CELEBRITY CULTURE VERSES A CULTURE OF CELEBRATION

My daughter Abigail is writing a tall tale for school, and she has created a character named Chloe, a niblet that's the size of a pinecone and lives in the walls of a television studio. Chloe feels insignificant because she's small, and nobody knows that she exists, and so she strategizes a plan to go "on-the-air" in the middle of the night, with her family and friends, to put on a talent show. Finally, the world will know that niblets exist and that they are amazing.

Abigail's story deals with an ingredient that exists within the human disposition; the desire to be noticed, to feel significant, and to make a difference.

This past week my family and the Sween’s (our close friends) journeyed from Seattle to Redding and then on to Hollywood to capture conversations, not with niblets, but with real-life cultural influencers. It went incredibly well, and I know people are going to enjoy them. However, these conversations began to create new discussions within my heart, regarding the incredible, talented, and influential niblets that live in my walls. What about all the incredible stories, potential, and power that exist but haven't been revealed yet?

The very first thing that Jesus did is he discovered his twelve niblets.  These were twelve men that before Jesus was not known or celebrated, and today, in some traditions, they are worshiped. These guys went from being niblets to world changers, not because they were talented, but because they were willing to drop everything and follow Jesus. They were no longer niblets, they were now sons!!

In the Kingdom, there are no niblets. Jesus eradicated the human caste system of importance, and this creates a significant philosophical conversation that is past due within the Church. It also requires us to ask some big questions; questions like, "How has the world's celebrity culture penetrated the Church's philosophy for how we celebrate people?"

Jesus did not target the world's influencers to influence the world. He had eyes to see invisible people, and he invested his time, revelation, and authority to see them transform from self-seeking outsiders to Christ-commissioned deputies.

If we are in Christ, then our aim cannot be to "get discovered." Being in Christ is the evidence that you already are discovered. Our ambition cannot be to achieve celebration by our works because we already are celebrated by Heaven, because of the finished work of Christ Jesus. If we are in Christ, but our programming is no different than that of the world, we will invest all of our time, energy, and resources into self-celebration schemes.

Jesus didn't use his cell phone to take selfies; he used his phone to take pictures of others. He so loved the world that he devoted the majority of his bandwidth to reveal the character and nature of His father to those who had no clue.

How can we create cultures where people who feel like outsiders get to receive the celebration of their adoption as an insider? How can we create cultures where those who feel like orphans get to receive the celebration of a son? How can we create cultures where we do not idolize the idols that the culture worships? How can we walk in greatness while not allowing others to worship us?

What do you think?

Hit me up in the comments below.

Blessings!!

Darren

THE PODCAST SHOW HITS THE ROAD

On October 12th, we are embarking on a podcast tour from Seattle to Hollywood, California.

For two days, we will be conducting 10 video/audio podcast conversations with a diverse group of cultural influencers.

Our vision is to answer the question, "What is Jesus doing in in one of the world's most influential cities?"

Our list of guests include actors, comedians, screenplay writers, music producers, television producers, models, and church planters.

On our way to LA, we will be stopping by Bethel Church, in Redding, California, and conducting three podcast conversations with revivalists and cultural influencers. It’s going to be amazing capturing the stories of these modern-day reformers.

THE HISTORY OF THE PODCAST

We have been hosting the Supernaturalist Podcast Show since 2015. The purpose of the show is to connect, equip, and promote emerging supernaturalists on a global level.

The show consists of Darren Stott and Charlie Shamp sitting down with movers and shakers and conducting long-form, unscripted conversations. The average podcast is 60 minutes, and the most extended episode is #100 with Bobby Conner and runs just shy of three hours.

Links:
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv0Q7EpCvN_vlK7FZyupcXw

iTunes Link: thedarrenshow.com

IN 2019, THE SHOW HIT THE ROAD

In 2019 we took the show from audio to video, investing a significant amount of money into quality and portable equipment so that the show could easily travel and capture content from supernaturalists all over the World.

• On June 24th, we captured an interview with Pastor Surprise in South Africa.

• On September 1st, we took all of our equipment to Moravian Falls where we recorded an amazing conversation with Bonnie Jones.

• On September 26th we traveled to Nashville where we recorded podcast conversations with Lee and Cindi Whitman, Alex Parkinson, and Corina Toncz-Pataki.

SOW INTO THE SHOW

We would like to invite you to join us in this supernatural media adventure. If you believe in what we are doing, please pray and consider sowing into the show.

To give, click the link below.

