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The Lord our God calls us to give Him and ourselves no rest until He establishes Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:6-7) and He even carries that imperative to a declaration that the Kingdom of Heaven can only be possessed by men and women who pound on the gates until they are opened (Matthew 11:12). He insists that we treat him like the widow treats the unjust judge in Luke 18 – although He is anything but unjust – and He puts it nowhere so elegantly as in 2 Chronicles 7:14. “If my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face – and turn from their wicked ways – then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”
God is taking communities by the stormwind of His Holy Spirit – nearly five hundred around the world at this time – and the contribution of their citizens has been the kind of prayer and repentance described above. He is emptying jails and resurrecting economies and reconciling people to Himself and to each other. He is even taking land that has been deadened by histories of sin – there is no other way to deaden what God has created if His Word tells us anything – and sending people to do corporate acts of repentance and blessing so as to open the way to full restoration and productivity by His Hand. He does this as deposit on what He means to do in the hearts and lives of the inhabitants. He means to do this in Northern California – and in the rest of the state as well.
In late 2004 PrayNorthstate gathered between ten and twelve dozen individuals from many congregations and we covenanted together to pray daily for assignments of Kingdom significance – reductions in crime and unemployment and various measures of public health. Results were spectacular and measurable. We launch a second phase of Paah-ho-ammi (Hebrew for “Cry alas, My people”) on Wednesday, February 1, at 7:00 PM in Modular Room 82 of Simpson University. Once again we invite all who would to come worship, covenant, and sign on to one of three teams for daily prayer over Shasta County. This time we will see much greater involvement of churches at the corporate level, and some will sign on in their congregations – although we will still deploy intercessors on three teams. We expect even more dramatic results this time out. We will pray from February 1 through National Day of Prayer on May 4. (See the insert for details on how to participate.) But we declare before God that we will not be satisfied until it is “on earth as it is in heaven” in our county and region.
CURRENT PrayNorthstate EVENTS
We will be leading a couples retreat in Manton – at the home of Tom and Cindy Lau – on Friday and Saturday, January 13 and 14. The cost is $30.00 per person and that includes food. The retreat is titled Building a House of Prayer: Some Assembly Required and is based on Mark 11:17. The teaching sessions will outline the scriptural basis for a lifestyle of consistent, concerted, and focused prayer, the primacy of God’s call to be people of prayer, and practicalities of prayer for healing, prophetic intercession, and prayer for community transformation. As in all PrayNorthstate events, there will be abundant opportunities to practice what we are preaching in both individualized and corporate settings. We follow the C. S. Lewis adage – yes, that C. S. Lewis – that “what we do in solitude is what makes us fit for company.” Call the Laus at 530-474-5191 for info or to register. We begin at 7:00 PM on Friday the 13th.
Jim travels to Olympia, Washington, to offer a seminar titled simply Prophetic Acts with Impact on Friday and Saturday, January 20 and 21. The schedule is still TBA and the event will be sponsored by Olympia House of Prayer and the National Day ofPrayer for the Western Region. The event will offer training and practice in such pragmatic albeit God-shaped activities as speaking the whole Word of God over your city, addressing bloodguilt on the land with the blood of the Lord Jesus, and prayer and protocol for transforming your city’s system of public education. The event will occur on Friday Evening – beginning at 7:00 PM – and will cover the whole day on Saturday. There will be a TBA registration fee will be asked. Call OHOP at 425-888-0179 for info or to register. Call us at PrayNorthstate – 530-941-3470 – to schedule the event locally.
We conduct the first intercessors’ summit of 2006 on Friday and Saturday, January 27 and 28, in Redding at the First Baptist Church on Eureka Way– across from Shasta High School. The summit is sponsored by Businesstry Concepts and the Baptists have been gracious enough to donate the use of their facility. The summit will be especially geared to training business people and people with a heart to serve the business community to engage in sustained prophetic and transformational intercession for the whole community. We begin at 7:00 PM on Friday and end at 9:30. Saturday’s time begins with breakfast at 8:30 AM and includes lunch – we conclude at 5:00 PM. Participants will learn and practice the ministries of Prayer Vanguard and Lighthouses of Prayer. They will practice what we have come to call prophetic acts with practical impact. There is a $20.00 registration fee per person and a possible extra charge for meals. Call Businesstry Concepts at 530-247-7449 for information or to register. What is transformational intercession; what are prophetic acts with practical impact? Come and find out.
We offer two intercessors’ summits in February. The first will be held in Red Bluff at the New Hope Community Church on Walnut St. on Friday and Saturday, February 17 and 18. Call 530-246-7075 ( Carenet Pregnancy Centersponsors) for information. The second will be held in Scot Valley at the Etna Berean Church on Friday and Saturday, February 24 and 25. Call 530-467-3715. Details are as above.
