“And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Deuteronomy 8:2)

What were the top 10 highlights and low points for you personally in 2008?

In keeping with the annual tradition begun last year, I’m going to share the top ten spiritual stories of 2008 from my perspective. These stories relate primarily to Culpeper, but also Virginia because both are my home.

On December 26, 2008, the Culpeper Star Exponent published a lengthy article titled “Culpeper’s top 10 stories of 2008.” According to that, these were the top ten stories in order of significance:
1) We felt the full effects of the 2008 recession
2) Culpeper opens new high school
3) Center of the political universe
4) It started with Cox’s dismissal
5) Town thrice left in the dark
6) Controversy for Branch, Compton
7) Teen’s death hits entire community
8) Town’s future a matter of politics
9) No shortage of candidates here
10) Terremark – new facility brings jobs

In Culpeper (and Virginia), the top 10 spiritual stories of 2008 were (in chronologic order)
1) Selection of Dr. Rev. Charlene Phillips as President of the Culpeper Ministerial Association (Feb 2008)
2) Virginia-Liberia Alliance established (Apr 2008)
3) Launch of City on a Hill Church by GW Dameron (June 2008)
4) Launch of Transformation Virginia initiative (Aug 2008) – Culpeper’s fire spread because of Jack Stagman
5) Death of Kelsey Orndorff (08-29-08)
6) Eastern View High School opened (school name is very significant biblically)
7) Launch of community-wide Experiencing God initiative (09-07-08) – spearheaded by Rev. Mark Jenkins
8) Churches launch homeless initiative in Culpeper (Nov 2008)
9) Culpeper Community Thanksgiving service (11-25-08) – UNITY
10) Marching Through Culpeper convergences

Of course, these 10 stories represent only a very small fraction of the many great things that God did in Culpeper in 2008. Thank you to all of you (locally, regionally, nationally, and even internationally) who are sowing your prayers, time, treasure, and talent to make Culpeper and Virginia a bright light for the world.

At the statewide level for Virginia, one of the most significant positive spiritual initiatives I am aware of for 2008 was the decision by Bowie Curry to launch a 24/7 house of prayer in the Greater Fredericksburg area starting January 2009.

On the national front, “The epic election that made Barack Obama the first African-American president was the top news story of 2008 – followed closely by the economic meltdown that will test his leadership, according to U.S. editors and news directors voting in The Associated Press’ annual poll.

Internationally, I feel the Beijing Olympics, which began 08-08-08, brought a significant and temporary peace and calm to the world overall for a few weeks during an otherwise very stormy year.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for the favor you showed to Culpeper and Virginia this past year. Thank You that the pastors and churches in our community are coming together more and more in UNITY to address common problems we face. May 2009 be the best year ever spiritually in the history of Culpeper and Virginia. Do an amazing work to make our communities a bright light for the world! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen and hallelujah!

Link of the Day
Details for the top 10 spiritual stories of 2008 for Culpeper [see below]

Blessings to make the time to reflect back on 2008 and to set godly goals for 2009!

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Details for top 10 spiritual stories of 2008 for Culpeper (in chronologic order)

1) Selection of Dr. Rev. Charlene Phillips as President of the Culpeper Ministerial Association
On Feb 19, 2008, Rev. Randy Orndorff passed the baton to Rev. Charlene Phillips to serve as President of the Culpeper Ministerial Association for two years. This marked the very first time that a female and a black person were elected to the recognized top position of spiritual authority for the Culpeper community. Charlene did a wonderful job leading in the Spirit to bring more UNITY amongst the pastors and marketplace ministers. Thank you Charlene. And thank You Pastor Randy for the wonderful job you did leading our community spiritually for the two years before Charlene took over.

2) Virginia-Liberia Alliance established (Apr 2008)
In my devotional on May 28, 2008 titled “A Day I’ll Never Forget“, I mentioned that “December 18, 2007 was a turning point, not only in my life and Sam Reeves’ life, but also for Culpeper, Virginia, and the nation of Liberia.” As a result of my offering to help Sam Reeves and Rim of Grace Ministries, I had the privilege to
a) Visit meet Ron Davidson and visit the Gleaning For The World headquarters in January 2008
b) Participate in Operation Rescue Liberia Day on Feb 23, 2008
c) Participate in Virginia-Liberia Alliance Day on Saturday April 19 at the Reformation Lutheran Church.
d) Visit the Liberian Embassy in Wash D.C. with a large contingency from Culpeper, including Rev’s Jacob and Charlene Phillips
e) Build a strong friendship with David Bean, who I would nominate as Culpeper’s citizen of the year.

