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(Sam Tillery)
I would like to officially welcome you here tonight
on behalf of Sonoma County’s Pastor’s Prayer
and Ministry Alliance. I, Pastor Sam Tillery,
along with Harry Skandera have been representing the
Pastor’s Ministry Alliance for about the past
6-7 years. The first Friday of every month,
we gather the body of Christ together like this and
we have seen some incredible things happen over the
years. We are seeing doors open with the local
churches and in various areas throughout the community,
so we are excited to be here tonight for the first
time in Windsor. We are going to be able to hear
about what some of your needs are and so forth.
Tonight is a prayer meeting, so let me give you a
little bit of instruction. We are here to pray
and so we are going to be giving you a little bit of
direction along the way and we are going to encourage
you to, because we are a mixture of the body of Christ;
there are people in the body that you do not know and
you're not to leave tonight without getting to know a
few more. We want to encourage you to break out
of your comfort zone and the tendency that we have
is to gravitate towards those that you already know
to pray with you. You can do that every week
in your own congregation, but tonight you have the
opportunity that you don’t typically have to
interface with others who are a part of the body of
Christ, so tonight we want to encourage you to do that. Can
you do that? Alright.
If you are here tonight and you are a little bit shy
on praying in a group or out loud, that’s ok. You
can still come together and agree and remember that
this is part of a learning process. We don’t
want to make our prayers lengthy prayers, not about
your washing machine that broke or your car dilemmas,
but we are gathered here to pray for breakthrough for
the city of Windsor and to pray very specifically. Well,
let me just back up here for a moment. Typically
City Reach Prayer is broken up into two parts. In the
first part, we pray for the city and its various
needs and challenges, and that is as a united body
of believers, that we are praying together for God
to bring about His will and His purposes in the city. Secondly,
we pray for the host ministry and tonight we have 5, 6,
or 7 different churches here representing Windsor,
and so we are going to hear from each of those churches. We
will hear of some of their challenges, their vision
and their need and we will agree together and pray
into those needs. When we do so, we are going
to pray specifically to the point of what we are asking
God to do. What can so often happen in prayer
is that we kind of go off in prayer and we talk all
about the problem to God and we never get around to
what we are wanting Him to do and what might be His
will in these areas. I want you to think about
that and that you don’t need to explain it all
to God, He knows about it. We are wanting to
pray to release something.
So, tonight there are two primary areas that we are
going to focus on and they are UNITY and RELEASING. We
are going to let the spirit of God give us direction
as to what that is as we move along the way.
Not too long ago, Pastor Mark Wilmarth traveled
to St. Louis and we roomed together. We went
there to represent our community here in the City Reach
movement and we really got to know each other and I
really grew to love my brother. Just before
we got started here tonight I noticed that Mark didn’t
have a drummer for the worship and so I offered myself
to be the drummer if he wanted, and he said, “No”. I
said, “What do you mean, I’m your new friend/brother”,
and he said, “Well, I don’t trust you. I
have never heard you play before”. I really
liked that, because it shows that we are close enough
that he can be brutally honest with me and I knew enough
about him to not take it personally. I was comfortable
enough to offer to fill in and he was comfortable enough
to say no and maybe another time. That is an
example of the body of Christ favoring and encouraging
one another.
If you have a Bible, let me give you a passage of
scripture. In Philippians Chapter 2, I want you
to listen carefully and think about this as I read
it, because we are going to pray about this. There
are some prayer points, so listen to what the Spirit
might give you as a prayer point as I am going to ask
you to pray aloud in just a moment. Philippians
2:1 – "If you have any encouragement from being
united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if
any fellowship from His spirit, if any tenderness or
compassion, then make my joy complete by being like
minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and
purpose."
The very fact that we are united together tonight,
from different churches in the County, is walking in
that. Is that true? Just your presence
activates the spiritual realm in a positive way.
Verse 3 – "...do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit."
Unfortunately, that has been somewhat the pattern
of many of us as churches, hasn’t it? We
have done our own thing and had our own ideas, and
what we are doing is we are breaking the back of the
independent spirit that has quenched the Holy Spirit
of God in the Church. The very fact that we come
together to humble ourselves, to agree together and
to pray.
Verse 3 – "...do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others as
better than yourselves."
By being here you're saying, “I don’t know
what everybody else believes, but we all believe that
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He
is the way. We have found the way in Him."
Verse 4 – "Each of you should look not only on
your own interest, but also to the interest of others."
So, tonight we are going to hear about the interests
of other congregations, their passions, dreams and
visions that God has placed in them. Then, we
are going to agree together. We are going to
come along side and support and pray for God’s
blessing on what may be a little bit different part
of the expression of the body of Christ than your congregation. We
are one body, many different parts. Tonight,
let us pray with that in mind. Look also to the
interest of others.
Let’s take just a quick minute and just say
a short prayer right where you are that would key off
of this passage of scripture, what you would like God
to release tonight from this.
