Sunday, November 27, 2011

"When God is Known in the Land: The Story of the Glory of God in Cape Cod"

Egyptian Prologue

For 27-year-old Mamdouh Riad, revival was the last thing on his mind as he walked Cairo’s crowded streets.

Mamdouh grew up in Cairo in a Coptic Orthodox Christian family.  He attended medical school in Egypt, where he met his American wife, Cynthia.  While he was a student, he attended a conference hosted by a vibrant Presbyterian church that had an active campus ministry. Unsure of what to expect, Mamdouh left the gathering radically changed.  Years later, the experience is still fresh: “All I can say is that I once was blind, but now I see.”

In the midst of a spiritual awakening, Mamdouh still had to pass his rigorous medical exams in order to be able to practice medicine in America.  The exams were so difficult and rigorous that they consumed all his thoughts.  He had nothing on his mind regarding spiritual matters.  

He had no idea he was on the verge of a transforming encounter with the Lord.

Now, as he walked the noisy streets of Cairo, totally focused on his exams, he suddenly heard God speaking to him in an internal audible voice: “Do you know what revival is?” The words literally reverberated through his body as he walked.  “I was very surprised by the question. Revival was the furthest thing from my mind at that moment.  It is almost embarrassing how uninterested I was.”  Thankfully, God had an answer ready. He heard the Lord say:Revival is when I am known in the land.”

Mamdouh took note of this experience and moved on with life.  “As I studied the scriptures, I came to understand that this was a very Biblical definition of revival.  It occurred to me that someday I would be involved in a revival movement that would lead to God being known in the land.

The Glory of God

Mamdouh and Cynthia moved to America and settled in Cape Cod. “We moved to the US, began to attend church, raise a family, practice medicine.  I was just minding my own business.”

In the midst of minding his own business, the Egyptian doctor had another strong stirring from the Lord in June of 2004:

“I was stirred with a very clear message and a particular phrase ‘the Glory of God on Cape Cod.’  By ‘the glory of God’, I understood specifically ‘the manifest presence of God’ both on His people and visible to unbelievers.  This was the message that stirred me: We’re called to have his glory upon us, it’s our inheritance, but we are not living fully into our inheritance. When the manifest presence of God is upon his people, unbelievers recognize who God is.  In contrast, when the glory lifts off his people, unbelievers mock and reproach the church saying, ‘where is your God’?  It’s not right for things to be like this in the Church. We’re in the spiritual equivalent of Israel’s Babylonian captivity.  Church as we know it is our norm. It’s all we’ve experienced and we’ve never seen anything else.  But this is not the way things are supposed to be.”

Gathering for God’s Glory

Having a message is one thing; the challenging part is figuring out what to do with it.

“I began to ask myself, ‘what am I going to do—I’m just a person in the marketplace’.  So, I started speaking with pastors, inviting them to breakfast, and then began to share what God had put on my heart.  One pastor would respond, then the next week I’d meet with two pastors.  Some resonated with the message and others did not.”

By September of 2004, this group of like-minded believers from a few area churches had started a prayer meeting twice a month at Mamdouh’s home.

Pastor  of New Life Christian Center in Dennisport remembers those breakfasts in 2004. “Mamdouh put voice to what was already resting in our hearts…We started meeting every second Wednesday to pray for one item only…that the glory of God would come on Cape Cod.”  That Wednesday prayer meeting has now been going on twice a month for 7 years.

In March of 2006, the pastors that were involved in the breakfast prayer meeting wrote a letter together to all the born-again pastors they knew of on the Cape.  They even scoured the phone-book.  Pastors all over the Cape were invited to join together and pray for God to be known in the land; some began to respond.

Initiatives

“We had no plan, no blueprint; we didn’t know what to do.  We just showed up.  We didn’t want to initiate from our good ideas; we just began to pray, and followed God.”—Mamdouh Riad

In January of 2007, the group began to sense God’s leading for a Cape Cod Sacred Assembly—a Cape wide gathering for repentance and intercession.  The gathering happened on Sept. 22 (Yom Kippur) at a local high-school with close to 700 participants.  This 2007 Sacred Assembly would serve as inspiration for the New England Solemn Assemblies from 2008-2010.

