2010 January

My Blogatical

31 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 7 Comments

I’m shutting her down. Not permanently. But for a little while. About 40 days.

I need some time off. Time out of technology. Not completely of course. I have an album to mix, church work to do, books to write. But the things that I don’t need, are expendable. Despite my best arguments that I like them. Twitter, for example. I’ve made a ton of new connections and have “met” some incredible people. Some even in person now. FaceBook is another one. Amazing for reconnecting with old friends, or staying in touch with people I meet all over the world. Or keeping you updated on what’s happening in my life. I’m honored that you even read.

This blog is another non-necessity. I love it. Love forming connections with you. Love the ministry that it provokes, the conversations. And love providing you a small, ongoing window into our lives and all that Jesus has allowed us to undertake in his name, from the humorous to the profound.

But like everything, it has its seasons. And in this season, it’s taking a back seat. Actually, I’m throwing it out of the car while we’re still moving.

This fast of social media is tied with some other separations I’m undertaking, one’s which I don’t feel the liberty to go into now. But needless to say I’m looking forward to reconnecting with God, my family, and the call of simply being a son. No distractions. Realigning myself with my Daddy, and getting a clearer picture of what I’m here for. Tied in there are prayers for revival within this new generation; prayers for healing of loved ones; and reordering things in me that, well, simply need to be put back together. And eliminating the waste. Ambition. Lack of purity. A spirit of unbelief. I also think such periods are Biblical, and I admire those who have made such seasons of separation a lifestyle. That’s my hope. It’s Christlike.

So this Blogatical leaves you free of my voice as well. But it doesn’t mean this canvas on the interweb will be blank. Far from it. For the next 40-odd days, it’s yours.

I’ve asked over 30 friends that I’ve accumulated on Twitter to be the conversation starters. (I collect them. Like pet rocks. Not really. They’re cooler than pet rocks). For the next month, they are going to get things started. From parents to pastors to authors to musicians–and from three different continents–I’ve asked them to make ch.com their home. No restraints. I don’t know what they’re going to say, or how frequently. And I’m more than cool with not agreeing with them; I have no desire to control it. Somehow, deep inside of me, I believe this is the best use of this web domain for this season. And I would ask you to be involved. Many of you read but never comment. (Yes, I track stats). A few thousand of you have decided to check in each week. And I’m honored by that. But please: don’t remain silent. Chime in. Talk back to these amazing people. And let them know you’re listening. Then tell your friends.

So for now, no more tweets. No status updates. No posts or comments.

Just.

Silence. ch:

(See you in March)

Filed Under: culture, news Tagged With: blogatical, fasting, pet rocks

@loswhit love

29 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 2 Comments

This is me giving Carlos Whittaker some love on my blog.

Bald.

Husband.

Daddy.

Non-rock star (who is actually a rock star) with new EP.

Soul in desperate need of Jesus.

And he made the iTunes front page with Jesus music this week. Gotta’ love that.

Go buy it. It’s the best $2.99 you’ll spend all month.

Then tell me what you think. ch:

Filed Under: culture, music, news Tagged With: carlos whittaker, EP, worship

Intense Repair

27 Jan ’10 By admin 10 Comments

shampoo_repair_small

OK. I admit it. My shampoo saga is now a legacy. (Or an obsession).

It took going to Madrid to finally start me on the path of true shampoo righteousness. I entered the shower, and this greeted me. Intense repair.

Now, I’m not sure what “Aufbau” means, but I’m hoping it’s not Swahili for “monkey urine.” But if that’s what it takes to grow me some stellar hair, then bring it on. I’ll try anything once.

But here’s my question: when does something damaged merit “intense” repair? How broken does it have to be? And when is something beyond a state of repair?

Enlighten me, please. ch:

Filed Under: culture Tagged With: madrid shampoo repair, shampoo

Cutting the Crap

26 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 25 Comments

I’m about to launch into a season of some major trimming, cutting out a lot of the extraneous in order to more clearly see and be aligned with the essential. And I’m really looking forward to it. But more on that process–and what my faithful readers are going to get–later.

For now, I’m interested to know if there have been seasons in your life where you cut things out. Was it temporary, or permanent? What was the net result in your personal, social, and spiritual life?

Ready, set, go! ch:

Filed Under: culture, leadership Tagged With: fasting, fat, trim

Body Envy

21 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 6 Comments

My latest shampoo experience.

When I picked up this bottle in a shower in Switzerland I thought, “At last, the perfect shampoo that describes me.”

