Experience True Change In Your Life

TRANSFORMED
Developing a deeper connection with Jesus that will change your life takes time. In a microwave culture we like things to be fast, but spiritual depth or spiritual maturity takes time and sacrifice to develop.  “There is nothing about discipleship where fast, easy, convenient or even comfortable would be words used to describe the journey. In fact, where we find the strongest, deepest, and healthiest growth there has been a journey of sacrificial choices of transformation behind the scenes,” shares Christy. Jesus modeled this in His earthly ministry all the way to the cross. Joseph, David and Paul had to persevere for years and through life threatening problems before God used them greatly. These men had to yield and allow God to transform them into who they were called to be. God can change you and complete His work in you too. Christy says, “The transformation of our souls is a journey that begins with a surrendered will.” She offers the following insight on how you can begin to yield to the power of God:

• Never take your worship hat off – We are born to worship and we will worship for eternity. It is important to give yourself to worship in every area of your life whether in the private times of intimacy, the choices you are making or in gathering with other believers.
• Live intentionally – Don’t be passive in your walk with Jesus. Choose daily to allow God’s Spirit not only to lead you, but to teach you.  
• Renew your mind daily – Bring your mind, your thought life, and your actions to the Lord, allow Him to reveal and heal the way you think. If your mind is not healthy, you are not healthy. “Every choice you make is either transforming you into the likeness of Christ and leading you into your destiny, or stealing your purpose and what God has created you for,” shares Christy.
• Remember who you are – It is vital to know who you are and why you are here. Your identity is found in Christ alone.
• Receive and extend grace to others – The more that you understand the power of grace to us, the more effective we will be in carrying grace to the world around us. You cannot give out of what you do not have. Even with all her weaknesses, Christy believes the Church is still the most beautiful and powerful force on the planet. “I want to be intentional in serving and being a bridge within the Bride. We can either be someone who builds bridges or tears them down. I want to spend my time being a bridge within and for the Church. It’s not enough just to attend events, or listen to teachings, we must also be proactive and intentional in loving the whole Church so we can serve the world around us as God intends.”

JOHN WIMBER  1934 – 1997
John Wimber was a founding leader of the Association of Vineyard Churches, which today is one of the fastest growing church-planting movements in the world with more than 1,500 churches worldwide.  A professional musician who played the Las Vegas circuit for 5 years, John later signed with the Righteous Brothers.  When John was gripped by God in 1963 he was a “beer-guzzling, drug abusing pop musician, who was converted at the age of 29 while chain-smoking his way through a Quaker-led Bible Study.”  He soon became a voracious Bible reader and after weeks of reading about life changing miracles in the Bible and attending boring church services, John asked a lay leader, “When do we get to do the stuff?  You know, the stuff here in the Bible, the stuff Jesus did like healing the sick, raising the dead, healing the blind.  Stuff like that.”  He was told they don’t do that anymore – only what they did in their weekly services – John replied, “You mean I gave up drugs for that?”

In John’s first decade as a Christian he led hundreds of people to Christ.  By 1970 he was leading 11 Bible studies that involved more than 500 people.  He was asked to lead the Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth.  And he later became an adjunct instructor at Fuller Theological Seminary where his classes set attendance records.  Thru extensive reading and encounters with missiologists and seasoned missionaries, John was convinced that all the biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit should be active in the church today. He began to teach and train his church to imitate Jesus’ full-orbed kingdom ministry.  He began to “do the stuff” of the Bible that he had formerly only read about.  By 1982 John joined the Vineyard movement.  For the remainder of his life, John traveled extensively while teaching and ministering on evangelism and healing.  He died from a massive brain hemorrhage in 1997.

CHRISTY’S STORY
Christy grew up next door to the Wimbers.  She accepted Christ at a young age but did not get serious with her faith until she was 20.  At that time John’s son, Sean Wimber, who is 9 years older than Christy, had gotten saved.  They soon married in 1990 and began to travel internationally with John.  Sean and Christy have been in the Vineyard Movement since the beginning, back in 1977. Both of them came out of the Friends Church, a Quaker church in Yorba Linda. People often think the Vineyard Movement came from a Calvary Chapel, when in fact, they are Quakers at the root, and Vineyard roots are Quaker roots. In 2009, Christy and Sean provided Regent University with a full library of John Wimber teachings from throughout his ministry.