Move of the Holy Spirit in Salem, Massachusetts

I've just become aware of a move in Salem, Mass. with claimed healings. Meetings are being held at Wesley United Methodist Church, 8 North Street in Salem. Services are also being webcast at: http://www.praytv.org/

We pray that God's revival fire will sweep across New England this year!

Praying for mercy

Amid the reports of increased church unity and hints of revival comes a barrage of disaster news from across the U. S. If it isn't floods, it's tornadoes, record heat or June snowstorms - there seems to be something of this sort happening on a daily basis. To say nothing of $5 a gallon gas staring us in the face and the phasing out of the American economic dominance we have experienced since 1945.

Our forebears would have wondered if we were praying "aright." Should we be crying out for God's mercies on our nation?

Revivalist James Levesque in West Haven, May 24, June 1

James Levesque

Revivalist James Levesque will be ministering at Gateway Christian Fellowship in West Haven on May 24 and June 1.

James Levesque ministers powerfully in the prophetic under an open-heaven atmosphere. After a life-changing encounter with God in his teen years, he has operated as an evangelist and a church planter. James has a burning passion to see people step into divine destiny through a mighty move of God. Most recently, he has started Engaging Heaven Ministries, a committed team of radical believers who long to see Christ’s fullness established on the earth. Through crusades, a fresh approach to street ministry, teaching and training, James has a vision to see New England, the nation and the world changed by the power of Jesus Christ.

For more information visit www.engagingheaven.com.

To see or submit Christian events in our area, visit the Connecticut Christian Events Calendar.

New England Prayer Journey, June 3 - 5

Pray for God's glory to touch New England again...

I've received the following notice from the New England Alliance and the Connecticut House of Prayer.

On June 3, 4 and 5th, 2008 there will be a historic Prayer Journey that will cover the six New England States. This Prayer Journey is being sponsored by the New England Alliance, which is a movement of pastors, ministry leaders, and intercessors from a broad spectrum of Christian denominations representing prayer and ministry networks from the six states of New England.

The NE Alliance has been meeting since the summer of 2006 for monthly prayer gatherings and quarterly retreats to seek the Lord together. The group includes a steering committee made up of two representatives from each New England state. Rick McKinniss and I (Barbara Lachance) have been meeting with this group since its inception in 2006.

The NE Alliance beliefs are compatible with the essential teachings of Evangelical, Pentecost/Charismatic, Main Line, and Catholic/Orthodox churches. Our main focus is sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ including upholding traditional marriage and the value of life. The ultimate vision is to trust the Lord to bring about the transformation of our society by a four-part-process of preparation, repentance, agreements to united action, and ongoing transformation

Our intention for this Prayer Journey is to come before the Lord:

To seek revival and awakening

To share the vision of the New England Alliance

To establish connections with state leaders and

To pray together for the Lord to move in each of the New England States

On June 4, at 7:00 PM the Prayer Journey will be arriving at Wellspring Church, 202 Lincoln Street, Kensington, CT. Leaders from the six New England States will be traveling on this Prayer Journey representing their regions and will join with us here in Connecticut. The agenda for the service will be worship, share vision and prayer for revival.

Please prayerfully consider attending this meeting. It is open to all who want to see an Awakening in Connecticut.

Blessings in Christ,

Rick McKinniss
Barbara Lachance

If you can, please participate and seek the Lord's mercies on our region!

Flickr photo of Old Saybrook, CT by Dan Crosley; some rights reserved.

A Christian blog worth reading - from an unlikely source

Over the years many Christians have looked down their noses at Charisma magazine. Some complain that its too gossipy, others that it's simply one big advertisement. Although some may consider the magazine an unlikely source to generate a blog worth reading, I continue to be impressed and challenged by the "Fire In My Bones" blog written by author J. Lee Grady, Charisma's editor.

Grady is seemingly on a personal mission to grab the American church by the lapel and slap it. I think he's succeeding. His latest column shares a meeting the late Kenneth Hagin had in 2003 with various preachers in which he attempted to correct their overemphasis and outright false teachings on giving and propsperity:

4. The “hundredfold return” is not a biblical concept. Hagin did the math and figured out that if this bizarre notion were true, “we would have Christians walking around with not billions or trillions of dollars, but quadrillions of dollars!” He rejected the popular teaching that a believer should claim a specific monetary payback rate....

