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 9^th. 

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 “normal” in 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 9^th 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 9^th 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

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. REGISTER NOW! 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: www.unitednightofworship.com United Night of Worship PO Box 51934 Boston, MA 02205 Tel. 978.476.2446 or603.738.2253    facebook        twitter

Report on 10 Days North Shore

Report on the 10 Days North Shore 2011, June 2-12

 It’s always a privilege to be able to write good news!  I am so grateful for God’s work through the 10 days north shore and for the personal sacrifices that many made to offer a weighty sacrifice to Jesus.  He is worthy of it and I sense His pleasure as we learn increasingly to recognize and respond to His worthiness. 

Presence is our Purpose

The focus of the 10 days is always on adoring Jesus Christ and welcoming His Presence into our midst.  This year was no exception.  Throughout the days, in the evenings, and through the night watches, our focus was on Jesus Christ and our goal to make His presence welcome in our midst.  My best memories of the 10 days this year are of sitting at the piano worshipping at the feet of Jesus, or of enjoying his presence in the evening with my spiritual family, or of praying for someone hurting and seeing His presence minister to them. 

I love seeing the change that comes over people as they remain in God’s presence for hours and hours.  A static expression changes into a gaping smile, fear, despair, and worry are wiped away and replaced with joy and hope.  I love hearing the stories of how God moves when we simply remain near to Him.  Long-term problems fall away in an instant, God shows us what’s next in our lives, we receive the encouragement we need for the road ahead.   Friends, we come alive in His presence!  We were never meant to function apart from it.

Warfare and Worship

Sometimes in prayer, we see only Jesus.  These are my favorite times. Other times, there is an awareness that the enemy is opposing us in prayer.  We see this in the Scriptures in Daniel 10, where Daniel’s prayers were resisted for 21 days before Gabriel and Michael brought a breakthrough.  This year, I had a strong awareness that the enemy was resisting us.  When we experience spiritual opposition, we respond in the opposite spirit! The enemy, of course, is trying to get us all worked up with fear, despair, anxiety, and beating ourselves or each other up.  In “spiritual warfare”, we fight despair with hope, we bring peace and joy to bear on the situation.  Most of all, we worship and declare the supremacy of Jesus Christ. Indeed, God has put all things under His feet! 

The good thing about warfare is that when there is warfare, we win.  God has promised victory and we always have it when we persevere.  This year, the warfare seemed to come to a head on Thursday, June 9th during the day.  It had been an intense series of days in the prayer room.  That afternoon after exultant worship, two men named Gabriel and Michael received Christ at a nearby restaurant.  We rejoiced for them, and also took it as encouragement from the Lord that His angels were fighting for us.  As evening brought in an intense thunder and wind storm, there was a sense among many of us that “it’s finished”.  Often times in prayer you receive a “burden” and then after praying through it there is a sense of completion.  I don’t totally know how to describe it, but I knew Thursday night that whatever we were doing in our prayers had been completed.

Celebrate Statistics!

Numbers are not really a reliable indicator of quality.  However, sometimes numbers all by themselves can be encouraging.  Consider this:

Upwards of 17 North Shore Congregations and 6 local ministries participated actively.

13 of those local congregations hosted an evening gathering

A total of 10 evenings, 8 days, and 6 all-nights were filled with near-continous worship and prayer.  We shared in communion together each evening.  In addition, the fellowship among area believers was especially sweet. 

Many people were fasting during this time as well—we have no idea how many, but are grateful!

We had between 25 and 75 people each evening with around 250 on the final evening at Christ the Redeemer.

More than Skin Deep

Behind the numbers is the good stuff--the width and depth of relationship and partnership among believers on the North Shore. This partnership is not skin-deep but has grown out of genuine and durable friendships formed in our local pastors group as well as the relationships of believers throughout the area.  Because gatherings like these are borne out of relationships and friendships, we can expect to see more partnership of this kind in future years.

Where do we go from here: Making the city-wide Church visible

In the New Testament, the word “church” could refer to a group of believers who met in a house (the church that meets at so-and-so’s house).  It could also refer to all believers everywhere (the “capital C” church).  However, often the word “church” is used to refer to all the believers in an area (the church of Ephesus, Philadelphia, or Boston).  Your city or geographical area has a “Church”.  The question is, does that city-wide or area wide church have any sense of corporate identity?  Is there any communication infrastructure, any shared sense of leadership and vision?  Are there relationships of love and trust between leaders of the various congregations?

The vision of these extended seasons of corporate worship is to make visible “the church on the North Shore”.  If we are really “one in Christ”, there needs to be an expression of that.  A “corpuscular church” model, where each congregation essential functions entirely independently or with relation only to its own denomination, will not be able to withstand the spiritual and perhaps even physical pressures of the days ahead. The time is right for us to move forward in making visible the city-wide church and gatherings like 10 days are part of God’s strategy to bring unity.  Consider the following thoughts from Francis Frangipane:

“We can have national days of prayer, regional weeks of supplication---we can even call tens of thousands to pray for specific areas to change, but if the church which dwells in that area is bound and divided by strife, the enemy will not be plundered. Whenever we pray against the spiritual forces of wickedness over a region, our first line of offense is praying for the churches to be united in their worship and their warfare. Why pray for the church? If "there is jealousy and selfish ambition" in the church, there will inevitably be "disorder and every evil thing" in that locality (James 3:16).”

