Kingdom Causes' wild ride

Hi:
My name is Judy and I just turned 64. I thought I'd be home tending my garden and caring for the hummingbirds in my back-yard as they come to check out our koi pond....NOT!....instead God in His infinite wisdom and with a twinkle in His eye has me here on staff as Brad's assistant! I came on board to help with administration in the Long Beach office, but that morphed into what I'm doing now with Brad. His vision and energy are limitless and part of my job is to ride along with him and try to keep order in all the spheres he's in to. What an "E" ticket ride!!! Sometimes I go home wondering what in the world I'm doing here, and then I see the Kingdom being established and it's all OK.
My heart is to see prayer happening in a connected way in this City and to see the Kingdom Causes vision established in cities around the nation - world. Since coming here I've met so many young church planters, so many young leaders in the city and on the Cal State campus that I'm excited to see what our Father is up too and where He's going next! I've never met so many people "doing" Kingdom stuff, with a passion as in these last 6 months.
I'm personally working toward networking prayer in the City, so if you have a prayer meeting that's open to the public, please let me know. After the holidays I will be visiting different churches in the City and blogging about them, and I will be attending as many prayer meetings as I can around the City and see how the Lord would like to connect the city pray-ers. For many years I've been praying for a Church of the City, for pastors to be connected, but lately I've felt led to pray for unity among intercessors. This is one way I feel like that process might begin.
We have a wonderful mix of people on our team with a variety of giftings and talents. The common thread is our love for Jesus, our desire to see Him famous and followed, and our sense of humor!
Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas.
If you would like to join our team of 1000 intercessors you can sign up on our web-site or e-mail me at judyw at kingdomcauses.org. I'd love to add you to our once-monthly e-prayer-mail. We also have a Second Saturday prayer meeting at our offices on 21st and Cherry at 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Last Saturday we had three new people!
Each time I come away from that meeting, I know anew and afresh the power of the God I serve and His love for His people.

"Susana" in Wonderland

I have just joined on to the Kingdom Causes Long Beach Team for about two months.  I should have known from the first day what a wild adventure I had just signed up for.  My first day consisted of the Prayer Breakfast meeting in the morning, a Kingdom Causes Long Beach staff meeting, and a Youth Education Task Force meeting.  I felt like Alice in Wonderland being exposed to new people and new places.

I was born at St. Mary's from a Cambodian family that escaped the Khmer Rouge.  I went to Long Beach public schools and finally ended schooling in the Spring of 2007 from UCI.  With a Bachelors in Psychology and Social Behavior in hand, I felt like Christopher Columbus setting sail to discover that the world is round.  It was a difficult choice for me to not continue on to graduate school.  I would love to go to school and postpone growing up and facing the real world.  But God had other plans for me that I could not dream of or comprehend.  He has revealed little pieces and opened doors for me like joining Kingdom Causes.

I came into Kingdom Causes with the mindset of exploring the world but God instead has been exposing me.  Exposure in all aspects of the word.  Exposure of me (my strengths, my sin), of Long Beach (through Kingdom Causes), of people (their hearts), of God (especially His love), and many more.

In this blog, I hope to bring you along on my adventure of "Wonderland"; to share with you my feelings, observations, and thoughts; and to expose you too.

Thank you for falling down the rabbit hole with me,

Susana

He Sent a BABY!!!

At our last Second Saturday prayer meeting, the Lord began to impress on me again His absolute sovereignty. What a ridiculously bad idea - to send a baby to proclaim the Kingdom!!! He sent a baby, helpless, totally dependant on people, so fallible, so human! to safeguard the plan of the ages?! Such extravagant foolishness. Such extravagant faith. What an extravagant demonstration of the Father's power to save and to care for His most Beloved Son and to execute His amazing plan to have us all - for Himself. As I began to think about all the impossibilities in my life, my faith began to grow. I began to pray (again) for the trust Jesus exhibited while He was here. Scripture is clear about Who Jesus trusted while He was here. Think about all the ways God protected His Son during those 33 years and at the end it didn't look so good, but - we all know the glorious, triumphant outcome of the perfect trust of the Son and the perfect trustworthiness of the Father. We are called to become like little children. My prayer for you and me is that we would be able more and more to do that and to grow in the trust the Baby demonstrated when He left glory to come and be with us here - to demonstrate, among many other things, how perfectly trustworthy His Father is.
God Bless you this Christmas season. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief!

Plant a Tree!

There is a great opportunity to serve your school kids on October 27. Hughes Middle School and Longfellow Elementary have been awarded FIFTY trees through a grant from the United Voices Coalition. Hughes will receive 36 (15 gallon) trees and Longfellow will receive 14.
The October date is the date set aside for the planting and volunteers are greatly needed. For more information contact Lisa Nelson, 427-8529, or e-mail her @ lisa_nelson at earthlink.net. (I put her address in this way to avoid her getting spammed.) If you have a club, a scout troupe or a service group or a church group looking for a way to serve - here's your chance!

Citywide Conversation about homeless children

KC wants to get the work out about this great opportunity!

Children and families without homes is a growing challenge in Long Beach and across America. A child’s view of being without a home is quite different from an adult’s. When a family has no home, parents face difficult issues in their efforts to provide a safe environment for their children to thrive. Thus the approach to helping children and families without homes is different than helping homeless individuals. On October 27 we will have a chance to better understand what families must deal with and an opportunity to explore solutions. The Long Beach Area Coalition for the Homeless and the Long Beach Community Action Network invite you to attend this important dialogue.

What: Children and Families without Homes Dialogue.
When: Saturday, October 27, 2007 from 9:30am till 1pm.
Where: Cesar E. Chavez Park, Community Room, 401 Golden Ave., Long Beach, CA

Mayor Bob Foster and Long Beach First Lady Nancy Foster are scheduled to attend. Continental breakfast will be served at 9:30am with the program getting underway at 10am. There will be short multi-media presentation followed by a panel of family members experiencing homelessness and professionals in the field of social services. Then small discussion groups will explore how we can better understand the issues surrounding children and families without homes and what actions can be taken to move towards solutions.
The dialogue is being planned by the Homeless Dialogue Steering Committee, a collaboration of the Long Beach Area Coalition for the Homeless, the Long Beach Community Action Network, the Downtown Long Beach Associates, the California Conference for Equality and Justice, Children Today, Food Finders, City personnel, and private citizens whose purpose is to foster understanding of issues surrounding homelessness and promote change that will improve the quality of life for all residents of Long Beach.

The Committee develops themes and formats for a series of ongoing, community dialogues around critical issues of homelessness. The dialogues endeavor to educate the community, service providers, city departments, as well as those experiencing homelessness in order to increase awareness and foster understanding of various issues surrounding homelessness. These dialogues are intended to lead the way towards identifying objectives and actions that can result in meaningful change. The information is to be presented in a manner that places no blame and implies no shame with regard to the truth of homelessness. The dialogues are expected to empower the community and result in intentional objectives and actions to affect institutional change.

