(Sam Tillery)
I would like to welcome you all here on behalf of City Reach Prayer, a ministry of Pastor’s Prayer and Ministry Alliance. We are going to be praying at some specific locations tonight in regards to the ministries happening at this church and also in the city, so be prepared for that. But first let us open with a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessing that You set us apart to be light for You. We gather in Your name representing different and diverse communities. Tonight as we pray for the city and its Law Enforcement, lead us in how we pray and what we pray. Lord, have Your way with us and we thank You for all that You have already done and will continue to do through us. Amen.
We are going to be talking about Hope Works tonight and I am going to be turning that over to Adam in just a moment, but that is an answer to prayer. We have been praying for years that God would open doors and provide for a way to reach out in this city to the streets and the Hope Works program has provided that in so many ways. Adam will come and share more about that and then we are going to pray for that specific ministry as it is moving forward and such.
(Adam Peacock)
Welcome! It is a privilege to be able to share with you about Hope Works tonight. The facility that we are at, I am not sure if you know that this is actually the headquarters for Hope Works Santa Rosa. May 5th, 2003 was one of the darker days for the city of Santa Rosa that we have had in recent history.
If you remember, that was Cinco De Mayo and we basically had rioting in our city. People were shot and stabbed. Our Police Department and Sheriff’s Department were really caught unaware and unprepared for the scope of the violence that was occurring. I remember being in a presentation from the Santa Rosa Police Department where they showed a video clip from ABC’s nightly news of Mendocino Avenue, right were we are, gun shots, rioting and the streets were bedlam. The City had been already beginning some efforts towards dealing with the gang issue, but it made it a major issue for our community and it became a consistent prayer point in our weekly Pastor’s Prayer time.
This year in the newspaper, about a month ago, they gave crime statistics from 2003 to 2006 and we have had a 23% drop in our crime since that time, which is the opposite of the national trend and the state trend, even our county trend apart from unincorporated areas in Santa Rosa. The paper gave a lot of different things credit for that, and I am not saying that there haven’t been other influences, but we have been in consistent prayer and service into that area and we are taking it as an encouragement that prayer changes things.
Out of that consistent prayer, God began to move our hearts to address the gang issue and through several divine appointments, Sam and I found ourselves in the Mayor’s office talking about how the church might be able to be involved in helping address the gang issues. It was the beginning of a relationship that started with small steps, but by Dec. 2005, the Mayor and other leaders from the gang task force, which is a leadership alliance to address gang issues in our community, came to us and said that they had a gang intervention plan that we really want to see come to Santa Rosa, but we(the City) can’t bring it because it’s Christian.
They then said that they wanted us to help begin this work, because they believed that it belonged in this city, so since Dec. 2005, we have been laying the foundation. In January of this year, Hope Works was launched here officially as a non-profit organization. We have received tremendous support from the City of Santa Rosa including a 100 thousand dollar grant through the Measure O money and we are kind of a flagship program for the city’s intervention approach.
There is a three-pronged approach to dealing with the gang issue community wide. Enforcement, which is something that we will be praying into tonight, in terms of law enforcement. Prevention, which is a lot of what is taking place in our schools, and Intervention, which is basically taking people who are already in gangs, maybe who have been arrested and done time in prison and helping them out of the gang lifestyle and into being healthy members of our community.
It is the toughest roll that we have been given and they told us in fact, “Hope Works gets the worst people that our city is trying to address in regards to the Measure O programs that are taking place”. We really need prayer. God has opened the door for us in this area and He has provided in so many ways. We are a fledgling at this point and the city really wants to see us succeed, because they really believe that this could be the beginning of many initiatives where the city or civil or other public sphere organizations partner with churches in the area to address community problems.
Hope Works Santa Rosa is a gang intervention program. We take gang members and there is a faith based component to where we can share the Gospel with them and life-skills training in order to help them be able to hold a job, and then we get local employers to give Hope Works clients an opportunity to work at their company and begin that process of leaving the gang lifestyle and beginning to live in our community.
The City hired a consultant in regards to intervention and they asked him what was most effective in getting people out of gangs, in terms of gang intervention. The man happened to be Buddhist and he said, “Jobs and Jesus, the two J’s”, and that is exactly what Hope Works is about. I have got some flyers and I don’t want to talk too long, so that we can pray. I am going to pass these out so that they can help us along as we pray and while I am doing that, we have asked two members of the business community to be here who are also a part of a leadership alliance in our community called Hinge, to come and say something from the business side.
