Bristol's Blog

Hello dear family and friends:   

What strange weather! Two weeks ago it was hot and sunny here in Philmont, New York, and this weekend we had a snow storm – 15 inches. Although many areas around us lost power, we didn’t, so were able to keep heated through the night, praise God!

Michael and I prayerwalked through the snow to the Main St. Pub for their special Sat night gourmet Indian food. It was snowing heavily but we weren’t the only ones there!  We prayed all the way there and back that our neighborhood would not lose power. Our prayers were heard, Praise God!

“Be strong, be courageous, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and keeping His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn”.” 1Kings 2:2-3

This is a Word I received during this move from Bristol to New York.  God blessed us with good helpers and our shipment clearing customs.

We have been so blessed with our Ordination at the Voice of the apostles Conference, too.  We connected to old friends, met for prayer with a pastor who will be our mentor during this new stage of our ministry, and received inspiration for possibly starting a Global Awakening satellite school in this area with an emphasis on media and the arts.

It has been quite exciting and challenging moving across nations, coming back to our home which we had given to the Lord when we set out on our mission to the UK.  God showed me that our house was like Abraham and Isaac.  We honestly gave it up to Him and He restored it back to us!  I am glad we did it, because I am happy to give God everything in total trust that His best for me will always be His plan for me.

We continue to meet with friends and colleagues in ministry here, and seek God’s guidance as to how and when to participate.  Hopefully next month will see more news about that – after I catch my breath (and unpack).

Moving back has brought us full circle and looking again at what God is doing in this area we see a lot of things in transition. One of the denominations which we have a history with here seems to have been really undermined by the enemy and under attack. This area has had a heavy cloud over it for a long time and many people have burned out trying to open up God’s kingdom here. As we take stock that would be the outward appearance but we also feel a great hope that there is a big change coming. There are many people working really hard within the community to build it up but few of them are walking with the Lord.

I have resumed my prayer walking here with declarations over this village and nation. Somehow there is a sense that what we are doing here although very local will also have a relationship with Revival back in England. The word we received from God when seeking whether to return to America was to set course for both America and for England. God does things in ways we do not understand but I am sure that there will be a cross over, a bridge, a connection that will build both nations up.

Thank you for your prayers, and you are in ours.

Much love,

Michael and Christine

Voice of the Apostles 2011 – Schedule.

Dear Friends and Family:

As I write this we have almost all our belongings packed, the moving van is coming tomorrow, and we will be in New York October 6!  We are re-grouping in New York, getting ready for the winter and planning to return here to Bristol in April.

We are encouraged by so many prayer meetings and events which are happening across Bristol and the nation.  Last week the House of Prayer met at Vic Square and was a wonderful time of deep prayer, unity, and blessing.  The presence of God and His love was so evident and we are blessed by each person’s commitment to prayer and fellowship with us.  Thank You Lord!! That was followed last Thursday with a powerful prayer meeting at Carmel Church, more prayer at Hope Chapel about receiving God’s heart, and loving one another, especially going after the lost> Saturday was a major Renewal meeting at Elim Church with pastor Simon Foster scrapping his prepared talk and sharing that God was pressing on him for His love to be poured out for the lost in the city!    

Jesus said, “The harvest is the end of the age” (see Matthew 13:39)

” One of the most important things that we can do to be positioned to catch the wave that is coming is to come to know the gifts and ministries of the Spirit that we are called to walk in, and begin to walk in them. The Ephesians 4 mandate of all true New Testament ministry is to equip others to do the work of the ministry, not just do it ourselves. Those who do not obey this mandate will soon disappear from leadership in the church, and those who train and equip their people will be the future leaders of the body of Christ. These are the ones who are not burying the talents they’ve been entrusted with but are investing and multiplying them. We cannot accomplish what we must in these times without every part of the body doing its part.” Rick Joyner

We are very excited about Revival here in the UK.  We are blessed to be in fellowship with so many giving sacrificially to co labor with God’s plans for this Kingdom.  Michael and many others from Bristol went to the National Day of Prayer in London two weeks ago.  He came back and made one of his wonderful videos about it :
watch it at:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlvczErqlLw

We are returning to New York to get our strength back and prepare for what the Lord is doing both in the UK and in America. As the video above shows many people are sowing into England with declaration and meetings. The riots here in May has started a fire burning in the Christian community and we hope that it will continue to increase as we all move into a time of God’s Glory. We believe 2012 is going to be very active here for the Lord.

