Sunday, March 2, 2008

Winter Update '07-'08

Beloved,

"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering..." ( 2 Tim 4:6)

This has been an exciting season of the Lord opening doors for the gospel!


The Burn Internship

The first year of the Burn Internship is coming to a close and I am so excited about what the Lord has done in my life and the lives of the interns. I am so proud to release the minsters of the gospel into the mission field, marketplace, universities, and into houses of prayer. The interns graduate on March 30th and will restart with a fresh batch of interns on September 1st. To find out more about the program and what we have been doing you can check out some of my earlier blogs or check out the burn internship. I have posted our promotional video on my blog under Burn Internship Promo. Check it out!



Bosnia and Israel


We took the interns oversees at the beginning of December to minister in the Eastern European nation of Bosnia and in Israel and the West Bank. This was an opportunity for the interns to be further trained in ministering the gospel in Muslim and Jewish nations.

There are only about 1,000 believers estimated to live in the entire nation of Bosnia. This infant church was established in the late 90's after war and genocide tore through the land. We had the privilege of ministering to the church in the capital city of Sarajevo. The team spent our days in "soaking prayer" (prophecy, healing and deliverance) over as many people as we could fit into the schedule. We had pastors driving van loads of their leaders over four hours to have our team to pray over them. In the evenings we had the opportunity to teach and preach as the churches from around the nation gathered together to hear. It was an honor to be able impart to this young church, by the Spirit, what the Lord has given us in the realm of worship, intercession, intimacy, and supernatural ministry. After every teaching session we ran an corporate intercession set, training the pastors and leaders of the nation on how to run corporate worship and intercession with their congregations. On the last night many of the main pastors and leaders brought their congregations and gathered together in the spirit of Joel 2:12-17 to cry out for their nation and for the Lord to pour out His Spirit. As we joined with the apostolic leaders of the nation of Bosnia, high praise and intercession began to fill the heavens over Sarajevo and a cloud of smoke (glory) began to fill the building where we were gathered. I believe that this was a significant and historic gathering for the church in Bosnia. Little did we know that a few months later that the nation would be caught up in the tensions of ethnic division once again.

After Bosnia we flew to Israel. We wanted the interns to not only experience the sights of Israel but encounter the heart of the man who sits at the right hand of the Father of glory who is "exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion" (Zech 1:14) We spent the first half of our trip in the north of Israel - Galilee region. We stood at the Lebanonese-Israeli border and prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and the middle east. The interns had the opportunity to spend a few days on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus spent most of His life and ministry. Then we traveled up to Jerusalem for the last week of our trip. The team had the privilege of serving Rick and Patti Ridings by running prayer sets at Succat Hallel a 24-7 house of prayer right outside the Old City Jerusalem. These watchmen have been faithfully standing on the wall of Jerusalem day and night literally fulfilling Isaiah 62:6. We also worked with Jaffa Gate Ministries, a outreach to the homeless and poor on the streets of Jerusalem. The Lord divinely connected us with a young couple in Bethlehem who are starting and Iris Ministry base therein the West Bank. The have been going into the refugee camps and building relationships with the Hammas leaders by and the Palestinians by radical acts of love and mercy; healing the blind, lame, sick and taking care of the widow and the orphan. Their vision is to buy an old hospital property to convert into an orphanage for Palestinians! The interns were profoundly effected by the their time in Israel and have been wounded with Jesus' heart for His people and for the situation there in the middle east.
The Prayer Furnace

The prayer furnace is running nightly intercession sets five days a week and is open for devo throughout the day. We are pressing on towards the goal of day and night worship and intercession here in Fredericksburg for the glory of Jesus and the transformation of the D.C. region.



Awaken the Dawn

We just finished our annual regional conference called Awaken the Dawn. This conference focuses on the "Four Wells" of Worship/Intimacy, Intercession, Prophetic/Supernatural, and Compassion/Justice. We are not at a shortage for conferences and events in America. Our aim was not to put on another "youth conference" but to gather together in the spirit of Joel 2 to fast and pray and cry out to the Lord for mercy on this nation. There have been over 53 million abortions in the United States since 1973, a a billion dollar pornography industry coming out of L.A. polluting the earth (which makes more annually than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined), and our universities over-run with every lofty thought and philosophy that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God. We believe we are in an hour of crisis in the western world; impending judgement and consequently military crisis and our only hope is to heed the call of the prophet Joel to gather together in fasting, weeping and repentance crying out for mercy. We need a wake-up call to the hour we live in and Awaken The Dawn serves as a trumpet to this reality. About a thousand people gathered together in this "solemn assembly" to seek His face, hear the word of the Lord, and encounter Jesus as we rend our hearts. I encourage you to study Joel 2:12-17 and the Lord's response in 2:28-29. We believe that this is the call of the Lord for this hour. For more info click here.

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