3 Quick Facts in 3 Minutes – 3 reasons why campuses in the US are one of the most strategic mission fields on the planet. 1. International Students 2. The campus is an atmosphere where students are “open” to new ideas 3. 18 – 25 year old’s are the most unreached age group in the nation.
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Hello Everyone,
I apologize for not getting an update out sooner, but it has been a crazy few days and I was hoping to have some more concrete news to share by waiting. On Tuesday Night, I went down to the hospital to pray and stay with Lee. It was very encouraging that so many of you responded to our request to cover Lee in prayer for 24 hours. I stayed and prayed through the night, while many of you prayed through the night from your homes. Thank you.
The doctors did test on Lee on Wednesday that showed there was some bleeding in his abdomen. They suspected that a tumor was causing the bleeding, and a friend that was there when the doctors came in, said that the options that doctors present all seemed risky, and not pleasant. The doctors were not real hopeful.
I have to admit that hearing the report was a bit unsettling. I called a few people and asked them to pray. I wanted to send out an update, but felt my information was incomplete and so we asked God to call people to pray and direct them how to. My wife, Adriane, had signed up to pray from 11:30 to Midnight. I joined her, and we worshiped and prayed and told God, that the reports confirmed what we already knew. That the medical community did not seem to have any answer for this. As we praised and cried and prayed, I sensed that God was releasing a strength in us, and while I don’t want this update to be about my prayer time, I do want to share that when we are weary and worn out, and we don’t have any strength, that God comes to us in those times when we will wait on
Him. I was encourages as we went to bed, even though the reports were not encouraging.
We woke up on Thursday and were more encouraged. Lee had sent me a text message saying that the bleeding had stopped “on it’s own”. Yea GOD! I am waiting on an update today, but as of last night, Lee was in ICU so they could monitor his blood count closely. They were thinking they would move him to a regular room today. He was still experiencing some pain last night, so we need to pray that the pain would go away, and that the source of the pain would be healed.
Also, please pray for his family. God has been speaking to a lot of people about the importance of praying for Lee and his Mom (Michelle), Dad (Bud) and brother (Travis) at this point. As Lee mentioned in his request, he has been dealing with cancer for 7 years now. That has been exhausting and put a lot of pressure on this family. Would you pray that God would release strength and healing into this family, and that God would reveal Himself clearer than ever to each member of the family. This is not a generic request for “grace for the family”, this is a specific and intentional prayer focus point. Please join us in interceding for this family.
I will try to put out another update as soon as I get more information.
Blessings,
Brad McKoy
Hello Everyone,
I hope you have all had a chance to read Lee’s Birthday request. He just texted me a few minutes ago to ask me to pray. He is in a lot of pain and has gone to the ER in Pittsburgh. I am getting ready to go down and pray. Whenever you read this, please pray.
I need to go so I will make this short. I really believe that the cancer that is in Lee’s body is a direct attack on his life. It obviously is manifesting powerfully in his body, but through prayer, we must deal with it spiritually. Jesus dealt with sickness this way, so I am asking you to pray together with me, and with others around the world, that the cancer will be evicted from his body.
I was just talking to one of Lee’s friends who suggested praying around the clock for him. That would be a great birthday gift. So, if you can take a time slot of 15 minutes, half hour or longer, please email sballjr@aol.com and she will post the times in the comment section of Lee’s Birthday Request on his blog.
Thank you for praying.
[splashcast c ISKK4088IC]
Hey Everyone,
I am forwarding a message from my friend Lee Myers. Many of you have been praying with me for Lee for quite a while now, and Lee and I both believe that the power of God in response to prayer has been what has sustained his life. For those who don’t know who Lee is, he is an amazing young man who has a heart for God and an incredible destiny as a world changer. He is currently fighting cancer (death at work in his body). We believe that Jesus said the thief came to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to release abundant life. That gives us courage and permission to pray bold prayers with the expectation that God will answer.
Lee wrote the following post on his blog (which is amazing) and I asked if I could pass it on to others who might pray for him. I ask you to join with me in praying for Lee. Pray that cancer would leave his body and that he would be completely healed and restored. We are believing for the impossible, which is just the kind of thing that God loves. Thank you.
(for those of you who can pray for Lee on His birthday and know your way around online, I am sure it would encourage Lee if you left a comment on his blog.)