Until I realized it wasn´t talking about my amazingly hairy chest or tummy-man-pouch. The word “body” in reference to hair isn´t something I have thought about for a long time.

But it did fit well with what I was teaching on at the Yverdon School of Worship last week. Paul wrote in two different places about a jealousy with a Spirit of evangelism on it. (Romans 11:11, 2 Corinthians 11:2). That the world would find the Body of Christ so attractive they would be jealous. The concept being that we move from evangelism through intrusion and invasion, to evangelism by invitation.

Unfortunately, it takes more than amazing shampoo for that one. ch:

Update: Flying from Madrid back to Geneva today. Geneva to NY tomorrow. Appreciate your prayers.

Filed Under: culture Tagged With: body envy, hair, shampoo, showers

Toledo!

20 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 10 Comments

History. Ruins. Swords.

What more could a guy ask for? OK. I can think of lots of things. But symantics aside, Toledo is one amazing city. And I´m completely captivated by it. Contrary to assumptions, Jennifer and I rarely get a chance to sight-see when abroad, as most of our time is spent ministering to people. But when I was offered a true “day off” to see Toledo, there was no hesitation.

The “old city” is perched high atop a hill, looking down over sprawling modern development, with an ancient waterway swirling around its base. Water which, due to its particular mineral content, made steel even stronger when used for quenching. The team was equally impressed, marveling at the walls, churches, and countless stores full of swords. The rain held off all day, allowing us to take in the sites, smells, and sounds of a city oozing with history.

But by far the most outstanding event was the superb driving of our chaufuer, Ableardo. As we climbed higher into the city with our 18-passenger van, the streets became narrower and narrower. To the point that we had to fold in the mirrors. Eventually we could go no further, and Ableardo actually had to back out of a winding ally we wandered down. Driving a stick. The walls were actually (not exagerated) two inches from the side of the van for more than 200 feet. I shot video of the whole thing, as not once did he scrape the sides. (Below: our French Momma, Marie-Elise, sits in quiet awe as we back down the corridor)

From now on when someone in the States says, “It was close,” I´ll politely object and say, “watch this.” ch:

Want more? Members of The Underground, get even more pictures by clicking here! Use password: SPtoledo21

Filed Under: culture Tagged With: old city, spain, swords, toledo

Gospart Church

19 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 4 Comments

The thing I think Jennifer likes the most about Spain? 11:30am Sunday morning church services.

Our old friends Fabio & Yael Fernandez have teamed up with their brother and sister-in-law to start a brand new church in the outskirts of Madrid (Brunete), named Gospart. The focus of the church? Reaching the lost through practical love and using their gifts of artistic expression to be glorious for Jesus! And at only 6-months old, they are off to an incredible start.

Jenny and I had the honor of not only joining them in worship, but preaching as well. Jesus spoke more about “the Kingdom” than any other subject in scripture, yet it tends to be the thing we know least about as Christians, imagining it to be some mystical parable rather than a way of life. I spoke on three manifestations of a true Kingdom lifestyle: transformation of thought, health, and resources. The Holy Spirit gave me words of knowledge for all the new people (if you’re not freaked out now, then you probably will be just fine here at Gospart), and the church as a whole said they were deeply encouraged.

Monday was spent at the home of one of the families in the church, the mother having been healed right out of her wheel chair four years ago! And today, we are heading to probably my favorite city anywhere on the planet, home of the greatest sword-smiths ever known: Toldeo. ch:

Filed Under: culture Tagged With: brunete, health, madrid, resources, the kingdom, thoughts

The Land of Passion

17 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 10 Comments

I know. Provocative title. But if you have ever spent time in any Latino culture, you know what I mean. These Spaniards are one passionate people! And I like it.

After a very long goodbye with all those we got to know in Yverdon, and a surprise visit from Manu & Racqel Fernandez, with their new baby girl, Abby, the team boarded a plane for Madrid. But communications malfunctions caused massive delays. Normally, it´s not an issue. But when you are landing and driving straight to a large venue to put on a concert, it tends to put pressure on everyone involved. Especially the hosts! They were seriously beginning to doubt if we´d make it on time.

The plane landed, our van was warmed up and ready, and we arrived at the concert hall with 30 minutes to spare. [gulp!] It was just enough time to pick the set-list, eat a piece of fresh bread, and pray. Then all systems were a go. This concert was especially important for the hosts, as it was their first community outreach in their city, their church being only 6 months old. Even the Mayor´s office was represented, presenting Jennifer and I with a hand-painted glass plaque of the city at the end. We felt so honored. The band was outstanding, and the people were warm, engaging, and very Spanish! We were able to share with love of Jesus through our music with many who had never stepped foot in a church before. That, and we helped the church forge new and legitimate relationships with the community, one of the things I love doing the most for the churches we are serving.