(Prayer)
Father, we acknowledge that in Windsor there is one
church, but many expressions. Father, bring
glory to yourself through your church in Windsor.
Lord, we know that we are fully equipped by the Holy
Spirit to carry out your will and we praise you Jesus
that your will is unity. I pray Lord, that out
of your Holy Spirit that is inside of us, that you
would provoke humility in conversations with Christians
and non-Christians in our community. We pray
Lord that you would give us opportunities that we wouldn’t
take ourselves, Lord, to practice humility and welcome
you God into our communities.
(Sam Tillery)
I am going to paint a picture real quick of something
for us here tonight, and then I am going to turn it
over to Harry.
When we come together in Christ’s name, the
word that is used in scripture comes from the word
symphony, which is an orchestra of different and diverse
instruments playing the same song, but they sound different. When
we come together, we hear a sound that begins to compliment
what resonates within us and becomes a beautiful song
and expression to the Lord and to the community as
they hear and see the answers to the prayer and the
symphony of God. As we come together and we pray
and we break up later on into different groups, you
are going to hear parts of the body. You are
going to hear different instruments (so to speak) that
are ordained by God that you have not heard so much
or been next to before, and in the idea that we blend
together, hearing the spirit of God as our conductor
to release the purposes of God in Windsor. Does
that make sense? Let me read you a thing that
John Dawson wrote. Here is what is going to happen
tonight: “The united prayer of the saints,
which backed the canopy of oppression and cut off the
operating authority of the powers of darkness in order
to create optimum conditions for the harvest.”
And so, as we unite in prayer tonight, things will
be shaken in the spiritual realm, that only the future
will unfold to if what we have done tonight will make
a difference in the future that we’ll be able
to them see with our eyes.
I am going to ask my partner Harry to come and share
with you just a little bit to set the tone for our
prayer. He is a little bit under the weather,
so be sure not to give him a holy kiss tonight before
you leave (ha, ha, ha). We thank you Harry for
being here even though you are under the weather.
(Harry Skandera)
Thanks Sam.
This is an important night. I am almost never
sick, but I was in bed most of the day today, and my
heart was here.
Just a little bit about this city. According
to the website about this town, they chose it’s
name, because the rolling green hills reminded them
of Windsor, near the castles in England, but the thing
that really stuck out to me about your city is that
for the longest time, as a town, it really wasn’t
one. It was more of just a wide place in the
road until about 20 years ago and all of a sudden,
kaboom, 26,000 people. That is no accident in
the timing of God.
I want to read something that was spoken a couple
of centuries ago by the apostle Paul when he was preaching
in Athens in Acts 17:26,27 – “From one
man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit
the whole earth. And He determined the times
set for them and the exact places where they should
live. God did this so that men would seek Him
and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though
He is not far from any of us.”
This short passage tells us something. It tells
us something that a lot of us really don’t think
about and that is that geography is important to God. He
asked us to go through the whole earth and He obviously
ordained certain people to go to certain places. You
are here in Windsor for some kind of a reason. Maybe
you intentionally came here, because you believe God
directed you here. The point is that you are
here now and that this city has a very specific place
in the heart of God. You have 26,000 people here,
many of who play soccer on Sunday morning. They
don’t show up in church. Some of them may
know the Lord, some of them may not, but you
can take the confidence that because God has brought
them here and that His ploy for bringing them here
to Windsor is that they might know Him in this place. Because
you are the ones who know Him, that is where you come
into place. You are here on purpose. As
Sam said earlier, what is really on our hearts in regards
to what happens here tonight, is that there would be
a spirit of releasing and of unity.
I know that you folks have all kinds of problems here,
because you are humans. We have problems all
over the County, in fact this little black binder right
here is full of reports and situations of people that
pray for specific spheres. There are hundreds
of people praying about the Middle East right now,
about the war in Iraq, about the war in Israel, about
the United Nations and about the United States of America.
Part of what we are trying
to sow a seed for tonight is that there would be
some of you who would be drawn to not just pray for
your welfare, congregation and family, but for
your city and for this county.
 I brought this flag tonight, but I didn’t unroll
it, because it is my conviction that this house and
place is the one that needs to release what this symbolizes
and so, you give a word and this flag will be released. You
have authority in this city, because you live here.
You have authority in this County, because you live
here. One of the things that is exciting and
why I wanted to be here is I said, “Lord, we
need some fresh troops.” I know that there
are many others out there who have a heart for what
is happening in this place. So, if you get nothing
else out of this night, besides the Spirit of the Lord
touching you personally, I pray that your heart will
be expanded to God’s heart for the other Christians
in this room, for those who don’t know Him in
your city and for those of us who pray and worship
in the other parts of the County.
First thing I want to pray about here tonight, I
want to ask you to pray with the two or three people
that are right next to you.
