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(Pastor R.C. Carillo)
Welcome to Giving Tree Church. We are of course blessed and happy to host City Reach Prayer here tonight.
You can tell that we love to worship as we just did and I would love to just keep going in that, but we are just going to worship now in a different way, which will be through our prayers for the nation first as we get ready for Global Day of Prayer coming up, then we will spend some time in prayer for the ministry of Giving Tree Church as well.
Let’s just begin by jumping right in and go ahead and pray for our nation, it’s leaders and that God would have His way in it as well as in us individually.
(Prayer)
Lord, as we are a nation of different cultures, of different people, different parties, yet we are one nation. Lord, we have always been able to some degree to respect our differences, yet stand together as one. Lord, there has been such a divide over the last few years. Lord, just as you are bring us together in the body of Christ, do that in this nation.
Lord, it is you who have developed this nation as one nation under God. That was our foundation Lord. Would you cause those in leadership to be able to discuss differences and yet they would start honoring each other. That they would see the greater picture of what it means as we stand before the world, Lord heal us from our wounds and forgive us for our pettiness Lord.
Raise up America to be the eagle that you called it to be. The one who soars, the one who has eyes to see, the one who will rescue those who are hurting, the one who will stand in righteousness and love those that are poor and rich and that will stand as an example to the world, God.
Father God, I just pray for the church, which is us, your people. I pray Lord that as we as a nation can rise up like an eagle, that you would give us your people a revelation of who we are, so that we know that we can stand, so that we know that we do have a voice. That we would know that our prayers do change things, change lives and our own hearts, so that we can participate in your divine nature.
We would be people walking around participating in the divine nature that you have so freely given to each one of us God. Father, as your church in this nation, that we would not walk blindly or ignorant of the truth that the very kingdom dwells within us. That we would walk around filled to overflowing with your heart for the lost, for everyone that we come in contact with Lord, because it’s not about us Lord, but it is about you.
Lord, we pray that we would see through your eyes and that we would redeem the times. I pray that this would happen as we have revelation that you have given us in your word. May we have a hunger for your word again. May we simply get back to the truth that you are our savior and that we are the people of your pasture. May we talk with you, walk with you and then do what you did Jesus.
Help us to be a nation full of people that walk in the simplicity of walking with our savior. Thank you God, that you have given us all that we need for Godliness and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms and that we lack no good thing when we are connected to the vine. I pray that the church nation wide would do that Lord God.
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
(R.C. Carillo)
As you now know, the Global Day of Prayer is coming up here and actually falls on Pentecost Sunday, which is May 27th. We are planning a gathering here in Santa Rosa and it is going to be held at Redwood Covenant Church along with the nations of the world. It began in South Africa and it has move across the world like wild fire and we are believing that God is moving through this.
What I would like us to do in the next few moments is to pray into what God wants to accomplish through that event, but we are calling this region to prayer 10 days before the Global Day of Prayer, similar to what we have done in the past. There are currently regions that have been praying 40 days prior to this event.
(Prayer)
Father move on hearts that we would know the importance of corporate, united prayer. Even in our city that we would be a united church in prayer and heart.
Father, waken our senses to the spiritual world and that we would care about what you care about. That we would have your heart for this nation and it’s people.
May our lives be saturated with who you are Lord.
(R.C. Carillo)
Welcome to the community center. How many of you were here last time? Well, I want to re-cap a little bit, because before you pray for us the Giving Tree Church, we are one of the three ministries that meet here. Before you pray for us, which I am excited to receive tonight, I would like us to pray into what God is doing all through here some more.
We are going to actually leave this room and pray in some specific locations in the building here, then I would like to come back and pray into some specifics.
City Life Community Center is a center that is stewarded by the church, and I say the church very intentionally, because it is not by a church, but by many of us. City Life Church’s pastor Adam Peacocke is the visionary and is the one who has carried this vision. God gave him this vision, but said that he couldn’t do it alone. Halelujah to that.
So a couple of years ago they walked into this building in faith. This is a building that they have a lease on and of course we are praying that it would soon be able to be owned by the kingdom of God, so you could keep that in your prayers as well. They began to pray that God would bring the ministries to this location that would align with the vision that God gave them for this community center.
The Giving Tree is one with the vision of this community center is to be a community center, never to be a traditional type of church, but to be a place where the activity of the kingdom of God can flow in and out of here on a day in and a day out basis.
I have to admit, it is happening and it is very exciting to see what God is doing here.
The desire of God’s heart was that fellowships would be here, many fellowships and ministries that would have an impact on the community. Does everyone here know about Spring Clean and that ministry? I just want to make sure that you know what these different ministries are as we pray into them. The relationship that God has given us with the city has opened up doors for other ministries. The most recent one has been Hope Works.