When we finally got back to our host homes, the team was introduced to one of the most dramatic Spanish traditions: starting another dinner at midnight. Granted, we got home late, but unlike the US where we´d just eat a piece of toast and call it a night, they pull out an entire smorgasbord of cheese, beef, prawns, drinks, and fresh bread. I´m getting hungry just typing this. Lunch time! ch:

Filed Under: culture Tagged With: brunete, concert, madrid, plane, smorgasbord, spain

SOW Day 5

16 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 1 Comment

While we’re eager to see our dear friends in Madrid again, traveling by plane from Geneva later this morning–leaving Switzerland is bitter-sweet affair. Many wonderful memories and new friendships have been formed, and I look forward to returning here two more times later this year. Jennifer is back to her wonderful self, and we´re very grateful to the Lord for his healing power, and you for your prayers. Thank you endlessly.

The final day of the School of Worship (at least as far as our part is concerned; they still have another 3 months to go), finished up with a teaching by Jennifer on prayer, fasting, and not mixing up personal friendship with God and a place of ministry. “God once told me he had a lot of pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles,” she said, “but that he had very few friends. I want to be his friend.”

She went on to talk about the Father’s heart for the unsaved. “One day, I asked God how his day was. He told me, ‘today, I lost a lot of people.’ That one heart-wrenching statement completely changed my perspective of reaching the lost.”

I shared my final message on Jesus’ multi-dimentional healing of the whole man, touching the body, emotions, and the spirit. Then I gave instructions on Treasure Hunting: asking God for clues about people he wants us to minister to in the streets. Names. Descriptions. Heart questions. Locations.

We broke up into two teams, both taking turns with one watch at the House of Prayer and one hour in the streets of Yverdon Treasure Hunting. And the testimonies rolled in! Abby bought a white rose for an old woman the Lord told her about, while Samuel shared Jesus with a man and gave him 10 Francs. All five teams were able to pray with many people and share the love of Jesus in incredibly practical ways!

In the evening, the students stayed in Yverdon for a multi-church meeting with Jean-Marc Biglar, an elderly saint with one of the most dynamic deliverence ministries I have ever seen. Meanwhile, Jenny and I joined a youth group for the night about 10-minutes away. We met in a modern basement hall, packed-out with teens, standing room only. Jenny ministered in music while I preached on “What Are You Living For?” We had four teens come to the meeting for the first time, and all four got saved! Then we led everyone in a time of corportate prayer, praying over one anothers’ dreams, then crying out for a Jesus revolution in Switzerland. Many of the kids caught the moment on their mobile phones and posted it on FaceBook and YouTube…the real reason we have all this tehcnology.

We’ll send pics and updates from Madrid as soon as we have Internet access again. Peace out girl scouts. ch:

Filed Under: culture Tagged With: friendship with God, ministry, revolution, treasure hunting

SOW Day 4

15 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 10 Comments

Thursday will definitely be remembered as one of this trip’s highlights. I’m not sure if it’s because of material we covered on evangelism which I know touched the Father’s heart, or because we actually went out and did what we talked about. Most likely both.

Much of what I taught was brand new for the students, and for me, as the Holy Spirit was giving me insight into scripture in ways I had never seen before. Specifically along the lines of obedience to preach the Gospel.

I think most Christians would say that they pray for the lost; Charismatic Christians even saying they intercede. I love to pray, and I love Houses of Prayer. And here in Switzerland we are binding a spirit of witchcraft over the nation. But if rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam 15:23), then not following Jesus’ command to go and preach the Gospel, yet all the while “praying for the lost,” is nothing short of sorcery. Thus we are actually contributors of this prevailing spirit. For while Jesus had a profound and intimate prayer life with his Father, scripture also shows us that his greatest moments of spiritual warfare were ministering to individual lives. Touching people, setting them free. And as a result, opening perpetual doors in regions previously hostile toward him.

During a packed-out evening church meeting, one in which the students led the first section, and Jennifer and I led the later (Jennifer had one of the most profound prophetic songs I have ever heard on the Father’s goodness, putting most everyone on their knees), I felt prompted to scrap my sermon and share more on evangelism. Then one of the SOW students interrupted me and said, “Well, let’s go!”