This might be something you want to check out!

To RSVP, or if you have any questions, please call Mary Coburn at 562-485-3133.

Prayer at CSULB

Yesterday at CSULB there was a gathering of some of the Christian clubs on campus to proclaim the Word of God, pray and worship. There were students asking and answering questions, praying, worshipping, preaching and just standing....some of the "standers" were asking questions and some were scoffing. There were quite a few on cell phones telling people about what was going on. Eternity alone will let us know the fullness of the results of what these very passionate young people sowed into. It must have been a "day" on God's calendar for CSULB because 50 feet away there was another ministry preaching also. And it was the day Homeland Security decided to have a drill so there were students everywhere that wouldn't have normally passed that way... There was real passion for Jesus expressed in a very public way in a very public place. It affirms everything I'm learning about how the "post-modern" generation walks out their Christian faith. I'm two generations down the road and am inspired over and over by the young people I'm in contact with in this Kingdom Causes work!!! Way to go!

Local Church Planter family looking for place to live

One of our new church planters here in Long Beach is looking for a place to live. Here is the email that we received.

Anyone have an idea to help them out!? If so, please contact us and we will get you in contact with them.

"Hi everyone:

We are asking for you to pray for our family. We just got word today from our land lady that we need to move out of our home in the next 60 days. Her daughter is getting married and needs a bigger place than were she currently is staying. We’ve loved living here. We’ve hosted so many Bibles studies and entertained a lot of people at this home. It came as a shock, but we know that God has a better plan and place for us.

We have a lot going on in our lives right now with the church plant now meeting weekly. We’d appreciate your prayers and if you know someone who is renting a house (specifically a house) at a very reasonable price in Long Beach, Signal Hill or Lakewood, please let us know.

Thanks for your prayers!

Kreng & Panya"


UPDATE : Friday, Oct 4th
To praying friends & family:

I wanted to give you an update to the recent email I sent out earlier this week. Kreng and I seem to be doing very well with the news that we have to move out of our current place within 60 days. We trust that God will work it all out and provide us even a better place than where we’re currently staying. There is a specific situation you can pray about. I believe we should pray specifically and God will answer specifically. It’s a little complicated so let me explain the details:

There is a 4 bedroom, 3 full baths house about 5 minutes north of us that could be vacant soon. The owner is a Christian and he rents it out to young families in ministry for a very low price (he does it as a ministry). The rent would be the same as what we are paying now, but we would just need to pay the utilities. It has everything and more than what we could want in a house or could ever afford to rent or buy. The current tenants (David & Gina) are a pastor of a church in La Mirada and have been commuting for 16 months. They have been trying to find a house in that area, but cannot afford the home prices. Recently, they found a house in La Mirada that they could afford and that would be ideal for their family (that was a God situation for them). David’s parents are going to help them with the house, but they first need to sell his grandma’s house in Pasadena. With the money that they make selling her house, David’s parents will help pay for the new house in La Mirada. So there are some things pending. Here are specific things to be praying for:

· David grandma’s house needs to go on the market soon (she hasn’t done that yet) and for it to sell quickly
· No complications regarding the financial aspect in order for David and Gina to get the house in La Mirada
· The timing all works out for everyone involved
· My land lord would be gracious to give us more than 60 days if we need it

Also pray for us as we realize that this is spiritual warfare. The enemy is trying to distract us as we are now going weekly in our church services. It has been a bit of distraction, but we are trying to stay focused and trusting God with everything. Even if this situation does not work out, we know God will provide another place.

We’re very exciting how God will work this all out!! Thanks for praying for us and all your encouragement.

Love,
Kreng & Panya

Healing Conferency in Laguna Niguel

For many years I was part of the Vineyard churches in South Orange county and specifically of the Mission Viejo Vineyard which has now merged with Vineyard Community Church in Laguna Niguel. Ed Piorek who is now pastor emeritus at VCC has done a conference called "The Father Loves You" for many years and is doing it again on October 12, 13 and 14 at the Laguna Niguel Vineyard. If you need a touch from the Lord, or some healing of early wounding to enable you to live more fully into your calling as a son or daughter of the Kingdom, I would highly recommend attending. Their website address is www.vccgn.org for more information. I've seen amazing things happen for people at these conferences and to my knowledge Eddie hasn't done one locally in a while, so take advantage of this opportunity.

Golf Marathon Update

Great news!

We just this morning confirmed our 8th and 9th players for our Golf Marathon. That is amazing! We still have spots open if you are available/interested! More = Merrier

To learn more about this annual fundraiser or to sponsor one of our current Long Beach golfers click HERE (if you don't know who is golfing for Long Beach, you can use 'Jim Schorr' as a default golfer name)

Our goal for this event here in Long Beach is to raise over $25k for our ongoing work. Part of this money will be used to hire an intern here in Long Beach for the next year so that we can have someone to help us administratively but also focus 1/2 of their time on creating an online database of Information and Opportunities for Involvement that exist around various other local causes than the ones that we are strategically involved in (Youth education, HIV/AIDS, Homelessness & Emergency Preparedness). Once this list is compiled it will really serve as a great resource for people and/or groups to get mobilized locally.

Know anyone looking for an 1 year (or so) internship in community development/city reaching!?

Mustard Seed Foundation is coming to town

On Tuesday, October 23rd, (the day after our Golf Marathon!) Kingdom Causes will be hosting a meeting for Brian Bakke from the Mustard Seed Foundation here in Long Beach. This foundation was the one that gave us our first grant to help us get things started with Kingdom Causes here in Long beach!

The are actively (did I mention ACTIVELY?) looking for local churches that are interested in applying for MSF matching grants. Come and hear about the possible options for the grants that are currently available for local churches only! They are encouraging each local church to bring 2-3 decision making people from any local ministry (and the senior pastor does not need to be one of them).

Details...

Time: 12:30 - 2:30 (they will stay until 3:00 to answer ?'s)
Location: Antioch Missionary Baptist Church (map)

We will need a rough head count so if you are interested in coming please email us at longbeach@kingdomcauses.org. We will also do our best to answer any additional questions that you might have but most of your questions could be best answered by checking out their web site.

See you there!

Well deserved recognition!

Bianca Sovich, our Kingdom Causes Emergency Preparedness Task Force leader, received an award last Sunday at the Good Neighbor festival in the 5th district where she lives. She got this award for ALL OF HER HARD WORK in her community from her local councilwoman, Gerrie Schipske. You and Peter are awesome!

Reminder: Our next task force meeting is next Tuesday eve from 7-9 PM at our offices. Come and learn how local congregations are being mobilized and how you might get involved!

