It is not often that I use this space for the E-News to look back rather than to promo some opportunity that is upcoming.  But, this week is different.

Jesus asked the question of his followers, in referring to John the Baptist, "What did you come to see?''  In other words what were you expecting?  The point of the question was that John was not like anyone they had ever encountered before and did not fit any box or title.  The same can be said of Jeff Collins.  I have never met or encountered or experienced the ministry of anyone quite like Jeff.

Jeff is not a "BIG NAME" in the Body of Christ.  But I believe he is better known by heaven and hell than many so-called "headliners in ministry."  We were so fortunate to be blessed by an unusual visitation of the Lord's presence through Jeff's time with us because Jeff walks in that presence every day and everywhere he goes.  I am so grateful that we were able to have him share with us and minister.  I am only sorry that the sanctuary was not packed both Friday and Saturday evenings.

I am highlighting this in reflecting back in order to help us understand and appreciate what we experienced and what is possible.  Jeff is a very simple-hearted and childlike minister of the gospel.  He is unabashedly captivated by Jesus.  And when he steps into a room and begins to pray or worship or share his heart, that powerful Presence is unleashed into the atmosphere and all present are affected.  There were powerful encounters with the Living Lord that were brokered by Jeff just being present in the room and opening his heart to Jesus.

One other thing I would highlight.  Jeff mentioned to me in a small gathering with leaders on Friday afternoon that he had the strong sense that he had been here before.  He knew he hadn't been, but he felt like he had.  His conclusion was that he had probably "been here before" in a dream and was just this past weekend fulfilling a divine appointment.  Chuck Pierce mentioned the same phenomena to me when he was with us in June.  He could have sworn that he had been here before, and was trying to figure out when that could have been.  I know that he has not ever been here before physically; but I suspect that he too has been here in a vision or a dream in days past.

Why do I mention this?  We are on God's radar and he is sending us some very powerful servants on assignments in order to strengthen us and to sow into the work of the Kingdom here at Wellspring.  Be encouraged--great things are on the horizon!  Be prepared for what God has in store for us and through us.  God has prepared in advance many significant Kingdom endeavors, many good works, for us to walk into.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

We met in the Men's Room.

I had been wanting to meet Jeff Collins for several days.  Debbie and I first encountered him at a staff meeting at Bethel Church in Redding, CA last autumn while there on sabbatical.  Jeff, like us, was a guest at the staff meeting.  He was brought there explicitly by one of the staff members to share an extraordinary testimony of Kingdom multiplication and supernatural increase.  As Jeff shared about how the Lord literally multiplied the harvest and resources at their ministry base in Cyprus, an incredible presence of awe and reverence invaded the room.  Before he was done telling his narrative, simply and without hype, many in the room were on their knees or faces before the Presence that rode on the re-telling of his story.  We spontaneously moved into adoration and prayer.

I wanted to greet Jeff after the meeting, but he was sitting across the room and was immediately surrounded with others.  I thought to myself, "Maybe later, if the Lord wills it, I will be able to visit with Jeff briefly."

Then I bumped into him in the Men's Room.  I know that women regularly have sorority meetings in the Ladies Room; men don't usually go that route.  But I introduced myself to Jeff and when he learned I was from Connecticut, he got excited.  He told me that he comes to New England every autumn to minister.  I asked him to come to Connecticut and Wellspring--he said "Sure."

The same story we heard in staff meeting Jeff was asked to share with the entire conference that began a few days later.  Once again, God rode into the room on the wings of the testimony.  But this time the flavor was reverence juiced with joy.  As he told how the Lord had multiplied their first attempt of processing a variety of grape that produces what is called "Apostolic Wine," the whole assembly became intoxicated with possibility and faith.  250 liters of juice overflowed the oaken barrel that held 250 liters.  They had to go and get more barrels.  Wow!  Wine from the region that gave the church Apostle Barnabus multiplying as it is poured out is a sign that causes us to be filled with wonder!

Debbie and I later had dinner with Jeff and found him to be incredibly pure-hearted and a man of unusual child-like demeanor and faith.  I got so excited at the prospect of sharing this man with the congregation of Wellspring.

So--all that to say that Jeff is coming this weekend.  Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00 Jeff will be ministering what God has given him to bring to us.  Then on Sunday morning he will be with us for both services.

