Winchendon, this little town in North Central MA, has a lot going for it. I think it’s easy to overlook all the things we have going for us as a town.
Don’t get me wrong. We have plenty of challenges and things that set us back on the regular, but that is common life in every town everywhere. But I am taking a long look at the advantages of this little town, and they are pretty incredible.
One of the advantages we have is TWR House of Prayer located at 10 Pond St. In the heart of downtown Winchendon. In the words of Jonathan Bauver the prayer missionary appointed to TWR House of Prayer, “TWR House of Prayer is a missional ministry focused on prayer, worship and ministering to the Lord”.
On the regular TWR House of Prayer is open from Sunday to Friday from 5P.M. to 8 P.M for people to just come and sit and pray through their issues while the TWR team worships and prays from their altar area. The act of sitting for an hour in silent meditation and prayer is one of the healthiest things a person can do in life.
Right now through Jan. 26th TWR House of Prayer is open 7 days a week from 5 P.M. -8 P.M. in cooperation with Cornerstone Church and its annual 21 days of fasting and prayer. Thanks Jon and Angela Bauver for all you do for our town.
I am sitting at the dining table eating left over Chinese food, thinking about the year past and the year ahead.
2024 was a hard year. I don’t think I have really stopped to meditate on just how hard it was. I certainly haven’t allowed myself to feel the hardness. It was a year of death and a year of sickness for our family. It was a year that brought earth shaking change to our lives, identities and ministries. We are not the same people we were at the end of 2023.
Last night we celebrated the New Year as a family at The Vicarage.
New Year’s Eve was our gift exchange this year. I got designer coffee! My son Joe got tools. The kids got play dough and toys. The ladies got winter clothing. James got a book he had been wanting to read. It was a good night topped off by our traditional meal…. Chinese food
It was also a game night.
To say I am not a good game player is an understatement, but other members of the family are. It was a quiet and comforting way to spend the last day of this very difficult year.
Today I am catching up on chores, and putting Christmas away. As I write this note between loads of laundry I am thinking about what the Lord has already told us about 2025.
My personal words for the year are: PRACTICE THE PRESENCE…
Here are some other things we have learned about 2025 from the last few months of 2024.
Amanda has heard- Focus and Watch. 1 Peter 5:8 State alert for your great enemy the Devil stalks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Focus on the right thing not similar distractions because there will be good things and God things. See the potential particularly in our children. Don’t overlook the small things in life or neglect the potential of small things. Watch is the word, Gregorio. Its definition is- Keeping your eyes on the truth.
James has heard- We are children of THE KING. The time has come to act like it. We are an already not yet people. We have the victory but we now have to posses this in the Spirit. We need to use our spiritual authority.
Kristine has heard-Dwell! Dwell in the presence of the Lord and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Claim the victory. Psalm 139 teaches us that God is all knowing.He knows every detail of our lives and even when we don’t see it, He is working in our lives. We need to remember that He knows the end of our stories and the progress of the journey.
Yesterday my sister and I were on Messenger talking and this prophetic word came –
And this is what the Lord says, open your eyes, I am bringing you into a spacious place. This is the culmination of over a half a century of My work. I have hidden this from the enemy as I have hidden this from you, but this is about neither of you and both of you. The enemy can see the size and shape of this thing, but even he does not know what it is any more than you know what it is. you were chosen for this. your family was chosen for this. You each have your part to play. I have prepared you. I have called you by name. Now prepare yourselves. Gird yourselves and answer me like a human, where were you when I laid the foundations of the storehouses of the snow?
It is definitely winter at the Vicarage now. I am feeding the birds everyday and just keeping ahead of their feeding frenzies. It tells me the last of the edibles in the forests are gone. The chickens are moving the hay I am providing for them, from one end of their enclosure to the other as they have need to keep the coop warm for their feet in the colder temperatures, and I am changing out their water twice a day now to keep it from freezing.
We are into the season of storms. Each day brings its own display of wind or precipitation and the sky is more often rheumy than not.
The day starts at 7 A.M., is gone y 4:30 P.M. and is bordered by several hours of wintry half light on each side. As we head towards the longest night of the year, I have to admit I am feeling affected by the darkness more than ever before.
To cope I am feeling led into still another deeper place of prayer. When not doing people work, I find myself bouncing back and forth between prayer and administrative work in about half hour increments.
