I know many links on the site still point to my pre 2005 trip status. Look for a new makeover soon that will highlight our transition from starting stages to the announcement of our first conference in July 2006 in Kanchipuram.

Stay tuned

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This last month since the last post has been filled with recovery and reflection.. then Goal setting.

Due to the wonderful fruit from our last visit, I have felt compelled to look very seriously at the goals we are setting for the future of CGI.
I have put together a 3 year goal to have a string presence in Kanchipuram with an annual pastoral training conference, and 20+ churches networked into regular ministry in India with our help. More details available soon.

Right now I am preparing to give a report at church, and am hoping that this post will help me with the outline!
My points are going to be:
- my continuing level of amazement about what God has done so far
- The growing relationships in India
- My gratitude for our partnership in the church that made this possible
- The visit to Pastor Solomons church
- The overview of the 3 nights
– miracles
– Theme of messages
– Precedent of liberty
- The aftermath
- Our plans for next year, and ultimate goal.

WOW

It was for Aug 12, 13 and 14 that we made an appointment to visit this ancient town.. not as tourists, but with an event we produced to address any and all that would come. My ministry partner in India, Joshua Victor, and I hooked up with 5 key pastors in order to organize the event with only 40 days notice. Getting these devoted leaders together to form an action plan was the first miracle. God really moved among us to see the business of the kingdom above and beyond all else and volunteers from 100+ churches were mobilized to make everything happen. The Life Gate Revival Festival was arranged.

Prior to this, the largest Christian gathering in memory in this ancient temple town of kings was 750. But this year a new era began, because the area has undergone a shakeup. The hindu priest who ruled here with subtle intimidation has fallen from a position of prominence to one of reclusion, turning the attention of the whole nation towards Kanchipuram. With all that had gone on, everyone involved in the event had such a keen focus on declaring via this festival that Jesus is the King over all kings and kingdoms, and that a new time of Christian liberty has arrived.

So we started the first night and I felt great anticipation regarding all that the Lord would want to do and say through me. The atomosphere of faith all around me was unmatched in anything I had experienced in my 10 years of public ministry. The worship was declarative of the authority and wonder and mercy of God — a perfect match for what was in my heart to preach. The Lord prompted me to focus on the message of purity.. for the individual, for the church, then the final night, for the city itself. Although many wanted me to focus on healing miracles, I had an affimation in my heart that a prophetical focus was my calling and gift. The messages spoke to individuals as well as to the spiritual climate and history of the place of renown. One key element was that the church would rise out of obscurity to a place where her spiriual authority would bring great peace and blessing upon the land. The faith of all present was elevated and the reports I hear 30 days later is that faith, love and hope remain elevated among the churches.

At the end of each service, I laid hands on hundreds of people. It almost turned to chaos as people were literally grabbing for my arm so that I would touch them longer. Although this offended my sensibilities regarding proper order, I managed to put off my religious mindset and appreciate the deep faith that was in operation here. Reports came back of many healings on following days, with one particular testimony of a man healed of jaundice and nervous sytem problems! We prayed for deliverance and salvation each night and later we found out that over 1800 decision cards were collected, with 500 of them being reports of genuine first time confessoin of Jesus as Lord! The other 1300 were testimonies and prayer requests that I understand are being diligently followed up upon among the 200 participating local churches.

On the final night we especially experienced great joy. The crowd was estimated to be 5000, and people everywhere were ready for God to visit them. The backdrop of this city’s concerns is that there had not been decent rain in the area for over 3 years. Farms were losing crops and the waer supply was drying up. As I was preaching, I kept hearing the Lord tell me that He would cause it to reign as the church raised it’s voice of mercy and authority in the land. Well, guess what? From August 20th through early September, Kanchipuram has had unusually high rainfall, and the churches are all celebrating the wonders of God, and teling their neighbors about this great miracle.

In light of this great open door the Lord has given us, we are now making plans to return to Kanchipuram next year and have a pastoral training conference in conjunction with evening crusade services. The team is being formed now, so please hook up with us to discuss how you can be a part of it!

