Marching On

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Dear Friends and Family:

What a month – temperatures in the high 60’s and 70′ for two weeks- the trees are starting to flower everywhere.  Is it possible that Spring is really here to stay?

I (Christine) am nearly finished with the winter discipline I set myself of drawing in black and white only and completing two drawing and portrait classes. Also have several new icons I am working on: The Entry into Jerusalem, Pentecost, a Madonna, and a Tetramorph icon.  I will be changing my website soon and updating my “Fine Art America” page soon.  I don’t know if you’ve seen that, but you can order a card, a print, or a printed canvas of any of my works on the site. They make it easy to buy my art on line and apparently people from all over the world see it.   One of my art goals is to teach two more iconography classes – one in Woodstock, NY and one in Great Barrington, MA.   The Woodstock class will start May 1 and run on Tuesday afternoons through the summer, God willing.

We are excited hearing about the intercessory prayer activities of our friends in Bristol.  There have been several gatherings for prayer for the City and the nation, prayerwalking, prophetic healing of the land actions and finally, a City wide day of Prayer at the Bristol Arena on Pentecost.  We feel called to go over for that to pray and stand with our friends for Revival in Bristol and Britain.  We are very grateful for all of you who have been contributing to our mission all along, and we believe enough money will come in by March 31 for us to go, if it’s God’s will for us to go.   We’ll keep you posted! (If you go to the Kingdom Arts Ministry tab at the top of the page, you will see where to send donations. Thank you!!)

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Here’s Michael: Here in Philmont we are beginning to realize how much pain there is in our neighborhood. There is a lot of illness, loss of families and real poverty. We are assigning more time to being just out on the streets and talking with people and praying when we can. We have the goal of bringing more people to the Bible study at the library.

On the wider front we are working to see the GSSM satellite school get set up and are having meetings and starting to put out PR for that. We feel called to bring people into a supernatural walk with the Lord and GSSM is designed to do for that purpose. Looking through the schedule starting in September it is really exciting to see what is lined up in the first six weeks, with Mark Virkler, Randy Clark, a Living Jesus Conference, 10 days in Brazil and then the Voice of the Prophets in Lancaster, PA. So that is getting exciting and we are still working on the nuts and bolts of that.

We have also been doing some teaching to a youth group on Words of Knowledge with wonderful time of activation and look forward to more ministry in that area.

The vision is to build a team of active Christians in this area, a triangle between Columbia  / Greene County and Albany. The area has had Holy Spirit visitations in the past and really needs a revival now. There are movements going on all around, also in England and the Far East which show that there is a real wave of the Holy Spirit moving in the world, a swelling of activity and as it grows and grows there will be much for Christians to do. Now is the time to really push forward in what each one of us hears God is calling us to.

So we continue to ask for your prayers and also to let us know how we can pray for you. God is so good and He is on the move.

Withour love,

Michael and Christine

February’s Almost Over and there’s No Snow!

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Hello Friends and Family:

Oops! February 29 and it is snowing!

Wow! What a mild winter!  No complaints here, and the fact that daylight savings is right around the corner is a light unto my feet!

We have been really blessed this last month with having some good friends come to our prayer gatherings.  God has been moving, people have been healed, and we are excited as we continue to seek God’s Presence here in our home in Philmont.We are regrouping, growing stronger in our faith and love while the winter passes. We see so many similarities to the Spiritual problems in Bristol and Philmont.

 We believe that more of God’s presence in both places would work absolute wonders! But how, Lord? Be believe in God’s promises of blessing over the UK and the USA.  We pray for the faith of Abraham, “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.” Romans 4:20-21

Recently there have been two house fires in Philmont which totally devastated the buildings, leaving a black charred mess of previously wonderful homes. How fast and  completely devastating fire can be! Historically, in another fire in 1977, High Rock Millsone, the last of 6 textile mills still in operation in Philmont, burned to the ground taking with it from the heart of the village all the buildings across the road, in fact if there had not been about four inches of snow laying on the roofs of surrounding buildings that January night a lot more of the village would have burned in that traumatic blaze. Many people lost their jobs and the mills were never rebuilt. Along with the economic loss and social changes there was a  spiritual trauma that still endures in a poverty spirit set deep in the heart of the village.  There are a lot of people doing good things here but there is a spiritual brokenness which only God can heal and that is what we as Christians in the community are called to. The call to build an ‘ark’ in Philmont is what we are praying for God’s guidance to answer. A place of prayer and furnace of God’s presence,

We also recognize that the picture I described for Philmont is appropriate for many small towns in our area and indeed in England. There is such a need for spiritual revival in so many communities and this not something which social programs can fix. It has to be a work of God. Unfortunately in our brokenness the tendency is to look everywhere, except towards God.  So the call is even more important that as Christians we do represent a living and powerful God in our walk in the community. That we do pray for healing whenever we see some one who is not well. That we do talk about Jesus Christ and who He is in our lives.