WHAT’S UP IN THE NORTHSTATE
PrayNorthstate will again coordinate Paah-ho-ammi teams in three strategic arenas of prayer. The social welfare team will ask God to bless our county with peace as registered in reduced levels of crime and suicide. The economy team will seek the practical reality behind the prophetic declaration of Redding to be re-named AbundantSprings as measured in reduced levels of unemployment. And the public health team will seek the blessing of a healthy community as manifested in reduced traffic fatalitiesand cancer admissions to the hospital. Participants will covenant to pray daily for the area assigned to their team and they can join teams at the opening worship service on February 1 or when Jim or a PrayNorthstate board member visits their congregation on a Sunday in January. Sign-up sheets will be available – if no one is visiting your church and you cannot get to Simpson University on February 1 call us 530-941-3470 or e-mail us at praynorthstate@charter.net. Teams will meet monthly for prayer and support, although meetings are not mandatory, and your team leaders will be available to you as needed. The project will conclude with a worship service – again at Simpson – on Thursday, May 4, at 7:00 PM – the National Day of Prayer – and results will be published as they are received.
PrayNorthstate called for daily prayer in our December newsletter asking God to address the drought that was shaping up for this year. We were several inches of rain below normal four weeks ago and as we print we are nearly two inches above normal. We thank and praise God – and we thank those who prayed – but we notice that snow levels are still pretty anemic – and without adequate snowfall we lack the watershed that is so vital to our life in the region. We ask all of you who prayed last month – and those who perhaps did not – to pray again through January, begging God especially for snowfall at this time. It doesn’t matter how long you pray each day – God will determine that – but it is crucial that prayer be daily.
Reconciliation of all kinds is one of two anchor points for PrayNorthstate,the otherconcerted prayer for community transformation. (We believe one can come only in company with the other.) We plan to devote the month of March to this issue on PrayNorthstate Radio. We are seeking people in our network who have experienced significant reconciliation with a parent or a child and we will devote allof March to sharing their stories on the air. We have two Saturdays still open. If you have experienced such a reconciliation please e-mail – praynorthstate@charter.net – or call us at 530-941-3470 if you would be willing to guest on the radio program.
Recovery from the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita continues in the Gulf States. A number of teams from NorCal have spent periods from days to weeks to months in that region, being the Body of Christ to the people in crisis. We are especially aware of – and thankful for – the teams that were led and staffed by Anderson-Cottonwood Neighborhood Church, Little Country Church, Bethel Church, Salvation Army, Outreach America, and Risen King Community Church. If readers can name teams from other churches or parachurch ministries in our region who have or are ministering in the Gulf, let us know and we will recognize them in February’s newsletter.
In early 2003 PrayNorthstate made a commitment to facilitate reconciliation activities between the northern and southern regions of California in concert with Pray California. Our strategy has been to simply encourage as much inter-regional teaching and ministry as possible. ( Bethel Church, Redding, has been exchanging ministries with Harvest Rock Church, Pasadena; the Gathering, Studio City, and the World Impact Prayer Center, Los Angeles, for several years.) Since that time we have led two intercessors’ summits in Orange County and prayer vanguards at more than a dozen southern churches in addition to periodic preaching and teaching. As part of this effort, Pastor Dan Prout of Sierra Ministries International ( from Nevada County and leader of the original Arrowhead Prayer Project – the inspiration for Paah-ho-ammi) will offer a Prayer in the Making Seminar on January 20-21 at Community Presbyterian Church in Ventura. PrayNorthstate and the Pray Cal Listening Team will minister with San Diego County’s interdenominational Uniting Our Hearts in Prayer for their first event at a liturgical church on Friday, January 6 – the traditional Feast of Epiphany.
Our San Diego County counterparts – Keat and Judy Wade – have brought their ministry of creating a worship atmosphere to a number of Northern and Central Coast locations and nearly half of the workshops offered at the recent Pray Cal School of Prayer were led by leaders from the southern region. Pastors Che Ahn, Lou Engels, and Rick Wright now make regular visits to our region. And there is an effort to mount a Bible reading marathon in Orange County after the model we use in Shasta County.
In Shasta County – Bethel Church will host their annual youth event called Encounter on Friday and Saturday, January 27 and 28 at the campus on College View Drive in Redding. Nolan Clark – of Revival Revolution – is the keynote speaker and worship will be led by Chris Quilala, Kim Walker and Melissa Wise – all members of the Genesis Generation themselves. The annual event draws youth and youth leaders from across the nation and was the shooting site for PrayNorthstate’s pilot episode of Genesis Generation. Call 530-246-6000 or go to www.ibethel.org/encounter for information or registration.
Bethel Church is also accepting applications for the 2006 edition of their School of Supernatural Ministry. The school offers a three year course in the theory and practice of living and ministering “on earth as it is in heaven.” The school year runs from September through May. See above for information. The school features internationally acclaimed faculty and operates on the cutting edge of regional revival.
