Pastors and Intercessors Gather Deep in the Loudoun Woods

Isaiah’s Commission

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” [Isaiah 6:1-8]

I woke up early on Saturday morning eager to get dressed and leave my Sterling home, heading west on Route 7. After grabbing a 7-11 coffee, I continued driving west to Leesburg, then north on Route 15. At Lucketts, I turned left on Stumptown Road and then right on New Valley Church Road, driving leisurely among beautifully landscaped homes with a perfect view of the Catoctin hills. I made my final left hand turn and moved along slowly up a winding gravel road deep into the Loudoun woods stopping at 13951 Freedom Center Lane in North Leesburg near Lucketts. 

Community Prayer Watch, in association with Intercessors for America, invited a number of pastors and ministry leaders to participate in the second Pastors’ Prayer Retreat from 8:30 to 11:30 AM Saturday, March 19, 2011. The event was again held at Leesburg’s Freedom Center (http://www.freedomcenter.us).

The hosts began the event by thanking the attendees for setting aside half of their day to enhance prayer, unity and fellowship among the Christian pastors of Loudoun County. Prioritizing for group prayer is most advantageous for Our Lord’s blessing on His work through the various churches and ministries in our community. All agreed that we expected to experience the active presence of God and find strategic direction and empowerment for accomplishing the goals of gospel ministry together in and through our churches. Our hearts are prepared to intercede and to receive from heaven a personal vision for worship that will enhance unity and please our Lord.

The pastors represented various church denominations and came from many townships to join in united prayer for God’s blessings on all the churches and all 312,000 citizens of the county. The Prayer Watch coordinators are praying to realize an increase in the number of such gatherings and in pastoral participation across the county and Northern Virginia.

Pastor Bobby Alger of Crossroads Community Church, Winchester VA, was the facilitator of the prayer meeting. Isaiah 6:1-8 was used as the text for the morning pastoral prayer time. The passage began with encountering God in a time of national crisis. From that point Isaiah empowers himself with a “help me” God prayer. Finally it ends with hearing God’s voice to take action in bringing God’s healing message to His people.

Pastors were invited to place themselves in the circumstance of Isaiah and personalize the scriptures. At one point spontaneous declarations took place of declaring God’s glory in business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, the Church and family. Understanding Isaiah 6:1-8 is to recognize the awesome beauty, glory and perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can best see Our Load “high and mighty” only if you are low and kneeling down. Worship requires the recognition of Christ’s perfection and our imperfection. Humility is the proper posture in worship.

In times of turmoil, it is natural to focus on people, problems and circumstances rather than God. Although we seldom think about it, worship is even more necessary in times of trial, crises and disaster. Worship removes our focus from self, others and chaos and redirects it to God. Isaiah demonstrated such a shift in focus when he mourned the death of King Uzziah.

In essence, the gathering prayed to God to raise up agents to scale the mountains and to help a new generation of people understand the big picture, i.e., educate those who wish to become change agents in culture for Christian values and to connect like-minded men and women for a common vision.

Directly after the Pastors’ Retreat, Reverend Jack Stagman and Cindy Crosby lead worship and City Prayer with the remaining pastors and supporting intercessors. Discussions were also held to provide status on upcoming prayer events regarding the various 24/7 prayer ministries in Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg and Purcellville. Photo is courtesy of http://www.davidmadisonphotography.com.

Some of the pastors’ reflections on the prayer gathering are as follows:

“After having worked for ten years as a missionary from South Africa amongst pastors of various denominations in Loudoun County, I believe those few pastors who see themselves as elders of a city have demonstrated their love for one another and are committed to working with other pastors across denominations and racial boundaries. These pastors are building relationships, trust and respect for one another and are doing far more together than those operating in isolation. This group of pastors are united and taking the advancement of God’s Kingdom in Loudoun county to a whole new level as they work and pray together. I see a trend of more and more pastors cooperating and they give me hope and inspiration and are a brilliant light in a dark world. Pastor Bobby Alger from Winchester was outstanding at facilitating the pastor’s retreat.” [Reverend Jack Stagman Transformation Forum, Purcellville]

“From the moment we stepped into the chapel, we knew God was orchestrating something special. The union of so many pastors from Loudoun County and Winchester was unheard of in our circle. But we couldn’t stop wondering what God is going to do with all of us. We thought there is a great spiritual potential represented here. This can only mean that God wants to unite us because he is sending a great revival to enlighten the people of Loudoun County.”

