worship school to LOWPC Bellingham
Donation protected
THE GOAL: serving as a local missionary to Bellingham, WA at Light of the World Prayer Center
MY STORY:
After growing up as a missionary kid in Asia, I've worked in the marketplace in the United States much longer than I ever expected. However, I wouldn't trade the journey over the past 10 years. The Lord has been so faithful to provide everything that I've needed, including heart surgery to correct an atrial septal defect (hole in my heart) last year. It's been a challenging but blessed road, and I've gone from being very hole-hearted to being much more whole-hearted. Now with health issues corrected, I'm feeling led to knock on the door of full-time ministry in Bellingham, WA as an urban missionary and worship director at Light of the World Prayer Center. I'm very excited for this next step.
Over the past three years, I've had the joy and faced the challenge of balancing full time work with 15-20 weekly hours of ministry. Leading worship at LOWPC since 2008, I've served as worship coordinator since 2010. Why worship in a house of prayer? Great question! First, we worship simply because He is worthy of it! We see both worship and prayer happening in a continuous cycle before the throne in heaven (Rev 4 and 5, Isaiah 6). Following this model ("on earth as it is in heaven" Matt 6:10), we have found that combining worship with prayer is a very practical way to "rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks" (1 Thes 5:16-18). We praise and worship because He is worthy! As we do, He begins to make known to us the things that are on His heart, which we then pray back to Him, and return thanksgiving and praise for who He is and what He's done! We currently have 90-100 hours of weekly corporate prayer meetings at LOWPC. Most of them have the prayer component but lack the worshiper component. As the ministry of LOWPC continues to grow, we have a very real need for a full time worship director to mentor and equip new worship leaders and facilitate their ministry.
As a launching point for this new season, I have been blessed to attend a 2 month intensive worship camp in Herrnhut, Germany, from September 1st to October 31st, 2013. The Levite Praise Institute (LPI) set up like a "boot camp" for worship leaders, including individual instrumental instruction, music theory, songwriting, team dynamics, and outreach. Going to the worship camp is an investment in embracing my calling, and it is most certainly a step of faith.
As I press towards this transition I would, first and foremost, covet your prayers! If you would like to receive periodic email updates about how to continue to pray specifically for me and how God is answering, I would be delighted to send them to you! Please reply and I'll add your name to the prayer update list.
Finally, please pray for provision - LOWPC staff all raise support as missionaries to Bellingham. The reality is that I will be giving up a steady salary and need to garner a support team in its place. The Lord, through many of you, has provided for me to attend LPI in Germany. For the long term, LOWPC would like to see my support team provide a financial base of $2500 per month. They welcome one time gifts, but know that monthly giving is the key to my focusing on the ministry at LOWPC. Would you like to be a part of my support team?
If the Lord should move you to be a part of my support team, whether through a one-time gift or on a monthly basis, I would be most heartily thankful!
THE MINISTRY:
Our goal at the Light of the World prayer center is to exalt Jesus in united prayer, praise, and worship for global harvest. We're building a city-wide house of prayer where night and day (Malachi 1:11, Luke 18:7), Spirit-led, scripture-fed, worship-based prayer unites and ignites a fresh passion for Christ in every realm of society. We serve as a hub for over 30 churches in Whatcom County who each take a day of the month to stand in united prayer. We're working towards 24/7 corporate worship and prayer here at LOWPC, as a central location where we gather from all of the different local churches to minister to the Lord and pray. As we do this, we are seeing the Lord's activity increasing across all spheres of society. For more details, check out "The Whatcom Story" "“ a short documentary on LOWPC/Whatcom County, and other transformation testimonies.
LOWPC officially began in the spring of 2007, commissioned with the blessing of several senior pastors in Bellingham, and with all staff committed to and serving in local churches. In these 5 years we have seen God move in mighty ways in Bellingham. Thousands have accepted Christ (salvations and baptisms reported by local churches). Crime and gang activity is decreasing. Adoptions are increasing and abortions are decreasing. The Lord led us to pray into the issue of human trafficking during a 24-hour worship/prayer event the same weekend that a nation-wide human trafficking bust took place (with the largest single group of over 50 children rescued in the Seattle area). After over 3 years of praying every Saturday night for awakening and revival at Western Washington University, revival is indeed now happening. Campus fellowships bursting at the seams, reporting hundreds of salvations this year, and the different campus ministries are working together in love and unity. Senior pastors of churches across denominations are gathering monthly to pray together and seek God's face for strategy to shepherd the city together. These are just a few examples of measurable transformation as a result of specific, unified prayer.
The Lord bless you and shine His love on you, and may you see His goodness today!