Blessings,
from Lee Myers – the week of November 19th, 2008 – It was around this time of the year 7 years ago when my left leg started to hurt near the hip. That pain turned out to be bone cancer, which is still around right now. That’s how long it’s been. My spirit feels strong right now. In that sense, I feel really good, but as far as I know death is still in my body. I don’t think it’s ok for it to stay there as far as I’m concerned. I pray a lot about the cancer dying amongst other things. Sometimes I don’t know how to pray for myself, and at times it even feels selfish (I don’t think it is selfish). I haven’t directly asked a lot of people to pray for me, but I know a ton of people do, and I’m incredibly grateful for that because I know it’s a big deal. God has actually asked people to pray for me in different ways that I’ve been amazed to hear about… dreams, visions, encounters, etc… I’m always so humbled and amazed at God’s love and concern for me when I hear something like that. It kind of blows my mind and also stirs up a few confused feelings… I wonder why God would go through the trouble of leading people to pray when I feel like He could just answer the prayer without it being asked. I could probably think myself into a coma with that question.
I’m saying all of this for a reason… It feels a bit selfish at times to ask people to pray for me. I don’t know that I believe it actually is selfish though. When people pray for me in person, it feels really right at this time in my life… it feels like I’m a man dying of thirst that’s getting a drink of cold water. It’s different than all the other times in my life that people have prayed for me. I hope that makes sense even if you’ve never felt that way. I feel the war for my life a lot right now… there is no new medical information to share right now, but I feel the battle.
I hope this comes across humbly to those who read it. If it doesn’t, or if it seems wrong of me to you, then please disregard this… My birthday is coming up in less than a week (November 19). I don’t normally advertise that either, but I’m asking you for something for my birthday. Will you pray for me? I made a request at the end of the previous blog post for prayer, but I thought I should do this. I value the prayers of people more than any other thing (truly truly). Will you pray for me for at least 15 minutes on my birthday? Please pray more if you want, and I’d appreciate it a ton if you’d pray on days other than my birthday. I don’t think I’m asking this out of fear for my life… I don’t want to do things just because I’m scared. I’m not saying I’m never scared, but I’m making this request because I feel like I need to ask even though it’s an uncomfortable thing to do. I don’t pretend to fully understand prayer or how or why it works, but I know it does… and I feel like I need to ask people to pray for my life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you… (from Lee)
So, as a social studies teacher I spend a lot of time studying politics. Those things that many people find annoying and boring excite me and make me amazingly proud to be an American.
This election cycle has been long, involved, sometimes ugly, and extremely important. I feel in my bones that our nation is at a huge crossroads and one simple push in one direction or the other can take us down a path we were never meant for. I pray constantly for the issues which our nation faces. Everything from the lives of innocent babies being protected to the sanctity of marriage to the financial future of my family.
The other evening I was privileged to be a part of an event called Re:Turn, a focused time of prayer, fasting, and worship for our nation. You see, we believe our nation was set up as a lampstand for almighty God. We also believe that our nation, and especially our churches, have started paying more attention, to quote a friend of mine, to “what happens in the white house, instead of what happens in God’s house.”
I am praying and calling others to pray for our nation and for the elections. My desire would be to see leaders elected that would honor righteousness and have a heart to know the Lord. But make no mistake, the hope of our nation does not rest on the platform of a political party, or on the shoulders of any candidate for president, or vice president for that matter. The hope of our nation is found only in the person of the Three in One, holy God and in His people walking as sons and daughters of righteousness.
At this gathering, I heard some words which touched my heart and I found an instant peace about the election. The words were…
“Every king or ruler who has ever sat upon a throne on this earth did so only at God’s choosing.” You see, God is still in control. God still reigns on high and his purposes shall come to pass. We spend all of our time worrying about taxes, spending, congress and the Supreme Court and forget that the SUPREME being is still in charge.
Take heart, family. If we pay attention to God’s laws and God’s standards and God’s words then we will be more than ok…we will be uplifted and sanctified.