How many of you read the paper? It is an interesting
thing, that as we talk about transformation of cities
and counties, you know, we Christians have sort
of our own language, culture and all that, and we can
get ahead of ourselves sometimes of what the Lord is
doing. The thing that has really been amazing
to us is that when the Lord really begins to speak,
He speaks through people who really don’t know
Him and kind of say what is really on His heart. You
know, there is a controversy in this Country and in
this County. It was in the paper this morning,
about a dear friend of ours named David Miller; he
is an Episcopal Priest in Petaluma. About 5
years ago, we were in a meeting and I presented a flag
to David that was black, which symbolized justice. That
is what David is standing for right now. He is
the only Episcopalian Priest in the County that has
stood for what the Word of God has said about homosexuality. If
the government really knew him, they would know that
he is a man with 10 kids and that there has never been
a time that he hasn’t broken down in tears when
sharing with a group about the things that are important
or dear to his heart. He is an extremely sensitive
man.
I would like to lift David Miller up in prayer. All
of the other Episcopalian Priests are quoting psychologists
and David is quoting the Bible; that kind of says it
all. We need to pray, because it is a very hot
button and we need wisdom and love. We need to
support David tonight and I would ask that we just
pray in twos or threes for him and for
St. John’s Episcopal Church in Petaluma. Pray
that the Lord would have his way and that David would
be encouraged and whatever else comes to your mind.
(Prayer)
(Sam Tillery)
I am going to talk for a few moments and then we are
going to hear from those of you who are here from Windsor,
and those of you here who are not from Windsor are
going to pray into and for those things.
What are some of the issues or strongholds
that might be in Windsor? Now, I want you to
use a word or a phrase to describe that, and then I
want us to pray the opposite. We are usually
pretty good at defining the problem, but we don’t
identify the opposite or what we want God to bring
specifically. Let’s
think that way and let us now hear from Windsor.
Apathy.
Ok, what is the opposite of apathy? Caring,
ok.
Several of us lead out in prayer now, not for apathy,
but for the opposite. Listen to the Lord in your
heart and mind what He would have you pray. A
short prayer and loud enough so that we can hear.
(Prayer)
(Sam Tillery)
Are we guilty in the body of Christ and here in Windsor
of apathy? Is there racism in the churches? Let’s
continue to pray into God’s heart regarding that
and into the opposite for the body of Christ.
(Prayer)
Father, we pray forgiveness for us your body, who
have said wrong things to those that are different
than us. I thank you for your forgiveness for
us, your church. Will you put a new word in our
heart and in our mouth for those around us. May
we speak blessing to all people, all the time.
May the churches in Windsor not stop at just tolerance,
but press on towards love for one another, for fellowship
in the Spirit.
We pray for forgiveness for things we have done that
have hurt people by our judgments with regards to racism. We
pray for people who have been hurt by Christians and
non-Christians by racism, we pray that they would know
comfort that only comes by knowing Jesus Christ. We
pray Jesus that you would teach us as Christians to
draw our identity from you and to minister to people
who are coming to you Jesus, that their worth is in
you, not in who they are in this world.
(Sam Tillery)
What do you think that God wants you to embrace? If
racism is not what we are to be embracing, what do
you think it is that God wants you to embrace? Speak
that.
(Prayer)
Father, as a body, may we embrace compassion and understanding
and the pursuit of the other.
Father, teach us to love one another and to put others
before ourselves.
(Sam Tillery)
Just think about your personal life right now and
say, “Lord, help me to embrace…” and
you fill in the blank right now, just for yourself. You
don’t have to speak it out loud.
Lord, help us to hear.
(Prayer)
Lord, you said for us to not pass judgment on one
another. You said to make up our minds to not
put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brothers
way. Father, would you reveal to us in the coming
days as individuals, as leaders, as local churches,
the things and attitudes that have been in our lives
and churches that have contributed to our passing judgment. We
want to repent of those things, but we need you help
Father.
Father, bring to our minds those things to which we
have been a stumbling block, obstacles to which we
have put up around us, belief systems that are not
in alignment with your truth. Father, would
you bring a Holy conviction on your church here in Sonoma
County, that we would walk in greater integrity and
in demonstration of embracing your heart for people.
(Harry Skandera)
Alright, we started this section off with a short
passage from scripture that was written by the Apostle
Paul, and we are going to be moving into praying for
the specific churches here in just a few minutes.
We have been asked to seek the release of unity. If
God has divinely ordained particular people to be in
a particular place, then what He has in mind is dependent
on everyone that He call there.
For too long as Americans we have looked at things
like our missionary work. “We have the
truth, you guys don’t. Let us come and
give you what we have.” This is wrong thinking
and is not God’s heart nor is it our place. There
is a failure in acknowledging that maybe God is also
at work in the people that we are going to in some
way different than He worked in us, and maybe there
was something in them that we needed.
