Friday @ Empower 2007

Okay... so we left for Chicago this morning bright and early (5am!) and the six of us (Ed, Alisa, Elisa, Sun Ae and Julie) trekked our way through endless highways, stopping at McDonald's and Steak and Shake... made it to Wheaton College by 3pm to check-in to the Empower Conference. The campus is really beautiful, with classic architecture and lovely gardens. The big sign at the front of the campus reads, "Wheaton College: For Christ and His Kingdom." The haven that hosted some famous Christian leaders such as Billy Graham and John Piper... we got to take in the beauty of God's great provision... at least for this weekend ;)

Lining up to check-in, an older lady with a backpack that read "Made in Korea" looked over at me and smiled. We chatted briefly and she asked me where I came from and I said "Toronto"... she said that she was with the same company as BOP and low and behold... I was standing behind Car of Corea! It was finally good to meet her in person and though we didn't get to talk very long after that, we were both glad to meet each other after some e-mail correspondance that we had back and forth. I also saw some other O-ers. It was great to see others that I recognized from various random encounters. Though it was a bit hectic settling in... I knew I was in the right place at the right time... and I felt RIGHT.

Ate some dinner before heading off to our first Plenary Meeting that started off with some music and dance (Korean Traditional Dance) with drums and fans. It was absolutely amazing... they were so talented! Then we watched a clip that focused on the 1907 Revival in Pyong Yang, but interestingly enough, they backtracked back to 1903 to show how the prayer gathering of two Godly women... may have sparked the Great Revival of 1907. That was the focus for this Friday evening... PRAYER. Waiting upon God in expectancy. Praying and waiting... The speaker that came up to share with us from the Word was Dr. Moffett, whose father was there to see that revival take place in PY. Moffett senior was stoned by a NKorean man and after like 10 years, this same NKorean man was commissioned out by the early church to be their first missionary. The person that prayed for this man ended up being Moffett senior! What an amazing story and testimony of how God changes lives! Tonight was an awesome time of hearing from different speakers (Dr. Moffett, Jamie Kim, Yong Kim, Tom Lee and Diane Hallkowich)... but more importantly, it really felt like God was speaking to me. All of the things that I've been praying and thinking about in the last couple of weeks and months seemed to re-iterate itself tonight. Praying and waiting... revival... being broken... yielded... purity... all of these words just seem to stick out to me in a special way. Can't wait for tomorrow... can't wait for what He will show me (us) during this time... in His time!