Our heart in pioneering a Fire and Fragrance community into the Northeast of America is to plant a community focused on revival in America and training for a new wave of missions to every nation from university campuses!

As we look unto that goal of being a “beachhead of revival and revival training” on the east coast we began to realize that one of the biggest hindrances to true revival culture would be for us to become “training centered” instead of “ministry and revival centered.” Essentially, the grave danger would be to become a people with all the right answers without a gospel/revival lifestyle. The danger would be, to “know” everything about revival and never simply live it in our daily lives! To train others into a lifestyle we are not actually living ourselves.

As we prayed into the fall for us in Harrisburg we felt the Lord’s loving voice alert us that if we didn’t practically shift we could head down that road!  We eagerly received the word and praised the Lord for His faithfulness to us! He had showed us a great pitfall and how to navigate around it!  Truly His leadership is the best!

So, from this word, we knew the Lord was calling us to push back our September Fire and Fragrance DTS to January 2012 and truly live out our values! He began to speak to us about this fall being a time of  ”intentional community,” and “great open doors” in the region! We know that as we center our community on “ministry to the Lord and ministry to the lost” God is going to pour out even more on our training when we start up in January 2012!

We have never felt such openness from the Lord, and with such expectancy and joy about what He is doing!

We know that many of you care for us and are following us on our journey, so, I have wanted to catch you up on our prophetic journey! We are truly feeling like children born of the Spirit and led by the Spirit! Our Fire and Fragrance community has grown now to 30+ full time staff and everyone is ready to dive onto our faces before the Lord to see further into what He is leading for this fall. Please join us in prayer and feel free to share words dreams and scriptures with us! We love running with friends who are intimate with Jesus, and hear His voice.

If you have any further questions or senses from the Lord please feel free to contact us at fandfharrisburg@gmail.com. We will be announcing soon what our DTS will look like in January. He is giving us exciting words!

Blessings,

Jeremy Bardwell

Fire and Fragrance Harrisburg

For more about what God is doing through the School of the Circuit Riders and my family check out:

www.bardwellblog.com

After having been in 6 nations in the last 2 months, my already crazy mind has been inundated with new experiential information and stimulating thoughts about what God is doing on the earth.

Remember, CNN is not reporting the healings, salvations, and other amazing God activity that is happening all around the globe on a daily basis! I wanted to share with you a couple stories of what our outreach teams saw happen during there 3 months on outreach. Of course there is no way to capture in fullness, but here are two snapshots:

Kierston Stoltzfus: Team Washington DC

Durring our time in DC we led out a 55 hour life tape siege in front of the Supreme Court. 1 hour in intercession for each million babies aborted since Row V Wade. A Life Siege is where a group of people stand in front of an abortion clinic or a significant political location with red tape over our mouths Identifying with the unborn who have no voice and pray for God to have mercy on our nation and end abortion.

The rallying prayer is: “God I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation, God, end abortion and send revival to America.”

Between the 7 of us on our team we each took different shifts to keep the fire going for 55 hours straight. During those 55 hours we exalted Jesus over our nation and prayed for our Justices and President. Our main focus was to contend in the spirit for the ending of abortion in America in this generation! Many times we would all go stand at the Supreme Court for an hour and there would, be at least one person shouting something negative towards what we were doing. But during the 55 hour siege we had no negative comments, all positive! People even came up to pray for us! A few teenagers even ripped off a piece of tape, wrote “LIFE” on it and covered their mouths just like us stood with us for ten minutes! A teacher came up with some of his students and with tears in his eyes sincerely thanked us for what we were doing!

This younger generation is beginning to “wake up” and see that killing an unborn child is the same as killing a born child. It is so simple, but, “a person is a person, no matter how small!” I believe that with intentional radical prayer like this we can see the mindset of Americans shifted and abortion outlawed in our in our nation and in the hearts of a generation! After all prayer has preceeded all major reformational advances in history!

Nicholas Holding: Team England

One day we took to the streets with a cardboard sign saying “Free Prayer”, held it up on a busy pavement and invited people for prayer. After 15 minutes or so 4 young guys (13 yrs to 16 yrs) came over and begun making fun of us. After a minute or so they realized we were genuine, and even said “you’re not joking are you??”. We got talking to them for 10 minutes and I gave them the facts: “God’s either real or he’s not, isn’t he?”, they agreed, its a black and white case, either he is or he isn’t. We got talking further and then we challenged them, “when you’re at home, pray, ask God to reveal himself and he will”. When they left they had completely changed from when they approached us, all of them saying seriously how they’re going to pray that night for God to reveal himself, and he’s faithful, so he will! It is crazy to see kids who are seen by society as the lowest of low being impacted and changed. It’s amazing, every time you give people respect and attention, they open up and are wanting to hear the gospel.

