Fire Station - By Alicia Kanode

We met in the Upper Room once again this past Friday night for Fire Station! As we gathered together, Corey, Taylor and Dale led us in a beautiful time of worship. During this time, some people also shared visions/revelations that the Lord had given them. After worship, Sean gave an invitation for people to share testimonies. A number of people did so, sharing stories of how they have seen God working – in their own lives and even at Hershey Park!

Jeff Nolt then spoke about life in the Spirit. He quoted Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” He shared that he believes we are in the midst of a season of CHANGE in the body of Christ. At the same time, he said that God wants to partner with us to bring revival; He is looking for a people to pray it and believe it.

Finally, he challenged us to care for our spirits like we care for our physical bodies. Some key ways to do this: Eat of God’s word (Matthew 4:4b – “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”) Spend time with Him, receiving from Him (1st Corinthians 12:13b – “we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”) Live a lifestyle of confession and repentance (Psalm 139:23 & 24 – “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”) He also reminded us of the key fact that the Israelites were to gather fresh manna every day. We can’t live on the relationship or experiences of the past.

After he spoke, there was an opportunity given for people to respond to the word that was given and/or to receive prayer. Multiple people were prayed for and a number of us stood in for friends who are struggling with illness. God touched and spoke to many of us. We trust that He will continue to do so as we continue to seek Him together and offer ourselves to Him in order that we may partner with Him in His work. May He receive all praise, honor and glory!

Fire Station ~ by Alicia Kanode

We had another amazing night at the Fire Station! Karen started us off with prayer and then shared about “open heavens.” She spoke from a number of scriptures, including Genesis 28 and Revelation 4:1-2, about the open heavens that Jacob and John experienced in those two passages. She also shared a quote from a plaque that had been given to her when she was young: “Those that see the invisible can do the impossible.” She closed with 2nd Corinthians 4:18, reminding us to “fix our eyes…on what is unseen,” that we are citizens of heaven, and that we can speak the Kingdom of heaven into the earth.

Austin and Lauren then led us in a powerful time of worship. As we sought to worship and bless God, He also blessed us as we experienced His presence among us! The Lord spoke through Lauren, encouraging us to “linger” in His presence, which we did for some time.

Following worship, Sean spoke about Jesus as “Immanuel – God with us.” He directed our attention to Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1 – the prophecy and fulfillment of Immanuel. Sean explained that Adam and Eve walked in unhindered relationship with God in the Garden of Eden and that Jesus came to restore us to that place of right relationship with God. He also reminded us that not only can we say that God was with us when Jesus walked on the earth, but God is with us even now. As Sean said, “We are walking in a season of God with us.” Sean’s talk spurred some good discussion and dialogue among the group.

Austin and Lauren then led in some more worship as people ministered to one another, fellowshipped and soaked in the presence of the Lord.

The Fire Station is Heating Up!

Sometimes we make plans and then God changes them. Needless to say His plans are much better. We had several new people with us last night at the Fire Station. We began as normal with an extended time of worship led by Jen and the band.

After about an hour or so we moved into a testimony time. Several people shared about how they had been impacted by the last Fire Station. Karen shared about how God healed her persistent lower back problem (she literally felt like God replaced a vertebra in her back, sweet!). Sean asked for others with back problems to go to the side so that Karen could pray for them to receive the same type of healing.

To our surprise about 60% of the group stood up and went to receive prayer for their backs. Sean shared briefly about God character as seen in His encounter with Moses (Ex. 34). God is good and in the goodness of His nature He likes to see us healed not just spiritually but also mentally and physically as well.

As Sean was sharing God was already at work doing His thing. One woman who had come for the first time had a broken elbow that she injured rollerskating in May of 2008. She testified that while we were sharing about our testimonies and Gods goodness that her elbow began to tingle/burn (as we all know "heat is good"). Jen asked if she could do something she couldn't do before and she told us that the pain was gone and the she could move it freely now. Praise God!

Well this is just one of the many testimonies of How God met people last night. It was just another good night in the Kingdom. If you haven't made it out to a Fire Station yet we would highly recommend coming out and hanging out with us and God. You never know what might happen next.

Harrisburg Discipleship Center YES Teams

We returned to the Harrisburg Discipleship Training Center last night. We were asked to come and minister prophetically to the YES (Youth Evangelism Service) teams before they leave for their overseas assignments. So we took a great team of Firestarters with us to get the teams fired up.

