How Does Collaboration Work in Other Cities?

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City Strategies

Dennis Fuqua (IRM) and Phil Miglioratti (MAC), both coaches with Loving Our Communities to Christ, have co-hosted two dozen conference calls that focus on the work of God in a given city. Here are many stories of how God works through His church to impact communities for His Kingdom.

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Audio files of past conference calls are available for download.

Click headline, then click on Featured Cities Conference Calls

Featured Cities' Conference Calls
Albany area, NY -- Birmingham, AL -- Boise, ID -- Boulder, CO --
Branson, MO -- Charleston, WV -- Clevelend, OH --
Coachella Valley, CA -- Corvalis, OR -- Elk River, MN --
Ft. Wayne, IN -- Fresno, CA -- Houston, TX -- Kansas City, MO -- Kitsap Co., WA -- Little Rock, AR -- 'Manasota,' FL -- Modesto, CA -- Portland, OR -- Roundtable Review -- Santa Rosa, CA -- Springfield, MO -- Tukwila, WA -- Tuscaloosa, AL --

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
---> Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates
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Chicago. Treansformation. Fellowship.

We at the CTF would like to extend an invitation to you to join with us in a monthly time of prayer and fasting for Transforming revival in the Chicagoland Region. Starting Monday June 8th, we will be calling a 2nd Monday of the month fast from noon Monday through Noon Tuesday. There will be two options to join in corporate prayer during this 24 hour time slot. We will be meeting for prayer on Monday evening from 6:00pm to 7:30pm and on Tuesday morning from 10:00am to 11:30am. Both prayer meetings will be held at the Kingdom Life Chapel located in the Community Church of Rolling Meadows, 2720 Kirchoff Rd., Rolling Meadows, 60008.

Also we would like to invite you to our 3rd Saturday of the month meeting, June 20th at 9:00am at the same location.

Let's continue to go ever deeper into prayer and commitment to one another as we ask the Lord to transform our individual lives, families, churches and communities.

May the Lord bless you richly,
Joe Manahan

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
---> Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates
---> Type keywords in the "Search This Blog" box above

Annual Love Fox Valley Prayer Gathering for Leaders

Love Fox Valley Mini-Summit:

• Who: Pastors, Ministry Leaders and Intercessors (Men & Women)

• Where: Grace Evangelical Church in Elgin (Address below)

• Host: Pastor David Bohyer and Tony Danhelka

• What: Four hour Mini-Prayer Summit for the Fox River Valley (Not just an Elgin focus)

• Why: To unite and ignite the Church of the Fox River Valley that meets in over 400 locations to connect via prayer with our one head of the Church... Jesus!

• When: Tuesday July 7th from 8:45AM til 12 noon, with an optional lunch.

• How: Together in Prayer and united in action.

• Cost: Your time and $5.00 donation for lunch

RSVP: Helpful, but not mandatory. RSVP to Tony@RiverwoodsChristianCenter.org

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
---> Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates
---> Type keywords in the "Search This Blog" box above

15th Annual Christian Arts Conference ... In Chicago's backyard!

"The mission of Karitos is to provide Biblically-based artistic and technical growth experiences to Christian artists"

The Karitos Festival in began in 1995, and over the years, thousands of artists, musicians, dancers, writers, visual artists have gathered to celebrate together.

• What is Karitos?
  
  
• Karitos Video
  
  
• The Karitos Blog
  
  
• What is God doing in the arts?
  
  
• Karitos 2008 Brochure (PDF format)
  
  
• This year's venue - Living Waters Church in Bolingbrook, IL
  
  
• Contact Information

Karitos 2009 Faculty Bios and Workshops

• Worship Track
  
  
• Karitos Master Classes
  
  
• Literary
  
  
• Music Business Track
  
  
• Dance Track
  
  
• Theatre Arts Track
  
  
• Visual Arts Track

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
---> Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates
---> Type keywords in the "Search This Blog" box above

Safe Families

What do the following Catalyst congregations have in common?