Hagin condemned other hairbrained gimmicks designed to trick audiences into emptying their wallets. He was especially incensed when a preacher told his radio listeners that he would take their prayer requests to Jesus’ empty tomb in Jerusalem and pray over them there—if donors included a special love gift. “What that radio preacher really wanted was more people to send in offerings,” Hagin wrote.

Thanks to the recent resurgence in bizarre donation schemes promoted by American charismatics, the prosperity gospel is back under the nation’s microscope. It’s time to revisit Hagin’s concerns and find a biblical balance.

Hagin told his followers: “Overemphasizing or adding to what the Bible actually teaches invariably does more harm than good.” If the man who pioneered the modern concept of biblical prosperity blew the whistle on his own movement, wouldn’t it make sense for us to listen to his admonition?

In his previous post, Grady had discussed the call to holiness being put forth by noted pastor Larry Stockstill:

Stockstill became alarmed about the anemic condition of American churches in 2006, when he had to step in and help bring discipline to Ted Haggard, the Colorado pastor who was removed as senior leader of New Life Church because of a moral failure. Stockstill offered correction and oversight to Haggard and his family and helped the leaders of New Life pick up the pieces after the scandal. Many observers praised Stockstill for his level-headed leadership and compassionate but strict adherence to biblical principles during the crisis.

What Stockstill learned during that painful process became the basis of a new book, The Remnant: Restoring Integrity to American Ministry. He hopes the message will trigger a movement of holiness and integrity in the American church, which has suffered a long string of embarrassing sexual and financial failures since Haggard’s fall 15 months ago.

“We look like a sleaze bucket in the eyes of the nation,” says the 54-year-old pastor, who has avoided the national spotlight during most of his 33 years in ministry. Once a missionary in Africa, Stockstill has focused most of his ministry on church planting and missions. Bethany has helped start more than 17,000 churches worldwide since 2000.

Stockstill says the level of dysfunction among American ministers concerns him because their unhealthiness is then passed down to their congregations.

This is all a good corrective to some of what's flying at us over the Christian airwaves.

Regional Prayer Conference with Jackson Senyonga, October 25-26

Jackson Senyonga, Pastor of Christian Life Church in Kampala, Uganda is coming to Connecticut for 2 days of transforming prayer and impartation.

Meetings will be held at The Westin Hotel, 1 Stamford Place, in Stamford, CT, each night at 7:00 pm.

Pastor Senyonga is the leader of the Ugandan prayer movement featured on the widely acclaimed Transformation 2 Video produced by the Sentinel Group.

Christian Life Church in Kampala has a membership of more than 40,000 people, with an average Sunday attendance of 22,000. The Church has also planted more than 600 new churches and is building homes for widows and orphans.

More information about Jackson Senyonga is available at www.christianlifeministries.org.

Litchfield County prayer meetings make an impact

Good news from the northwest corner:

For the past 18 months, many local churches have been working together to bring another awakening to Litchfield County.

"When Greater Litchfield County Prays - A United Celebration" was the culmination of three weeks of prayers at every town green in the county, Pastor Ron Boratko of Torrington Foursquare Church said. The celebration was held at Coe Memorial Park late Sunday afternoon.

"This is the result of 18 months of churches getting together," Boratko said.

Boratko lamented that many churches have stuck to their denominations and prayers and have not worked with other churches in spreading the word of God. He said that people have been stuck in their own worlds, only concerned with themselves.

"No one church will bring an awakening to a city," Boratko said.

Another great awakening will come when the church gets on its knees and repents its sins and when churches come together to preach live and love Jesus Christ, Boratko said.

Amen. More here from the Torrington Register-Citizen.

The Fulton Street Revival: 150 Years

This month marks the 150th Anniversary of the Fulton Street Revival, a work of prayer that reshaped American society in the 19th century and beyond.

To commemorate the event and to pray for an awakening in the New York City region, New York Concerts of Prayer is promoting a conference from September 21- 23 featuring tours and numerous prayer events with well-known Christian leaders such as Jack Hayford and Henry Blackaby.

