National
Pastors' Prayer
Network
INNER ~ VIEWS #010 ED SILVOSO
--->NPPNote:
The following interview took place on a Mission America
Cities & Communities Conference Call, June 19, 2003. Consider distributing it to
a Pastor who leads or might be interested in beginning a Pastors’ Prayer Group.
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The National City Impact Roundtable
October 5-8, 2003 € New York City
http://www.nationalleadershipforum.com
*CIR Sessions
*21 Interactive Learning Tracks
*Town Hall Meeting
*3 Powerful Plenary Sessions
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Phil Miglioratti, National Facilitator for City/Community
Ministries, hosted this monthly conference call and welcomed callers. He noted
that Jarvis Ward is on a mission trip in Africa, Glenn Barth on a golf trip with
friends from his church. Sherrie Marie Chapman from Olympia, WA was asked to
open the call with prayer.
Phil made a few announcements:
q www.cityreaching.com
has been totally redone. Please check to see that your city reaching links are
correct.
q Our guest on next month’s call on July 17 will be Erwin McManus, author of The
Unstoppable Force.
q Honor Our Heroes is an opportunity to share the gospel in creative ways.
Go to
www.honorourheroes.com
q The next regional City Impact Roundtable (CIR) will be July 17 in Cedar
Rapids, IA. Previous regional CIRs have produced exciting energy as leaders
near those cities have gathered.
q One result intended from regional is to encourage cities to bring teams to
the National Leadership Foundation (NLF) in New York City October 5-8. Go to
www.missionamerica.org or
www.nationalleadershipforum.com. It will be well worth your time
to take that in.
Phil introduced guest Ed Silvoso, who is in Barbados with a good group of
pastors with a passion to see Barbados change. Most of your know Ed, President
and Founder of Harvest Evangelism. He has been rightly called a “mission
strategist”. He is involved in evangelism, transformation, city reaching and
gender reconciliation. Three of the books he has authored are That None
Should Perish, Prayer Evangelism, and Anointed for Business.
Ed: It is not intentional, but there has been a progression.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s, we didn’t have a model for transformation.
It was trial and error in our part. We saw in Argentina, re: That None
Should Perish, that rather than try to find the few that God may
want saved, we should go to reach everybody and let God decide. We must love
the lost as they are. The central thing is to pray for the lost, that their
felt need will be met by the Lord. When that happens, their eyes will be opened
and they will want to know more about Jesus. It began with about 5000 believers
praying for 400,000 people. It doubled to 11,000, then 27,000, and now upwards
of 60,000 in the church. Now we are getting people changed. Can we change the
climate? We believe we can change spiritual climate inside buildings, in
stadiums, even TV studios, but it needs to go beyond. In Prayer Evangelism,
we see in the whole gospel of Luke, a change occurring between chapter 9, where
was discouragement and opposition, to encouragement in 10. The climate changed,
demon activity ceased. When the name of Jesus is lifted up all over the city,
it changes the climate.
Phil asked Ed to enlarge on the word climate. How would we see or sense
that? Ed: From the perspective of many believers, everything is terrible
and getting worse. In the new paradigm, we realize that Jesus will attract many
to himself. We have found that when the pastors come together, bring
congregations together, and we have a 3 day radio broadcast with pastors
participating, time and again, I am impressed with the number of unbelievers who
come to the Prayer Fair for prayer, and then come to the Lord. Mayors, police,
those in authority - when we come asking forgiveness and ask how we can help and
pray for them, they become our friends.
Anointed for Business. What produced my desire for this book was
seeing that although the pastors are mobilizing the people, praying for others,
people are coming to Christ; but even in cities where 47-51% are believers, the
nation hasn’t changed. In Bogotá, upwards of 300,000 in the city have been
changed. I reread the Bible with new glasses, the glasses of the marketplace.
Business, education and art are three arteries that go to the heart of the
city. To change a person you have to change the heart, and the city also. You
have to liberate the preacher in the marketplace. In Luke 9-10, Jesus doesn’t
say he came to seek the lost, He said He came to seek “that which was lost.”
In Eden, relationships were lost. The market was lost. The ground was
cursed. When Jesus died on the cross, he died for “that which was lost.”
Everybody rejoiced when the beggar got healed, but not when a businessman got
saved. That book has allowed pastors to commission a so-called laity to
pastor in the marketplace, not just go on a fishing expedition to bring them to
the church. We still need to bring people to the church, but we need to go to
work and minister there. People are pastoring corporations now. Look on the
lost with compassion. Minister to them. In prayer evangelism, release people
to minister in their marketplace.