Jen shared with students from Mat. 10:16 and encouraged them to be as smart, alert and perceptive like snakes and as innocent, pure and unmixed with the world like a peaceful, restful dove. She encouraged them to stay unified as they go. Sean shared from Luke 9 & 10 about the power & authority that Jesus sends us out with and the need for the power of the Holy Spirit. The ministry team then prayed over each team.

Austin & Lauren kept a steady stream of worship going while the ministry teams spent time praying for each of the outreach teams. It was encouraging to see the teams grouped together as we prayed for them. We sensed that God was already working His unity into the groups. We were also encouraged by the groups hunger for God and their openness to Him.

Please keep these teams in your prayers as they head out after Thanksgiving to spread the fire of God throughout the world.

Another Outrageous Fire Station!

We had another tremendous time together on Tonight at the Fire Station! Jen & the Firestarters band kicked it of leading us in an extended time of worship. Jen asked for people to share any words or scriptures that God was putting on our hearts and several people shared. Some of the scriptures shared include; Ps 139:5b, 7-10, Ps 34:4-19, Ps 91, and Is 40. Many of these verses spoke of God presence and His salvation and deliverance, all of which we experienced.

After worship Sean shared about the importance of receiving the power of God's Holy Spirit to equip us to do the tasks He has called us to. He read from Acts 1:4-8 when Jesus commands the disciples to wait for the promise of His Spirit (the baptism of "fire"). Jesus told them the with this "fire" (v.8) they will receive the power to fulfill the commands of Christ (the great commission). Sean then shared about his experience of seeking for more of God and his experience of receiving the "fire" of God's Spirit.

Sean invited people who had never received a deeper revelation of the presence and Spirit of God to come front for prayer. God touched many people as they received a fresh touch from God and revelation from His Spirit. Testimonies are coming in about how people experienced the power of God. Several people experienced physical healing as well! We will be posting some of these testimonies on our web site soon.

It can certainly be said that God showed up, as He likes to do, and made this an outrageous time! We are looking forward to the next Fire Station with much expetation!

Discipleship Ministries Staff Retreat

We had the privilege of spending time with some pretty awesome folks from Eastern Mennonite Missions's (EMM) Discipleship Ministries (DM) department today. After some shady directions (courtesy of Google) and turning into what looked like a cult like compound (really it was just a farm in the middle of nowhere) we arrived at the "retreat center". The small place had a spectacular view through a wall of windows overlooking a serene pond (which Ryan told us some interesting stories about, TMI - too much info). :>

After introductions, Sean shared some thoughts about being rooted in intimacy with God and checking to make sure that we are not rooted in something else. Thanks to Corey Martin for coming along and leading us in an intense time of worship that really opened up the doors as God began to move. Sean shared a vision that Jen had while praying for this time. (Jen was not feeling well and was not able to come along, she was extremely missed.) Jen's saw a picture of a group of people in a boat going down a river, but the boat got caught on a rock and stopped moving forward. We believe this picture means (at least in part) that God is encouraging us that even if we are in the "river of His Spirit" we need to make sure we don't get caught up on things along the way. Specifically we sensed one of the "rocks" we can get caught on is "unbelief".

Joanie Nissley shared with me a word about people wanting to be released in the joy of the Lord (Mal 4:2 confirmed this word). These words opened up the door for us to pray for several of the DM staff. It was an exciting time as everyone pressed in and shared the word of the Lord with each other.

I (Sean) was particularly impressed with the hunger and passion that I sensed from the DM staff as well as their openness and humility. I was also blessed to have the awesome support of Jason & Joanie and Correy. Thanks everyone who also prayed with us for this time. It was truly and awesome experience.

Harrisburg Discipleship Center

A team of Firestarters volunteers traveled to Harrisburg tonight to serve at a missionary training base there named "The Harrisburg Discipleship Center" or HDC. HDC is a ministry of Discipleship Ministries, which is associated with Eastern Mennonite Missions.

The staff and students gathered at around 7:00pm to meet with us. We were asked to do an evening of "prophetic ministry," while keeping it "low-key" since some in the group may never have experienced anything like this before. We were planning to do some impromptu (or prophetic) worship and pretty basic sharing and teaching, intending to keep it "low-key" as we were asked to do.

Well, we started off according to plan - with Sean sharing about having our roots deep in relationship with God. And Jen shared breifly about what "prophetic ministry" is. Jen then explained that one part of prophetic ministry is prophetic worship - and this concept is actually right there in the Greek definition of the root word meaning "prophecy" in the New Testament.