Well done good and faithful servant

What do you say to thank someone for 40 years of selfless service in the inner city among gangsters and the homeless? On October 6th at 3:00 PM there will be a celebration honoring Fred Newkirk and the 40 years he has dedicated to ministry as a missionary in the heart of Long beach.

You are invited to help Long Beach Friends Church thank Fred & Mardella and recognize how God has worked through them. The celebration will be held at:

Long Beach Friends Church
850 Atlantic Ave
Long Beach, CA 90813

The celebration will include a service in which they will recognize Fred's ministry. Afterwards, dessert will be served and you can thank him in person! All are welcome and for those of you who have also been around a while (ahem, those that some us younger folks are standing on the shoulders of!) might want to come and/or pass along word of this special afternoon event to those that have had the pleasure of working with Fred over the years!

(for more information see Long Beach Friends Web Site)

I'm excited about what I've seen in the last weeks

Over the last weeks since hanging out with Brad, I've met, talked to and observed so many young people with vision, purpose and energy to see God's Kingdom established in their cities. I had opportunity to be at the meeting at CSULB Wednesday eve and saw young people from various campus ministries gathered together to worship the same Lord I do. I met two of the young people and we prayed for each other. My prayer request was for this week-end when I will be with my daughter in her journey toward sobriety and H wanted to pray for me and wound up telling me of her journey with her alcoholic father. I had dinner with a young woman who lives in the City near a rest home and wants to have a prom for the residents to bless them! I met a young man with a totally God-inspired plan for a business venture to serve the Kingdom like I've never heard before! I was at a meeting where I heard from a high ranking LB police officer speak of his heart for the pain gang violence between the Rollin 20 Crips and the Insane Crips (please forgive me if the names are wrong) in Long Beach is causing the innocent and also the gang members themselves. I heard his love for his city and the people in it. I saw young church planters being connected with older church "fathers" and encouraged in their vision. I talked to a young man and heard his vision for a small church in our City and his journey to get there. Then last night I heard from the wife of a pastor who runs a recovery house for women in the city. I heard her journey and how God has met and is meeting her and using all the things meant to destroy her and turning them into gold to use for His kingdom.
My vision is to somehow broker prayer for the City in a way that will invite the Kingdom and pave the way for revival. He is at work! and I want to join with others to pray HIS vision and plan for Long Beach into completion.
One of the ways I want to do this is to pray with people in their established meetings and also to publish the places prayer is happening around the City. If you have a prayer meeting that is open to everyone would you let me know at longbeach@kingdomcauses.org? If it isn't open to the public I would still love to know about it and what your focus is so I and my friends can pray for you. Let me know at the same address.
My life took a radical left turn about 10 years ago and I am feeling alive and hopeful for the first time since then. Take heart all of you who have suffered severe disappointment and loss!
God redeems everything in His own time!

Long Beach Rescue Mission Celebration

Tonight is the night where we get to celebrate one of the MANY great organizations that we have here in our city. This one has actually been around for a while now! I am excited to be going out to support this organization as they share their vision with the broader Church of the city and also raise needed funds to advance their work. I am privileged to be able to offer the closing prayer this evening to wrap things up!

Here is a Press-Telegram article about the banquet and the new Executive Director (Jim Lewis) that came on board there about a year ago. He is a great guy with a great heart and is bringing a wealth of expertise to the growing ministry team there. He is also working with his team to create a positive image in the surrounding community for both the mission and for those that are served through the mission. As you can imagine, this is not always an easy task for an organization that ministers in such a field! Pray for them.

We actively work with the rescue mission staff on our homeless task force and we are grateful to have such a great group and a great work here in our city! They are a key piece for bringing hope to many that are currently not feeling very hopeful. We trust that they will be encouraged by this evenings banquet and feel supported by the greater faith community. If you are unable to attend but would still like to support their work in any number of ways you can go to their web site here.

Rivive!

John Lockmer and the collaborative campus ministry known as Christian Students Unite (csulb.net) is hosting a Unity Prayer meeting this evening at CSULB. We have some people going and will be documenting the momentum that is happening on campus there in our October E-Newsletter (sign up here if you are not on our "opt-in" mailing list yet!!). It is another one of those stories that you have just got to hear about!! God is doing a wonderful thing on the CSULB campus by bringing many of the various campus ministries together to pray. Could these students be living out God's heart for the broader city at-large!?

See the web link above for more details about the gathering!

Thanks for the encouragement!

A quick shout out to a few great friends (Brittney & Mike) here in the city who said that we really should make more contributions to this blog because they actually check in and would love to have us share stories about how God is on the move in Long Beach. You never know who is actually reading blogs so we were very encouraged.

The dream was to have this blog be a place that stories of hope and transformation from our city could be posted, by those connected with Kingdom Causes in various ways, and serve as a daily place for people to check in on and see what God is doing in parts or arenas of our city that some may not be as familiar with.

Having been encouraged, a new story will be posted now...

PS - This is also a test to see if they really do check the blog :)

North Long Beach is W.O.W.'ed!

W.O.W.! What an awesome time in North Long Beach! On June 26th W.O.W., Kingdom Causes and Lighthouse 4 Square Church joined with 15 other churches in North Long Beach host a party for the people living around Houghton Park. Over 5000 people attended and were blessed by:

• 2780 meals served
• 2200 plants given out
• 146 family photos taken
• 400 corn on the cob
• water for everyone

In addition to:

• fixing 120 bikes
• cutting 110 heads of hair
• doing 129 sets of nails and
• 58 makeovers

This was a great party and great to see the churches come alongside Steven and Linda Tavani, the President and Founder of Winning Our World, (WOW) to bless this part of our great city. Steven gave a strong salvation message that saw 1014 people sign cards and give their lives to Jesus as their Lord and Savior for the first time. The churches that participated were given the cards and are calling on each one and encouraging the new members of the family of God to come and become part of one of the many great fellowships in that area.
Next year we will be doing two dates in June again in North Long Beach and on the West side at SilveradoPark. We would love to have you come and be part of this great blessing to our city. Watch for further updates.

Pray-ers from around LA gather to compare notes

On Monday, July 30 there was a gathering of pray-ers from Southern California for the purpose of sharing information about what they are hearing from the Lord regarding Long Beach. Praying people from many points in the Southland are hearing God’s heart for the City and have joined forces for a more directed effort to pray in the Kingdom here.
Being in a group of intercessors from as far away as Azusa and San Gabriel and as near as Torrance and Lomita as well as local people is amazing. We were sharing our personal impressions and found that the Lord is speaking parts and pieces to many and as we gathered, a whole picture began to emerge. There was a wonderful spirit of unity and service in the room; people gathering in order to pray together “in one accord” has to delight our Father’s heart. Each person went away encouraged and more focused, connected and directed than when they came.
So much prayer has gone up over our harbors and it was wonderful to see that God has heard and is directing His people to “seek the peace of the City where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” Jer. 29:7
We, at Kingdom Causes, will be hosting a monthly prayer meeting on the second Saturday of each month at our offices on 21st and Cherry, Signal Hill from 6:30 to 8 a.m. in order to sow into what God is doing here in prayer. All are invited and welcome.
We believe, and the consensus of the July 30 gathering, was that God is hovering over Long Beach to protect and bless.

