Well I have worked through the process of: consolidating all the prophetic words from sabbatical 2024, boiling the down to seven major themes, writing the first draft of the congregational sentence, coaching around it, rewriting it, sending it to our staff and board for comment, and rewriting it again. Here for public release is what we at Cornerstone have come up with for our guiding congregational sentence for 2025 and 2026.
EXPLANATION: In 2025 we are going to foster an environment where our church is awakened to a deeper awareness of God’s love. This will lead us to spend more and more time with Him, whether through reading His Word, seeking Him in prayer, or helping those in need within the wider community by using the gifts that God has given us.
We will experience freedom, connection, support, and empowerment through our encounters with God. We will be a shining light in the region, radiating His supernatural power, healing and hope. As we reach those in need, we will spread the message of Jesus, and create a lasting, positive difference in the communities we serve.
This week has been about two things: prayer and connection.
I guess it could be argued that this week was really about one thing, because prayer is really about connection with God…SO…. this week has been about one thing….CONNECTION.
I guess if I had to boil my job description down to one word, CONNECTION, could be one of the words that I would choose to describe the job of pastor or minister. There are other words of course: FAITH, LOVE, COMPASSION…but CONNECTION is a good strong doing word for this job. As a Pastor I connect. I Connect myself with God. I connect other people with God. I connect God with people. I connect people with other people….CONNECT….CONNECT…..CONNECT.
In this world of ever dividing priorities I sometimes feel like this work of connection is a dying art, maybe even a losing battle. As our society polarizes more and more with each passing day, I am becoming more clear that the work of pastors is to help our communities see that the need for connection, with God and each other, has not changed or lessened. The things that divide us must be moved out of the way.
With some of the issues that lie before us as communities, I don’t have any idea how to begin to move the division out of the way and bring connection back, but my not knowing how to do the work does not change the fact, that is the job. I suppose, if I could do it by myself I wouldn’t need faith or God.
As I sit in meetings with town officials trying to figure out how to alleviate poverty and pain and prejudice, as I sit in visitations with people struggling to work through relational disintegration or chronic pain and illness, I am very aware that the answers aren’t mine to bring. The answers for many of these things lie with God alone and come only through His redemptive power. We are not alone in our trouble, there is a God who loves us and who wants to be invited to the bargaining table of our lives to add His wisdom to the conversations we are having.
That said He needs the invitation.
He says in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
When Mom went into hospice last year our family circled the wagons. We knew it was going to take all of us to get through the storm of life we were facing. Brenda came home from the Netherlands and all the kids committed to pitching in and helping out.
One of the practices we instituted was family prayer. We chose Tuesday nights after ministry to gather around the dining table to pray our way through the difficulty. So from 8:30-9:30 we would share needs and pray together.
Mom passed in April. Brenda went back to the Netherlands. Amanda was diagnosed with cancer, and we kept praying on Tuesday nights as a family.
We took a break over the holidays so we could observe Christmas Eve and New Years. Then last week we celebrated James’ and Abigail’s birthdays. But last night we were back at it. Praying for the family. Praying for the church. Praying for the world.
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.
Every year for the last two decades or so, our church has hosted a 21 day fast. Each year is a little different, but each year is a time of deep spiritual introspection for our church, as each of us fast and take time to pray privately And corporately.
This this year, we are partnering with The Worship Room House of Prayer in our hometown of Winchendon. The Worship Room is hosting three hours a day of prayer for the next 21 days.
I just came from my first two hour prayer session of this fast. I am sensing that this year. God will use this fast to prepare us for a move of supernatural signs and wonders, miracles to take place over the coming year.
I do believe miracles happen. I also believe they are about to happen to us.
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
The morning broke cold today. The chicken’s water had turned to ice and the world was colored with frost.
Photo by Jessica Lewis ud83eudd8b thepaintedsquare on Pexels.com
When I started sabbatical the autumn was in full swing. The nights were cool but not cold and the days were warm. I felt like I had some time to batten down the hatches for winter.
A month later and I realize my time to batten is running out. There is an urgency now to the work of getting ready for the long dark to come.
I feel the same urgency in the spirit. I have come back to my regular church life feeling like things have changed. We must finish with our preparations quickly and be ready for a season of powerful, prophetic, good news ministry. I feel like our greater community is in need of prophetic good news.
I was going to wait until the turn of the year to begin meeting with our DLT (Doing life Together) groups to listen to what God had showed them through our sabbatical month of prayer. I know now there isn’t time for that.
God says, “I am on the move. Will you trust me for my move?… my way? I have a great plan for my family. Cling to hope. It will not look the way you think it should but I am doing a great work. Cling to hope. I am on the move!”
This morning was my last Sunday of sabbatical. I opted to stay in and watch our church service with guest preacher, Carrie Hackett from home.
During a waiting time in the music portion of the service I received a very strong prophetic message from God. Here is what I sensed
. 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.
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 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.”
Notes From the Vicarage 