Wow what a night! Thousands of people from all over the Cumberland Valley, gathered together today, to lift up the name of Jesus with one voice in worship and prayer. An offering of over $12,000 was collected that will be given to organizations in the area who work with the poor and needy people of our community. Thank you to everyone who attended! If you have any comments about the event, please feel free to write below.

WHO? The corporate church of Cumberland Valley (over 100 congregations joining together)

WHAT? Gathering together for 4 hours of worship and intercessory prayer

WHERE? Chambersburg Area High School Stadium on 511 South 6th Street

WHEN? July 20th 2008, from 5PM till 9PM

We are forming this Inspirational Gospel Choir to minister during the 720 Gathering between 6-7:00 PM.

There will be one rehearsal on Friday July 18th, at 7 p.m. in the King Street Church sanctuary.
All participants must plan to attend this rehearsal!

Pastor Jonathan & Becky Ford will teach 3 songs that you will learn quickly and easily.
Everyone (7th grade and older) is invited to participate regardless of previous singing experience:
Who Is Like the Lord (Israel Houghton) and Sanctuary (Kurt Karr), Lord, I Believe In You (Brooklyn Tabernacle),

This is a ONE TIME event choir - don’t miss this exciting opportunity to worship together.

BTW, have a friend you would like to invite to sing with us? Invite them, NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Just come and join the crowd.

Rehearsal music & CDs are available through the KING STREET CHURCH worship arts department.

Contact: Jonathan & Becky Ford worship@kschurch.org

A message from Denny Finnegan

“Where no oxen are, the manger is clean; but much increase comes from the strength of an ox.” (Proverbs 14:4, NAS Bible Version)

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24, NIV)

Lately, I have been reading and hearing quite a few leaders involved with revival quoting from Proverbs 14:4, “Where no oxen are, the manger is clean; but much increase comes from the strength of an ox.” (NAS Bible Version) Here is the way Bill Johnson from Bethel Church in Redding, CA., has paraphrased this verse, “There Are No Poopless Cows!“

What are they talking about? That revival is messy! Let me illustrate:

Why is it that no one has to mow an asphalt parking lot? Because it is not a place where “things are supposed grow” - the asphalt and parking lot have nor real life in it. Why is it that you don’t have to clean up after the animals in a museum? Because they are not alive either.

For the same reasons, God never made His church to be a parking lot, nor a museum where dead things are to be stored. God made His church and His people to be alive in Him. That requires a faith that is alive in Christ; and a faith that needs to be constantly empowered, revived and release by the Spirit of God.

Why is “living faith” and revival messy?

Think of what a house looks like when it is being remodeled or being rebuilt after it has been damaged… it’s a mess! But “some of the mess” is a testimony that work is going on. The same will be true if we allow God’s Spirit to “work and rebuild” the faith of our congregations; or if we allow the Spirit of God to release each one of us into a deeper personal and living faith. We might feel frustration, or an “unsettledness”;we might even feel an anger and lash out at anyone and anything around us wanting to blame someone for the Amess@ that is in our lives and in our churches.

But when God starts doing a work of release and revival, it is up to us to learn where God is at work in spite of the mess, then “bless this mess” in Jesus Christ.

Why is living faith and revival messy? Because God works with imperfect people and we will make messes along the way as we learn to grow in our faith and grow in our activity for God. Why is revival is messy? Because God doesn’t like to do things the way we would like to do them - sometimes what we call “mess” is actually God’s activity.

Which would you rather have - a dead parking lot or a “work in progress”? Which would you rather be - caretakers of a museum, or a place that gets “messy” at times, because God has placed a sign upon us that says, “Work in progress”?

A “Faith That is Becoming Real and Released“ by the power of God can sometimes appear messy. But those messes probably don’t bother God as much as they do us. God would rather have us try to grow in our faith by His power, and endure the “mess”, than for His church - and His people to be nothing more than parking lots and caretakers of good-looking, and tidy-but-dead-museums. “Where no oxen are, the manger is clean; but much increase comes from the strength of an ox.”

To close, I’d like to talk about to Japanese words with which most of us are likely to be familiar : “Bonsai” and “Banzai“. A “bonsai” is usually some kind of “miniaturized” tree or bush. It’s sole purpose is to be an “ornamental plant” - an “imitation” of the real thing.