I woke up this morning remembering the ministry time in India as if it was a distant memory, then I realized it all happened just one month ago! Yes it has been a busy and wonderful time since Kanchipuram, but nothing compares to being in that place where God is using me to reach a city that has been in darkness for centuries. And nothing compares to the joy of forging new partnerships for the kingdom of God. I read through my testimony posts from Kanchipuram, and realized there is no one single summarized post since the event from me. All my stuff was in real time.

So I’ll make another post right now, but let me summarize out loud all the things I have done/seen in the last 30 days, while i am still in awe of the blur and life acceleration I am experiencing!
— saw Paris, London, Marseilles, Monaco, Italy and Euro Disney in last 2 weeks of August.
— came back to an altered and reorganized main client, who has tons of new work for me, and hs energized me to see a new vision of quality realized at Ads For Free Inc.
— became engrossed by the terrible news of Katrina daily upon our retun on 8/31
— had all day meeting with Common Ground leaders, and we forged new alliance to reach community for Christ!
— Had two day meeting to plan new search engine strategies at AFF
— Got inspired about the possibility of katrinareliefmap.com concept.. have been looking for partners in tiny spare time.
— had amazing 3 day time of God strategy, reflection and networking in Florida at Bob Harrisons event! (notes below)
— then this week.. wow.. first ‘normal’ (at office daily) week since July. It went by in a super blur! Today is friday.. seems like yesterday was Sunday. I guess alot got done.. new jobs, payments received, plans made, etc.
— met Common Ground again to look at redoing their site as a volunteer! Bring it on.

Then after all this, last night heard that a great friend of ours died. ;-(
She was our interim pastors’ wife, Lisa Schmidt. My main memory of her is still the first time she came to our house 20 years ago. She was a kid in the youth group and we were brand new parents. Upon entering the front door, she shared her first impression that our house was a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. She was so sensitive to the Lordship of Christ in every situation.. from our first meeting to many many times in ministry together when we all were pioneering churches in adjacent towns. We’ll miss you Lisa!

Katrina coordination app at http://katrinareliefmap.com is getting good personal play as I am speaking to people individually at the Increase Conference.

Please check it out and comment to me if you can volunteer efforts that I know will streamline relief, save money and empower people and organizations to work more closely together in this critical time!

Next seminar at Harrison’s increase event….
—-
Brian Klemmer speaks!
Brian Klemmer has made a great impact on my life and perspectives. I attended his weekend seminar last December.

NOTES

How do you produce a result when you have no idea what to do?
Pr 23:7, Rom 12:2, Ja 2:17, Heb 11:6

The Formula of Champions
Intention + Mechanism = Result

What is Intention?
Intention is your deepest commitment

The formula is a mathematical axiom, so therefore:
Results - Mechanism = Intention…. or:
Our true intentions are revealed in our results (minus mechanism)
—- Incidently, mechanism is the smallest portion of the formula (TIMTOWTDI)

You cannot tell a persons intentions by what others say they want
You cannot tell a persons intentions by EVEN WHAT THEY SAY they want

The only way to discern a true intention is to observe the results!

To get results, we have to recognize conflicting intentions and deal with them. How we do this is:
1) Put yourself at risk
— that means you decide to step out of comfort, and commit to a negative consequence if you dont achieve result
2) Make promises to others regarding the achievement of result.

I am attending a great conference here in Florida…

My new friend, Aaron Lewis, who we had dinner with last night is speaking, and doing a great job.

Here are my notes….
—————————-

We have to be intentional about our calling and destiny

THere is something that must be conveyed… written, digested

Passion and destiny is connected

Pastors often make the mistake of trying to urn everyone into preachers
— when most of them are called to the marketplace

If the church is broke, then we have a limited provision that undercuts our expansive vision

Destiny is the course of events throughout life that has been predetermined by God and that once manifested will produce good fortune and fruit in our lives and in the lives of others

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RICH AND POOR
The rich make choices all the time, but the poor have others making choices for them
– If we take away the burden of choosing on behalf of the poor, then we open the door to liberate them

Destiny by chance, but by choices!

Maximizing your destiny will cause you to tap into the hidden creativity within yourself wherein lies the answer!
– this is not a newage internalization… this is a confidence in the indwelling Christ … Christ in you, the hope of glory!