Phil: In the last 10 years we have seen significant city reaching prototypes
in a number of cities. What are some of the prototypes you are seeing in
Anointed for Business? In _________ (an Argentine city), a majority of
pastors came together and made a covenant to pastor the city. As a part of
that, they invited us to come alongside and train congregations. At the end of
training, pastors commissioned the people to be pastors to corporations,
businesses, schools, etc. They saw upwards of a 300% increase in churches
because pastors now see themselves as pastors of the city, not just
congregations. Every unbeliever has a shepherd whether they want one or not.
Unbelievers are hearing the gospel over and over. There is such a presence of
God that at Easter the pastor served communion in the main plaza.
Another example would be gentlemen who headed a chain of hotels. There were
1600 rooms in the hotel chain; each room was used an average of 5 times a day.
(Prostitution) In the new paradigm, he said, “I am the pastor of this
business.” He hired 40 pastors, paid their salaries to implement Luke 10. They
inaugurated fellowship, praying for others, taking care of needs, then
preaching. He reversed the order we are used to. After 27 months, all 2000
employees have heard the message. They were able to upgrade them hotel chain to
executive level. They have a chapel in each hotel, and have seen over 10,000
decisions for Christ.
Phil: You are giving us Biblical teaching, the concepts should be
transferable. Are you seeing any of this in this country? Ed had 2
observations. Houses of prayer are the mainstay of prayer evangelism. They are
easy to launch but they die quickly. We have developed something that I’ll be
glad to mail to people.* It’s a Power Point called “My City – God’s City.”
Pastors mobilize 7 groups: youth, intercessors A and B, business, education,
government and worship. Pastors have to come together not just for fellowship
but also to pray together for the city. Read the newspaper. If the police are
having trouble, call them. If a business is going belly-up, call them and
encourage them.
The second thing: Jesus came to see and save everything that was lost, not just
the souls of men. When pastors understand that, they become more pro-active. In
MN there is a community called Elk River. There is a bank there, established on
the principles of prayer evangelism. Not only has every employee received the
Lord, but many relatives. They have trained their cashiers to pray with
customers. The bank is doing very well. They made a corporate decision that
when a customer couldn’t pay a bill, they would send an intercessor instead of a
collector. They are saying “We want to make a deposit in you.” I have other
stories like this one, but time does not permit.
Harold Hendrick, St. Louis: Did you connect with an
Oklahoma City businessman who is head of Fellowship of Christian Companies
International? His name is Humphreys, a brother of the Oklahoma City mayor.
He is having a national impact. I think the website is
http://www.christianity.com/fcci. Ed had not heard of him, but
Harold will arrange the contact. Ed noted that Paul was sent out as a
missionary in Acts 13, but didn’t see a region transformed until Acts 19 when
all of Asia hard the word of the Lord. Paul had been preaching weekly, planting
churches, but in Acts 19 saw results. The trigger was in Acts 18 when he met
Aquila and Priscilla, marketplace ministry. Paul went into business with them
and they came into ministry with Paul. They moved to a town and found
themselves doing business every day and having church every day. Many were saved
in the marketplace. Paul liked it so much that he spent a year in Corinth, then
took his business partner and moved into the marketplace in Ephesus, seeing
transformation there. If only we would minister like Aquila and Priscilla. I
tell pastors to change their routine. Become a circuit rider during the week.
Visit your people in their workplace. Encourage them. Then things like this
man in Oklahoma has done will happen.
Jan Kennedy, northeast metro Atlanta. We are looking for God to work
mightily in the marketplace. Oct. Month of Unity – community service projects,
reconciliation networks, working with County Commission Chairman. Several
mayors and police chiefs have been contacted. We are in infant stages, but
expecting God to make changes. Ed: the deeper you go into the marketplace,
the better the gospel works. Most (38 of 39) of the miracles we see in the
Biblical accounts occurred in the marketplace.
Charles Daugherty, Cedar Rapids: 2 questions. Would you repeat the answer
about why Lighthouses die. There is a tendency – some people almost feel that
when we are calling the marketplace into reality, we are trying to make the
pastor irrelevant. Some feel we can’t have pastors involved so marketplace
people can do their thing. Ed: the second question first. I never do a
seminar without going to the pastors, explaining the principles, and then have
them invite me to a seminar. At the end, I encourage the pulpit ministers to
commission the marketplace people. It was Paul, Aquila and Priscilla working
with others. The message has been around a long time, but now we have an
opportunity to integrate it better into the marketplace. Why do lighthouses
have a high mortality rate? In part, I believe, it is because, in California,
for example, our neighborhood is not our community as much as our job, our
employment. When people come home from work, they aren’t looking forward to
spending time with neighbors. Community is not so much the neighborhood as the
people I live with, work with. When we adjust the focus, we continue to pray
for our neighborhood, but it’s easier for the lighthouse of prayer to become a
lifestyle if it focuses on our work place or our school, where we spend our day.
