Tory Farina

Who touched me?...

Luke 8 tells the story of  woman touching Jesus in a crowed. I just had an experience that made me think of that moment.

I was at Starbucks paying for our last month of Coffee and buying some sweet on sale mugs when a woman came in and started talking to me. She was DRUNK or in her words "Tipsy". As I was buying my cups and chatting with the Management the woman placed her hand on my shoulder and just stared at me. I continued my sale and then talked to her a bit. I was praying in the spirit for her inside my head as she and I were talking. She was drawn to me and I told her it was because I was a pastor and she asked where and asked me to bless her. It was a strange experience.

Imagine that happening all the time. People touching you because of the Power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus lived having that happen everywhere he went. EVERYWHERE... even buying coffee and mugs. (she offered to buy my mugs but I declined.)

I am no one special but the Holy Spirit in me is great and attractive. I am praying for that woman and as I write this am challenged to be much more aware of the people around me. If I am filled with the same Spirit that Jesus was filled with (which I am) then I wonder how many other people on a regular basis are touching me that I am not even aware of? How many others need my prayers and need me to invite them to meet Jesus? How many others are "Tipsy" with their problems and need Jesus to take their burdens?

I want to be a person who lives being touched by people needing a healing. If I live that way expecting it... People will be healed and touched the way they were in Jesus day. I need to be more aware.

Who is touching you? Who touched you today? Are you aware?

The Shack...

IF you haven't read it... Read IT. If you have read is... READ it again.

I was talking this morning to a friend and was telling him about "The Shack". I said, "you read it and think to yourself, WOW! This author has been through a lot. He really helps you work through the stuff that you carry when dealing with Loss and Pain and The big WHY questions."

My Friend looked at me with pleading eyes... "I have a lot of STUFF..."

I responded, "We all do!"

If you are carrying stuff... unforgivness, anger, frustration at God, pain, DEEP PAIN, angst, fear, resistance to God, or any other STUFF... This series is for you. If you are not carrying any of that chances are really good someone you love is.

God is inviting each and every one of you to experience Him "At the shack" this weekend. He is very found of you and has a lot to share with you.

Will you come? Will you invite someone who needs to come?

Daddy Duty...

Elizabeth has been gone since Tuesday. I am not baby sitting that is not what dads responsibilities are... I am on Daddy Duty. I have had the usual daycare help and been over to a few friends and family's home but I have bee the primary care giver this week. Here ae a couple videos...

Good Morning from tory farina on Vimeo.

Salmon For Dinner from tory farina on Vimeo.

If you listen God speaks in everyday normal life and here are a few thoughts from being alone with Olivia.

• Single Parents deserve an reward!-I know people do it all over the world all the time but seriously raising a child alone is hard. Harder than I ever imagined it would or could be. You are the sole place to get attention, care, love, support, encouragement, vocal lessons, food, cleaning, changing, security and praise.
• She can not repay me for my service to her. I want her to love me and give me a kiss and not run away when i call her but that is about it. I serve her for the joy of serving her. I submit to her time line and needs and forgo what I want to do when I am with her so that she can have what she needs. She doesn't run me and I can always trump her wants with what is best for her but if she is thirsty I stop doing what I was doing and supply her need. That seems familiar to me.
• God gives us what we need and we are incapable of repayment- He simply desire our love, a kiss once and a while, and for us to go to him when life hurts. Often we feel like we should be ok and not need God but he is like a parent of a 1 and a half year old. We, yes, are that one and a half year old. We hurt ourselves and others, make mistakes, have poor judgment, are learning how to walk and talk and live in this dangerous world and He is the expert. He knows the answer to our questions, sees the fallacy in our wisdom and through it all... He drops what he is doing so he can meet our needs. WOW! Thank you God for being on Daddy Duty and being are "Abba Father."

What is god doing/want to do?

I am headed in a few minutes to North Central University in a few minutes. We (Elizabeth and I) are meeting with a number of other pastors and Professors. It is a little of an intimidating group because many of them have written books, authored articles, know biblical languages enough to speak them to one another and I was once their student. I am now regarded as a pear and that is a little strange sometimes.

