Chicago!!

WOW.  We are sitting in the San Francisco airport….our flight is delayed (no surprise there)….and we decided to blog about one of the most incredible God moments we have ever been a part of:)

AWAKENING!!!

Jesus Cultures conference this last week was unbelievable.  As I (Kim) was standing on a stage, surrounded by over 15,000 radical revivalists, I was so moved to look out and see what appeared to be, ever single hand raised in worship.  It was a spectacular sight.  I think every single person in that place was worshipping Jesus like crazy!  We had countless healings and salvations!  Thank you Jesus!

Our team worked so hard for a very long time getting everything ready for this event.  There are a TON of logistics that go into something this big.  But we were all carrying the word of the Lord in our hearts.  We all know that God directed us and lead us to this event.  The crazy thing is that we have no idea what is next!  We have just been obedient to God as He lead us there.  It is so ok with us that we don’t know what is next, because that just means we must be even more dependent on Him!  We don’t want to do anything apart from Him and His direction.

One thing is for sure…..thousands of people’s lives will never be the same after the last 4 days.

We are really, REALLY excited about Bryan and Katie Torwalt’s album!  The Torwalts lead worship with Kristene DiMarco on Friday afternoon.  It was EPIC!!!  WOW!!! They are anointed worship leaders and we are sooooo pleased to welcome them to the JC family!  You must get there album and keep an eye on them….God has HUGE plans for them!!

Chris and I (Kim) wrote new songs and had a blast leading them at Awakening!  Chris wrote a song called “Awakening” and “My Everything”.  My song was called “Father of Lights”.  It will be used for the upcoming “Father of Lights” movie!  woo hoo!!  You can watch a trailor for the movie here:  http://fatheroflightsfilm.com/?__utma=1.3352510.1312681316.1312681316.1312681316.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1312681316&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1312681316.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28organic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=wanderlust%20productions&__utmv=-&__utmk=81287575

Jesus Culture will be releasing a CD from the event and hope to get it out by Thanksgiving of this year!

We are so happy to be a part of the Jesus Culture family and so thrilled to have witnessed such an incredible move of God’s power and love.  On the last night, right after worship, Holy Spirit just…..showed up like crazy:)  Everyone began worshipping  and singing spontaneously, without the band.  It was by far the most epic moment in worship to date.  Thank you Jesus for allowing us the awesome priviledge of leading Your people in worship, of pouring out our lives to You, and loving You with every ounce of our strength!!

PS:  If you would like to leave a comment regarding any of our blogs, please do so at Facebook.  We get soooo much spam (over 800 posts!) and it takes waaaay to long to sort through it.  So that we have time for rest and playing with our dog, Duke….please leave any comments at Facebook:)

Love, Kim and Skyler

All the single ladies!!

Well….I had a TON of positive feedback from my last blog about hair.  It seems that the vast majority of you agree with my point of view!  There was however, still some negative feedback….as to be expected.  You can’t make everyone happy and I have NO intention of trying.  It is amazing that there are so many people who still seem to forget what the Bible says we are to judge:  the FRUIT!!  Not the external appearance.  In the end, I feel sad for them as I don’t think they fully understand the crazy love of Jesus yet.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of MY Father.  That’s all I have to say about that.

I had someone ask me a question about dating and marriage.  She basically asked for advice for the single ladies.  I thought that is a great subject for this blog!  So here it is……

Ladies, you are worthy of an incredible man who treats you like the treasure you are!  It does NOT matter what your past is or where you have been, God has nothing but the best for you!  And His timing is PERFECT!  The best piece of advice I ever received in regards to this, came from my spiritual Dad, Danny Silk.  This is what he told me….

