Except for a few remaining dirty piles of snow here and there, the trace of the blizzard of 2016 is almost all gone.  Looking at the roads in front of my house, it’s hard to believe they were once covered with up to 36 inches of snow, trapping my entire family inside for 5 days.  I enjoy living in a single house on a quiet cul-de-sac except when a monster snow storm hits and the VDOT trucks visit your neighborhood last!  I had to use a vacation day because I couldn’t go in to work. Finally I made an arrangement for Pastor Eugene to pick me up at the nearest plowed road.  Imagine how ecstatic I was when I heard the beeping sound of the plow truck later that night!
I am sure everyone has a story or two to share about the blizzard of 2016.   As much as I desperately wanted to be set free from my ‘house arrest’, I do have to admit I enjoyed the valuable time I got to spend with my family.  Thank God we had food (lots of it!) and electricity to keep us warm and entertained.  We even got to play a fun board game called Sequence!
The VA Campus was closed altogether because of the unplowed parking lot. My family had our own family worship and was greatly inspired by one of Francis Chan’s Youtube messages. I was supposed to preach that Sunday so I had a sermon ready, but I would have felt awkward preaching to just my own family, especially with our dog sitting there as well!  My husband and I also joined the KC Service being broadcast live from the MD Campus via internet.  I was indeed thankful to those who ventured out in the snow to make the live broadcast possible. Rev. Dae Young Kim, the KC Senior Pastor, had to walk to the nearest plowed road to be picked up by one of the elders. No one would have complained had he decided to close the church, but he has emphasized the importance of the corporate Sunday Worship all along, and he was determined to ‘walk the talk.’ 
The church service being affect by the blizzard reminded me of the conversion story of Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest British preachers of the 19th century.  Though he grew up in a Christian home, he always struggled with his salvation. He felt condemned by God. One winter Sunday morning, the 15-year-old Spurgeon left home to go to church, but due to a major snow storm, he had to take a detour onto a side street. There he entered a small church to escape the snow storm.  Only a handful of people were sitting inside, and an unknown substitute preacher nervously stepped into the pulpit and read his text, Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved,  all you ends of the earth;  for I am God, and there is no other.”
What happened next was recorded in Spurgeon’s Autobiography as follows:
 “He had not much to say, thank God, for that compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed—by me, at any rate except his text.… Then I had this vision—not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a Savior Christ was.… Now I can never tell you how it was, but I no sooner saw whom I was to believe than I also understood what it was to believe, and I did believe in one moment.”
The sovereign God had orchestrated the events of that day to deliver Spurgeon from his misery and call him as his instrument for the next 40 years.  We serve the same amazing God. Whether we are going through a monstrous snow storm in life or enjoying a warm sunny day, we should remember “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)

From Pastor Sara’s Heart
February 7, 2016

Spiritual giftings such as prophetics, healing and speaking in tongues are always amazing to encounter. Our God is a mighty and awesome God and so naturally we’re drawn to actual manifestations of the works of the Holy Spirit. But is there more to what we merely see on the surface level? In the last several years we’ve had the opportunity to witness and experience these kind of supernatural displays of God’s power during the various conferences and retreats.
Hearing the message over the last weekend when Pastor Stephen and his wife Ann spoke was another reminder of what we’ve learned from previous retreats/conferences about the timing of the impartation of spiritual gifting. Pastor Stephen and Ann shared not only of how God speaks to us through visions and dreams and Scripture, but more importantly of their deep relationship with Abba Father as their Lord and Savior. Pastor Stephen shared that we are all promised the fullness of the Spirit but as followers of Christ where is our hunger and desire for this anointing? Apostle Paul tells us we should want and desire these spiritual gifts. But at the same time we ought not expect them to simply fall into our laps out of random coincidence. Much discipleship and discernment is needed.
There were two common themes I observed from these various pastors speaking about developing spiritual gifts. One was that they first and foremost pursued a deep and intimate love for the Lord. And it wasn’t until then that spiritual gifting began to flow from that relationship. According to my notes, when Pastor Shin spoke at the church retreat last September he shared that his physical healing ministry didn’t come about for 10 ten years despite the fact he fasted and prayed for up to 5 hours daily and even then he humorously shared that his initial gift of healing others only started out healing minor allergies before progressing to an ability of greater physical healing. Can you imagine waiting on the Lord for 10 years!?!
A second theme that struck me about developing spiritual gifting such as speaking in tongues and prophetics is that one would need to continue to work at them in order to fully realize this gifting. Even Pastor Jamie had made comments in years past that one would have to practice speaking in tongues in order to fully develop this gift. And Pastor Shin also remarked that one should spend time in discipleship with those who have these giftings in order to get better at them. I realize developing this kind of supernatural gifting isn’t exactly a hard science but it came as somewhat of a surprise to me to hear that one would need to continue to work at developing and refining spiritual gifting. I’m pretty sure these are all very simple matters for God and that He didn’t have to “practice” them like one would have to practice scales to learn a musical instrument. But perhaps that’s the very point about our having to work at these miraculous works- our physical human minds and bodies are but crude vessels to be used as divine instruments of God. So it may very well take years of devotion and intimate pursuit of God in order for the Spirit to refine and align one’s mind and body with God in order to be used in this way. Pastor Stephen stated that spiritual giftings and the power of the Holy Spirit are not limited to only a chosen few but are for all who believe. But the message was also that these giftings are not merely a superficial display of God’s power pleasing to the eye but rather they flow from a place of deep commitment and intimacy with the Lord in ways that strengthen, encourage and comfort others. Maybe that’s the kind of lifelong relationship God intended all along for each and every one of us amen to that. Otherwise, as Pastor Stephen put it, we might just become spiritual body builders with all of this muscle but with no real greater purpose.

From Pastor Mark’s Heart
January 31, 2016