In Butte County – the regional pastors meeting in Chico will host their annual Pastors’ Prayer Summit at Richardson Springs from Monday, January 23 through Wednesday, January 25. Attendance is by invitation, but any pastor reading this who desires to attend should call PrayNorthstate at 530-941-3470 and an invitation will be extended. The event features no speakers and no agenda other than two plus days of worship and fellowship with the Lord Jesus and each other. Call 530-343-6006 (Neighborhood Church of Chico) for information. There is a charge for food and lodging, and scholarships available.
PRAYNORTHSTATE RADIO and TV FOR JANUARY
PrayNorthstate Radio begins our fifth year of ministry on January 7 with Pastor BillRandall of Risen King Community Church in Reddingand guest host Dr. AndreVanMol. Bill will share his recent ministry in the Balkans and how that is shaping leadership and prayer training at home. On January 14 we are joined by Jay and Theresa Harn – publisher of the Red Bluff Daily News and community intercessor respectively. January 21 features another guest host – this time Skip Tyler of RRR BoysRanch – visiting with Redding businessman and seeker of transformation John Gardner. We conclude the month with Ed and Brenda Ballentine – on January 28 – of Camp Eagle Flight and the Northern California Burn Foundation. The foundation is gearing up for its second annual telethon – the first was a groundbreaking event for the region and state in 2005.
PrayNorthstate TV kicks off 2006 with Sean and Karen Bird of Anderson HorizonCharter Public School on January 2 – a young family concerned with educating the challenged children of other young families. On January 9 we are joined by Kevin and Kristin MacDougald – young pastors who raise other young people into leadership just by teaching them to worship all the way. We head in a different direction on January 16 when we welcome David Charlson and Dean Deguera – coaches who mentor men and women in Kingdom finances. On January 23 it will be Tom and Cindy Lau, team leaders of our business team for Prayer Vanguard and the economy team for Paah-ho-ammi – discussing Paah-ho-ammi. Pastors Jeff and Denise LeGrimas pioneered jail ministry in Butte County and they mean to pioneer a church on the Hawaiian island of Oahu – after the join us for the last show of January on the 30 th.
PrayNorthstate Radio is heard every Saturday Morning at 8:00 on AM 1400 KQMS. Jim is also a periodic contributor to KVIP’s Saturday Magazine, heard at 1:00 PM on FM 98.1 and AM 540 KVIP. PrayNorthstate TV can be seen each Monday Morning at 6:30 AM on Fox Channel 30/Cable 2.
WHAT THE COORDINATORS ARE UP TO
Jim travels to Southern California to partner with Uniting Our Hearts in Prayer and celebrate the Lord’s Supper when intercessors from all over San Diego County converge on St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Rancho Penasquitos on Friday, January 6 – the Feast of theEpiphany. On Saturday, January 7, he leads a meeting of Pray California’s Listening Team and blesses a recording and television studio in Poway. He preaches at St. Timothy’s on Sunday, January 8. He preaches at a TBA church in Olympia, Washington, on Sunday, January 22 – they know he is coming but they haven’t told him which church it is yet! And he serves on the leadership team for the regional pastors’ prayer summit at Richardson Springs over January 23-25.
Diana partners with Jim on the couples retreat in Manton (January 13 and 14); the intercessors’ summit in Redding(January 27 and 28); and moves daughter Malorie all by herself in Portland, Oregon, in the middle of the month.
PrayNorthstate PRAYER LIST
Please pray for the Board of PrayNorthstate: Jim and Diana Wilson, Dr. Andre VanMol, Supervisor Mollie Wilson, Charles Davidson, Charlie Harper, Bob Newell, and Frank DiSalvo. Please pray for PrayNorthstate and for the radio and TV sponsors: Taylor Motors, Hue and Cry Security, Dr. Andre Van Mol, B& T Satellite, New Song Music, Nicolette Glass, Carl Van Dyke Allstate Insurance, Fox 30/Cable 2 TV, Crown Motors, Dove Acres, David Charlsonand Summit Funding, Children First Foster Family Agency, and Dr. Todd Royse. Pray for Imago Dei Ministries, Pray California and Pray Cal’s Listening Team.
Pray for Emmaus Way Ministries of Tel Aviv, Israel, and for Israel, for missionaries Bill & Lori Gardner (Kenya), Doug & Dianne Phillips (Mexico), John & Jana Knoch (Fiji), Eljon &Jennifer Ago (Albania), Bob & Lorelei Newell and Jeff & Julie Watson (Philippines), Erin & WendyO’Neil (Northern Ireland), and Tugsuu & Gantuul (Mongolia and China). Pray for the KingdomInstitute School of Business,Businesstry Concepts, the Hignell Group, Anne Kalvestrand, Clint & Annette Emry, and Carenet and LifeLight Pregnancy Centers.
HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT
Correspondence – and donations – may be addressed to PrayNorthstate, P. O. Box 493743, Redding, CA 96049-3743. Call us at 530-941-3470. Our web site is www.praynorthstate.org; our e-mail is praynorthstate@charter.net.
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