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Dear People of the Northstate Vision:
Easter will come on the second Sunday of this month – when the Son of God has done it all and our only job is to bask in the joy of His victory. The birthday of the Body of Christ that we call Pentecost will come on the last Sunday in May – when the Son has empowered us to accomplish His Great Commission and our only task is to obey Him, ushering in the Kingdom with our testimony in the power of His Holy Spirit. In the between times comes one of the hard parts. We are called to live in the tension between His unbreakable promise and the fact that all has not yet come to pass. We are still called – in this time – to make in the desert a straight highway for our God and King. And the first week in May can be pivotal for all of this – if we prepare our hearts now.
The first week of May is a time packed with strategic events for the Kingdom in the Northstate. On Monday, May 3, we begin the second annual proclamation of the Word of God over the city of Redding at 6:00 AM – what used to be called Daybreak. The Bible: Up Close and Personal will be held on the steps of Redding’s City Hall between the city offices and the council chambers – in the breezeway – and hundreds of Christians will simply read aloud from the Bible for fifteen minutes each – round the clock – from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. At 6:30 AM – on Channel 26/Cable 15 – we will launch PrayNorthstate Television with our first broadcast. The program format will be akin to that of PrayNorthstate Radio with two guests who are ministering outside of the box as they walk out their unique relationship to our God and King. On Thursday, May 6, just as the Bible reading concludes, the city will gather to celebrate the National Day of Prayer in the patio of the Redding City Hall. And on Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8, Dr. Alistair Petrie will speak at Simpson College on the dynamics of Kingdom Transformation for communities, regions, and even nations.
Dr. Petrie partners with George Otis Jr. and the two men are probably the most knowledgeable – and the most articulate – on the planet when it comes to God’s current plans – and track record – for moving dramatically to transform human backwaters to waterfalls of His grace and glory. They have documented nearly two hundred such places over the last decade. Check inside this letter for details. Pray for what God means to establish as a result of these events. And be sure to show up for your part in the paving process of this highway over which the Lord of Life is planning to ride into our region.
The First Sunday Service will be held on Sunday, April 4, at the Redding Holiday Inn on Hilltop Drive. The service begins at 7:00 PM and is held in the Espresso Bar. Participants share communion and worship as they pray for the Transformation of Northern California and the greater Redding area. All Christians are welcome.
The Excalibur Group will meet at DeMercurio’s Restaurant on Hartnell in Redding from 12:30 to 2:00 PM on the first and third Thursdays – April 1 and 15 – to likewise pray the Kingdom over our region. These meetings are open to anyone in business who names Jesus as Lord. Lunch is $5.00.
There will be a special Prayer Vanguard meeting in Redding on Saturday, April 17, at 3:30 PM. We will bless the property on Highway 44 East near Lassen Pines Camp that has just closed escrow and now belongs to the Northern California Burn Foundation. The site will become a camp for fire victims and those who care for them. The regular April Prayer Vanguard for Redding will also be held that morning at 10:00 AM. Both groups assemble at the Prayer House of Bethel Church, Redding.
A Summit for Intercessors will be offered at the Shepherd’s House of Prayer in Red Bluff on Friday and Saturday, April 23 and 24. (Check the web site – www.praynorthstate.org– for a narrative of what is taught at the summit.) Friday Night sessions run from 7-9:30 PM and Saturday is held from 8:30 to 5:00. Breakfast and lunch are included in the $20.00 registration and participants are trained for the ministries of Prayer Vanguard, Lighthouses of Prayer, and the Yah Project – the ongoing process of blanketing our region with prayer for its Kingdom Transformation. Call the church at 530-529-5350 for information or to register.
The Bible: Up Close and Personal – the second annual proclamation of the whole Word of God over the City of Redding – will begin at 6:00 AM on Monday, May 3, and continue until Noon on Thursday, May 6, at the Redding City Hall. Readers will read in fifteen minute shifts around the clock – from Genesis through Revelation. Snacks and bathroom facilities are available and twenty-six site captains will oversee the process. The city officials have given their blessing as well. Any Christian – of any denomination – who wishes to participate can call PrayNorthstate at 530-941-3470 or e-mail us at praynorthstate@charter.net. Please specify the portion of the day during which you wish to read – M for morning; A for afternoon; E for evening; and N for night (midnight to six AM). We will get back to you with a specific assignment. In 2003 some two hundred fifty people participated – representing about thirty churches. We hope to involve even more this year. The National Day of Prayer celebration will follow.
Also on Monday, May 3, at 6:30 AM PrayNorthstate Television will launch on KGEC Channel 26/Cable 15. The half hour broadcast will air each Monday Morning and follow the same general format as PrayNorthstate Radio. Jim has been praying about taking this step for the past eighteen months and we believe that God has issued a strong call at this time. Please pray for the program, and that God would provide sponsors. And don’t forget to watch.