May Leadership Prayer Gathering

I continue to be awed by our great God as He sends quality people into a city that I love. Today we gathered at Fountain of Life church with Pastor John Teter. John is a church planter on the West side of town who moved to our city in 2001 and has services at Hamilton Middle School. It was exciting to hear how God moved he and his wife Becky to Long Beach and how he and his team use sports and family issues to reach people. John is the director of More Than Conquerors, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Dominguez Hills and Compton City College, authored "Get the Word Out" and co-authored "Jesus and the Hip-Hop Prophets."
In ministering on the west side and in north Long Beach, John's prayer request are these.

* For strength, as a team they are very tired due to intense giving out, torn ACL, and a fire in one of the leaders buildings
* For their core team that has an average age of 27 to be empowered by God
* For their ministry of evangelism in the city through sports and family needs
* For continued good relationship with the Principal of Hamilton Middle School

This hour and a half we spend with leaders is one of the best times of our month. Hope you can joins us next month
Jim

LB Fire in Galaxy Towers

Here is a message from the Origins Church Planters who live next door to the burned out unit. They hosted our last church leadership prayer gathering there in their apartment.

"Last night was a sleepless night. For those of you who have not seen the news, our apartment caught on fire but we are ok. About 9:30pm we discovered a fire in the room next to us. We went inside and screamed for people to evacuate, but no one answered. We could not see past the first 3 feet inside due to the smoke, and the lights would not turn on so we assumed all were out of the room. The fire dept. arrived and we evacuated the building. After 3 minutes of being outside a man emerged on the balcony of room 1820 and screamed for help. To no avail he had a choice to be burned or jump. He chose the latter and we watched him descend from the building. Please pay for us that our minds would be healed from this tragedy and that we would offer hope and restoration to many grief-stricken people in our complex. This is an opportunity for us to love these people and pour the love of Christ in these residents.

Here is a link to the video. If you look to the far right you will see our apartment (1840) is the one that is fully lit. http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_088022239.html We love you all and are asking God to somehow get glory from this broken event." a.j.sherrill

Homeless Community and LB Police Dept Dialogue

Open to the Public!

Objectives:
· Provide a setting for increased understanding and improved relationships between those
experiencing homelessness, the Police and the community at large
· Raise awareness among homeless/community at large and the Police Department about the
laws (spirit and letter) that impact homeless and the resources available to assist them
· Explore specific solutions to improve the conditions surrounding people experiencing
homelessness

Sunday March 25, 2007 @ 3p-5:30p

First Congregational Church - Patterson Hall
241 Cedar Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90802

For further information contact Mary Coburn at (562) 485-3133

Does the Church of LB ignore the poor!?

At our recent Homeless Task Force meeting someone shared the following quote from Roberta Hestenes. It comes from a plenary session address that she did at The Spiritual Formation Forum in May of 2006 here in Long Beach. It is quite a powerful statement!

Any focus on Christian discipleship which persistently ignores or neglects the poor is a defective discipleship. Any spirituality which persistently neglects or ignores the needs of the poor is not a truly biblical spirituality. It is not a Christian spirituality following Jesus. Any adoption of spiritual disciplines to receive the blessings of God or as away to draw closer to God while ignoring, neglecting or mistreating the poor, the hungry, the lost, the stranger in the midst, the widow, the orphan- any use of spiritual disciplines while neglecting or disobeying God in this area is to run the risk of spiritual self-deception and even the danger of the judgment of God. God cares about the poor - not just about the spiritually poor, although in the cross of Jesus Christ he made provision for the full redemption of a lost and broken world. God cares about those who are really, physically marginalized, neglected, broken, diseased, impoverished, forgotten, living on the margins without enough resource to live life as God intended it with dignity and joy. Any spirituality that misses the poor is inadequate, deficient, and needs correction. This passion that God has for the poor runs through the scriptures so pervasively that you almost have to be willfully blind not to see it.

Do I hear any amens? Or other!? Reply if so!

Save the Date!!

On Monday, October 16th, Kingdom Causes will be hosting our 2nd annual Golf Marathon here in Long Beach. 100 holes of golf in a day! But, this is actually not really about golf. You don't even have to be a 'professional' golfer to get involved. You can sign up to come and play or you can help a golfer out by sponsoring them for every hole that they play. This event will help us advance the local work here. More information to come soon!

"His Nesting Place" on Cable TV

One of our local ministries is going to be on TV in a "30 Day" Actual Reality Documentary. The title of this specific episode is "Pro-life - pro-choice"

The show can be viewed on FX cable

The time and date is Wednesday, August 23 at 10:00 pm E/P

The episode features a pro-choice women from Georgia who had an abortion six years ago. She spent approximately 30 days at His Nesting Place Maternity Home interacting with the mothers, children and staff.

Let's encourage others to watch the program and pray that God will use this to help others become pro-life as His Nesting Place gets exposure.

Long Beach Rescue Mission Tour

Yesterday afternoon I went and met with Jesse Krohmer at the Long Beach Rescue Mission. After a recent difficult season in the life of that ministry, he is one of the new faces there working to advance and expand the work. It was great to tour the facility and hear about some of their hopes, dreams and plans for the future. What a tremendous Kingdom resource they are to the city!! Great work! Keep it up!

Also, if you are interested in learning more about their work and/or how you might get involved yourself they are hosting a 2 day revival/open house for the neighborhood on August 18-19. They are looking for more support for the activities of that day. If you are interested you can contact Jesse at 562-591-1292, ext 13.

Praying for Revolution Church Family

This morning we gathered as a group of local Church leaders at "The Hub". This is the new ministry center for the Revolution church family. As a relatively new church plant here in Long Beach it was encouraging to see, hear and experience their passion for spreading the Good News of the Gospel. Creativity abounds here! They shared with us and asked for prayer primarily in regards to their expansion efforts. The vision of this ministry is to be "one church with multiple locations". Our prayer was that the Lord would continue to stretch them, mature them, multiply them and continue to grant them passion for the local harvest fields. For more information you can check out their web site.

"In Jesus Name I Pray" is back

In Carson that is... I have heard a number of local leaders express their frustration that they are not allowed to pray in Jesus' name locally here (still have not heard otherwise) at the city council meetings. Check this out:

California Mayor and City Council Restore Right for Pastors to Pray "In Jesus' Name"Gene Maddaus/TN (Daily Breeze, Jun 27, 2006)"Jesus is back, by order of the mayor."

