Sacramento, the capital city of California!

Our flight to Sacramento was wonderfully uneventful apart from the fact that we were flying on a 50 seat aircraft and Val's seat was almost out the back door! She says that the bump as the plane hit the ground (sometimes called a landing) was so severe that she thought her neck would break. They did stop the plane before the end of the runway and we had arrived in the capital city of California. We were met by David Fredrickson who some will remember accompanied Wayne when he last visited Australia.

David was Pastor of a fellowship in this city until Father seemed to call them to close down the structures of the church and dispose of the building in which they met. David tells of the adventure in his book, "When the Church leaves the building". David puts it this way:

On a Sunday morning in the fall of 1989 about 35 people gathered in a barely functional facility for the first meeting of a new “church plant.” Everyone there was tired of “church as usual.” We hoped that God would respond to our passion for Him with an outpouring of His Spirit. Eleven years later we and a bunch of others were still burned out on “church as usual. We cancelled the programs and sought God for His heart. That’s when we began a journey away from organized religion toward a more relational expression of Father’s life within and among us.

We’re not a house church or a cyber church, nor are we a part of any “movement.” We’re simply followers of Christ who are discovering a greater dimension of His love and freedom than we have ever known before. Although we have few answers, we have a passion to see others come into the freedom we are learning about.

You can find out more about the creative crew who work together here in Sacramento on their website: www.familyroommedia.com.

David with his wife Rachel welcomed us warmly. We were delighted to meet Rachel's parents who were also staying in their home. Jim and Wanda Wilson live in Oklahoma and are a wonderful couple who allowed us to celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary with them. Jim is an octogenarian and Wanda is not far behind. They have an infectious love for God and life that stands out.

The evening after we arrived we met a bunch of people in the home of one of the creative bunch. The discussion was wide ranging and real and in a short time Val and I felt that we had known these folk for much longer than a few hours!

Then the weekend was really full - Saturday a "day retreat" held in a lovely home on a 5 acre property in a place called El dorado - in the foot hills around Sacramento. In fact it's location reminded us of Benloch as it is amongst lots of trees and even a couple of kangaroos on the next door property (the neighbours have a lot of unique working animals used in places like Disneyland). It is very dry there right now and in the paper today there were warnings to the folks there to be alert for any signs of "wildfire".

The folk who gathered were from quite long distances around the state and had in common that Father had led them to live in relation to him and others outside the institutional frame of the Church. They came form many backgrounds and reflected many age groups and shared their story together. We were made very welcome and one brother, a used car dealer, asked all over 60 to stand. there were 6 or 8 of us (I had to poke Val to get her on her feet!.....she was mumbling that she had never had to declare her age at a meeting before!!) The guy then suggested that the 60+ should be honoured and prayed for us. It was a significant action.

On Sunday after a quick shopping expedition and the indulgence of a free sample of wonderful strawberries covered in chocolate from 'Shari's Berries' They were wonderful and very American. Yum! (you can share too - order them from www.berries.com!!) We spent the afternoon and evening in a home around a pool (on a wonderful summer's day) with a barbque meal. We talked for hours about God's kingly rule. It was quite a day.

Two brothers from New York state flew across the country to share the time with us all. Ravi, a Singaporean Indian was a pastor until Father enabled him to see something more of where Father was moving his church. His traveling companion, Marty has recently retired from being a prison officer. They are mischievous blokes whose love for Jesus stood out to anyone who met them. They told too of folk feeling led to know Father more intimately.

On Friday we recorded another podcast with the local creative crew. And what a creative crew! If you have looked at their web page and seen the video clips and the productions they have made you will know what I mean. Their podcast can be connected through the web site. We then viewed the penultimate version of two half-hour teaching DVD's which they had made. They cover both the history of the church in overview and the implications of the decisions made. I am hoping they will be finished in time to bring a copy home with us.