This is where we were this morning - the main street is that row of buildings to the left and the promenade is the path that runs down the beach.

Ange and I were prayer walking down on the main street and promenade of Newcastle this morning. It’s something we’ve been doing on and off since we got here, and lately we’ve organized our schedule so that we’re in the town prayer walking two mornings a week. We pray for Newcastle as a town, for revival and increased spiritual hunger, for God’s blessing on the churches and businesses, and occasionally ask people we meet if we can pray for them specifically.

There’s a story in the gospels where Jesus is walking by and this blind man cries out for help. Jesus stops and engages him, asking: “what do you want from me?” Recently as we’ve been walking around I’ve been thinking about that question. I’ve been thinking what do I really want to see happen here? What do I want God to do this morning? If I pray for people to be healed on the streets of Newcastle, do I want that to happen this morning through me? The answer varies if I’m honest and that’s ok. The point is not to feel bad, but to clarify and envision what it would actually look like for God to do what we’re asking.

I want to ask more and more specifically and expectantly. Am I actually asking for revival to break out this morning? For people around me to fall to the ground weeping and crying out to God? That might change the rest of my day… What would it look like if every church in town lit up with freedom, love, and passion and there was no more dead religion in town? We might not be needed. Am I ok with that? I think sometimes prayer becomes disconnected from what we’re actually asking for, because we don’t actually expect to get an answer. Often I think the answer comes (maybe slightly disguised) and we walk right on by because of expectations.

So what did we pray for? Well, all of the above. As we got more specific we asked that God would bring hunger and questions to people right now. That the light of his love would shine on people right now and they would feel his love. We prayed that a few specific issues in the town would shift. I believe those things are going to happen, and that’s pretty cool.

Anyway, just a few thoughts.
Mark

We went down on Saturday morning and joined them for an all day prayer for Ireland event, which finished around 4pm. We then went for a walk, had dinner and spent the evening reading, praying, and just enjoying being with Jesus. Sunday was more of the same – reading, praying, talking, dreaming, eating, more praying. It was a really restful and restorative time.

We don’t feel like the orders have changed a lot since we got here a year ago. The biggest prayers we found ourselves praying were:

• We want to be radically intimate with and radically obedient to Jesus moment by moment (to do what he’s doing and say what he’s saying).
• We want to gather people around us who want to do the same.
• We want people who don’t know or even like Jesus yet to enjoy being around us, feel welcomed and blessed by us, and seek out our company. I feel like this has a lot to do with being radically generous (give me a break, I’m a pastor – I have to have three “radicals” in there).

Dancin' like a fly, bite like a mosquito!

If you want to pray with us about those things, you can join us in asking for “John 4 encounters” (the woman at the well) with people.  I am hoping to sit down soon and write a lengthier post about that one, but it’s come to be one of the guiding passages for how we want to do things.

I think we’re also hitting another little wave of culture shock (which, I’m told would be more aptly named “creeping cultural disorientation”).  We’ve been here six months next week so that is about right.

• Traveling with a guitar is a real pain.  If you check it, there’s a good chance it will be damaged or handled badly.  If you try to carry it on, you get dirty looks from attendants and security folks, and you have no guarantee they’ll let it on the plane (if not, they’ll just gate-check it).  We decided to try to carry our guitar on, and it went amazingly smooth.  They even told us that there probably wouldn’t be room on the flight from Chicago to Dublin and they were right – but the flight attendant was not only polite, but she allowed me to put my guitar in the captain’s garment closet!  It sounds like a small thing, but it’s not small in the midst of the stress of travel.
• We asked God to lead us to the right place to live.  The first day we went out looking for apartments we found 4 places that would have worked.  The one we chose is so great – $360/month under budget and three bedrooms instead of two, plus a BEAUTIFUL location.  We can easily sleep 3 guests – 5 if we rearrange a bit and someone sleeps on the couch.
• We asked God for the right car.  After a lot of looking on the internet, Campbell took us around and the first car we looked at was the one.  We looked at some others but nothing was even close.  The salesman was really helpful, the car is great for us, and once again it was significant under what we budgeted.
• We then went to get an insurance quote and were shocked that it was going to more than the car (because we’re Americans).  A couple days later, we stumbled on to a little publicized fact: you can go to AAA and get an International Drivers Permit for $15.  This isn’t anything special – just a translation of the state license – but it makes a big deal with insurance companies…like a 70% off type of difference.
• He’s led us to several things we can do to meet people outside of the church in really natural ways.

A lot of these things don’t sound like a big deal.  I don’t think that God miraculously revamped the UK insurance system on our behalf.  The miracle is that people as foolish and weak as we are can figure this stuff out! The miracle is just this strange sense of God’s favor and favor with those with who He brings us into contact.