By contrast, the word “banzai!” was the cry of many Japanese warriors as they courageously charged into battle, even ones that appeared hopeless, as they were willing to give their very lives for the honor of their master. “Banzai!” means something like, “Long live our Kingdom/Master.“ “Banzai!“ represents someone who is courageously acting upon their beliefs.

Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice.” Jesus is talking about a faith that is alive and released in the power of Christ. And, we can either approach the teachings of Jesus as “Bonsai Christians” whose faith is only “ornamental and for show”; or we can learn to become “Banzai Christians“, who courageously depend upon and act upon our beliefs in Jesus Christ; who say, “Long Live the Kingdom of God!“ The choice is ours: “Ornaments” or “Warriors“; “Bonsai Christians” or “Banzai Christians.“

A Message from Dave Hefner

Read all of John 17, Jesus’ high priestly prayer, and pay attention to verse 11.

Jesus prays for believers, those who are his, whom the Father has given him. He prays that they may be one as He is one with the Father. The unity He prays for is one of purpose; our way of living is to be his way. The unity he prays for is a gift from Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit which fills all baptized believers. Here is how Ephesians 2:14 describes how Christ accomplished this unity: “For Jesus is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us (meaning the Jews and Gentiles).” We all come from different lords and have been called by a new Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We give up our old allegiances, we belong to a new team. We are not Jewish Christians or Gentile Christians, or Lutherans or Methodists or Church of God. We are one in Christ. This time of prayer and praise is a time for us to live in the reality of the wall broken down, as one people under the Lordship of Christ. What a blessing to have so many sisters and brothers, one Church, one Body of Christ. As we gather to pray for those who lead and serve in our communities we ask the Lord of Life to bring his blessing of healing and wholeness, salvation, to us all.

Prayer: O Lord Jesus, what a privilege to be counted among your disciples, children of our heavenly Father. Give us grace to accept and love the ones for whom you have died, standing side by side before your mercy seat. Send us to serve a broken and divided world. Bring peace and unity to your people. In your holy name we pray, Amen.

A Message from Matthew Richardson

From I Corinthians 4:

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy…”

“For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers….”

The world is full of people who are willing to help you….for a price.

The price might be your adoration, or your gratitude or a favor in return.

The world is full of people who will help the church, for a price

A plaque on the baptistry. A name on the lectern.

It’s the way our world is. Quid pro quo. Dollar for dollar. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. There is nothing nefarious about this. It’s the world’s fairness doctrine. Everybody should get something for their efforts. Most days, it’s how we are and how we see life.

But there are those among us, women and men of God, who go deeper than this. They have served a long apprenticeship at the feet of the Master. They share time, treasure, teaching and. wisdom with us, and they ask no price. They ask no price from us, because they know, deeper than we, that the price has already been paid. They know, that on a windswept hill outside the gates of Jerusalem 32 AD, we were all given a gift greater than we could ever hope for or imagine. Atonement for sin, reconnection with God and entrance into a world that has no end. The only thing these men and women of God want from us, is to share with us the glorious Gospel God has entrusted to them. For they are trustworthy stewards of God’s mysterious grace given in Jesus Christ.

Years ago, a man in a congregation I was serving, gave a great sum of money to help refurbish the church building and build an addition. Years later, I asked him: “If selling this sanctuary meant reaching more people with the Gospel, would you do it?”

“Yes.” He said, without a moment’s hesitation. You see, there was no price on the gift he gave. No desire to have an everlasting memorial to his generosity. Simply a desire to serve Christ by passing on the Gospel.

This man is no mere guide. He is a father in Christ. Someone who is able to give without counting the cost, because he knows the cost has already been paid. There are others like him in your congregation and in your life. Who has been a father or mother in Christ to you?

A Message from Ken Hepner

As we think about coming together for the second 7/20 Gathering this year at CASHS stadium, it is important that we the members Church of Franklin County bathe our meeting together in prayer that means business with God. What we are talking about in “meaning business” is what the Bible calls “seeking prayer.” When we seek the Lord in prayer we aren’t asking for anything but to know and walk with Him more intimately. Prayer that means business with God is what moves our Father’s heart to respond to us and moves Him to act on the earth.

Jeremiah 29:13, 14a “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.”

Hosea 10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.”

