Connecting With Pastor Wood in North LB

I had an unplanned meeting today with Pastor Wood in North Long Beach. I've been working together with him to have the Intervarsity Interns who are coming this Summer to serve at several churches in that area. As we talked, he began to talk about how North Long Beach could have a multi-church picnic to bless the residents in the neighborhoods. The more he talked about it, I began to perk up remembering what the Lord had shown me several weeks prior after the pastors prayer gathering at his church (the part about people from multiple churches blessing North Long Beach and having a Barbeque and people serving the community). I also remembered the City Watch meeting where the intercessors there had said the same thing. So I told Pastor Wood about both instances of the intercessors seeing similar things and so after hearing Pastor Wood talking about a multi-church picnic seemed to align with it all. That was kinda kewl. We're going to progress forward with it.

Pastor Wood was also expressing how blessed he's been by Parkcrest Christian Fellowship. They sent volunteers to Pastor Wood's church to do some work in their back patio. I saw the work they did - it all looked great! Pastor Wood was extremely appreciative of them.

Rebuilding Web Site

Well, over the past four days, I've been investing tons of time rebuilding our Web site. It's been needed for sure. We wanted to make it more easy to navigate. I've been working on it all of last week during normal work hours, but then on Friday I spent 9 hours on it, Saturday 14 hours, Sunday 17 hours, then today about 2-3 hours before the BBQ at Ryan & Rachel's house. The KC Catalysts and wives got together to hang out. After the BBQ i was planning on working through the night but i was way tired. Whew! Almost done. Will work more on it tomorrow....

City Watch Prayer Meeting

This morning I prayed with the intercessors of City Watch here in Long Beach. They are a special group of dedicated prayer intercessors - many of whom i consider my spiritual mothers. They have been praying for Long Beach and the pastors here for about four years now. They are so awesome! Truly, these are some of the spiritual mothers of Long Beach - women who have lived here in Long Beach for decades and have watched the seasons change. Their hearts cry out for the Lord to touch this city.

Something significant that Louise shared was that intercessors are wanting to go to church for orders and replenshing - their assignment. I understand what she means. It takes a certain kind of energy to be a committed prayer intercessor. Believing in the power of prayer, intercessors need to know the needs so that they can pray specifically. Louise says that churches and intercessors need to be notified so that the Body can mobilize. I agree. Let's see what we can do to improve communication within the Church in Long Beach. I wonder how we can have the seasoned intercessors of the city train up the younger intercessors. In fact, I wonder what it would look like for seasoned pastors of the city to train up younger church planters or pastors to prepare for that generational transition in this city.

While in prayer, the Lord spoke to my heart about me connecting with prayer ministries from churches throughout Long Beach. I sensed the Lord calling on His people to come out of the prayer closets and to go into the city. Also in prayer, many of the ladies were really lifting up North Long Beach. There is such a need in North Long Beach for the Church to respond. Several intercessors affirmed the need for a gathering of the Church in North Long Beach to help bring life. As they began to talk about it more, I thought it was interesting because it was similar to what the Lord had showed me after the pastors prayer gathering at Pastor Wood's church. It seemed confirming so I shared with them what I had seen about the several churches coming together to support the Church up in North LB. We'll see what the Lord does.

Connecting with Doug

I got to have breakfast this morning with Doug. He's a friend and intercessor committed to the Lord. He also has an awesome heart for Long Beach. The Lord has been stirring his heart about Long Beach and some of the roots that are here. He thinks there's something significant about the "prior church" that was here in Long Beach. He's interested in doing soil analysis for the city - historical, spiritual, etc... We're going to work together to see how we can compile the information and to make it presentable to the Church in Long Beach to be useful.

May Strategic Intercessors Meeting

We had our strategic intercessors meeting this morning. It was an awesome time to connect with intercessors from numerous contexts. I created a single and simple Web page that summarizes key points (the web page also has a PDF version link if you'd like to print it out).

You can view the page at:http://www.kingdomcauses.org/intercessors/

I'm still working on plans for an on-site prayer vanguard at the Port of Long Beach. Please keep it in prayer. In the mean time, consider setting aside Saturday, June 18th from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for the next Strategic Intercessors meeting. It will be here in Signal Hill (same location as the last one) at 1965 E. 21st Street, Signal Hill, CA 90755. This time we will spend much time worshipping, interceding, and seeking the Lord together. We will also dialogue about strategic mobilization for Long Beach as well.

Let us covenant together to raise the level of intercession and worship in the city of Long Beach - a broken community being healed!

Global Day of Prayer

I pray that you are all doing well and persevering with the Lord.

Global Day of Prayer:

I hope that you all had a wonderful time of prayer and blessing this past Pentecost Sunday for the Global Day of Prayer. I had an opportunity to check out three gatherings in our region - all of which were committed to praying for the nations. The Last Call Christian Outpost in Long Beach had an awesome time of worship and prayer for the city and the world. Intercessors also gathered at the former Hollywood Tropicana Strip Club in LA to pray over a ten day period for the nations. Also the Church in Orange County gathered together (with over 20 churches participating) to pray for their area, our nation, and the nations of the world.

