National  Pastors'  Prayer  Network
RESOURCES
For Pastors, Prayer Leaders, City Reachers
07/09/2005



IN THIS UPDATE

LEADERS THAT LAST: HOW COVENANT FRIENDSHIPS CAN HELP PASTORS THRIVE
SHARE YOUR SERMONS ON PRAYER
HAVE YOU BEEN BLOGGING TODAY?
BLOGGING, PART TWO
NEW RESOURCE FROM MISSION HOUSTON
THE TELEGRAPH AND THE CHURCH
TEN WAYS TO SPOT FAKE EMESSAGES
A VIRTUAL COURSE ON PRAYER
HOLIDAY OUTREACH IDEAS – ALREADY?
FREE CD OF BIBLE STUDIES & TOOLS
 

LEADERS THAT LAST: HOW COVENANT FRIENDSHIPS CAN HELP PASTORS THRIVE
 >From: "City Reaching" <info@cityreaching.com>

Cityreaching Leaders that Last: Call 7-21

Alfred Ells and Dan Davis will be our guests on July 21 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time for our next Cityreacher Conference Call. The topic will be "Cityreaching: Covenant Friendships among Pastors." Alfred Ells is the co-author of the book, Leaders that Last: How Covenant Friendships can help Pastors Thrive. Ells along with co-author, Gary Kinnaman, have come to understand how important pastors' relationships are to one another and to the health of the church in any community. This book puts forward the "Pastors in Covenant" model that is currently in use among pastors in Phoenix, Austin and elsewhere. Dan Davis is a marketplace leader who has applied his organizational skills to gather approximately 150 pastors in covenant groups in Austin, TX. He will bring stories from his experience in applying the principles from Kinnaman and Ells book, Leaders that Last.
 
We hope you can join us. RSVP to info@cityreaching.com to get the call in number for this call.
 
In Christ, Rev. Glenn Barth
National Facilitator For City/Community Ministries
Mission America Coalition
www.CityReaching.com
www.MissionAmerica.org

 
SHARE YOUR SERMONS ON PRAYER

We want to launch a new section of PrayingPastor.com--"sermon outlines." If you would like to share your sermons on prayer with other pastors, please send us your outlines or more complete texts if you write everything out. We are looking for sermon outlines that present biblical truth on the:
 
Our purpose is to share our work and the wisdom the Holy Spirit has granted us individually in a way that can inspire andequip other pastors. We hope to post the most helpful at http://www.prayingpastor.com

Email us:
 
Include your name, address, phone number, title and the name of your congregation.

Send to: phil@prayingpastor.com
 
HAVE YOU BEEN BLOGGING TODAY?

    --->NPPNote: Check out the beginnings of the NPPNow Blog:  
            http://nppnblog.blogspot.com/

To Blog or Not to Blog . . . that is the question . . .

There the pastors stood . . . looking like deer in the highlights of a car.  "What did you just say?  'You know blogging', I said.  What's blogging? was their response."   Now that response is very typical and I find myself explaining or picturing new understanding for them as to what blogging is all about.  Another pastor I had lunch with recently, thought that "blogging is a place where you write articles and everyone else takes pots shots at what you just wrote.  I'm not into that.  I don't have time for it," he said.   I understand. But blogging is bigger, broader and better than anything you may have thought about before in communicating the gospel and networking and informing the Body to Christ to greater possibilities of ministry and effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.

Let me briefly expand your thinking and take you into a new world of ministry that may expand your influence like never before.  First of all, let me quote what the experts say blogs are.  According to Wikipedia: "A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order). Although most early weblogs were manually updated, tools to automate the maintenance of such sites made them accessible to a much larger population, and the use of some sort of browser <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser> -based software is now a typical aspect of "blogging""      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblogs. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblogs>   There is much more clarification at the website that I think you will find very useful and informative.

"Blogs range in scope from individual diaries to arms of political campaigns <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_campaign> , media <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media>  programs, and corporations <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation> . They range in scale from the writings of one occasional author, to the collaboration of a large community <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community>  of writers. Many weblogs enable visitors to leave public comments, which can lead to a community of readers centered around the blog; others are non-interactive."  The choice is yours in how you set up the blog.  But for a pastor and his congregation or pastoral and intercessor communication in a city, the possibilities of usefulness is only limited by your imagination.  

Mission America Coalition <http://www.missionamerica.org/Brix?pageID=12737>  and the City Reaching <http://www.cityreaching.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=FaithHighway/10000/3000/216CI/home>   team believes that a City Reaching blogging network, state to state and city to city, will truly accelerate the MAC vision, or more importantly your God-given vision , of the whole Church in your city, taking the whole gospel to your city, state, nation and the world.