1.) Fill in your email.

2.) Your contribution.

3.) Payment information.

CLICK HERE!!!

Supernaturalist Ministries is a 501(c)(3); all donations are tax deductible. A giving receipt and annual report will be sent to you by January 31st, 2020.

Funko POPS! and Ivan Roman

I love how this podcast turned out.

Ivan and I sit down to discuss everything from soaking, lucid dreaming, revival past (present and future), the difficulty of stewarding a dual calling, what it means to be a spiritual father, and Funko POPS!

It’s raw, vulnerable, and inspiring.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Connect with Ivan on social: @IvanRoman07

Web: www.ivanroman.org

Happy 2019!!!

What if 2019 was YOUR year to radically grow in your intimacy with Jesus and your understanding of who you REALLY are?

What kind of tin-foil-hat-wearing-nutjob-show is this?

No

regrets!

Capturing the data from this previous media/radio adventure.

We are nearing the completion of our one year contract with KKNW 1150 AM. Upon much prayer and conversation, we have decided not to renew our contract.

For twelve months, every Wednesday, from 3-4 PM we flooded the air with Jesus centered supernatural content.

Two weeks ago I went into the studio to record a show with Paul Graves. A lady was waiting for me at the door.

“Are you the pastor?” She asked.

I must have had that “pastor” look. After confirming her suspicion, we agreed to meet after the show.

She informed me that when she first heard of my show, she thought, “What kind of tin-foil-hat-wearing-nutjob-show is this?” Then she listened to it.

“These guys are Holy Spirit filled, Jesus loving, believers!” She said. She was so excited because she works for the finance department at the station and she knew that there isn’t any other content like ours on the station. I believe this was a gift of encouragement from the Lord.

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted a radio show. This adventure has been a dream come true.

I want to thank everyone who sowed into the show. So many of you made contributions. Thank you! Your gift helped us do something that may have never been done before, host a Christocentric Supernatural Show on a secular radio station.

I also want to thank Seattle Revival Center, who made a monthly contribution of $150 a month. I believe we planted large seeds in a field where there’s not a lot of seed.

To be transparent, I didn’t go into this with a long-term sustainability plan in play (basically I didn’t have a business plan). I knew the cost up front, and I knew that Supernaturalist Ministries could afford to take on the financial risk for the first twelve months. I had hoped for advertising opportunities, but I didn’t have the plan or the time to pursue them.

If I were to do it again, I would assemble a team to help me strategize a vision, advertising, marketing, evangelism, and community plan up front. It could have been far more successful and sustainable if I had first assembled a team around the vision, and then executed the concept with the team.

I share all these things not because I feel bad.

Honestly, I have no regrets.

It has been a stinkin’ blast.

I share these things because maybe you are about to take a leap of faith to co-create with the King on the Earth. I hope that some of the things I learned can equip you for the jump.

Maybe you are about to take a leap of faith that may have a hefty price tag on it.

For us, the price tag was $10,000 for a year of programming.

That’s a significant investment.

I am still totally in love with audio as a media platform. In fact, more now than ever, I am in love with podcasting.

Podcasting is the coolest thing ever. I can record ninety-minute shows. **[My latest podcast with Charlie Shamp](https://soundcloud.com/isupernaturalist/the-future-belongs-to-the-fearless-charlie-shamp)** is over two hours!!

I love long-form content, but we also produce short shows. For example, we have some shows that are only eight minutes long.

With a podcast, you don’t have to wait until 3 PM to listen to it. You listen to it when you want to listen to it. You can listen to it in your car and then pop on some headphones and take it with you as you walk into the office.

So, I’m going ALL IN with my podcast.

I’ll be buying some awesome new gear so I can have a three mic studio at the church. I want to continue to host transparent, supernatural conversations for the purpose of connecting, equipping, and promoting emerging supernaturalists on a global level.

Thank you for partnering on this journey with me. Your emails, messages, and conversations light me up.

I’m looking forward to partnering with you to instigate a movement of honest and powerful supernaturalists; a generation of Elijahs and Elishas.

I look forward in cheering you on as you take risks and create stuff on the Earth that has never been done before.

Life is such a gift, and we get to share it together. We are alive, in the same generation, for such as time as this. Let’s shake some things up.

Blessings,

Darren Stott

Accumulative Effect

“Wassup guys?! My name is Jeff.”

Jeff is ripped. His biceps are larger than my legs. He’s got no shirt on. The guy is rocking eight-pack abs. 