In Latin America the neighborhood is the community. Phil remarked that we
might spend an hour with neighbors, but ten with fellow workers. Ed: I pray
that my job be a place of blessing. It gives greater meaning to my job, i.e.
how I answer the phone, interact with others,
Phil: maybe the first step is to pray blessings on the people I work with, the
company, etc.
Ed: Luke 19:8 speaks of restoring us in relationship to God and in
relationship to each other, recovering the marketplace. Take the kingdom of God
to the market, not just to witness but to bring godliness. Item. 2 We are told
to pray for everyone, especially those in authority, so we will live a quiet and
tranquil life. I would say to every pastor listening in today: Let the Lord
speak to you from that passage. This is a commission to every person in the
pew. Know that as you go to the workplace, you are taking the kingdom of God,
and the gates of hell will not prevail. Encourage them to speak peace to the
people they work with, and as the Lord opens the door, fellowship with them,
establish trust, so they will share where they hurt. Leave it up to God to
answer that prayer; you have cared enough to pray for them. Congregations grow
when people are trained to pray and share.
Cindy Stadum, Fargo ND. I’m interested in gender reconciliation. Ed: Women,
That Secret Weapon. I address the issue by bringing up Gen. 3:15. The
Lord was upset with the enemy. He said, “I will put enmity between you and the
woman.” Then God announced a rematch. God wants to restore women to that
place of honor and dignity that Eve had before sin. That calls for gender
reconciliation. He calls for us men to reach out to our wives, asking
forgiveness. About 2/3 of the missionary force was women, 50% of the couples
plus the singles. We definitely need to readdress that. Women, That
Secret Weapon is published by Regal Books.
Becky Ray, Fresno: I want to share with those listening in how God has raised
up a group of civic leaders, pastors, lay people in Fresno, bringing them
together once a month in a “no name fellowship.” This is how we hear
testimonies of how God is working in the marketplace; reconciliations are taking
place, sharing resources in our city. I agree with so much of what has been
said today. We just had one of the largest churches in town come on board,
reaching out, probably 24 lighthouse churches, 1200 lighthouses, reaching out
more in the marketplace. Phil encouraged callers to email reports like this
to him: Phil@nppn.org.
Rodney McAuley, Spokane, Ed, please elaborate on the Power Point you
mentioned earlier.
Overview: I prepared it when invited to speak at the Billy Graham Training
Center. Basically I showed the paradigm shift. We need to understand that
Jesus came to save not just the rich but the poor. In Luke 19:11, they were
expecting the kingdom to appear in one city, not many cities. We trace the
pilgrimage of Paul from Acts 13-19. He found the right formula in chapter 18,
perfected it in 19. It also shows that Paul suffered 2 major setbacks: one in
chapter 13 in Antioch, another in Thessalonica, where he was thrown out of town.
In 18 and 19, the city authorities sanctioned Paul’s actions. The reason why?
On the first, Paul was on a religious mission, but the second time he was a
godly man in the marketplace leading people to the Lord. I am encouraging more
and more pastors to release their people to ministry. They then make more
money, and the church has more money. The Power Point goes along with
Anointed for Business, and has a study guide. Phil suggested checking
the contact information near the end of the book.
Ron Thaxton, Charleston: How is your health, how are your eyes? Ed: I
am facing 7 different factors, each one not a big issue, but together, affecting
my vision. Surgery is scheduled for first week in August, and a subsequent one.
I will appreciate your prayer. Phil asked Ron to lead in prayer for Ed’s
health, and also for Bill Bright, who had intended to be on the call, health
permitting.
There are 4 lethal mis-beliefs to releasing marketplace ministry.
1. God ordained division between clergy and laity
2. The church is called to operate primarily within a building
3. People involved in business cannot be as spiritual
4. The primary purpose of business people is to make money to support the
ministry
There are offices in the church, but the words clergy and laity are not found in
scripture. The belief that the church must operate within a building is most
dangerous. The church was not born in the upper room. Like a baby is conceived
within a body, it has to come out, and the early church immediately gathered in
the open air and 3000 people were saved. The church is in the city. Believers
are all over the city. The trouble is seeing the church only as gathered on
Sunday morning. When we operate all over the city, things will change.
Phil announced that Charles Daugherty is leading plans for the next City Impact
Roundtable to be held July 17th from 8:30 to 4:30. Phil is facilitating that
round table. Pastor Daugherty was asked to close in prayer.
Phil encouraged people to go to
www.cityreaching.com
Check to see if the link to your cityreaching website is working. Do whatever
you can; perhaps marketplace ministers can create scholarships to help teams
come to New York City in October.
* To receive Ed Silvoso’s Power Point, email
CityCommunityMin@McLeodusa.net
with your request.
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