At any given service we should strive to allow those in attendance to find and experience intimacy with the Lord. The worship and prayer should invite the people and the Lord to come together in such a way that hearts are touched. And, the teaching of God’s Word should impact the thoughts and the lives of the people listening. These two elements are essential to a good “worship experience” on a Sunday.

If we bring these two elements together – intimacy and impact – we get a third component – “buzz.” It is electrifying to a congregation when the corporate ministry is both personal and powerful. For visitors – both saved and unsaved – it means that they are able to experience the presence and power of God in the midst of His people and have a valid encounter with God in a safe and welcoming environment. They are able to let their guard down and actually have their hearts touched by God the Father and hear God’s Word being applied to situations they face in their daily lives.

Of course, this does not come without a price. It means that the main leaders – worship and pulpit – must spend quality time with the Lord and in His presence preparing for the service. They must be in touch with God personally but also seeking His face for the service on Sunday so that intimacy and impact have an opportunity to happen. The leaders must lead when it comes to having their hearts ready and having prayed for and worked through what the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish at that special time each week.

It cannot be “business as usual” any more. Each service and each Sunday is special and unique. God wants to do something specific – focused for that time and specifically for those He knows will be gathering. So, we need to be creative and open to new ideas and approaches as we seek to experience Him corporately together.

To have “buzz” that is contagious and creates excitement and momentum we must start work on Monday to be ready for the following Sunday – praying, fasting, seeking God, and preparing our hearts and the content of the service. When the leaders will do this then the people will experience the living God, be touched and even transformed by Him, and return the following week for another encounter.
This means the key leaders of the Church may not be available right when you want them. This means you might wait a while for them to answer your text message, email, or phone call. This means your needs will not be the most important thing on their agenda for the day. This might even mean that they don’t show up at the church office until well into the morning or early afternoon. But, it also means they will actually be following their calling to lead the people of God…

A good worship experience on a Sunday does not just happen. It takes focus, hard work, and daily preparation. Even the people of God should be preparing their hearts on a daily basis for this time of personal and corporate intimacy and impact. The resulting buzz will last all week and touch many other lives.

It is the end of our first week of ministering in Russia and in the city of Yekaterinburg. It has been a great week and the School is drawing to a close. This is always sad as we have such great times together and hearts really do bond and relationships formed. As people head for trains and buses to take them home – some with more than 12 hours to travel – we know it has been a great time together in the presence of the Lord and that lives have been changed forever. We are thankful for the people who have taken time out of bust schedules and taken holiday time or simply gone without pay to be with us and to learn from us.

Tonight, after the School is over, we will be meeting with the leadership team of the local church to debrief and receive feedback about the week days we have been ministering. it will be a time of fellowship, food, fun as well as a time to look back and see what the Lord has done and what we could do differently next time – and there will be a next time. This is our first visit to the city but it will most certainly not be our last.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we will do several services (most take about 4 hours from start to stop) where I will teach and the team will prophecy over elders and leaders as well as some of the people as the Holy Spirit directs. And there will be several meals with various leaders where we will get to know them better and simply enjoy the Lord together and laugh a lot – as well as, most likely, eat too much.

Your prayers today for Sunday services would be greatly appreciated. Remember we are 15 hours ahead so as you read this at noon Satuday it is already 3:00a on Sunday morning and the team will soon be up preparing and praying. Pray that it will be a powerful and productive day for the Kingdom. And pray for our travels as we go by train into Sibera on Sunday evening (a 15+ hour train ride) and begin ministering as soon as we arrive on Monday evening.

People are really excited about hearing God speak and the gift of prophecy. For some here in city of Yekaterinburg, Russia the type of ministry we do is turning their world upside down. They have held to a “form of their religion but denied the power thereof…” and so, when the supernatural begins, they are astonished. In some ways it reminds me of the reaction of the people to Philip’s ministry in Acts 8 when the Gospel was spreading and being fully preached with words and signs and wonders. Here their regular understanding of Christianity is based on the Russian Orthodox model (an archbishop pictured in this blog) and so we are certainly somewhat different from their norm.