There is so much power in seeing God’s work in things that could be explained away, and being thankful. So we just want to publicly say it: Thank you, Lord!  You are SO good to us!

Mark and Ange

J. Edwin Orr, a widely respected historian, in a message called “Prayer & Revival,” described the situation in America in the 1780s. Drunkeness was epidemic, and the streets were not judged to be safe after dark. What about the churches?

“The Methodists were losing more members than they were gaining. In a typical Congregational church, the Rev. Samual Shepherd of Lennos, Massachusetts, in sixteen years had not taken one young person into fellowship. The Lutherans were so languishing that they discussed uniting with Episcopalians who were even worse off. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York, Bishop Samuel Provost, quit functioning; he confirmed no one for so long that he decided he was out of work, so he took up other employment.

“The Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, wrote to the Bishop of Virginia, James Madison, that the Church ‘was too far gone ever to be redeemed.’ The great philosopher Voltaire averred and the author Tom Paine echoed, ‘Christianity will be forgotten in thirty years.”

The spiritual state of America’s universities at the time concurred with such gloomy predictions, giving little or no hope for the future of the faith in that land:

“Take the liberal arts colleges at that time. A poll taken at Harvard had discovered not one believer in the whole student body. They took a poll at Princeton, a much more evangelical place, where they discovered only two believers in the student body, and only five that did not belong to the filthy speech movement of the day. Students rioted. They held mock communion at Williams College, and they put on anti-Christian plays at Dartmouth. They burned down the Nassau Hall at Princeton. They forced the resignation of the president of Harvard. They took a Bible out of a local Presbyterian church in New Jersey and burnt it in a public bonfire. Christians were so few on campus in the 1790s that they met in secret, like a communist cell, and kept their minutes in code so that no one would know.”

It’s hard to believe that this was taking place in America 200 years ago but then, Orr continues, God intervened, and He did so by mobilizing His people to pray.

“A prayer movement started in Britain through William Carey, Andrew Fuller, John Sutcliffe, and other leaders who began what the British called the Union of Prayer. Hence, the year after John Wesley died (1791), the second great awakening began and swept Great Britain [and eventually America].
…
“Out of that second great awakening came the modern missionary movement and its societies. Out of it came the abolition of slavery, popular education, Bible Societies, Sunday schools, and many social benefits.”

We are not too far gone.
Mark

• We need more empowerment from the Spirit. He’s already gifted us in many ways, but as I look at the task in front of us, this is the number one thing on my heart. Soft hearts, open ears, and boldness.
• Pray for Northern Ireland. At this point it’s easy to get caught up in the flurry of tasks and barriers to moving – money and visas, etc. – but that’s only the first little hurdle. God can handle visas and He will. Pray big. Pray Paul’s prayers from Eph. 1 and 3.
• We need a visa to enter the country. As I posted last week, the process is complete and from this point on we’re just waiting to hear back. We need favor with the British government.
• Both of the other American couples that are going with us need to sell their houses. If you are looking for a great little house in Yorktown or a sweet condo in Fort Wayne, get in touch.
• Lars and Nick are both looking for jobs in Northern Ireland. As you may expect that’s not the easiest proposition these days. Lars can work because he has Danish citizenship, but Nick would need a work visa, which is not an easy thing to get.

A big thank you to those who are joining with us in that way. Every blessing.
Mark

Among all the other encouragement and good discussion-starting interactions, Mark and I were reminded of what’s before us. A friend, Chad, was asking us how we’re praying for what’s before us. And we realized we’d gotten short-sighted enough to be pretty consumed with the Visa coming through to the extent of forgetting the work our hearts need to be getting ready for. Please pray with us that we wouldn’t lose focus and that we’d be productive in preparation for the work to come. It’s so easy to get swept away by the little things that are somewhat out of our hands! Thanks, Chad.

Life does still keep plugging along, of course. The house we’re living on is on the market and had it’s first showing today. We’ve got a slew of baby showers and other random celebrations. Friends getting married. A friend losing a father. Our hearts and being more and more moved with celebration and shared sorrow. Life is good and I’m incredibly thankful for it all. God just continues to blow open my experience of His heart. And still leaves me wanting more…

These lyrics from a Misty Edwards song have been really moving to me this week:

I don’t want to talk about you like you’re not in the room
I want to look right at you
I want to sing right to you

I believe you’re listening
I believe you’re moved at the sound of my voice

Give me Dove’s Eyes
Give me undivided devotion to only you

There’s no great point to this story and it’s not even uncommon. I’m just thankful and I wanted let it be known: Our God cares about my silly moods. He’s good to us.

Peace,
Mark