Strategic Intercessors Meeting & Long Beach Gay Pride Festival/Parade:

We'll be having a strategic intercessors meeting this coming Saturday, May 21st from 9:00 -- 10:30am at 1965 E. 21st Street, Signal Hill, CA 90755 (in the center of Long Beach) for the purpose of discussing how we can mobilize together for more effective and unified strategic intercession. This weekend is significant for our region because the annual Long Beach (Gay) Pride Celebration (Festival and Parade) will be held in downtown Long Beach May 21-22. As there will undoubtedly be a nexus of spiritual activity this weekend, I encourage you to be a part of our dialogue on Saturday.

When we meet on Saturday, plan on identifying a specific aspect of the city that the Lord is giving you a heart for (ie. youth, gangs, substance abuse, universities, sexual brokenness, etc.). You can plan to connect with intercessors who have that same prompting and then you can plan on dialoguing about how you can work together to "fortify that position on the wall". Our conversations will be proactive so that we can all develop a tangible strategy. It will be exciting!

Long Beach literally surrounds Signal Hill. Our meeting will be in Signal Hill. Natives used to use the high place as a location for smoke signals. In a similar way, we will begin to covenant with intercessors of neighboring cities and, when necessary, send word for them to join us in intercession. We will also do the same for them.

These are significant times and this is a significant area. Let's mobilize together for His purposes so that we can be an active component of witnessing the Lord's work here! This will be an informal meeting and anyone is welcome.

Connecting with William

I got to have dinner with William today. He's a Longshoreman at the Long Beach Port. He has such a sense of joy it's amazing. It was refreshing just to be with him. He shared with me about the Longshoremen and some of the things that the Lord is doing there. They have Bible studies at the Memorial Hall - that's the place where all the Longshoremen meet every day for work. It'll be great to have a prayer vanguard here. I also got to share with him more about what we're doing in the city through Kingdom Causes. He's going to inquire about having intercessors go to the Memorial Hall to pray over the place and also some of the Longshoremen who are believers.

After meeting with him, I spoke to Chim on the phone. He's a chaplain for the International Seafarers Association. He and his wife do awesome ministry at the Port. They minister to people on the ships while they are docked at the Port. They also lead Bible studies and give tours to visiting people. Really awesome work. When the Lord opens the door for us to be able to have an on-site prayer vanguard there at the Port, I'd like to have Chim and his wife there along with the Longshoremen so that the intercessors can bless their ministry.

Intervarsity Interns and National Day of Prayer

I spent the early part of this morning with Kevin B. from Intervarsity. 15 interns from USC will be coming to Long Beach in July for an urban summer project for six weeks. Kingdom Causes is helping to coordinate work sites for the interns. Kevin and I first met with Pastor Rob Langworthy and his wife Adele from Covenant Presbyterian Church. They are an incredible couple and ministry team. They have such hearts for these inner city youth. The time and energy required to regularly reach out to these kids is enormous! We're going to have the interns help out with their Vacation Bible School and Afterschool programs. Afterwards, Kevin and I met with Pastor Leon Wood from North Long Beach Community Prayer Center. There's definitely a need for help and support in North Long Beach. Another team of interns will help out with their VBS also along with some work days around the church. I'll continue working with Kevin and other churches to have the interns from USC be a blessing to the communities but also be blessed by what they experience here in Long Beach.

I went to City Hall to pray with other intercessors for the National Day of Prayer. Jana coordinated the event. The weather was a bit wet but overall it was a good time to pray for the nation and for Long Beach. I saw many of the City Watch intercessors there too.

Pastors Prayer Gathering at NLBCPC

This morning, pastors from around Long Beach gathered together for worship, support, and prayer for the North Long Beach Community Prayer Center. We heard from Pastor Leon Wood's heart regarding what's been going on. He expressed how blessed he felt to have so many of the pastors of Long Beach come to wish him and their church well.

Here is a list of prayer concerns that Pastor Wood expressed:

There have been numerous killings and stabbings in North Long Beach.
Many of the senior citizens are afraid to walk outside at night.
There is a high rate of "Meth" drug use in North Long Beach.
Children in North Long Beach are performing poorly compared to children in other parts of LB.
There is a very high rate of suicide in North Long Beach. There is alot of depression in the area.
There is a lack of vibrant life in North Long Beach.

North Long Beach is a mission field. Pastor Wood referred to it as the new Angola or the new Afghanistan. We need missionaries to come here. Here is a call to the Church in Long Beach for support! Please pray about how we can bring life into North Long Beach!

After leaving the church, I sensed the Lord prompting me to turn around. I had already driven away from North Long Beach and I was close to the office. As I drove back, I just began to pray for the city - especially North Long Beach. I sensed the lack of vibrant life that Pastor Wood was talking about. I began driving up and down Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach for about half an hour. As I prayed, I began to see people along the streets painting the curbs and planting greenery. I saw people from multiple churches there in North Long Beach renovating the street. I also saw people walking up and down the streets praying for the businesses. There were people extending blessings to the neighbors as well. People were all working together to bless North Long Beach and the residents ate at a Barbeque. I know, it sounds weird, but I felt prompted to write notes as I was driving up and down the street. I sure hope the Lord calls His Church to do what we can over there.