Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Day #7 Prayer Update


THE CALL OF GOD

"and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself" -Acts 2:39

I just got home from an incredible night of praying for our city. We gathered this evening at the Long Beach Community Worship Center with over 250 other people! There was a definite "rumbling" happening as we raised our voices in unison calling out to God for our city! We worshiped together as a large group and then broke into smaller groups to simultaneously call out to God for those in our city that are far from Him. Spirit, bring salvation to our city tonight! Our prayer was that God's people would make themselves available to be used by God in their bold witness and in their acts of love towards their neighbors.

I could have kept going all night long! Thanks to the LBCWC family for hosting night #7. Hope to see many of you out on Sunday evening as well!

Didn't get a chance to say "hi" to all of CSULB students but I saw you there in the back! Glad you could make it and were able to join in the chorus of intercession tonight! Hope to see you on Sunday again if not sooner!

The momentum towards Pentecost is building and there is an ever increasing sense of expectation for our time together on that day. The Church of the City gathered together as one. What a powerful and prophetic statement itself that would be. May the momentum only continue in the days ahead...

Asking for Godly Wisdom this morning

In our time of prayer this morning we centered on the theme of Godly Wisdom for a lot of our time. It was great to see us interweaving our time with Scripture recitation and prayer. Everyone had their Bibles open and on their laps.

Here is a small taste:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to Him."

Lord we are lacking! Teach us how to Love our city more!

"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

This is what we want! This is what we need! We prayed that God on high would grant us a single-minded focus and supernatural sensitivity to what he would have us be and do. We are trusting that the Lord will do great things around our city in the 90 period of blessing after Pentecost Sunday.

What an absolute joy it has been getting up bright and early to greet the Lord. Spending on of the 1st hours of our day in His presence together has been wonderful! Calling all early risers...we'd love to have you join us!

Day 6 Seeking God for the next Generation

Last night we met at Long Beach Christian Fellowship for and evening of seeking God on behalf of the coming generation. The Lord directed our prayers for new young leaders in the city, musicians, youth leaders in churches that have none and unity among the young leaders in the city now. For the Lord to raise up this next generation with the "fear of the Lord" in their hearts, integrity in their words and a holy disdain for the things of this world. Our prayers were for families to be reconciled back together, fathers to children and children to their parents.For the Schools, with teachers and Administrator to see their call to raise up the next generation of leaders. For the Lord to give this next generation courage to say yes to His ways, and here am I send me into the dark areas of our city. What an exciting night to be with believers who love to pray and cry out to our God on behalf of our city. Thank you Pastors Doug and Valerie Richardson and all of LBCF, for your friendship, support and years of intercession, may you always know His amazing presence.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

10-1-90 Day 5 Victory Outreach


Wow, what a time of worship and prayer that was hostd by Pastor Brian Apodoca, his wife Tilly and their church Victory Outreach last night. Around 60 people from around the city came to pray for the Peace of God to fall on our city; in homes, at schools, in neighborhoods, on the streets, from city hall to the nations capitol. We prayed for the drug dealers and the wounded of Long Beach to know and experience God's love and forgivness in their lives. Mothers cried out for wayward children and broken homes, little children thanked the Lord for getting their fathers off of drugs and fathers wept at God's kndness.




These nights of prayer have been encouraging at each site, if you have opportuniy come and join us tonight at Long Beach Christian Fellowship at 3210 Airport Waywith Pastor Doug Richardson, on Wendesday we will be at Long Beach Worship Center with Pastor Sheridan McDaniel
Hope to see you there

Monday, May 29, 2006

Day #4 Prayer Update

The night and day rhythm of prayer continues. We know that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective and we believe that much work is being accomplished in these days by the fervent prayers of God's people. It is tremendously encouraging to know that Christians all around this city are praying with a unified voice for similar things. For those of us that are able to gather together (for those of you that have come out, thank you so much for joining us!! you have been an extra encouragement in these days.) we have been buoyed knowing that prayer is going up all around our city.

REPENTANCE

That was the theme today. At both the am and pm gatherings we read from 2 Chronicles 7:14 where God says that if we "humble ourselves and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and will heal our land!" Hear our prayers of repentance Lord and be faithful to Your Word and heal our land! Do this in our city Lord, for Your name's sake!


A special thanks goes out to the Light & Life Christian (North) family for hosting this gathering last night. Speaking on behalf of the rest of the group that represented other parts of the region, it was great to be joining hearts with you in prayer for the city that we all love! They ended their regular Sunday service early and transitioned into a focused time of prayer. Thanks to Devin and the band for beginning and ending our prayer time with praise and worship.