I invite you to visit the page of Re:Turn, because we have started focusing on making it a movement, rather that an event. Too often an amazing spiritual event takes place and the peope of God immediately go off and do something else and forget what God has told them. It’s like we get our spiritual appetizer, and leave the table before we get the main course. God has so much more in store for us than a one day, 4 or 5 or 13 hour feast on His spirit and word. He desires to see his call and spirit spread to every corner of the world. He desires to see His body RADICALLY changed and pouring out upon others.
Election? Who cares. Revival? YES
I’ve been thinking recently about how easily we get bored. Have you ever really thought about it? As Americans we have so much stuff—video games, DVDs, iPods, iPhones, instant messaging, Chipotle, Starbucks, Graeter’s Ice Cream (it’s the best), NFL, NBA, MLB, WWF, hundreds of MySpace and Facebook friends. The list goes on and on. We’ve got all this stuff, and stuff to do, but we are so easily bored!
What’s up with that?
C.S. Lewis in his book, “Mere Christianity,” said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Wow! That’s a powerful statement to me for two reasons.
First, it tells me that we were created with deep longings and desires that simply will not go away. As men and women, there is a place within our souls that longs for true excitement and lasting fascination. We can’t escape this. The human race longs deeply to be fascinated with something bigger than itself. That’s why boredom is painful. We try to fill this yearning with stuff that never satisfies for long.
Stop and think about it. What drives the entertainment industry? Why do people pay $9 to be lost in a movie for a couple hours? Or why do people base jump off buildings and bridges thousands of feet off the ground? Why do people risk their marriages and careers for illicit affairs? The human race is starved for excitement, beauty, and adventure. Where can we find it?
The second thing about Lewis’ quote that impacts me is that he points us to God as the ultimate satisfaction to our longings and desires. Saint Augustine agreed. He put it this way: “You [God] made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Some people might think it’s trite, or even a cop out, to claim that God is the ultimate satisfaction to our boredom and restlessness. Perhaps it’s just a unavoidable part of being human.
Consider how Jesus described the Kingdom of God in Matthew 13:44:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
I don’t know about you, but this little story makes me miserable—in a good kind of way. It makes me realize that there is so much more to Jesus than what I’ve settled for, or what many churches offer. When the man in the story discovered the hidden treasure, what did he do? First he is overcome with joy. Did you get that? No, really, let that sink in. This man felt a profound delight and joy in the treasure he discovered. His primary response was not duty, obligation or teeth-gritting discipline. He was overcome by a profound joy! For crying out loud, isn’t this what we’re all looking for? Isn’t this the answer to our boredom?
Next, the man (in his joy) liquidated all of his assets to buy the field. Why? Because the value of the treasure was far superior to everything else he held dear.
How do you assess the value of something? Is it not by how much delight and pleasure you gain from it? Is it not by the intensity and quality of joy it brings to your heart? Author Sam Storms has said, “Pleasure is the measure of your treasure.” Dang, that’s true, isn’t it?
You and I were made to search for and find a superior treasure in Christ. Jesus offers us everlasting pleasure, joy and delight, but we have failed to discover it! He offers us a gourmet feast and we are content to snack on junk food! Jesus is like the breath taking Grand Canyon, or the wonderous Northern Lights, but we cannot lift our eyes from our handheld, electronic devices long enough to take in His beauty.
God unashamedly invites us to find our deepest satisfaction in Him. Just consider how He appeals to our desires in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” Or what about Psalm 16:11, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures evermore.”
Fullness of joy? Pleasures evermore? What kind of God is this? What have we been missing?
The clincher for me is found in John 7:37 when Jesus stands up in the middle of crowd of people and unashamedly says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink . . .” Enough said. I’m going drinking!
A Prayer
Jesus, I bring my heart to you. I’m thirsty. I’m hungry. I long to be satisfied and filled with what the Bible says are “Pleasures evermore.” I want to taste and see your goodness. I want to drink in more of You! Oh, quench my thirst. I’m sorry for trying to satisfy my boredom through worthless things. Let my boredom repeatedly bring me to You, and then may I discover in You a superior joy, delight and treasure that causes everything else to pale in comparison.