Pastor Bob Condon of Gateway Christian Center was surprised by the hunger and the number of the participants at the first Assembly.  “Sometimes as shepherds we feel like we have to drag the sheep to the water—we were amazed to see how people responded and their hunger to be involved in something like this.”  

The Cape Sacred Assembly was followed by other Cape-wide gatherings in 2008 and 2009 and the bi-weekly prayer meeting continued at the Riad’s home. In 2009, the group was stirred to take the prayer meeting outside the Riad’s home to move it from church to church.  Since 2009, there’s been a corporate, multi-church prayer meeting once a month. This mobile meeting has moved all-over the Cape from Wareham to Truro—the last town before Provincetown.

Ed de la Cour, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pocasset for 25 years, loved hosting the meeting at his church.  “When the monthly prayer meeting came to our church, the place was packed!  There was a whole season of prayer for our church.  It was a God thing and God showed up…I mean, When a Baptist says he ‘feels the presence of God’, you’ve got to pay attention to that!”

However, this “God thing” seems to happen everywhere the meetings go.  Ed says, “One of the indications that ‘it’s a God thing’ is that music style, denominational background, whatever, it doesn’t matter—God shows up everywhere and everywhere is different.  It’s never the same; it’s always different but always very beautiful.”

Starting in the fall of 2011, the group has initiated “Cape Vision Sunday.”  “Two pastors from churches not like yours will show up on Sunday morning”, says Ed, “demonstrating to the congregation that here are two pastors that are willing to forgo their own worship service to stand up with our pastor and declare ‘we are one with this guy.’”   This effectively gets the vision into the hands of the people and also demonstrates the unity of the pastors who stand together, speak together, and even sacrifice being at their own churches to do this together.

Unity

“Part of our testimony on Cape Cod [to the outside world] is that the walls and doors in the church are coming down.  There’s an acceptance of one another; a reaching out to each other that’s happening.”—Stephen Russell, New Life Christian Center

As in other movements around New England, Unity is a hallmark of what’s happening on the Cape.  About 20 churches are involved from a diverse denominational background including Anglican, CMA, Nazarene, Vineyard, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Non-denominational, and Pentecostal congregations.

For pastor Ed, the unity is all-about friendship. “What’s happening is based on relationship—there’s a sense of long-standing relationship with people of integrity.  I’d love to be their friends and hang out with them. If they prosper and I don’t prosper, I’ll still say ‘Yeah God!’” 

For Bob Condon, who has pastored on the Cape for 10 years, the growing unity is the greatest visible fruit of the last seven years.  “It’s very different than it was 10 years ago with guys competing with each other, judging one another.  You really just don’t see that anymore at all.  The journey to get to where we are has been difficult at times, but we’re coming to a “wide open place” of peace and rest among us.”

Dwelling Place

“Unity positions us to be a dwelling for God’s presence. Together, we’re becoming a place for the Holy Spirit to be comfortable—a dwelling place for God.”—Mamdouh Riad

The goal of the Glory of God in Cape Cod is to see genuine revival, where God is known on Cape Cod by everyone, whether they follow Him or not.  Believers are sensing the tide rising on the Cape as the Body of Christ cries out and is knit together in love through these united gatherings.

While a lot of progress has been made, Ed also sees room for growth.  “We’ve got a long ways to go.  We only have 20 out of 60 evangelical churches on the Cape involved, so there’s a ways to go, but God has been faithful.”

Mamdouh sees what’s happening on the Cape as part of a much larger picture of God’s activity around the world in these times, times where God is shaking everything that can be shaken: “We believe that these stirrings are God preparing His people to come together ahead of a time of both great glory and great darkness in the world.  We believe the whole earth is heading toward a time described in Isaiah 60, a time of birthpangs, both great difficulty in the world and great glory on the Church.”

“It’s important for us to recognize that we need to prepare an infrastructure so we can be positioned to be a prophetic voice and a place of refuge for the world in the coming season.” 

At a time when it seems the whole world holds the church in contempt, Jesus continues to build His church, filling it with such love and power that “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”  He’s building something unshakeable, something that darkness cannot touch.  On Cape Cod, throughout New England, and around the world, dry-bones are coming together as the Lord fashions life from the dust once again.  Let’s give thanks as before our very eyes we see stone joined to stone and bone to bone.