For the supremacy of Christ in ALL things,
Vanessa Smith
MY STORY:
After growing up as a missionary kid in Asia, I've worked in the marketplace in the United States much longer than I ever expected. However, I wouldn't trade the journey over the past 10 years. The Lord has been so faithful to provide everything that I've needed, including heart surgery to correct an atrial septal defect (hole in my heart) last year. It's been a challenging but blessed road, and I've gone from being very hole-hearted to being much more whole-hearted. Now with health issues corrected, I'm feeling led to knock on the door of full-time ministry in Bellingham, WA as an urban missionary and worship director at Light of the World Prayer Center. I'm very excited for this next step.
Over the past three years, I've had the joy and faced the challenge of balancing full time work with 15-20 weekly hours of ministry. Leading worship at LOWPC since 2008, I've served as worship coordinator since 2010. Why worship in a house of prayer? Great question! First, we worship simply because He is worthy of it! We see both worship and prayer happening in a continuous cycle before the throne in heaven (Rev 4 and 5, Isaiah 6). Following this model ("on earth as it is in heaven" Matt 6:10), we have found that combining worship with prayer is a very practical way to "rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks" (1 Thes 5:16-18). We praise and worship because He is worthy! As we do, He begins to make known to us the things that are on His heart, which we then pray back to Him, and return thanksgiving and praise for who He is and what He's done! We currently have 90-100 hours of weekly corporate prayer meetings at LOWPC. Most of them have the prayer component but lack the worshiper component. As the ministry of LOWPC continues to grow, we have a very real need for a full time worship director to mentor and equip new worship leaders and facilitate their ministry.
As a launching point for this new season, I have been blessed to attend a 2 month intensive worship camp in Herrnhut, Germany, from September 1st to October 31st, 2013. The Levite Praise Institute (LPI) set up like a "boot camp" for worship leaders, including individual instrumental instruction, music theory, songwriting, team dynamics, and outreach. Going to the worship camp is an investment in embracing my calling, and it is most certainly a step of faith.
As I press towards this transition I would, first and foremost, covet your prayers! If you would like to receive periodic email updates about how to continue to pray specifically for me and how God is answering, I would be delighted to send them to you! Please reply and I'll add your name to the prayer update list.
Finally, please pray for provision - LOWPC staff all raise support as missionaries to Bellingham. The reality is that I will be giving up a steady salary and need to garner a support team in its place. The Lord, through many of you, has provided for me to attend LPI in Germany. For the long term, LOWPC would like to see my support team provide a financial base of $2500 per month. They welcome one time gifts, but know that monthly giving is the key to my focusing on the ministry at LOWPC. Would you like to be a part of my support team?
If the Lord should move you to be a part of my support team, whether through a one-time gift or on a monthly basis, I would be most heartily thankful!
THE MINISTRY:
Our goal at the Light of the World prayer center is to exalt Jesus in united prayer, praise, and worship for global harvest. We're building a city-wide house of prayer where night and day (Malachi 1:11, Luke 18:7), Spirit-led, scripture-fed, worship-based prayer unites and ignites a fresh passion for Christ in every realm of society. We serve as a hub for over 30 churches in Whatcom County who each take a day of the month to stand in united prayer. We're working towards 24/7 corporate worship and prayer here at LOWPC, as a central location where we gather from all of the different local churches to minister to the Lord and pray. As we do this, we are seeing the Lord's activity increasing across all spheres of society. For more details, check out "The Whatcom Story" "“ a short documentary on LOWPC/Whatcom County, and other transformation testimonies.
LOWPC officially began in the spring of 2007, commissioned with the blessing of several senior pastors in Bellingham, and with all staff committed to and serving in local churches. In these 5 years we have seen God move in mighty ways in Bellingham. Thousands have accepted Christ (salvations and baptisms reported by local churches). Crime and gang activity is decreasing. Adoptions are increasing and abortions are decreasing. The Lord led us to pray into the issue of human trafficking during a 24-hour worship/prayer event the same weekend that a nation-wide human trafficking bust took place (with the largest single group of over 50 children rescued in the Seattle area). After over 3 years of praying every Saturday night for awakening and revival at Western Washington University, revival is indeed now happening. Campus fellowships bursting at the seams, reporting hundreds of salvations this year, and the different campus ministries are working together in love and unity. Senior pastors of churches across denominations are gathering monthly to pray together and seek God's face for strategy to shepherd the city together. These are just a few examples of measurable transformation as a result of specific, unified prayer.
The Lord bless you and shine His love on you, and may you see His goodness today!
For the supremacy of Christ in ALL things,
Vanessa Smith
Organizer
Vanessa Smith
Organizer
Bellingham, WA