Make plans to be here--you will be blessed and stretched by this child-like but powerful servant of the Lord.

Pastor Rick

Over the course of the next 50+ days we at Wellspring will be joining believers all across the nation in intentional, sacrificial prayer and fasting for the healing of our nation and the advance of a moral and spiritual awakening across the land.

This call to prayer obviously coincides with the national election, but it is not political in its essence.  Bottom line--the problems and challenges facing us have gone way beyond parties, politicians or platforms.  If we don't see a renewing move of God across the land touching individuals, healing families and transforming culture it matters very little who occupies the White House of who controls Congress.  We desperately need God's mercy that will lead us to personal and national repentance and restoration.

On Monday evenings up through the election, you are invited to join together for prayer for the nation.  We will meet in The Space at 7:00 PM.  Our gathering will be for prayer, not for politicking.  You are also encouraged to consider some form of fasting through this season.  Some of you may want to fast from sweets or meat or adult beverages during this time; or from the news media or entertainment in order to be more focused in your intercession.  Some of you may choose to do a fast from all foods on one or two days each week through this season.  Fasts are freely entered into and express to the Lord a posture of humility and our deep need and dependence for Him to intervene.

I will be sharing a teaching this coming Sunday on an intriguing passage from Luke where Jesus comments on the news of his day.  Jesus stands in a long line of Hebrew prophets, declaring the Word of the Lord and interpreting the "signs of the times" for God's people.  I think this perspective will challenge you and encourage you to join with me and with millions of God's people across this nation who are giving themselves to very intentional prayer at this time.

As a point of interest I will be in Washington during the first week of October to take part in a major prayer conference put on the by the National Prayer Committee and to enter into another prayer initiative put on by the YWAM DC House of Prayer.  Check it out by following this link:  www.davidstentdc.org

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

"Grandpa?" came the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hello Elijah!"

"Grandpa, did you know that Wednesday, July 18 is Jay Bruce Bobblehead Night at Great American Ball Park?"

Great American Ball Park is the field that the Cincinnati Reds call home.  Cincinnati is the city of my birth and the Reds have claimed the loyalties of men in my family for five generations-- the two before me and the two that follow.  Jay Bruce, young slugger for the Reds, is Elijah's favorite player on his grandfather's hometown team.  A bobblehead of the favorite player of an eight year old boy is the Holy Grail of any summer.  No matter that both Eli and his grandfather live in Connecticut, 750 miles from Great American Ball Park.

"Why no, Eli.  I didn't know July 18 was Jay Bruce Bobblehead Night at GABP."

"Well it is.  The first 25,000 fans in attendance that night receive a free Jay Bruce Bobblehead."

"Wow!" I replied.

A pause follows.  "Is there anything else you want to ask me Elijah?"

"Grandpa, would you please get me a Jay Bruce Bobblehead?"

"Sure, Eli.  I'd be happy to!"

I knew Eli had been told by his father, my oldest, that I would be in Cincinnati that week to help my parents adjust to life challenges as my father continues to struggle with dementia and a newly diagnosed lymphoma.  A trip to the ballpark on a mission for my grandson would be a welcome respite from the stresses  of clearing out a shed, garage, and workshop, along with sorting through jumbled financial records and a trip to the out-patient surgery center.  Not to mention visiting nursing homes, trying to find a suitable facility for my father to find the care he needs.

It was my father who first took me to old Crosley Field to see my first Reds' game when I was a young boy.  He taught me the game he played until he was well into his thirties and umpired until he was deep into his sixties.  He handed down to me a passion for the game and a devotion for the hometown Reds.

When my dad had been a senior in high school he and three of his buddies had slept in sleeping bags on the sidewalk the night before opening day of the new baseball season to be first in line to buy tickets in the bleachers at old Crosley.  I have seen the picture clipped from the Cincinnati Post recording that night-long vigil.  Then, when I was a senior, three of my friends and I skipped school to see the Reds on Opening Day at their new baseball palace--Riverfront Stadium, home of The Big Red Machine.

Eli has never been to Riverfront.  The team and the city had torn down that "modern" stadium before he was born.  But his father took in his first Reds game there when he was 20 months old.  I don't mean that we just took Mark along to a game when he could barely walk.  He drank in the entire game, his eyes locked onto the action from the moment we moved off of the concourse and took our seats.  He cried in protest when we had to leave in the 8th inning to take him back to the car to change his diaper.