By: Jonathan Friz, New England Alliance

From interviews with:
Mamdouh Riad, The Glory of God on Cape Cod
Pastor Ed de la Cour, First Baptist Church, Pocasset

For more information on this movement, please visit www.thegloryofgodoncapecod.com




Friday, November 11, 2011

When God Throws a Halloween Party




Dear Friends,

Sometimes, God does things that are so good they're almost hard to believe.  This Halloween, over a dozen ministries from around NE and the country partnered in "the Love Project", 60 hours of sustained prayer combined with outreach on the streets of Salem, MA.  While the groups sustained worship and prayer in a local church, teams went out on the streets of Salem to minister to the revelers.  

During three days, the teams saw over 150 physical healings, more than two dozen people make professions of faith, and were able to minister personal prophecy to over 200 people.  Some groups reported that everyone who came to them for healing was healed.  Many people who were ministered to left blown away by the experience of God's love that came through these young people.

Now, I know--Christians in the past have had a reputation for exaggerating numbers.  Growing up in the church, this would drive me crazy! In order to combat that, we've deliberately estimated the total numbers "down" rather than "up".  Just one group of around 8 people saw 70 healings in just three hours time on Halloween night.  Many of the people who reported being healed that night were openly mocking the team--they came in skeptical, they left rocked by God.  Our point is this--In what seems like a very dark place, a lot of people who were not expecting it were getting powerfully touched by the love and power of Jesus.  We were able to capture hours of testimony, most of which we were not able to fit into the video update.

For some, this kind of outreach and it's results may not fit into your theological grid. You may see "this kind of thing" as representing some other kind of Christian group other than your own. If that's you,  I'd like you to consider that miracles accompanying the proclamation of the gospel is actually central to how the gospel is preached the Scriptures.  This is a highly Biblical way of doing evangelism.

For others, it may just be so far outside of what you've experienced personally, as to be almost incredible.  I'd ask you to watch and listen with an open mind.  We have to let Scripture and the Holy Spirit, not our experience, determine what's possible and what's normal.  God is transforming the culture of the Church so that what once was unusual or exceptional is becoming normal.  And yes, even if you haven't experienced it to this point, God is wants you to do "this kind of thing" too!  

I hope you're encouraged by God's work in our midst.  May it continue and increase!

Jonathan Friz

Report on 10 Days Boston from Kelly Steinhaus




10 Days of worship, prayer, and fasting, building up to the Boston Night of Worship on October 9...

From September 29 to October 9, I worked with two other leaders in the area to organize and plan 10 Days Boston, which involved two daytime prayer sets each day, as well as evening gatherings happening in churches throughout the city. In the planning, we intentionally reached out to a variety of denominations and people groups throughout the city. I felt that each night I experienced a different part of the heart of God - it's not every day you get to worship with Koreans or say Psalm 133 in Arabic. It truly gives you an understanding that truly it is Christ who binds the Church together.

One huge blessing was that a gentleman in the area offered to video updates for us during the ten days. So even if you weren't here in the Boston area, or weren't able to participate, you can still check out what God was doing!

Here's a video about the vision of the 10 Days - graciously prepared by the video team at Pentecostal Tabernacle and beautifully done:

Here are the video updates that Brandt Gillespie of Pray.tv prepared for us. I served as the "on-scene reporter"...I never imagined that I would be on some sort of televised production, but sometimes God surprises us with the opportunities that come our way!








Personally, I feel completely grown, changed through this experience. It was an incredible season for me - not simply from the ten days, but from the entire process of working with my brothers Jonathan and Frank - catching the vision and running with it to mobilize leaders of congregations in different churches. Each evening gathering had about an average of fifty to one hundred people in attendance - so to think that this vision touched 500 to 1000 people in the area is pretty incredible. I sense that there is a fabric that is being interwoven, knitted together among the body, and that rather than the end of the ten days, this is the beginning...