3) Launch of City on a Hill Church by GW Dameron (June 2008)
On April 17, 2008, Pastor GW Dameron contacted me out-of-the-blue to say he was moving with his family from San Diego CA to Culpeper VA in June 2008 to finish a work that had been started to make Culpeper a city set on a hill (for Jesus). In the short while GW has been in Culpeper, he has been responsible for a big upswing in the spiritual climate of our community To learn more, visit my blog titled “City on a Hill Church” (July 21, 2008) -

4) Launch of Transformation Virginia initiative (Aug 2008) – Culpeper’s fire spread because of Jack Stagman
Rick Heeren had told me on numerous occasions for more than a year that he wanted to come back to Culpeper to fan the flames he had started a few years earlier. I kept advising Rick to contact Jack Stagman and go to Northern Virginia first. Finally that happened.

On July 29, we held our first ever Transformation Virginia webinar. The blog (website) for Transformation Virginia was birthed. And Rick came to Northern Virginia, Fredericksburg, and Culpeper on August 17-19,2008. After spending 3 days shuttling Rick around, Jack caught the city transformation bug. In my opinion, Jack is currently playing the most significant role in the spiritual transformation of Virginia. He has already been responsible for lighting fires for prayer evangelism in more than 7 new communities in Virginia.

5) Death of Kelsey Orndorff (08-29-08)
Saturday August 30, 2008 was definitely the saddest day of the year for me when I learned that Pastor Randy Orndorff’s only daughter (Kelsey) died in a serious car accident the evening before on her way to a Chris Sligh concert in Fredericksburg. As President of the Culpeper Ministerial Association for 2 years, Pastor Randy had been offered tremendous support to our Pray Culpeper team. As I was driving to the first memorial service held for Kelsey on the night of Aug 30, the scripture that came to my mind was Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.”

During the memorial service, I learned from the testimonies of numerous people that Kelsey had manifested an UNCOMMON love for Jesus and for the destitute in this world, especially the homeless. Given that and Pastor Randy’s reputation as one of the most beloved pastors of our community, I knew that somehow, some way God was going to bring something great out of something so tragic. He always does. People at the Culpeper United Methodist Church, pastors in our community, and the community-at-large rallied behind Randy and LeAnne Orndorff. On November, Chris Sligh came to Culpeper High School to lead a concert in memory of Kelsey. About 800 people, mostly teens, showed up. I believe the new homeless ministry that the churches in Culpeper recently embraced is a direct result of Kelsey’s death.

6) Eastern View High School opened
Two years in the making, the much anticipated Eastern View High School finally opened. School spirit ran high from the get-go, as an estimated 5,000 people attended the Cyclones’ inaugural home football game, a friendly scrimmage against CCHS. Behind the electrifying legs of star tailback Stevie Strother, EVHS went on to finish 7-3, playing to large crowds most every Friday night. More importantly, the opening of EVHS provided a big boost in morale to our community. I believe the name of this school is very significant spiritually because Moses’ Tabernacle, Solomon’s temple, and Jewish synagogues all face to the East (i.e. have an eastern view). Mountain View Community Church, a large local church having a tremendous impact on the spiritual climate of Culpeper, is moving its Sunday worship services to EVHS starting January 2009.

7) Launch of community-wide Experiencing God initiative (09-07-08) – spearheaded by Rev. Mark Jenkins
This summer Mark Jenkins caught the Holy Spirit fire of revival and he wasted no time in spreading that to others in our community. Supported by more than 100 LIFE groups, numerous churches and businesses embraced the 7 week “Experiencing God” series prepared by Henry Blackaby. Thank You to Mark for lighting a fire that will not be quenched.