Vin Scully, legendary bard of baseball broadcasters, now in his mid-eighties and still calling Dodgers' games, was asked what is it about baseball that so captures the hearts of American males.  "Dreams and memories," replied Scully.  "When we're young baseball fills our dreams.  When we're old, baseball animates our memories."

I was trying to animate my father's memory that third week in July, sitting next to him in my parents' family room.  We were watching the Reds' game on television.  My dad would "tune in" to the action on the screen intermittently.  Then we would exchange small talk about the last pitch thrown or some play in the field.  I thought I might venture across the bridge of years past and and probe some shared memories.

"Dad, do you remember Vada Pinson?"  Pinson was the fleet center fielder for the Reds in the sixties, when I was a boy and we first began to share our passion for the home town team.

"No, not very well," my dad said.  "I don't remember him much."

"Well, what about Ernie Lombardi?"  Lombardi had been a great hitting catcher for the Reds' pennant winners of 1939 and 1940 when my dad was a young boy.  I knew about the great Lombardi from devouring my dad's boyhood scrapbooks that he kept from those championship seasons.

"Now you're going way back," he said with a smile of remembrance for those bright memories of boyhood.

Baseball memories.  Points of connection between generations.  Not much is left to share when dementia has eroded the mind so severely that conversation is a frustrating impossibility.

The Reds are riding high this magical season of 2012.  First place.  With today's technology I can sit with Eli right beside me and together we can watch Reds' live game action streaming on my laptop.  Every win is a celebration.  Every hoot and high-five a connection across the generations.

I got the bobblehead for Elijah on July 18th.  Or did I get it for me?  Most likely for both of us--dreams for him and shared memories for the two of us.  For that future someday when he begins another conversation with a question.

"Hey grandpa, do you remember Jay Bruce?"


  

In the three Sundays leading up to the 4th of July--our national day of celebration--I have been sharing three very distinct messages.  What they have in common is that they all relate in one way or another to our country and what is going on currently.

Last Sunday was a very unusual teaching in that I commented directly upon an action by the current administration, specifically the Health and Human Services mandate that contraception drugs and devices and surgical sterilization be offered and paid for by every private health insurance policy.  This included those group plans for religious institutions, like Catholic schools, hospitals and charities who are morally and doctrinally opposed to birth control and abortion-inducing drugs.  I believe this to be a serious intrusion upon our constitutional guarantee of religious liberty.  The government is prohibited by the First Amendment against infringing upon the free exercise of religion.

Still, I probably would not have preached on this topic had I not been visited in the night by the Lord back in February with a major download on this matter.  In a revelatory encounter that was way more intense than a dream, my spirit was impressed with the Lord's heart for this matter.  I woke up with a very strong sense of his presence and with a very distinct sober warning: "Should America trade its constitutional guarantee of religious liberty for the so-called 'right of birth control' it would be like Esau trading his birth right for a bowl of chili."   That really got my attention.

But I sat upon that revelation for many months until I felt the release and impetus of the Lord to share it with the congregation.  Reason?  My threshold for addressing from the pulpit any topic that is political is very high.  Very high. It needs to be a game changer in the whole course of our culture for me to address a political issue from the pulpit.  I have probably addressed political topics less than ten times from the pulpit over the course of 25 years here.  My call is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, not wax political.  But this issue is, I believe, a big one.  And I believe the Lord wants us to cherish the liberty of conscience and free exercise of religion we are guaranteed by the Constitution--cherish it for ourselves and stand up for it for others.

Tonight, Wednesday, June 27, I will host a discussion in the cafe for any who are interested in pursuing this topic in any way--more info, challenge, questions, etc.  We will begin at 7:00 PM.  For those who want to go online and find out more (from the Catholic organizers' perspective) you can go to:  www.standupforreligiousfreedom.com

Finally, this Sunday I will be doing something a bit different.  I will still be focusing on America--but this time from a bit more positive and historical perspective. The last two Sundays have been a bit heavy. Hopefully this Sunday will contain more good news for us to celebrate as we begin the week leading up to the 4th!