I have also experienced a greater understanding as to the transformative power of prayer and fasting. There is something about fasting that enables you to completely die to yourself and rely only on Christ. That, coupled with spending 7+ hours a day in the presence of God, praying, worshipping, journaling, being with God's people - my heart feels completely soft to the movings of the spirit. Right now, I don't want to do anything to quench His spirit, His leadings. As the fast concluded, I feel a sort of resurrection to new life. I now have a greater sense of what God is saying and doing, a clearer voice, greater intimacy than before, and I praise Him for that.

Corporately, what I am beginning to understand is that there is something released between individuals when they decide to pray and fast together - deciding to consecrate not only their time but their physical nourishment for the sake of Christ together. This engages hearts, minds, bodies, and souls and begins to bring them together into a spiritual union. One tangible expression of this was during the Arabic and Messianic Jewish gathering where Pastor Khokhlan washed the feet of his Arab brothers as a symbol of reconciliation among the people groups (see video update #3 for real-time footage)

Jonathan remarked how he now doesn't see the colors of people's skin anymore - as though there is no difference at all, or that the differences are something highly valuable. I feel similarly - and it was a running joke that Frank called Jonathan and myself his "twin brother and sister." As the ten days progressed, an incredible sense of brotherly love began to emerge between Frank, Jonathan, and myself - and we couldn't even sit at the Boston Night of Worship in separate seats without texting one another, longing to worship together as we had for the past ten days.

Colossians 3:14 says "Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity." My question is - what could God do with a church that is united like that? What if not just dozens, but hundreds, thousands of Christians were able to experience that spiritual union and the cords of love that bound us together...What if, instead of just joining in this movement for one evening gathering or a few daytime prayer sets, what if people decided to truly devote and dedicate the ten days to God and to the Church in this city? When the Church is truly united as one, we will be a force to be reckoned with...

--Kelly Steinhaus, Unite Boston

Monday, August 29, 2011

Cry Out America! Suffolk County


On September 11, 2011, believers in Jesus Christ will gather in every county of the United States for prayer on the 10th Anniversary of the 9-11 Attacks.
Time: Sunday September 11, 2-3pm

We in Suffolk County, the Greater Boston area, are in a unique position as we mark this anniversary. 10 years ago, two jets left Logan Airport and flew into the World Trade Center in New York City.


In many ways this was symbolic of what our city has become. We were founded to be a city set on a hill, the only major city in the world outside of Jerusalem founded on a covenant with God. Instead of being a point of light, in many ways we have become “a byword among the nations.” We believe that we can still tap into the ancient wells of our city, and be a light to the world.
Join us at 2pm Sunday September 11, 2011 on the Boston Common, for one hour of concerted prayer for our nation and the city of Boston.


We will gather on the Northeast corner of the Common, not far from the State House, and near Park Street Station.We ask that you encourage your church to spread the word, and also pray the following prayer in your church on Sunday, September 11, 2011.


Heavenly Father,
Source of all Life, Freedom, and Joy:
We pray for our nation,
and for Suffolk County Massachusetts.
We have permitted sin,
broken covenants,
and allowed the shedding of innocent blood.
You have heard our many cries of repentance.
Now we ask that you bring forth a new birth of freedom to this city,
a second American Revolution of righteousness,
and a Third Great Awakening.
May we return to the original destiny for Boston,
and reopen the ancient wells of revival.
We are asking for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit,
unlike any before in human history.
All this we ask for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray.
Amen.
Christ Otto, Suffolk County Coordinator, Cry Out America.
Questions may be directed to belonginghouse@gmail.com.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Become a Chaplain

Chaplain LeSette Wright
President, CUME Alumni Association
See website for dates and times.

Prepare to become a chaplain and to render spiritual aid in personal crises and community-wide disasters. This intensive 45 hour course of training for certification for chaplaincy is open to non-clergy. Course includes (but not limited to): critical incident stress, critical incident stress management, critical incident stress debriefing, grief and loss, trauma, domestic violence, disaster relief, depression, human trafficking. Details on the Boston event and the International Fellowship of Chaplains.

72 Hours of Prayer

Consolata Apwapo writes: Dear Beloved of God,

The Lord bless you and keep you. We thank God for yet another opportunity to spend time in His Presence together. Together with Grace Ministries International, Intercity Prayer Altars Network invites you to 72 Hours of Prayer, including a Day of Declaration at Capitol Hill, Concord NH.