Imagine that your heart is locked away behind lots and lots of gates.  When a guy comes along who is interested in you, only put a little, tiny piece of yourself out there.  In other words, you don’t just give away your whole heart and tell him every single thing about you and in you.  Just let him see a small glimpse of who you are and what you hold dear inside you.  If he handles that well;  if he honors it and treats it like the treasure it is, then maybe you open up the first gate and let him through.  With each time you put a piece of yourself out there, you see how he handles it.  Does he honor and respect it?  Is he kind?  Does he treat it as a treasure?  The moment he doesn’t treat you well or handle a piece of who you are well, he doesn’t get through the gate.  There is only ONE man who will get through all the gates and win your heart, and he is the man who will stand at the alter and vow to love you and protect you the rest of your life.  Does this make sense?  By doing this, you are protecting your heart, but also allowing someone to get to know you.  But not just anybody gets to know you deeply….be careful!  Let a man pursue you and see where he leads.  When Skyler first told me that he wanted to pursue a relationship with me, I told him that “the ball is in his court and we will see where he leads it”.  When he told me that he liked me and wanted to be with me, I told him to “prove it”.  haha  Really!  I let him be the one to initiate calling me, etc.  But all of this starts with realizing that you are worth the pursuit.

Something else that I feel is really important is that you need to have mothers and fathers/leaders in your life.  If you have nothing to hide, it is very easy to allow these very important people to be involved in your romantic relationships.  They have insight and wisdom to share.  Sometimes they will see something we don’t and its important to hear them out!  One of the first things I had Skyler do was talk with the spiritual leaders in my life.  I told him that if they approved, then I would approve!

I used to get so mad when married people would say to me (as a single woman) “you just know”.  What on earth does that mean?!  As a single person, how on earth can I comprehend what that means?  But when Skyler told me he loved me, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of…just knowing:)  It’s not something you can understand until you experience it for yourself.  I also HATED it when people would tell me things like “its when I finally stopped looking that he showed up” or “its when I finally did (whatever) that he pursued me”.  As if there is some sort of method to the madness!  I would want to scream at them and say “Give me a break!”  It was like telling me that who I am or the way I am doing it is not good enough and if I could just figure out the secret code and do things just a certain way, the heavens would open and I would get a man!  YA RIGHT.  Listen up people, there is NO METHOD.  There is ONLY God and HIS timing.  That’s it.  And if you wait for His timing, it will be the perfect guy and yes….you will live happily ever after.

When Skyler and I were just about to get married, people all the time told us how hard their first year of marriage was.  Talk about “Debbie Downers”!  Marriage is whatever you want it to be!!  When people told us things like that, we would say “We don’t receive that”.  And we decided that our marriage would be as wonderful or as bad as we made it to be.  Since, of course, we want a wonderful marriage, we work hard at it!  And our first year was AMAZING!!  At the end of our first year, we thought, “Well if it was true, then the rest of our married life will be bliss!”  Year 2 was even more amazing and now we are headed into year 3.  And its still amazing.

If you are currently in a relationship and are thinking about marriage, I STRONGLY suggest that you check out www.definingtherelationship.com

Those are tidbits of info that I think are really important in regards to dating/marriage.  I really could say a lot more, but this is what I most wanted to write.  I don’t really want to give an opinion as to whether you should date or court or whatever else you want to call it.  That is between you, God, and your mother/fathers.  Trust God, seek Him first, and remember ladies……..you are worth the fight!

Back in action!

Hi Friends!

Well…..it has been awhile since we’ve written.  Maybe it should have been our New Year’s resolution to blog more:)

We just returned from Latvia where the Jesus Culture Band was playing at a Moral Revolution Conference.  It was awesome!  (To find out more about Moral Revolution, visit www.moralrevolution.com)  The people there were so sweet and worshipping with them was an amazing experience.  Next we are off to Palm Springs, CA.  Warm weather, here we come!

I have something on my mind I would like to talk about.  HAIR.  Recently, I received a letter in which a person commented on my short, dark hair.  My hair changes frequently and since I receive lots of comments and questions about it, I would like to talk about here.

Over 15 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  The doctors didn’t think she would survive as they believed it was too far spread in her body.  I was a young teenager in high school at the time.  My world was filled with trying to fit in, do my homework, and survive high school.  Anyone who has ever been in high school, knows that image (unfortunately) is a big deal.  It is a sad truth that most teenagers don’t know how amazing they are, just exactly the way they are.