We are excited to return to New York because our family is also ready to spend some serious time with us and we really want to do that as well.

New York has also been hit with the recent storms and there is a real need within our local community for us to pitch in. The longer vision still unfolding is to answer a word God gave Michael while in prayer to ‘build an ark in Philmont’.  We believe God will start to unpack that as we start to reconnect in New York. We also got the word to set our course for the UK and America so we believe there will be a bridge between the two. We are also believing that we will come alongside Alun and Donna Leppitt in Southampton, England, with the work they are doing with Global Awakening in England in the spring.

We will be getting ordained at the Voice of the Apostle’s Conference In Lancaster PA, Oct 19-23.  You can watch the ordination  (which will be Thursday evening) or any of the meetings with Bill Johnson, Randy Clark, Heidi and Rolland Baker, Georgian and Winnie Banov etc.  We would love to have you there by webcast!!  Here’s the link for the schedule and sign up: https://events.globalawakening.com/schedule-voa

So this is a major time of transition for us and we really appreciate all of your prayers.

As always, we send you our love and prayers,

Michael and Christine

Hello Dear Friends and Family:

August has been blessed for us with having some time to go camping .  We never did that in the States, but really love it here !  We have a tiny tent, we bring our Bibles, some food, and go off for a few days of praying, praising God, and seeking to hear His voice.

We’ve been getting excited about the possibility of starting a different kind of church in Philmont, NY. We are also getting excited about being ordained in October at Randy Clark’s Global Awakening ministry.

Christine’s been looking to do some icons based on what she learned about the thirteenth century Italian School of Iconography and wants to give talks and slide shows about God in art to anyone who will listen!

We had a powerful House of Prayer meeting last week, with Brother Nicodemus from Uganda asking “Where are the watchmen of the City?”  With the Bristol Prayer Network, Bristol Networks, and Churches like Elim, Carmel, Woodlands and many others praying individually and collectively for Revival in Britain we are very encouraged by the obvious commitment to the power of prayer here.

We are planning on going to New York in October to be ordained and see about starting a community based non denominational church in Philmont. This will give us a chance to regroup financially, and at the same time sow into our local community. Since God seems intent on us keeping our house, we will explore what He might have in mind there, with a hope to coming back to Bristol in the Spring.

Bristol may well claim to be a leader in ‘Street Art’ on the world stage. Recently the city council supported a Street Art festival called, interestingly, ‘See no Evil’. Many artists came and painted buildings in one of the city center streets. As a whole the images were less demonic than the more underground grafiti which is done without official blessing but is certainly tolerated and centers around an area called Stokes Croft. Stokes Croft has been historically a place of strife going back hundreds of years and is where the Tesco riots broke out in May and in the recent riots across England was the center of the riots in Bristol. There is a spirit of rebellion and a mocking spirit in residence there with squatters and street artists proudly pushing an independent and demonic lifestyle. People come from across the country to visit Stokes Croft and admire the art and ambiance.

As our ministry is based on using art for the Lord we realize how powerful it can be for good or for bad. Certainly there were crowds of people admiring the ‘See no Evil’ street art festival as there is a constant flow of people going to Stokes Croft. The demonic images have become so normative in this society that people can not perceive there is a force for evil behind them. What does one do as a Christian when people do not realize they are playing with death? In fact the ‘skull’ image is so prevelent now it is used in main stream advertising. Well the answer to that question is to bring life and love back into art. To love and support the people who are creative to use their art for life and not death, whether that is on the street, in the movies, television, newspapers or where ever. If we live in a landscape of deathly images we will get drawn to riot as a natural response.

“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous: Do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord  your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

We love to pray for you so please email us with your prayer requests!

Lots of love, Christine and Michael     

Lots of love to you all! xxxoxox

Hello Friends and Family:

God is so good! This month we have both experienced a new freedom in being able to operate in our arts ministry in the world, not just in the Church. Yay! My month at the Florence Academy of Art was a real breakthrough for me in discovering Italian iconography from 1200-1450 and developing a method of drawing and painting portraits which is very beautiful, classic and powerful. I hope to have examples of what I can do now in future Blogs.