That’s right, stinkin’ eight. 

If I had Jeff’s body, I’d never wear a shirt. 

“What’s up, Jeff?!” I think in my head, “What are you going to tell me that’s going to make my abs look like yours?” 

“I’m going to show you something to do every single morning.” 

The YouTube video continued. I listened intently. Jeff is about to recommend a new daily routine. I love routines. Just tell me what to do Jeff. 

“I promise, if you do this, it’s going to help you a lot. You’re going to improve your posture, you're going to improve your abs, and you’re going to improve your grip strength.” 

Nobody cares about grip strength Jeff. 

He then turns around proceeds to hang from a pull-up bar in his closet for two minutes. 

Here’s the deal, Jeff keeps saying these words, “This daily exercise is going to have an accumulative effect.” 

“Accumulative effect.” There, he said it again. 

An accumulative effect is the state in which a series of repeated actions have an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects (according to a Google definition). 

In my own words, it’s compounded momentum that’s made possible only through consistency. 

The Lord has been speaking to be about consistency and the importance of doing things daily, and as I’ve been practicing new daily routines, I am seeing results or compounded momentum. 

I recently heard Drew Houston (founder of Dropbox) say, “If your workout time is not on your calendar, you’re not working out.” I smiled because mine is, and there are about four people who get to see how much I’m squatting on Monday mornings. Those four people get this email. That cracks me up. 

I had a workout routine that was supposed to be able to generate results with just two trips to the gym each week. I was faithful to the method for about six months, and I didn’t see much change. I switched up my routine to a daily routine (four days a week) and immediately I could feel the difference. 

Where do you need to grow? 

What do you need to change? 

Where does your life need a pattern interrupt? 

Where do you need some accumulative effects? 

If you take the time to answer these questions, you will see that the answer may be found in new daily routines, otherwise known as habits. 

My recommendation is that you don’t invent a routine. Find one. Find one that REALLY works. Don’t be content until you are seeing measurable results in your own life. 

I would recommend that you don’t just listen to your opinionated friends. Seek wisdom from a professional like Jeff. If they don’t have the eight-pack, don’t bother writing down their abs routine (this is just a metaphor, apply to your own context). 

Maybe you’re not excited about the things of God anymore. Who do you know that is? What do they do? What do they read? Who influences them the most? Find out, and set up your daily routine. 

Maybe you’re depressed. Get on Google, get on YouTube, and get to your doctor. Get obsessed with your holistic joy strategy and setup your new daily routines. 

You are at where you are at because of your consistency, or lack thereof. 

I have to remind myself that the system isn’t rigged. There’s no supplement for consistency. I don’t get to blame people for where I am at. I have to take responsibility and redeem each and every minute that the Lord has given to me. 

If the words “consistency,” “daily routine,” and “accumulative effect” is not a part of your vocabulary, and you are unsatisfied with your current geography, allow your frustration to drive you to the store so you can buy a day planner. 

Don’t expect your parents, your employer, your pastor, or your spouse to be your manager. Manage yourself. Manage your time. Manage your soul. Self-management is not a threat to the Lordship of Christ, in fact, self-control is actually a fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

Hang like a monkey from a pull-up bar. Make yourself a grass smoothie. Soak in the presence of God for twelve minutes before brushing your teeth. Swish coconut oil around in your mouth (without swallowing) for fifteen minutes. Practice the piano for thirty minutes. Write five hundred words. I don’t care, just do it, and do it daily, and you will see accumulative effects. 

Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear what you’re up to. Email me at darren@seattlerevivalcenter.com. 

Keep up the good work guys! 

Much love, 

Darren

Embrace the Process

Hardship is better than Harvard.

Believe it or not but the lessons you have learned through life's processes could not have been taught in a classroom. You learned not by listening, you learned by living. You survived, and now you’re stronger, wiser, and far more humble.

There is the kind of knowledge that you receive by reading good books, and then there is the kind of wisdom that is embeded into your DNA through time and relationship.  It’s aged revelation, it’s valuable, and it's costly.

Our God is the Lord of the process.  He is continually inviting us into a sequence of steps and actions where we get to learn about our inherent neediness for divine companionship. 

Yep, Jesus was right when he said, “Without me, you can do nothing.”  How else can we develop intentional dependency outside of the process? We are not talking about a soul quest for identity or significance as much as we are about the journey to the face of God; the very process and path into intimacy with Him.

It’s easy to get frustrated when God doesn't answer our prayers the way that we had hoped. We often think that the purpose of prayer is to get God to answer our requests real-time, but this isn’t the entire purpose of prayer.