We are planning a lunch with Christian business owners and managers, those who would have the authority to say, “Yes, this is a company who would hire Hope Works clients." So, what we are going to do is to have one of them come up front here and say a prayer, then we are going to go into small group prayer and then we will close by having the other one pray into this. I don’t know weather John Reckon or Monty Fortcamp are going first, but I’ll leave that up to them.John’s father has been involved since the very beginning. He has been on the steering committee and is now a board member for Hope Works Santa Rosa.
While John is thinking about what to say, I will go over a couple of these things on the handout for us. #1 – We would like to pray over our staff and their families. Right now we have two employees. Darrel Reese, who is our executive director. He moved here last weekend from Martinez. Although he is very fresh in this journey, he is doing a great job and he is not only going to do a good job for Hope Works, but God has really brought he and his family as an addition to our community. They are very community minded in terms of the united church.
Then we have our program director, Steve Velasquez who is uniquely qualified in this area and well respected throughout the entire county. The city actually has been invited to participate with Los Angeles, Oakland, Fresno, San Jose and Stockton, all the bigger gang cities, because of the work we have done. The city of Santa Rosa could choose 5 people to represent our city at the state and national level and Steve was one of the guys that they kept, so that says something about his respect in the community.They both would be here with their wives tonight, accept they are at an Opportunities weekend gang conference.
By an act of God, Hope Works has been singled out as a co-sponsor of one of the bigger events that we have done that is gang related in the history of our city. Tonight there is a banquet for some of the movers and shakers in the county in regards to gang intervention. The police chief will be there, the Sheriff will be there, the heads of schools, and Hope Works is co-sponsored to host it. Tomorrow there is an all day conference and so we want to pray into that and I have on the paper here a couple of thoughts on what to pray for.
We want to tell the story of Hope Works and we’ve got the opportunity. How many of you have seen the Better Together/Breakthrough Santa Rosa DVD? If you have, then you know it shows some of what God has allowed us to do with the DVDs and that is what we would like to have them help us produce; something that focuses exactly on what Hope Works is all about.
Other areas for prayer you see down near the bottom; our young men to get involved, that they would grow in the Lord. Pray for favor with the business community. 100 thousand dollars is a great start, but for what we are trying to do, we are going to need some additional funding, especially jobs right now. We had a meeting last night and we have 8 guys and just currently, there are more, who have started the program who are really committing themselves to this journey and we don’t know what to do with them, because we don’t have employers for them.
We’ve got 12 that are currently employed and we simply need jobs and we are having to turn people away because we don’t have jobs. We are praying for favor with the business community and that is one of the reasons that we have asked a few members from that area to lead us in prayer tonight. Continue to pray for us as a church as we become more aware of it to get plugged in with ways that we can support overall unity within the staff and board of directors.
Currently we have 8 board members from 8 different churches, so there is a broader work that is taking place there. Also, we really are in a founding stage and we would like God to order our steps. Do you feel like you can pray with informed intercession? Let’s break into prayer now and we’ll have Monty and John close us in prayer.
(Prayer)
(Adam Peacock)
We know that this program is and has been blessed and well received. We haven’t been prayed for by the city counsel yet, but the fact that they gave us 100 thousand dollars, I think that we have been blessed by the civil sphere. To my knowledge, we have never received a prayer or a word of blessing from the business community and that is a place where we are finding road blocks, so I believe tonight that God wants to do something significant in the spirit, where two business owners are going to pray blessing over this program and openness with the business community as they stand as representatives, so we are here to be witnesses to that transaction and to agree with what the Holy Spirit would stir in their heart.
I just want to encourage them to pray with authority out of their sphere of leadership in Christ’s Kingdom. I believe that something is going to transact within our midst for this program right now.
(Monty Fortcamp)
God, I just thank you for the opportunity to come and pray. I thank you for the sense of humor that you have to save people like us. God, I pray specifically representing the business community, that my fellow dear brothers and sisters in Christ that operate businesses in our community, this precious place that we call home. Lord, I pray that we selfishly come standing at the front of the line, God. I pray that you would use us God to bless this work. I pray that you would give us broken and willing hearts God to be humble before you to see what you want to do God, to trust you as we invest in people’s lives.
Lord, I pray not of myself, but the Jesus that lives in me, pray a blessing by the precious hand of Jesus be on this program. That the believers in Christ in the business community, together we pray a blessing into this God, we bless it in Jesus name, because of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. God, I pray specifically for my friends in the business community, that you would take the things, like the spirit of nobleness, which is another word for self-righteousness, in that we think that we can somehow nobly help these brothers who have been involved in a sinful lifestyle.