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

Just a heads up about the upcoming three Sundays.  I will be sharing three messages that have been brewing within me for the past several months.  Each one deals with a very different topic, but all three are uniquely related to the intersection of biblical perspectives and national concerns.  I am calling the series "An American Trilogy."  I am hoping that as we move from a celebration of fathers this Sunday up to the week of the Fourth of July you will be with us each week.  As we always do, we will be pursuing the Kingdom and worshiping the great King in addition to the ministry of the Word.

On another note--looking back to this past Saturday night we had an electric meeting with prophet Chuck Pierce.  About 700 folks were here, including some 200 pastors and leaders.  The intensity of the worship time was palpable as we pressed into the presence of the Lord.  Chuck brought some signal words for Connecticut that need to be pursued in intercession and obedience.  I am looking forward to reviewing the CD of those words in order to inform my prayers and to give us direction.  If you would like to get a copy of the recording for yourself you can contact:  office@Wellspring.net to order your set for a nominal cost.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

Busy Weekend, Significant Weekend


A number of events have converged on this coming weekend, making it a very busy place at Wellspring, but we believe a significant weekend as well. We recognize the time demands on your lives, and we don't take that lightly. Yet, as we approach Saturday and Sunday, we are inspired and expectant for genuine community impact, kingdom breakthrough, and joy-filled worship and praise - all in two days. Truly a significant weekend!


Celebrate Mt Pleasant has been shifted to this Saturday, June 9. On Sunday morning, I will close out this teaching series on Resurrection in Real Life. The Destiny Africa choir will conclude the weekend on Sunday evening, June 10th at 6pm. Those events have precedent and have been highlighted to the congregation in other posts. I want to give a heads up on one other gathering.


Chuck Pierce is coming to Wellspring on Saturday, June 9 at 7:30 pm. This is really exciting to me. I have been following Chuck's ministry for nearly two decades. He has been used by God to prophesy to the nation on multiple occasions in dramatic ways and with great accuracy. (Two that come to mind--he prophesied the Oklahoma City bombing a week prior to it happening; and declared in West Palm, FL in November, 1999 that in a year's time the eyes of the world would be on that county. Remember the hanging chads in four south Florida counties following the 2000 elections?) Further, Chuck and Dutch Sheets were commissioned by God in 2004 to travel to all fifty states, where they led prophetic and intercessory meetings for the respective states and the nation. In short, I am saying that God has used Chuck as a prophetic voice to the nation over the past many years.

Chuck is coming to Connecticut on assignment. He has received a word from the Lord to deliver to our state. Prayer leaders in Connecticut asked us at Wellspring to host this gathering. We enthusiastically said, "Yes!" So, we are hosts, but this is not a meeting we have called or organized. We are honored to provide a venue for Chuck and his ministry. And we are expecting a full house that evening.


I want to encourage you to come and be prepared to worship and pray and receive the prophetic declaration that Chuck feels led to release in our state.


Now, for a few disclaimers. Chuck is different from most preachers. I often don't really understand what he is sharing. He has a unique perspective from which he ministers the Word. And when the Spirit comes upon him to prophesy he is in a "zone" where he often does not understand or even remember what he speaks until he himself listens to the recording. I have watched this process "live" on a couple occasions. I know that the Lord is at work, but it is not always that easy to understand initially.

So, with that said, let me say again how excited I am to have Chuck come to Wellspring. I believe God has used him significantly in the past couple decades to help shepherd the prayer movement in this nation and to minister as a prophet to the nation. It is an honor to host this meeting. Saturday, June 9 at 7:30 pm.


Blessings,


Pastor Rick

Resurrection in Real Life is not the kind of teaching series that lends itself to three easy application steps to better relationships or how to overcome a bad day.  You know, practical stuff.  But then, if you have been around Wellspring for any length of time, you know that we seldom do that kind of teaching.  It's not that we are "above that" kind of approach to Sunday fare.  It's just that our conviction is that real change, real life-giving transformations are always built upon foundational truths.  We seldom go after three easy steps to anything.  We are pursuing long-view perspectives that will re-shape and re-frame how we approach life and go after what it means to be followers of Jesus, the Risen Lord.

So--what about resurrection in real life?  What are we going for?

As mentioned above, it is long-term perspective change that leads to transformation.

