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Dear People of the Northstate Vision:
People of the New Age love to contemplate the impact of a harmonic convergence in the heavenlies on this earth – but it takes a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ to appreciate the reality of such a phenomenon – and we prefer to speak of a Holy Spirit convergence. One such is coming to Northern California on Friday, September 24.
The occasion is Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – when Jewish people all over the world will seek prayerful reconciliation with the Lord Our God. On that same day a cavalcade of ministries – national in scope – will launch a forty-day period of prayer and fasting for the nation as we enter what many believe to be a pivotal presidential election season. A partial listing of participating ministries includes Mission America; Francis Frangipane’s River of Life Ministries; the National Pastors’ Prayer Network; Lou Engle’s The Call/Cause USA; the Presidential Prayer Team; Chuck Pierce’sGlobal Harvest Ministries; World Vision and the International Prayer Council; the Two Rivers Native American Training Center; and the National Day of Prayer TaskForce. Pray California is a partnering ministry, as is PrayNorthstate. The forty-day period will conclude on Election Day 2002 and is intended to mobilize people of prayer around the nation to pray God’s redemption and blessing on the nation – with repentance for corporate sin – and not to further any partisan political agenda. It is as biblical in outlook as it is in proportion.
Into this vortex comes Paah-ho-ammi – Cry alas, My People – the biblical call of God to His people beginning in Shasta County to spend the last hundred days of this year praying daily for His intervention in the areas of our common life that include crime, unemployment and public health. Paah-ho-ammi will launch at 7:00 PM on Friday, September 24, in Room 204 of Simpson College’s LaBaume-Rudat Building. We will seek the Lord with worship, Holy Communion, and a commitment to pray daily as members of one of three prayer teams. As we launch Paah-ho-ammi we will pray in cooperation and support of 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting and for salvation of JewishPeople in our time. Holy Spirit convergence? That is what happens when God’s will intersects – and intercepts – His people who are called by His name in the act of humbling ourselves and seeking His face in prayer and repentance. He promises at that time to hear from heaven and come and heal our land. See you at Simpson on the 24 th?
ShastaCounty will commemorate September 11 on Thursday, September 9, at 12:00Noon on the steps of the county courthouse. PrayNorthstate, RegentBroadcasting, the Deputy Sheriff’s Association, and the Jail Chaplaincy are co-sponsoring the event, and Jim will be the first featured speaker. Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, County Administrative Officer Doug Latimer, and nationally syndicated talk show host Michael Reagan – son of President Reagan –will keynote the commemoration. County Jail Chaplain Pastor Dave Honey will also speak and each of the speakers will share his faith and his patriotism. Patriotic and sacred music will be performed by Donna White and Bill Thomas; Ken Murray will serve as master of ceremonies. Much of the event will be broadcast on AM 1400 KQMS during the 5:00 PM news hour. A box-type lunch will be served to the first three hundred participants and the event will conclude at 1:00 PM. Seating is provided by the CountySheriff’s office but come as early as possible to assure parking.
In addition to all of this, at 7:00 PMon the evening of Thursday, September 9, Michael Reagan will appear at Redding’s Convention Center. Reagan’s appearance is co-sponsored by Mellberg Construction Company,Regent Broadcasting Company, and PrayNorthstate. Tickets are available at the Convention Center box office and there is an admission charge – $26.00 for general admission and $76.00 for VIP admission. (The latter includes priority seating, a free autographed copy of Mr. Reagan’s about-to-be-released book, Twice Adopted, and a time for personally greeting Mr. Reagan.) KQMS Program Director Ray Roberts will serve as master of ceremonies and Michael Reagan will be available to autograph copies of his book following his address. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will be donated to benefit the Northern California Burn Foundation, the Ready for Life Foster Family Agency, and the Shasta County Make A Wish Foundation.
Michael Reagan serves on the board of The John DouglasFrench Alzheimer’s Association. He is a man of deep faith. His best sellers include On the Outside Looking In and a tribute to Ronald Reagan titled, The CommonSense of an Uncommon Man. The Reagan Family lives in Sherman Oaks, California.
