January - February 2009 Update

The Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace

It's been almost two months since the official launch of The Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace and the Lord has been doing so much that it's almost hard to believe! We are currently running 12 hours a day 5 days a week, Monday through Friday from 8am-8pm and we look forward to the day when 24/7 prayer and worship will be established in Fredericksburg. We have intercession sets twice a day, mid-day from 11am-1pm and evening from 6pm-8pm. The rest of the hours are filled in with devotional, worship with the word and prophetic singing sets. All are open to the community. Every Friday night we have the Burn service that goes from 7pm until around 10 or 11pm, depending how the Lord is moving! I am the Director of the Prayer Room which involves the administration, facilitation, and training of leaders for the central focus of this ministry which is the prayer room itself. 

On January 9th we launched The Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace (FPF) with our first Burn service where over 225 people from the community and the surrounding area came out to support us and be a part of this great move of God.We have a steady and growing crowd at the weekly Burn service, some traveling an hour just to be with us. We have different people from all ages and backgrounds joining us daily as we raise up insence before the Lord. About a month ago we held a pastor's luncheon at FPF and around 30 pastors from the area came to represent their church and to learn how they could partner with us together in unity. 

We've also had an outpouring of young people joining our community from various different walks of life. In Fredericksburg Jesus has broken into the "hardcore scene" and is healing, saving and delivering young people. (For those of you who don't know the "hardcore scene" is a sub-culture of people that, generally speaking, have tattoos and piercings and listen to music where there's a lot screaming. But more than that the guys and girls from this scene have defined themselves by anger, lonliness and hurt through abandonment and broken relationships; and the music is an outlet to difuse their pain and frustrations.) There are young people, who are in prominent bands in the local area and who have a lot of power in their sphere of influence, that are coming into the FPF and God is setting them free! Hallelujah!

Here are a few stories of what has been happening here:

•    Some of the staff and interns attended a Hope at Hand show (the hardcore band I am in) in a bar.  During the evening, some of our staff began to pray for the sick.  One man who was in another band (which was totally secular) was completely healed of his leg injury which has left him on crutches and proceeded to take off his cast and share with the entire bar that Jesus had healed him.  So, more people asked for prayer and one man ended up on the floor of the club.  Everyone left and said that it was because of the time spent in the presence of God in prayer that they found such boldness and that the breakthrough came so easily.  Since then, the healed band members have asked about houses of prayer in their area!

•    A couple of young high school students from Culpeper started coming to the Prayer Furnace weekly.  They were so deeply touched by the Holy Spirit that they chose to start a prayer meeting in their public high school.  Since then, they have seen an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their school with fellow students coming to Christ and being dramatically filled with the Holy Spirit.  This prayer meeting is rapidly growing.

•    The other night a number of new believers/non-believers came to visit the prayer room.  On a Monday night one of them came up to the front when we asked if anyone wanted prayer.  He told God to “prove” to him that all this was real.  Someone walked up to him with a word of knowledge that he had just told God to “prove” it to him.  He broke before God, gave the Lord his heart, was filled with Spirit, and spoke in tongues along with all of his friends.  They wept for hours and came back the last night with more friends who got similarly touched by God and told us they are bringing as many people as possible to the prayer room.

•    The Lord has begun healing people almost daily.  A lady was healed of a pulled hamstring instantly the other night when we prayed for this sick in the prayer room.  Another lady had severe arthritis and all the pain left her hands. Another woman came to a prayer meeting who was almost completely deaf with hearing aids in both of her ears, we prayed for her and by the end of the night we were whispering into her ears without her hearing aids and she could hear us perfectly. 

•    Some of our interns went to the hospital to find some sick to pray for.  There was a lady there with a severe injury to the leg.  They prayed for her and she was healed.  A few days later Teri Buck coincidently ran into this woman in the hospital.  Teri explained that she was with the prayer furnace and the lady proceeded to say how the Lord had touched her and healed when “a couple of young men prayed for her” and she felt “electricity” going through her body.

