift from a poverty to a prosperity mentality.

He also, later, laid out a dream where he met with Ronald Reagan and Lee Myeong-bak, both of whom have faced backlash for their positions on their respective rival nations. He was reminded of how Reagan made the decree to Gorbechav to tear down the Berlin Wall, and two years later it was torn down. He once again, mirroring Dutch Sheets, prophesied that within two years after Lee Myeong-bak leaves Cheongwadae, that the DMZ will be gone.

If I tried to skim over even my notes on this conference from every day, this would take all day to write. I wrote around 60 pages of notes during this conference, and my wrist is still feeling the effects. Yoonmi laughed at how concise my notes were becoming, but I couldn't control it. I wanted to have as much written down as I could. Anyone that wants to see these notes, I would be more than happy to let you see them, or make copies of them for you.

Also of note is that there will be a DVD of this conference. I tried to pre-order one on Thursday night at the discounted price of 40000KRW for the boxed set, to which Yoonmi told me not to worry, she'll make sure I get it. When I get this, and it is region free I believe (It worked in my Xbox last year), anyone that wants to watch this can watch this.

Also there, and certainly not least was Andre Ashby and JoAnn McFatter for worship. These are also unknowns in America I believe, however, if you've been to IHOP, you may also know these names. They worship prophetically, and to the secular mind, the only thing I can liken them to is a jam session of nothing but worshiping God. They were so powerful, that even the interpreter was overwhelmed to the point where it was hard on her to keep interpreting what they were singing (impromptu) into Korean.

This was one of the most important and edifying times in my life, and I'm grateful to have gone.