Pandemic Chronicles #9 - The Turning Point and the Upper Zoom

We are still trying to come to terms with a worldwide pandemic that has claimed over 100,000 lives here in the United States and now we have a rebellious uprising due to the murder of an unarmed Black man at the hands of police.

I have my own theories on why this set the powder keg off. People have been in their homes for about 3 months, they've been starved of their normal distractions like entertainment and sports, people have lost jobs/livelihoods, and they are frustrated.  Seeing this run over and over again on the news along with the other highly publicized cases sent people into the streets.

My other theory is that Satan is a master at chaos and confusion.  He's the author of confusion and he isn't oblivious to the fact that race is the powder keg that sets things off in this country to further demoralize and destabilize people spiritually because this is a spiritual battle.

There is a great video of Yuri Brezhnev who is a  Russian KGB defector and he gives the steps to how authoritarianism comes to a country. Two of the things he mentions is demoralization and destabilization with constant chaos.

Where do you think that comes from?  It's all demonic.

The Church outside of the Four Walls

I had the opportunity to participate in a Prayer Rally in the city of Oakland.  This was planned before the rebellion began.  Our leaders Dawn and Marques decided that the church needed a response to the Covid19 Pandemic and the day to do it was on the day of Pentecost where we would be in unity with the body of Christ regardless of Church affilliation.

Sadly the peaceful protests in Oakland turned deadly when a federal security officer was killed during the Friday demonstrations.  Who knew that this was the environment we were going into?  God knew.  God in his perfect kairos timing knew that this was the time for the church to move out.

My family wasn't in support of me going because of the unrest and come to find out that same time there was going to be a Black Lives Matter rally and march at Lake Merritt where we were going to be praying.

I thought this was a perfect opportunity to reach more people but I'm nutty like that.

I was FIRED UP AND READY TO GO.

I don't have selfies and videos because I come from a time of protesting and activism where you stayed in the moment and were focused on what you were doing....plus I wanted to be in the moment.

But here are some thoughts from my Journal that day.

Pentecost Prayer PUSH Journal

And when the Day of Pentecost had come...

The plan was to gather in groups of 10 and each group would rotate as they  prayed into 12 different issues that our society is praying: Fresh vision for the church, finances/jobs, mental health, violence, government, family, freedom from addiction, racism/injustice, supernatural healing, souls, unity, and revival 

As we gathered together to get ready to go out, the simultaneous Protest and March began to head in our direction and Marques made the call that our group was to follow the protesters. 

We prayed for them and cheered them on as they came toward us and we followed behind them.

Plans changed when the leaders decided instead of praying at our stations we would instead go out and be among the people. We would not stay off to ourselves but we would pray and worship right in the midst of the people. 

The buildings for the church had shut down and it was time to be the church outside of the four walls.

There were many powerful moments but one of the most powerful was when our worship Pastor, Pastor Katy asked for white people to come forward to stand in proxy for White America. She and other white people got on their knees in the posture of repentance and asking forgiveness from their Black brothers and sisters. Another white brother asked to be forgiven for his passive racism. It was a powerful powerful moment of reconciliation. 

One of my  friends Lori got on her knees to lament for the opportunities due to systemic racism and injustice.  The next day I called her to let her know how proud of her I was and how honored I was to be her friend.

I will be honest.  I wasn’t sure what the reaction would be in the Bay Area to our presence because many people are anti church and anti Jesus. I can hardly blame them since Christianity has been co-opted by the idolatry of Nationalism, Politics, and the church has been silent on issues of injustice. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the crowd.  People joined us, people raised their hands in praise, others received prayer, and people turned their cameras to film what was going on. 

My friend Lori said that a woman came up to the group and said she had been wondering where the church was in all of this. When she saw our group out there she was moved to tears.

Possibly one of the best events was a man who was trying to find the March deciding to stay on with us for the whole day.  The man was in a wheelchair and people prayed over him and connected with him for further follow up.

Solidarity and Peace

That night as I watched National Cable News, the reporter from Oakland shared that both police and protesters took a time of kneeling together.  The Reporter said that there was solidarity in Oakland and that the earlier march at Lake Merritt was peaceful.

There was peace in Oakland.

I texted Marques to let him know about this testimony because I believed that this was because we were there.  He responded that the presence of the Lord brought the right spirit and that the Lord did it his way.

The Upper Zoom

I was so fired up that I wanted to keep the Party going after that amazing time at Lake Merritt.  

I saw that National Community was doing 10 Days in the Upper Zoom where they were gathering on Zoom at 7:14 every morning to pray.  I decided to join even though 7:14 a.m. in Washington D.C. is 4:14 a.m. here in California.  I missed the first day but on the second day there were at least 600 people gathered to pray together.  There were White, Black, Middle Eastern, Latino, Disabled, Children, Older Adults, Millennials, etc. all gathered together with one goal in mind: To see the Lord heal the land.

It has been an amazing experience and what I love is that it's the church gathering.  Doesn't matter whether you're from Shiloh in Oakland or National Community Church in Washington D.C. We are the Body of Christ and we want to see REVIVAL in this Land.

It's all being shaken and I think we need to be ready for the consequences of that but I believe we must trust God no matter what we see.