Jim delivers the invocation for Mr. Reagan’s presentation and Michael Reagan appears on PrayNorthstate Radio on Saturday, August 28 – 8 AM – on AM 1400 KQMS.
First Sunday will be celebrated with worship, Holy Communion, and prayer for the transformation of our region and community on Sunday, September 6, 7:00 PM at the Redding Holiday Inn – Espresso Bar – on Hilltop Drive.
The Excalibur Group will meet on Thursday, September 2 and 16, from 12:30 to 2:00PM. Excalibur is a group of Christians in the business world who come together on the first and third Thursdays for lunch and fellowship wrapped around prayer for the transformation of our region. The group meets at DeMercurio’s Restaurant – HartnellStreet in Redding – in the banquet room. Lunch is $5.00 – the time is priceless.
In mid 2002 Christians in Nevada County embarked on a prayer project they called Arrowhead. Working under the leadership of Sierra Ministries International, one of the partners in Pray California, they prayed daily for three concerns of public significance: public health, unemployment, and crime. They committed to pray for ninety days and – with the cooperation of public and private officials – they compiled baseline and endline statistics for their county and for the state as a whole. They found that crime rates in multiple categories dropped by as much as twothirds. There were no workmen’s comp cases filed at the local community hospital and no traffic fatalities – even though the project spanned Memorial Day Weekend. County unemployment dropped even as it rose throughout the state. There was no explanation other than the factor of consistent, concerted, focused prayer – when their prayer efforts slackened during the following quarter there were two traffic fatalities over Independence Day Weekend. Clearly God moved dramatically in the Arrowhead Project; it is just as clear that His movement was both triggered and sustained by the prayers of His people.
We have seen similar impact further north. There has been a reduction of more than 60% in abortions and an almost total absence of Halloween-related violence in Chico over the past two years. Drought has been broken repeatedly and a can-do spirit is especially prevalent in new school initiatives – charter and magnet schools flourishing – in Shasta County after concerted prayer. Again the common denominator is simply that people of faith prayed daily, in agreement, and with focus on items of strategic intercession.
In Nevada County one hundred and twenty-five Christians were divided into three groups – each assigned one category of prayer. There was no specified period of required prayer; each person covenanted to pray daily for his/her group’s assignment.
ShastaCounty is called to a similar effort. The prayer targets will differ slightly for what God has named Paah-ho-ammi. The name is a Hebrew compound word meaning, “Cry alas, my people,” and it was given by direct revelation.We will ask daily prayer for unemployment, crime, and public health as it is manifested in traffic fatalities and hospital admissions for cancer. We will ask all of the groups to pray special protection for youth against violent death. The topical changes are due to what we believe is God’s stated intention to create a cancer free zone in Northern California – and to the disproportionately high number of young and violent deaths in our region during the past few years. We have chosen targets for prayer that are both strategic for our region and easily documented for this first phase of Paah-ho-ammi. We are grateful to Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, Redding Police Department, the administration of MercyHospital and Shasta Regional Medical Center, and the economic developmentand civic officials – and especially to SimpsonCollege – for their assistance and faith.
This prayer project will have its own launching service and prayer teams – each with its own leadership – will be formed at that time. Participants will be invited to attend periodic team meetings, the monthly PrayNorthstate sponsored services of First Sunday and Redding Transformation sponsored Nightof Worship services. However, we want to emphasize that no one is required to attend meetings during the 100 Days of Prayer that comprise Paah-ho-ammi. We ask only that all participants come on September 24, that they attend the follow-up service on January 30, 2005, (when the results of the effort will be unveiled) and that prayer be made each day for the assigned topics. Prayer points and supplemental information will be provided at the launch service so that each participant will have the resources that are needed to give and receive full measure.