And that perspective is quite radical, actually.  Radical in that it is different from what the church has traditionally thought and radical in that it goes to the core or foundation of our faith.  Jesus taught us to pray that God's heaven would come to earth.  It is central to the prayer he taught his disciples to pray.  I think he intends to answer this prayer.

So the direction is not going from earth to heaven, but heaven coming to earth and intersecting earth, supplanting and overturning what already reigns here.

Revelation 21:1 speaks of the great climax of redemption being a "new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away."  Verse two speaks of "the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God" and the next verse declares that "now the dwelling place of God is with men and he will live with them."

I don't profess to know what this all means.  Honestly, I don't.  Except I do think that there is something here analogous to Jesus' new resurrection body after he came out of the tomb.  It was a real body--he was not just a spirit.  But the new body had capacities that would make any comic book super hero jealous.  It was a body, but way more than any body we have ever seen or known.  So the new earth is a resurrected earth. It will have some continuity with this earth, but without sin, without pain, without conflict, without evil, without lack, without death.

So, what about application to real life now?  Well, that is not so easy to work out either.  Except to say that Jesus and the New Testament seem to think it is pretty important that we get this.  God wants to release his Kingdom into our world.  He wants to overturn the reign of sin and deception and injustice and division and disease and death.  Ultimately this will be accomplished in the "new earth."  But up until the end, we are called to access this end or goal by faith and faith-inspired actions to see the Kingdom come increasingly into the now of this very real and important earth that needs the salvation of the Risen Lord and his Kingdom.

There was celebrating in heaven this past Sunday.  Grace, "Momsie," Hanson went home to be with the Lord.  Her heart gave out at age 87.  I can't imagine her heart ever wearing out.  Every beat released love to those fortunate enough to be in her orbit of concern.

It would be impossible for me to honor Grace and Bud Hanson enough for the debt I owe them; and the debt that Wellspring owes them.  Most who now worship at Wellspring each week have never heard of them or seen them.  Yet their influence is felt every time we gather to worship or pray.

Some back story is in order.  Bud and Grace grew up in Hartford and were raised in the fervor and passion of the Pentecostal stream of the church.  They came to Kensington Baptist Church about a year before Debbie and I moved our family here from Minnesota.  There had been some upheaval in their home church and they came to KBC to worship with their daughter, Jan and her husband Ron; and with son Paul and his wife, Jill.  At KBC they found a healthy and sound church family.  They were welcomed and loved.  They adopted their new church home and family.  They were faithful in attendance and in many service opportunities.

Yet they missed the fire of the Holy Spirit they had known in the churches of Pentecost.

About the time they came to KBC, their son-in-law, Ron, served on the search committee that called me to serve as senior pastor.  Bud and Grace began to pray for the new pastor who would be coming.

I learned years later that Grace also began to pray for the fire of the Holy Spirit to fall upon her new church family.  She loved her new church, but she longed for more of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the corporate gatherings and church life.  She didn't complain.  She didn't accuse.  She didn't try to make waves.  She and Bud would pray.  And Momsie would come to the sanctuary and pray for the outpouring she so yearned to see at Kensington Baptist.

When our family moved into the parsonage and took up life as pastor and family, Momsie adopted us into that great heart of hers.  I knew that all of my children were on her prayer list.  I knew that I was regularly being brought before the throne of grace in her prayers to the Father.  I knew this to be true because of the passion that came into her voice and the tears that welled up in her eyes whenever she spoke to me about our children and the work of the ministry at KBC.

Pentecost has come to KBC/Wellspring.  Momsie's prayers--and those of many other faithful folk over the years--have been answered.  In recent years health issues led Bud and Grace to move to Covenant Village in Cromwell.  It has been a long time since they have worshiped with us.  But they have never left my heart.

A couple months ago I was at a conference with Rick Joyner.  He shared that the Lord had given him a promise that if he and the ministry he leads would honor the fathers and mothers of the faith who had touched their stream and lives, that God would release revival upon their ministry.  He set out to do just that.  When I heard that story, I grabbed onto that promise for myself and for our church.  I immediately made plans to visit Bud and Grace at Covenant Village.  I was fortunate enough to get there and visit Grace before her home-going.  Dementia had robbed her of much of her awareness.  It was sad, as that condition always is sad.  But I was able to be present with her and honor her faithfulness and her prayers that were now touching so many who had never even heard of her.