In 2002, the Carson, California city council voted to obey a 2002 state appellate court ruling barring ministers from "invoking the name of Jesus" at public meetings. Since that time, area pastors have stayed away from the meetings. But, according to a report in the Daily Breeze, Mayor Jim Dear changed his mind, and the council voted last month to "allow Christian pastors to invoke their Savior at the beginning of City Council meetings." "Jesus is back, by order of the mayor," Dear proclaimed, adding that he invited clergy members to pray "the way they do on Sunday morning." Reporter Gene Maddaus noted that when asked if he would pray to Jesus, Buggs said, "Of course."

Maybe our new mayor will have a change of heart as well!?

Long Beach Leadership Prayer Breakfast

Every year in our city there is a Leadership Prayer Breakfast. The prayer time is actually patterned after the National Prayer Breakfast which is held annually in Washington D.C.. It is designed to gather local civic and business leaders for a time of personal reflection to our Creator, as well as affirm the Spiritual Heritage of our Nation. Every year locally here there is a keynote speaker that comes and shares an encouraging message of some sort. Into that story is woven their personal testimony and a presentation of the Gospel message.

This year's speaker is going to be Judy Martz. She was elected as Montana's 21st Governor in 2000 and was the first woman to have been so in that state.

I have been blessed to have been a part of these for the past 4 years now. Prayerfully consider coming. Start by saving the date!

Details:
Thursday, September 7th, 2006
7:25 am - 9:00 am
$30/ticket (includes breakfast, program and parking)
Hyatt Regency Long Beach (200 South Pine Ave)

Shoot me an email if you need more information.

Brad

Harvest Crusade

with Pastor Greg Laurie. August 11-13. Angel Stadium.

A day of City Tours

What a fun day. This morning I met the IV students at 8:00 in the morning to head out on a city tour. I always like to start these conversations by asking what people have heard about and/or know about Long Beach. When you are with youth you always hear about Snoop. Some of the students were from the LA Basin and knew a little bit more. Things like most ethnically diverse city in the nation, known for tourism (Queen Mary, etc...) and has a big sea port were mentioned. After driving around a bit to see the transitioning of neighborhoods we went to Sophy's Cambodian and Thai restaurant for lunch. Great food!

While at lunch we had the Summer Servants team from the East San Gabriel Valley join us. Kingdom Causes partners with the New Hope Network to work in that area. I spent the afternoon hanging with this team as we dialogued about city-reaching, praying for your city, mobilizing the church in a city and how people of "good faith" can come together with people of "good will" to work together for tangible solutions for the good of the whole community.

Great times! I love seeing young people get excited about serving cities. I love being able to encourage them at such a critical stage of their life to give themselves away for the cause of Christ and for the love of their neighbors. I love seeing and hearing about how God stirs hearts to pursue things that He cares about. I too was encouraged by their passion. Fun times.

Side note #1: this muggy weather is ridiculous!
Side note #2: I just got my digital camera back from Best Buy (in for the 3rd time!!) and need to take more photos for this blog.

Intervarsity students arrive today!

In addition to the 48 or so Campus Crusade for Christ students that are here this summer, there are almost 20 IV students here now as well. We worked with them last year as well to assist them in their summer teams. They have a handful of teams working around LA and two of the teams are here in Long Beach. They will primarily be working at Covenant Presbyterian, New Life Nazarene and Christian Outreach in Action (COA). Each team will spend various mornings at COA serving breakfast and working in their warehouse and the rest of their days will be spent at either one of the other two sites working in the youth ministries there. They will be helping kids with homework, hanging out, helping the older kids lead the younger kids, doing work projects and will even help plan or orchestrate a VBS.

Here in Slovakia

Here in Slovakia I am visiting some long time friends Brad and Carla Thiessen and seeing their work with the Gypsies and refugees from other war torn nations. Brad has started a language school to help foierners from countries like Afghanistan and Burundi learn the Slovakia language so they can adapt better to society. He has also helped to plant a gypsy church and is teaching gypsy believers working skills like plastering and wood working. The gypsy are a people group that are despised all throughout Europe, and Brad and Carla are looking to change the culture one life at a time. They have been in Slovakia for 15 years with their 4 boys. I am helping to drywall a guest house and played some music at a pizza Party on Friday where they were able to share with some of the Language students. I will be home on Tuesday morning see you then.
Love you all

Jim

Where in the world is Jim Schorr?

Hey Jim, send us a word about how things are going in your parts! Encourage us about God's Global work! Jim is currently on the other side of the planet. Whether he gets a chance to post while there or if it isn't until he gets back home...I'll encourage him to share!

Hanging out in Bluff Park

Last night I took the family down to hang out at Bluff Park with the 40+ Campus Crusade Students who are here for the Summer. They were gathering for a time of testimony, encouragement and prayer. It was great to hear the stories of how God is using them to be a blessing here in the city! They are here to get jobs, build relationships/friendships around the city with people, initiate spiritual conversations and share about the radical love that Jesus has for people. Along the way we are believing that many will also choose to similarly follow in the ways of Jesus. Our hopes would be that a handful of new churches/missional communities would be birthed this summer as well.

Great to see Thien Doan (new church planter) down there as well to encourage the students!

Next week: 20 some InterVarsity students will be here in the city to start a 5 week stint and we have them connected to Christian Outreach in Action, Covenant Presbyterian Church, North Long Beach Community Prayer Center and New Life Nazarene Church. Stay tuned!

Do it again Lord...

One of the things that I have been praying about lately (as I shared on Pentecost Sunday) is that the Spirit would do something in our day that would not only bless the entire city as a whole but would also serve to encourage the hearts of Jesus followers in a hundred years from now. That they would be able to look back and be encouraged about the Lord's faithfulness to His people, to His Word and to our city.

One of those stories that does this to me is the story of what happened here in Long Beach back in the 1920's. Of late I have been learning more about happened during this time period. By coincidence (!?) on Pentecost sunday Christine Lu (*hat tip*) happened to give me a Press-Telegram magainze from 2003 that was entitled "100 famous faces of long beach." If you have never heard of a local preacher from those days whose name was George Taubman check this out. Along with the likes of Cameron Diaz (grew up in a house around the corner from me), Nicolas Cage, Denise Austin, Bo Derek, Steven Spielberg, Warren G, he made the top 100 list! Here is how they told the story:

"Dr. George Primrose Taubman found his way to Long Beach in April 1915 when he was already 46. A pastor who tended flocks in Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Oklahoma, Taubman became the first pastor of the First Christian Church, then at 4th street and American Ave. The men's Bible group had a membership of 40, with about 25 attending most meetings. Under Taubman, that figure would grow a bit. With the (apperently) charismatic Taubman leading the studies, the group outgrew its room at the church by 1917 and moved to the Laughlin Theater on Pine Ave. Two years later, it moved to the biggest indoor meeting spot available, the Municipal Auditorium, where 2,000 men would gather to hear Taubman's sermons and sing to their God and country. And it still grew. Throughout the 1920's, Taubman had to take his class outdoors in Lincoln Park to accommodate regular turnouts of 4,000 men (women were allowed twice a year - on Easter Sunday and Mother's Day). Occasionally, Taubman would put together a special program that would draw as many os 30,000 men. With the radio audience, the figure would go as high as 100,000 listeners to Taubman's sermons. On June 12, 1938, with his health declining, Taubman gave up the Bible class. The last crowd he drew was the hundreds who showed up for his funeral in Long Beach on March 14, 1947."

