Tonight I had the privilege of attending a service in Providence, RI called “ONE EVENT”. I heard about this event through a few brothers in christ that I know on Facebook, but have never met in person and they were both spearheading this with their churches. Andrew Mook from Sanctuary church and Jason Lee from Renaissance church along with pastors from a few other providence churches came together to meet, pray, and worship. They came together in unity to seek the face of God and to fight for their city.
If you have ever read my blog this heart should sound familiar. Not only is this something I think about daily and try to work towards in my own community/ministry, but it is the heart of God to see His body united.
We walked in and were greeted by some pretty cool/hip looking kids that made this prematurely bald worship pastor feel wicked old. Behind us was a mass of people piling into the building. There was something here that I don’t see very often in Newport area.
Anticipation.
Let that sink in for a second because it is key. They came in with expectation and you could see it on the peoples faces. Worship was great and so were the times of prayer. Nothing insane happened. Nobody rose from the dead. Nothing out of the ordinary to the naked eye. But for a guy who has been in ministry for 17 years and plowing through cement within the context of unity in the body there was something clearly out of the ordinary.
This group of people truly were there for the city. Every agenda, every theological difference, worship style, ethnicity, and cultural background was put aside for this time. There was a sense of purpose that I have not seen in the RI body of christ in a long time. There was an awareness that 5 churches being present in a building regardless of what they do is powerful in the spiritual realm. There was an expectation that the prayers would shake up the principalities in the area.
I have seen this hunger before in my area of RI and have seen the ebb and flow. We spend a ton of time praying for the church and for revival to happen. This body prayed that God would move in any way He chose and that they would be willing and repentant participants in His story.
They concluded with communion. There is nothing that unites the Church more than the cross.
Recently in our 1Prayer unity nights we have begun to do a very similar format.
I am blessed to have been able to have seen the Lord tonight. God is moving in providence. God is stirring up His people and calling them back to Him.
Monday night we have our own UNITY event in newport. I pray we continue to walk in expectation that God wants to do something amazing. I pray that the apathy that has enslaved our churches gets released.
I pray that our friends in Providence that are seeing God set the captives free intercede for their brothers and sisters in Newport County and the same way we are for them.
To God be the Glory.
Let end with this:
BEAUTIFUL BRIDE by FLYLEAF
Unified diversity
Functioning as one body
Every part encouraged by the other
No one independent of another
You’re irreplaceable, indispensable
You’re incredible, incredible
Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride
Strengthen your arms now
Train your fingers for battle
Urgency’s here now
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