These youth that Nick and his team encountered are very hard to the gospel, yet what we are seeing is that outward shell is quite thin and once cracked they are not as hard as they may seem! This team also saw salvations, and healings on the streets as they stepped out in faith!

All around the world God is orchestrating these little groups of friends like these outreach teams to prioritize His presence corporately in worship and prayer (often in living rooms, or rented spaces) and from that place go to the streets with the love and power of God and see lasting fruit!

Netherlands. France. Spain. America. Canada. Hawaii. Harvard. Princeton. Yale. Oxford. Cambridge. Everywhere and anywhere God has His people positioned with a longing for revival!

Did you ever hear that reported on CNN? Fox? BBC? God’s church is bigger and further spread than ever in history! When was the last time that made the NewYork Times Cover?

“Christian Church Exploding All Around The World With Authentic Love And Power Like Never Before In History!”

We are living in amazing days as Christians! In fact each of us was timed to be born at this time in history with our specific gift mix! Wake up and say with me: I WAS BORN FOR THIS! Do not let the headlines disillusion you about what God is doing! He is doing awesome things, and He has called you to be apart of it all! 

Take a second and share your most recent encouraging story below, it doesn’t need to be long, just share about what you are seeing him do!

As we all know, the replication of the DNA of life was broken by an insertion of humanistic thinking in the mind of man through the deception of the enemy. This insertion would prove to be fatal to godly replication and though multiplication would continue it would no longer be the extension of a garden called pleasure but rather of a fallen, broken, self centered DNA. Replication broke, multiplication continued, death was abundant and life was dormant in the heart of man.

For four thousand years we have almost no replication of the original life of Adam. Rather we have individuals who almost pulled new covenant theology into an old covenant era through their faith in a coming savior. They were rarely ever able to replicate themselves, though a seed of faith was preserved until the time that the God would do what no man could ever do. Cymbals smashed, bells rang, angels trembled, and Satan wept as God took on flesh to once again make replication of Life possible on the planet! Through a cup that was drank, a side that was pierced, a brow that was thorn-crowned, and blood that was spilled an old nature was killed, sin was atoned for and the chain of only replication death was broken!

Jesus had 33 years to walk the earth and leave behind enough revelation and leadership to lead the whole planet back into Edenic intimacy with His father. Strategy would be incredibly important for this mission. The time was short in relation to the massiveness of the call. What strategy would he employ? Again and again Jesus would declare that He only did what He saw the Father doing. And so the preeminent one employed the same strategy as in the beginning. Through death and resurrection he restores Eden to the planet, but no longer in a geographic location but in the human spirit being restored to life and living in unbroken fellowship. As Adam was created in the beginning, Jesus finds 12 and leads them into Eden through three years of discipleship and the opening of a narrow gate that would empower them to enter into what they had been taught. Just as Adam received the breath of God, the disciples were filled with that same breath and the DNA of life was reinserted into the hearts of a remnant now living in an Edenic reality in their hearts. The strategy: Eden, a remnant with the seed of life, and the recommissioning of a mandate to be fruitful and multiply. Replicate not just in physical children, but in individuals and nations.

We are going to begin a series on the importance and the value of replicating and multiplying. The Gospel of the Kingdom was always meant to spread like a mustard seed in a garden and like leaven in dough. Though it would start small, it would influence in ever increasing circles of impact and transformation. The gospel without replication and multiplication is only partial in application. It can’t be kept to an individual without becoming stagnant and lifeless in the end. It was created to outgrow its soil, overflow its container, and never stop. One of the greatest enemies of the growing kingdom has been the individualization, isolation, and independence of the western gospel. We have turned our faith into something completely internal, individual and almost unrecognizable to what we read about in an early church that seemed to so violently overflow from its containers that it actually caused fear in those that looked on. Of course it began internal in the heart of each man through a restored Spirit, and the breath of God, but it never stayed there. Jesus had given them a strategy and they saw it as their sole purpose in life. Plant the seed! Cultivate the Garden! Replicate the DNA! Multiply the garden!

Today God is gripping the heart of a generation to once again look outward and see themselves as the continuation of a Kingdom strategy to take back the planet and restore worship to the Father. Replication of Life and multiplication of that reproduced life could be summed up in one word: Discipleship. So simple, so forgotten, so Kingdom! Over the next weeks we will begin to unfold some of the context and foundation for the need for a discipleship movement to sweep the planet. Not a shepherding movement, not the creation of a system of overlords or hierarchal leadership structures but rather a vein of pure discipleship where Jesus is replicated in the hearts of his followers and discipled followers are multiplied all over the Earth replicating more Jesus and multiplying more followers.