We were not sure how the group would respond to prophetic worship, so we started "slow" but they didn't keep up with our pace at all. :> They went deep and FAST! We spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how to keep up with them!

The students just seemed like sponges in God's presence, soaking up His peace and joy, scribbling His revelations in their journals, ministering and encouraging one another. We spent most of the evening simply worshipping God and being with him together.

Then we noticed it was getting late, so we asked one of the HDC staff if we should go ahead and dismiss and welcome any who would like prayer to stick around. They ok-ed this plan and we proceeded to "dismiss"... Well, dismissals only work if people actually want to leave! Many students stayed and more than we imagined waited until quite late to recieve prayer. We witnessed God bring breakthroughs and we saw many students being very encouraged.

We were inspired by this group's desire for God and we hope we were a blessing and inspiration to them too! We look forward to going back to HDC in November to minister to them one more time before they leave for outreach.

The First Fire Station!

Tonight we had our FIRST Fire Station meeting at the Upper Room in Landisville, PA. Thanks to our friends, the Benner family, for letting us use this wonderful facility!

For months now we have been hearing people share their desire for in depth teaching and personal ministry opportunities... And we believe this is the right season for us to start offering these things to those in the area who are interested.

Our first Fire Station was a lot of fun with a little over an hour of worship. We call this type of worship "soaking" worship and by that we mean - worship that allows you some time to focus in and "soak" in God's presence. The band gelled wonderfully during this impromptu time of being with God.

During worship two people's throats started hurting badly and it ended up being a word of knowledge for someone there who had a problem with her throat starting to hurt terribly right before she led worship. Later we realized that both of the other people who got the word of knowledge for this person were also worship leaders. We took time to pray for this person and they felt a release in their throat. We also prayed for another person who had a throat virus.

Sean shared about making sure our "root" is intimacy with God. If our foundation (or root) is anything else - we will be easily shaken in our Christian life. We took time looking into God's written word to see this concept so clearly in John 15:5. We spent some time searching our hearts, asking God what our root really is.

We ended with a time of hanging out, drinking coffee, and eating a ton of snack food. :> It was a great night - and one I find myself thinking back on often and being inspired by the things I learned and witnessed.

We look forward to more times of growth and "refueling" together at November's Fire Station meetings!

Fire Station Coming

For the past two months we have been asking God to make clear His vision for Firestarters in this next season. When Firestarters launched this past spring we started out doing a lot of events in churches. And these evnts were focused on young adults. We still plan to do more events of this nature, but we did not believe God wanted Firestarters to be limited to only doing this particular type of event.

So after praying and fasting, we believe God gave us a vision for "The Fire Station." This will be a place where people in the area can come to simply be spiritually fueled up.

There will be soaking worship, and by that we mean worship that will last for quite a while so that people can bask and soak in God's presense.

There will be kingdom ministry training. By this we mean the teaching will be intended to train people up for kingdom ministry. Some teaching will be live, some by us, some by guest speakers. And some teaching will be projected by a video projector so we can have "guests" like Randy Clark and Bill Johnson via video.

And there will be opportunities for personal ministry for those who desire it.

Feel free to drop by and check it out! All are welcome.

Firestarters at Gateway House of Prayer

We had a great time tonight from 6-8pm at Gateway, a place where worship and intercession are offered to God 24/7. Jen led the Firestarters band in worship and together we enjoyed "just being" with God and with each other.

Psalm 91:1-2 were theme verses during this time. Dwelling in God's house, enjoying his presence, having his resources at hand, and experiencing his protection were focused on quite a bit during the beginning of the evening. Jen then sensed that we were to pray for people in the room who needed breakthrough (physical, emotional, spiritual...). Vaious people responded saying they need breakthrough, and others gathered around them and prayed for them.

Then we turned our focus towards intercesstion and began to pray for breakthrough for Lancaster county. We prayed for revival, for a revelation of Jesus Christ, for unity in the churches, for pastors and leaders, for those in ministry who are tired to be refreshed, and for prodicals to come home, among many other things. At one point Jen sensed the Lord was guiding us to gather in groups and pray for each other, confessing our own sins, and praying that these sins will be abolished in this region.

At the very end of our time Jen believed she was to invite testimonies to be shared. One person testified of a healing God had done recently. Another person experienced God filling them up during our time together. Someone shared that they had come with bitterness and anger about something and during the evening they literally felt it come off of their shoulders. Various other testimonies were given and it was fun to hear people excited to give God glory and praise in this way.

