God Came to Visit, I wonder why?
July 25, 2009 // By: Bob Hamp // 7 Comments
Our team hosts an event called Kairos. It means “God’s appointed time”. A few hundred people come together and though we do a bit of teaching, we really believe that if people have an encounter with God, He will help them. We have done about fifteen of these events now. So far, it seems that God has shown up to do more than we expect every time.
I am about to do something dangerous. I am going to muse for a while on why I think He comes to meet with us. I say this is dangerous, because we all know God does not fit well into formulas. He does however fit well in the human heart, so I would like to write a few thoughts I had this week on why God seems to visit us again and again.
1. My Team knows that we cannot do this without God. I think for the most part, if we are convinced that we can do something without God, He will allow us to. Not because He is mad, or feels rejected, but because He has no control issues and doesn’t suffer from rejection. He knows that eventually, left to our own resources, we will come to a point of realizing how much more He has to offer. The sooner we come to the end of our resources, the more quickly we will come to the beginning of His. I think He likes to show up where people know they need HIm.
2. My team is…well…a team: We do not invite people to hear a person. In fact we parade a number of people to the front of the crowd. Imperfect, flawed, and varied humanity. Women, men, younger, and older, our team knows that WE demonstrate God’s character more as US than as any one person. God is in all of us…no individual could show the Nature of our Father more than the variety of personalities we tap into.
3. We love each other: Within our team, we have been growing in deep, affectionate love for one another. When we view each other the way God views us, we are tapping into a frequency upon which God always broadcasts.
4. We are unified: We all know why we are together. We all know what the goal is. We all know what the strategy is. We all know that we are dependent on God showing up. We recognize one another’s strengths and we embrace one another’s frailties. God is a unifying sort of God, and as such, He seems to enjoy hanging out with us when we overcome our differences, and join together.
5. We would quit if He ever quit: Frightening as it may be, I like to believe that if God stopped showing up, we would stop, notice, and change course. If we began to see that God was moving in a different way or a different place, we would all scrap this Kairos thing and Go where He goes. It is Him we are after, not a plan and sequence of events that “seems to work”.
6. We like Him, and we spend a lot of time telling Him so: Who wouldn’t hang out in a place where people were constantly telling you how much they like you?
7. We are doing the best we know to love the people He loves: This one makes sense without me throwing words at it…
Funny…the more I read my own list, I realize that perhaps He did not so much come to us. It seems to me that perhaps it is us who went to Him. Either way, it sure is fun.
The Amazing Freedom Team
7 Comments
I enjoyed Kairos. Thought you might like to see what God revealed to me:
I woke up Friday morning, July 24th, 2009, early in the morning before the sun had even come up. Tears were streaming down my face. I was laying there thinking about God and how much He loved me. I know we are like pottery that has each been miraculously made, but each of us has cracks and flaws. How can God use that? Aren’t we just a bunch of crackpots? I know that God wants to break us and remake us, but how exactly is that going to look? A bunch of fragments glued back together? Won’t that still be messed up? It was as if God said to me, “I am not finished with you yet.” God wants to break up all those fragments…grind them to fine powder, then pour out His Holy Spirit over it and make it pliable again. I saw in my mind, God putting me (the clay) on the potter’s wheel and spinning me as fast as He could, and stretching me in ways I never dreamed. I could hear God saying, “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!” When He reformed me, He stamped me with “GM”, for “God Made.” Then He filled me with living water and placed a fragrant bouquet in the creation as a symbol of His love, His glory, His grace, His mercy, and His beauty. God took my brokenness and remade me in His image – a beautiful rebirth and reflection of Him….a vessel that can be used by Him for His glory.
@bobhamp I’m really grateful for your blog. It ministers to me frequently. Thank you for posting and posting frequently! @genwhirl
Sure do love being on your team, boss. I feel unified & loved, and I know we’re all pursuing Him together.
I love that you blogged so shortly after Kairos was over. Gosh, I love this ministry of Gateway! It is my favorite. Can I say that? I’ve sat in the front row at both Kairoses [spelling?], but this time around, because I was not emotionally wrecked like I was the first time, I noticed something this morning. I turned just a few times during morning worship, when I Am Free was being sung, and got to see smiles and a light-heartedness that was not present the day before. I couldn’t help but smile even bigger at the evidence of work that had already been done…and we weren’t done yet. Freedom is evident in the countenance of an individual. It is light shining in the places darkness once inhabited. My first Kairos took me on a journey that left me raw and questioning everything about what I thought about myself…but in a good, productive way. This Kairos proved to me that what we believe to be our “issues” are never really what they seem…they are just the peripheral byproducts of what lays at the core of each of us. God is so much smarter than we are!
Freedom Ministry provides a place for people to meet with God in a safe and incredibly loving atmosphere and then gives tools to get us to a place we couldn’t have figured out on our own. And then you guys step out of the way and let God do His work. I wish everyone I know could somehow make it to a Kairos and see themselves and their circumstances through God eyes. It is LIFE CHANGING!!! I [heart] you…Kairos Ministry Team! 
“He knows that eventually, left to our own resources, we will come to a point of realizing how much more He has to offer.” Forgot to include that this is my favorite line from this blog. Love it!
So glad to be the newest member of this team…
Hey, no fair! I’m stuck over here in Florida!