Paah-ho-ammi launches on Friday, September 24, 7 PM, with worship, communion, and commitment to serve on one of the three prayer teams. September 24 is Yom Kippur, as well as the launch for a forty-day period of prayer and fasting across the nation. Our launch date was chosen deliberately so as to enable us to cooperate with this national project while keeping our focus local. The launch service will be in Simpson College’s Labaume-Rudat Building, Room 204. PrayNorthstate is cooperating with Faithworks Coalition, and Redding Transformation, to make Paah-ho-ammi a reality. We are deeply grateful to Simpson College, Aglow International, Christ the Rock, Redeemed Ministries, Grace Fellowship, Faith Assembly, RiverValley 4 Square, First Baptist (Cottonwood), and The Standard for their support.
Pastor Gerry Sprunger has ministered at many churches in SiskiyouCounty over the past several decades. He was diagnosed with cancer last fall and it had so spread throughout his body that he was given only weeks to live by this past February. His family gathered around him and prayed with authority at that time – they literally “cancelled the cancer” in the Name of Jesus. Last week Gerry’s doctors admitted they could not find a speck of cancer in his body and that this is medically unexplainable.
Many in the Northstate have sat under the ministry of Arni and Yonit Klein of Emmaus Way Ministries out of Tel Aviv, Israel. This 24/7 prayer ministry is about Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians praising and worshipping God together as He draws His people into their land of Israel and into His Body – the Kingdom of Heaven. Yonit was diagnosed with three malignant tumors and made the decision some months ago to seek from God what the doctors told her she could not have. At last report two of the tumorshave disappeared and the third has shrunk by more than two thirds. Please keep praying her complete healing – and for word of Pastor Gerry’s healing to spread like fire.
On August 14 I sent out an update asking everyone to pray 1 Kings 18:41-46. The Lord had directed me to that passage as I was praying about the fires then raging in ShastaCounty. It speaks of Elijah sending his servant to check for rainclouds seven times before he spotted “a small cloud the size of a man’s fist” that was followed almost at once by a great storm of rain that refreshed the whole land. People began praying on August 15 and there was no rain for seven days. The rain began to fall on August 22. So far we have not yet seen the downpour needed to quench fires and refresh land – but there has been more in the mountains – where it is most needed – and once again God hasresponded to prayer and to His own Word. Praise the Lord and keep praying!
40 Days of Prayer and Fasting: PrayNorthstate, along with Pray California, is one of many regional, state and national ministries to endorse and participate in the 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting that will occur across our land from Friday, September 24, through Tuesday, November 2. September 24 is Yom Kippur – the Jewish Day of Atonement – and November 2 is Election Day. This period is intended for national repentance and calling on the Name of the Lord for the salvation of our nation – it is meant to answer the call of God to engage in spiritual warfare – with weapons not of this earth – as our military engages terrorism with weapons that are of this earth. A partial listing of ministries engaged in this project includes the National Day of Prayer Task Force; Mission America; Global Harvest Ministries (Chuck Pierce); River of Life Ministries (Francis Frangipane); Youth Interceding for America; Two Rivers Native AmericanTraining Center; National Pastors Prayer Team; and the Presidential Prayer Team.
In Shasta County the Redding Transformation ministry continued its series of monthlyinterdenominational gatherings to worship God and pray for community transformation at EnterpriseHigh School – in the cafeteria – beginning at 6:33 PM on Friday, August 27. The BLAST outreach and celebration of Jesus slated for Redding that same weekend was be prepared by another interdenominational group led by Outreach America at the same time at River City Church at the same time on the 27 th – with the outreach itself taking place in Caldwell Park from 12:30 to 6:00 PM on Saturday, August 28.
Revival in the Marketplace is the latest installment in the Kingdom Business Institute sponsored by BethelChurch in Redding. Fall Session begins September 21, 2004, and features businessmen turned pastors Kris Vallotton and Glenn White, as well as Bethel’s senior pastor, Bill Johnson teaching courses. White is the Institute’s director. There are tuition charges for the school that seeks to instill a Kingdom vision – and methods for seeking Kingdom vision – in the business community. Phone 530-246-6000 for information. Winter Session begins January 4; Spring Session on April 12, 2005.