That vision is not smoke in the sky, that's the reality of God providentially providing technology for this Church to use to reach your whole city and the world beyond.  Now if that doesn't stoke your coals, your wood is wet!

Let's do this;  open up your Internet Explorer to a new page.  Now at the top at the Address URL line type only the words  cityreaching.com and see what happens.  Now you're at the Mission America Coalition - CityReaching.com website.  Notice to the right the underlined words Cityreaching BLOG!   Please click it on.  Now you're at the City Reaching Blog of MA that Neil Cox from IndyChristian.com <http://indychristian.com>  has put together as an official model for the use of the cityreaching movement of Mission America Coalition.  It's MA's goal to give to every state it's own MAC-CityReaching Blog.  We want to see someone whom God is calling to be a State CityReaching Blog Administrator serving their entire state.  Already Neil Cox has created several cityreaching state blogs.  In the Address URL line again write:  ohiochirstian.com, then Illinoischristian.com, and http://wisconsinchristians.net/. Joe Walsh created the one at californiachristians.net.  Evidently, hopefully by next October, we hope to see every state having it's own Cityreaching Blog and volunteer administrator.

The focus of the MAC Cityreaching blogsites is to network, coordinate, communicate and inform the Body of Christ within the state with news, events and information for effective and informed intercession.  Each blog has interactive possibilities depending upon how the blog is set-up.   And then our goal is to link them together with other states with RSS feeds <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28protocol>  and Aggregate Feeds <http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/AggregateFeeds> across the entire country.  This canopy of deliberate relationship, timely information and informed, sustained intercession has the possibility, by God's grace, of transformation written all over it!  We must also remember this is God's working, movement, coalition, network, etc., from start to finish.  It must have the power and imprint of the Lord's Spirit upon it . . . or it's dead!   A blog network devoid of the Spirit of God working through it is just a dusty network.  But a network filled and controlled by His Holy Spirit is a visible demonstration of an alive Body of Christ walking in the Spirit of love and unity in Christ.

There may be many more questions you have. so feel free to ask them. MAC/Cityreaching is determined to be obedient to God with the resources He puts in our hands for the furtherance of His Kingdom through His Church in every city and state of our land.  Thank you for letting us serve you and partner with you to see His Kingdom come!

~ Joe Walsh, Sacramento, CA
Neil Cox, Indianapolis, IN
 
BLOGGING, PART TWO
>From: "Metro Apostle" <MetroApostle@verizon.net>

City Action Coalition Announces the Launch of the City Action Blog Spot!
In past years, to get a message out to millions, one either had to have a lot of money for a major newspaper or television advertisement, or be a major news anchor. This is no longer the case!
 
The next wave of information dissemination has now arrived—it’s called blogging (short for ‘weblog’).
 
To illustrate the power of blogging, just note that it was this vehicle of communication that brought down several at CBS News including the premature retirement of Dan Rather. Blog posts were utilized to expose the lies perpetuated by Rather about fraudulent documents concerning President Bush's National Guard record. To read more about this new phenomenon read the books “Blog” by Hugh Hewitt, and “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Joe Trippi.
 
The City Action Blog Spot will feature daily commentary on:
* Current events
* Biblical worldview issues
* Commentary on news by Christian church and marketplace leaders
* City Action Coalition's upcoming events
 
Be mobilized to be a part of CAC’s ever-growing army of Christians and concerned citizens who are doing something about relative cultural issues instead of just talking and complaining about them.  Be connected to other valuable sites and resources to arm you with the knowledge you need to shape public opinion and make a positive contribution to society.  Read insightful commentary not found in any other news source. Let your opinion be known to thousands by posting comments to articles.
 
To begin, log on to  www.cityaction.blogspot.com <http://www.cityaction.blogspot.com>      

Kind Regards, Joseph Mattera, Founder, City Action Coalition
In His Service, Apostle Frank Duprée
Metro Ministry Network <http://www.frankdupree.com/>
 
 NEW RESOURCE FROM MISSION HOUSTON
>From: Jim Herrington <jhmh@swbell.net>

In an ongoing effort to foster both unity in the body of Christ and strategic action that impacts the communities of our city, Mission Houston is offering a new free service to individuals in the body of Christ.  We believe it will be a helpful resources as together we seek to change Houston for good.

Beginning June 1, Mission Houston will publish a CD that is designed to:
 
1.  Encourage those who seek to see the city transformed;
2.  Inform about progress being made in various communities across the city;
3.  Teach city reaching principles that emerge from transformation stories around the world;
4.  Challenge believers to become involved in specific activities that foster transformation.
 

