My Story
Hello!
I’m sure you know that the story God is writing in us and through us is emotional, personal, and powerful - particularly as we step out and say "YES" to Jesus. We begin to step into what God has created us for! In light of where God has me today, I want to properly share my story with you, because testimony is important. It testifies of all that is good, perfect, and wonderful about God! We get no credit, and this is definitely true in my life. So please read my story. You're a part of it! You're an integral piece actually.
Salvation from J Patrick Kennedy on Vimeo.
Growing up I was exposed to Jesus through a Methodist Church in Americus GA. As a youth I received teaching, support, and encouragement; but I had very little experience to the supernatural presence of Jesus and for the most part probably put up walls to it. One night, October 2000, in my bedroom I found myself far from God and was considering whether there really was a God. Is there a supernatural force controlling the universe? If there really was something else out there besides stars and planets, I wanted to know. I figured now was the time. So I cried out and said: "Alright God, now is the time to show yourself! If you're real then show ME!".... then...BOOM! What I can only describe as an overwhelming heat landed on me. It knocked me over on my bed. I began weeping and laughing at the same time! A still gentle voice then spoke inside my head...."Now do you believe? Are you ready for a real adventure?" At that time in my life I was all about the adventure. I pushed the limits on many levels with drugs, alcohol, and relationships. Also as an avid kayaker, backpacker, and snowboard instructor- I was on the lookout for adventure. Boone North Carolina, a scenic outdoor destination in the Southern Appalachians, was my stomping ground, but soon after my salvation experience I would be moving forward on a crazy adventure with Jesus
Soon after graduating college, God opened up an opportunity to work in Sun Valley, Idaho. I worked with the Bureau of Land Management as a “Wild Land Fire-Mapping Tech”. This would be the beginning of my adventure in discovering the depths of Jesus. While in Idaho, I was virtually alone. I didn't know anyone. I worked in a scenic area. Very beautiful; the gateway to what some call the last frontier. The famous explorers, Lewis and Clark, lived here. They found themselves snowed in for the winter while on their adventure. In retrospect, I see that I really wasn't alone. Jesus pulled me away to be with Him. I was being refined. It was hard, and I had to give up a lot. During this time I stopped drinking, I stopped smoking, and I stopped going to the bars and conversing with the usual crowd that was comfortable and normal to me. That just wasn't the atmosphere that I needed to be in. Every afternoon, after work I found that I was longing for quality time with Jesus. I would spend almost every evening in the Bible, soaking up the Word of God. Then, I connected with a small church plant. The pastor was young, thirty-something and a great Bible teacher. I believe I spent over a year learning from one of the best. His story began to intersect with mine. Before he became a pastor, he spent a significant amount of time being discipled at Youth With A Mission. I would soon find God directing me to a similar time of discipleship.
In the summer of 2001, I took a youth group that I was leading to Hawaii on a mission trip. This youth group wasn't a part of my church. It was apart of an Episcopal Church. God had opened the door for a friend and I to lead this group and we said YES! This would be our first mission trip - for me and my junior high youth group. We went to Hawaii because, before I started leading the group, the pastor promised the kids a trip to Hawaii if they committed for a year to the youth group. So after a year, we went to Hawaii and God blew our minds! We got hooked up with the only mission base in Hawaii, Youth With A Mission (YWAM). They actually had a program for youth groups called Mission Adventures. PERFECT! While there, my Episcopalian kids met Jesus supernaturally! Jesus showed up in all kinds of ways: through His intimate presence - through his command of wind, weather, and waves - and through a miraculous healing. Until that point I had only experienced His intimate presence. Man, God loves His children! If all that wasn't intense enough, the YWAM teacher at the camp and the director of the discipleship school in Kona pulled me aside between sessions and asked what I was doing there. I said "What do you mean?" He said "You seem like a new follower of Jesus." - "I am!" He was surprised that I was leading a youth group. I was too! Because honestly I didn't have any experience. I would read the Word, learn something about Jesus, and then teach it to the kids. It was a crazy time! Then, one afternoon, he invited me to his office. He showed me a huge map and began to point out all the places he had been and the discipleship schools he was starting in the underground church of China. I walked away from that time overloaded. What the heck was an underground church? And why was it in China? During that meeting, he highly encouraged me to do a Discipleship Training School, (DTS). Then he handed me Loren Cunningham's book (The Founder of YWAM) and a GO Manual (Locations of YWAM bases and schools around the world). I read Loren Cunningham's book after the trip and right as I finished God said "Go do a DTS!"