I have pictures of these gatherings in my office. It might look different in these days but none-the-less come and do it again Lord...

What else happened on Pentecost Sunday!?!

Millions of Believers from Almost 200 Nations Pray during the Global Day of Prayer
News Staff / Aimee Herd reporting (Jun 5, 2006)

"There are more than 4,000 venues across Africa, where an estimated 40 million Africans are joining the river of prayer that's sweeping the continent, and the world."

According to a report by Mission Network News, 198 nations registered as taking part in yesterday's Global Day of Prayer. Making it even more significant was the fact that it was Pentecost Sunday, when over two thousand years ago, the original outpouring of the Holy Spirit was experienced by Jesus' followers in Jerusalem, and the "Church" was born.

A report from Taiwan stated, "Today, the power of Christian Pentecost was shown clearly in Taiwan. Thousands of Christians have come out of the disputes, and joined together at the Presentation Square in Taipei City, not to make a political statement, but to pray for the country and to praise the Lamb." (Photo: Brian Blanco/The Herald-Attendees sing, dance and worship in the isles during The Global Day of Prayer Sunday afternoon at the Sarasota/Bradenton International Convention Center.)

In Hong Kong: "More than 30,000 Christians flocked to the Honk Kong Stadium, to play their part in a worldwide Global Day of Prayer. They prayed to God to protect the city's health, in particular from the threat of a bird flu epidemic. They also prayed to the Lord to give direction and faith to the youth of Hong Kong, who were a strong presence in the crowd, and to heal fractured relationships between family members."

From Africa, where the Global Day of Prayer movement began, it was reported: "There are more than 4,000 venues across Africa where an estimated 40 million Africans are joining the river of prayer that's sweeping the continent and the world." (Photo: Believers in Africa pray together.)

In Egypt, a reporter for Sat-7 said, "I'm at the Cave Church in Garbage City near Cairo, Egypt where a couple thousand people have gathered today on the Global Day of Prayer. It is such a privilege to be here with these believers. Many have come out and are celebrating in one heart and one spirit as we come together."

In the U.S.: "My name is Graham Wells and I'm calling from Atlanta, Georgia. We had an event right on the steps of the Capitol, and it began thundering and lightning. Although it was cut short, there was a great sense of God's presence and prayers going out to God to work in this great city of Atlanta."

And a report came in from Calgary, Alberta, Canada: "I'm standing just outside the Prengrove Saddledome where even now, thousands of Christians in this city are beginning to rally to celebrate through worship and prayer, Pentecost Sunday and this global day of prayer."

Check out the following sites for more stories:

www.gdop.org
www.gdopusa.org
www.globaldayofprayer.org

Pentecost Sunday

What a glorious day it was! Around 200 people gathered locally here to lift up praises to God Almighty, ask the Lord to move throughout our cities and celebrate the Lord's Supper together. We came expecting the Spirit to move and we were not dissappointed! There is just something very special about being together in the presence of the Spirit with followers of Jesus that represent a diverse cross-section of the Church of the city! Many theological perspectives, many different cultures and backgrounds, many different expressions of Worship and yet one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We joined with a concert of millions of voices all around the planet that asked "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in our city as it is in heaven!" Do it Lord! For Your Name sake!

So many people contributed to make this gathering truly something special for all those that were able to make it out. We want to thank ALL OF YOU for doing your part to make this 1 day of gathering an incredible blessing to the Lord and to the collective Church of the city!

Day #10 Prayer Update

THE BLESSING OF CHRIST

How appropriate was it that we ended our 10 days of prayer gathering at a local church that is actually an extension of an African church. This whole 10:1:90 effort has its roots in the Church of Africa. All Saints Anglican Church is part of the Luweero Diocese of Uganda.

Once again it was a blessing to be joined in prayer for our city with believers from around the city. Tonight we prayed that Christians both locally and abrod would live with the expectancy of the ancient promises of God's blessing to be fulfilled in our days. The result would be nothing short of the transformation of our communities, nations and countries.

Thanks to the All Saints family for hosting us!!

Another perspective from the 10 day journey...

I just received an email from Carol OConnell. She is one of the many great people that I have met for the first time over the past few days that are equally committed to praying for the city. I and many others stand with you Carol! Here is what she sent:

"I have been honored and incredibly blessed to be a part of the Kingdom Causes-led intercession and prayer storm for Long Beach, our nation and the world over the last 10 days. We have cried out to God for mercy, grace and compassion and that He would pour out His spirit over this city and bring radical transformation. Our sense has been that repentance and unity are the keys. Early on, I had a vision of the walls of the individual Long Beach churches just collapsing and, when the dust settled, there were no denominations or isolation - it had become the Church of Long Beach - precious, shared and powerful. As we have traveled to different wonderful congregations throughout this journey, as we have been welcomed in as family, and as we have seen the power of joining hands across cultural and denominational boundaries, I have seen the absolute truth in that vision. If we were each to mobilize - to get out into the communities - to visit other churches just to bless them - then I believe revival would hasten as we stand shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart with all eyes on Jesus. As Mother Teresa said, "All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus." "

Day #9 Prayer Update

THE HEALING OF CHRIST

What a treat last night at Covenant Presbyterian Church! Another great evening of the Spirit guiding the Church into a focused time of intercession for the city. Each of our morning and evening prayer times over the past few days has been unique and different and last night was no excetion to this. Pastors Rob and Adelle Langworthy prepared a special prayer time for us that involved a contemplative environment by displaying revolving slides of creation images, having us sit still in rows quietly before the Lord and by adorning the cross area at the front of the chapel with numerous candles. The ambiance of the room alerted our senses to the presence of the Lord in our midst.

In addition, our prayer time was punctuated with Taize chanting in Latin. A young woman named Michelle from their local church joined us and she served as our Cantor (soloist). She would use her "angelic" opera voice to affirm our prayers throughout the evening. After each of us offered up prayers she would sing in Latin the following phrase: "Ex-au-di-nos, ex-au-di-nos" ("Lord, hear our prayers; Lord, hear our prayers").