I would suggest that as we pray for the other churches,
I don’t think that we can do what is in God’s
heart without each other. So, you
want to ask God to help you see what is in this brother
or that brother or congregation that you desperately
need to be complete in this city. Do you hear
what I am saying? Because, until we get that
way, we are not going to have unity. We may
get uniformity around what we think is right and
hoping that everybody else believes what we believe
and hope that is ok. You see the problem.
We have got to believe that God in His sovereign wisdom
put something in others that you need. When we
talk about being one in our marriage, isn’t that
what marriage is about? When we are talking about
the Bride of Christ, when we are talking about being
one in spirit, it is not just about coming to an agreement
on a list of doctrines, but it is about recognizing
the destiny and purposes of God that needs to be integrated
among us. Why did he bring us all here?
Lord, we just pray that in this night, that you would
release in this city a heart for your destiny, not
in our hearts or our particular congregation, but a
heart for your destiny for others. For those
that you are bringing us together with. Lord,
as far as for all of those who have come that do not
know you, we know that you have had a plan and purpose
in their lives since before they were born. Let
us look to cooperating with you and what you intend
to do.
We know Lord that there are gang members that are
latent evangelists. We know Lord that there are
many people in this city who have no idea about their
purpose in you and in unity with you. Father,
help us to carry your heart for them. We ask
this in Jesus name, Amen.
(Sam Tillery)
I am going to ask for the various pastors who
are here tonight from the churches in Windsor, if you
could just stand up where you are. I am going
to ask you to go ahead and come on up front here and
we are going to hear from you and a little bit about
your ministry. That means that you are going
to have to learn to not be preachers now (ha, ha),
but precisely identifying your churches vision, your
distinctiveness in the city and a challenge or two
that we could pray into.
What we are going to do right now, is as they are
coming up front here and getting their thoughts together, I
would like the rest of you to get all mixed up into
groups of 4 and be with people that you do not already
know. We will be praying for each specific ministry
within these small groups.
As you listen to these pastors, you are wanting
to hear from the spirit of God what specifically you
are going to bring from your group as a short prayer,
so we are going to do this fairly rapidly.
We are going to start with Shiloh Church. Introduce
yourself.
(Shiloh Hills Church)
 I
am Todd and this is Dennis and Greg Foust and together
we pastor Shiloh covenant church in Windsor.
Our particular focus is that we are working very hard
to become an incarnational church. We want to
bring God’s presence to bear fruit, not through
seizing control of the schools, City Counsel, or the
Chamber of Commerce, but by living and loving people
in the work place, in our neighborhood and classrooms. We
really want to have that presence, to roll up our sleeves
and do the messy work of being involved in people’s
lives and that comes from seeing the church, not as
a building or a place, but as God’s people living
for Him in community, in, for, and with the community. That
is a real focus of ours. We have a missionary
outpost in a major shopping center and we are praying
for God’s direction on how to use that space
to mobilize as a launching pad, our people. In
particular, Pastor Greg has a specific prayer request
as relates to that.
(Greg Foust)
Being in this shopping center, we have been meeting
a lot of people and we really see the people that are
out and around us as a kind of second layer of our
congregation. Part of that congregation is a
group of youth of which we could rattle off some names,
but these are kids who are out every day and night
of the week. They have for the past year kept
their distance from us, but have slowly moved closer
and closer and talk to us now. As I speak here
tonight, they are probably using the hallway and stairs
of our office area for all kinds of things that you
wouldn’t want your children doing and we are
not really sure what to do with these kids. We
do not want to just chase them out for doing stuff
that isn’t good, we want to be willing and able
to sacrifice our lives in order that they might be
reached, so it is a big question of, “What do
we do Lord”, but I think that the most important
thing that we can do for them is to pray for them.
(Todd)
Also, specifically for our congregation, we would
like to pray that we do not grow weary in doing good.
Secondly, that God would restore to us the joy of
our salvation. We desperately need that!
(Dennis)
I almost hesitate to share this image that I have
had in my mind, but I am going to anyway and I am
hoping that this is also on the hearts of the pastors
that are here. It is the image is that we would
be a church collectively and that if it were to leave,
Windsor would miss the church and would be saddened
over that reality. If we were truly being incarnational
and the church were to leave, then the city would be
very saddened over that and that is what we want to
become.
(Sam Tillery)
Let’s right now pray in our groups for what
we just heard here for Shiloh Covenant Church. Please
continue to pray for these things throughout your weeks
as you leave this place too.
(Prayer)
(Sam Tillery)
Let’s go ahead and have First Baptist Church
of Windsor come on up.
 I
am Tim Swanson and to my right is Kevin Clark. Kevin
is our Spanish ministries pastor and we are with First
Baptist Church of Windsor and we make up the core of
a transitional church. This is an exciting and
challenging time.
