BLeach

Will You Pray for the Philly Project?

Many of you have mentioned that you're praying for us as we prepare to start a network of churches in Philadelphia. Thank you so much. Now we're ready to take our prayer effort to the next level! 

I'm excited this week to announce a tool that I hope will facilitate a transformational movement of prayer for the city of Philadelphia. The Philly Five is a weekly email containing five strategic points of prayer for the Philly Project. 

My dream is to see 500 people committing five minutes a week to pray over the Philly Five. Of course, you can pray more than five minutes if you'd like, but if 500 of us are praying five minutes a week, that's 42 hours of prayer for the city of Philadelphia to be transformed by Jesus! Wow!

Will you be a part of this historic church planting movement?

If so, simply follow this link to phillyproject.com, our brand new site, and click the button at the top of the page to "join a movement of prayer for Philly." Follow the instructions and you're in!

Someday God will give us a bigger perspective, and we'll see the difference our prayers made in the lives of hundreds of people in Philadelphia. Thank you for standing with us!

Five Ways You Can Pray For Us Right Now

Thanks to many of you who have said that you're praying for us.  You'll never know how encouraging that is.

In a few weeks I'll be sharing how you can be a part of The Philly Project's ongoing prayer team. In the meantime, here are five ways you can be praying for us right now!

• Pray for Leah and I quickly capture God's heart for the vision and values of this new church (Psalm 127.1).
• Pray for 500 people to join the Philly Project prayer team.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to use their prayers to inspire life transformation for the people of Philadelphia (James 5.16).
• Pray for God to lead us to the Philadelphia neighborhoods He wants us to focus on (1 Corinthians 2.10-11).
• Pray for our house in Michigan to sell quickly (Psalm 5.12).
• Pray for God to speak to people to move to Philadelphia to help plant this church (Acts 13.2-4).

We appreciate your focused prayers!

Man Up

I've been meditating on Psalm 112 over the past few days.  It describes the man who fears the Lord.  I think this description is really timely in our current economic and political situation, and I took time this past Sunday to speak it over the men in our church.  Here are a few of the descriptions:

• His offspring will be mighty in the land; the next generation will be blessed
• Wealth and riches are in his house
• It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice
• He will never be moved
• He will be remembered forever
• He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord
• His heart is steady; he will not be afraid
• He will look in triumph on his adversaries
• He has distributed freely and given to the poor
• His righteousness endures forever
• He is honored

I took time this past Sunday to speak these verses over the men in our church, especially the guys who have lost their jobs recently.  Your value and potential is not determined by a declining automotive industry.  You are a follower of Christ, a son of God, and a citizen of the Kingdom that cannot be shaken.  And you are called to serve the mission of God in our world.

Man up!

Week of War

For several months our church has been setting aside the last full week of each month to emphasize the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting.  We call it WOW (week of war).  This week is off to a special start.

Our vision to amplify this fall seems to have energized our church to pray with increased faith and passion.  Last night I met with our evangelism team.  We spent the first half of the meeting praying for our city, and it was hot!  One of the team members was actually healed of chronic leg pain in the meeting!

This morning a group of men gathered in the cafe to pray.  We lifted our voices together and declared the character of God, then we prayed with intensity for our church, our families, and our city.  I love hearing the sound of my brothers crying out to God.

If you are a part of Church of the King and haven't been to a prayer meeting this week, plan to join us tomorrow night at 7.00 pm as all of our Life Groups gather for corporate prayer.  If the start of this week is any indication then you're not going to want to miss it!

Let's amplify!

A Vision for our City

It's tough seeing Mayor Kilpatrick's mug shot every time I pick up a paper or turn on the news.  Detroit already suffers from a rough reputation across the country.  It's time for our city to begin making positive news.  For this to happen, it's imperative that all followers of Jesus spend more time praying for our city then whining, speculating, complaining, or gawking.

This week at Church of the King is Week of War.  Tonight at our midweek prayer service we'll be praying over Metro Detroit.  We'll be specifically praying for the urban blueprint in Isaiah 65.18-25 to become reality in our city.  It's an awesome collection of characteristics that will define the New Jerusalem.

• Public Celebrations and Happiness (v 17)
• Public Health for Children and the Elderly (v 20)
• Housing for Everyone (v 21)
• Food for Everyone (v 22)
• Enjoyable Employment (v 22)
• Prosperous Economy (v 22-23)
• Blessed Pregnancies without Abortion (v 23)
• Strong Family Units and Legacy (v 23)
• Total Absence of Violence (v 25)
• Unusual and Diverse Relationships (v 25)

Since Jesus told us to pray for heaven to come to earth, we'll be asking Him to make the New Detroit look like the New Jerusalem.  This vision is a blue-print for change.

