Impact Prayer Team email 22 April 2009

Impact Church Orlando Prayer Team

22 April 2009 www.impactchurchorlando.com

Impact Prayer Team, It has been an awesome week of ministry and preparation. We had a great time last Friday preaching the Gospel downtown, and got to see God moving in the lives of some people in a very powerful way. I am also finishing up the brochure I will give to people during the support raising process coming up very soon. I ask for your prayers that God will give me clarity and articulation as I tell people about the vision He has placed on my heart to start a church in Downtown Orlando. things are moving along well, and I am really excited about what will be happening in the next few weeks. I hope I have many stories of God's grace and provision to share with you soon. Jason Rudolph jason.a.rudolph@gmail.com Prayer Focus Collaboration Over the past few weeks, I have had the great privilege of getting to preach the Gospel with men and women in Downtown Orlando. Friday nights are pretty intense when you are proclaiming the truth of a righteous, holy and jealous God to people who blaspheme and curse that same God. That being said, getting to partner with these people has been a blessing, and we have seen some really cool things during that time. I am also noticing a greater movement of partnering and collaborating amongst the Church in general. When John Piper and Lecrae get together to further the Kingdom, you know God is in the midst of His bride working to her unity. I also see leaders of various movements and organizations coming together, laying aside their turf wars, and beginning to work together for the greater good. Why do I mention this? I mention all of this because one of my hopes and prayers is that we will work together well with those God places in our path to further His mission in the city of Orlando. There are many methods people use to evangelize and serve this city, and it is my prayer that God will unify us, and not allow us to divide and fight over lesser issues. Current Projects In less than two weeks, I will begin sitting down with people and sharing the vision God has placed on my heart. This will begin the support raising process. Joy and I are currently looking at places to live in Orlando. The process can be stressful and time consuming, so we are seeking God's grace with us, and patience for each other. Joy is seeking a teaching job in Orlando. Ongoing Prayer List That our personal, ongoing relationships with Christ will be strong and vibrant. That God will bring us into contact and relationship with the people who will be at the heart and core of the new church plant. That God will grant us the wisdom and discernment to correctly make both the big and little decisions. That God will partner us with passionate people who will support us financially. That we will meet the people God has in store for us, and that we will be faithful to love and share the gospel with them. That Impact Church will be a praying church. That Impact Church will be marked by conviction and repentance. That Impact Church will love scripture and proclaim the gospel of Christ. That Impact Church will love the people of Orlando with broken hearts and reckless abandon. In Closing If you are receiving this email it is because someone close to you has asked me to put you on this mailing list. It is our hope that over time we will have hundreds of people from all across the country on this list praying for Impact Church and what God is doing in the city of Orlando. If you know anyone who would be interested in being on this prayer list, I would invite you to forward them our email and ask them to join our mailing list by pressing the button below. Or, with their permission, you can email me their contact information and I will personally add it to our list. Thank you so much for joining us, and being a special part of Impact Church Orlando.

Jason Rudolph Impact Church Orlando

Some Reflections on Passion Week

As I have been reading, meditating and praying through the events of Passion Week, I have had some strong convictions hit me that I wish to share. The three main things I'll hit in this post are humility, passion, and brokenness.

The events of Matthew 21 are often times referred to as "The Triumphal Entry". I've read some, and understand the symbolic nature of Jesus' entry as compared to that of a Roman conqueror's Triumph, but the humility expressed by Jesus is something that struck me this time. Today's American Christian culture, much like the Jews who lined the streets for Jesus, seem to want some kind of great Christ Conqueror to stroll in and make everything right (or is it Right?). However, what we see from Jesus is a picture of humility as the cross rapidly approaches. As we proclaim and live out the Gospel, are we doing so with humility, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives, or are we moving forward with some strong-armed political agenda to promote our own good?

The second view of Christ that stuck with me is the cleansing of the Temple in Mark 11. the passion and righteous anger that Jesus shows when the House of the Lord is being abused is something that resonates deeply with me. Oh, to have the passion of Christ when dealing with the purity of His bride. Are we willing to stand firm in the truth and supremacy of scripture, or will we role over like so many before us, and allow the trappings of this world and the wolves amongst us to lead people astray? I pray that God will give me courage and strength to stand up for His glory, and not allow our religious additions to get in the way of the cross.

The last picture of Christ that really hit me while I was reading is in Luke 19, where Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem. As someone who is on the road to planting a church, this particular verse is very timely. Can I weep over the lost in Orlando, or is my heart hardened to the fact that so many are dying and hurting? It is a continuing prayer of mine that God will give me His heart for Orlando, and that my heart will be broken for the lost as His is.

Quotes from Chapters 1& 2 of Leonard Ravenhill's "Why Revival Tarries"

Chapter 1 - With All They Getting, Get Unction

"The ugly fact is that altar fires are either out or burning very low. the prayer meeting is dead or dying. By our attitude to prayer we tell God that what was begun in the Spirit we can finish in the flesh. What church ever asks its candidating ministers what time they spend in prayer? Yet ministers who do not spend two hours a day in prayer are not worth a dime a dozen, degrees or no degrees." - pg. 21

"But who now 'earnestly contends for the faith once delivered to the saints'? Where are our unctionized pulpit crusaders? Preachers who should be fishing for men are now too often fishing for compliments from men. Preachers used to sow seed; now they string intellectual pearls." - pg. 22

Chapter 2 - Prayer Grasps Eternity

"No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not prayer is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shopwindow to display one's talents, the prayer closet allows no showing off." - pg. 25

"Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere." - pg. 25

"The ministry of preaching is open to few; the ministry of prayer - the holiest ministry of all human offices - is open to all." - pg. 25

"This world hits the trail for hell with a speed that makes our fastest plane look like a tortoise; yet alas, few of us can remember the last time we missed our bed for a night of waiting upon God for a world-shaking revival. Our compassions are not moved. We mistake the scaffolding for the building. Present-day preaching, with its pale interpretation of divine truths, causes us to mistake action for unction, commotion for creation, and rattles for revivals." - pg. 26

"The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning. We are beggared and bankrupt, but not broken, nor even bent." - pg. 26

"Can any deny that in the modern church setup the main cause of anxiety is money? Yet that which tries the modern churches the most, troubled the New Testament Church the least. Our accent is on paying, theirs was on praying. when we have paid, the place is taken; when they had prayed, the place was shaken!" - pg. 26

"In the matter of New Testament, Spirit-inspired, hell-shaking, world-breaking prayer, never has so much been left by so many to so few. For this kind of prayer there is no substitute. We do it - or die!" - pg. 26