God has been doing some great things as always. This
last week, even as we have been praying tonight, we
have had the opportunity to see our church, actually
another aspect of our church which Kevin has been leading,
which is a ministry to Spanish speaking individuals. It
was a church that was supposed to be birthed within
our church and it really came about through a number
of years of praying for that. The leadership
of the church has accepted that as a ministry of the
church as opposed to taking it on as a separation or
a separate entity that will be sent out, rather it
is a part of the church so that we can minister effectively
to the Spanish speaking population here in Windsor,
which is a huge blessing.
I won’t speak for Kevin, but one of the prayer
requests that you can pray for us is that we are in
the midst of a pastoral search and have been for almost
this whole past year. It has been at points trying,
but we are trusting for God’s provision and perfect
timing.
For our congregation, please pray for the removal
of apathy, for encouragement, and for the person that
God is bringing to us, that it would be the man that
God brings he would lead this church into the community
and being outward focused.
(Kevin Clark)
Good evening. My name is Kevin and I have been
with First Baptist church for the past 6 years and
I originally came as a missionary on loan to the church
through a missionary position through an organization
called the Central American Mission. My focus
has primarily been to the Hispanic community and my
heart's desire is to see that part of the community
won to Christ as well as the rest of the community
that goes along with it.
I would like if you would pray together with me for
this part of the community. Out of the 26,000
that are here, 25% are Hispanic and whether or not
they are Spanish speaking, I don’t know, but
if we look around at all of the Evangelical Bible believing
churches here in Windsor, how many Hispanics are going
to church? I would say very few.
In our small Spanish speaking group we have about
30. I know that Shiloh has a few there and that
Hope Chapel has something that they have started up
and want to see that grow here as well, but we are
talking about maybe 50 people out of the 6,000 that
are residing right here in this city. The church
has a lot of work together to do. That would
be my heart and I would like for all of us to pray
for the Hispanic community. That we as a church
would take up this banner and see more come to Christ
that need it so desperately.
Also, please pray with us in that we are praying and
trying to work through inviting/bringing on a Spanish
pastor. We found somebody who is Guatemalan
and is married to a Mexican woman and are living in
Mexico right now and we are hoping to bring them up
early this year, within the next month or so. If
you could pray that their applications would be handed
off to the right person and that God’s timing
be carried out for this.
(Sam Tillery)
Now, I am not from Windsor, but in this transition
and the process of seeking for a new pastor, I know
that there has been some hurt, some pain, is that right? Yes,
so we are here to pray and to support the body of Christ
and so as a church in transition, you can only imagine
the kinds of things that can go on. We really
want to pray for God’s healing and for God’s
direct purpose to be accomplished and let God lead
you in that. Go ahead and pray for these requests
in your groups now.
(Prayer)
(Solid Rock Assembly Church)
Well, we have been here for a long time. Standing
here to my left is Pastor John Manning and he is the
college and worship pastor. My son is the Junior High
Pastor and he wasn’t able to come tonight. We
also have a youth pastor who just took a great position
in Sacramento. I want to pray specifically for
our Junior High Pastor, Sean O’Kelly who recently
graduated Bible college and his wife is with child,
as John just had a baby two days ago too. We
want to pray for Pastor Sean O’Kelly and his
wife Amanda, because his baby is going to be a special
needs baby, so we want to lift them up in prayer. Our
mission statement could be summed up in one word; it
is not different than what we have heard tonight. We
want to go after the lost and serve in this community.
I would also like to emphasize divine healing. This
year I was healed of lung cancer. Praise God! The
whole thing is gone. Many of the churches stood
in the gap and prayed for me and my family and it is
a supernatural miracle.
My heart's burden as well, just for Windsor is that,
you know, we are a very materialistic city. The
wine industry and this lifestyle hits hard and it hits
some very close to me. I am not condemning people,
but you know, there is something about Holiness and
unity, and I think if we reflect the real Bride of
Christ together, what a testimony. In other
words, when they look at us as a little bit different,
something that they might desire. You know what
I am saying. Not to be controversial tonight,
but really pray for the spirit of Holiness in us, souls
to be saved and for physical healing for us. One
of our Elders named Allen Cunningham, has cancer as
well. He is recovering from a Liver transplant,
which was a miracle in itself, but then he got hit
with prostrate cancer, so he needs a touch in his body.
(Sam Tillery)
Go ahead and pray for these things as the Lord leads
you.
(Sam Tillery)
I understand that there are about 10 Evangelical churches
in Windsor; half of those churches meet on a bi-weekly
basis to pray. Isn’t that cool!
To see so early on in this city, pastors and
leaders coming together to pray, as I was telling Mark
on our trip, I am excited for what God is going to
do. We in Santa Rosa have been at it for 17 years
and you guys are much further ahead in just the few
years that you have been gathering together, so we
are just seeing breakthrough in some encouraging ways. Let’s
hear from another pastor.