God, I pray against that and I pray that you God would give us a humble spirit, a heart that warms our hearts and realizes that the real transfor-mation more than likely is going to happen in us. I pray God that you would give us a heart and a mindset to see that as we invest in your kingdom God, that you would throw a tidal-wave of blessing over us. I pray for small businesses, small guys that do not think that they are important. I pray against the spirit of large donors, those that think that the guy up on the hill is going to take care of it, but that we would all be involved and take an active part in investing in all that you are doing God.
I pray against the spirit of fear in business owners and mostly the fear of our reputation. I pray against the spirit of fear of what our customers think of us if we have some guy with tattoos and earrings working for us, I pray God that you would break that down and that there would be an overpow-ering love that would come out of us and out of this program. I pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen.
(John Reckon)
I pray for this clash that I see God. So many just want to run God, and they don’t know how to deal with this whole thing, Lord God. As a business leader God, I don’t know how to deal with that way, or I’m too scared to deal with that way. I pray for a whole paradigm shift with this and those involved and those who are to become involved. I pray that we would move as you want us to move, Lord God. I pray against that spirit of fear and we would all just be crushed by love and that we would push through knowing that you go ahead of us Father God.
If there are casualties Father, then they are casualties that you have allowed, but we will see it through to the end and see victories through all of this Lord God. I pray Heavenly Father, that you would break through that right now heavenly father and that businessmen will step up and will include them Father God. And I am not talking about the factory worker in the back, but I am talking about people in the front line and to give them opportunities to succeed and to move forward Father God.
Give us testimonies to pull us through heavenly Father. Keep us encouraged and able to continue to pour out. Use this to show those around us and in the city that God is moving and that “J & J” really is the answer. Jesus and Jobs. God, we just pray that you would make that a reality, God. Amen.
(Harry Skandera)
We are going to move from here. We are going to pray at the sheriff’s office that is over by the county buildings. I just wanted to read a little portion of scripture and we need to step it up in our prayer. Not just praying for more people to come to know the Lord, but in the way we are coming.
15 months ago, the intercessors were praying out at Bohemian Grove. One of the ladies that had come from the U.N. to pray with us had a vision. It was a vision of Jesus riding on a white horse coming right down the Russian River and He had a sword out. He took the sword and he put it in his sheath and he pulled out a scepter, and what we got from that was the Lord was extending His ruler-ship to those who pray. To begin to speak the things of heaven on earth. If you were going to do a teaching on it, we would say that it is moving from priestly prayers to kingly prayers.
Over the past 15 months, there have been a number of things that have occurred among the intercessors as they have been lead to pray that way, where the Lord has released things in the county that hadn’t happened before. Just one testimony, I say this because we need to bless. As we pray tonight, we need to bless those who are in authority. We need to bless the law enforcement officers. We need to speak blessing. We want to ask for their protection yes, but we need to begin to proclaim things.
This year as we prepared to go to Bohemian Grove again, we agreed that we needed to go and shut the gates of the county to evil influences. We couldn’t do anything about how men would decide in their own will what they were going to do, but whatever they were packing, whatever evil influences they were bringing in with them, we believe we had a mandate from the Lord. So, we went and prayed over the airwaves, internet and television over at the Sonoma County Airport. We went to some of the highways and yacht harbors, etc…
As one of the teams went from the Sonoma County Airport down the 101 traveling toward Petaluma, one of the brothers got a scripture to read. Not one of us knew what it said. It was the passage Proverbs 14:19. Part of that scripture says, “Evil men will bow down at the gates of the righteous”. Well, of the course the hair went up on everybody’s neck, because we realized the Lord was confirming something, that He wanted us to know that you have got to take authority of what comes in and out of this place. You have the authority, you must exercise it. So, what was the effect of that in the Grove? We don’t know, but we do know that every year for 18 years there has always been a big protest out there at the gates of the Bohemian Grove and if you noticed in the paper, that that didn’t happen this year.
What a lot of people think is that that’s a bunch of hippies that are out there at those gates protesting the war machine of the industrial complex, and for intensive purposes, that’s what it looks like, but what is really going on there is there is a huge demonstration, a worship if you would, of witch-craft. It’s full of it, and I believe that what has been going on there for the past 18 years is like… you know how those who worship are supposed to lead us into the battle, well our enemies have been doing it for 18 years and this year they didn’t.