Also got very close to Michael Angelo, visiting his sculptures and reading his biographies.  He was God’s man for sure, showing a devotion and commitment to God that is rare.  His last work of art was a pieta which shows a large hooded figure holding the limp body of Christ, next to Mary.  That figure was Nicodemus, who took Christ down from the cross, and Michaelangelo identified himself with Nicodemus.  This was his last monument to his abiding maturity in his love for God.

My charcoal drawing of Michaelangelo from a plaster cast of him.

I have two opportunities to sell my work one this month and one next.  This month I will be volunteering at the Veritasse art booth at the New Wine Conference and presenting some of my icons for sale.

Next month I will have a store front in Bristol to exhibit and sell my paintings to raise money for our ministry here. Keep me in your prayers, please!

Michael has been active as usual while I was away!

Here’s his post:

Bristol is a key to this Nation turning back to God.

I believe that Bristol has been assigned by God as a gate to a revival in this nation, England. That is a word Christine and I received, and left our family, home and careers to come here to Bristol. Many others have as well, most recently Roy and Melanie Fields who have been at Carmel Centre for the last 5 weeks pushing into heaven and bringing people with them.

We were in a Spiritual Mapping prayer meeting praying over the map of Bristol some seven weeks ago and God spoke through Sheena Tranter, to ‘Watch Carmel, I will do a work there, watch Carmel.’

Unfortunately there is not a hunger for revival in this city. Yet. The meetings were not well attended. There is a complacency which is all rapt up in the spirit of stupor, spirit of unbelief, spirit of control, spirit of mockery and spirit of poverty but most significant is an overriding humanism even within the church. People are unable to break out of this blanket which is so familiar that many do not realize it exists. There is a powerful pride in the British stiff upper lip which is really a trap of the enemy. It stops movement in the spirit, the natural and maintains a tepid status quo just above bearable.

But Christ came to give us life and life in abundance, that’s why this country needs revival, it’s forgotten that Christ is a powerful living God who calls us to an abundant life.

So when a couple of evangelists come to a city to do a work of God there is an intellectual rejection and passive resistance, the pastors of the city do not rise up and join together with it but for whatever reason stay silent. For those who have attended the meetings it has been a strong move forward.  But as God said watch Carmel, it shows me that Bristol is not yet hungry for a work of God. It is warm under its blanket and happy to stay there.

We know that God is concerned with land as well as people. We know that where things good and bad have happened in the past that location takes on a spiritual force for good or bad to people in that place there after. This can be redeemed through prayer or left to continue to have an affect spiritually on the people in that place. The land gives out the spiritual forces that have been created and licensed to be here by the people of this nation, they have been accepted for generations and have a strong quiet hold.

There is a whole lot of redeeming that needs to take place in this city and this nation for it to have the fear of God on it again and people to recognize there is a desperate need for a turning back to God. There have been missionaries coming over here to Bristol from Africa, Korea, America, the Philipines since we moved here 15 months ago all calling out for Christians to awake. They recognize that God has more to do with this nation, another movement of the Holy Spirit that will spearhead a movement into Europe. The prophetic words are consistent from many different sources that there will be a move of God in this nation soon.

It will take God to cut through the blanket that lays over this nation. We need prayer houses, evangelists and a fire in the belly of latent Christians to beseech God and stand in the gap for the sins of this nation, past and present. We need the Christian community working together in a way which is real not just a lip service. The churches are like castles open to the heavens but closed to one another, with enthusiastic worship going up to heaven but very little lateral connection or working together. There are some who are working for this but it needs to be all the churches.

That being said there are signs of  change in Bristol. There are networking Christian movements underway, the different prayer groups are being identified and brought together under the Bristol Prayer Network. There is movement forward, more and more reports of healings are coming in and I have seen several myself in this last week. More people are praying for healing in and outside of church. But I yearn to see the fires of the Holy Spirit burn brighter and then come together as one. That will happen but I do not know how long it will take for that hunger for God to be ignited and the blanket torn off England. Sometimes it seems so far off yet our God works in mysterious ways, often suddenly. We are blessed.

Love to you guys! We are praying for you, too!

Christine and Michael