Called to be Free is the name of a conference offering a Christian response to homosexuality that will be held at Redding’s First Nazarene Church on Saturday, October 2. Sponsored by Imago Dei Ministries, an interdenominational ministry of liberation for people in all kinds of sexual bondage, the conference will feature local physician Andre Van Mol, Imago Dei founder and former gay activist Ken Davies, and nationally known experts Joe Dallas, Anne Paulk, and Carol Wagstaff. Dallas and Paulk are associated with Exodus International, while Wagstaff founded a ministry of healing and reconciliation after losing her husband to AIDS and the gay lifestyle. Van Mol, vice-president of PrayNorthstate’s board, has written and researched his subject extensively. The conference will seek the Word of God for Christians caught between the polarizations of liberal churches who embrace homosexuality and fundamentalist churches who shun homosexuals without offering healing. There is a charge for participation. Phone toll free 877-963-6683 for information or registration.
In Siskiyou County the Mt.ZionLutheranChurchis re-opening the community day school that was forced to close due to financial challenges. The school is meant to minister to the entire community and operates in cooperation with the Yreka ministerialassociation. The day school operated out of the Evangelical Free Church of Mt. Shasta closed briefly under similar circumstances – and has re-opened in the same grace – and in the same vision to serve the community in cooperation with the gathered local churches. Both schools serve children in kindergarten through primary grades.
In Humboldt County the 48HOP – 48 Hours/Houses of Prayer – was held simultaneously at three county locations August 13-15: Arcata Assembly of God, the Methodist Church of Ferndale, and the Riverlodge in Fortuna hosted forty-eight hours of continuous praise, worship and prayer for the county. 48HOPs feature stations for contemplative prayer, intercession, various types of creative expression to God’s Glory, and worship through dance and other active means. Periods are set aside for led worship, but spontaneous communion in the Spirit is the emphasis. 48HOP returns to Redding October 31-November 2. Go to fortyeighthop.com for information.
Pastors’ breakfasts sponsored by the Humboldt Evangelical Alliance (HEAL) resume September 16 – on the third Thursday of each month – after a hiatus. The Eureka CityCouncil voted unanimously to cede forty acres of IndianIsland to the WiyotPeople. The tribe has long sought to raise funds to buy land and erect a monument to ancestors massacred in an 1860s surprise night attack by settlers. Tribal Chair CherylSeidner credits the HEAL sponsored Many Nations 1 Voice conference of 2001 with establishing an atmosphere of reconciliation that made the June action possible.
In Butte County the pastors of the Chico regional hub will walk and pray through Chico on Saturday, September 11. Pastors and intercessors will gather at NeighborhoodChurch. They will fan out to half a dozen city locations, praying over requests forwarded by the Chico Police Department, returning to the church for worship and a potluck meal. The gathering begins at 3:00 PMand all Christians are welcome. Plans are already underway for the next regional pastors’ prayer summit – to be held at Richardson Springs January 24-26, 2005. The cost is $75.00 and pastors, intercessors, and ministry leaders devote an unstructured three days to God and to one another.
In Tehama County the gathered leaders of the Church had the long sought privilege of praying over the members of the Red Bluff City Council at a council meeting.
In Nevada County the Sierra Ministries International holds an annual conference event called Touching Heaven Changing Earth. Last year’s conference featured Michael Brown (Pensacola Revival) and Alistair Petrie (Partnership Ministries and Sentinel Group) along with Fawn Parish (International School of Reconciliation) and Susan Bagley (Pray the Bay). This year’s conference will feature regional leaders – including Jim and Oroville’s Don North as keynoters. The event will be held from October 21-23 in NevadaCity and the topic will be Worship as Warfare. There is a cost of $60.00 and lodging is not included. Call 530-478-1478 for information or registration. This is a Pray California and PrayNorthstate endorsed event.
Jim is serving on the event Listening Team and reporting on Paah-ho-ammi to the general assembly at the Pray Cal Pastor’s Prayer Summit inPasadena from August 30-September 1. He presents a teaching – Seeking the Greater Gifts – to the gathered intercessors as well. He spoke at Redding Transformation on Friday, August 27, and preached at Grace Fellowship in Cottonwood on Sunday, August 29 at 11:00 AM .