(Hope Chapel Windsor)
 I
am pastor Mark Wilmarth from Hope Chapel, this is Dennis
Hart our ministry pastor and Gabe Davis our youth pastor
and I’ll let him
speak first.
(Gabe Davis)
Well, like he said, my focus is the teenagers here. I
think what I see more than anything else is teenagers
reflect a lot of the brokenness that is going on with
all of the rest of us. The Lord has been putting
on my heart very much is that we in the church need
to find new, fresh, creative and wise ways as a church
to become a family and to be the extended family that
our teenagers are desperately needing.
Early in 2006, we as a church family felt a really
strong draw to reach out of this building and facility
and out into the community. So, there was a small
team that went out with a food ministry and we chose
a neighborhood that appeared to us to be ethnically
mixed and a difficulty with gang problems and poverty. We
ended up primarily with a Latino ministry, which was
not our intension, but certainly as we see now in perspective,
that it was God’s intention.
We are feeling as a church family and is my prayer
request tonight, that God would expand this desire
to reach out into our community. To get outside
of the walls of our church and into the community at
large.
I have been feeling quite strongly that, back when
Sam was asking for the one or two words or areas of
prayer, what was coming to my mind was to pray against
the idolatry of materialism and Dave just mentioned
it a moment ago, that we do have a very materialistic
community. I am feeling, and I hope that you would
pray with us, that we could clearly define the next
target for our next outreach. Perhaps into that
area where the battle ground is going to be a false
sense of fulfillment and satisfaction in life that
comes from materialism as opposed to our eternal position. We
are needing a real clear definition of where God is
leading us.
(Mark Wilmarth)
The thing that comes to my mind is, we as a church
here are in our 5th year. When we started, there
was an awful lot of excitement, just as over the years
the honeymoon ends, so we are experiencing that. Our
values as a church come from Acts Chapter 2, and they
met from house to house, they worshiped, they served
one another, they fellowshipped, they prayed, they
listened to the Apostles teaching, God added to the
church daily those who where coming to faith in Him,
and those are our values here.
Our vision comes from Ephesians Chapter 4, Apostles,
Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers equip the
saints for the work of ministry. We pictured
people coming in that were un-equipped, but when they
came out the other end, were strong and built up in
the spirit. We have seen some of that, but we
have felt this year more than any other year, incredible
warfare against the vision in terms of apathy, finances
(people finding other places to give their resources)
and we know that it is warfare that we need to break through
and it effects all of us, whether we are aware of it
or not.
Pray for that, that we would break through.
(Sam Tillery)
Let’s go ahead and pray for those things for
Hope Chapel.
(Vineyard of Faith)
Four days ago marked my entrance into the pastoral
ministry in a sense. I am technically still a
pastoral intern and will be for the next four years. I
am from Vineyard of faith and my name is Eric Allen
and this is my beautiful bride, Jill Allen. God
is good, Amen!
I am very fortunate that I get to have a ministry
partner in Jill, as a wife and in the church as well. Her
role at Vineyard of Faith is to be the children’s
director and the outreach director. My role is
with the high school youth right now and is going to
progress into a regular fulltime pastor.
Vineyard of Faith is a church, like many others here
in Sonoma County, has experienced quite a lot of pain. At
one point there was over 800 people attending there
and now there is 90 to 100.
What we need more than anything right now is to continually
have the leaders with the church infrastructure and
other men and women in the church, to develop themselves
spiritually and to build up internally, so that, like
every other church here, we can reach Windsor and we
can do it with the vision that God has given us.
I am very passionate, lucky and blessed to participate
in this. I actually grew up in Vineyard of Faith
and have been gone for several years. Through
God’s divine miraculous ways, I came back and
with a wonderful partner. I will let my wife
Jill share now.
(Jill Allen)
As you are praying for our church, we need God to
help us let go of what was in the past and to stop
thinking about, “Oh, remember when…,"
and focus on hearing God’s vision for the future. There
are a lot of memories that need to be treasured, but
we need to focus on what God is doing right now in
Vineyard of Faith and what’s going to happen.
My heart too is for the children, so I want to pray
for families in Windsor that are experiencing brokenness
and for parents that are spiritually single and that
God’s love would penetrate through us to them.
(Sam Tillery)
Let’s go ahead and pray
for Vineyard of Faith now.
(Prayer)
(Sam Tillery)
One of my frustrations that lies in a gathering like
this is that it is rushed, and it is, but I want you
to think about that as each church was prayed for,
there were sixteen different groups of 3-5 people praying. A
whole lot of prayer takes place in a short amount of
time and God’s not looking at how many words
or how emotionally we get involved, but there is much
that happens in this kind of forum.
Typically in City Reach Prayer, we are praying into
the ministry and vision of one host church, but tonight
we have a handful of churches that we are praying into,
so I don’t want you to become discouraged or
disillusioned with what we are about doing. The
same format happens, but each group is different as
the Lord leads our prayers and our hearts.
