January – June 2017 – Statesville &The Upper Room

In January, I began to spy out the land in Iredell County to look for a place to do Worship. And behold, right there in Statesville, the county seat for Iredell County, on one of the main thoroughfares of the Historic Downtown area is The Upper Room Coffee House – Band Venue and High School & College Ministry.  Amazing!

The Lord’s Jackhammer

So I met with Sharon, the Director there, to check out what they were doing and to let her see/hear who we are and help her understand the what and why of what we do.

After a great time of fellowship and prayer, I stood in the middle of their band venue area and I had a vision of a jackhammer from heaven coming down and thumping the foundation three times. I knew that heaven was answering The Upper Room team’s cry for revival and that as we together rebuilt the altar of fire, there would be breakthrough!

Recon!

As seen in several places throughout Scripture, whenever we can do this in advance, we like to send out “spies in the land” to see what else we can glean in order to better target our prayers .  We also like to do advance research to see what historical events or actions  blessed the area (such as past revivals or good deeds) or added curses to it (such as broken covenants and the shedding of innocent blood).

In our scouting trip, we came across the location of one of the founding churches (Fourth Creek Meeting House established in 1750 – Presbyterian) plus Congregation Emmanuel, one of the oldest Jewish synagogues in North Carolina (established 1883). We also walked and prayed  through the neighborhood surrounding Mitchell Community College (located at the end of Broad Street) as well as walked / drove  / prayed up and down Broad and Center Streets.

THUMP! Rebuilding The Altar of Fire – February

We loosed worship, a brief teaching on the spiritual history of the region and prophetic decrees about Iredell County’s redemptive gifts of justice and healing.

Iredell County is named for James Iredell, a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States nominated by George Washington, and Statesville was originally established as a “site for the courthouse and stocks.” And, during the 1860s to 1930s, Statesville’s greatest period of growth,  one of their primary industries was the production of medicinal roots & herbs, which were shipped to all parts of the world.

Then a young man that lived in the area came forward and loosed a powerful prophetic song that blew out to the city a cry for the lost and a hunger for revival which shifted us into a higher realm of “seeking first the kingdom of God!” And we further decreed that just as Iredell County sits as a cross road of major highways for our region, that wind would blow out to the north, south, east and west on the Lord’s highway to gather in His sons & daughters.

Statesville Prayer Walk – March

Then we somehow came across a Facebook event for a prayer walk  for the City of Statesville being organized by Marc and Christina Pruitt. They said they were just two believers responding to the heart tug of the Lord for their city and asked if anyone was willing to walk in faith with them.  Yes, Lord!

And on that day, at least 25 folks, mainly strangers to one another, showed up from various churches – amazing! Yes, Lord! There was an instant camaraderie. Even while waiting to get started, some were able to pray for a police officer who had joined us.

And with the release of a Shofar sound at  the start of prayer, we all went like whoa! as an immediate response of a ram’s horn echoed in the distance –  a pastor just so happened to arrive at that very moment with his ram’s horn. There was a marked shift in the atmosphere!  After prayer, teams were formed and various routes divvyed out – we all headed out in different directions on a well-laid out path to “take the city!”

Government – County Jail

We (Helen and I) teamed up with a friend, Cindy Baker, and we headed first towards the county jail to speak redemption into the history of being known as a “stockhouse”.  In addition to loosing prayers for all the inmates, families and workers, we were blessed to be able to pray with a young man who had just come from visiting a loved one and was obviously distraught.

Cultural – Library and Art

Family and Spiritual – Meeting House & Jewish Synagogue

Education – Mitchell Community College

Business – Broad Street – Yes its time for revival!

THUMP, THUMP! Back in April and again for Breakthrough in June

When writing a note to share with a friend about what we had seen and experienced in Statesville, I looked for some pictures of the style of jackhammer I saw back in January and I found that they all function through compressed air. Our prayer during our time back in February included the Wind of the Spirit blowing, reviving us, our passion for Jesus, our passion for the lost. So we returned to  complete the “other two thumps”.

And in June, something tangibly had shifted, Sharon the director began spontaneously ministering to the different guests in attendance – you could tangibly feel the River of His Presence – refreshing peace, joy, healing, deliverance, empowerment!

Join Us December 9*

*This gathering has been rescheduled to Saturday, March 17, 2018 due to inclement weather – join us then!

Sharon wrote us several times afterwards to thank us and  she remarked about just how different things felt  in June. We ourselves want to jump again in that River so we will return this December.  If you are in the area, please join us!

Invite Us to Your City

And if you would like to invite our team to help you release a fresh outpouring of the  River of His life-changing Presence in your city, please contact us at info@releasingheaven.org.