Susana to the rescue!

One of the local causes KCLB is involved with is Emergency Preparedness.  There are four different levels of involvement.  Well one of the levels is to be CERT certified.  What is CERT you may ask?  It is Community Emergency Response Team.  The Long Beach Fire Department trains regular citizens how to react in the case of an emergency.  We are trained to help and not become part of the problem during a disaster.  So some of the KCLB staff decided to take the class together. We are learning how to organize ourselves into different roles, disaster psychology, fire suppression, search and rescue, triage, and more.  But the greatest thing about CERT is the fashionable gear you receive when you graduate the program.  Wouldn't you feel safe when you see a whole crowd of people wearing these?

Visiting local congregations

It's been a goal of mine to visit local congregations in the city and also prayer meetings. This week I was able to do one of each. The Lighthouse church on Studebaker has a prayer meeting on Thursday eve at 7:00 pm. I was welcomed into their circle. Pastor Theimens is heading up the WOW jam endeavor again this year and while we did pray over that, their heart was very much for other congregations and City concerns. He reports that more and more pastors are rallying around this very worthwile effort. Last year over 1014 filled out cards for being brand new believers. They couldn't count the rest because they ran out of cards!! The spirit in that prayer meeting was one of worship, humiity and faith to believe our Good God. They prayed for personal needs as well and want to be part of our 1000 intercessors praying in unity over our City.

This morning I had heard stories of healing coming out of The Light that meets at Alvarado School just across the street from our offices. David Hino is the pastor and the Lord is leading him to explore and minister in the area of healing prayer both for physical healing, but also emotional and generational healing. I had heard a report of two people being set free from their addictions after receiving prayer and I have a friend that is in a lot of pain so I took her. As they prayed they felt like they would like to pray again, so they're making an appointment to pray sometime this week for her - a congregation that cares and is willing to extend themselves to a stranger. After the service they were going to go into the park and minister to the people there. The Lord has been impressing me with the scripture about "open wide your mouth and I will fill it" and it seems this congregation of wonderful people is doing just that. I believe God will increase them and fill their mouths with faith.
It's exciting to visit new places in the City and see the different expressions of His love.

Second Saturday Prayer

Five of us gathered in the dark to pray - one a local pastor and one a local intercessor and we prayed. The intercessor wept, the worshipper led us in sweet, sweet worship and we prayed. We prayed over the pastor and his local congregation and his heart for the gang members in his area, and we prayed over him as stand-in for all the pastors in Long Beach. We declared Shalom over the City, and a spirit of reconciliation and unity....we prayed over two local congregations who have had sudden deaths recently and the grief and confusion that comes with that. We thanked our Lord for inviting us into His throne-room and the wonder of that. Praying from our vantage point overlooking the City really gives us a unique view of the city we're praying over. Kingdom Causes is having a "City Pulse 2008" meeting Tuesday to tell people what the possibilities are for local service, to connect with other Kingdom minded believers and to hear what we believe is God's heart for our City. We prayed over that.
These times of prayer are refreshing, faith-building and filling.
Try it - you'll come away refreshed!

Unite to Ignite

I want to make you aware of an event happening this Saturday, February 9th at 1pm. It's a gathering of different denominations, cultures and ages to seek God through united and passionate prayer, worship and fasting. It's being held at the church of one of our local pastors who is quite active in her community through Emergency Preparedness and other community services. She is Barbara Gilliam of the Glad Tidings Tabernacle, at 1900 E. South St., 90805. You can email her at BGilliam at GladTT.org for more information. The website for this event is jesusrevusa.com and a voicemail number is 800-850-8534

Local prayer gathering this evening

Here is the latest from Pastor Joe:

"I have a bit more news.

First, a correction. I am told that Isaac passed before any decision about his life support was necessary.

Scott knows about Isaac, and is understandably quite devastated. Andrea and Scott are in the same room, or "pod". Andrea was asked to move her toes and fingers, and moved them a little. I do not believe she is aware of the loss of Isaac at this time, but I do not know for sure.

I'd like to set up a time to gather for prayer this evening at the church. If you can't come, that's OK - you can pray with us wherever you are. If you can come, there is often comfort in being with God's people in difficult times. I'm thinking that we should make it about 6 PM. Assume that's the case unless you hear differently. There will be people in the office at church starting at 3; anyone who wants to come earlier than 6 is (of course) welcome. Please help spread the word."

"Rollover Crash Kills 3"

Here is the latest news release from this morning:

Rollover Crash Kills 3

LITTLETON, Colo. - Three people were killed when a van carrying six people to a church collided with another vehicle and rolled over several times.The crash happened on C-470 near Santa Fe Sunday. Two adults and a child died in the crash.Littleton police said the accident occurred when a man driving a Jeep had a medical condition that caused him to lose control. Investigators said the Jeep hit the Chevrolet van, which then rolled several times.Two passengers in the van remained in critical condition Monday. The van driver was hospitalized in stable condition. The driver of the Jeep and his passenger had minor injuries.

Good and Sad news...

"This morning Andrea wiggled her fingers and toes a little. She's stable and doing well. That's the good news, and it is very good.

The bad news is that they've made a decision to remove dear little Isaac from life support. I can hardly imagine how difficult this must be for everyone.

Please continue to pray."
--Pastor Joe

I talked with pastor Joe this morning and he said that it turned out that baby Issac actually passed away before they removed him from life support as he had mentioned in that email.

What a sad day. Let's all continue to be praying for this family and all those loved ones affected so deeply. I can't even imagine.......................

Come Lord Jesus, Come

Pray, pray, pray for the Swards!

I just recieved a horrible email from Pastor Joe Ginder! We need to pray! Lord have mercy!

One of the young leadership couples from Long Beach, Scott and Andrea Sward (Andrea was involved in 30 under 40), were involved in a horrible traffic accident while in Colorado for missionary training. Here is part of the email I just read:

"I'd like to ask for prayer for Scott and Andrea Sward and their 18-month old son Isaac. Next Sunday we were to commission them to go to Cambodia; they were to leave a few days after that. This week they were completing their final pre-field training at MTI in Colorado Springs.

This afternoon after our service we got news that they were in a terrible accident near Denver. They were were driving with 3 other missionaries to a church near Denver this morning. We don't know who the others were, but believe there were in training at MTI also. Two of the other missionaries were killed. Scott and Andrea are in critical condition, Andrea with really serious injuries including many broken bones , a punctured lung, and a spinal injury. She's out of surgery and stable. Scott is also out of surgery for internal bleeding and stable. Isaac is in extremely critical condition and was air-lifted to Denver Children's Hospital. You can read more about the accident and watch videos at Denver-area news outlets, like 9news.com, cbs4denver.com, myfoxcolorado.com, or denverpost.com. The accident was on C-470 and two were killed - that's enough to recognize the headlines and get to videos of news coverage. We're kind if in a state of shock; next Sunday was shaping up to be a really big deal in the life of our church. We trust God no matter what, and pray for their recovery - we're really concerned about Isaac, and it sounds like Andrea's in for a long rehabilitation to an unknown state of health. It's been a tough day.

Both Scott and Andrea's parents are already in Denver (they were on an airplane within 6-7 hours of the accident), and we have support from some sister churches in Denver helping them out. We also have someone from our church living in the Denver area who is able to be with them. Right now we're waiting for news and praying."