Why not? I thanked everyone, put the mic down, and walked out, inviting the whole group to hit the streets. It was radical. And yet so normal.

I went with a small group back to the Kebab restaurant (where we prayed for the guy with the blind eye), and brought the owner and one of the employees CDs. After eating kebabs, I put on a mini-concert, and before I knew it, the owner was dancing with one of his employees! The place was electrified with the joy of the Lord!

By the end of the night, our team was telling all the guys about the love of Jesus, the praying with them in small groups. Jennifer and I laid hands on the owner, his wife, and their kids, and prayed over them. Below a few of our guys are praying with Mo-Mo (Mohammad). Awesome.

I can honestly say I haven’t felt the pleasure of God this strongly on my life in a very long time. He is re-digging wells of joy in my heart that are directly connected to looking outside of myself. ch:

Filed Under: culture Tagged With: evangelism, prayer, witchcraft

SOW Day 3

14 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 2 Comments

The School of Worship in Yverdon continued Wednesday with the completion of my first series on Born to be Glorious. It is always a challenging message, as often the Christian world teaches us to be humble. And that’s it. We never teach people what the reward for humility is: glory (1 Peter 5:5-6, James 4:10). To be awesome. To rock. Here on earth, not just in heaven. Thus allowing the most brilliant people in the world to be brilliant, the most creative people, creative, the most beautiful, beautiful. And as a result? The nations come to us (Isa. 55, 60). We must stop sabotaging God’s plan to attract the nations, and start being glorious again!

After lunch, everyone headed over to the House of Prayer, a beautiful home that YWAM purchased for the specific purpose of continual prayer and worship. Our 2-hour watch was powerful, and spent praying and prophesying over the city, the nation, and for the church & lost alike. In most settings, as a worship leader you need a few minutes to “find the river” and engage in worship; but here, it was like jumping in with the first notes. While the Holy Spirit doesn’t dwell in temples made by the hands of man, buildings do seem to have memories. And this building has been prayed in enough for it to remember the presence of the Lord.

Jennifer and I spent the evening with Sylvain & Lynn Freymond and family, the directors of YWAM here. They are very dear friends, and their hilltop home overlooking the Alps was just too beautiful. Of course, no visit to the countryside would be complete without seeing some cows, so we dropped in on Grandpa Jean-Marc to see his award winning cows (awards pictured at top). And the most peculiar thing? They are much larger than American cows.

Go figure. ch:

Filed Under: culture, music Tagged With: glorious, glory, house of prayer, swiss cows

SOW Day 2

12 Jan ’10 By Christopher Hopper 5 Comments

First off, thank you for all your prayers for Jennifer. While she has been extremely weak all day, she seems to be in better spirits. She stayed in bed most of the day resting, and her temperature fluctuations have been much less dramatic. I believe the antibiotics she’s on are kicking some butt, and hope tomorrow brings even more signs of health. I was just sharing with the staff here how grateful I am for technology and the ability to inform thousands of people around the world of a prayer need in only a few seconds.

On to the rest of the day…

To sit in a class and receive teaching is, for the most part comfortable, if not challenging. But when the teacher suddenly changes gears and makes the students act on their knowledge, things can get rather exiting (for the teacher), and nerve wracking (for the student, especially when it involves standing in front of people).

Among all the other material, one of today’s exercises was making the students write a song to the Lord, in 20-minutes, and then sing it in front of the class. For some it was normal, for others is was their first time writing a song and, even more, standing in front of people.

Ethan, shown crafting his song above, had a joyful call-answer clapping song that you might hear around a playground, while Abby had a sweet, lofty melody of adoration. Not everyone had to share, but those that did really blessed the rest of the class.

After lunch, the entire school put on a mini-concert for the elderly residents that live in the apartment building of the church (what an awesome ministry to have right inside your church!). They were really touched, and expressed their appreciation of having so many young people around.

After a quick siesta, I did a workshop with the students on team-building in a worship setting, audio basics 101, service layout, song selection, sound check, and ran a basic practice with them (in preparation for a service they’re leading Thursday night). And at the end, we had a rather spontaneous class on prayer as they laid hands on one of the French students who is deaf in his left ear. While he wasn’t healed right there, we’re believing for it this week! Belief for miracles seems to be a theme as Kevin (one of the staff) and I prayed for a Muslim soldier in a Moroccan restaurant last night. He had lost his eye in the war, was so open to Jesus, and was really touched, as were the restaurant owners (who gave us free food afterward!). ch:

Filed Under: culture, hopper clan Tagged With: deaf, healing, health, song writing, sound