A Time to Mourn 

Sept 29 - Oct 9, Northfield, Massachusetts

Wisdom Way--A Prayer Mission to New England

Our Call: Santa Fe, New Mexico—Early Fall 2004. During a season of fasting and seeking God concerning the unity of the Church and a personal call to ministry, the Lord showed me two 10 day periods of prayer that I was to call others to participate in. These two 10 Day periods were to be Sabbath times, where God’s people dropped their normal lives in order to seek God in an exclusive and intent way. 

10 Days in the Spring—Pentecost: That night, the Lord mentioned (almost as an aside) that I would be praying for 10 days leading up to Pentecost in 2005. Several months later I learned that the first Global Day of Prayer was being planned for Pentecost Sunday, 2005. Part of the strategy was to precede the Global Day with 10 days of 24/7 prayer, in imitation of the apostles before the first Pentecost. This remarkable providence, that God independently called me to participate in the first Global 10 days of prayer, served as a striking confirmation of His call to me that night.

10 Days in the Fall—The Days of Awe: However, the majority of our conversation that night centered around a second 10 day period of consecration in the fall. God said to me very clearly: “Babylon refuses to mourn”, a reference to the city of Babylon in the book of Revelation. If Babylon is characterized by a refusal to mourn, then God’s people will certainly mourn before Jesus’ return. I sensed God charging me to call the Church to a season of mourning—“A Time to Mourn”. I asked how this mourning was to take place—I was shown the 10 days period from Rosh HaShannah to Yom Kippur on the Jewish calendar. These “Days of Awe,” as they are sometimes called, were to be set apart by the Church for a 10 day fast focusing on corporate and personal repentance and allowing the Holy Spirit to bring us to face to face with the sorrow and evil in ourselves and in the world.

Our History: 2004-Present. After this amazing evening of encountering God, I realized that Rosh HaShannah was only two days away. So, my wife and I did the fast of “A Time to Mourn” together in 2004, discovering that it was indeed possible to survive 10 days on only juice. As a part of this call, I had sensed God calling me to drive to different ministries around the countries and extend the call of A Time to Mourn—drop everything, fast, and seek God for 10 days in community. From January to May 2005, I traveled around the country with my friend David, sharing God’s call for both 10 days with ministries in Southern California, Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, St. Louis, Chicago, and Washington DC. Along the way, we experienced the power and leading of God in fresh new ways. We also completely burned out at the end of the first Global Day of Prayer in 2005. Confused, angry, guilty, broke, and disappointed in the Church’s response to our call, I told God I did not want to work for Him anymore on the Monday after the Global Day of Prayer, May 16 2005. 

After months of extreme depression, Cassi and I arrived in New England feeling like exiles. I began attending Seminary at Gordon-Conwell and was directed to a healing prayer ministry by one of my professors. Slowly, I began to heal and regain hope. We did the Spring 10 days at our church, a mere 3 hours each night. 1 other person joined in—God showed up throughout and healed Cassi of strep-throat instantly on our wedding anniversary.

In 2006, we did “A Time to Mourn” with 7 others from our church. During this time, God gave me substantial healing from the pride that had haunted me from my youth. He also gave me an assignment, although I was not looking for one: “Call 120 to pray for 10 Days leading up to Pentecost”. He showed me four rooms of prayer—I saw people moving like bees between rooms for Worship, Intercession, Public Scripture Reading, and Silence. Jeff Marks, my mentor from New England Concerts of Prayer, encouraged and confirmed me in this call. I began to be involved in the New England Alliance, a regional group of leaders that was just beginning at the time. David McCahon, a prayer leader and pastor from the Pioneer Valley partnered with me at this time for our first 10 Days Northfield. Along the way, God amazingly confirmed each step we took. Among other signs, He confirmed our choice of location by showing us that DL Moody had done a similar 10 Days of Prayer in that very spot in 1880. 

From May 17-May 27 2007, a core group of about 12 people and 122 total people participated in the first ever 10 Days in Northfield, Mass., a place I had never heard of four months before we arrived. We capped our 10 days off by attending the New England wide GDOP in Fitchburg. Those of us who stayed for the entire 10 days left changed people, having experienced, in the words of one participant “a degree of unity that I did not believe possible before heaven.”

From May 1-May 11, 2008, a core group of about 25 adults and 10 children participated in the second 10 Days, Northfield. Our ranks ebbed and flowed with visitors who stayed a few nights and locals who showed up at night for dinner and worship—one night we served 90 people for dinner—our worship room was beginning to overflow. Local pastors got involved, met one another, prayed together, and served at the Lord’s Table together. The presence of God was strong, a tangible increase from last year—we each grew and changed so much and left with awesome stories of what God had done as well as a charge to “freely give” what God had given us during the 10 Days to our local churches. We were joined during this time by praying Christians around the world, but relationally by 10 days of prayer events in Salem, Haverhill, and Bethlehem, Israel. 

