Partners 293: Episcopalians Divide, Teens Winning Kids, Worship Conferences

Virginia Episcopalian leaders suing their churches who want to leave the denomination because the denomination has left its historic teachings on homosexuality.
From Messiah Church ( Formerly Episcopal) in Chesapeake, VA.
"Thanks for your prayers. We have received another letter from our former diocese, which is what we expected. They threaten to sue our trustees, vestry and clergy, both individually and corporately, which is what they did in Northern Virginia. Sadly, this was also expected. What I did not expect is how they purport to speak on behalf of the state of Virginia. They write that because we have disassociated ourselves from the Episcopal Church and associated ourselves with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), our property has ceased “to be used for the purposes for which religious congregations are authorized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church…” I understand the reference to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, but the Commonwealth of Virginia?"

Child Evangelism Training for Teens. Teens can and do win hundreds of children to the Lord every summer in Child Evangelism Camps around the nation. Grade-school kids are the easiest people to win to Jesus on the planet! About 80% of everyone saved got saved before they were 15!! Reaching children should be at the top of every church's evangelism focus. Saved kids can get their parents to church!

Teens can win kids and those teens become super-charged evangelists with kids and others afterward! The national staff of CEF ( Child Evangelism Fellowship : http://www.cefonline.com ) will be trainign teens to run summer clubs for kids from June 17-22 in Surry at Eastover Plantation. One parent/pastor says," It is a fantastic program that trains teens on presenting the Gospel to children via 5-day or 'Backyard Clubs'. We heard about it several years ago through a friend and have sent all of our children to the training, as well as each teenager in our home church! It has been so valuable in their walk with Christ and their boldness for His kingdom! If you would like any more information, please feel free to contact
us" Pastor Andy or Marilyn McFie at: 965-7070--work, cell phone, 237-1927 or home phone is 463-5838. (Andy is a contractor who has built an inner-city church using his building skills. I know and highly recommend Andy and Mariyn to anyone who has a heart to reach the inner city and reach kids.)

Ice-Cream Truck Evangelism
Back by popular demand (;>) is an idea that the Lord gave me years ago. I know it will work. Let's do it before the Mormons or Muslims do!

First, you send out an ice-cream truck into neighborhoods where there are kids to reach with the Gospel ( almost anywhere--especially in at-risk places). Sell ice-cream but give and extra scoop/treat to kids who can answer a simple bible question each week which is posted on the truck's side. Once a week, have a harder question that requires the kids to get the help of their parents to answer it. Basically, this is a rolling Sunday School ministry.

After two months of that, invite the kids on your route to a park for a kids party, complete with free ice-cream, face-painting, clowns and a Gospel presentation all done by several local churches. Many kids will give their hearts to Jesus and the churches can divide them up for follow-up. Do this several times a summer for several neighborhoods. Watch God change lives, families and neighborhoods--and the churches that do this!

Worship Conference in Suffolk
June 22 and Saturday,June 23 from 7pm-10pm Friday evening and 9am-5:00pm Saturday at Open Door Church in Suffolk. Here is what their worship leader, Jason Peaks, says about the conference:

The conference is called Sole Longing: Rediscovering our Worship
Relationship. Guest speakers are Ricky Hilton of Calvary Church of the
Tri-Cities, Johnson City, TN & David McKinney, Worship Pastor for Liberty
University¹s Campus Church, Lynchburg, VA.

Saturday the conference will allow each person to attend 3 breakout sessions
with topics ranging from Vocal Worship to Theological Worship. It should be
an amazing time of learning. We will have many sessions of worship time with
various worship leaders throughout the conference.
There will be food provided all day on Saturday for conference attendees.

I would like you to please invite your worship leaders, worship teams,
choirs, etc. to accompany you to the conference. Please RSVP as soon as you
can so that we can better accommodate your needs throughout the weekend. You
can call Open Door Church at 757.934.2671 or you can email me at
jrpeaks@liberty.edu


10th Annual Before His Throne Worship Arts Conference

In a joint partnership between TMCJ and MasterWorks, the 10^th Annual Before His Throne Worship Arts Conference will celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown Settlement. With the focus of the entire world having been on our region recently, many festivities and reenactments are taking place, giving honor to the brave ones who risked their lives to establish our nation. Led by the Holy Spirit, they dedicated this land to God for His eternal purposes. At Fort Story, they planted the cross as a declaration of their mission, with the prayer that from these shores the Gospel would go forth around the world.

The conference will take place June 27 - July 1 at New Life Providence Church. This year's theme, "Pursuing God's Destiny", will tell the story of the founding of our nation, using the movement and ministry arts of dance and pageantry. I would personally like to encourage you to avail yourself of the teaching and equipping that will take place in this conference. The weekend of training will provide a loving, supportive and energizing atmosphere, where you will learn how to more effectively communicate the message of God's love and redemption through your giftings. You can go to our website at www.tmcj.org to view the brochure and download the registration and class selection form. The faculty consists of praise and worship leaders (including several from our TMCJ family), as well as a special guest speaker/teacher from the Native American Indian Nansemond Tribe.