Jim will be preaching at RiverValleyFoursquareChurch at 5:00PM on Saturday, September 4, and at First Sunday – 7:00 PM on Sunday, September6. He will preach at First Baptist Church, Cottonwood , at 10:30 AM on Sunday, September 12, and at 7:00 PM at The Standard, on Hartnell in Redding. Wednesday, September 15, finds him speaking at Faith Assembly on Airport Road in Redding at 7:00 PM and he will preach at Paah-ho-ammi on Friday, September 24, at 7:00 PM at SimpsonCollege .
Diana serves as a primary intercessor on site for the pastors’ prayer summit in Pasadena , as well as attending the summit as a ministry head. She and Jim travel to Chico on September 11 for the regional pastors’ prayer-walk. Diana and Jim travel to Philadelphia for the wedding of close friends John McNaughton and Gina Ottaviano the weekend of September 18. In spare time they are prayer-walking schools that invite Prayer Vanguard for annual visits – at this writing it is three down and many to go.
PrayNorthstate Radio has treats in September. We are visited by ShastaCounty Under-Sheriff Larry Schaller and Jail Chaplain Dave Honey on September 4; we speak with Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa and Supervisor Trish Clarke on September 11 – all sharing their hearts on 9/11. Diana joins me on September 18 to talk about Paah-ho-ammi and we spend September 25 with Imago Dei Ministries founder Ken Davies and Dr. Andre Van Mol to highlight their October conference on healing sexual broken-ness and bondage.
PrayNorthstate TV kicks off September – on September 6 – with Open SystemsImaging founding co-partner Ken Bishop. This for-profit medical corporation was birthed as a ministry from the beginning. September 13 we visit with Sierra MinistriesInternational founder the Rev. Dan Prout. Dan will discuss the Arrowhead Project – precursor to Paah-ho-ammi – and his upcoming Fall Conference – Touching HeavenChanging Earth – for which Jim is one of the keynoters. On September 20 we’ll chat with Ken and Donna Davies – two ordinary people who emerged from sexual bondage when they met Jesus and now minister to people who are as they were through Imago DeiMinistries. We round out the month on September 27 with Bill Grubbs and DebDeisler – two believers who operate Breaking New Grounds – the coffee house where PrayNorthstate TV is taped each month.
PrayNorthstate Radio is heard every Saturday Morning at 8:00 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. PrayNorthstate TV is seen at 6:30 AM on Monday Mornings on Family Channel 26/Cable 15.
Please pray for the Board of PrayNorthstate: Jim and Diana Wilson, Dr. Andre VanMol, Supervisor Mollie Wilson, Charles Davidson, Charlie Harper, Frank DiSalvo, and Dr. Ray John. Please pray for the television ministry of PrayNorthstate and for the radio and TV sponsors: Sam’s Satellite, Taylor Motors, OpenSystem Imaging, Hue and Cry Security, Dr. Andre Van Mol, B& T Satellite, New Song Music, King Richard’s Used Cars, Attorney MaxG. Arnold, Nicolette Glass, Carl Van Dyke Allstate Insurance, Truscott’s Functional Design, Children First Foster Family Agency, Tac(o) the Town Tacqueria and Nor-Cal LeavittInsurance. Pray for Redding Transformation, Imago Dei Ministries and for Pray California.
Please pray for Emmaus Way Ministries of Tel Aviv, Israel, and for Israel. Pray 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), Tim and Sunny Turner and Onestream Ministries ( India), and Tugsuu and Gantuul (Mongolia and China). Pray for Excalibur Group, the Kingdom InstituteSchool of Business, and the Hignell Group.
Correspondence – and donations – may be addressed to PrayNorthstate, P. O. Box 493743, Redding, CA96049-3743. Call us at 530-941-3470. Our web site is www.praynorthstate.org; our e-mail is praynorthstate@charter.net.
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