“And though the prayer and the meditation on Isaiah 6 was great, we also couldn’t stop thinking that we needed to act, we needed to start planning something big, we needed to come together into one heart and mind and plan how are we going to reach into the people of Loudoun County and save them. I’m sure each Christian in this county could say, ‘I’m light.’ But why is there so much darkness in Loudoun County? If we are the light, why is there so much darkness? We are glad these types of meetings are happening because we still have time and we still can plan a strategy to transform the face of Loudoun County. God is doing something special here. Let’s take this opportunity to work together, to pray together and to preach together to the community.” [Pastor Salvador Henriquez and son Adriel Henriquez, Iglesia Cristiana Nuevo Renacer, Leesburg]

“Our nation is in a spiritual, moral and economic crisis. 2 Chronicles 7:14 provides us with a divine paradigm for transforming this crisis into triumph: ‘If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’ At the retreat I witnessed pastors humbling their hearts in worship before Almighty God to receive the ‘fire seeds’ of His Word, repent from sin and offer songs of praise, thanksgiving, prayers and testimonies. The fire of the Holy Spirit filled our hearts and is now spreading into our churches and communities. Get ready to catch the fire!” [Rev. Dean F. Schultz, Founder, Worship Equippers for Christ, Sterling; and worship leader for pastor’s retreat]

Directly after the Pastors’ Retreat, Reverend Jack Stagman and Cindy Crosby led worship and City Prayer with the remaining pastors and supporting intercessors. Discussions were held to provide status on upcoming prayer events regarding the various 24/7 prayer ministries in Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg and Purcellville. These transformation prayer groups are no longer meeting in churches. They meet in train stations, recreational centers and in the offices of faith-based non-profit organizations. The result is an influx of pastors who never before attended community meetings but are motivated to participate or lead community prayers. Pastors are challenged to go into the streets and be at the forefront of community involvement and prayer initiatives.

All over Loudoun County, with its “urban eastern” to “rural western” diversity, pastors, ministers and church leaders are transcending obstacles to Christian unity and finding strong foundational ties and common ground in prayer. A retired pastor interviewed for this article said, “It’s amazing the unity we experience when ministers of various church identities pray together. We see how much more it unites us than divides us.” Then he added, “Pastors often feel isolated and alone in their calling to serve God and their flock. Praying with other ministers brings an encouraging perspective.”

I believe Christian society has yet to comprehend the importance prayer has in releasing the will of God. We need to educate believers with the fact that one has to pray for change in this world by committing all things to prayer. Jesus Christ always went to pray to the Father for guidance and comfort. Believe in the “unity among elders” to continue this reformation and the gathering will duplicate what was said of the early Church in Acts 4:32: “Now the multitude of those who believed was of one heart and mind.”

Upcoming local faith activities are as follows:

Opening Ceremony for Bible Reading Marathon 12:00 Noon, April 30th. What an awesome opportunity for the whole Body of Christ to join together publicly at the Loudoun Courthouse grounds.
Bible Reading Marathon (90 hours) 4th Annual, April 30th- May 5th – All are invited to read at the tent located on North King Street at the North Side of the Law Library.
National Day of Prayer Thursday, May 5th. Evening Service will be at Prison Fellowship in Lansdowne.
Rebuilding the Wall of Prayer for Loudoun. The plan is to have every day of the month covered in prayer and fasting by numerous churches and ministries. Believers can also pray at home, from work or in prayer groups for just one hour a week. The truth is that unity is powerful and so is love. It is even greater when we unite with God’s heart for our community.

For more information on other community-wide prayer opportunities, please visit Community Prayer Watch at http://www.communityprayerwatch.net.