| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-456 * 15 OCTOBER 2003 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN456-1. TYPICALLY GOD: The Caleb Prayer story JN456-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Rhondda Valley, Wales (reprise) JN456-3. NEWS BRIEF: New streams of prayer from Wales and England JN456-4. RESOURCE: Welsh Revival links JN456-5. RESOURCE: Transformation of a nation JN456-6. RESOURCE: Boiler Rooms --- JN456-1. TYPICALLY GOD: The Caleb Prayer story Wales, once the homeland of a major revival (1904-06), is waking up again. Joel News talked to Roy Goodwin, coordinator of a prayer house on the west coast of Wales. "Four years ago we started a year of prayer for Pembrokeshire, the south-west of Wales. Although we did not advertise it, people signed up from all over the nation and there were 10 hours of prayer going on daily throughout the year," says Roy Goodwin. At the end of this year their specific assignment had ended, but several people felt the need to stay connected. When prayed over it, Roy felt the way forward was to form a network of people who'd commit themselves to pray blessing over Wales every day, until the end of their lives. This Caleb Prayer, a simple prayer for Wales, spread like a virus. It wasn't advertised in any way, but many people used it and passed it on to others. Once Roy read a report in an internet newsletter about Namibia and felt an immediate confirmation in his Spirit. He looked the nation up in the world atlas and did some research and was amazed to find out that this nation is so similar in many ways to Wales (except for the climate). He connected with Hein van Wijk, the prayer coordinator in Namibia, and just mailed him the Caleb Prayer. What he didn't know at that time was that the church leaders in Namibia had a national prayer retreat, at which one of them had prophesied that God would send Namibia a prayer from outside Africa, which they would start praying for their own nation. And so the Caleb Prayer crossed continents. With some understatement Roy says: "I have no reason to believe it is being used in China, but cannot say the same of most other nations in the world." The Caleb Prayer goes like this: "O High King of Heaven, Have mercy on our Land. Revive Your Church. Send the Holy Spirit For the sake of the children. May your kingdom come to our nation. In Jesus mighty Name. Amen." Source: Joel News --- JN456-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Rhondda Valley, Wales (reprise) Christians in the Rhondda Valley in Wales started an intensive prayer campaign for a community transformation project called 'Sporting Marvels'. Their strategy is to develop a global prayer network that will effectively mobilise prayer cover for every home, street and village within Rhondda's catchment area. The 33,000 prayer warriors/intercessors will come from all over the world and there will be regular e-mail contact between the project and the intercessors. If salvation comes to any member of the household to whom they have been assigned, the communications procedure will ensure that they are the first to be informed. Let's pray that the Lord will move mightily in every village in the Rhondda Valley, so that every individual, family and home will experience His presence. Pray that the Lord will change the spiritual atmosphere over the village and that there will be an increase of His righteousness and salvation. Pray that the Sporting Marvels project will achieve all it's objectives and that the Lord will send His revival fire to Wales once again. LINK: http://www.sportingmarvels.com (general info) LINK: http://www.sportingmarvels.com/WebPages/Prayerpage.htm (prayer) --- JN456-3. NEWS BRIEF: New streams of prayer from Wales and England New streams of prayer are coming from Wales and England. It's wild, prophetic, creative and liberating. It's out-of-the-box and it's on the move. It's expressed corporately and personally. It breathes Celtic spirituality. It comes from prayer chapels in hard-to-get-to rural places and from boiler rooms in the heart of the city. Are we entering a time of 'prophetic flashmobbing'? Flashmobs are sudden gatherings of people at a predetermined location at a predetermined time, who basically do something wild and creative together, and then continue their journey. A sort of postmodern version of a Blitzkrieg. In prayer terms it means that someone receives an assignment from God and sounds a trumpet call in his/her network. Whoever senses God speak to them joins in and brings others along. A prophetic-creative synergy develops. Not something to talk about, but something to experience. Joel News editor Marc van der Woude 'blogged' down his impressions of a recent trip to Wales and England, and flavoured it with a light dosis of irony. LINK: http://marcsmessages.blogspot.com/#wales --- JN456-4. RESOURCE: Welsh Revival links For nine months, between November 1904 and August 1905, God anointed and used a 26 year old coal miner, by the name of Evan Roberts, to release a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit which produced 100,000 converts and which profoundly affected the spiritual life of Wales and the world. Wales is preparing for the Welsh revival centenary in 2004. A video has been produced that takes you to places associated with the beginnings of this movement in South Wales. LINK: http://www.welshrevival.com The 04 Project wants to send '04 Ambassadors' to the far corners of the world, to tell the story of the 1904 revival and to pray for Wales today. LINK: http://www.04.org.uk The Welsh Revival CD is probably the largest collection of source materials on the Welsh Revival in electronic format. It contains books, magazines, articles and newspaper accounts which will help you capture the heart of one of the greatest revivals in Christian history. LINK: http://www.welshrevival.org At a prayer meeting in Moriah on the 31st October 1904, God in the power of the Holy Spirit came down and visited Loughor and the land of Wales in mighty power. Moriah Chapel, the place where it all started, has its own website. LINK: http://www.moriah.org.uk --- JN456-5. RESOURCE: Transformation of a nation Three times a year a group of leaders from all over Wales come together to seek God and discern his strategies for the transformation of their nation. They compiled a document titled 'Transformation of a nation', which offers some good insight that others could benefit from. LINK: http://www.rising.org.uk/transformation --- JN456-6. RESOURCE: Boiler Rooms Boiler Rooms are places of permanent prayer, creativity, service to the poor and pilgrimage. They are also called '3rd Millennium Monasteries'. Many young people pop in to pray or just hang out. A (post)modern inner-city ministry that is rooted in Celtic monastic spirituality. LINK: http://www.readingprayer.com/247 --- COLOPHON Joel News International is a leading special interest bulletin on prayer, church growth and revival. We offer a keen selection of the most encouraging news reports, the most challenging developments and the best resources from over 100 reliable sources in six continents. Joel News International is a great help and time-saver for thousands of Christian leaders and intercessors in over 120 nations. Editors: Alex ten Cate and Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl. Joel News International is distributed weekly by e-mail on the basis of an annual donation. For more information see http://www.joelnews.org/donation-jni.htm#options. Has this bulletin been forwarded to you? Then subscribe directly by sending an empty e-mail to: subscribe-joel-news-international@xc.org. |
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