It has been great to see more and more representation of the Body of Christ from around the city. What fun it will be on Pentecost Sunday when a broad representation of the Church of the city gathers to pray! If you are able, consider joining us one of these evening or morning prayer times before Sunday.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Day #3 Prayer Update


THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

"in the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all people..." - Acts 2:17

Tonight at the Parkcrest Campus we prayed that God would pour out His Spirit upon all people. Parkcrest will also be hosting our Pentecost gathering at their other campus and it was great to have Pastor Roger join us tonight.

We are beginning to ask the Lord in our times of prayer how we are to continue lifting up our city in prayer in the days ahead. Should there be more gatherings? How might the various prayer networks around the city share insights and requests? What role does the local Church leadership play in serving this city-wide prayer covering? How do we connect this prayer covering with the other Kingdom activities that occur (or soon will be!) around the city? We are asking the Lord for direction on this in the days ahead. If you are praying on your own and are getting a similar sense that this needs to happen and/or have been given a thought please let us know!

Friday, May 26, 2006

All hands on deck!!


I brought my two daughters out to pray last night. As one of my good friends always says... "When kids decide to follow Christ they don't simply get a junior Holy Spirit and a Jesus action figure" (hat tip: Neil Cole). They are full fledged followers. All hands on deck when it comes to praying for our city! My daughters pray for the city often and I am excited to have them be a part of the 10:1:90. They were encouraged to see that others pray for the city too, some of them "louder than others" :) Younger followers of Jesus are welcome to join us in any of our prayer times. We had a good contingent of the young ones present last night!

Day #2 of Prayer

"these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer..." (Acts 1:14)

UNITED PRAYER

Today we prayed for every local church in the city BY NAME. Kingdom causes is working to have an updated list of local church bodies and we printed out that list and passed it around to the handfuls of people that came. What an incredible time of prayer it was.

We prayed for the local church leadership, the spiritual family that gathers there, the various generations of people the together there and their combined efforts in loving the city with the Love of Christ. We prayed that the Spirit would stir their hearts individually and collectively and make them people of prayer!

Quick shout out to the Long Beach Christian Fellowship Prayer team that joined us. They gather regularly on Friday mornings to pray. They left at 7:00 and headed out to pray for another hour. You go ladies!!

We are sensing already that one of the outcomes of this 10:1:90 effort is to identify the places around the city that Christians are gathering regularly for prayer. We'll see how the Lord leads here in the days ahead. Any others know of some!?

Two more local community organizations are on board for Pentecost Sunday

Today we heard from both Christian Outreach in Action and the Womens Shelter of Long Beach (Shelter and outreach program for victims of domestic violence and their children) about wanting to be there next Sunday. Stop by their tables to learn more about what they do and how you might get involved!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Day #1 of Prayer





"THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST"

The prayer has begun. 4 of us from different local churches gathered this morning from 6-7 am to seek the Kingdom on behalf of our city. For one solid hour we worshiped and prayed. Great time with the Lord! Much was accomplished in our time together! We rejoice knowing that we are part of an expanding and increasing effort in seeking the welfare of our city...by intently praying for it! We are hoping to establish a rhythm of prayer over the next 10 days leading up to Pentecost Sunday. It has begun...

In the evening Hilltop Park gave us an incredible view of a large section of our city! We worshiped, we prayed, we danced and we proclaimed publically that Jesus Christ is worthy of our praise! Following the designated prayer points for the day we prayed that hearts would blaze with love and loyalty to Christ the King and Lord of all. We also prayed for breakthrough of hope and blessing in the parts of our city that needed it. Lord bring lasting transformation throughout this entire community!!

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Prayer Sites for 10 days of focused prayer

10 Days of Prayer (May 25th – June 3rd)

Download Daily Prayer points: visit www.kingdomcauses.org

Morning gatherings: daily from 6:00 am – 7:00 am

Kingdom Causes’ Office
1965 E. 21st Street, Signal Hill, CA 90755
(grey building on the NW corner of 21st Street/Cherry)

Evening gatherings: daily from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Thursday (25th): Hilltop Park (2351 Dawson, Signal Hill, CA 90755)

Friday (26th): Hilltop Park (2351 Dawson, Signal Hill, CA 90755)

Saturday (27th): Parkcrest Christian Church
(3936 Woodruff Ave, Long Beach, CA 90808)

Sunday (28th): Light & Life Christian Fellowship (North)
(5951 Downey Ave, Long Beach, CA 90805)

Monday (29th): Victory Outreach (11 W. Plymouth, Long Beach, CA 90805)

Tuesday (30th): Long Beach Christian Fellowship
(3210 Airport Way, Long Beach, CA 90806)

Wednesday (31st): Long Beach Community Worship Center
(1309 E 3rd Street, Long Beach, CA 90802)

Thursday (1st): Glad Tidings Tabernacle
(1900 E. South Street, Long Beach, CA 90805)

Friday (2nd): Covenant Presbyterian Church
(607 E. Third St, Long Beach, CA 90802)

Saturday (3rd): All Saints’ Anglican Church
(346 Termino Ave, Long Beach, CA 90814)

Friday, May 19, 2006

Did you know?