8) Churches launch homeless initiative in Culpeper (Nov 2008)
Jesus said that when we take care of the destitute (i.e. the poor, the hungry, widows, orphans, the sick, those in prison, etc), we are caring for Him. Thanks to the Culpeper Food Closet, the needs for many of the hungry were already being met. Thanks to the leading of Pastors Chad Whaley and Michael Gray, the Culpeper Ministerial Association embrace coming together to care for the urgent need of homeless people in Culpeper just in time as freezing temperatures came in late November. We are trusting God to engage many more churches and volunteers as needed to continue this vital ministry.

9) Culpeper Community Thanksgiving service (11-25-08) – UNITY
In the entire time I have lived in Culpeper, I have never witnessed such UNITY among such a diverse audience as at this year’s Culpeper Community Thanksgiving service. We thank Dr. John W. Kinney for his passionate message about rejoicing always. And we owe a special thanks to Rev. Charlene Phillips for the prayers and relationship building she did to make this possible.

10) Marching Through Culpeper convergences
Virginia Morton never ceases to amaze me with her persistence, ever-growing faith, and positive attitude. The weekly MTC prayer calls on Tuesday afternoons have been my favorite times of corporate prayer. In my June 4 devotional, I stated that “the Marching Through Culpeper movie project is by far the biggest God story I have ever been involved with from a marketing perspective on the web.”

On July 24, Virginia launched her very first email MTC marketing campaign and posted her first blog entry herself. As a result of that, Georgia Willis got reconnected to Virginia and then to me. Because of her love for Jesus and her involvement in key positions of leadership on a variety of higher education boards, I have dubbed Georgia “Virginia’s Princess of Education.” On December 18, Virginia emailed me an amazing list of 2008 convergences for MTC.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:4)

What is the most memorable day you have had in the past year?
What made that so?

Yesterday evening I participated in a commissioning and prayer service for Rev. Sam Reeves at the Culpeper United Methodist Church. Each person there had a chance to publically share with Sam what he has meant to him/her personally. It was clear that Sam has had a huge ripple effect affecting many lives and many communities.

When it was my turn to share, the Holy Spirit prompted me to say, “December 18, 2007 was a turning point, not only in my life and Sam Reeves’ life, but also for Culpeper, Virginia, and the nation of Liberia.” That was the day I met Sam at the monthly Culpeper Ministerial Association meeting. I had just come back from a week long anesthesia conference in Manhattan (NYC) and had 700+ Christmas cards to get out in the next few days, so the last thing I wanted was something new on my plate. But God’s plans always trump our plans.

The only reason I went to that Culpeper Ministerial Association meeting was to honor Pastor Randy Orndorff for his 2 years of wonderful community leadership as President. When I arrived, there was only one seat left and that was next to Sam. I didn’t know who Sam was. Then Pastor Randy introduced David Bean. When David shared his God story of how God audibly told him to “Covenant with him (Sam),” my spiritual radar went up. Then when Sam shared his story and the history of Liberia, I knew God wanted me to help Sam communicate his message via the web.

Amazing things have happened as a result of helping Sam and Rim of Grace Ministries / Operation Rescue Liberia. When Rev. Ron Davidson was hosting the webinar to bless Sam, he appropriately chose the title “Experience the Miracle.” As a result of blessing Sam and Operation Rescue Liberia, I have met and got connected to so many neat people and gone to many new places. My visit to the Liberia Embassy on May 16 was just icing on the cake.

On April 19, 2008, I received what I consider the most significant award of my life, the “2008 Servant’s Heart Award,” a gorgeous plaque from Rim of Grace Ministries / Operation Rescue Liberia “In Recognition of your Commitment, Enthusiasm, and Love for the Work of our Lord Jesus Christ and the People of Liberia.”

This evening (May 29), Sam leaves Virginia to fly back to Liberia. He’s returning back to his homeland after a 15 year stay in the United States. Despite numerous trials, Sam has persisted and remained a man of prayer and ministry of the Word of God. He is an inspiration to those who know him well.

On the home page of the Rim of Grace website we now have an official Proclamation from the mayor of Culpeper, a letter of endorsement from Gov. Tim Kaine, and a video interview of the Honorable Edwin F. Sele, Deputy Ambassador of Liberia. In his interview, the Honorable Sele assures us that Madam President of Liberia will come to Virginia. All this has taken place since just February 2008. God is up to something big – really big. “Experience the Miracle” yourself by getting involved to bless Liberia. Now is the time.