Dr. Alistair Petrie will visit Redding as the guest of PrayNorthstate, Faithworks Coalition, and Simpson College on Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8. He will speak at Simpson College at 7:00 PM on Friday and at 9:30 AM and 4:00 PM on Saturday, as well as holding a special pastors’ only meeting at 1:30 PM on Saturday. Dr. Petrie will then travel to Chico where he will hold evening meetings at Neighborhood Church of Chico on May 9, 10, and 11 with a special 2:00 PM pastors’ only meeting on Tuesday, May 10. Worship will be led by Justified BC. There will be no admission charge and no meals served. Freewill offerings will be taken at each of the meetings to benefit Partnership Ministries of Canada. PrayNorthstate will host a table of Diana’s much-in demand craft items for support of PrayNorthstate during the Redding meetings along with Dr. Petrie’s publications, tapes and CDs.
Dr. Petrie leads Partnership Ministries – the Canadian wing of George Otis Jr.’s Sentinel Group. A native of Scotland, he is a graduate of the University of London and was ordained in 1976. He has ministered in conferences on six continents after a successful career as a pastor in England, Scotland, and Canada. He is the author of Releasing Heaven on Earth and Transformations. He has also written an interactive study of the stewardship of the land as a preparation for revival titled A Sacred Trust. He is an associate faculty member for the Wagner Leadership Institute and a guest lecturer at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is a former Director of International Operations for the Sentinel Group. Most importantly he is – with George Otis Jr. – one of the two most knowledgeable men on the planet in the area of Kingdom Community Transformation. His visit to Northern California is a not-to-be-missed opportunity in the preparation of our hearts for the coming of the Lord.
PrayNorthstate issued a prayer alert in March regarding the constitutional crisis over the issue of homosexual unions in California. That the state Supreme Court has issued a restraining order against further licensing of same sex unions in no way resolves this crisis. We are asking people of prayer to pray in a positive spirit – blessing and cursing not. We ask God’s people to take Isaiah 62 – in which God promises to restore the land itself if the people will weary Him with their prayers – and Psalm 85 – in which the people pledge to seek His face and His promises in time of crisis – as the templates for intercession. Please pray daily – times and durations are at your discretion – and please pray special attention to verses 4-7 in Isaiah and verses 6-9 in the psalm. Please recall as you pray that Jesus gave his life for sinners – hetero and homosexual.
As you know, this newsletter does not deal with political issues. What follows is not politics. Focus on the Family is circulating petitions in NorCal for a parental notification initiative item to be placed on the November ballot – if enough signatures are recorded. This initiative would require at least one parent notified before an abortion performed on a minor. The state legislature adopted a similar statute within the last two years only to have it overturned by state courts. This initiative would amend the state constitution. Call 530-246-7075 or 1-800-A-Family for information or petitions.
Pray California will host the first statewide school of prayer – slated for April 29 through May 1 in Madera. Keynote speakers are Francis Frangipane and Dr. Suuqiina and the Rev. Qaumaniq Suuqiina. Jim will lead workshops titled Prophetic Intercession and Ambassadors of Reconciliation respectively. Other regional leaders will teach on a variety of prayer and transformation topics. Pray California leadership from across the state will be turning out for the school – this is a great chance to meet the men and women God is raising up throughout the state to be constant in leading and fscilitating prayer for the state and for the Kingdom in the state. Located at Valley Christian Center West, information or early registration is available at www.praycal.org. There is a $50.00 registration fee after April 1. Call 559-674-8922 for information.
The Redding chapter of Aglow International is responding to the flurry of teen deaths in Shasta County with an outreach to teen girls at Cottonwood’s West Valley High School on Monday, April 5. The Spring Break outreach is planned with the blessing of school administration. There have been five deaths this year on that campus alone – four from traffic accidents and one in a hunting incident. Aglow is just as anxious to reach out to county teens in areas of sexuality, drug abuse temptation, and the pains of growing up in a hostile world. At the same time Gridley Aglow (Butte County) is planning their own chapter of Teen Aglow for the near future.
Enterprise High School in Redding is cooperating with Youth for Christ, Campus Chaplains, and the Shasta County Youth Pastors Network to establish a program to teach parenting and study skills at the same time, training parent volunteers for intervention with at-risk families. Pastor Danny Silk, a former social worker and the leader of a popular seminar called Love and Logic will be the chief instructor.
Regional pastors and intercessors from several NorCal counties converged on Oroville (Butte County) on Sunday, March 28, to walk and pray that city just as they did in Redding on February 22. They gathered at Oroville Nazarene Church, returning for a potluck meal followed by worship and a showing of the Quickening video from the Sentinel Group. The group plans to visit different area cities almost monthly for the same pattern of ministry – prayer walk under direction of local pastors, eat and worship together, and seek insight into God’s plans for the region through the Quickening video’s documentation of principals for encouraging transforming revival in a region.