All of this is in relation to a word that continues to come through dreams, angels, teachings and many other forms of confirmation in regard to the Circuit Riders. God is doing something on the Earth in raising up a generation of leaders that exalt and look like Jesus. This blog is in response to these words. Stay tuned for weekly articles along the same lines. For the coming months we will be unfolding a four-corner foundation to a new breed of leaders God is raising up. The first stone we are laying is the stone of replication and multiplication.

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you? Judges 6:14

Those eyes are no normal eyes. In Daniel and in the book of Revelation that Man, the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God is pictured as a man with fire in his eyes. Any creature with a soul cannot help but be set ablaze by those fiery eyes. From this dramatic and life changing encounter with the Angel of the Lord, Gideon would never be the same. He soon finds himself destroying his family idols and before long as the sole leader of the Israelite armies. His radical encounter did not stop at the place of encounter and good journal entries. It required a very practical obedience to attain the dramatic revelation.

So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. Judges 6:27

The transformation from zealous fire filled moments with the Lord to the practical outworking of the Word of the Lord is the difference between just a lightning strike to a dry field and the impact of an entire forest fire! One dramatic lightning strike with the right conditions can, in a short amount of time, result in thousands of acres of forest on fire that becomes an unstoppable force, even with all of mans technology. This is what happened when Gideon went from encounter to practical obedience. An army formed and that army was courageous.

Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers- they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing- and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” Judges 7:20

Last year, as I sat in the Ohana Court in Kona, HI I watched a lightning strike moment. A modern day Gideon, Lou Engle, was preaching with all of his heart and the spirit of God was like electricity in the room. As Lou shared his heart about raising up a house of prayer that contends against every demonic house, you could feel the courage being released in the room to hundreds of young people. They stood before a man who had both life-changing encounters and years of simple practical obedience. As the altars opened so did the heavens and the result was explosive. I had no choice but to fall on my face and recommit my own heart and life to a kingdom that transcends all human ambition, good ideas, and lofty visions. As I knelt with my forehead on the cool concrete I felt the Lord tell me to open my eyes. As I looked from my angle on the floor all I could see was a steady stream of feet filling the front of the room. It seemed almost every chair had been emptied and all had responded to the invitation! As I watched these feet go by, I felt the whisper of the Lord say to me, “They are coming.” When I asked who was coming, the response I sensed in my heart was, “Gideon’s army is coming.” The worship continued, the response was long and deep in many hearts and the evening was capped off by an exclamation of Loren Cunningham that we were to mark this day on our calendars. Something significant had happened in the Spirit. In the last nine months I have pondered that night many times and that simple phrase the Lord spoke to me. I believe there are numerous applications to it!

I don’t think it was any coincidence that six months later we had almost exactly 300 students show up to our training schools. This quarter began in January of this year and was one of the most explosive dynamic quarters I have been a part of in 13 years of working with YWAM. The depth of encounter was profound. And just as profound was the simple and practical discipleship that was carried out from those life-changing encounters. Just today, I stood at the infamous Plaza of the Nations, a fountain surrounded by dozens of flags and stones from every nation in the world, and waved goodbye to three teams heading off for three months of faith-filled outreach in Mozambique, Jordan, and France. I truly believe this was part of a Gideon’s army and that it was the first of many waves to come.

I sense with all my heart that one of the most profound fulfillments of this Gideon word from the Lord will be The School of the Circuit Riders that we will be running in Kona, HI this summer. The heartbeat of this school is to deeply encounter the Lord in the secret place, the corporate place, and in every place. From this place of encountering God we desire to lay a solid foundation of the authority of the Holy Scriptures in our lives. From the foundation of the Word and the life-giving power of the Spirit we seek to develop godly character, a lifestyle of joy-filled repentance, and total abandonment to instant, joyful obedience to the Lord. We will be emphasizing the simple gospel, practical discipleship, and a life that will go anywhere to see Jesus glorified!

The lightning has struck, the fire is growing, and an army is being mobilized. What if all 300 of Gideon’s men became Gideon’s of another 300 who also did the same? Could we see a forest fire that would literally be unstoppable?! I believe so. I can see the feet moving even now. “They are coming”. Is God calling you to be one of those that would gather this summer? Does revival burn like fire in your bones? Pray and seek the Lord, perhaps God is calling you to this 300!

“Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth Laborers into His Harvest field” Luke 10:2

As I look at the radical open doors that we had seen the past 21 days at Harvard, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Luke 10:2. The Lord is looking for laborers who will be willing to go into His harvest field! The field is ripe and ready for the taking, but God is looking for those who would be willing to go. As I respond to God asking who will go to the Ivy Leagues and see them completely set ablaze by the fire of God, I am amazed of how all I am doing is saying yes and from that place seeing openings in Harvard campus.

One amazing opportunity was being able to speak in the Kennedy graduate school at Harvard. This school is where Obama and many Supreme Court Justices took classes as well as leaders from around the nations of the earth. My friend Yumin, who is a student in this school, told me that if I wanted to speak to kings and queens this is where you start. Now seeing that I am 22 years old, haven’t attended university, yet that I am able to come in and share is only through Jesus opening that door! The word says Jesus will open doors no man can shut! I am telling you, we are called to declare truths just like Daniel before kings and queens of the earth!

Another amazing door God opened was a worship time the night before we left at Holden Chapel where they used to hold the prayer meetings of old. Even as we played I could just see the hunger in that room. We didn’t come together to hear someone speak but our sole purpose was to seek the Lord and release fragrant worship to His name!

This truly is unprecedented times we are living in! Seeing Harvard students declaring that we will praise your name forever, I am telling you we are on the verge of the greatest awakening ever seen! Yet we can dictate how soon and how much we want. The thing is that God is desiring laborers to co-labor with Him. We as christians have the greatest news to a hurt, broken, and dying world yet we are afraid to share it or even set our face to something! I am telling you the world isn’t looking for relevance but for truth.

The question I continue to hear God ask is, “who will go for me?” I believe if we truly knew what we each carried, we could see this world transformed in this generation. I believe that is what Jesus is doing, convincing us of our necessity for Him and in turn convincing us that this good news is still good news and has the power to change the world!

Be of good courage, because these are the days we will look back on and wish we would have known what were on the verge of! Give it all for His glory because He is worthy!

Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done,

Samuel
CHECK OUT MORE FROM SAMUEL: www.samuelrod.com
CHECK OUT MORE FROM HARRISBURG: Click Harrisburg link above.

My eyes scanned the room from behind the mic, skipping from face to face, watching people cry out to God in authentic love and longing.

I closed my eyes disappearing into that same love myself. I could feel a roar arising deep in my belly. The energy arose like water in a cup being filled quickly. It rapidly overflowed and I sang out a long piercing cry of passion and abandonment to God. The presence of God was thick in the room.

This was a scene from two nights ago as we worshiped on Harvard university with 60 Harvard students. Harvard is under fire from Heaven.

This worship night was a student led gathering of believers in Jesus who wanted to express unity around simply exalting God. We were honored to be asked to take leadership over this event and lead them in worship and prayer.

We gathered in the cold crisp evening in the 3rd oldest building on Harvard university, one of the original chapels from when Harvard’s motto was (paraphrased) “to train up and release an educated ministry into the new colony of America. To lay Christ in the bottom of all of life’s endeavors and all spheres of society.”

As we set up the sound equipment my spirit was stirred that we were re-digging the wells of revival.

1 guitar. 1 djembe. 2 singers. 1 violin. no song list.

The opening prayer resounded from our African brother as he declared that this night was all about God and that God was free to be Himself in the room this night. The atmosphere was charged with curiosity and faith.

From the simple strumming of the first few chords, students eyes closed, hands raised, and hearts began to enter into communion with their Lord and Maker. From that point we were on an upward draft of glory for the next 2 and a half hours.

A quiet chorus simply singing, “hallelujah” began to catch slowly across the room. Soon we were rising as a room into a new level in the spirit as high praise was erupting from desperate hearts. We rode this crescendo into singing prophetically of the breaking in of the love of God and the breaking off of depression.

Snot. Tears. Twirls. Ministry. Laughing. Dancing. Hugging. Repenting. All resulted from this locked in focus created by the nearness of God. Many may have never danced before the Lord in worship.

The worship and ministry went on until after midnight and once we stopped people stood there as if to say, “why are we stopping now?”

I thought to myself, “This is Harvard university, and this is not normal.” This thought was affirmed as students were buzzing around the room after the meeting laughing and hugging. I checked in with several of them and many said they had never had this kind of freedom released in worship before on campus. In fact, the last time they had tried to gather the campus Christian fellowships to worship a professor emailed everyone and told them not to go.

All I could do was realize that we have stepped into a timing and grace from God that He is tipping a bowl in heaven of thousands of hours of prayer over these Ivy League schools. The time is now for awakening. My own spirit was shaken in this simple gathering by the possibilities and power of the Gospel breaking in and growing like leaven.

Harvard (the first university in America) and the universities of America are in the crosshairs of Heaven.