Elizabeth and I are presenting an Idea while not ground breaking does help us in our fellowship and in our context understand what is happening to free us up from the methodology of our history. I find myself often asking myself and challenging the staff in this... "What does God doing/want to do in 2009, in Minneapolis/ St. Paul and in a movie theatre"? When we ask that question it helps us hear the word of God specific to us. It is different than any other place or time and must be contextualized on those terms.

I am excited because I feel like I can see some amazing things happening that are unforced and natural outpourings of Gods spirit. It is tailored to an over stimulated, social networked, post modern culture that meets in a movie theatre and in peoples homes, businesses, and coffee shops around the city. It is beautiful to watch as people are transformed and made new and challenged to live at a higher level than they currently dwell at.

Continue to join me in that prayer, "God what do you want/ what are you doing... in our time, our space, our city, our home, our job... and what can I do to be apart of it?" Also pray for Elizabeth and I, we want to challenge the process in a productive way.

Amplify Recap

What I know... When you lift up the name of Jesus in worship, He responds. I was pleased with the night. We Courtney took a nasty dusty warehouse and transformed it into a place of Worship. GREAT JOB PASTOR COURTNEY! The equipment we have can be used anywhere. Next time... Their will be a Next Time... We need a bigger place. It was packed in their. I love it when their is a full room of people crazy in Love with Jesus.

Here is what Amplify meant for me. It was a step beyond Sunday Morning. We can not accomplish everything we need to on Sunday Morning It is too Tight. So having the team that has enough substance to it in order to pull off something outside of Sunday Morning is a great feeling. It was the beginning of a new phase at HPC. Leading people to a deeper place in their Spiritual walk is amazing and we are taking people to the next level. New volunteers stepped up. I meet and saw people that I had never meet on Sunday.

Amplify Was good for me... I felt like I got direction in a few areas personally. I love to worship and haven't had a long good worship time corporately in a while. I hope is was good for you as well.

Comparing Sucks

I read this post this morning...

Then I watched a guy speak who I thought I was a better preacher than and then i saw that they are about four times the size of church we are in the same time frame and then I was all... "I suck God... whats the deal."

God is good and reminded me the things he is teaching me and that it is his church anyway. And then he reminded me of some things he has been challenging me in lately in our morning prayer time. He is a good reminder.

I prayed a blessing over the guy I was comparing myself too and then I figured you might be comparing yourself to someone and thought I would blog about it and give us an opportunity to come clean.

We have to realize that comparing to one another sucks the life out of us not them. It causes a devaluation of us and does nothing to improve the health and vitality of our own situation.  I struggle with comparing often. I am working on it and trying not to be the guy who points out what everyone else is doing and makes excuses for myself. I want to play a different game. If we play the same game we can compare but if we rise above the game... Rise to a new level of living where like golf we play against ourselves then no one or no thing can suck us dry because we are not comparable.

God is working in you and me in different ways. That is good. I need God to work in and on me differently then he does you.

Are you ready to stop letting this happen? Ready to break free? I am...

Staff Fasting and Prayer

At this weeks team meeting I was sharing with the team some things I feel like we are coming up against, Some frustrations, some God sized concerns and some future visions. We looked at one another and agreed we needed to take a step deeper. Fight in the supernatural level for the things that we are feeling on our heart. We also realized that we need to get a little closer to Jesus in order to hear His heart and see what He is doing clearer.

So Wednesdays we are taking time out of our day to pray and Fast. You can join us if you like. Here are some areas you can join in prayer for High Point and us personally for. Their are others that I can not post here but let the Lord lead you as you pray and I think you will begin to pray for those things as well.

• Healing... Jeff Kirby, Lynne Cross and others need a miraculous healing
• Growth... High Point is growing both in size and in depth, but their is more and we need Gods heart in this area
• Connection Groups... The reason we have these is so that we can create pear discipleship environments. Pray relationships are created and people grow in God together.
• South East quarter of the city... Pray for this section of the Twin cities. God is doing something and we are apart of the awesome impact that He wants in this city. Pray for your neighbors and friends and coworkers and family. That they would be forever changed by Gods Presence.
• Traveling Light... This series has HUGE! potential. Pray it comes of well and that people are set free of the luggage that they carry through life. Pray for those who the enemy does not want to come and be set free.
• Salvation... Pray God would become real to people and that they would begin this relationship with Jesus that is so powerful in our life.
• Pray as God leads... 
• Personally we need back up... especially on Saturday nights. Lots f strange things happen on Saturdays to distract from Sunday. We have concerns and projects that we need Gods wisdom for. Pray we can lead this church to the place God has laid out in our mind.