If you can't attend, please take some time to pray for New York that weekend. No other city has such an impact on our nation and certainly the one-fourth of our State who lives in Fairfield County is heavily affected by what happens in the Big Apple.

For more information, visit New York Concerts of Prayer here.

Abortionist repents, prays for an end to abortion in America

Dr. Patti Gibbink at the recent The Call rally in Nashville

From LifeSiteNews.com:

During "The Call" rally, former Planned Parenthood abortionist Dr. Patti Gibbink stood up and testified, confessing her sins and begging God to end abortion. She told the crowds, "Ten years ago, I did abortions for Planned Parenthood." Here she paused, overwhelmed with tears.

"Oh Lord, oh God, God most holy and just," she continued, quoting Psalm 51, "You hate hands that have shed innocent blood. God, I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight."

"God, I repent. I repent for myself and all abortionists all over. We have sacrificed innocent lives to the altars of Baal and Moloch. God, God….Forgive me Lord and other abortionists. God, hear our cry. Be merciful to us. Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of this nation."

She then cried out amidst thousands of cheers, "God end abortion and bring revival to America. God end abortion! It's time, it's time."

Others got up and gave their testimony, including one young woman, the daughter of a pastor, who had had an abortion when she was seventeen. She said, "I feared man, my boyfriend, more than I feared the Lord." Referring to her boyfriend, she said, "He set life and death before me, and I chose death."

That's what it comes down to.

"The Call" rocks Nashville

Lou Engle prays for America in this clip:



And in this one you can experience some of the worship:



From Baptist Press:

"America is a sleeping nation. We have casually and nonchalantly let things slide and get worse," said Morgan Blount, a staff member of The Call from Dallas. "We are calling for young people in this country to wake up and take a stand, to pray about our world instead of just complaining about what's wrong with it. We are calling them to take action and believe that the Lord can change things."

Prayer is the key to spiritual awakening, said Adam Thomas, a staff member of The Call from Louisville, Ky.

"This weekend was about prayer, whether you are Baptist or Catholic or Church of Christ. We believe that prayer changes things," Thomas said. "Our desire is to see God come back on the scene like He did in the 1800s, when there was a great awakening that shut down entire towns with the power of God.

"I believe that a movement of prayer is going to unlock these things for America. We believe history belongs to the intercessors. Ezekiel 22:30 tells us God is looking for a company of people who will stand in the gap in prayer so the country will not have to be destroyed. We want to be like the widow in Luke 17 who kept pressing the judge until he gave her what she wanted."

As midday temperatures soared near 100 degrees, worshipers lifted their hands in prayer. The stadium floor was sectioned off for those who wanted the freedom to prostrate themselves or kneel in prayer.

Many of those in attendance had fasted for up to 40 days in preparation. Prayerwalkers left Nashville's Centennial Park at 7 a.m. and made their way in silence through downtown to the stadium.

To symbolize their desire for America to return to a covenant relationship with God, three couples simultaneously exchanged marriage vows late in the afternoon.

Organizer Lou Engle, who initiated The Call in Washington, D.C., in 2000, chose the date -– 7/7/07 -– because seven is the biblical number of covenant.

"In the Old Testament, the cult of Baal was identified with violence and death, sexual promiscuity, pornography and promiscuity," said Dutch Sheets, senior pastor of Springs Harvest Fellowship in Colorado Springs, Colo. "We are here today to confess our nation's sin and ask God to renew His covenant with us. This stadium is a courtroom today. We have filed for divorce as a nation from the spirit of Baal, and we are petitioning God for custody of our children."

Pray For America Today: The Call

Today's the day!

Call for 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting for America

From the ministries of Francis Frangipane and Lou Engle comes this call to fasting and prayer for our nation. We urge you to read and act!



Lou Engle is a radical man of God, a man committed to seeing America transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Lou and Pastor Frangipane are good friends, and Francis serves as an advisor to Lou's ministry. Lou's message about prayer and fasting during this time is significant and appropriate. Francis also encourages Christians to individually hear from the Lord as they seek how the Lord would have them fast, that it would be with vision, grace and sacrifice, without opening the door to legalism. Pastor Francis will be participating with Lou Engle July 7, 2007 at The Call Nashville.