The mayor last year has approached the faith based community and said, “We need help with gangs, will you help us?” The mayor then brought in a minister from Fresno who came and shared the story of the ministry that he had started down there.
Basically, it is reaching into the lives of the young men and women who have been in gangs or are in gangs or at risk to be in one and bring them into a program that is faith based, but you don’t have to be a believer or declare Christianity to be a part of this program and they are implemented into jobs, so they are working hand in hand with employers and local businesses in the community to try and give these kids a better life and to have a positive impact in the community. So, the mayor brought that to us and praise the Lord, today that ministry is in action. It’s called Hope Works and it is happening right here at this center.
The two names that are mentioned here, Steve Velasquez and Steve Carlton are currently on board. Steve Velasquez’s office is actually right here in the building and has been recruiting young men and women and they meet here at the center where he counsels them, running them through the program in hopes of getting them into jobs.
The trouble that we are having is not that we would receive money, but we are having a difficult time finding businesses, jobs and employers that have properly caught the vision. We only have maybe two or three right now that are saying, “Yes, give us young men and women who we can hire and bring them under our wing”, so that is a huge prayer need tonight.
We want to pray that personal transformation will take place with these young people. The directors both are born again Christians, in fact Steve in a minister at a church in Rincon Valley off of Benicia Drive and he carries a burden for people to know Christ. The executive director, Steve Carlton has been leading worship at a church in Petaluma, but is now coming on board to serve in this way.
So, if we could now just go right down the hall and pray for him in his office. We will just saturate this place in prayer.
(Prayer)
May this not just be a program, but that it would be a life changer and a history maker in this city. Send people that are skilled to work with those who are coming into this program that need permanent breakthrough and wisdom on how to live in the new life that they are brought into by the power of your Spirit.
(R.C. Carillo)
There are all kinds of programs here serving youth. Hope Works of course is one of them. There is CABA- a group of Christians who have started a weekly gathering here as a model program and now there are 9 other programs following it here in the state. The testimony is that the woman who started the one here, came to pastors prayer fellowship and we prayed that God would bless and release her to carry out this vision that God had given her and she said the reason that she believes that it is so successful is because of the prayer that went into that, so that is a testimony.
There is private tutoring, dance, ballet and martial arts. There is also Strategic Christian Services a ministry that has been around our region. They, just this year, are planning three youth conferences that will be happening at this facility, so continue to pray that all that is happening here in this building, all that you’ve heard so far and all of the pastor’s Bible studies that go on hear and pastors prayer meetings, that it would just continue to flow and God’s vision would be brought to pass for this place.
There are five congregations that call this place home and are all different denominations working together for the common good. Two of them are Fijian, the Santa Rosa Deaf Church meets here, The Giving Tree and City Life Fellowship.
(Prayer)
We declare Santa Rosa a gang free zone.
A purple zone, which would be the uniting of the red and the blue.
(R.C. Carillo)
If I could describe Giving Tree Church in a sentence, I would say that it is a fellowship committed to family. Really, we are like a big family and those people that stop in or visit will see that it is like a big family. We have a passion to really know God and to be worshipers, so when God is searching for worshipers He will find us.
That has been our heart and we are committed to family, discipleship and other things. Please just pray that God will continue to use us in the way that He desires. We really believe that the scripture God gave us at the founding of the church, which was before my time, Psalm 1, says that, “He will be like a tree planted by streams of living water which yield it’s fruit in season”, and we really feel that that is what our destiny is in this county.
God is calling us and we have been learning a lot about what it means to walk in the kingdom, and that is our passion and persuit. We want to be a fellowship that is truly kingdom minded, not just in theology, but in lifestyle. In word and deed, that’s what the passion of our heart is and that is what God is calling us to that this year. Specifically, as a theme this year it has really been resonating in our hearts and we have been learning a lot, so pray that we would continue to walk in His directives, His order and then whatever else God puts on your heart to pray for us.
I wasn’t originally going to facilitate this time, so I am going to ask you all just to gather around us, pray for us and just go for it and pray until your done and then when we’re done, we’re done, amen?
By the way, I am the Pastor of Giving Tree Church and this is my wife Lorie and my son Ryan, daughter Rachel and then over here is some of our worship team.
(Prayer)
(Pastor R.C. Carillo)
Here are the 10 day packets for Global Day of Prayer. If you want one or want to take a few and pass them on, go ahead and grab one, they are right here on the chair.
Go in the peace of the Lord and we hope to see you soon.
Special Thanks to Christelle Eddy
who transcribed this document.
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