I’ve been pretty cranked up for the past week or two. I feel that God’s put something in me either right before or during the re:turn prayer thing 2 weekends ago. I hope it doesn’t disappoint you to know that the “new” thing in me is something that has to do with fervent prayer. I talked a little bit about it in the last post. I won’t say too too much about it here either. I don’t completely understand, but it’s a passion-fire that I didn’t light. My goal with these few sentences isn’t to boast in myself, but I feel like fire from the altar of heaven is meant to spread. I don’t know how to do that through a blog post, but if it’s possible, I want to do it. If something in this post snags your heart… follow it where it pulls you. If it’s an encouragement to your current pursuit… that’s awesome and keep running. If it seems like a bunch of weird stuff that’s going on in my life and mind… that’s alright too. I don’t think it’s good for us to pretend to be something more than we are, but it’s also not good to apologize and act like we’re less than what God calls us just because some people might not like it. I feel like I have less to boast about than any other man, but I will boast of the <strong>good</strong> things Jesus has done in me as a testimony to what He wants to do in others. I think it’s good for everyone to do more of that.
We’ve been praying a lot lately for prayer to rise up in people’s hearts. I feel like fervent prayer is a big deal. I’ve heard a verse quoted a lot that I think has been misquoted a lot. I’ve misquoted it a good bit myself. It’s not misquoted because people decide to be evil and deceptive at times… not at all. It’s misquoted because the point that it’s used to make is different than the one I’m about to make…
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:15)
You might already see where I’m going with this… let’s make the trip anyways. I’ve never heard the words “effective” and “fervent”. I think it’s because the focus is usually on righteousness. Righteousness is a HUGE deal. Putting on the righteousness of Christ is big time. Usually that’s the only issue talked about here. I was talking to Brad today about how it seems at times that people like to teach and preach things that release us from responsibility or discomfort. I feel like much has been taught in the church as a whole recently about our place as sons and daughters in God’s house. We’ve learned that we don’t need to strive and strain for things. We can just BE and know that God loves us greatly. This is a huge revelation, and it is completely right. It’s soooo freeing and incredible. It’s a big deal, and something that we undoubtedly need to know. (Is that not what you expected me to say?)
That understanding is HUGE, and it’s a foundation that must exist in the lives of believers. However, we can’t stop there, and we shouldn’t use that revelation to emotionally excuse ourselves from the state of our nation. Sometimes I hear proper theology that is taught for the purposes of making us feel better about being complacent. Can we embrace things that make us uncomfortable because we’re not there yet? Read the verse again from James… what is an effective prayer? What is fervent prayer? I’m not exactly sure how I would even describe those things. I know it’s a big deal though. I also know we don’t have to try to manufacture effective, fervent prayer on our own. We can open our hearts and let them be vulnerable to God and ask Him to lead us into those things. I really think that’ll work out for us if we can do it.
“Persistence & Perseverance make the bridge between heaven’s truth and our reality.” That statement has been in the sidebar for a little while now. Maybe it hasn’t made any sense to a lot of people. I feel like a little seed about the importance of persistence in prayer and in living our lives has been put in me… and it’s growing like a sonuvagun. I mentioned it in a blog a little while ago. I’m not sure that blog made a lot of sense. I’m not going to retype it right now or anything because it went a different direction. Back to the above statement… There are a lot of things that are different in heaven than here on earth. Jesus told His crew to pray for God’s Kingdom and will to come to earth like it is in heaven. It seems like the truth of what is real in heaven is pretty far from what we experience here on earth. For over a year, I’ve been randomly asking God how to bring these heavenly truths into reality. One morning not too long ago, I feel like the above statement is what He said to me. It seems simplistic, but what if we gave it a shot?
What if we decided to give our lives to praying for God’s will to come to earth? … and then we keep praying with all persistence until heaven has completely come across the bridge to earth (our present reality) or we die and go there. Jesus taught about persistence in prayer (Luke). I also think it’s important to ask God for fiery passion for what moves His heart. Ask to be broken by what He’d like to see happening here that isn’t. You never know what might happen in yourself.
Lastly… if you’re reading this, will you pray for me? Will you keep praying for me? Some of you who read these pray for me a lot, and I appreciate it so so much. God is amazing, and I know He’s good and wants to bring me life. …I’m also aware that there is currently a death that lives inside of me, and it wants to end me. Please pray if you will. Thank you a lot.
-Lee
So, it is early Wednesday morning. So early that it seems like really late on Tuesday night. Election Tuesday that is, and Barak Obama was just named president-elect a few hours ago. I do believe that this is a historic event, the kind that will be a big deal for ever.