Now that we see the answer is within, we have to make it come out.
How does it come out?
Pressure…
Pressure…
Pressure…

The challenges we undertake under the inspiration of God, bring us to a place where the pressure brings out the gold of Christ that turns the situation from dark to light.

It is your destiny to be royalty!

We are to rule and reign with Christ!

Your destiny is in your mouth.!
Speak the word of God into every situation.

———————–
Aaron is a ghostwriter… a guy who I am praying about bringing to India on the next trip.
God can make it happen!!

We now have the relief map for Katrina built to the point of presentation.
http://katrinareliefmap.com

It is a reworked copy of our original project created for Tsunami Relief.

Now, here is the deal…
We need partners. Contributors and/or corporate sponsors and a group of volunteers so we can see through the power of this concept. CGI Productions will be doing a great deal, but what it will take to make this work is many hours of data management, coding upgrades, reaserch, relief organization relations and public relations.

Please contact me at 360-859-1172 to discuss the ways you can help us make this project a reality. The post Katrina needs of the gulf coast are going to be present through the full cycle of the 4 R’s:

1. Rescue
2. Relief
3. Recovery
4. Rebuilding

This post is the public version of the question going around through my head since I returned form Europe on Thursday.

I have seen layers and layers of anecdotal reports in blogs and in the media about the relief efforts, and I have seen lists of charity links offered up everywhere.

What is needed is a comprehensive map that identifies needs and projects to meet them on a state > county > city > neighborhood breakdown level.
All relief organizations can use the site to identiy needs and avoid overlaps.

Bloggers can post within areas, and get their comments noticed in a framework that other readers (area residents, etc) can read them.

The good news is that I already developed the software for this when I went to India last january for the Tsunami!

Please, everyone who sees this on technorati, etc. please check out my previous development at the Tsunami Relief Map, and give me your candid opinion regarding whether it would be worth the effort to rework it for Katrina! I have been looking to see if this is already being done by someone else. If so, please send links.

Here is more info on the idea:
1) I can set up the site, but I will need channels for revenue to develop and maintain it in an attractive manner. Sponsorships? Advertising?
2) The previous site was about 85% complete, so those issues will need to be worked out
3) The previous site never got off the ground because I put all i could into it, and could not get any sponsors to carry us the rest of the way
—- plus, it was late Jan by the time it was ready, and South India was already set in the track they were in
—- AND.. of course India still does not have the blogging/web using community like you see in the US
4) For Katrina, i plan to make the comments portion more blog and rss friendly, which will help bloggers see and use the value of it.
— posts from others can be double posted between us and original blog through tools to be developed.
5) Relief organizations, contrary to common belief really do work in competition with each other.. the vision for the relief map is to create grassroots accountability and build cooperation for all people working to make a difference.

Now that we have the kanchipuram 05 festival behind us, confirmed by Josh’s great report regarding the fruitfulness of the event from the pastors, I enter into September with great wonder. September has always represented a month of change, major decisions and goal setting for me. I can’t think of many past Septembers that have had a more profound fork in the trail.

The vision of the bridge is beginning to be fullfilled. Although ministry and business seem to be working in harmony, the biggest question is how will I take ministry activity up a notch in response to the new level of demand and opportunity, when business needs and opportunities continue to grow as well? The big answers I know will come from God, and in addition to calling upon Jesus my master for direction, I trust that friends, pastors and prophets will pray for CGI’s direction as well as speak words of life and increase as I continue to believe for God’s increasing authority.

For the gospel to take root to a new degree in my beloved India has not come without a cost.. to my family as well as those who have supported me, but the losses are nothing compared to the great riches we have in Christ.. Gold that will never be corrupted… I say all this here becuase it just flows.. it is just the reality.. the dramas and stretchings of serving God are really not that big of a sacrifice when you see God doing more and more and more.. beyond what I could ask for or imagine. I have already come through the trials. The journey to become like Christ and speak life like he has is a story in full swing in my life. The bridge that is being built is not just material, but relational in that others will continue to see an increasing authority and influence in the land as we connect relationships around the globe under the kingdom of God!