At other times during the hour we as the "assembly" would be taught a phrase in latin to sing (the "ostinato" chant) and while we would sing that repetively she would sing other Sciptural texts in Latin over our chanting. The journey over the hour of prayer was nothing short of amazing.

In the midst of our prayers for the healing touch of Christ to be felt I was specifically struck with some of the things that we were praying for: worldwide over 250,000 young people are infected every month with HIV and over 30,000 children die daily from preventable diseases. Lord, have mercy... How can we (I) sit still any longer?

Off to All Saint's Anglican Church facilities tonight!! Can't wait!!

Day #8 Prayer Update

What you see in the above picture is the reason I was late in getting to the evening prayer gathering last night at Glad Tidings Church in North Long Beach. Our Kingdom Causes Bellflower crew was hosting a Ministry Advancement Dinner and I wanted to be there to help them kick off the night. Well over 200 people showed up! Good work team! May the Lord continue to radically bless your local work there as you take responsibility for your city and may the resources (people, skills and finances) abound!

There is a 10:1:90 effort also going on in Bellflower over these past few days and the will be joining us on Pentecost Sunday as well :)

Now about the prayer time.

THE GLORY OF JESUS

I showed up late to see a large circle of people in the "upper room" at Glad Tidings Tabernacle full of many young adults. Turns out that a handful of them were CSULB students who have been asking God to do great things on their campus locally here and some were part of a Campus Crusade for Christ team that are here for the entire Summer (partnering with Kingdom Causes and the Crossroads network of house-churches) to plant simple (house) churches in and around our city.

How great it was to pray for followers of Jesus to be courageous in their faith and in their love. After spending day #6 praying for "the coming generation" it only made these prayers seem all the more on point since they were coming from the hearts of younger people. We prayed at length for the labors of all of the young people this Summer who are living in this city and will be extending the Kingdom of God in various ways. I was thoroughly encouraged last evening!

Pastor Barbara, thanks for hosting an evening of prayer for the city! Lord, move in and through the family of faith that gathers there! Continue to make yourself famous in this part of our city!

*(I forgot to take a picture. Darn.)

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.

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

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.

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!

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!

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!!

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)

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))

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

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.

Great time this morning!

We had 15 people at our ministry facilities forum this morning. This diverse group represented church leaders who have been working in the city here for more than a decade all the way to one person who is praying about planting a church here in the city. All of these leaders in one way or another are wrestling with facility space issues.

Harold Richardson, a retired local business owner (and the father of Doug Richardson who is the pator of Long Beach Christian Fellowship), gave us a first hand account of someone who has worked with the city to identify and secure ministry facility space locally. Great stuff! He painted a realistic picture of the potential challenges that anyone might face along these lines.

Two quick take-aways for me: 1) One really does need to do their homework (local community by-in, functionality of the site, etc...) before bringing your Conditional Use Permit (CUP) Application before the Planning Commission and 2) as a collective Church here in the city we need to make sure that we are approaching the process, as challenging and frustrating as it might be at times, with the upmost integrity (not trying to skirt the CUP system, not flying under the radar, etc...). There is a lot at stake here in terms of credibility and we need to have a clean conscience if we are going to fight for this and/or any other justice issue in our cities. The other reality is that it only makes life more difficult for those that come behind us if we don't.

If you want any more of the brainstorm details check under the "Forums" link.

And, oh yeah, thanks Harold!!

Identifying Local Ministry Facilities Forum

This Wednesday Kingdom Causes will be hosting a forum on "Identifying Local Ministry Facilities" for any local church leader here in the greater Long Beach/Lakewood area. This can be a challenge no matter if you are a new church planter or have been ministering here for years! We have heard many of you talking about this issue lately and we want to serve you by helping get many of your questions answered that no doubt come to mind with this issue.

We are inviting a special guest, Harold Richardson, to come and share with us out of his years of expertise in working with the city in this regard as a local pastor. He has REALLY DONE HIS HOMEWORK on this issue and will be giving us a first hand account of the process of working with the city, the numerous challenges that we face locally and even suggest how you (we) might proceed from here. We will end the time by brainstorming about what next steps there might be to help you proceed from here.

When: Wednesday, March 8th
Time: 7:30 AM (sharp) - 9:00 AM
Where: Bixby Café & Pizza (3900 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807)(Atlantic Blvd just South of Carson. Across from Washington Mutual)
Cost: Free other than the cost of your own breakfast The Bixby Café is providing us with a separate back room free of charge but will be providing staff to take our breakfast orders.

In order to attend this forum you will need to RSVP!! Please contact Judy Wilson at jwilson@lbcf.org or at 562-989-6000 before Noon on Tuesday, March 7th if you plan on attending. If you get this message after this deadline give me a call. We will make it work!

Praying for Citylights Community Church

Another incredible morning discovering how God is mobilizing His people locally. This morning we were hosted by Pastors Thien Doan and Tom Demorest for our local monthly church leaders prayer gathering. These two brothers are the leaders of Citylights Community Church. What an exciting time of story telling and prayer! This church is yet another one of the Church PLants that has recently come into the city. They shared about how God drew them here and how there are navigating some of the challenges that face ministries in a complex and diverse urban center such as this. They were extremely encouraged by having other leaders from around the region come and pray for them. The rest of us were encouraged by their faith and their passion for the city that we also love dearly.

One of the exciting aspects of their story was how they are partnering with Parkcrest Church which is letting use their facilities on 7th and Obispo. They currently have their offices there and have just begun a program called Kids Stuff for the local kids in the neighborhood. What a great example this is of churches in the city not caring about their "own territory" but rather creatively seeking out ways for Kingdom resources such as these buildings to be maximized for the greatest Kingdom impact.

They specifically asked for prayer in the following areas:

1. For their Kids Stuff program
2. Word to spread throughout the neighborhood about this safe place for kids to come and play
3. Their Sunday evening church gathering at the Blue Nile coffee shop in the East Village Arts District.
4. Team dynamics with their core team - a few people doing a lot of work
5. More strategic partnerships across the city
6. Financial advancement for their ministry
7. Clear sense of direction and organizational development as they move forward

Next month we are heading over to West side Long Beach to see and hear how God is at work there as well. Email me if you are a local church leader and are interested in joining us!

Dinner for LB Pastors & Spouses

Last night we hosted an evening of blessing, connection, dinner, and entertainment for pastors and their spouses of the Greater Long Beach area. Enjoying a wonderful dinner at Khoury's Restaurant, pastors and ministry leaders representing 40 distinct churches and organizations had an opportunity to meet and/or reconnect with each other while being entertained by a very funny comedian named Thor Ramsey from Outreach Comedy. Six professional counseling ministries helped to sponsor the dinner and collectively made a commitment to support the marriages and families of these pastors.