If you have never read the official Proclamation by Mayor Rimeikis or watched the interview of the Honorable Sele, I encourage you to visit today’s Link of the Day to do so. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you Spirit to spirit.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, I am truly humbled that You invited me to experience the miracle of blessing Liberia. I didn’t even know what continent that country was on just 6 months ago and now I plan to visit in March 2009 for the crusade that is scheduled. Thank You for crossing my path with Rev. Sam Reeves. He has been such a blessing to me and I’m really going to miss having him in Culpeper. Bless Sam’s trip back to Liberia. Bless his financial and prayer supporters. Open the gates of heaven so wide for Rim of Grace Ministries that there are not enough “barns” to store all the blessings. Thank You Jesus. We love You. Amen and Hallelujah.

Link of the Day
Rim of Grace Ministries – homepage includes major’s Proclamation, Governor’s letter, and Embassy interview

Blessings to experience the miracle of blessing Liberia!

“KNOCK, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7c)

What did Jesus mean when he told his disciples to KNOCK?
What are you supposed to knock on?
What door will be opened?

Today we wrap up this week’s series “ASK, SEEK, KNOCK.” What I’ve discovered in the past week is that when the Holy Spirit prompts me to ASK my heavenly Father a question in the morning, God is quick to answer as I journal. This great habit forces me to slow down, rest, and reflect. There’s a big difference between asking God a question in the flesh verses the Holy Spirit prompting me to ask His question.

As the LORD begins giving instructions, it’s important to act on those promptly. How many times do we miss important opportunities because we hesitate or procrastinate? How many times do other people miss their blessings because we fail to do our part.

As I shared Bill Gates comment above in each of the 4 webinars we hosted this past week, I became more and more driven to be a man of action. God is a god of action. As we pray and take action, God frequently opens the doors for us to be the answers to our own prayers. As Rev. Ron Davidson says, “Be the feet beneath our praying hands.”

This morning while laying in bed listening to my scheduled iTunes playlist for Day #16, I asked the Holy Spirit to reveal His question of the day. Eventually I received this, “What question am I to ask the Ambassador from Liberia today?” After writing that in my journal, the answer soon followed, “What are your dreams?”

This prompted me to take my video camera to the Embassy of the Republic of Liberia in Washington DC. That in turn opened the door for me to do a video interview of the Deputy Ambassador. During that I asked God’s question. This video will be posted on the web early next week. My day was filled with other unexpected highlights from start to finish as I promptly acted upon the leadings of the Holy Spirit.

On May 20-22, I am hosting a new webinar titled “UNCOMMON Journaling for Breakthroughs.” I’ll be sharing my wealth of experiences to help COACH you to journal in UNCOMMON ways to experience breakthroughs in your life. I’ll send you links to register next week, but for now, check these time slots in your calendar (times shown in US Eastern Daylight Time — click for your time zone):

May 20, 2008 7:00pm – 8:00pm
May 21, 2008 1:00pm – 2:00pm
May 22, 2008 7:00am – 8:00am
May 22, 2008 4:00pm – 5:00pm

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for the leadings of the Holy Spirit. Bless me to be able to discern what’s coming from You versus my flesh, the world, or the devil. When I discern an instruction is from You, may I be prompt to act on it. Bless me to leave enough room in my daily and weekly schedules to allow You room to move in UNCOMMON ways. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

Link of the Day
John Piper talks about Prayer and it’s impact – GodTube video

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Blessings to KNOCK so God can open the door!

Do you know what it feels like to be hungry?
Have you ever gone 3 days without eating any food?
If it was one of your kids going hungry, what would you do and when?
What role is God asking you to play in stopping hunger NOW?

In my devotionals on January 1 and 2, 2008, I mentioned that 2008 will be a year of convergences. Today’s story is a wonderful example of that. In previous devotionals, I’ve mentioned Virginia Morton, Erick Kalenga, Rize Up, Sam Reeves, Liberia, Ron Davidson, and Gleaning for the World. Recognizing convergence experiences is valuable to get involved in big things God is doing.

Wednesday May 7 at 9:30 AM, Rev. Lee Warren from South Hill, VA will be speaking at the Stop Hunger Now assembly at Culpeper High School. Lee is a United Methodist minister and oversees Stop Hunger Now in Virginia. This program has mushroomed since Lee took it over. There are some good videos posted on YouTube and GodTube. Today’s Link of the Day is one of those.

