FredMcKinnon.Com

Howdy Folks,

I’m headed out for a 3-day spiritual retreat.  I’m joining a group of “mighty men” for 3 days of prayer, fasting, and worship.  With exception of the last two years, I’ve been able to unplug and pull away in mid-January for the last 12 years.

This retreat is an incredible time.  Each person who attends will write their name on a big dry erase board and write down what they need to hear from God about.  Their visions, trials, struggles, dreams, and needs.  We intercede over that the entire time.  At some point, each person will sit down in “the prayer chair” where all of us will gather around for focused prayer and intercession.

Our fearless leader moved away and the retreat didn’t happen last year so I decided to try and pick up the baton and keep it going.  I’m proud to be joined by some of my worshiping friends here like Shannon Lewis and Russ Hutto.  I’m hopeful that my pastor and some of our pastoral staff will join us as well.

Would you pray for me?  Pray for:

* ability to hear God’s voice clearly.
* confidence to do what He instructs
* God’s anointing and discernment as I bring these men together
* the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to flow through me, so that I can be an encouragement to those who attend
* fresh vision and insight

Thanks a ton.  I’ll be back later this week.  Until then, have fun and be blessed!

For the Kingdom,
Fred

Tomorrow morning (Friday, August 14) at 8:30 AM – EST

Right here – in the “LIVE” section …

Why not start your weekend with me for about 15-20 minutes of worship and prayer.  I’ll be having a time of worship and prayer in my studio and I’d like you to join with me.  I realize many folks are:

1 – already at work
2 – asleep (west coast)

But for those who can tune in – even for a few minutes, come jump in and swim in the river of God’s greatness with me!

Hey Everybody -

Happy 4th of July.  I’ve seen this prayer request for the last couple of days on Twitter and Blogville – I’m just getting up to speed.  Please stop and pray for 5-yr old Kate McRae.

She’s the daughter of this young couple out in Phoenix, and was just diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in her brain.  As of the last update, they did surgery and removed some of the tumor.  My precious Rebekah is this age, so this story hit close to home.  I read all 7 pages of her updates with tears in my eyes.  I can relate to the love these parents have for their precious daughter.

You can follow her story and prayer updates on CaringBridge.Org

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working…” (James 5:16b, ESV, YouVersion.Com)

Maybe, just maybe, you don’t feel so righteous right now.  Well, if you are a Christian, I’d like to remind you that your righteousness comes from the precious blood of Jesus Christ, not your own good works.  So hunker down and pray for this little one.  Let’s join together in faith and agreement for this little girl’s healing.

Below is a video from her parents:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ese3zYZ-NA4[/youtube]

Hey Gang,

Busy week, so I haven’t been on the blog schedule here. Yesterday we had a great time in prayer and worship with a young lady who has been out at IHOP (no, not the pancake place) for a couple of years. She led our worship and prayer time and talked about contemplative prayer.

She told a cool story about wanting to “know God” and for God to “know her” and how she asks God “where would you like to meet”? She described how God would speak to her via her imagination and she’d see herself in a beautiful garden with Jesus.

We were encouraged to get quiet before the Lord and ask that question. I was afraid I’d have this dumb, blank stare after asking that question in prayer, but immediately got an image in my “mind’s eye” (imagination).

I was with Jesus under a makeshift tent canopy on the beach. It reminded me of the scene in the Bible where Jesus has a fire going on the beach and cries out to Peter and the others to come in from fishing and join him.

It was drizzling, and there was a small campfire blazing just a few feet in front of the opening of this tent. It was just me and Jesus.

At one point, I caught my mind drifting off into the cares of this life … and when I realized I’d lost focus on my ‘conversation’ with Jesus, I saw myself standing outside, pacing the beach in the rain. I leaned over and tucked my head back under the canopy, sat down, and said “I’m back, Jesus – I got distracted there”. He smiled and said “that’s quite alright”.

Weird? Maybe to you. It was a refreshing, real experience for me. I enjoyed His Presence, and my “casual talking” with Christ like I’ve not enjoyed it in a long time.

So, if you’re up to the challenge … pull yourself away … close your door … calm your soul … and say “Jesus, where would you like to meet?” and simply write down the place that comes to mind in your imagination.

If you’re comfortable sharing it – let us know – leave a comment below.

Hey everyone,

A rare Saturday post – I’d like to recap a wonderful conference we had at SSCC this weekend.  We had this guy named Tom Tanner come and speak about prayer – individual and corporate.  Tom pastors a church called Riverstone in Kennesaw, GA.

I really enjoyed leading worship – we used a smaller band because until a couple of days ago, this event was planned for our “Rooftop” room that seats around 250-300, but when registration exceeded that – we moved to the main auditorium.

Tom said lots of things that were just “good stuff” this weekend.  A few that really jumped out today were:

“we’re not praying to each other, we’re  praying to God”
(about praying out loud together)

“do you want your church’s corporate prayer to sound like a rushing river, or a toilet with a broken flapper”?
(about corporate praying out loud, everyone praying lifting up their voices simultaneously)

“pour the fuel of discipline on the spark of desire”
(about creating a discipline to pray)

“why can you all believe that God created all the heavens and earth just by speaking, but you won’t believe that he could grow feet on a guy”
(re: a Smith Wigglesworth story of how a guy with no feet was miraculously healed)

“if God told you to stand in your chair and praise Him, would you do it”?
(God sometimes calls us to do some weird things)

“get a place – find a place for prayer – let it be your prayer place … George Whitefield prayed in a treehouse – because nobody bothered him there”.
(actually, I think maybe that was Jonathan Edwards, but maybe George Whitefield, too … doesn’t matter, I got the idea!)

This was the first event of 2009 that we are calling “Reach for More” events.  These events are for those Believers who are hungry and thirsty for “more”.  For one, I’m thrilled that we’re stepping out and doing things like this – our Sunday morning environment is wonderful, and God touches hearts and changes lives, but we still walk a fine line in having liberty for Christians to express themselves passionately and trying to maintain an atmosphere that is “friendly” to the Seeker.

We prayed for three very specific things for our church today:

1. Supernatural grace for our debt to be paid off
2. That we would become a house of prayer
3. That we would not wait for the lost to come to us; rather, we’d go to the lost

I’m stirred, and feel a rekindling of passion in my prayer life.  Oh dear God, please help me to take what I learned this weekend and put it into practice, and not just go back to my old patterns.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.