Date and Time: Wed Oct 12, 7pm- Sat Oct 15, 7pm
Start Location: Grace Ministries International, 263 Rt 125, Brentwood, NH from Wednesday at 7 pm - Saturday 12 noon.
End Location: Capitol Hill Sat afternoon, 12pm-7pm.

Theme: Repositioning Ourselves for Dominion!
Isaiah 22:22-23
22 The key of the house of David
I will lay on his shoulder;
So he shall open, and no one shall shut;
And he shall shut, and no one shall open.
23 I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place,
And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. 
Vision Statement
God is mindful of us and wants to visit us with His power and glory. He has made us a little lower than the angels and has crowned us with His glory and honor. He has made us to have dominion over the works of His hands; He has put all things under our feet! With this in mind, we need to Reposition ourselves to walk in our God given Dominion!
Come into His Presence and Reposition yourself for dominion to be true witnesses of the Kingdom of God and for Jesus Christ! Imitating Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith,seeing yourself as God sees you.
Register
Consolata, Intercity Prayer Altars Network 781-888-2895
Beverly, Grace Ministries International 603-642-7848
We look forward to spending time together in the Presence of our Father!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

10 Days Boston and BNOW




For the last three years, believers around New England have partnered together to do a Fall Solemn Assembly that was linked with 10 days of worship, fasting, and prayer based on the fall “Feasts of the Lord”. 


On March 7, during a time of listening prayer regarding the Solemn Assembly, the Lord made it very clear that he had something different in mind for the “Solemn Assembly” this year. The Lord said that it would be a celebration, that it would happen on October 9th in Boston, and that others were also hearing from God about this and it would involve many different threads coming together.

As you can imagine, I was somewhat taken aback by the shift in emphasis for the Fall Gathering.  I almost felt like God was winking at me—“just trust me Son”. 

At that time, plans were already underway to do “10 Days Boston” this fall (September 29 to October 9).  In response to this word, a group of us began to dream about a fall 10 day city-wide gathering of worship, fasting, and prayer that would culminate (somewhat differently from past years) in a celebratory gathering on Sunday, Oct 9.

A Divine Set-up

A few days later, I spoke with Zenzo Matoga who has been organizing the Boston Night of Worship. Zenzo shared with me the startling fact that BNOW was being planned for Sunday, October 9th--the same day the Lord had said to "bring threads together.” It was a moment of clarity—God had been setting us up!  Personally, I was blown away by some of the similar ways that God was speaking to us, including the sense that this year would be a "Celebration" (consistent with BNOW) rather than a "Joel 2" Solemn Assembly. 

This summer, after further confirmations from the Lord that left absolutely no doubt in our minds as to His direction, the 10 Days Boston planning team and the Boston Night of Worship team agreed to a common vision to align the 10 Days Boston with BNOW this year. In past years, the 10 days has culminated in a NE Solemn Assembly--this year it will build up to the Boston Night of Worship on October 9th

While the character of the 10 Days will stay the same (focus on God doing a deep work in our hearts, opening ourselves up to personal repentance, and longing for Christ’s return) we’ll hit a different high-note than years past with the Boston Night of Worship.  This is all part of God bringing threads together—I can’t wait to see what he does through this!

10 Days Boston: What if?

All of us worship and pray on a daily basis.  However, there are some moments in time where our regular rhythms are not enough, where God invites us to set aside ordinary life in order to seek His face with extra-ordinary focus and passion. God uses these times of consecration to strengthen the simplicity of our faith in Jesus Christ, to deepen our love for one another, to breathe fresh vision, and to bring personal and corporate breakthroughs. After these times of consecration, our “normal” life is deeply affected, reviving us with a deeper awareness of God’s presence in all circumstances.

Can you imagine what it would look like, if at the same moment in time, thousands within the Church of Boston set-aside “normalin order to seek God’s face together?

Can you imagine thousands of believers overwhelmed by fresh revelation of who Jesus Christ really is, and who we are in Him?  Perhaps thousands will have personal breakthroughs in a short period of time. Many of us have witnessed when just one person in a local congregation has a profound encounter with Jesus, it can affect the entire congregation.  What if thousands had this experience within a short period of time and then came together on October 9th for extravagant worship?  Could it be the turning point for an entire city? 