YWAM became a significant influence in forming my faith. In 2002, I found myself in a Discipleship Training School at YWAM Denver. Literally, it was like I FOUND myself there. God had to be the reason I was there. Why else would I say "Yes" to bunking with twenty other guys in a stinky basement? Why would I say "Yes" to a curfew? Why would I say "Yes" to submitting to people that I didn't know or trust? I was 23. I was an adult who just left a job with a lot of responsibility. "GOD, WHY DO YOU HAVE ME HERE?" My two-year service with YWAM ended up planting me in Denver. Until moving to Denver, I would typically be found in mountain communities. I grew up in little towns, in Maine and Georgia. I've never felt any kind of longing to be in a city, until moving to Denver. During my time in YWAM God planted a seed in me for cities and for unity in the Church. God wants to see cities evangelized and He wants to see the unified Body of Christ do it! No singular ministry, mission organization, or church can do this. It has to be the Body of Christ functioning as the Body. The summer of 2004 would prove to be a huge step forward for me in ministry and in this calling to serve in the city of Denver and to work toward the vision of unity in the "Church". This started with a ministry called ONE Denver and a job with Colorado State Universities Cooperative Extension on a project called "Strengthening the Village". Both of these ventures were collaborative movements in different spheres of society. ONE Denver would be an encouragement to the Church and particularly to young adults who have the potential to lead out a unified movement by the Spirit. I stumbled upon the first ONE Denver worship gathering at Faith Bible Chapel that summer, and soon after I would be taking the lead in directing the ministry. Our heart was to see Jesus' last prayer come to fruition:
John 17:20-22 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
We organized worship gatherings, service projects, and fundraisers for social justice serving organizations. We developed a newsletter to connect people. We came along side many ministries and church's in their community outreaches. We saw the Body come together in many amazing ways! Every community had their spin on the gospel that made them unique and valuable to Denver and I think at the end of four years we began to see a glimpse of what could be; particularly for the next generation of leaders in the Church.
The Strengthening the Village project placed me as a liaison of CSU Extension at Epworth United Methodist Church. This is the first mission church in Denver. A small African American / Hispanic Community in Five Points. I would serve at this church, implementing youth outreach programs, assisting with a HUGE community wide thanksgiving basket giveaway, and coordinating a collaborative of community organizations to serve poor families called "Family to Family". These ventures became a spring board for four fruitful amazing years of dynamic ministry and service to at-risk youth and families in Denver!
At the end of 2008 I found myself burning out and loosing focus. I was attempting to run what could be a full time ministry in the evenings, weekends, and whenever I could squeeze it into my day, as well as be a full time Education Coordinator for Mental Health America, developing youth outreach and education programs! My wheels were spinning all the time! I was not resting. My Sabbath's looked liked brainstorming sessions for ONE Denver. I was confused and thought I was actually spending time with God, when really I was appeasing my flesh. Man, I loved it! I felt like I was accomplishing BIG things. Our flesh loves to feel like it is important and that what we do gives life. What a LIE! Jesus is life and only quality time with Him is LIFE! It finally took an anxiety attack, sexual sin, and a slap in the face by a good friend for me to wake up to JESUS! I realized I was way off the mark with God. The last interview I did for the ONE Denver Newsletter, before I shut it down, was with this guy named Dave Powers, who co-founded a non-profit with his wife, Tara, called Worship and the Word Movement (WWM). They were putting on an event called Heaven Fest in Denver, and I wanted to know why he thought we needed a massive Christian music festival in Denver. He basically laid out that it wasn't his music festival, nor his idea. This was something that God was orchestrating, and he had story, after story, after story, of amazing and miraculous movements by God to prove it. I thought that was interesting, and shortly after that interview, I dissolved ONE Denver and decided that for the next 6 months, I wasn't going to do any “ministry”… I was just going to focus on spending time with Jesus.