I am going to use this moment before we pray for this
last church, because this is an exciting thing that
we are going to pray into, and then we will go out
with a song, but we do not know where City Reach is
going to be next month.
We were scheduled for Healdsburg, but they needed
to reschedule for a different month, so check the website
for location www.unitedprayer.org.
We want to encourage you as pastors here in Windsor,
whether you come to City Reach or not, to send delegates
from each of your congregations to come each month. They
can come back and give a report to your congregation
and also it expands the body of Christ. We don’t
necessarily look at City Reach Prayer at how many people
come, but a representation of the broader expression
of the body of Christ.
One of the things that we have found in the cities
and in the churches that are experiencing significant
growth and change is that they have found God’s
anointed Intercessors who have a different perspective
and ways in which they can pray into the needs of the
local congregation as well as for the city. One
of the ways we would admonish and encourage you, is
to find and discover the intercessors in your congregation
and bring them together to pray for you and the leaders
in your church on a continued basis. We can help
you organize them if you would like and we see that
as a key factor in reaching our cities with the love
and saving power of Christ.
Now, our last church , I am going to have Mark give
a short little intro here and then we will hear from
them and pray.
(Mark Wilmarth)
Scott Tolson has been a pastor in our community for
21 years. God began to move in his heart, a couple
years or longer, but hungering for something new. He
felt that there was something that God was calling
he, Paula and their kids to and they tried to escape
the community this last year. Scott was looking
around for jobs. He almost got hired in a church
in Arizona. A handful of us were holding on and
were just feeling like he should stay here in this
community. They are equipped, they know this
community and know our people, so they needed this
vision to launch their church and as many of us have
wondered, “Where in the world are we going to
meet?", and there were, of course, a couple of closed
doors.
We really have had a heart to, and I keep reminding
myself of this, that we really want to see everyone
else succeed more than us. If there is anything
of “me” or the old man that comes up, I
just remind myself that we are here to lift others
up more than ourselves, so we’ve opened the doors
here. We have a Saturday night and a Sunday morning
service. Friday night the place is dark. It
is just an empty, cold warehouse that nobody is using,
so they are going to start their church here one week
from today. (Yeah!)
It is so amazing the timing and everything. We
didn’t really plan this all, it all just sort-of
dove tailed.
We wanted to close this evening tonight by praying
for, commissioning, blessing and sending this new church
out in the name of the Lord, so that is what we are
going to do. I don’t know if Scott Tolson
is going to say anything or not (ha, ha, ha), but when
we get to the time of prayer, I want everyone who is
a part of that church to come on up on the stage so
that we can pray for you, ok.
(The Vine)
(Scott Tolson)
Thank you Mark. I have been an associate pastor
for the church for the past 20 – 21 years. First
Baptist church was the church that I was at. God
has been stirring in me to do church in a different
way, to try and reach out to people in ways that I
do not have a clue to do. Todd and Greg from
Shiloh and Dennis and Mark from Hope Chapel, have been
an incredible encouragement to me. I
had never experienced the inter-relational relationship
that us as pastors have here in Windsor ever before. I
have on staff with other pastors and it has been incredible,
but never between different churches of different denominations. As
Mark had said, I was getting ready to go to Arizona
and in my heart I was like “no”, because
God is getting ready to do something amazing in Windsor;
I want to be here and I have been praying for it for
ten years and I want to see what you are going to do. I
think that tonight demonstrates what God is starting
to do.
Our church vision is, this might sound weird, but
we are wanting to help reconnect people with God. There
are a lot of people out there who are looking, but
they don’t know what they are looking for. Some
of them think that they have found it and they haven’t. We
want them to really connect with the living God and
find true life in Him.
Our church is going to be an emerging kind of post
modern type of a church. Now, that is not who
I am, so please pray for me. I don’t have
a clue how we are going to do that, I just know that
there are a group of people in our community and that
is exactly where they are at. So, this church
is going to look different and do some things different,
but we are going to share the message of Jesus and
we are going to stand on the word of God.
Pray for me in that I have never been a senior pastor
before.
Secondly, pray for children’s workers. We
talk about the need to reach children, well we need
children’s workers. Something is wrong,
because we should have children’s workers coming
out of our ears.
(Sam Tillery)
So, could everyone who is a part of The Vine come
on up here to the front and we will all pray for you. I
am going to ask all of the other pastor’s if
you would surround them up here.
(Steve Merical)
I just wanted to say that I grew up First Baptist
and my dad was the pastor there 25 years ago when he
died. I have grown up in a church that has said, “We
only use Christians. We only want Christians
in our church. We want to have this nice little
church that looks good," and I have always been
in Christian school, church and college and I was scared
with the thought of being with non-believers, because
I didn’t know what to say or how to be or if
I should be different, so to start this with Scott
scared the geeper’s out of me, because we want
to see this church built on people coming to Christ,
not on steeling people from other churches. That
has happened too much in this community and across
the country.