It seems that Gateway House of Prayer acts somewhat like a telescope, helping people to focus in on the reality of God's presence. A telescope is definted as "an arrangement of lenses or mirrors or both that gathers visible light, permitting direct observation..." Here in this worship and prayer bathed place, it seems that God's heart easily comes into focus.

Firestarters Ignited Event

Thanks, Joe, Rich and the other Mount Joy Mennonite pastors, leaders and church members for your warm hospitality and willingness to allow Firestarters to meet in your facility over the summer months!

Before this particular event God told one of our staff members that this event would be a "surprize." And she sensed a lot of momentum. Well, she was right on! We were suprized when hardly anyone showed up, even though this was the most advertized event we have done so far. There were maybe 35 - 40 people there and about half of them were our staff. But God had prepared us for this and beforehand He had told us not to worry about how many people came. He said "You will be a burning bush for some Moseses tonight." And so we were.

Jen started things off talking about worship that pleases God. She read about the "sinful" woman who poured perfume on Jesus' feet and washed them with her tears. God wants true worship and we should be careful not to judge others' worship around us (as Simon the leper and the disciples did with this woman). We had an awesome time of worship together afterwards!

Then Sean taught about passion, purpose and destiny. He challenged us all to not settle for mediocrity when God wants us to pursue the purposes that He has put on our hearts. He spoke with resolve and passion, reguardless of his small audience. Later we heard how lifechanging this message had been for some listening.

At around 9:00/9:30pm we invited anyone who desired it up to be prayed for. No one came, so we dismissed everyone and continued to worship for a while, determined to be that "burning bush" even if just for a few. A few people left, but most just stayed sitting in their seats, as though waiting for a Holy Spirit oencore. Then one by one people started to come to the altar for prayer for passion, purpose and destiny to be fully released in their lives until all 6 ministry team members were praying with people with others still waiting for prayer.

By 11:00pm many people were still there worshipping and praying together, most of them staff at this point. God was giving prophetic words and one staff member testify of being healed of Asthma! She had been prayed for at a Firestarters staff meeting a few weeks ago and since then has not needed her inhaler!

God truly prepared us for this night and what He told us came to pass. We were suprized as God said we would be. We sensed we were a "burning bush" and several "Moseses" in training were there. And there was an amazing amount of momentum, especially amoung the staff! Completely unfazed by the shallow turn out, 2 more people joined Firestarters volunteer staff at this event!

Firestarters at HDC

We had a good night at the Harrisburg Discipleship Center (HDC) last night. Thanks to Chris for allowing us to come and share with you all. Thanks as well to Rachel for initiating our visit. We met at Loren & Doreen's house which was great and even better they had COFFEE, Starbucks too! (You guys rock, not just because of the coffee but that defiantly helps.)

We were impressed by the "swording" ability of the HDC staff - who can find the verse first? Jen started off by talking about what Jesus said in Luke 11 - when he encouraged the disciples to ask for the Holy Spirit and be confidant that God will answer. She encouraged us to resist unbelief and to give God glory at every opportunity.

Sean shared some thoughts from the life of Jesus. Not "What would Jesus do?" but "What DID Jesus do?" To answer that question we took a look at several verses where Jesus sent out His disciples and gave them the power and the authority to do the very things that He was doing. Sean challenged the group about expecting God to do powerful things when we pray. We also talked about being aware of that "inner voice" the voice of Gods Spirit within us. Just like the many radio and TV waves that surround us but we can not see or hear them so God's Spirit is constantly speaking to us as we become more aware.

We ended the night by praying for anyone who wanted prayer. We started off praying for the long term staff, then got to pray for the K Team summer staff also. It was encouraging to hear how many people experienced God speaking specific and meaningful words to them during this prayer time. We even witnessed an instant physical healing of a shoulder injury! One thing that was really cool was to see the staff praying for each other and being used of God powerfully.

We had a great time with you guys and hope to see you all again soon!

Firestarters at MJMC

Thank you Mount Joy Mennonite Church (MJMC) for opening up your facility for our Firestarters event tonight! We had a great night of worship and ministry. We started off "getting comfortable" in worship by praising and singing for about an hour and a half. During this time there was a lot of prophetic ministry going on. God was encouraging those who feel like roses in the desert (dry places) and saying He was bringing his rain over them. (It was cool that the Intercession team had a sense that God was bringing a cloud over the building (a good cloud symbolizing refreshing or shade) - and then it started literally raining outside!)