It is so important that we recognize the truth that this meeting is not simply an attempt to get the church together for an ecumenical rally. The focus of our meeting is really all about the presence and the power of God being released here in our county. We are going to ask God to permit people to experience His drawing and reaching love. We are going to be asking for His grace tangibly felt in the hearts of all kinds of people here in our area. Do we really think we have that kind of goal without our enemy the devil and his minions getting fussy about it?

One of the ways the Bible calls us to “up the intensity” of our prayer lives is to engage in seasons of fasting in prayer. Fasting “is to voluntarily give up food or some other necessity of life from either desire or as a religious rite.” Fasting in prayer is about denial of self and appetites, to demonstrate our desire for God’s will to be done on earth. When we fast together with other brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a way of dealing with our propensity to think we have what it takes to do God’s work. It is about humbling ourselves before the Lord deeply and welcoming the purifying power of God to touch us.

Joel 2:12, 13 “Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”

Jesus made it very clear that fasting in prayer is expected of the children of God. His first words in the following text were, “When,” not “if you fast.” Matthew 6:16 - 18 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

We, the Church of Franklin County are being called to a season of fasting in prayer for a breakthrough, asking the Lord to release His will and purposes, the reality of His kingdom here on earth. There are many ways to fast:

• A total fast is nothing at all even water. This should not be done for more than three days.
• A water only fast is difficult to do but very effective. This can be done for extended periods of time - up to 40 days depending on one’s weight and metabolism.
• A juice fast allows you to enter into fasting but still gives you energy. This can be done for 40 days rather smoothly
• A Daniel fast is with fruits, vegetables, and water and is a great way for those who do manual labor to be able to join in the fast.
• For those who cannot give up food for health reasons there are other things you love to do that can be given up to join in the fast.

You are invited to engage with your brothers and sisters in fasting in prayer for any one of the following options:

• 40 days would begin at midnight on June 11
• 28 days would begin at midnight on June 23
• 21 days would begin at midnight on June 30
• 7 days would begin at midnight on July 14
• 3 days would begin at midnight on July 18

We are inviting God to speak and act on the earth, to release His holy provisions, the life of Jesus our Lord in our geographic area. Engaging in fasting in prayer to that end is clearly found in the Scriptures, as the church at Antioch engaged in corporate fasting in prayer and the Holy Spirit acted among them.

Acts 13:1 - 3 “In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers … While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”

Finally, brothers and sisters, let the oil of the joy of the Lord flow into and through you as you fast in prayer. Expect opposition from the enemy. Engage with Jesus with all your heart and soul as you bring your appetites into subjection to your spiritual desires and longings!

Message from Pastor Joseph Pickens

The word “honor” is mentioned some 55 times just in the New Testament alone. It carries the thought of “Value” and something of a “Precious Nature”.

However it is also noted that honor is not truly given until there is a price paid and received.

Because our culture holds little value in honoring one another it has stifled the church world as well. Unfortunately all too often believers are worldlier than we care to admit.

I believe that this is one of those areas that we as the Body of Christ must hold fast to.

In scripture there are many that we are told to give honor to; from widows to mothers/fathers, prophets, masters, wives, the Lamb of God, God Himself and elders.

Under this topic of honor we want to address a group of people who are worthy of honor at the 7/20 event.

As we are asking God for a fresh touch of His supernatural presence in the Cumberland Valley area, we are aware that there have been some who have labored in the vineyard for many years. They have toiled in the soil of perseverance and dedication without the greater body knowing who they are and their importance in the body.

They have labored without recognition and have stayed at their post faithfully serving the Body of Christ.

For these men and women we are grateful and desire to show honor to them for their soundness of moral principles. And years of faithful service to the things of God. We trust you will join us as we attempt to highlight those individuals and what they have contributed to where we are today. ( If you know of some that have served in the Valley for 20 or more years please contact me at pastorjoepickens@hotmail.com or 717-267-1280 or 1400 Warm Spring road Chambersburg Pa. 17202 )

In our church family we have such a man that the Lord has led us to honor for his many years of distinctive leadership.

Rev. Leroy Wiley has served over 60 years in ministry and we were led to build him a home to retire in with his wife.

As of this month the home is nearing completion.

Earlier I mentioned that honor is not truly given until there is a price paid and received. So as a church we put action to that thought and paid the price to show our honor toward this man of God.

Church’s that Pastor Wiley previously pastured have also come on board and helped with the project as well as many businesses in our community.

Let’s continue to “give honor to whom honor is do”.

Joseph Pickens
Christian Life Church