God has a very ironic sense of humor. I am
the band. No choir and not instrumentalist, actually
we have a pianist. I walked into Christine’s
office a few weeks ago, and one of her agents has been
seeking God. Here is this guy, he doesn’t
have a relationship with God and 45 minutes later he
says, “You know what, I’m not very good,
but I play the drums and my 13 yr old son plays the
guitar. If we could help you, we would like to
be a part of starting your church.” So,
last night, I had myself and my band members in here
to start practicing for church. That is so different
than the way most of us have thought of our churches,
that is your not Christian then you can’t be
on the platform and you can’t do anything. God
has taught me in a huge way that His love goes beyond
any of that and that if I can get them in here to be
a part of this, that means that they are going to hear
the word of God preached every week and I have had
an impact in their life that I would have never had
if they were not here.
So, let’s think about that. It’s
not about having perfect people, but it is about reaching
people for Christ!
(Sam Tillery)
This is such a blessing and this is different. To
have a church start with the blessing of the unity
of the diversity of the body of Christ, is going to
carry a power and impact that is different just an
individual denomination or particular group. Do
you see the difference and what is happening here. This
is so historical what God is doing here.
So, let us now pray and release what God is putting
on your heart for this congregation right now.
Father, let this place be filled with un-believers
on Friday nights.
We release Holy Ghost freedom.
Lord, we pray that you will make The Vine, divine. Father
that they will become just like Christ manifested in
the flesh, in ways that are unusual, totally transforming
and powerful to the turning of many to Christ.
We praise you God for Scott and Steve and for the
new wine that you are bringing about in their lives
and in this community and we pray that as they worship,
that the Holy Spirit would anoint them to do powerful
things in Jesus name. Lord, let the Holy Spirit
use them in ways that they could never even imagine,
Lord that they would just be laughing, because they
are amazed at what you are doing through and around
them.
God, may you do greater and amazing things, beyond
their expectations. Enlarge their vision and
build them up. May they see new things every
day and may their branches reach out into this community.
Father, we pray that hundreds of pre-Christians will
be joined to The Vine.
(Sam Tillery)
I would like each one of the pastors here to now speak
something into The Vine, pray for them and go ahead
and grab the mike when you do so that we can hear you.
(Prayer)
Father, we unselfishly bless this launch of a new
church in Windsor and we know that the hearts that
are here are broken before you. We do not look
into the past, we look towards the future of great
expectation of souls. Lord, that this would
be a move that would be blessed by you and that your
anointing and protection would be over them. We
thank you Lord that we are all a part of this tonight
and that we are all under the one banner of your Lordship. Your
Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven.
We thank you for this work and we bless it in the
powerful name of Jesus.
Father, we thank you that in The Vine you have created
a place for people to belong even though they do not
yet believe, and Father thank you for that example
and model and may that be true of all of our churches,
that we create a place for people to belong and that
your love would be irresistible and that you Father,
would draw many. Father, what is happening here
tonight, may it start a fresh and a new wave of planting
churches and joining churches together in unity and
work together for the Kingdom.
Father allow them to bring in true worshipers who
worship you in spirit and in truth.
Father, may they not be bound by or guided by tradition,
but only be guided by your Spirit and your Word. In
their not knowing everything and in their weakness,
God that your strength would be seen. We pray
that this community would see hope in this body and
that we would truly be unified and that each body would
support and bless one another and work together.
Father, go before them and prepare the way for all
that you desire to do through The Vine and show us
how to help them along the way, in Jesus name.
Lord, I want to thank you for all of the tears that
are flowing here right now. I am reminded of
Charles Spurgeon referred to those as liquid prayers. Lord,
I pray that those tears would never stop. I pray
that these people would all be crying next Friday night,
just for joy, that they would be crying for sinners
and Lord that they would be concerned. Thank
you that they are stepping out in faith and I ask you
to honor that Lord.
Lord, I want to pray a special prayer for the worship
team, that they would be anointed and come before you
with worship on their knees and that your presence
would enter in as they enter into worship. I
pray that those who come into worship with them would
experience that same anointing and that they would
know that it is different, because it is the living,
loving power of Jesus Christ. Father, bless the
youth as well and bring them in so that they can know
their destiny and know God now.
(Sam Tillery)
We are going to take up an offering for the Pastor’s
Prayer and Ministry Alliance tonight and all of the
money that comes in will be a seed offering to this
new church, The Vine. You can make your checks payable
to P.P.M.A..
(Reading of the Parable of the seed and the sower
from Matthew)
We want to encourage you to pick up one of the Breakthrough
Sonoma county DVD’s and show it to your congregation
if they haven’t already seen it. They are
free and you can get one on the table in the back.
Special Thanks to Christelle Eddy
who transcribed this document. |
