I recently attended the “Vertical Call” event that ran 24 hours a day for 10 days in Santa Rosa, Ca. It was billed not as a conference but as a “Convergence of praying saints who are desperate to go vertical in their pursuit of God”. “Vertical Call” was birthed in the heart of Carter Woods, the senior pastor of Christian Life Church, in Santa Rosa, Ca. This “Solemn Assembly” was a “call to the church for a higher ascent into the presence of God for the purpose of reconciliation, revival and release.” It was preceded by 40 days of prayer and fasting.  “Vertical Call” was all that is was billed to be ... and more!

The Challenge

We were challenged to let God take us to a higher place, to let God meet us outside of our little box of preconceived religiosity and experience. We were asked three significant questions at the onset:

• 1 “When you became a Christian how many of you had a dramatic improvement in your quality of Life

• 2. “How many of you want to go to the next level?”   

• 3. “Are you feeling that nothing satisfies, that the church just doesn’t fill the yearning in your heart anymore?.

The audience, made up primarily of young people under 30 years old, responded almost unanimously to each question. 

Some of the unique moments during the 10 days was a call to repentance for the Nation and for the local churches to repent for their lack of cultural diversity and unity.

One night in particular that will be very significant in changing the spiritual climate of the area was when a group of local pastors came before the audience and confessed individually their lack of unity and religious spirit. They repented and asked for forgiveness. They acknowledged that there are many streams but one river that flows from the heart of God.

Extravagant Worship

Extravagant worship permeated every moment 24 hours a day. It was exhausting! I now have a clearer understanding of how we will spend eternity worshipping God. I can never tire of it. Worship truly is a way of life. Not just worshipping but being a worshiper - living a life that is pleasing to Him, no matter where I am or what I am doing.

All of us were lost in the ecstasy of intimate embrace. Jesus took my breath away every moment. I was overwhelmed with His presence - His beauty - His majestic splendor – His infinite love. I am still feeling the waves of passion from His presence that were so great that it would have made a casual observer blush. I felt His heart beat against my chest, two hearts beating as one. His majestic love rolled over me like waves upon the sea shore - Sometimes like the waves caused by a quiet gentle breeze and sometimes with the intensity of storm tossed waves pounding me, heaving and sighing, pulling me under, causing me to gasp for breath. I am overwhelmed - spent - totally engulfed with the deep satisfaction that His love transcends all that this world has to offer. I so long to do His bidding. I have become a hopeless romantic for the caresses of His love that is better than life

I now see more intensely that God is a relentless pursuer and lover who desires to ravage each of us with His love. We must become relentless in our pursuit of His passion and presence. He is looking for radical worshippers. We can only worship in the degree of our revelation. Worship takes us deeper into the revelation of who God is. The deeper you move into worship the greater degree of the revelation of His glory.

Resurrecting Dry Bones

I must confess that in my 35 years of being a follower of Jesus I haven’t seen anything like what happened at “Vertical Call” since the Jesus movement of the 60’s and 70’s. It was very evident that this new generation is yearning for a greater unveiling of God’s glory and a deeper longing and desire for intimacy with Jesus. 

It was very evident that God is imparting a unique gifting upon this generation that is similar to the Jesus movement but with signs and wonders that will come out of a deep experience of intimacy with Jesus. I believe that “Vertical Call” was the epicenter of a new Jesus movement in California. God is posturing us to meet with Him. Revival is coming. It will sweep across the nation and it will cost something - not just our time, our talents or our money. It will cost us everything.

Ezekiel 37 was the major un-orchestrated theme throughout the event. Every night a special speaker was brought in and each one of them spoke that God was saying to them that He was going to resurrect this generation and put life into dry bones in order to create an army full of grace and the gifts of God’s glory. The message was clear; God is saying to this rejected, abandoned, and fatherless generation, “LIVE!” and He will place a double anointing on them.

This young generation has seen it all, experienced it all. They are being bombarded with visual images so amazing and often so vile that they defy the imagination. There are designer drugs that even Timothy Leary could never have conjured up. But now they are to behold Jesus in all His splendor, in the wonder of His glory. It will transcend anything they have ever experienced. No drug, no human made image can compare to the wonder and Glory of God. This generation is being beckoned into His chambers. The spirit of prophecy has come. These dry bones will live.

“Trading Spaces”

One night while in prayer the television show “Trading Spaces” popped into my mind. This is a show that takes two couples from the same neighborhood and they redecorate a room of each others home over a weekend based upon the design plan of a professional interior decorator. At the end of the show the finished rooms are unveiled before each of the couples with mostly excitement and happiness over the changes. But, sometimes the results are so hideous to the couple that tears of anger and sadness overwhelm them.

I asked the Lord what this was all about and I heard Him say; “This generation is going to redecorate and renew the Church. Some are going to love it and some are going to hate it, but it will be by my design”. Just as the Jesus Movement crossed denominational boundaries so will this new move of God.

The Jesus movement discovered the transforming power of Jesus and experienced the passion but there was no one to lead us into the Secret Place. Instead we were led down a path of maintaining the status quo because that is all our spiritual leaders knew. We were led to believe that church could only be conducted a certain way. And now, because of it, our sermons, our music, our programs are boring and culturally irrelevant. We have settled for the sublime. We have pursued prosperity rather than His presence. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t love God and money. We have abandoned this generation in our quest of broken dreams.