Our Vision: 2008-Christ's Return

Long Term Goals: Our long-term vision is to call the world Church to 20 days of “prayer vacation” every year—10 Days in the spring to immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit and be empowered for ministry in the present and 10 Days in the fall to fast, mourn and purify the Church for the future return of our Bridegroom. We truly believe this call is intended at this time for the Church in the entire world. This vision is not grandiose or outlandish; in fact, the Global Day of Prayer went from a city-wide prayer meeting in 2001 to a world-wide, 200 million person prayer meeting in just four years.

Implementation: Through the first two 10 Days at Northfield, we have gathered a committed group of people who are embracing this vision as their own. I am abundantly blessed to hear the sweet sound of people saying “our” vision, signifying that I am no longer carrying this burden alone. 

Growing 10 Days of Prayer: Our plan is to continue to steward the “retreat setting” for the spring 10 Days at Northfield, growing again next year in people and in intimacy with God at that location. At the same time, we will be inviting participants from the previous years who are appropriately gifted to do 10 days of prayer building up to Pentecost in their local communities. (For example, one pastor from New York has already stated his intention to do the 10 days with his entire congregation next year.) The Northfield setting is meant to be a staging ground and training place where people experience what it is like to do the 10 days and then contagiously carry the vision back to the Church in their city. Within five years, we hope to see entire congregations and city-wide Churches taking 10 day’s vacation together to seek God with one heart and one mind, resulting in the blessings of unity (Ps.133), a much greater empowerment of the Holy Spirit, a sense of “city-Church” and “regional Church” as opposed to “island-church,” and a great increase in hope, encouragement, spiritual fruit, and greater maturity and confidence in the use of spiritual gifts. We also hope and believe we will see the entire Northfield campus filled and set apart for prayer during that time—a city on a hill glowing with the presence of God.

Beginning A Time to Mourn in 2008: In obedience to God and in support of the New England Alliance’s Fall Solemn Assembly on Oct. 4, 2008, we hope to introduce the fall 10 Days (A Time to Mourn) this year in a retreat setting at Northfield. The dates for this year are September 29-October 9, so the Solemn Assembly will be sandwiched in between. I believe that by running both of these seasons of consecration together they will gather momentum for one another, speeding up the growth process spiritually, in leadership, and in the numbers of those participating. 

Leadership Nurturing and Training: We will continue to nurture the core relationships and partnerships that have developed through the 10 Days Northfield, holding regular planning meetings. As interest in these times of consecration grows, we will offer personal training and discipleship to those who God calls to lead 10 Day efforts within city-wide churches as a part of our ministry.

Exhortation and Calling the Church: As God enables us and gives us favor with other ministries and churches, we will communicate this vision in churches from the pulpit and call all Christians to participate in these “divine vacations”.

Founding, Building, Participating in, and Supporting Houses of Prayer: Our calling is a complement to the “house of prayer” movement. As such, we will do all that we can to foster communities of prayer that operate year-round.

Active Participation in the life of the local church: Finally, we will actively support and be involved in our local churches as a part of this ministry.

Core Values:

Devotion: The primary purpose of these times is to love on God and our Savior Jesus Christ. We do this to please Him and because we love Him.

Unity: We are committed to loving one another as Christ loved us. We are committed to tasting the unity that Jesus prays for in our 10 day gatherings and to seeing “with our own eyes” the fulfillment of Jesus’ John 17 unity prayer in the world Church. 

Time: One of the biggest hindrances to the work of God is that God’s people do not give Him adequate time to transform them. Busy-ness is the chief enemy of the Church in America. Taking 10 days exclusively for the Lord and for serving one another is a way to separate ourselves from a lifestyle of busy-ness and open ourselves up to God’s leading, re-direction, and maturing process.

Rhythm: God is calling His people to a radical re-allocation of their time and He is giving them a rhythm. The 10 days is not a one time event. It is an annual component of Church life that allows believers around the world to open themselves up to God’s love and empowerment for ever-increasing growth and strength. It is a part of a yearly cycle that complements our daily and weekly cycles of worship, rest and work.

Rest: This new rhythm (annual extended communal times of prayer) is in line with the Sabbath principle in the Scriptures. As we learn how to rest, we desire to come out of the 10 days of prayer feeling rested and ready for whatever God gives us to do.

Family: This is for everyone, especially for children. A house of prayer must allow room for kids to be kids and actively invite entire families to engage with God together.

Calling: These times of prayer were not called for by a human being, but by God. As such, we must steward this call as something that has been entrusted to us by God.

Empowerment: Only the Holy Spirit can empower the Church to “live worthy of her calling.” We believe that it is important to acknowledge that with our time and actions. 

Organization: We are not seeking to develop a hierarchy or an organization, but rather to participate in and steward a movement of the Spirit. As such, we must be “like the wind”, as are all who are led by the Spirit. Our model for growth is to invite people to Northfield in the fall and spring and allow the seed to be planted in them by God. We will provide training and support when desired and maintain a supportive relational network of people who are all committed to the core vision. As the vision grows in individual hearts, vision carriers will return to their local contexts and become seed for the 10 Days in their local context. As spring and fall 10 Day movements spring up throughout New England, they will be organizational independent of us but relationally connected.