Pop this CD in your car on your way to work or as a part of your quiet time early in the day.  You'll hear stories of life change and community impact that are happening right here in the greater Houston area.  You'll hear biblically based teaching that provides a framework for understanding city reaching.  You learn about new initiatives that allow you to serve with others in the Body.
 
If you would like to be placed on the mailing list to receive a new CD approximately once every three months, please hit reply and provide your name and mailing address.  Please help us get this message out to others by forwarding this email to those in your circle of influence.
 
Thank you for your encouragement and support of the Mission Houston team as we serve believers and congregations in pursuit of the transformation of the city.
Blessings. Jim Herrington
 
THE TELEGRAPH AND THE CHURCH
>From: IFC List Owner <ifc-owner@lists.gospelcom.net>
>Posted by Andy Rau
June 23, 2005 -- Does the news you read on the Internet, watch on TV, and hear on the radio inspire you to action?  The nature of news reporting has changed drastically over the years, often in conjunction with ever-evolving broadcast technology.  A new article at The Ooze takes a fascinating look at the ways that the telegraph and changing ideas about the purpose of news broadcasts have radically affected the Church itself[1].  The article offers some interesting suggestions about how you and your church can communicate not only to give information, but to inspire the reader or listener to actively respond to it.
    Links in this story -- [1] http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=1167

 Internet for Christians content may be posted and distributed without charge for non-profit use. Non-profit organizations must give credit to the newsletter and to Gospelcom.net.  Commercial media may quote from it
with proper attribution to both the newsletter and Gospel Communications. (Copyright 2003 Gospel Communications International, Inc., (http://gci.gospelcom.net/).
    IFC features a wide variety of websites that we feel are interesting and noteworthy for Christians. That said, we encourage you to exercise discretion while browsing the sites we feature. IFC makes reasonable efforts to determine that the material we reference is interesting and reliable, but we neither operate nor control the sites in question, and thus dont assume responsibility for them. Please use discretion while browsing.
    To subscribe, simply visit the Web site and use our automatic subscription feature (http://ifc.gospelcom.net/subscribe/) or send a blank email to (ifc-subscribe@lists.gospelcom.net).
 
TEN WAYS TO SPOT FAKE EMESSAGES

10 ways to recognize fake (spoof) emails
   1     Generic greetings. Many spoof emails begin with a general greeting, such as: "Dear PayPal member." If you do not see your first and last name, be suspicious and do not click on any links or button.
    2     A fake sender's address. A spoof email may include a forged email address in the "From" field. This field is easily altered.
    3     A false sense of urgency. Many spoof emails try to deceive you with the threat that your account is in jeopardy if you don't update it ASAP. They may also state that an unauthorized transaction has recently occurred on your account, or claim PayPal is updating its accounts and needs information fast.
    4     Fake links. Always check where a link is going before you click. Move your mouse over it and look at the URL in your browser or email status bar. A fraudulent link is dangerous. If you click on one, it could:
     5     Emails that appear to be websites. Some emails will look like a website in order to get you to enter personal information. PayPal never asks for personal information in an email.
    6     Deceptive URLs. Only enter your PayPal password on PayPal pages. These begin with https://www.paypal.com/
 
   7     Misspellings and bad grammar. Spoof emails often contain misspellings, incorrect grammar, missing words, and gaps in logic. Mistakes also help fraudsters avoid spam filters.
    8     Unsafe sites. The term "https" should always precede any website address where you enter personal information. The "s" stands for secure. If you don't see "https," you're not in a secure web session, and you should not enter data.
    9     Pop-up boxes. PayPal will never use a pop-up box in an email as pop-ups are not secure.
    10   Attachments. Like fake links, attachments are frequently used in spoof emails and are dangerous. Never click on an attachment. It could cause you to download spyware or a virus. PayPal will never email you an attachment or a software update to install on your computer.
   Copyright © 2005 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks and     brands are the property of their respective owners. PayPal is located at 2211 N.     First St., San Jose, CA 95131.
 
A VIRTUAL COURSE ON PRAYER
 >From: Eddie and Alice Smith <usprayercenter@cs.com>

    God wants to talk with you, and He wildly anticipates those precious moments of communication with you. This book is a non-religious guide to understanding prayer that can be used by anyone regardless of where you are in your own journey of faith. Prayer is a pipeline into God's heart that often gets clogged up with meaningless thoughts and impressive words.
    In our book “Drawing Closer to God’s Heart” we  will help you take a closer look at exciting, engaging prayer that ensures God’s attention and evokes His responses while cooperating with Him to accomplish His kingdom purposes on the earth. We take you from A to Z in the area of understanding prayer. It’s time to lay aside old habits and to risk, stretch and ask God for new and fresh approaches to prayer. Do you hunger for God’s presence? Do you know what concerns Him? He’d love for you to draw closer so He can tell you!
    In this book you will learn how to make prayer a priority; how to hear what’s rumbling in God’s heart; and how to pray with purpose! In “Drawing Closer to God’s Heart” we teach you the essence of spiritual warfare, binding and loosing, how to have a personal devotional time, what motivates you to pray. We show you how to pray according to God’s will, how to pray in the Spirit
and much more.
    ATTENTION LEADERS: We intentionally wrote this interactive book into 12 lessons for individual or small group study.
    CHAPTERS:
 