When I was told the news of my Mom’s diagnosis, it was almost too much for my little world to handle.  I watched as my Mom battled for her life, dealt with sickness everyday, and loss all of her hair due to Chemotherapy.  I remember walking into my Mom’s bathroom one day where she was sitting with a friend (who was also a hairdresser) who was trimming what was left of my Mom’s hair before it all fell out.  My Mom was talking about how incredibly hard it was to be sick all the time and dealing with chemotherapy, but the hardest thing was the emotional abuse cancer has on you.  She was crying as she talked about how hard it was to look in the mirror and not feel like a woman or not feel beautiful.  It was so unfair, to not only be battling for your life, but to also have your physical appearance altered in the midst of it.  Yet in the midst of the emotional and physical trauma, even the hair loss couldn’t take the fight out of my Mom.  She knew and was determined, that when she came out on the other side, she would not be mourning the hair she had loss.  She would be rejoicing over the life she fought to save.

It was in that moment I learned a very valuable lesson that redefined my mindset as a teenager dealing with image problems.  I learned that hair….is nothing.  Compared to having life, being happy, knowing God, having friends and family, freedom….it is nothing.  From that point on, I was so bold with my hair!  I love to be creative with it and I always think to myself, “Well….if it looks bad, or it gets ruined, or even if it all fell out…OH WELL.  GUESS WHAT?!  It grows back!”  I’ve had my hair lots of colors and lots of cuts and the best part about all of it is that God STILL loves me and thinks I’m beautiful.  I could have my hair bright green and down to my ankles and God would be radically in love with me.  I could shave it off except for one little section in the back (haha) and God will still call me beautiful.  I could dye it jet black and spike it out all over and God would still speak His love to me.  I am so thankful that I serve a God who loves me no matter what I look like.

God healed my Mom of cancer.  To this day, and to the doctor’s surprise, my Mom is cancer free.  And if you were to ask her if losing her hair was worth it, she would give you a huge, resounding YES!!!!  As a matter of fact, my mom likes to have crazy hair like me:)  Like mother, like daughter!  Maybe this is what happens when you learn hands-on what really matters in life……and it has nothing to do with appearance or hair.

-Kim

So busy!

Hey everyone!

Skyler and I just bought our first house and we have been working SO HARD to get settled in!  It’s a lot of work!  :)   Painting, new carpets, unpacking….and with our busy schedule, we don’t have a lot of time to get it all done!  As soon as we are settled in and can breathe, we will start to finalize our schedule for 2011.  If you are waiting on a response to your invite, we soooo appreciate your grace and patience!  We want to remind everyone that it is not just our own schedule we work around, but that of Jesus Culture, Danny and Sheri Silk, and Bethel Church.  So, please give us grace and be really nice to our assistant.  She is doing such a great job!!!!

Just a heads up regarding 2011:  We will not be traveling as much as we did this year.  This year we traveled on average 3-4 times a month!  That is being away from home once a week!  It is just too much!  We really want to be investing more of our time here, in our hometown, with our church we love!  So, if we don’t make it out to your church this year, maybe you could come to Bethel Church in Redding?!  Or…..join us in Chicago for the Jesus Culture stadium gathering!  Yahoo!

Lots of love!

Kim

Worship, Crutches and a House

Hey World! We just got back from a trip up to eastern Canada,  Nova Scotia to be exact.  We led worship for a youth conference called Invasion 2010.  The Lord was super faithful to show up and rock the place each night.  It’s amazing that no matter where we are or who we are with He always responds to those who are hungry for Him, and the Scotia was full of crazy hungry worshipers. I’m constantly amazed by His Greatness!

Traveling with a knee that was freshly operated on was definitely a new experience. The plane seats seem to be quite a bit smaller when you’re all bandaged, braced and walking on crutches.  All in all it was a good experience topped of by being wheeled to the front of all the airport lines in a wheelchair.  For the first time in our lives we can say we were the first ones on the plane and the last ones off.  Thanks out to United!  The knee is coming along nicely, we met with the surgeon this morning he says a few more weeks and it will be time to trade the crutches for a cane.  Just in time for the upcoming Jesus Culture UK Tour.  If you want to find out more about it you can check out the stops at www.jesusculture.com/uktour   We are super excited to visit some new places this year, as the tour expand to England, Scotland, Whales, and Germany.

