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Why North Omaha?
While the journey of these North Omaha pastors began some years ago, it took a significant turn in April 2006 when they attended a Pastors’ Retreat where Wes Adams and Rhonda Hughey were speaking on presence-based revival and transformation. The Lord spoke to the leaders from N. Omaha clearly about the issue of prayer, repentance and transformation of their community. They heard the instruction of the Lord in 2 Chron. 7:14 and desperation gripped their hearts. They recognized their hearts had grown sick from hope deferred. That recognition contributed to their desperation.
They felt challenged by the transformational vision of what God wanted to do. But the devastated condition of their community, in spite of all their ministry for many years, seemed an insurmountable and unmovable mountain of impossibility. After years of ministry no long-lasting fruit was evident from all their individual labor. The reality was that their community was worsening on their watch!
The response of these pastors was immediate. Thursday evening some of them went home from the leaders’ retreat and began to repent to their families for their spiritual neglect and failure. Then on Sunday morning they repented to their congregations, and to their surprise the Lord came and began to minister to them in powerful ways!
Following a subsequent consultation with the Fusion Ministries team, the Lord confirmed to them to take a fresh look at their community and what He desired to do among them to bring healing and transformation. They set their hearts on the Lord and took responsibility for the “village” of N. Omaha. It’s fair to say that these leaders, their families and their congregations, even the community itself, will never be the same!
What followed was a year of repentance. Leaders continued to repent to the Lord for their lack of stewardship of their village. Leaders began repenting to one another and reconciling their hearts over wrong attitudes, offenses, etc. This repentance carried over into their congregations; and as it continued the Lord began to draw near to them. Soon the presence of the Lord increased in their services. People were getting physically healed of serious maladies and some financial miracles began occurring, etc.
During this early stage, an amazing thing happened. As the Fusion Ministries team began to walk alongside the leaders in N. Omaha, the Lord began to knit our hearts together. We realized that the Lord had called us to become partners in His Kingdom purposes for N. Omaha! On a foundation of friendship and submitting to each other, the Lord began to rest on us, speaking to us, directing us, encouraging us. We had no clear plan of action but we agreed to pursue the Lord together and see where we ended up!
In January 2007 the N. Omaha leaders decided to participate in the “Divine Experiment” that God had suddenly given Fusion . Without much information (because the Lord had so recently spoken to us about this), they abandoned themselves to a 21-day fast, a time of consecration and separation from the spirit of the world. They turned off their cell phones, stopped most regular church activities, added early morning, daily prayer meetings, turned off their televisions, stopped non-essential shopping and indulging in entertainment and other forms of idolatry. They fasted food and many other things to make themselves irresistible to God’s presence!
Much to our surprise, the Lord’s response to them was immediate and powerful. Within the first couple of days, dramatic breakthroughs were occurring and powerful testimonies were being shared. The Lord was doing much more than we expected. (See the January Participant Testimonies on: www.thedivineexperiment.com). We realized the Lord wanted to draw near to His people once they returned to Him with all their heart.
N. Omaha pastors and congregations participated in the Divine Experiment again in March and the Lord continued to move and take them deeper into His heart.
When it was suggested that the community was prepared for the actual transformation process and that the Fijian Healing the Land team was open to coming to lead them through that process, the leaders responded again with an immediate “yes” and with abandoned hearts to whatever the Lord wanted to do among them.
At every point and decision, the Lord’s will and the fullness of His Kingdom purposes was their objective. No matter how challenging this process sounded, they never compromised or held back. They never insisted on their own way or tried to protect their own ways and “culture”. They desperately wanted God to come to their village!
So we said “yes” together to the most incredible journey of our lives! The first transformation process in a Western World community was scheduled for Omaha, July 2007... As God promised in 2 Chron. 7:14, when His people who are called by His name humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, He will HEAR their cry! He will FORGIVE their sin! And He will HEAL their land! God has begun responding to their response as He promised.
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