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Birth
of The Church of Spokane
September 30, 1999
"A Look At The Harvest" breakfast meeting was beyond
our expectations. We had over 180 people representing
86 churches in attendance. Many commented that from
the moment they entered the room they felt the love
and presence of God.
We had a welcome and then Spokane, WA Mayor Talbott,
a strong Christian, gave an opening prayer. After breakfast
we showed a 6 minute video of four cities that have
been transformed by God. There were pastors shedding
tears during the video.
Tom Starr, our senior Servant Leader, presented how
we had become Servant Leaders and what we felt God was
asking of us. John Repsold, pastor of Fourth Memorial
Church, gave an apologetic of the "church of the city."
He was followed by Dan Grether with a powerful Power
Point presentation on the size of the church of Spokane
County compared to the amount of people living in the
county. It was a very revealing presentation.
The Church of Spokane - counting ALL congregations
- has grown about .2% in the past four years. At that
rate it would take 69 years to even have 50% of the
County attending church. Even if we use the growth rate
of the fastest growing churches, it would take 110 years
to evangelize the whole county. (We've got to begin
working together.)
He was followed by Doug Malott, pastor of Rock of Ages
Christian Fellowship, emphasizing the need for a strong
and deep prayer base emphasizing "praying leaders" (pastor's
prayer summits, etc.), "praying congregations" (local
churches meeting for prayer meetings, praying in small
groups, prayer walking, etc.), "praying neighbors" (Christians
actively praying for their neighbors, Lighthouses, etc.).
After Doug's presentation we played the 15 minute Harvest
video. It is a powerful video about people working together
for the harvest. There were practically no dry eyes
in the room after that video.
Tom Starr then presented "where we go from here" and
how people could get involved. Finally we had a closing
prayer. A very large precentage turned in response cards
asking to get involved and be a part of the Church of
Spokane. Now we have our job cut out for us to begin
folding them in.
This was probably the most "prayed up" service in the
history of Spokane. God truly answered our prayers and
moved us a major step forward.
We had
several people calling it the "birthday of the Church
of Spokane". God is fulfilling the
prayers that Jesus told us to pray, "Pray that God would
send workers into the harvest."
It's a wonderful time to be alive and a Christian.
Praise God for bringing us to a point where we can be
a part of the great move He is going to make. Please
spend some time thanking Him for answering our prayers
for this meeting.
In His love,
Pastor Glen Weber, Mission Spokane
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