There can be no doubt the church is in a period of shaking. Thank goodness, it has to change to do God’s work.  So we are calling out to God daily, what are you doing today and what am I to do with you, Lord?

Right now we are praying for God’s direction about our next mission trip to the UK, particularly in terms of the timing, what God is doing there and what he has for us to do there. Please keep us in prayer that we may hear clearly God’s plan for us in the UK.

Looking forward to the autumn and as part of our call to build up active Christians in this area we are committed to running a Global Awakening Satellite School of Supernatural Ministry. We are in the process of exploration with different churches for interest and  where God wants it to be located. Along with the satellite GSSM school we are encouraging people from our area to join one of the Randy Clark mission trips to Brazil, a life changing and equipping experience. The GSSM school, which we are both graduates from,  takes all the students to Brazil early in the first semester so they can see how God works in a nation in revival. To see God healing as you pray for people changes not only the life of the people getting healed but also your own understanding of how powerful God is.

In the mean time we are praying for God to bless this ministry with financial partners who want to share in the spiritual blessings of those who send God’s ministers to do His work.  We recognize that the missions will be more fruitful when they represent a large body of committed Christians who are praying for and sending us to bring the Gospel to spiritually troubled areas. We truly thank those of you who have already partnered with this ministry and for all your prayers.

          

January Thaw

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Galatians 2:20

“And it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Hello Family and Friends!

Do you ever have times when it’s been hard to understand what God has been doing in your life?  I’ve certainly been challenged to understand why God asked us to give up our house and go to England, then come back again to the same house we gave up!But everything is completely different now.  It’s the same house, but completely different!  Same friends, but completely different!  And the difference is made crystal clear by Galatians 2:20, which is a gateway to a whole new life!  Now it doesn’t matter where I live, as long as Jesus is in me, and I in Him.

So, now we are praying with old friends in a new way.  We are different and they are different.  They have been traveling along the same path while we were away and we have so much more to share and plan about now.  We are so grateful for partnerships – people who are committed to what God is doing in us, sharing the rewards and the difficulties together.  You are part of what we are doing, and we want to partner with you in prayer for what God is doing in your lives too!

I’ve been practicing my portrait drawing every day.  We visited the Met in NYC last week and saw the Renaissance Portrait exhibition with our son in law Tore.

Really inspiring! Some of my recent drawings are above.

This week we are calling a gathering of people for healing prayer and worship which we expect will become a regular bi weekly event. It is the first tangible step in God calling us to ‘build an ark in Philmont’, but there have been many God appointments and developing relationships building up to  it. God is doing a work here. He is gathering people into this region, there is a shaking happening in the churches and people are looking for a well of the Holy Spirit. Many ministers are needing a place to be restored themselves. There are pockets of fires burning for Christ which are isolated and need to come together to create a critical mass. The distance between these house churches, prayer groups and bible studies is a critical factor, people have to drive an hour or more at least when gathering. But God! But God is doing a work here.

When Heidi Baker prayed over us at our ordination she was declaring, ‘Go low and Go slow’. We have been under so many attacks that we know God is working here. The very fact we have the same house except it has a new purpose and mission could only be orchestrated by God. This last month I have gone over in my heart all that we have gone through to move to England and then back here again and calling out to God about it, so God gave me a word; ‘Its not your job to worry about what you achieved in England, Michael, but it is your job to SEED IN FAITH.’  As we hear now what is happening in Bristol, it is so exciting to see how God is working there now. I am sure as the churches start to work together in Bristol there will finally be a critical flow of the Holy Spirit for revival in England. We hope to be going back to England at the end of April to help with what God is doing there with a call for action before Pentecost.

Meanwhile God is working here and we are excited to see how people are coming together. We know we are called to seed in faith and let God do the watering. Please keep all this in your prayers as we continue to walk with God and see His presence here in Philmont.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year!  

We hope you’ve been able to share God’s joy this Christmas season with loved ones.  We’ve been so happy to be with all three of our children and their loved ones.  Our baby grandaughter is growing so fast – I’m so glad I get to see her in all these cute stages.  So far she still has red gold hair and loves being with people.

It seems that God is now showing us clearly what He is asking us to do and we are excited and happy to share that with all of you who have been giving us so much support all along!  Here’s what we know so far:

  •  We will be starting to host Praise and Worship Sunday afternoons at our house in Philmont,
  • Michael will be leading two Bible studies – one in the Library in Philmont Sunday evenings, and one Monday night at St. Michael’s Church in Colonie.
  • I will continue teaching iconography in Cohoes and start building up a drawing class here in Philmont.
  • We will be looking to start a GSSM (Global Awakening) satellite school of ministry in September and encourage people to go on the mission trip to Brazil with Randy Clark in October.
  • Return to the UK in April for a short term mission

All of this is exciting and will involve quite a few of our good friends too.  God is filling us with a hope for the future, and we hope you catch it from us! Somehow, I know He is up to something really good and we are encouraged daily by the news we hear from the UK.

