Come Up Here: The Call of the I AM Summit

We may gather in different places on Sundays, but we belong to the same Kingdom, serve the same Lord, and are filled by the same Spirit.

A summit speaks of going up

It requires intention. It requires hunger. It requires leaving the familiar and being willing to climb.

That is the heart of the I AM Summit.

We are coming up the mountain together—not to promote personalities, build platforms, or make anyone known, but to seek the One who already declared His name:

I AM WHO I AM. (Exodus 3:14, NIV)

The I AM Summit is about the Almighty I AM—El Shaddai, Adonai, the Lord God Almighty.

He is the focus.He is the source.He is the reason we gather.

And the Holy Spirit must have the freedom to interrupt our plans, redirect our schedules, speak, teach, convict, heal, restore, and do whatever He desires among us.

We do not want another gathering where we learn how to become better at doing ministry while remaining shallow in our knowledge of God. We want to learn how to wait in His presence, linger before Him, listen for His voice, search His Word, obey His leading, and cultivate a life that continually pursues Him.

This is where the extra oil becomes important

Jesus spoke of wise virgins who did not only carry lamps—they carried oil in reserve. Their preparation happened before the midnight cry. They possessed something that could sustain the flame during the long wait.

That is what we are after.

Not hype.Not a momentary emotional experience.Not enough oil to make it through one service.

We want to become people who know how to keep the fire burning.

The extra oil speaks of a life intentionally cultivated in God—a life of prayer, worship, the Word, obedience, consecration, intimacy with the Holy Spirit, and readiness for the Bridegroom.

The mountain is where we learn to live in His presence when we come back down

We are not gathering merely to experience another mountaintop moment and then return to spiritual normalcy.

Moses went up the mountain to meet with God, but he came down carrying what he had received from God. Jesus withdrew repeatedly to pray and commune with the Father, and then returned to minister from that place of communion.

That is the pattern we want to learn.

Presence before performance.Intimacy before ministry.The oil before the assignment.Knowing Him before doing something for Him.

Because Jesus made it very clear:

Apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5, NIV)

Whatever God accomplishes through us does not originate in us. The wisdom is His. The strength is His. The anointing is His. The gifts are His. The power is His. The glory belongs to Him alone.

It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. (Zechariah 4:6, NLT)

An invitation to practice what must become a way of life

• Pursuing God continually.
• Seeking Him when there is a gathering and when there is not.
• Waiting when He speaks quickly and when He does not.
• Worshiping when we feel His presence and when faith requires us to remain.
• Digging deeper rather than settling for shallow Christianity.
• Taking every opportunity we are given to know Him more, experience Him more deeply, surrender more completely, and become more useful in His hands.

We do not pursue God merely because we need a miracle. We pursue God because He is God.

• Before the miracle, we want the Miracle Worker.
• Before the provision, we want the Provider.
• Before the healing, we want the Healer.
• Before the assignment, we want the One who called us.
• Before the ministry, we want the I AM.

And even after He answers, provides, heals, sends, and uses us, we still want Him.