The Uprising New England

I pray everyone out there is really enjoying the holidays. It’s been interesting going into different stores and meeting friends, wondering what holiday greeting they will give me. The other day in a store they had a display that said “Wishing is the reason for the season.” Like, “right in your face Jesus”. I wish I had a marker to cross it out, but that store has more franchises that I could attack with a marker in a lifetime, crossing out wishing and tagging Jesus. They should stick to making caramel mochachinos and hiring ex bums.

But then there are other times you meet someone, who with a firm handshake says; Merry Christmas with a twinkle in their eye and you know that they know exactly what they are talking about. This year I will be vigilant in only saying Merry Christmas because Christ was merry and so am I.

So I have been very late in compiling a year end report of The Uprising and also FLOW 60. Don’t let you eyes deceive you, here it is, finally.

The year opened up with 21 days of prayer and fasting. During this time we really felt a renewed call from the Lord to continue and expand the call that God has placed on the Uprising, as a monthly gathering of worship and prayer. Our mission defined to stand in the Gap for the young adults of the North Shore, praying for revival and unity.

During this time the Lord also released a strategy of street evangelism on the Saturday afternoons right before the Uprising service that has been very fruitful not only for those hearing the message, but for the brave ones who step out into that call.

As the year progressed, we’ve seen the Lord transition our meetings into some very intense times in the Lords presence, where different ones have found a greater release in their gift of speaking, worship and corporate prayer. We have seen the Lord release many prophetic acts and words of the Lord through a diverse range of individuals that have given themselves fully to His cause.

Some highlights of the year would be in March when we had roughly 80 people come to our Uprising service crying out to God for a renewing of His Spirit in our time with preaching out of Hab 3:2 “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy”. That we would know His greatness in our day. I am so proud of the band and different ones who have really helped take the services to a new level.

This year the Lord has really expanded our borders. We have been praying for a greater network to be created between different churches and young ministers. We were blessed to have Crave ministries join us a couple of times this year. What an encouragement from our brothers in Maine. Youth Storm also played a part in leading an Uprising service. We want to thank Harvard Awakening for their friendship and support as well as Gateways of Peace and Adonai Christian fellowship among others.

Our fall conference with Holyfire was incredible. Justin and crew really blew the lid right off. They really demonstrated what a heart they had for the church and His move. One of the most memorable parts of that weekend was a preaching calling the church to sabotage the kingdom of darkness from within. Knowing that Christ calls everyone to lead subversive lives, spreading light in the kingdom of present darkness.

Our heart has always been for unity. This was especially showcased in FLOW 60, our 3 night 36 hour time of prayer in worship over Halloween. We were blessed to have 8 different churches join us during this time. On the day before Halloween, we held a watch night service with continuous 1 hour worship sets from 7pm till 7 am. What a powerful experience.

During this time, God released several words concerning his plans for this city. As we spent the night in worship, prayer and making prophetic declarations, it was clear that God was raising up his army to take a stand in the midst of all the darkness and oppression that tries to invade Salem every Halloween. We got a real clear picture of the souls that were in the balance and God’s heart for his lost children. It was as if thru prayer, God laid a plastic sheet over our city, and when the enemy tried to grasp and pollute Salem, there was a Godly barrier preventing that access.

We had team on the street all day on the last 2 days of October.

Most team walked through the city, prayer walking and evangelizing. On group made two signs reading “Free Spiritual Healing” and other sign reading “Free Spiritual Readings”. It was amazing to see how lines would form in front of the groups, as people came to receive prayer.

Teams were able to pray with hundreds of people. Many people received Christ or rededicated their lives to Him. We had reports of people’s legs being healed and a lot of prayers for God to reveal his power to different ones.

There was a report of a girl who had arthritis. A group prayed for her but nothing happened. Then one of the group members noticed a new age bracelet. As soon as the bracelet was removed she was healed. Another man had a knee problem and stopped for prayer. After a couple of minutes, he was asked to walk around to test the knee. He didn’t feel anything so started walking back to catch up with his friends. As he was walking along he started jumping and yelling that he was not lying and that his knee was really healed.

There were other reports of many words of knowledge. One case involved a girl who was told by a team member that she was dabbling in the occult and that a shadowy figure was tormenting her every morning. To her surprise she confirmed that it was true and she was awakened every morning at 3 by some sort of demonic visitation. The team was able to pray with her and break that curse.

Another report was of atheists and even a witch accepting Christ. Even in the weeks since Halloween, we have seen two more people on the streets give their lives to Christ, one of them even started meeting weekly with us for discipleship.

We were so overwhelmed by what God did in and thru us. I truly believe that our concerted prayers and worship as incense has risen up to God and the bowls are tipping. God is looking for radical, committed ones who will see to it that His Kingdom is ushered in a greater way into our lives and communities.

There is a further call to remove all compromise, and luke warm Christianity from our lives. We are fully looking forward to what God has in store for us this coming year. Our prayer is to go beyond where we have gone last year. Our focus is on ministering to the heart of God and also to fulfill His great commission in our city. Our prayer is that God opens up new and effective doors, especially on local college campuses.

We want to thank all those who have partnered with us this year. All who have served in any way, we really could not have done any of this without you. For those who do not know, we are not having Uprising services in December or January and will resume Feb 20th.

We would like to announce that our church, East Gate Christian Fellowship will be hosting 20 days of fasting and prayer from Jan 4^th- 24^th. We will be holding nightly meetings from 7-8 pm at East Gate located at 9 Church St. Salem, MA. The Uprising crew will be leading prayer on Thursday nights. Please feel free to join us.