•    One of the most exciting things has been watching hearts come alive with love for Christ.   Since we launched the prayer room young people have been praying for extended periods every day, joining us in the prayer room, and is finding prayer joyful for the first time in their life.  They are experiencing intimacy with Jesus.

•    A local church told us that they have experienced tremendous growth and breakthrough since we started praying for hours every week for them.

•    One man told me the other day that before the prayer furnace launched he was not walking with Jesus and had turned his back on the Lord.  He came to the launch as a favor to a friend.  When he arrived, he wept as he met Jesus.  Since then he told us his life has been revolutionized and he cannot stop praying and reading the Bible.  He is now helping us with the prayer room and has experienced a complete transformation of his heart.

•    The poor are being fed across the city every week!

The Burn Internship

As you may remember we had a pilot run of the Burn Internship last year that I was the Director of. This year I'm no longer the Director but I do have the great privledge of teaching several classes, helping them develop their practical and spiritual skills as they seek to become messengers of the gospel in their generation and partering with them as we reach out to the local community. Last year there were 9 interns, this year there are 18; and just as the numbered have doubled so has what Jesus is doing in and through this internship.

Every single guy and girl in this program is absolutely incredible. It's so encouraging and inspiring to see how far the Lord has taken them in just 3 short months. They are not only getting head knowledge but, due to the set up of the program, they are able to immediately directly apply what they've learned in their lives. 

Awaken the Dawn

As most of you know we have hosted a conference for the past 4 years called Awaken the Dawn (ATD). ATD has a become somewhat of a regional conference to blow the trumpet for the urgency of the hour, the beauty of Jesus, and has been a catalyst for outbreakings of revival in churches, youth groups, college campuses and houses of prayer all over the east coast. It has always previously been held at Grace Church of Fredericksburg, however this year the Lord had different plans for us. Several years ago David Bradshaw, who's the Director of the event, had a dream that ATD would be in a tent. He kind of brushed it aside until one day his dad got a call from a stranger by the name of Neil Blake. Neil Blake had never met Scott Bradshaw and had never heard of ATD but he he called him and said "The Lord told me to call you. The Lord told me to offer you my tent, free of charge, for an event you might have. 

This tent has been to Israel and signs and wonders have broken out in it". Needless to say we have a lot of expectation for this year's ATD. 

We're praying that ATD wouldn't be just a 4 day conference but it would be a defining moment of encounter for all that come; calling them into a radical lifestyle of prayer, fasting, giving, and laying down their lives for the gospel in the schools, workplaces and the nations.

For more information please visit: www.awakenthedawn.net

Personal Update

Kaitlin and I have been married now for a little over a month and we have sensed a new grace on our lives to love the Lord with all of our hearts as we love each other. As most of you know we encountered a few bumps while honeymooning in Costa Rica.  Our last day there we went into the capital city, San Jose, to meet up with some friends.  We locked and parked our rental car on a main street and ran into a nearby food court to eat and catch up.  After only being gone for only about 40 minutes we returned to find that our car had been broken into and all of our stuff had been stolen including our cell phones, computer, clothes, camera, iPods and, worst of all!, our passports.  Thankfully we were able to change our flight and stay with friends while obtaining our emergency passports.  The Lord gave us a supernatural amount of comfort, grace and peace during the entire situation.  We returned home safely and since then God has been blessing us, providing for us our every need.  His provision is enough! Thank you all so much for encouraging us during that challenging time , we greatly appreciate your prayers and support.

Now we're back in the grind of things, daily working together to further His kingdom. We have been so blessed by all of your love and support for us as we begin this new journey together in marriage and in ministry. We look forward to seeing you all face to face soon. 

We are raising support as missionaries to be obedient the Lord and His calling on our life. We need your prayers and support!

These are the ways you can partner with us:

Stand with us in the place of prayer.

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Thank you for all your prayers and support.

In His Love,

Randy and Kaitlin