The best news of this week…. Kim and I are in the final steps of purchasing a house in Redding Ca.  We recently moved up from the Bay Area and have been staying with friends while the hunt went on.  But now, we got the one.  Looking forward to the day we get to move in and feel settled again.

Blessings everybody,

~Skyler

God is still good.

Well we have had a very eventful couple of weeks.  Jesus Culture was amazing and God showed up, like He always does:)  Worship was a whole new place which is so fun and an answer to prayer.  We recorded everything live and will release the new album late November.  I think it will be our best album yet!  Recording is always a little stressful, but God is full of grace.

After the recording, Skyler and I went on vacation.  While hiking, Skyler tripped on a rock and rolled his knee.  It completely blew out!  We heard the loudest crack!  It scared me-I thought I would see bone sticking out!  His dad had to practically carry him off the mountain.  We took him to the ER where they did x-rays and said nothing was broken.  They told us he needed to see an Orthopedic surgeon right away.  We drove home…..over 9 hours and our brother-in-law (who works at the hospital) got us in to see a surgeon.  He wanted to operate right away.  1 and a half days later, Skyler was in surgery for almost 3 hours.  When he came out, he had a bad reaction to the anesthesia and became very sick.  No fun!  When he was stable, they sent him home with me.  He just passed out and slept for a long time!

I’m happy to report he is doing much better now.  He isn’t really sick anymore.  He is just having a lot of pain.  We are praying for a speedy recovery time and full function back to his knee.  When Skyler was talking about what happened, he said, “I don’t even have a good story!  I just tripped on a rock!”  In all fairness to my manly man, what happened was a result of an old snowboarding injury.  He kept getting minor injuries to his knee and that day when he tripped on that rock, his knee said, “Enough!”  and blew out:)

So….we are in getting some rest and I’m working on Skyler’s knee:)  Gonna get him back to normal in no time!  Even when really bummer things like this happen, I still believe that God is good.  No matter what.

3 days till Jesus Culture!

Hey Everybody!!

Jesus Culture is coming up quick!  We are recording at the conference (the new CD/DVD) and will be releasing it in December.  I’m really excited and nervous.  It’s a lot of hard work getting ready for it.  And we have to remember to stay rested, connected to Jesus, and connected with each other.  The new album with have some originals, some older songs, and some songs that people are familiar with.  We might also include a special studio track!

On another note:  We are moving back to Redding!  Yay!!  So excited!  Our first year of marriage has been lived away from everybody and it was the best thing we could have done.  We went with the old school bible way of doing things:)  haha  So…..we are coming home.  Aw.  Deep sigh.

-Kim

Whoa! Its been awhile….

Ok, new website plus being really busy equals….forgot to blog;)

We have been traveling a lot…maybe a little too much:)  This week we are going to be in Nashville at the Pure Worship Institute.  You can check it out at www.pureworshipinstitute.com We are really excited!!

Our little nephew is turning 3 on Saturday and of course we got him the Buzz Lightyear Rocket Blaster Water Sprinkler!!!  Also…we are expecting another little nephew in November!!  Yay!

At the end of this month is Jesus Culture Redding.  Its sold out!  We are going to be recording for the next album.  Excited and nervous:)  Ok….we’ve got company coming over tonight….gotta go shopping, clean house, and get stuff started for dinner!!!

First blog!!

WOW!! Our new website is up and running! Yahoo! We have been sooo excited for this! Take a look around and enjoy!:)

Right now, we are in Colorado at the Desperation Conference. It’s going great! We are praying for a breakthrough in worship and that all the amazing young people here, will encounter the love of God.

Also, the new Jesus Culture EP is out-yay! We are really happy with it.

New to blogging…we don’t really know what to say….Next week we will be in Redding for the Bethel School of Supernatural Worship.

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