Night of Desperation

Prayer is one of the most exciting things that we can do because it is our chance to partner with God in what He is doing on planet earth right now. Students came from all over Northern Colorado last Wednesday night to pray for God to move in a powerful way. The Furnace had the opportunity to put on a Night of Desperation at Resurrection Fellowship in Loveland, Colorado. God is doing some really amazing things in young people in this region. From Colorado State University to a group of high school students leading hundreds of students in prayer at Thirst; prayer meetings and events are starting all over the place. The Furnace went with the desire to join with these students in contending for God to move at their schools and churches and in their lives. It was massively evident that prayer is regular part of these students spiritual diet. They came ready to pray hard. The night started with powerful worship led by Jeremy Reyes and Nico Perez. We then moved into a time of praying for the lost, praying for our schools and churches, and praying for this generation. I loved seeing the fervency and passion that existed in the room. This night only built my expectation for the Night of Desperation next month in Pueblo! If you live in the Northern Colorado region and you want to see a move of God at your school, you've got to jump into one of these student led prayer initiatives that are happening! It is really awesome to see what God is doing.

"I Mainly Listen"

It seems to be a reoccurring theme in the Sunday night prayer meeting to wait on the Lord. When I welcomed everyone to the prayer meeting I encouraged them all to ask the Lord to speak to them about the direction of the prayer meeting. As we spent the first hour in devotional prayer I felt like we needed to begin the intercession hour waiting on the Lord and believing that He would speak to us. We had a time of repentance and waiting on the Lord for about fifteen minutes before the band sang any worship song. After we had worshiped for a while I asked for people to share if the Lord had given them anything. The obvious trend was toward the lost. We spent the rest of the night praying for the light of Jesus to shine forth. We closed the night out praying for the people that we know have not given their lives to Jesus. I believe that God speaks to us. I feel like it is really important that we continue to wait on Him in order that we may better hear His voice. I read an interesting account of Mother Teresa today. It stated that she was once asked what she prays about during her prayer time; her response, "I mainly listen."

Nights of Prayer

Last Thursday Glenn Packiam spoke at the Furnace Gathering. The title of his sermon was Secondhand Jesus. So often we allow “God-experts” to do the heavy lifting and then give us the bottom line, but we must push to experience Jesus firsthand. It was a powerful message.

We also announced that we will be having nights of prayer here in Colorado over the next few weeks. There was a great response as the sign-up lists filled up quickly.
On Wednesday, November 19th, the Furnace is going to be headed up to Loveland, CO for a night of prayer and worship at Resurrection Fellowship. Jeremy Reyes and band will be leading worship.
Then on Saturday, December 6th, we will be headed to Pueblo, CO. Brandan Bustamonte will be leading worship.
I am so excited to lead the team of Furnace students to these churches in order to partner in prayer with them for a move of God in their churches, schools, and lives.

Start of theFurnace

Well, we have started a new year of theFurnace and it is about time. This was a crazy and wonderful summer, but it feels good to get back to normalcy. Last weekend we had a great retreat with our Furnace accountability leaders. It was a great time to pray, connect with each other and talk about leadership ideas. I am really excited about this years group of leaders. They love God and have great anticipation for the year.

Thursday marked the start of the regular Furnace schedule with the Gathering. Prayer meetings have now started and everything is getting back to normal. I love it!

Overcome the World

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. - I John 5:3-5

Why do we equate being good with loving God? It has nothing to do with it.

I am in Birmingham, AL with all of the Desperation Team right now getting ready for the final Desperation Conference of the summer. This morning we had an amazing time of prayer and scripture reading. We read through I, II, and III John together. It was great to just soak in the Word.

As we were reading, I was reminded of a conversation that I had recently with one of our Furnace guys. He was telling me of an interaction that he had at work with a young lady at his work. She had expressed her understanding that she had done too many bad things to ever be accepted by God. How sad if we, as Christians, have every put out a message like this.

This opened the door for him to share all of his past struggles. Cocaine, alcohol addiction, sex . . . these are a few of the issues that he had dealt with in his past. Now his life is so full of passion for Jesus that no one can envision him any other way.
He got to share with her that being a Christian is not about being good; we are horrible at being good. Being a Christian is about Jesus. When we find out the greatness of our Savior and his willingness to forgive and love us through our mess; when we recognize that God loves us, we'll love Him back. This is why strive for good, this is why we do not want to sin. Not because we have to, but because we want to. It's not about what can I get away with; it's about how extravagantly can I show my love!

We do not have to give in to the pressure of the world! Everyone born of God overcomes the world! It is not that we can't be worldly, it is that we don't have to!

May the joy of the Lord be in you and may you show your love for God through your obedience. Overcome the world!

theFurnace Blog

Welcome to theFurnace blog!

This blog is created to be a tool to share the God activity happening in theFurnace and be a catalyst for God-focused conversation.

The new Furnace year begins on September 2nd. I am so excited for what God is going to do in theFurnace this year. Last year we talked about God "turning up the heat" in theFurnace. I really believe that is going to happen. We are going to have more prayer, more discipleship, more outreach, and more community then ever before. I anticipate such great things for this year.

Please be in prayer for us for all new and returning Furnace members. We are praying that God move in a powerful way. That each student is empowered to draw closer to God and equipped to go further in what He has called them to do and be.

It is going to be an incredible year! I cannot wait for it all to get started.