Thanks for praying with us. Plan on continuing this every Wednesday. Ill let you know when we stop.

Here is a great resource for fasting and prayer.

Be honest

I have talked a lot about the song Healer by Mike Guglielmucci. The Song is amazing! It is truly from the Lord and is anointed from God. Mike has been battling cancer and wrote the song while having been given six months to live. My dad was just with his brother a couple weeks ago and his brother gave my dad the latest health report. It was just found out that he has not been fully honest with his diagnosis. Read the article here

What was he thinking... He didn't need to lie. The song was powerful and amazing on its own. I don't get it. For some reason he couldn't tell the truth. He felt he needed to lie and make up something to gain fame. His brother and wife did'nt even know.

My dad sent off an email to confirm and got a response from his accreditation fellowship saying that it was true and that they were going to investigate his medical history and then come up with restoration and or punishment.

This and another failing of a well known minister in Florida challenge me. They challenge me to evaluate my life under a microscope and cut out anything and everything that might lead to something like this. We are all capable of outrageous things. The higher you go in leadership and notoriety the greater potential of failure you have. Everything costs more. Satan wants to take you out with a greater vengeance!

Check yourself. Be known to others. Be honest with yourself.

This will mess with you...

from a Franciscan Benediction…

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

How is God blessing you?

Fasting and Prayer Wednesday

I was a freshman in college and was asked to come down to Florida for a national prayer and fasting event. I was flattered to attend and was going to be praying with my dad at the event. There in the back room of the event I meet a man who challenged me to be a person who doesn't just pray but to be a person of prayer and fast. The difference is that one is an event... the other is a lifestyle. Bill Bright was the man who challenged me. Here are some of his thoughts on prayer and fasting.

http://www.billbright.com/howtofast/

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

I am at the office with some great worship music playing. My heart is crying out to God... I am in prayer for the amazing things that god wants to do...

• In my life- I am so in need of you God. Teach me to be a better father, lover, boss, friend and worshiper. I submit my life again to you God. Help me to make decisions not in self perseverance mode but in Your Kingdom first mode. Show me how I can be more submitted to you. Take away anything that distracts from my being close to you. I love you deeply. I thank you that you have given me so many blessings. It is always baffling that I get to do what I love, in a town I love, with the people I love.  Thank you God for your amazing Providence. Thank you for your spirit. Give me wisdom, as I need it more today than I ever have.
• In my family- God thank you for the blessing of this little Girl. Give Elizabeth and I the abilities to lead her into a better future. Your will be done in our family. Show us how to spend our resources well. How to manage what you give and provide. May your presence always be found in our family. Build us strong in your presence and compassionate towards those who do not know you. God give me wisdom to challenge my family into the family that you have created us to be.
• In my Church- God Pour your spirit on this church. May we be your hands and feet in the community. May you be made famous because we are so passionate about what you do. Build our volunteers and help them to see and be passionate about the vision of High Point and building your kingdom. May we be the most welcoming place in the Twin Cities. Heal the sick... Raise the spiritually dead... Break the chains of sickness, addiction and demonic interference. May we as a church "Live our Potential" in and for you. Help this mailer to reach people who are prepared to reserve it. Bring in visitors. Help our connection groups to be the best they can be where we develop our faith together and sharpen one another. Keep us focused on you.
• In my community- I am praying for four people in my neighborhood who I want God to become known in there life... And that they would come to church on the Sunday when I invite them. Raise the level of your presence and fame in this community. Holy Spirit have your way in our lives and in our homes. Break the strong holds in this city that keep us distracted from you. Open up an opening and interest to your presence.

God Lead us on in You. Thank you for challenging us in a deeper way. Amen!

I would love to hear your comments about what you prayed about or maybe what God spoke to you when you prayed. Live your Potential!