Moving back to our old house has come with a string of issues but we are really grateful to be here and just yesterday received the whole of the space back. Looking back as to what God has done in our lives in the last two years is quite extraordinary, moving us and everything we owned to England and then hauling it all back again. We will be dedicating more than half the house for God’s purposes which would not have been in our thoughts before we left. God has rearranged our thinking in many areas.

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We really believe that 2012 is going to be a breakthrough year for revival in our region here in New York and in England. There has been a tangible shift in the heavenlies. There is an excitement that God is on the move. We believe that this shift will continue to become more apparent and active. As we continue to listen to what God is calling us to we look back and see how God has brought us into relationships with many different people and now He is calling us to reconnect with them and mobilize. God is calling us to get on His train because it is pulling out of the station.

Please keep us in your prayers and we will keep you up to date with what God is doing, but this we do know 2012 is going to be incredible, more than we can possibly imagine. For we know that nothing will be impossible with God.

Thanksgiving!

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Dear Friends and Family:

As November draws to a close, we have so much to be grateful for.  

Having Thanksgiving in Boston with our son, daughter-in-law and new grand daughter was delightful!  Being able to visit my mother who is recovering well from a broken hip and seeing her smiling, settling in back at our house, seeing old friends and making new friends.

But I wonder if you are experiencing the battles and seemingly unending difficulties that we are?  It’s almost becoming funny, that the moment we solve one huge problem and feel we can relax-BOOM!- another one hits.

And they all seek to distract us from the things that really ARE important.  Like prayer, worship, fellowship with God.  

This is our back garden – can you see the little deer?  There’s a family of them that live back there by the cross.  In a way, our succeeding in all the recent battles secures the safety of their home.   I think that is the way of intercessory prayer, too.  People willingly taking up the battle in prayer wins
peace for many others who are unaware of what it costs.      We are praying with a couple of icons these days -like this detail of Saint Anthony, the father of monasticism.

He was a great intercessor for his time and withstood many temptations and assaults from the demons. In 2 Chronicles 5:13 when Solomon completed the House of the Lord, and brought the Ark of the covenant in, it was the duty of of the trumpeters and singers to praise the Lord saying “For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.”  I think this is the task – no matter how awful the onslaught is, to sing praise that God is good, He is always good, and His steadfast love endures forever.  When the people praised God with those words, the Glory of the Lord came down and filled the temple.

We are the Temple and what could be  better than being filled with the Presence of the Lord?  This photo is from the blessing of the icons and the iconographers’ hands at Saint Nicholas’ Church where I teach, in Cohoes last month. It was a joy and honor to be there.

We are planning for  a January start for a house Church in our home in Philmont, a small discipleship group, and Michael will be doing some Bible teaching.  We plan to be praying and asking to see if God is calling us to start a Global Awakening satellite school of ministry in this area in September.

Back in Bristol, we are so encouraged by all the prayer efforts that are happening there. It seems that people are uniting across the denominations to pray together – outside and inside churches. Dec 1 there is a UK wide prayer on the streets which some of our friends in Bristol are participating in, and John Mulinde’s World Trumpet Mission is having a strong prayer presence too.  There are many more prayer events and we are really thrilled to hear about each one, and we pray together with each one.   

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We are also seeing a very powerful presence of the Lord in some of the prayer meetings at St. Michael’s Church in Colonie and experienced being held on the floor by His Presence. We have both started prayer walking on the streets and find it a way to hear God’s heartbeat for the village. There was recently a death in this community which has shaken the village as it happened so quickly and it has opened up opportunities for us to pray for people. It has also revealed a strong masonic presence in the village. The words keep coming to my mind as we discern what God is doing here from a prayer session in June, “Build an Ark, in Philmont. A place of my powerful presence.” So we ask for your prayers for this that we would build God’s ark here, it so desperately needs it.

I prayed for a lady in the drug store in Boston the other day for her broken wrist, she literally said before I started to pray for her, ‘I wish someone would come along and bless me and get rid of all these demons attacking me.’ God had it all planned for me to be there. We always need to remember God has so much more for us than we can possibly imagine and when it seems to be so dark we need to hold on to God with all our heart, for He is really all there is and His love endures forever.

We hope you have a Happy Christmas with the true blessings of the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ our savior, born so humbly yet full of so much power in each of our lives today.

PS  We REALLY want and need your prayers!!! It makes a huge difference!!  And we will continue to pray for you too!           Love,            Christine and Michael.

 

New York and VOA Ordination

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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

September and Transition

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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

Summer’s Finale

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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