Our mission is simple: Connecting our City to Christ.  And if that happens there just isn't any aspect of culture that shouldn't change.

Click here if you'd like to access the prayer guide including notes and prayer points.

Long Distance Tag-Team

Thanks for your prayers.  God is doing some memorable things this weekend in the mountains of Oregon!

To all of my Church of the King family who are beginning to worship together right now, I'm praying for you.  I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1.3-6).

Our final service here is set to begin in a few hours.  Meanwhile, it's so cool to have my dad preaching for me back home.  This PK (pastor's kid) pours into some other PK's while PD (pastor's dad) takes care of business back home.  I love you dad.  Thanks for tag-teaming with me today!

Signaling Jesus

I think prayer might be to the church what the nervous system is to the body.  If I get stung in the arm by a bee, nerves in my arm send a message to my brain.  That signal lets me know that my arm is hurting.

Leprosy is devastating to the body because it attacks the nerves.  I've heard horrifying stories of lepers waking up next to a campfire with a badly burned leg because they couldn't feel it shift into the fire. 

I wonder if spiritual leprosy attacks the Body of Christ when we fail to pray?  Jesus is the head.  When a member of our body is hurting, intercession signals Him.  When someone in our city is suffering, prayer communicates to Him.

There's nothing more irrelevant to a city than an unresponsive church.  Prayer keeps our nerves sharp.

Just For You

For the past few weeks I've been praying over each person in my fall Life Group.  This afternoon I thought I'd extend that prayer to you.

I pray that you will know yourself.  Most of us decide what to do before we really know who we are.  Digging deep inside yourself may seem scary.  If it does, remember this.  Jesus knows you better than you'll ever know yourself.  And He doesn't push you away.

I pray that you will like yourself.  Instead of evaluating your worth through the lens of your depravity, see yourself in terms of your dignity.  You were God's idea, created in His own image.  That's worth something.

I pray that you will challenge yourself.  Refuse complacency.  Shake free from apathy.  Dig deeper than you ever have before.  Dream bigger than you ever thought you could.  Set some specific goals for growth this fall and go for it!

I pray that you will be yourself.  Comparison tricks us into spending too much energy trying to become someone God never intended us to be.  Imagine being free to walk comfortably and confidently in your own skin.  You'll inspire Jesus to smile on your courageous authenticity.

And I pray that you'll reproduce yourself.  Because now you've got something real to give away.

War Week

This year our church has set aside the last full week of every month to anticipate some WOW moments from Jesus.  This week is our second Week of War.  We're praying.  We're fasting.  And we're asking God to use us in our mission field.

Sometimes people are curious how you go about starting a church when you're 22.  Asking alot of questions helps.  So does surrounding yourself with patient people:)  But I really believe fasting sped up the timeline of ministry in my life. 

I did my first 40 day fast during college.  It's been a regular part of my life ever since.  Incidentally, I wouldn't recommend a 40 day fast unless it's inspired by Jesus and you've done your homework.  If that's the case it could be a life-altering experience for you. 

I've come to learn that fasting isn't a spiritual power play.  It's not a hunger strike against heaven.  It's not about getting things we want.  Fasting positions us to get what God wants.  Fasting that's motivated by pride disappoints.  But fasting that produces humility breaks chains and opens doors.

I just think there's something healthy about relying on Jesus for strength rather than meat and vegetables.

Oh, and one more thing.  Be prepared when you watch 24 on Monday nights for all the commercials for Boston Market, Arbys, Pizza Hut, Applebees...

Well, you get the picture:)

Week of War

As a church we've set aside the last full week of every month in 2007 to anticipate WOW moments from Jesus through prayer and fasting.  This is our first Week of War.  Yesterday we had a great time of prayer together as a staff.  And this morning I gathered with some fired-up men.  Just for the record, 6:00 am prayer meetings are stretching for me.  When my alarm goes off my thoughts go something like this:

Jesus has called me into full time ministry and needs me to get my rest:)

It's really cold outside:)

Maybe it would be better for the men if their pastor didn't come.  I wouldn't want to intimidate them:)

But by 7:15 this morning I had no regrets.  We pressed in.  Jesus heard.  Answers are in the works. 

One of the books that shaped my thinking the most when we started our church was Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Pastor Jim Cymbala.  The story of Brooklyn Tabernacle is one of the most inspiring church growth stories I've come across.  Jim Cymbala was a young pastor with a failing inner city church.  That's when he got desperate and made a simple commitment to call his small church to prayer.  Today their Tuesday night prayer meetings are visited by people from all over the world.

Ready to fight this week!