Are we as "the church" giving up?

It is a long time since I wrote. This summer has been hectic but great in many ways. After returning home from Power Meet in Västerås, Sweden we had a couple of events here in Finland. I played a gig at the church where I got baptized, the church that was my spiritual home for almost nine years together with my childhood friend Joakim Kulju. It was a wonderful day and even if I am no longer part of that church I love the brothers and sisters there. My home church is Fountain of Life Church in Okeechobee, Florida today and I see this change as something positive for all parts involved. This also means that as I am an ordained minister we are going to use the Rockin’ Rev. as a title from now on.

We also did two meetings in Kurikka on the same day. One on the small time square and one in an old train station. Both meetings where wonderful and people came to listen to the word of God. The later meeting was something special as the presence of Jesus entered the place and people were touched. It is so wonderful to see what Jesus is doing in peoples lives.

July 27th me and Sebastian took our 1973 Buick Century station wagon and hit the road down to Turku where we took the ferry to Stockholm, Sweden. From there we cruised down to Halmstad where we checked in at our hotel where we were staying the rest of the week. The first day we had rehearsals with the band and I started to feel week. I soon realized that I had an infection in my body so I had to visit the emergency room and have a cyst removed from my back. It was painful but I am thankful that it was taken care of.

The conference started on Wednesday and continued until Sunday and everyday we saw God touch people. We saw people get saved, delivered, healed and restored. LP is well known for working with alcoholics and drug addicts and during these days around 600 people gathered at Gullbranna. The atmosphere was filled with love as there were no room for pharisees. These people are people that God has lifted up from the horrible pit of destruction. People that were nothing in the eyes of this world but precious in God’s eyes. God is raising up an army of what the world thought were ugly and stinking as these people are real. These people are ready to give their life for others as Jesus did for us.

On Sunday the camp ended with 20 people walking together out in the sea to get baptized. What a party. I got so filled with the Holy Spirit that I in my own opinion acted like I had some kind of spiritual ADD or ADHD. When Jesus is present things happen and it is when we are weak we see Him in a totally different way.

Before our trip I had struggled with some things. People that I had ministered and brought to church left church and said they do not want to have anything to do with church, God or Jesus anymore. This is something that breaks my heart. I can not understand that the church is giving up on people in need and there is a huge lack of love in the church of today. Basically why people gets hurt is because we are giving up and we blame them. We put too much pressure on the babies and we start to compare each other. We say things that hurt and we even make statements that are not of God, like; ”you have to do this to please God” or ”if you don’t do this now you will loose your salvation” or even ”you have to be under your pastors authority and do what ever he says, don’t stand up and question him”….

I was standing in the shower of all places one day when I in my heart asked God what we could do about this. He spoke to me very clearly and I experience that He told me that I should look at how patient He has been with me and how patient He is with me. Then go and be as patient to those who you need to walk side by side with. As God is patient with ALL of us we also need to be patient with each other. If we give up we do not love. I can actually make it that clear. The brother who led me to Christ did not give up. I wonder what would have happened if he had given up on me and where I would have been today. He walked by my side for 16 years before I received Christ. As I said, he did not give up and he did not push me into something that was going to be too hard or complicated for me. This is how God works and to have this knowledge that as long as you want to change and you seek Him, you will be ok and He will also be patient with you. When you fall He will raise you up again. I hope the church can do better in the future and be more patient with each other and not try to get all in the same form in a short time. We all have a past, we are all different. Therefore we have to treat all individually. Paul could not be like Peter and Peter could not be like Paul, same as Paul could not be Peter and Peter could not be Paul as Peter was Peter and Paul was Paul. Simple, right?

After the LP camp we spent some days in Malmö, Sweden and I had a chance to meet some relatives I have not met in 20 years. Felt good to meet my cousins, my aunt and all the other people that were important to me when I was a child.

After some well deserved days off we drove to Örkelljunga where we had a concert in the middle of the small town. People came and listened and it was one of those events I love to do, an event outside the four walls of the church. God really did something that night. The following night we played and shared in Skånes Fagerhult, another outdoor event and these two nights were really blessings to us. The people we served with knew what they were doing. They had been praying and God connected us with new people that we are looking forward to work together with in the future.

I feel this is the beginning of something new. The changes with the church feels natural as well as getting more involved with Mission Göteborg in Sweden as well as our other partners is inspiring me. We are now living in a time where we really are in need of more partners for our upcoming projects. And here you will see a list of the different missions we are raising funds for right now.

Now we have done 77 episodes that we are broadcasting through TV7 in Finland and Himlen TV7 in Sweden. We are also having our YouTube channel where people can go and listen to these powerful life stories and testimonies. We are currently working on a new concept that will include an app. We are also in need of partners to keep this channel alive as we need to go further and our goal is to make better and better programs so we will have to invest in one new DSLR camera very soon. Check out some episodes and be part of the work at www.lifeinhim.tv