The conference will culminate with a free concert on July 1 at 7 PM at New Life Providence, presented by the conference participants, faculty members and other guest artists. This concert is free and open to the public, so I encourage you to get there early! The doors open at 6:30 PM. An offering will be taken to further the international outreaches of TMCJ and MasterWorks.

Before His Throne Worship Arts Concert When: July 1 Time: 7 PM (Doors open at 6:30) Where: New Life Providence 1244 Thompkins Ln Virginia Beach Cost: Love Offering

Partners 292: Historic Repentance, Deliverance Ministries Needed

Historic Repentance in Tidewater: To God's glory and to the greater blessing and protection of America, the five major sins of the 1607 Virginia Colony were publicly repented for last week. On Sunday, April 29th, during The Assembly 2007, for perhaps the first time in Virginia's history, an Anglican priest washed the feet of a Virginia Native American chief in repentance for the grievous sins of our Anglican forefathers in founding the colony and this nation.

On May 3, during the regional National Day of Prayer at First Baptist Norfolk, that same Anglican priest apologized to a Catholic Deacon, a Presbyterian pastor and a non-denominational pastor for the oppression and persecution by Anglican leaders of all non-Anglican Christians during the 17th century in Tidewater. The Catholic Deacon also asked forgiveness of the Anglican priest for what the Catholic Church had done to precipitate the breach between Catholics and Anglicans in England centuries ago. Heartfelt apologies and prayers of repentance were also expressed to a group of women Christian leaders for the terrible sins against women by colonial men in Tidewater. These two sets of sins may have never before have been addressed so thoroughly in Tidewater before.

Finally, we attempted to repent for the pervasive sin of the love of money in Virginia's founding. It seems to some that the Church needs to embrace repentance for that sin in greater depth in order for its defiling effects to be broken on the Church now. Nevertheless, God must be pleased with the words adn acts of repentance He received in the past week in Virginia Beach, VA. May the the other Christian 400th Anniversary events in Tidewater continue to build on what has already been accomplished. See. www.1607dna.com for more details about those five sins.

Many thanks must be given to the hundreds who have prayed and worked for many months for these events to honor God, repent for sin and rededicate our nation to Him in sincere humility. The safety and future blessings of America depend on that. See why in the next article.

God is Judging America: Pastor Jack Hayford, Bishop Bill Hamon & Alice Smith have now joined the ranks fo many other respected Christian leaders who are warning the American Church that God's judgment is about to increase on America for its increasing decadence and for the passivity of the Church to that sin. Click here to see more details.

Deliverance Ministries Needed: The Virginia Tech massacre may not have happened if more churches had biblical ministries of deliverance from evil spirits! In a small article from the Washington Post cited in our local newspaper today ( Virginian Pilot, May 6, p A17 or see), the mother of mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho told of how she sought help from several Christian congregations in northern Virginia to get her son delivered from evil spirits last year. By the time she found a church that would offer that ministry, her son had to return to Virginia Tech for school.

There is similar to a story I read about another crazed gunman, Larry Ashbrook, who shot and killed 7 people, three of them youth, at a church youth service at a baptist Church in Ft Worth, Texas in September 1999. According to the story I heard ( which I cannot verify), Mr. Ashbrook had gone to another church in Ft. Worth shortly before the shootings and begged for someone to cast demons out of him. Being a typical evangelical church, they said they did not offer that ministry. A few days later, that tormented soul, shouting anti-Christian curses, killed 7 people during a church service and then killed himself.

I believe that story. I believe that many crimes could be avoided if people know they could get set free from destructive impulses even they do not want. Sadly, the Church has largely disowned the ministry of Jesus in casting out demons. It is a wonderful ministry--and one that is greatly needed in our increasingly addicted, violent and abused nation.

Pastors, please consider establishing a credible, supervised and available ministry of deliverance for your congregation and for your community. It can be done and it must be done if God is do "set the captives free" in our region and nation. This ministry can saves the physical lives of others. It could have saved 33 lives at VT.

As one who loves this ministry and who has been involved in it for many years as a pastor in several denominations, I would be glad to talk to any church or ministry that wants to know more about this powerful biblical healing ministry of Jesus. I can also recommend others in Tidewater who are seasoned and effective in this ministry. I welcome your inquiries. ----Bob Fox, Editor.


Freedom's Fortress Celebration May 24: The three ships that first came to Virginia in 1607 stopped at what is now Ft Monroe before heading to Jamestown to plant the colony. On May 24th, from 6-8 PM, Ft. Monroe will commemorate that visit and the unique role Ft. Monroe played in freeing thousands of slaves starting in 1861. The evening ends with cannon salutes to the nation! Despite the federal fort setting, the organizers of this event are fervent Christians who will try to communicate the spiritual values of these two events as much as possible.