There are times when Jesus prays, and the Father doesn’t answer his requests, and he’s the son of God. 

The model given to us for how we ought to pray is The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). When you pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven,” most likely you aren’t expecting an immediate answer right then and there.

Why?

Because we understand that the Lord’s prayer is a declaration of intent that instigates a Heavenly and holy process; the ushering in of God’s glorious Kingdom.

Maybe you’re not going through hell. Perhaps you are going through a process.

Maybe this isn’t the end. Perhaps it’s the beginning.

Maybe this season won’t define you forever. Perhaps it will pivot you the direction you were created to go.

Another word for process is journey, and another word for journey is adventure.

What may seem like constant delays and disappointments may be an invitation from the Father to go on the adventure with Him.  Sure, God could give us what we want, but sometimes we forget that there’s something that HE wants, something that HE is requesting, and that is for us to enter into deeper intimacy with Him.

Your life – the epic emotional rollercoaster that it may be - is an adventure by which you get to discover the layers, the complexity, and the simplicity that is your Father’s heart. 

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn who God is from God Himself. Life’s greatest lessons can be gleaned from the King of all Kings when we have taken the time to get to know who He truly is.

There’s more at work than what you feel or see.

There’s more at stake than what you know.

Embrace the process.

Let me know what you think.  Hit me back at darren@seattlerevivalcenter.com.

Blessings,

Darren

War Room

(This blog is not about your prayer closet)

(This blog is not about your prayer closet)

The revival meeting was in full throttle. The new SRC subwoofers were thumpin’. My Pastor-buddy, Keith Kippen, had just arrived.

I greeted him warmly by shouting in his ear, “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing great!” He responded, “I need to tell you about something later on.”

“You fed a dumpling to a fawn?!” I barked back with a puzzled expression.

“No! I need to tell you something really cool after the service.”

“Okay!” I still hadn’t heard a word he said, so I smiled and winked and went back to worshipping Jesus.

When we had a moment to catch up, Pastor Keith began to tell me about this revelation that he had received out of 2 Corinthians 3:1 where it says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established…”

His new understanding of this text is that if something new is going to be established, there need to be witnesses.

The example he gave was for marriage counseling.

“I don’t do any counseling now unless the couple comes in with witnesses, such as another pastor, elder, or friends, who can then speak into the matter. These "witnesses" will then be able to continue to walk with them, to support them, and be there to help hold them accountable.”

Internally I honored and received this tip, and externally I stamped it with my signature approval, “So good bro.”

Skip a beat.

The lights turned on.

I am not anti submission at all. I am surrounded by amazing, Godly, mature, and experienced leaders who will graciously mama-bear-paw-smack me if they need to.

I have also seen how counsels can sometimes shoot vision out of the air as if it were duck season.

Without taking on too much shame regarding projects in the past that have failed, I realized that if something is worth creating, maybe it’s worth building with the next forty years (arbitrary number) in mind.

I’ve made some pretty cool sand castles, and when the waves came in, they fell over.

Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed.”

What this text is saying is that if you want to establish something successful, get many wise eyes on your plan.

My fear of inaction has been my excuse for solo execution. Solo execution creates a vacuum into a weird and lonely place.

So, I’m trying to get used to a new form of creativity called community, wherein the context of building cool Kingdom stuff we can all contribute to solving problems before they show up.

Because this is new, the old way of doing things is always trying to get me to backslide. My planning meetings are getting larger, but we are building more healthily.

I’ve been working on a book for two years now called Counterfeit Fruit, but I’ve been stuck and haven’t been able to finish it. The book is outlined, and I have around thirty thousand words written, but something doesn’t feel right, and so I’ve lost the inspiration and direction needed to finish it.

One idea that I had recently was to go back to chapter one and submit it, along with the outline, to people that are gifted teachers; have them study and critique the structure and sequencing of the section. If they can show me what works and what doesn’t, perhaps chapter one could become the template for the rest of the following chapters. Additional advisers could help this plan succeed.

Here’s my advice. If your output it zilch, just do something and get some sort of production moving, even it’s lame. Nothing ever begins amazingly.

If you are producing, but the quality and efficiency of your work need to be improved, or if you have a project that is going to be expensive (the amount of energy or finance required) first gather your diverse and trusted advisors and meet up in your war room.

What do you think? Hit me back with your thoughts, projects, and revelations.

You are loved (and amazing)!

Darren