Also in Butte County the Gridley Prayer Vanguard plans a city-wide prayer walk on Saturday, April 3. They have invited all of the churches of Gridley, Biggs and Live Oak to join in this walk for blessing, returning to Gridley First Presbyterian Church for lunch and debriefing of the walk. The group gathers at the church at 9:00 AM.
Pray California met in Sacramento for worship and planning on March 12 and 13. A leadership group prayerwalked the capitol at the invitation of Assemblymember Bill Mays. They prayed the four corners of the capitol mall and then entered an assembly hearing room for more prayer and blessing. Witnesses stated the oxygen content in the room tripled during the blessing, and again when the assembly chamber was blessed.
Intercessors’ Summits are currently planned for Friday and Saturday, May 21 and 22 at River City Church in Redding, and for June 25 and 26 at First Baptist Church of Red Bluff. Participants will take their places in the Vanguard and Lighthouse ministries of their communities. Summits have now been held in approximately thirty-five locations around the region with Vanguard and Lighthouse ministries set up in approximately fifteen communities.
Dr. Suuqiina and the Rev. Qaumaniq Suuqiina will be in Redding for a brief visit in mid May. They will be hosted at a meeting of pastors and intercessors in Jim and Diana’s home on Wednesday, May 12, at 7:30 PM. Call 530-941-3470 if you would like to attend.
Guests for April include Richard and Carol Hansen of King Richard’s Used Cars – one of the program’s sponsors – kicking off the month on April 3. On April 10 we will welcome Linda Toney and Charles Davidson of the Shasta County Women’s Refuge to discuss the annual Take Back the Night event. April 17 will feature Pastors Ken and Donna Davies of Imago Dei Ministries – leading people to healing in Christ from sexual dysfunction. We will wrap up April on the 24th with Pastor Doug Davis of Red Bluff’s Hands of Hope Rescue Mission.
PrayNorthstate Radio is heard every Saturday Morning at 7:30 on AM 1400 KQMS. Jim is also a periodic and frequent contributor to KVIP’s Saturday Magazine, heard at 1:00 PM on FM 98.1 and AM 540 KVIP. Beginning on May 3 see PrayNorthstate Television on KGEC Channel 26/Cable 15 at 6:30 AM on Mondays.
Jim will be preaching at First Sunday at 7:00 PM, Sunday, April 4, at the Redding Holiday Inn Espresso Bar. He will also preach at the Shepherd’s House of Prayer (10:00 AM, Sunday, April 18) and First Baptist Church (10:15 AM, Sunday, April 25). Both churches are in Red Bluff. He travels to Southern California from April 18-21 for meetings in Newport Beach, Long Beach, and Palm Desert. The desert meetings are related to an initiative of Promisekeepers founder Coach Bill McCartney called The Road to Jerusalem – a vision for bringing about reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles within the Body of Christ. On April 29 through May 1 Jim will be teaching workshops on Prophetic Intercession and on being Ambassadors of Reconciliation.
Diana has worked tirelessly to re-supply depleted stocks and implement new designs for the jewelry items she makes. Her designs will be on display at Spring Intercessors summits, at the Pray Cal School of Prayer, and the Alistair Petrie meetings.
Please pray for the Board of PrayNorthstate: Jim and Diana Wilson, Dr. Andre Van Mol, Supervisor Mollie Wilson, Charles Davidson, Charlie Harper, Frank DiSalvo, and Dr. Ray John.
Please pray for the new television ministry of PrayNorthstate and for the radio and TV sponsors: Revelation Café, Sam’s Satellite, Taylor Motors, Open System Imaging, Hue and Cry Security, Dr. Andre Van Mol, B& T Satellite, New Song Music, King Richard’s Used Cars, Anderson Athletic Club, Attorney Max G. Arnold, Nicolette Glass, Carl Van Dyke Allstate Insurance, Truscott’s Functional Design, Children First Foster Family Agency and Nor-Cal Leavitt Insurance.
Pray for Imago Dei Ministries and for Pray California.
Please pray for Emmaus Way Ministries of Tel Aviv, Israel, and for Israel. Pray for the Road to Jerusalem project, and for missionaries Bill and Lori Gardner (Kenya), Colleen Schafer (Mexico), David and Tovah Potter (Mozambique), Teresa Hancock (Middle East), Eric and Linda Zane (New Guinea), Drake Travis (Vietnam), and Tugsuu and Gantuul (Mongolia and China).
Pray for Excalibur Group, the Kingdom Institute School of Business, and the Hignell Group.
Correspondence - and donations - for PrayNorthstate may be addressed to:
PrayNorthstate
P. O. Box 493743
Redding, CA 96049-3743
Our telephone number is 530-941-3470.
Our web site is www.praynorthstate.org and our e-mail is praynorthstate@charter.net.
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