ILG: Brian Heasley - 21 Sep 2005
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Brian Heasley prayed aloud...“God, I don’t want live my life being someone sitting at the bar and watching the other people go nuts!”
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Brian and his family moved to the Spanish party island of Ibiza with the vision of birthing a Boiler Room community in the city of San Antonio. As muffled shouts and pounding sounds echoed through the spacious auditorium from the prayer room upstairs, Brian charged us to make our lives a dance with God to His rhythms, to a tune of His priorities in the earth: prayer, mission, and justice.
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What does that look like? “A rhythm of prayer and intimacy with God,” Brian said, “will awaken in us God’s natural rhythm for missions and justice." And as we continually draw closer to the Lord, our prayers will shift from ‘Lord, save the nations,’ to ‘Lord, SEND ME!’
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“Dance like David danced – dance like your team just won at football – be caught up in the great dance of Christ,” Brian said. | ||
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Brian highlighted passages from Isaiah 58 and Micah 6 that confront us with God’s idea of justice. Doing justice is, simply, doing what is right and speaking up for what is not right in the world. | ||
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“Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless and poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” Isaiah 58: 6-7 |
“…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Your God?” Micah 6:8 | |
“It’s a rhythm that courses in us, a drum that beats forever through us,” Brian said. “And it is getting louder.” |
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Modeling the ‘missions’ aspect of his challenge for the group, Brian shared with us about his family’s journey in hearing and obeying God’s invitation for them to exchange the lives they were accustomed to and move to Ibiza.
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“The crazy bit is,” Brian said, “as crazy and difficult this can be at times, we are so happy. We know that God has called us to this, and He has confirmed it in many ways. I mean, He even spoke to me through cheesy euro-pop…what else is there!”
Brian’s charge was a brilliant introduction to a weekend of challenges in these three major areas that God has called us to: prayer, mission and justice. Praying, worshiping, listening to God…incarnating the love of Jesus to the ends of the earth…doing what is right, and standing up against that which is wrong in society…it’s the great dance of Christ in the earth…come on!!
Barry Hall and his wife Charlotte recently moved to Chichester, England from Kansas City, Kansas to be a part of 24-7 Prayer. They both graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Between the both of them, they love labrador retrievers, writing stationery, jam bands, and Cafe Rouge - the best cup of tea on South Street.