Lakeland Evangelical Free Church, Gurnee Village Church of Lincolnshire Lake Region Bible Church, Round Lake Village Church of Gurnee Crossroads Church, Grayslake Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church, Lake Villa Harvest Bible Chapel, Lake Zurich The Chapel, Libertyville Fox Lake Community Church, Fox Lake Hope Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Grayslake Christ Church of Lake Forest Messiah Lutheran, Wauconda Libertyville Evangelical Free Church Village Church of Barrington Crossview Evangelical Free Church, Antioch Messiah Lutheran Church, Wauconda Imanuel Church, Gurnee Waukegan Baptist Bible Church Long Grove Community Church

They ALL have Safe Families! For more information, click here and plan on watching Katie Curic tonight (Monday, May 18) on the CBS Evening News as she features this program that so many Catalyst congregations have embraced. This is an exciting opportunity for us to tell others about Safe Families, and features some of the hundreds of volunteer families who help make it possible. Safe Families tells us that due to the recession, the demand for help is increasing. What if 50 or 100 additional Safe families came out of Catalyst congregations across Chicagoland?! Contact program director Tom Maluga for more information or to receive a Safe Families DVD. Just think what we can do together as we bring the love of Christ to the world! Blessing the Children Together, Bill Yaccino Executive Director, Catalyst www.catalystweb.org 847-281-3370

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
---> Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates
---> Type keywords in the "Search This Blog" box above

Chicago's diversity is his mission field

Chicago's diversity is his mission field
By Mickey Noah

CHICAGO (BP)--Michael Allen could have been the guy who comes to install or repair your computer. Originally, that was what he was trained to do.

Instead, his work today takes place in uptown Chicago, about a mile northeast of Wrigley Field's ivy-covered outfield fence. The church he serves as senior pastor, Uptown Baptist, is close to the corner of Sunnyside and Sheridan or "Blood Alley" -- famous locally for its unsolved murders, rapes, gangs and prostitution.

None of this deters Allen, who also has served as a North American Mission Board missionary the past three years.

"I like it here because it fits who I am, fits my journey and fits the vision that God has given me for my life," Allen said. "It allows me to be Jesus to so many different kinds of people."

It's hard to say what's more diverse in Allen's life -- his ministry or his congregation.

When Allen is not preaching sermons and shepherding his multicultural flock of 180 at Uptown, he's leading a "Men's Fraternity" discipleship group for businessmen in downtown Chicago; overseeing a Monday night meal for up to 350 homeless men, women and children; directing a shelter for 50 women; managing a church staff of six; counseling; serving on the board of Pacific Garden Mission; and serving as moderator of the Baptist association of which Uptown is a member. And in his spare time, he and his wife Marla homeschool their four children.

"As pastor of Uptown, one day I can be in a suit and tie at a press conference with the mayor of Chicago and other movers and shakers, and later that day be on the street talking to somebody who just gave his girlfriend AIDS or to a drunk," Allen said.

"It's a powerful thing and an amazing thing," he said, getting choked up. "It's God at work changing people's lives, and I feel like a pawn on God's chess board. It's just remarkable to be His piece being moved into position wherever He wills, and being available wherever He wants you on that board."

The Uptown area of the Windy City, like the church Allen leads, is diverse by any measure: ethnically, economically, educationally, gender, age.

"There must be at least 80 or 90 languages spoken in the public schools here in Uptown, so it's a fun place," Allen said. "There's not a dull or boring day in ministry, in business, in school or in government because of that diversity.

"There are still so many more ethnic groups out there that are not represented in our church right now. We might have 10 or 15 different ethnic groups in church on a Sunday morning," he said. "But there is much more to be done and we're just beginning."

Born in Jamaica, Allen grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ in a Nazarene church at age 9. After earning a computer electronics degree and working as a technician in south Florida, he was called to the ministry as a member of First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1989. Allen holds a Bible degree from Trinity College in Miami, Fla., and a master of divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. He also has served on the staffs of Moody Church in Chicago and Sagemont Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Houston.

Allen is one of more than 5,600 North American Missionaries supported by Southern Baptist gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions and the Cooperative Program.

Mickey Noah is a writer with the North American Mission Board. To learn more about the Annie Armstrong Offering, go to www.anniearmstrong.com; to learn more about the Cooperative Program, go to www.sbc.net/cp.

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
---> Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates
---> Type keywords in the "Search This Blog" box above

Get Burned!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

May Host:
Michael Richter of "Burn Chicago"
Location: The Prayer Furnace Chicago
3541 N. Elston Ave
Chicago 60618

Meeting Notes

See the printable flyer for more details about "Burn Chicago" and "The Prayer Furnace."

After lunch Burn Chicago invites us to join them for an afternoon of intercessory worship.

Spread The Word

If you would like a printable flyer about this meeting, please click here.
Feel free to distribute or post this information as you see fit.

For information & directions: www.TransformChicago.org
Pastor Joe Manahan 847-977-7655 / Pastor Ron Juran 847-506-1511

Our monthly meetings are hosted by different ministries in the Chicagoland area. The meetings are normally held the third Saturday of each month. If you are interested in hosting a meeting, please contact us.

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
---> Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates
---> Type keywords in the "Search This Blog" box above