Now, is there a connection between shutting the evil at the gates of the county and that occurring? I don’t know, but something that was going on for 18 years didn’t happen and I would just say that as a testimony, especially to the business men, that we believe that the catalytic group in this community has historically been the business community and that for some reason in the economy of God and talking about the keys of the city or however you want to call it, there is going to have to be something that is released from the business community for the gates to really open in this place, in Santa Rosa, in it’s destiny.
I will let you think about that for a little bit, but I’m just saying that that is not going to happen unless we begin to pray and we need to be asking for God’s heart for this place, for it’s people, institutions, etc…Lastly, I want to say one of the things that has been very curious…you know how we got launched on this whole prayer deal was, because we always cite the time when Dave Berto was the Christian Mayor and had asked the city counsel if they could start their meetings with prayer and he was shouted down. The headline in the next day’s paper was, “Santa Rosa, the town that would not pray”, you know, that pricked our hearts.
I got another one of those this week in the newspaper. This whole thing of blessing has been on my mind. I don’t know if you noticed the word blessing in the headline, but out of Graton they had a blessing ceremony for the labor convention out there. You need to read the article, but as I hold this up in front of you, you notice how big the word blessing is here? And how pagan this is? I mean, who is blessing the county? Who has the authority to bless. I was grieved that the place of the people of God to be blessing this county wasn’t being done by them, but by a counterfeit. This is also a little bit of a warning. This place is going to get blessed by somebody and it needs to be us.
So, as we go out tonight, we bless the Sheriffs and we bless the Deputies and their families, but we bless them in their God-ordained job that they are called to do. We have got to put this thing behind us of thinking that “that job stuff over there is the world and we don’t mess with that, because we are here in our church”, because everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority, accept that which God has established.
The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against is rebelling against what God has instituted. Those who do so will bring judgment upon themselves.You know why President Bush, a good Christian man, is getting ripped from one end to the other? Think about our about our attitude as Christians towards Bill Clinton. Just think about it. We have brought this upon ourselves.
You didn’t have to love everything that a President does, but he is established by God and when we get out of line, we open the door and we have…”a ruler holds no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For, he is God’s servant to do you good. If you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doers, therefore it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also because of conscience”.
God is waiting for us to bless our city with His voice. As we walk, let Him speak to you about these men and women that risk their lives for the peace in the city, in this town.
(Sam Tillery)
We are going to go over to the Sheriff’s Headquarters and gather around the flagpole there. We are going to stay in that one spot and pray and then we are going to head over to the Santa Rosa Police Department and do the same over there. You know that praying on site is important right? God says to go and posses the land, and we are going in and laying claim to and declaring it to be His. It doesn’t take mass numbers of people. The awesome testimony that Adam gave of Hope Works, is because of groups like this who pray and you represent different congregations and that delegation is significant in the spiritual realm. We are not looking at the masses, but on the impact that is being had.The focal point tonight is law enforcement and blessing.
(Prayer)
(Harry Skandera)
 
Here we are at the Police station. What we want to remember is that we are here to bless and release something that will change the atmosphere over the people and situations that we are praying for. I think that for too long we have tried to do something different or new and what we’ve needed to do is just to stick with the things that we were ordained to do as the people of God.
We were just recalling 6 years ago when we were here the last time and we came here on a bus. We drove to quite a few different places and prayed for them and here we are again here tonight.The difference between the police and the Sheriffs, if you don’t know, is that the Sheriffs want to bust bad guys. They have the authority and can go anywhere in the county, in or out of the city limit, so they have a larger range of authority and by in large, they are doing is going after bad guys like the drug alliances and things.
The police are a little bit different. In a way they are a little bit nicer in that they are trying to be a liaison between the law and the community. They write traffic tickets and things like that, whereas the Sheriff isn’t going to do that unless they have nothing else to do and that is not usually the case.
The police help administer the order of the town and they have a very fixed sphere. They can’t go out of the county or wherever. They have very specialized sphere. They see to it that things are done in an orderly fashion, maintaining order and peace. When we think about God’s order and authority, these guys are His hands in our community.
So, as we pray tonight and consider how to bless our Police, think along those lines. As we go quiet for a moment, ask God what blessing you think that God would have you speak over this police department. Our city and our county needs to hear God’s blessings and I encourage you to make a habit of doing it daily. Practice if you have to, but begin to speak out blessing to all of those in authority in our city and all it’s citizens.
(Prayer)
(Closing Prayer – Ken Smith)
(Sam Tillery)
Please check the website, www.unitedprayer.org for the next City Reach Prayer location and don’t forget to invite a young person to come with you.
Special Thanks to Christelle Eddy
who transcribed this document. |