Sean taught on the reality of the kingdom of heaven being more real than what we physically see with our eyes... He talked about power and authority and about how Jesus commissioned us to operate in both power and authority.

At one point we asked everyone in Generation X (approximately 1965 - 1980) to stand and we spoke blessings over them. We then asked all of them who believed that God has called them into ministry to stay standing and EVERY SINGLE ONE STAYED STANDING! This is confirming our belief that God has a strong ministry call on those in Generation X.

While we were busy praying for Generation X - we looked over and saw that Generation Y had "stormed the altar!" ;> We really see the passion and exuberance of God over this vibrant young generation. Awesome!! God is going to use you guys powerfully! We enjoyed meeting some new young adult friends from other churches in the area.

Thank you God for a night of salvation, rededication, refreshing and healing. Let it spread!

We would enjoy hearing about what God did in your life during this event. Leave your comments below...

Firestarters at Mount Joy Mennonite Church

Our time at Mount Joy Mennonite Church can only be described as Powerful! There was much anticipation heading into this event with pastor Joe preaching on Sunday morning from Acts 2 about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (the baptism of Fire). One song into worship and Jen sensed that it was time to begin praying for people. The first person we prayed for was instantly healed of a shoulder injury (rotator cuff). Always a good way to start off a meeting! Many other healings were testified to including hip pain, heart and diabetes issues, bipolar and others. (Please leave a comment if you were one of the people who experienced God's touch this night. We would like to hear it first hand.)

We had some more worship then Jen shared from Luke 11 about how we need to be persistent when we ask God for the Holy Spirit remembering that God's promise to us is that He will "give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" John Ritrovato then talked about the power of the gospel of the Kingdom that brings salvation, healing and deliverance. (John and his wife Kristine win the prize for coming the farthest for this meeting - all the way from Bill Johnson's church in Bethel, CA! Thanks John and Kristine for coming!)

There was an invitation for people to receive a fresh impartation of God's Holy Spirit which many people came to the front of the church to receive. God did some great things in people during this time.

If God blessed you during this night please leave us a comment describing how God met you.

Firstarters at Marietta Community Chapel

We had a smaller turnout for this event so we took full advantage of the intimate setting this created and we experienced a powerful time of worship, ministry & intercession. We appreciated having all three of Marietta Chapel's pastors at this event! We sensed the spiritual atmosphere of hopelessness and oppression that often affects the Marietta area. We were "plowing" pretty hard at this event, but in the end had some amazing breakthroughs!

After a time of worship and a word brought by Sean Achey about signs that mark revival, we had a time of breaking word curses over our lives. Word curses are words that we speak over ourselves, or others speak over us, that are not part of God's will for our lives. We prayed for several people and saw God bring both physical and emotional healings. I will let those blessed by this time speak for themselves. (Post comments below)

Toward the end of the night we had a time of worship and intercession where we saw and felt a breakthrough of freedom come. There was much dancing and praising as we broke through the strongholds that seemed to grip the area. The breakthrough affected even the physical realm! Right around the time we finally sensed the breakthroughs in intercession, there was an electrical storm directly over the church! Later, we got reports that this "freak electrical storm" seemed to be isolated over Marietta. Coincidence... We think not!

Firestarters at East Petersburg Mennonite Church

We had a great kick-off event at East Petersburg Mennonite Church. Thanks to Bob & Sharron Hess and the East Petersburg leadership for their invitation and warm hospitality. We had a good time of worship led by Jen Achey and a special time of generational reconciliation sparked by Rich Winney (who repented on behalf of the boomer generation to the younger generation X and Y) and John Ritrovato (who repented on behalf of the younger generations for rebellion and an independent spirit). Both generations then prayed for and blessed each other. Powerful!!

There were also at least 5 salvations or re-dedications. We prayed for several people for physical healing and have had several reports of Gods lasting fruit from these prayers. (If God healed you during this event please leave your comments bellow!)

We then gave an opportunity for anyone who was hungry for God to come up for prayer. At first a few people came up, then gradually the front of the church was full of people just enjoying God's presence and receiving prayer. Our ministry team actually had to step over people to get around up there!

The event lasted 'till well after midnight. Quite a few people have verbally testified to us that they experienced the power of God's Holy Spirit in a new way or for the first time at this event. We had several guests ministering with us including Jen's brother, John Ritrovato, and his wife Christine, along with Art & Miriam Remington. Thanks for participating, guys!

If you would like to share what God did in your life through this event please leave your comments here.

Fan the Flame!
Firestarters Staff