So, I logged onto my Facebook account to see what all my Facebook friends had to say about the evening. There were some who were just happy that the whole election thing was over, and there were a few who were really excited about Barak Obama being elected president. But overwhelmingly, my Facebook friends were no happy with the election results. This did not come as a surprise, seeing how most of my Facebook friends were connections from my days living down in the Bible-belt. What was a bit sad for me was the panic and fear that a few of my crew were putting out there.
I want to make it clear that I have some major issues with some of Mr. Obama’s policies. Chiefly, I strongly disagree with the president-elect on abortion. Abortion has ceased being a “morality issue” with me, and has become an issue of righteousness. I went from being “Pro-life” to “bound4life”. I went from disliking abortion, to feeling a fire in my spirit to see it end. So, for me, this was a single issue election, and Mr. Obama did not get my vote.
However, (comma – pause for effect…) Barak Obama’s victory last night should not bring terror over our hearts. I do not believe that we are now “cursed for the next 4 to 8 years” or that the ultimate demise of our nation has been scheduled for January 20, 2009. On the contrary, my Jesus is still the King of a radically advancing Kingdom. And while I would have loved to see our nation make a choice that reflected a respect and love for all life, I am still pretty sure that the hope of the nation did not sink with the McCain-Palin defeat.
God’s prescription says nothing about getting the “right” people elected. He puts it on us, as His children to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our unrighteousness. That is what will bring healing to the land.
I am actually a bit excited to see what happens here. Will the church wake up and hear the alarm that is calling the church out of it’s slumber? Will the church pray for our new president that many of its members do not like, more than it “prayed” for the one we committed to pray for over the last eight years? When will God honor the fervent prayers of thousands and bring an end to abortion? How will He redeem this nation?
I feel like the plot just got thicker, and the stakes just got higher, but from my view on the wall, the King is still on His throne and His Kingdom hasn’t stopped advancing since He set foot on the planet a few millenniums ago.
Let’s not live in fear. Let’s move out in the Spirit and watch our God shake a nation for His glory. He loves us so.
John Weisman shares with the re:Turn crew about the importance of knowing Jesus.
For the past month, we have been focusing our prayers and making preparations for the sacred assembly yesterday. In the past few days leading up to the gathering, my heart began to wonder if what we were doing would move beyond a prayer gathering, and into a prayer movement. It seems that my spirit is asking a logical question, “Now What?” As I prayed yesterday, and as I listened to the prayers of others that were praying with me, I believe my heart found it’s answer. I believe it has C.H. Spurgeon who once said that “the answer to prayer is more prayer.” I believe this is true, When we respond to God’s invitation to pray and seek His face, it creates a hunger in our hearts for more of Him. I think of how David grew to a place where he said, “My heart and flesh cry out for You…”
I feel as if my heart has been reawakened to the awareness of God through prayer. I believe that the very foundation stones in my heart have been firmed up, and that a heart that was well on it’s way to room temperature is growing hotter by the day. I expect that it could ignite at any moment. “Now What?” Now is not the time to back off of prayer and fasting. Not for our nation, region or city, and not for ourselves. We need to pray for revival to come to our land again, but we need to wholly give ourselves to crying out for personal revival.
I dream of living in a culture of faith that draws people into the presence of God by it’s very existence. I long to be a part of a community of Jesus people that love each other in a way that impacts the lost. It is in my heart to be a part of a movement that would give birth to many movements that would touch the nations and bring worship to Jesus.
So where do we start? Where do go from here, from this prayer of returning? “Now What?” There is no such thing as a movement that never moved, so for me, I feel like “re:Turn” was one step, and now it is time to take another. It is time to continue to pray and call others to pray as well. Not that prayer would become our focus and an end unto itself, but rather that by and through prayer, we access the presence of God. That we learn to live out of His presence. That we cease form all our striving and make Him our priority. That through worship and intercession, we cultivate a place in our hearts that is fit for the Kings habitation.
It is time to seek the Lord with all of our hearts, to believe that if we will seek Him, that we will find Him. It is time to pray some ridiculous prayers, and step out in faith. Please join with me as we journey to return. It is more than a prayer gathering. One step at a time, it is becoming a movement.
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