I am feeling this necessary to keep my head on straight… and as a final work of preparation before the new year brings what I am sensing it will.
2024 has been a hard fought battle with many large changes. It began with my mother entering hospice care. Mom passed in April. Shortly after that my daughter was diagnosed with cancer and the summer was given to hospitalizations and treatments. My sister went back to her ministry in the Netherlands and my son and his family bought a condo and moved out. Lots of changes. I think part of the reason for this prayer rhythm is to help me grieve all the change and trouble. There is a piece of me that I think is just entering into the grieving process now. I feel like I have said that before. Maybe I am not just entering the process. Maybe I am just in a new phase, a phase that is going to require a lot more prayer.
BUT … these depths of prayer are not just about grieving the past. It is about preparing for the soon to come move of God. My daughter, Melanie, was telling me about a vivid dream she had the other night, and how she believed it was a word from God about how He was going to bring breakthrough in certain areas of our community. She also believes that we are being called, as a church, to partner with Him in these areas.
It reminded me of a conversation I recently had with another minister about the body of Christ needing to spend enough time in abiding prayer to bring heavenly realities into the earthly realm. I realize this is not just about me personally. God is beginning to call the church into deeper prayer because that is what it is going to take to bring forth the miracles we are going to need in the days ahead. We are heading toward the world’s longest night.In that space of darkness the church is going to need to bring its brightest light.
“Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever….The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness,a light will shine.” Isa. 9:1,2
I admit box checking is something I fall into at times. I remember when I was a young minister and the idea of keeping a daily schedule and agenda was introduced to me. I said it was not a godly principle to live by man made lists. I was told by the person doing the training that if I did not learn to keep an agenda and live by a plan I would never be effective.
As I progressed in ministry the words of that particular teacher proved to be true. Life without a plan and without goals is chaos.
But what I said to the teacher also is true, at least in part. When the plan becomes all consuming, when the plan becomes god and takes God’s place, it becomes ungodly. Many of us become idolaters and slaves to our agendas. When the plan becomes the point or when my plans become more important than God’s plans then…Houston we have a problem.
So there is this tension. I can’t live effectively without making a plan, but in making the plan I face a temptation to make the plan more important than God. How do I avoid the trap?
2. Be a God first people second planner projects third planner. Remember that ministry is about God and people not programs or plans. When ministry becomes just a list of projects to get done you no longer have ministry you just have busy work. Every ministry plan must include God’s prayer plan for the minister (and if you don’t have prayer plan from God you don’t have a godly plan), and it must have connection to the community as its goal.
3. Learn to laugh with God at your plans. There is an old saying, “Man plans and God laughs.”
Even when we have done our best to pray through our plans and to prioritize the right things in our planning, there will be times when we miss it in our planning badly. I have had to learn to let my plans go when God shows up “out of the blue” to change them. I have had to learn to make light of these changes and to go with the flow of God’s interruption of the agenda. In fact, I am convinced that sometimes God allows me to make a plan He is going to ruin, just to see if I am willing to sacrifice my plans at the altar of obedience to Him.
WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU DO TO KEEP YOUR PLANNING FROM BECOMING AN IDOL IN YOUR LIFE?
Effectiveness will flow out of the strength of our connection to God in the days ahead. All of our natural ability, talent and giftedness will not be enough to meet the crises of the coming days. The mission God has for us will require His supernatural power and glory and that can only come through the health of our personal and community’s relationship with Him.
Salvation itself only requires the beginning of a connection with God through Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
This is entry level faith. But kingdom effectiveness will be determined by the strength of our connection to God.
If we focus on our programs and methodology, our talents and our human abilities all we will accomplish is a striving after wind and burnout. We will never accomplish God’s great plan for our personal lives, our family lives, our church or community.
If we focus on the strength of our relationship with God, though, then all of God’s plans will flow through that relationship into our programs, plans, talents and abilities and then out through those supernaturally empowered conduits to accomplish His divine purpose.
Sabbatical 2024 is over. I went back in to the office yesterday and began setting in motion some of things that are to begin in 2025 and 2026.
I learned many things during this sabbatical. Many of them were for me and my own personal spiritual growth, but here are four things I learned for the body of Christ.
