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Santa Rosa, CA
A medium-sized city of 161,000 in Sonoma County, Santa Rosa is an hour’s drive from San Francisco. The spiritual leaders of Santa Rosa have a 12-year history of connecting with God and one another in prayer summits, and they still carry on a monthly, interchurch Friday-night prayer gathering called “CitiReach.” In recent years the leadership team there has established rapport and credibility with city and county governments, involving churches to help with local problems with gangs and also with mobilizing several congregations to participate in the annual “Spring Clean,” where they literally clean up the city. I’ve been invited back soon to prepare them to launch their citywide effort.
One of the original nine LC2C pilot cities,
Santa Rosa has had a significant prayer movement since the 1990s and well-established partnerships and collaboration among churches, ministries, and city officials. The local alliance of church, civic, and marketplace leaders, called Together in Christ, has found favor with the mayor, the city council, and the governor through its community service efforts.
Coachella Valley, CA
Lighthouses of the Valley
The Coachella Valley in Southern California is a 45-mile desert valley comprised of fourteen contiguous communities (combined population 410,000), including the resort destination of
Palm Springs. It is one of the world's premier golf destinations, and one of Condé Nast’s top 10 global vacation destinations. It’s also one of the fastest growing areas in the country with a population mix of conservative and liberal. The Lighthouse of the Valley Movement (LOV) began with pastors coming together to pray and seek unity and God’s blessing for their communities. It has grown to include a cross-denominational group of more than 100 pastors, churches, para-church groups and marketplace leaders. A major challenge for the Church in the
Coachella
Valley is that the spiritual darkness there is growing at a significant rate. The Light of Christ is spreading at an increasing rate as well through the LOV Movement, and the result is a great clash between light and darkness.
San Bernardino, CA
Pastor Josh Beckley of San Bernardino is being used by God in an amazing way. With a God-given vision and with permission from school authorities, Pastor Josh gathered a group of pastors to prayer-walk junior high and high school campuses in their city—which is known for gang violence and inner-city issues—with dramatic results. Pastors on the Premises go not to preach but just to pray with kids and encourage them. Kids run up to the pastors and ask what they are doing there, and the kids ask for counsel or for prayer for tests or for family issues. Within two years of praying on campuses, the student-expulsion rate has gone from 70-80 percent down to 20 percent, and in some schools to no expulsions. Violence on campus is also significantly reduced and, with such dramatic changes, Pastors on the Premises now have the approval of the superintendent of schools to minister in some 40 schools in that area.
Fresno, CA
Church leaders reported that the city of Fresno allowed a Christian rock concert to be held, with 10,000 young adults attending. This was very encouraging and was viewed as a very significant outreach to a younger generation and ethnic mix.
In 1995, Fresno was the most violent city in California per capita (population 491,000) , but a strong prayer movement was taking place in Fresno from 1991-2001. By the year 2000, crime had dropped 43% and
Fresno was named one of ten all-American cities. (This annual award by the National Civic League recognizes communities whose citizens work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results.) The foundation of prayer in this region has led to a long history of unity among pastors and church mission leaders, and good relationships between Christian ministries. Now, many of the top local government leaders in
Fresno are Christians and several coalitions and networks are focused on community transformation. More than 1,000 Lighthouses pray, care, and share with their neighbors. Since partnering with Loving Our Communities to Christ, 100 pastors and ministry leaders have gone through prayer-care-share training, along with 1500 lay people.
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