In February 2009, I was coming to the end of my six-month “ministry fast”. I felt pretty good. I met a girl, Tia, that I was falling in love with, and my work developing youth programs was flourishing. I felt expectancy for something new. So much that I would find myself having massive prayer sessions with Jesus to find out what it was! Toward the end of February, I got a call from Dave Powers out of the blue, and I had a feeling that something was up. We met at a Starbucks, and he began to share with me about how God had placed me on his heart during his yearly retreat. He didn't know exactly why, but he wanted me to know that if I needed anything - If I needed any encouragement or resources to move forward in the things God was calling me to, then he was available. I walked away encouraged but surprised. I had never had anyone make an offer like that to me. It was a little crazy and so I needed to pray through it. After about a month, God told me that I could trust Dave and Tara, and that I should work with Heaven Fest, so I decided to move forward! I joined the Executive Team of Heaven Fest. But also in the back of my head I was thinking..."God, last time I did something like this, it burned me out. I can't work full time and take on a massive music festival" One week later my hours were cut at work. They decreased me from 40 hours to 32 hours due to the economic downturn. At first I was stunned, but then my prayer ran through my head, and God said "Now you have time". I thought, “OK, thanks God but now I'm not getting paid to help with Heaven Fest”. Losing the money stirred me up a bit, but I didn't really need it. I was taken care of. God wanted me to be involved.
Then, two months later, I went on a silent retreat. I was seeking the Lord for next steps. What was it that God was calling me too? What was Dave talking about when He made that offer? So for a weekend I sought His face. I was silent, but not silent. God and I were in dialogue the whole time. He began to show me my journey from beginning to end; how He wired me, and what He's calling me too. He said "Patrick, I want you to tell My story. I want you to come along side developing leaders and ministries, and help push My Kingdom forward!" I thought, “This sounds great! I have peace with this. Where do we start?” God says, "Start with Worship and the Word Movement". I left that time glowing and refreshed with vision! Driving home from the retreat, I had the same thought again. How do I do this while I'm working? Then God said, "I want you to raise support". A week later I was laid off. Crazy! The process of getting laid off stung, but I knew it was the Lord.
October 2009, I officially went on staff as a missionary doing ministry development with Worship and the Word Movement (www.WorshipandtheWord.com). This is an exciting endeavor because God is about to release more through us! We are going to see communities of 24-7 prayer and worship rise up in greater measure. We are going to see Holy Spirit empowered works of justice. I believe that we are going to be a part of God’s solution, along with many other ministries, to seeing cities and nations turned over in revival. God has called WWM to be a catalyst for His Kingdom work. I get to be an integral player in this. I'm excited to see all the awesome leaders and Kingdom works that God is going to release through us. Already, we have a massive music festival, Heaven Fest, that is a movement that helps unify followers of Jesus, and is ushering in the Holy Spirit to heal and touch people. We have a movement, called SkateMinistry.org and a professional skateboard evangelist who is winning hundreds of our youth to Christ every year. We have a 24-7 Worship and Prayer Movement that is to be a catalyst for communities of 24-7 worship and prayer, to release the empowered presence of the Holy Spirit in fresh and new ways! New and up in coming is the Cardboard Campout: A Benefit to Help End Homelessness - A fundraiser we started at Heaven Fest that we are about to release as a separate movement to encourage an end to homelessness in Denver and cities across the nation! There is SO MUCH and it’s SO FUN! I'd love to meet with you and tell you more!
Currently, I have one hand on these “movements” and one hand on "team raising". God has shown me a lot and I've learned a lot about why He would ask me to do this. More than anything, I've learned that a missionary is called to raise up a team of people to walk together, because God wants a community of believers to advance His Kingdom together. The act of giving our time, resources, and finances connects us to each other and to God's heart! It's worship to Him! So here's the deal. I think the path God may have for me is a little more non-traditional. I don't think God wants just a few key people partnering with me in this movement. I think God wants me to invite as many people as I can to join with me in His mission!
I'm asking everyone I know to give at least $10 a month for 12 months, but some are giving $100 a month which is AMAZING! I think this is something everyone can come on board with. Ten dollars is the equivalent of two Starbucks coffee's or a meal. Would you sacrifice going out one meal a month for this mission? You might be compelled to give more and that is excellent too. I would sincerely be honored to have you on my team, and actually, how awesome to be connected to you in this way! At WWM we frequently talk about a girl in her early 20’s who donates $10 per month to Heaven Fest. That is so touching. It gets us all choked up! Her donation is one of the most meaningful to us because we see that she is worshiping Jesus through that gift.
Honestly, I would love to have you doing this with me as a part of my team. Please join with me in a God Story and in a movement that God is releasing in Denver Metro and the Nations!
:: CLICK HERE TO GIVE ::
THANK YOU!
Patrick,