Lee’s husband went to judge’s school with Roger Morton, Virginia’s husband. God called Lee into pastoral ministry after her kids left home and she commuted to Duke to get her degree. That took energy and determination. According to Virginia, Lee is a very vivacious lady.

This Stop Hunger Now [www.stophungernow.org] assembly is important because Culpeper High School has given Rize Up responsibility for organizing it. Rize Up will challenge the high school students to raise $4,000 which will pack 20,000 meals. The packing will be done at a future date, probably in the Fall.

Frequently Lee actually accompanies the food shipments and helps distribute meals in the schools where hunger is rampant. Some of the meals are going to Liberia, and we’re praying ours will be directed by God to Liberia and Sam Reeves will be there to supervise. It also happens that Lee warehouses her supplies, dry ingredients in Lynchburg and Ron Davidson with Gleaning for the World oversees it.

Each highly nutritional meal costs only 20 cents. 25 people can package 5,000 meals in just 2 hours. That’s enough to feed an orphanage with 32 children for 7 months. Children as young as 5 years old can get involved and help.

The youth of today are having a much greater impact than ever before in shaping the culture of the world. Stop Hunger Now is a great hands-on way for young people to assist with world hunger. One goal of Stop Hunger Now is to target apathy. When Erick Kalenga, the leader of Rize Up, heard about the idea, he loved it and ran with it.

According to its official website, “Stop Hunger Now is a non-profit, international relief organization committed to ending hunger worldwide. Stop Hunger Now leads ongoing efforts to feed the hungry around the world by providing direct emergency food and other life-saving aid in crisis areas. Established in 1998 and headquartered in Raleigh, NC, Stop Hunger Now has provided over $100 million of aid in more than 55 countries.”

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for using Virginia Morton, Erick Kalenga, and Rize Up to open the door for Lee Warren to share about Stop Hunger Now at the school assembly on May 7. Bless all those who participate to ignite an epidemic of people following in Jesus’ steps to feed the hungry. Use the web to magnify the impact of Stop Hunger Now 100 fold in 2008. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

Link of the Day
Stop Hunger Now – Operation Sharehouse @ NCSU 2007

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Blessings to play your appropriate role to stop hunger NOW!

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

What does it mean to you to trust in the Lord with all your heart?
In what area of your life is God asking you to let go and let God?

The acts of God are what He does in our lives. For many Christians, the entire focus of their lives is what God can do for them Their faith is motivated totally toward a miracle, provision or a particular need. Like the children of Israel, they know only the acts of God.

Moses knew the acts of God too; but his focus was the ways of God. The Lord wants us to press in beyond just the acts He does for us, as good as they may be We have been given the spirit of God so that we can discover His ways and touch His very heart (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).

On April 17, Pastor Mark Jarvis told me he thinks God is teaching him to trust God on a deeper level. The next day I was on an international phone conference call when Dr. Niel Stegmann from South Africa quoted Proverbs 3:5-6.

Then on Saturday April 19, I was in Reformation Lutheran Church for the very first time to celebrate Virginia-Liberia Alliance Day, an event sponsored by Rim of Grace Ministries. When Pastor Jacob Phillips came in, we began conversing. Something he said prompted me to quote Proverbs 3:5-6. Little did I know that above the doorway over his head was a wood sign that read “Trust in the LORD with all your heart.” A few minutes later, Ed Lyons pointed that out.

The next morning as I was nearing Liberty High School to attend the worship service at Soul Purpose Church, I decided to turn on American Family Radio for 2-3 minutes. The speaker who came on immediately said, “I want to talk today about Proverbs 3:5-6. That was four times in four days that God brought up the issue of trusting in Him. The message wasn’t just for me. It’s for you too.

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, loving God, thank You for the ways you speak to us through unusual circumstances. Thank You for clearly communicating Your message to trust in You with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. Help me to comprehend what that means and to apply it in my daily life. Do likewise for my readers. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Link of the Day
Ten Day Prayer Guide leading up to the Global Day of Prayer
http://prayculpeper.org/files/gdop/2008/2008-gdop-10-day-prayer-guide-english.pdf

Blessings to trust in the ways of God!