40 Days for 40 Years
Lou Engle

There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens, and great revolutions for good or evil spring up in the vacuum created by these openings. In these divine moments, key men and women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing.

The rebellious generation of the 60’s seized its moment, and history crashed into the deep abyss of drug addiction, sexual immorality, hatred for authority, and a rejection of the law of God. 1967 was a culminating and defining moment in that rebellion. In 1967, 100,000 young people, aged 15 to 25, flocked to San Francisco to experience the hippie movement. This mass convergence was sparked by the hit song, "San Francisco" (Wear a Flower in your Hair). Once there, they experimented with LSD, pot, casual sex and Eastern mysticism in what became known as the “Summer of Love.”

When these newly recruited Flower Children returned home at the end of the summer, they brought with them new styles and ideas, flooding the cities of the US and Europe with a message that opposed authority and scorned conservative morals. This counterculture rebellion was fueled by music and art, and it rapidly shifted global culture.

For 40 years we have been falling headlong into a black moral morass in America and all through the West. We are reaping the waves of destruction in every sector of our post-Christian society. Can America survive another 40 years? We are declaring NO! A thousand times NO! Unless a massive spiritual shift occurs at this moment, our children will live under an antichrist system and Godless enculturation that will bring about the demise of America, as we know it.

But God has a prescription for such a massive shift, and it is revealed in the power of the great transitional 40-day fast. God in His sovereign control over the parade of history delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. Longing to release a moral code that would give foundations for righteousness, for time and eternity, God summoned Moses to a 40-day fast on Mount Sinai. In that fast all of history changed, and the law of God was delivered from heaven to earth. If America is going to return to God, it must recover that law again as its foundation for truth.

Elijah, at the height of Jezebel’s cultic dominion over Israel, fasted 40 days, broke the spell of Jezebel off of his own life and received a mandate to anoint the next generation. That fast unleashed a movement that toppled Jezebel’s regime of hell, which perpetrated the destruction of family, the killing of innocent children, the silencing of the voice of God’s people and the widespread culture of sexual immorality. The fruit of that fast culminated in the utter destruction of Baal worship in Israel.

Also, in the fullness of time, the glorious gospel era was born when Jesus fasted 40 days, and those who sat in darkness saw a great light. Clearly the 40-day fast is heaven’s great transitional prescription, moving nations from failure to fulfillment of promise. Is it any surprise that when Jesus was to enter into His great sacrifice where death would be swallowed up in victory, Elijah and Moses appear with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration? All three of them were together as the 40-day fasters. They presided over the great transitions of history.

When the Israelites were poised to move into the Promise Land, spies were sent out for 40 days. When they returned carrying an evil report, a whole generation was infected with unbelief, and they turned their backs on the Promise Land. God’s sentence on that generation was, “And your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness for 40 years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land 40 days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely 40 years, and you shall know my rejection” (Numbers 14:33-34). It was 40 years of judgment for 40 days failure.

Conversely, the great prophet Ezekiel received a 40-day prayer assignment for a 40-year failure of Judah’s iniquity. “Lie again on your right side, then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, 40 days I have laid on you a day for each year” (Ezekiel 4:6). It was clearly 40 days prayer for 40 years of failure.

When Jesus fasted 40 days and was tempted of the devil, He quoted from the book of Deuteronomy saying, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And again, “You shall not tempt the Lord thy God” and again, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you worship.” Jesus, in His victory over Satan, was quoting the book of Deuteronomy, the portion of Scripture delivered by Moses to the generation who failed in the desert. Jesus in His 40-day fast was clearly identifying with that passage of Scripture and that generation that came out of Egypt. As an intercessor, in His 40-day fast He was fulfilling what a generation had failed in for 40 years.