When you compare Long Beach to the 70 largest cities in the United States Long Beach is...

6th nationally in overall poverty (26.4% of all residents)
6th in households paying 30% or more of income on rent and utilities
3rd in children under 18 living in poverty (45.2%)
2nd in persons living in overcrowded or severely-overcrowded conditions (15.1%)

Lord, have mercy! Church, should this be?

*(source: recently released by the American Community Survey (ACS))

Monday, May 15, 2006

Grass Roots Mobilizing for 10:1:90

We are sending out the following email this morning to help spread the word. If you read this would you consider passing along the information!?

Momentum is building! The word is getting around! People are responding! Together we will “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city…praying to the Lord for it…” (Jeremiah 29:7).

Prayerfully consider being a part of this 10:1:90 effort! Think of 3-4 (or more!) other people that you know should pray/serve along side of you! Help us get the word out in the next few days about this grass-roots mobilizing effort for prayer/service!

10 Days of Prayer (May 25th – June 3rd)
The daily prayer guides are available for download at our website! We have also almost identified all of our nightly prayer gathering opportunities. Parkcrest Church, Light & Life Christian Fellowship (North), Victory Outreach, Long Beach Christian Fellowship, Long Beach Community Worship Center, Covenant Presbyterian, and All Saints’ Anglican have all caught the vision for city-wide prayer/service and are on board. Two more local church sites yet to go and we will be all set!

1 Day of Gathering for Prayer on Pentecost Sunday (June 4th)
This gathering will be the culmination of 10 days of focused prayer for our cities and we are believing that God has something special in store for us as we come before Him together asking for “His Kingdom to Come and His will to be done” in our lives, our families, the Church and in our cities! We will be gathering at Parkcrest’s Lakewood Campus on that Sunday from 6:15 – 7:45 pm.

90 Days of Serving our City (June 5th – Sept 2nd)
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you!” – Jesus (John 20:21) A call has been extended by none other than the Lord himself for us to go! It is for the sake of this call that we are seeking to unleash the Church upon our city this summer in the 10:1:90 effort. Over these 90 days of service may we be known in our city as having the Lord’s same passion, love and commitment to our neighbors that He does! We want to encourage you, your family, your small group or your church family to go!
All of the specific details are in the following attachments. Feel free to tailor the information as needed for your context. If you know anyone who might be interested in being a part of this pass on the information or have them get in contact with us!

Visit our web site at www.kingdomcauses.org for more information

Pressing On~

Brad Fieldhouse
brad@kingdomcauses.org
562-208-0500

Jim Schorr
jims@kindomcauses.org
562-256-6870

Friday, May 05, 2006

National Day of Prayer

It is great to be apart of a community of believers who want to make Jesus famous in our city. At 12 pm on May 4th (the national day of prayer) over 120 people gathered at city hall to pray for our nation, state and city. There were 11 leaders from different ministries in the city, that took a leadership role in

1:Praising God for who he is and thanking Him for His abundant blessing on us everyday, ---- Pastor Keith Wells – Bethany Church, Pastor Tony Perez – Worship Center in Long Beach, and Pastor Brandon Piliavar – Calvary Chapel North L.B.

2: Asking for forgiveness and mercy on behalf of the church and the nation, where we have violated Gods laws by our actions, thought and words – led by Pastor Tom Fenholt -- Calvary Chapel The Shore and Pastor Tom McNaughton – Signal Hill Christian Center

3: Praying for our national needs; leadership, wisdom, President Bush, Senate and House, Justice Department and for our service men and women around the world that are in harms way for protection and safe return home led by Pastor Randy Carter – Friends House at Drake Park, Pastor Jerry Reub -- Cornerstone Church, and Pastor Gregory Johnson – Westside Baptist Church.

4: Praying for the City of Long Beach the election, Mayor, City Council, Police, Firefighters, Teachers, Businesses, Poor and Homeless, Students and God visitation once again to the churches led by Pastor Bob Mabry – Hope Community Church and Pastor Greg Rhodes – Bethany Church.

My sincere thanks to all the pastors who came our to pray and to Jana Shields who got the whole thing together. It is my privilege to serve in this city with such a group of believers.