ETERNAL DEFINITIONS: Our church needs to begin living by God’s definitions of things rather than the world’s definitions of things. We need to bring the definitions of words from eternity into the here and now. We need to begin living by those eternal definitions in the here and now.
CORPORATE SELF-REVELATION: The church needs to have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.
THE NEED TO SEE: We need to see what is coming down the road. It feels like threads are coming together and we are beginning to see the tapestry, streams are blending in a divine confluence. We need to understand our own small part of the stream, much depends on it.
A SEASON OF DELIVERANCE: from OCT. 8….. “The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.”…
From Oct. 28…….”The days ahead are days of supernatural deliverance! The power of the Spirit is going to begin flowing and moving in even more miraculous ways. Generational and ancient strongholds are about to be overthrown, but the ground is going to be hard won. Only the power of the Spirit will avail, no mortal weapons will do in these battles. Yet I counsel you do not look for the dramatic , bombastic, instantaneous deliverances that have characterized the places of so many flashy dreams. Look for the move of small stones. Let there be an embracing of steps that bring compounding glory and progressive deliverance. Expect and do not despise the day of small things. Rejoice in each advance and encourage each other in every setback. Pray the power over each other continually and without ceasing and walk in the Spirit until all that is to be done is done! INch by inch the ground will be won. Do not be afraid!The center will hold until I call you forth.”
I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE HOW THESE THINGS ARE TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT IN OUR CHURCH.
Yesterday was a day of relationship. I talked with my sister in The Netherlands for about an hour and a half. We talked about the calling and how it moves and shifts in our lives creating a never-ending journey that we sometimes flow with and other times struggle with.
Then I went to breakfast with my son-in-law James Franklin, who has helped me out during this sabbatical by preaching for me.
We talked about the word of prophecy for our church Cornerstone.
After that, My son and I took a walk around the greater block of the Vicarage. I told him the history I knew of the schools in town: Old Murdock, Streeter, Poland, Wheeler. As we walked I talked to him about the people I knew in each house: Jack Bowler, the Sweeney’s, the Knocks, The Blacks, Mr. Otto. We noted the dates on many of the historic homes: 1840, 1791. How different was life back then?How different from my life was the life of Capt. Murdock or Morton Converse?
I said before that I had trouble finding mentors to speak into my life for this sabbatical. Maybe I didn’t have trouble. Perhaps I was resisted by God because He had already chosen those individuals who would speak into my life and they were much closer to home than I was willing to look.
The conversations I am having are much more organic than traditional mentorship conversations, but perhaps this time around they are the more resonant for their organic nature. In these conversations I am hearing the echoes of my deepest thoughts, even some of those hidden from me by myself. There are things being called to the surface I was unaware of.
Things like: I am an escapist at heart always trying to distract myself with petty entertainments when questions of legacy and leadership arise; I procrastinate because I have been infected by the spirit of lack that is epidemic in our land; The call is not convenient and it is not comfortable, but it is good for me in my truest self; There is a price to pay for a deeper walk with God and I need to pay that price.
I entered this season a little disappointed, maybe even a little concerned, because I had not been able to find my mentor(s). I know now that God is the One who always had charge of the arrangements for this season and He has chosen His best for me.
HAS GOD EVER SURPRISED YOU WITH A BETTER BEST THAN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS BEST?
My son and I were talking about this sabbatical our church is on. I explained to him that sabbatical is not a vacation for the pastor or the church. It is a change of rhythm for the purpose of finding God’s direction and strength for next steps. The change of rhythm does involve rest, but it also involves other practices as well.
Today was all about the practice of flexibility. I set my plans to pray for at least two hours at the Worship Room House of Prayer this morning. I made it forty minutes and then… God showed up and I ended up taking a trip with my daughter to a town about an hour and a half away to pick up some equipment that had been wrongly shipped to another Cornerstone Church.
I was going to go by myself, but you know I am learning to be the DOING LIFE TOGETHER guy. It was good we went together, as it turned out. My leg has been bothering me the last few days and it cramped up pretty badly just as we were arriving at the other Cornerstone Church. Amanda had to drive home so I could stretch out.
Anyway, we made a morning of it. The drive was through some of the most beautiful autumn territory of the Quabbin Valley and we stopped for lunch at Herrick’s in Orange. So I actually accomplished one of my other goals for this month which was to take a leaf peeping drive.