Forty years are up! Could the church of America in a 40-day fast deliver a nation out of a 40-year curse? We have scriptural precedent to believe for such a turning! Therefore, we are trumpeting a call to 40 days of fasting--like Moses, like Elijah, like Ezekiel, and like Jesus. We must bear the iniquity in 40 days of fasting and intercession for the past 40 years of divorcing God in America, embracing a culture of sexual immorality, hedonism, materialism, abortion, and the rejection of Christ in the public place. But we are also calling for 40 days of fasting and prayer for the greatest outbreak of kingdom power in signs and wonders, and a spiritual awakening in America that will collide with this present darkness and topple its cultural dominion over our people. Thousands went on 40-day fasts in 1946, and in 1947 the great healing revivals broke out. In 1948 the latter rain outpourings began. Bill Bright and Billy Graham’s ministries were born at the same time, and Israel became a nation. Could it be that the 40-day fast preceded this explosion of power by the Spirit? After Jesus’ 40-day fast, the Scripture says He returned in the power of the Spirit. Yes, the promise of Joel 2 is that after the fast, "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh."

Forty years ago, in 1967, the Jesus Movement broke out--a youth revival starting on the streets that swept across the country, exploding in college campuses and coffee houses. People were being saved everywhere. Now, 40 years later, we are crying, do it again God, way beyond the Jesus movement!

In 1967, in a war and obviously by the supernatural hand of God, Jerusalem was taken and once again brought under the control of the state of Israel. This was a monumental signpost in the shifting of eras. The dispensation of the times of the Gentiles was now beginning to shift to the times when Jerusalem will become the last days focus for God’s activity in the earth. For 40 days we are joining Israel in a 40-day fast, crying out to God that they would see their Messiah and begin to receive their greatest spiritual awakening since the days of the Apostles.

Brothers and sisters, moments like these come only once in a lifetime. To miss such a moment could be to miss the purpose of God for a generation. The generation that refused to cross over the Jordan did not know that they had only one day to make the decision, and missing that day meant 40 years in the desert.

Even now we are receiving reports that other countries are calling 40-day fasts. Could we, like Jesus, be in a global 40-day season of fasting to see a global outbreak of light when great darkness is covering the earth? Beginning the evening of May 28, we are calling two generations to 40 days of fasting and prayer culminating on 7-7-07, the perfection of time, in a massive national gathering of fasting, intercession, repentance and worship, declaring we want to remarry the Lord. We want to cross over into the promise land of national revival. We want to break this 40-year curse. May thousands seek God in water, juice and Daniel fasts from May 28 through 7-7-07, The Call Nashville.

What would happen in America if for 40 days we sealed the electronic cultural sewer that flows nightly into our living rooms and spent our strength seeking the Lord? What if tens of thousands of fathers and mothers across our nation fasted for 40 days repenting and cleansing themselves of inward toleration of sexual immorality, pornography, addiction to food and entertainment, and materialism? What if they prayed daily for their spiritual and physical children to see them converted to Christ and freed from rebellion, addictions, depression, and suicide? What if the young generation fasted for 40 days to be cleansed from lust, media addiction, and rebellion toward their parents, believing that a double portion of the Holy Spirit would come upon there lives?

Moses fasted 40 days and mentored a spiritual son named Joshua, which means "the Lord saves." Elijah fasted 40 days and threw his mantle on a double portion son, Elisha, which means "the Lord saves." And John the Baptist fasted in the desert and prepared the way for a double portion son named Jesus, which means "the Lord saves." Jesus fasted 40 days and unleashed the apostolic glory of the eternal Son of God into the earth. What If we are preparing a generation for the greatest day of salvation in history? And, what if tens of thousands of both generations fast together and gather on 7-7-07 for The Call Nashville in LP Field to cry out to God in a Joel 2 moment for a great national returning to the Lord?

The parade of history has brought us into a profound generational landmark, and a great vacuum has opened again. If the church does not seize this moment, Muslims will! Antichrist rage will! Sexual perversion will! Anarchy will! But now is the time for key men and women, even an entire generation to risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point which determines which way the door will swing in America and in the nations of the earth. It's 40 Days or 40 Years! Seize the Day!

We will be launching this fast with a worldwide simulcast on God TV on May 26. For all information on the 40-day fast and The Call Nashville please visit www.fastandpray.com and www.thecall.com.

(Republication courtesy Ministries of Francis Frangipane.)

When they kicked God out of the schools

This is a hard word...



Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.