We are currently in a three day school for leaders and people and we are finding the people hungry for God and wanting all that He has for them regardless of the cost. They come early in the morning and stay till late at night. They bring their bibles, their journals and a pen and write notes on what is being taught and what God is saying to them. They seldom look up as they want to write extensive notes so they can study their notes later after we are gone. They are very appreciative of all that we are doing and in many small ways honor us as God’s ministers. Of course, the best reward is that they are so attentive and hungry and excited about what they are learning.

Please be in prayer for our three day school and for those in attendance. Pray for power, miracles, signs and wonders. We need more of God, His presence and His power. He has prophetically spoken words over this ministry three years ago about power so we are now asking Him to fulfill that prophetic word and allow us to walk in increasing power. We desperately want to see more lives impacted for the Gospel and the Kingdom in this city. Please pray against the spirit of religion and the spirit of tradition as they have a powerful grasp on the people and we would like to see many people come to know the Lord while we are here. You and your prayers are greatly appreciated.

I am in the Russian city of Yekaterinberg and in my first full day of ministry for this apostolic trip. I am dragging a bit due to two days of travl and a 15 hour jet lag / time zone issue. However, it will be fine, it always is because God’s grace is more than sufficient. We have begun a three day school on the prophetic here is a rather large church with many from other churches also in attendance.

Let me share a little of Yekaterinburg’s history …

In the spring of 1723, by the emperor Peter I’s decree, construction started on one of the largest iron producing plants in Russia located on the banks of the river Iset. Ekaterinburg was built as the capital of the new mining region which eventually grew to occupy a large land mass on both sides of the Urals, in both Europe and Asia.

Ekaterinburg’s new plant, in the beginning, was very advanced technologically and soon outpaced all the metallurgical plants not only in the country but in the world. They had the brightest minds working to build the most effective and cost efficient plant in the world.

Catherine II presented Ekaterinburg the status of a district town of Perm gubernia and this was soon reflected in the coat of arms of the city. During Catherine II’s government the main road of the Russian Empire was constructed through this young city – Bolshoi (Big) Siberian Road. So Ekaterinburg together with other Permian towns became a key city and the entrance to the expansive and rich Siberian portion of Russia – “a window overlooking Asia” like Saint-Petersburg was a Russian “window overlooking Europe”.

From the end of 19th and early 20th century Ekaterinburg was one of the centers of revolutionary movement in the Urals. Former Russian emperor Nicholas II and his family were shot in the city in July 1918, in Ipatyev House. A Russian Orthodox Church-on-Blood was built on this site recently.

From 1919 the city was the center of Ekaterinburgskaya gubernia district and from 1923 till 1934 it was also the center of Uralskaya oblast (province). On October, 14th, 1924 it was decided to rename the city after Yakov Sverdlov, a prominent Communist Party member and the Soviet state.

In Soviet time Sverdlovsk city being a small provincial town turned into a magnificent industrial center of the state. Among Russian towns it was among the first five of the most developed towns in Russia. In the 1930’s further economic and technological development took place and an intensive construction of machine-building and metallurgic plants began in the city.

After the World War II new industrial and agricultural plants were put in operation, construction of new houses began, heating and gas maintenance were changed and upgraded and in 1980 the construction of an underground subway (Metro) began.

On September 4th, 1991, the city was renamed Ekaterinburg or Yekaterinburg. Since 2000 trade, business, and tourism has been developing rapidly in the city. In fact, it has become a commercial center for much of the provincial region … From June 15th till 17th, 2009, SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and BRIC (Brasilia, Russia, India, China) summits took place in Ekaterinburg which greatly influenced the economic, cultural and tourist situation in the city.

Today the city attracts many tourists from around the world and is well known as a cultural and tourist center in central Russia attracting people from around the world.