There were a few other “divine interruptions” in my plans today. Some unplanned reorganization of schedules shortened my time to burn brush by about an hour and once again reoriented how I was going to pray. I think learning to be flexible with my prayer life is something God is trying to teach me.
In the midst of all the reorganization I got this thought. “As a people we need to know God’s plan for the next years. We do need a clearer vision of the future. We do need to understand what God is doing. That said, we don’t just need to know God’s plan or the future or what God is doing. We need something more. We need the church to also have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.
I begin a month long sabbatical tomorrow. Yesterday was my last day in pulpit for five Sundays. I preached from Revelation 22 about THE INVITATION TO THE FUTURE.
It was also a day of celebration. It was our church’s annual Crockpot Cookoff.
It was a great way to launch into this sabbatical. 130 people came out to try 17 different crockpot dishes. The prize went to BAGEND BEAM, one of the Sunday afternoon groups. All the crockpots were excellent.
And the community sharing life together was awesome!
This is my second sabbatical and it is shaping up to be very different from my last sabbatical. This month is a month of conferences. All this week I will be spending time in prayer at The Worship Room House of prayer as they hold their third annual growth conference. On Friday I will be heading out to Liberty Church in Shrewsbury MA for a leadership conference. Saturday I will be back at Cornerstone for our annual men’s conference. Next Wednesday I will be in Sturbridge MA for our network leadership tour. There is a prophetic conference in Springfield MA on October 17-20. I am still toying with the idea of going to that. Then at the end of the month I will be going to our fellowship’s Minister’s retreat in Plymouth MA.
Sabbatical is a time of rest, prayer and visioning for ministers. For me it is a time to find the next steps for our church and the prophetic message God would have me share in sermon form for the next few years.
I have asked all of our groups to pray for a word from God for 2025 and 2026. When I come back I will go to each group and listen to what God has told our church body about next steps.
I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS NEXT MONTH. I FEEL A STIRRING IN MY HEART TOWARDS ADVENTURE.
The tide of ministry has been high this week. Sunday I preached my 50th message in our series on Revelation. Truthfully it is probably more like the 60th or 70th sermon in the series, but it is entitled “Jesus Doing Life Pt. 2 Pt. 50.”
We were stuck in chapters 2,3 and 4 for quite a while and I was using decimal points (2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and so on) for that particular point in the series. It has been a wonderful study and I am looking forward to its conclusion on Sept. 29th (which it just hit me would have been my mother’s 88th birthday).
Sunday preaching always leaves me ready for a nap. This series has left me feeling particularly drained. Maybe it’s just the content but I am finding I need to rest deeply on Sunday afternoon, and it is good to have a lot of time to pray on Mondays.
This week I did get several hours to pray on Monday morning and then Monday evening I led worship from 5-6 at THE WORSHIP ROOM HOUSE OF PRAYER and prayed in the prayer room from 6-7 P.M.
Tuesday is always one of the busiest days of my week. Staff meeting led into a missions lunch with one of our missionary friends from a sensitive country. Amanda came down with the stomach flu which is running through our kids ministry, so I took youth group for her on Tuesday night.
This is the “GET WELL” bouquet one of her teens made for her.
Youth night this week was easy. It was the fall opening for youth ministry, girls ministry and Royal Rangers Ministry to boys. One of Amanda’s teen-agers had a vision. for having a bonfire to start the season off. Together, Jacob and a few other folks from the church cleaned out and prepared the fire pit at the back of the church property.
One of our youth leaders, Troy, helped Jacob get the fire up and running while the other kids opened with business and games.
Then everyone came out to the fire and made stores while another one of Amanda’s youth led in worship.
Wednesday. I worked at home to catch up on prayer and Vicarage projects.
Then on Thursday, I joined Amanda’s DLT group (she was fully recovered from the stomach bug by that point) to start getting ready for our upcoming Church Crockpot cook off. Amanda’s group is sponsoring the event and so we had to label 1100 sample cups for the cook off
Today. I am getting ready for oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth. So…yeah… it’s been a fun and active week. Which is my excuse for not writing as much here at Notes.
I have smiled a lot this week and made a lot of fun memories.
Notes From the Vicarage 