10 Days Boston: The Plan

Of course, the heart of 10 Days Boston is followers of Jesus setting themselves apart to seek God with united worship, fasting, and prayer.  Fundamentally, we’re asking you to set yourself apart and go deep with God during these 10 Days.
With a deep sense of thankfulness for what Christ has done for us, 10 Days Boston will be characterized by an unapologetic desire for “more”. Through concerted worship and fasting, we are expressing a deep longing for more of God in our own lives, for love, purity, and power in the Church, as well as intentionally “longing for and hastening the day” of Christ’s return. 

There will also be three ways we’ll be seeking God corporately

1)     Nightly Gatherings (Sept 29-Oct 8) hosted by different groups of believers in different locations.  Together with believers around metro Boston, we’re planning a mobile gathering of worship and prayer that touches every corner of the city of Boston and engages the city-wide church.  Each night from 7-9pm, a different group of congregations will host a gathering of worship and prayer in a different part of the city.  See our schedule to see who’s hosting, find locations, and get directions

2)     Daily, Ongoing Prayer (Sept 29-Oct 8) The evening gatherings will move all around the city.  During the day the worship and prayer will continue with two set “prayer hubs”, one in Cambridge and one in South Boston.  As God calls you, we’d encourage you to engage in daily, corporate worship and prayer during the 10 Days

3)     A Culminating Gathering: Boston Night of Worship on Oct 9 is the final, celebratory gathering.  Make sure you’re not still fasting at this point!  We’re coming together to celebrate the finished work of the Cross and declare that “Jesus Christ is Lord over Boston”.

www.uniteboston.com will be the online hub for locations and scheduling.  We’ll be sending regular email updates as the schedule solidifies.

A Call to the Region

In addition to this call to Boston, we are inviting believers around New England to worship, fast, and pray from September 29-October 8 and then join us in Boston on October 9th for the Boston Night of Worship.  We’re hoping to see city and area-wide churches set themselves apart during these days to humble themselves, pray, turn from sin, and turn towards God’s face.  We hope you can join us as well.


Blessings,

Jonathan Friz and the 10 Days Boston Team






Friday, August 5, 2011

Boston Night of Worship



Over 100 local worshippers united across cultural, denominational, and social lines will unite on one stage at the 8,000-seater Agganis Arena. Let's come and shake the city with our worship and rededicate New England back to Jesus! Joining us this year are guest worship leaders Tye Tribbett and Jared Anderson of Desperation Band.

  • To buy tickets in person, visit our website for a list of locations
  • Groups of 20 or more, contact the arena directly at 617-353-4628 
"FRIENDS OF BNOW" Program! Preferred floor seating, a free T-shirt and the NEW BNOW DVD! This offer is available for a donation of $65 to help us make BNOW 2011 a great success.
E-mail us for more information or call Amy @ 617-953-5219.

To Join BNOW 2011 Choir and for Volunteer Opportunities, come to one of our Mobilization Meetings, starting THIS FRIDAY! Spread the word to everyone you know!
  • August 5, 7:00pm @ Lion of Judah Church, 68 Northampton St., Boston, MA 02118
  • August 13, 10:00am @ International Family Church, 99 Concord St., N. Reading, MA 01864
  • August 20, 10:00am @ Jubilee Christian Church, 1500 Blue Hill Ave., Mattapan, MA 02126
  • August 27, 10:00am @ Life Church, 4000 Mystic Valley Pkwy, Medford, MA 02155
10 Days Boston/United Night of Prayer
  • We will be praying for 10 days leading up to BNOW 2011. For a list of locations go towww.UniteBoston.com 
  • Come and be part of the first "United Night of Prayer-Boston" 2 days before BNOW 2011 on Friday, Oct. 7th @ 7pm, Jubilee Christian Church, 1500 Blue Hill Ave., Mattapan, MA 02126  

"Praise and Worship From United and Desperate Hearts Will Shake the Foundation of a City!"
"That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." John 17:21-23


Connect with us at:

United Night of Worship
PO Box 51934
Boston, MA 02205