==>  The Characteristics of Prayer
==>  Prayer as Intercession
==>  Our Motives for Praying
==>  The God to Whom We Pray
==>  People Who Pray
==>  Overcoming the Hurdles
==>  A Time and Place for Prayer
==>  The Progress of Prayer
==>  Empowering Our Prayer
==>  Fasting and Prayer
==>  Throne Room Prayer
==>  Spiritual Warfare Prayer
 
   YOU WILL LEARN:
 
The Purpose of Prayer
Why God Wants to Pray Through You
The Kinds of Prayer God Never Answers
How to Develop a Daily Personal Prayer Time
How to Hear Gods Voice
How to Use Prayer as a Weapon Against the Devil
Why Answers to Prayer are Sometimes Delayed
 
And much, much more
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Order Yours Today! Cut at paste this line (all of it) into your web browser.
http://www.prayerbookstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=14_15_id=5
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Or order by phone, call toll free:  1-800-569-4825
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Or mail your check to:  U.S. PRAYER CENTER, 7710-T Cherry Park Dr., Ste 224, Houston, TX 77095 The book is $16.99, +$4 S.   (Add $2 S for each additional book) Blessings,
Eddie and Alice Consider gifts for your pastor and other friends and family http://www.usprayercenter.org
http://www.prayerbookstore.com Equipping Saints for the Work of Ministry   
U.S. PRAYER CENTER | 7710-T Cherry Park Dr, Ste 224 | Houston | TX | 77095
 
HOLIDAY OUTREACH IDEAS – ALREADY?
>From: "Outreach Magazine Newsletter" <newsletter@nc.outreachmagazine.com>

The holidays will be here before you know it! Help Outreach Magazine inspire other churches for the 2005 holiday season by sharing your church's creative outreach initiatives for Halloween, Thanksgiving and/or Christmas.

Click on the link below and briefly share with us your success story.
Click here to take the survey. <http://trackit.outreach.com/t/17362/3631602/98/0/>

Heather Johnson, Associate Editor, Outreach Magazine
hjohnson@outreach.com
760.940.0600 x3211
2230 Oak Ridge Way, Vista, CA 92081

The Outreach magazine provides a monthly electronic newsletter and editorial feedback/survey opportunities to its magazine and online subscribers. These communications are designed to help you participate in the Outreach community.   Outreach Magazine,  A division of Outreach, Inc., 2230 Oak Ridge Way,  Vista, CA. 92081-8341

 
FREE CD OF BIBLE STUDIES & TOOLS
>From: fgbmfi@earthlink.net
       
Free Bible Studies from Harvestime Bible Institute, Yours  just for the asking. There is More than $ 2,000 worth of Bible Studies and Bible Tools, such as Matthew Henry's Complete Concordance, and Easton's Bible Dictionary, Naves's Topical Index, etc. on The Free CD. You can view them on Line at www.harvestime.org

Send us your Postal address to fgbfmi@earthlink.net, Ask for the Free CD Rom, which also has 130 Electronic Books which can be copied and also printed. and Distributed Free. fgbmfi@earthlink.net or write us at P.O. Box 741180 Arvada, CO. 80006
Dr. Bob Schwarz. Harvestime International.org
P.O. Box 741180 Arvada, CO. 80006-1180 Arvada, CO. 80006-1180                          
Telephone  720 221-3867
 
National Pastors' Prayer Network
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847-991-0153 * 847-358-9337(fax)
http://www.nppn.org * email: phil@nppn.org
Register your PPG: http://www.nppn.org/ppg/

Phil Miglioratti - Coordinator: phil@nppn.org
Carol Miglioratti - Office Manager: office@nppn.org
Sheila Straka - Intercession: sheila@nppn.org
Chuck Straka - Web Master: straka1@nppn.org
Adam Shields - Tech Support: updates@nppn.org
Carol Karr - Administrative Services

___Unless clearly identified as "Personal To _____" or "Confidential" all information and comments sent to phil@nppn.org will be considered for use in a future NPPN Update.
___Copyright 2005. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute to those who will partner in praying for and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone in our nation and beyond.
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