Click Here to View The Photo Galleries

Kingdom Causes would like to thank the following 27 businesses, organizations, and individuals who partnered with us as sponsors and contributors for the dinner:

A McNabb Design
Aquarium of the Pacific
Bianca's Divine Costumes
B.J.'s Restaurant & Brewery
Break Thru Ministries
Center for Individual & Family Therapy
David Zabalaoui
El Torito
Family Outreach Counseling
Foursquare, LA South Coast District
Futas Design Group, Inc.
Hiatt & Peek
Hyatt Regency Long Beach
Islands
Khoury's Restaurant
Kingdom Causes
Lighthouse Christian Stores
Mark Giraud
Michele Jarosh
New Hope Grief Support
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
Outreach Comedy
Pathos Christ Centered Counseling
P.F. Changs
Promo Direct
Restored Hope

"Seeking the Welfare of the City"

4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

I am presently in Iowa sitting at a BILD conference hanging out with some friends and potential benefactors of our work here in Long Beach and they just read one of my favorite passages. Jeremiah 29:4-7. How does this passage speak into how we should live our lives in Long Beach in our day? What does this look like? How could you pattern your daily life so that you are actively seeking the welfare/prosperity of our city?

Metro Kids Ministry

My son and I went down today to see firsthand a ministry that I have been hearing about for over a year now. I first heard about this ministry from numerous people that working together in the mutiple church task forces in North Long Beach. The large converted van in the picture with the drop down side and the p/a system is the home base for a mobile ministry that reaches out to kids with the Love of Christ. You can find Calvin and Sarah Tatupu regularly stopping at places where kids like to hang out. Today they happened to be at the Carmelitos Housing Projects here in North Long Beach. What a joy it was to seeing these kids listening intently to the word for the day about King David. The message: "say NO to temptation".

If you would like to learn more about this outreach ministry you can view their web site at www.metrokidz.org. They currently do this ministry full time are always looking for weekly sites, special events, and other creative ways that the can use this ministry to serve the youth in the area. Feel free to email them at sidebyside2004@yahoo.com for further information.

Eric at the Long Beach Leadership Prayer Breakfast

38 people decided to trust and follow Christ this morning! I always have had mixed feelings about these breakfasts that are patterned after the presidential prayer breakfast but I can honestly say 'What a great prayer breakfast this year!'. In spite of some technical difficulties there was definitely a sense that God wanted to stir many of the hundreds of hearts in the roon this morning. The guest speaker today was Ken Blanchard (Author of The One Minute Manager) and he really did an excellent job sharing his personal testimony and also about how he has come to believe that Jesus is the ultimate model of leadership.

Also, well done Eric. This year Eric got the opportunity to read the NT passage at the breakfast. Here he is eating his luke warm eggs and bacon before the program started. He was there today representing DeVry University as their Fall 2004 Valedictorian. He is in the background there at the table with the white shirt. Nice tie!

Church being mobilized in Torrance

Eric, Mary and myself joined our Torrance Catalyst, Evan Chase, at his home church for the initiation of a couple task forces for that city. One of the joys or our calling is to travel to neighboring cities to see how God is moving there. There was about 60 people who stayed after the morning services to hear about how God is mobilizing the entire Church there (as individuals and and as a collective body) and how they are a strategic part of it. There was definitely a buzz in the room as God's people really began to sense how they could further take responsibility for their city. It was so exciting that us "city outsiders" almost joined one of the teams ourselves! Keep up the great work Evan as you lovingly serve the Church of Torrance and beyond.

North Long Beach asking for a "healing of their land"!

It was great to see many people from a number of local ministries come out to Houghton Park to lift up the Name of Jesus in North Long Beach. I forgot to count but there must have been around at least 50 people there. One of our stated goals for the day was to spend more time talking to Jesus than to each other. I know that may not sound like a revolutionary concept for a "prayer gathering" but many times gatherings like this aren't actually as much about prayer. I was encouraged to see various sized groups walking around the park talking to King Jesus asking Him to "heal our land". Thanks to all of you who helped out behind the scenes and/or took a lead role in making this time happen. God's desire, as both you and I know, is to "hear from on high" the prayers of His people when they intercede on behalf of their neighborhoods like we did and continue to do. Lord, may your will be done in North Long Beach as it is in heaven!

Hope to see many of you out tonight at our Community Mobilization Meeting at Glad Tidings from 6:45 to 8:30 PM. Tonight we will be breaking out the Strategic Planning Process and will be laying the groundwork for some action plans for the next year.

Our Golf Marathon was a success!

I know EXACTLY how that guy feels! I too spent much of my day wandering around looking for my golf balls!

I did it though! I actually played 100 holes of golf in one day. I shot a 25 under par. Not bad for a 4x per year golfer/hacker! Here is how I did it. We all teed off at 8:00 am. It couldn’t have been a nicer day. We were the only ones on the course so we had the run of a top notch golf course. We each played 5 balls off of each tee. We would then round up our four terrible shots (actually, we only rounded up the ones that weren’t in someone’s backyard, under 10 feet of green water or left resting somewhere in the “I’m sure I saw it land over here somewhere” parts of the course) and then hit 5 shots again from where our best shot was lying. For you golfers, this would be known as a ‘personal best-ball scramble’. At the end of each hole we would count our shots as if we had just played that hole 5 times.  5 balls x 20 holes (plus 8 band-aids, 3 granola bars, a nice box lunch, 30+ lost golf balls, 3 bananas, gallons of water and juice, and a week long recovery from sore muscles) = 100 holes of golf in a day! Simple as that! For the record, my mother-in-law says that this was cheating! Technically, however, I did hit 100 tee shots, 100+ approach shots and 100+ puts.

What a blast! What a great way to spend a day. What a great way to raise some money for a worthy cause. We were able to raise just over $40 thousand dollars to support our work across the LA Basin. Thanks to all of you who helped to make that happen! We are deeply appreciative! All of us as Kingdom Causes Catalysts are dependant on raising monthly financial support for our work so the investment on your part will go a long way! It was such a success that we plan on doing it again next year and would love to have you join us out on the links!

Busy day of planning for the North Long Beach Charet

Tommorow night is our North Long Beach Community Forum. We are polishing up many of the last minute details today. We are hoping to have another gathering with a diversity of local ministires there. In addition to helping to mobilize God's people there we are also looking to learn from this Charet (strategic conversation) and see if this might not be a model that can be reproduced in other areas.

The purpose of this meeting is to find ways to identify, celebrate and even initiate signs of Hope and Life in the community. The meeting will be held in their social hall from 7:00-8:30 PM. Doors open at 6:30 and light refreshments will be served. Childcare will also be provided. All are welcome!