We longed for love, and we became the “free love” generation which has reaped a world wind of multiple sexually transmitted diseases. Aids is killing ten’s of thousands. Ten’s of millions of babies have been sacrificed on the alters of our hedonistic self indulgence. The institution of marriage is in shambles. Divorce is rampant.

As we grew older the empty longing persisted within us. We thought it was because we didn’t have enough. Our children became latchkey kids while we pursued our careers and increased our wealth. We have filled our houses with “things” made by hand and not made by the heart of God. They have become a nameless, faceless and fatherless generation. This generation is crying out in desperation for transformation - transformation that brings true freedom to grow and experience all that God has for them. Our kids have become infatuated with the supernatural yet we can only mesmerize them with  “Harry Potter” and  “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” rather than the King of kings and Lord of lords. The mind can’t comprehend nor has the ear ever heard what God has in store for this generation.

The Simeon and Anna Call

My generation didn’t have anyone to lead us into reckless abandon with Jesus. We fell in love with Him but there was no one to teach us His intimate ways, to lead us into the Secret Place deep in His Chambers. I believe God is giving us that opportunity with this generation!

The success of this new move will be dependent on the Moses generation. We hold the correcting rod of the Lord. This army of young Saints carries the sword of Joshua. They will take back what the enemy has stolen in the Arts, Music, Sports, Politics, Business and Education. And just like Joshua, their success will be dependent on the authority God has given us. The key element for success is that we are so plugged into Jesus and His holiness that we can become true spiritual parents. We must become the Simeon’s and Anna’s who will lead them, mentor them, and become spiritual father’s and mother’s to them.

The job of a leader is to lead people into God’s presence. We must lead the sheep to the pastures of His presence so that they can reproduce. It is an biological impossibility for Shepherds to begat sheep. Only sheep can begat sheep. Shepherds can only begat shepherds, nor can they create the pastures. Only God can. We must hear His voice and bid His calling. The degree in which we know Him personally will determine the degree we serve Him.

As in the parable of the 10 Bridesmaids, we must have our lanterns full of the oil of God’s Spirit so that we will be a blazing light to this generation and they will be drawn to His passionate flame. We must find the Secret Place of intimacy with our God before we can lead this generation there. We must let God fill us with His passion and presence. Your destiny is revealed in your passion. Your passion will be released in serving others. A lover will always outwork a worker.

Jesus can’t be just a part of your life He must be ALL of your life. We don’t have the capacity to receive all that God has for us because of our pride. It is pride that keeps us from experiencing all that God has for us. You can’t become without beholding. You have to see to be. We must learn to cling to the Lord wholly and completely. You can’t fully cling if your hands are full. It is time to cry out, “Awaken my heart God, let me feel the burning passion of your love. I yearn to love you the way you love me”.

Fascinate This Generation

God is calling a warrior Bride - but first they must get to know their lover. This is a generation that longs to be intimate with God but is afraid to approach Him because of shame and fear of rejection for the evil and sinful nature that is hidden deep inside.

We must help fascinate this generation with the person of Jesus. We must teach them of His character and nature so that they can be infused with love sickness that will cause them to long for nothing else - long for no one else - but Jesus.

The Lord is saying, ”My Bride is timid and shy. She is afraid that she isn’t desirable because of her failures and faults. She is afraid to let Me see her in all her nakedness. I say, Come now into the Bridal chamber for I desire all of you just as you are. For I see you as a new creation - spotless - without wrinkle or blemish - radiant and beautiful in My sight. For now you see me through a glass darkly, but one day soon you will see Me face to face. I long to be with you. Teach her my ways. Show her my glory. Let her see what it means to be married to the King of Glory, the Lord of the universe! Reveal My intimate love for her - that I Am to be trusted and adored.”

“Vertical Call” has convinced me that the primary way to attract the unchurched is to become ATTRACTIVE, having the fragrance of Jesus, an aroma that the lost will seek out and yearn for nothing else ever again once they experience His presence. We are to be reflections of His mercy in how we appear to the world.

If we are going to reach the unchurched we must be willing to be broken and poured out.  We must desire to be shattered upon the Rock and emptied of ourselves so that God might fill us up over and over again each time He chooses to pour us out. We must yearn to share the bread of heaven with the hungry. We must ride in the chariots of fire across the earth so that the Glory of God will cover the earth like the waters cover the seas.

Make Us Dry Wood

The Church must become a place of extravagant worship and teaching - A place of training and mentoring in order to empower and send out a bunch of revolutionaries to take our cities for the Kingdom. We must teach them what it means to be loved by God, not just as His servant but as His bride. We must ask God to make us dry wood so that His fire may burn brightly and consume us. We must cry out for God to move with each breath, not just when He speaks. We must break the chains that hold us back from knowing Him more so that we can be released into the passion of His presence.

It is no longer the time to weep tears of sorrow. We have been forgiven! His shed blood has paid the price for our redemption! It is time to weep tears of joy! It is time for dancing in the streets! It is time to jump and shout in celebration for the Bridegroom is coming! Blow the trumpets in Zion! Sound the alarm! Make way for the day of His appearing is near!

As a result of my “experience” the unimagined has happened. I have fallen more deeply in love with my Savior. I have gone deep into the Secret Place. I have been burned by His consuming fire. He has ravaged me with His love. Loving Him forever is my destiny…. I have seen His Glory and I am ruined forever….I have been sent reeling out of control, spinning 360.