“Therefore, we conclude: It takes a citywide church to win the citywide war. All of our individual evangelistic programs, our Sunday teachings and aggressive attempts to bind principalities and powers are only of limited value if we, the born-again church, remain divided. However, even as one person"s transformation from carnality to the image of Christ can revolutionize a church, so the transformation of the citywide church into the image of Christ can revolutionize a city.”

See the entire Article here:

Father, we pray that you would raise up a united Church in cities and towns across New England.  Show us a new way to live together as your people where we value the diversity of the many tribes and also reveal that we are all “one nation” with a common identity in Christ.  Cast down despair and cynicism and raise up expectant hope and unrelenting faith.  Fill us with love for one another “as Jesus has loved us” so that the world will see that You sent Jesus and that You have loved us just like you loved Him.

Let it be Lord!

--Jonathan Friz, June 21 2011

You are invited to the upcoming 24hrs of Prayer in Boston, June 24th-25th, Fri 8am-Sat 8am.
Individual Churches and Ministries will lead 1-2 hrs of Worship and Prayer within the 24hrs of Prayer.To get involved, please sign up/confirm your participation[ by call/e-mail] as Worship team, Prayer leader or Minister of the Gospel.


Consolata Apwapo, coordinator of ICPAN


Please email at  a.conso@yahoo.com to sign up!

CONVERGE BOSTON

Faneuil Hall | 2pm-4pm

With Bethany & Darrell Temple, Jonathan Friz, Linda Clark, Jon & Jolene Hamill, more

Jon & Jolene Hamill request the honor of your presence as we seek God together to impact the root of our nation with His glory! New England is covenant ground. Join us Saturday as we reaffirm this covenantal legacy and welcome a move of Holy Spirit awakening and union.

We begin in Massachusetts, “the Spirit of America.” Then on July 4, we will converge in our nation’s capitol to present a Declaration of Covenant, affirming our foundational dedication to Jesus Christ and asking God to restore our land and government according to our covenantal foundations. Key national and regional leaders are coming—with no other agenda than to affirm this consecration.

Why? Because covenant precedes revival. We truly believe this is our nation’s greatest hope is, as Isaiah articulated, “to Him your land shall be married.”

Three teams—north, south, and west—are traversing historic wells of awakening and Civil War battlefields en route to Washington DC. We are calling our journey the “11-11 Campaign.” The Pilgrims cut covenant with Christ on 11-11, 1620. John 11:11 gives the best biblical definition of awakening I know. “Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep. But I go that I may awaken him from slumber!”

Prophetic Framework of 11-11 Campaign
The 11-11 Campaign has been framed prophetically by two key prophecies from Rick Ridings. In 1998, Rick prophesied at Faneuil Hall that Mobile Alabama would break forth in revival. He then saw a wind tunnel connecting Mobile and Boston. According to Rick, the wind tunnel would “open with an initial burst,” and the winds of Holy Spirit awakening would be released across the eastern seabord.

As of 2010, Mobile is in revival. And highly unusual tornadic activity between Alabama and Massachusetts seems to indicate THE WIND TUNNEL IS NOW OPEN. Could it be we are now on the precipice of revival?!!! Our south team will be in Mobile while we are in Boston, asking together for Holy Spirit awakening and union.

More information and prophetic insights at www.lamplighterministries.net

5th Friday Prayer is April 29th!

Quarterly United Prayer meetings are part of our unique spiritual heritage in New England, dating back to the time of the 1st Great Awakening.  

When: Friday night, April 29

Where: Wherever you are!  It's up to local fellowships to organize gatherings in their area.  New Hampshire usually leads the way in the number of gatherings

What should I do: We'd love to hear about any meetings that are being hosted--please post meeting times and locations to the "Comment" section below

Brave Generation

Dear Friends,

The New England Alliance is a relational network, a collection of friends and their friends who all want to see God's Spirit poured out on New England.

We're excited to partner with some of our friends from Holyfire Ministries in presenting the Brave Generation Conference: “We Are One”. We will focus on unity in the church to see our cities transformed by the gospel. Our desire is to spark a vision to see the church change culture- not competing with one another, but completing each other in unity.

We feel like God is allowing us to be a part of something divine, something His hand is guiding. We’ve become convinced that New England is steamrolling towards spiritual renewal and somehow God has allowed these conferences to play a small part in His great plan. This event is an opportunity to seek God with hundreds of leaders and young people from across the region. For those of you who attended the Solemn Assembly last fall, the venue will be familiar!

April 15-16th 2011
Plymouth Memorial Hall
Plymouth, MA

This year's workshop speakers include:

-DAVID W. HILL (Team Leader from Fenway Church in Boston, MA)
-JOE PASKEWICH (Lead Pastor at Calvary Chapel in Uncasville, CT)
-ZENZO MATOGA (Missionary and Visionary Leader, Boston Night of Worship)

The second breakout session will be an interactive discussion with influential leaders from across New England.

Lets continue together to seek God for awakening in New England.

For more information contact Holyfire at:


(203) 887.3141 or www.brave-generation.com