Good bye Momsie!  I am forever indebted to you for your great love and your great faith that touched me and my family and our church so deeply.  We will seek to live in a way that honors your memory and life.

I must confess.  I have never read any of the "Left Behind" series of novels or seen any of the films based upon the books.  Reason?  I grew up watching that movie.

Regularly in church we heard teaching, complete with end-time charts and really compelling stories about "the last days."  We knew which modern day nations were Gog and Magog (look in Ezekiel 38 and 39).  We heard that the limestone for the third temple in Jerusalem was already being quarried in Indiana and being shipped to the Holy Land.  We were warned against sinful forms of entertainment.  Because what if we were out dancing when Jesus came back?  Etc, etc, etc.

This Sunday (May 6) I will be introducing a two-part sermon that Mike will build upon the following week.  It is audaciously entitled, "The Real End, Parts I and II."

Neither one of us have the definitive understanding of the real end-time scenario.  The title is part hype and part tongue-in-cheek spoofing of ourselves.  But we are both very serious about the content of what we will be sharing these two upcoming Sundays.  At the core of what we will be sharing has to do with what the Lord says in the Bible about the future of this real world (earth, that is) in the end-times and beyond.  Here is a hint of where we are going (following the Bible's revelation to us)--we don't believe we are escaping this world, or that God is getting ready to just blow the whole thing up and ship us all out to heaven.

So what if Jesus returns between Part I and Part II?  Well then I guess I missed it.

Pastor Rick

Just a reminder that Rabbi Librach has invited us to join with the congregation of United Jewish Center in Danbury for an evening of Holocaust Remembrance on Wednesday, April 18 at 7:30 PM.
Mr Kaiser, a holocaust survivor who is a member of UJC, will speak; along with the rabbi and myself. It will not be a service, per se (i.e. no liturgy or singing), but a solemn remembrance. The meeting will not be lengthy. Also, there will be no hospitality following the gathering, in keeping with the solemnity of the event.
If any of you desires to carpool to UJC, be ready to depart the Wellspring parking lot at 6:30 that evening. I would love to have the support and to extend this connection with the folks at UJC.
Questions? Call Sandy at 860-225-0661 x110.

Greetings on this Most Holy Week,
This post is both an invitation and commentary. First the invitation. You are all invited to a Maundy Thursday observance this Thursday at 7:00 PM.
The word 'maundy' comes from the same Latin root from where we get our English word, 'mandate.' It refers to the fact that at that last Passover celebration Jesus shared with his disciples, he both instituted our sacrament of communion and mandated (commanded) us to continue to partake of the bread and the cup 'in remembrance of him.'
This Thursday evening we will obey Jesus' command as we gather to worship, read the gospel narratives of the Passion Week and share in the Lord's Table. This is a very reverent and solemn observance as we honor the Lord's suffering on our behalf. There is childcare provided for children up to six years.
Now the commentary.
This year the calendar happily syncs up the Jewish Passover celebration and our observance of Good Friday and celebration of Resurrection Sunday. This is not always the case. The reason? Early in church history, the observance of Holy Week was de-linked from Passover as an act of overt antisemitism. The Jews were accused of deicide in the death of Christ. This made Holy Week an occasion for annual pogroms where Jews lived in Christian lands. It is an ugly truth of history.
That is why I had asked Rabbi Librach to come to Wellspring last week and teach on the biblical observance of Passover as Jesus and his disciples would have celebrated it. I did so for several reasons. One was to continue the ongoing friendship between the rabbi, his congregation and the Wellspring family. The second was to take an action directly opposite to the centuries of persecution of Jews associated with this week. And the third was to continue to help us, as Christians, to re-center our understanding of Jesus' passion as the fulfillment of the themes and prophetic portents of Passover.
It was not only hateful to de-link Holy Week from the Jewish observance of Passover, it is unbiblical. The Old Testament calls Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles perpetual 'festivals of the Lord.' They are not only festivals of Israel--they are festivals unto the Lord, which have ongoing meaning for the people of God. We see New Testament fulfillment of Passover in the cross and resurrection. We see New Testament fulfillment of Pentecost in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. And we look forward to (are currently experiencing?!) the fulfillment of Tabernacles in the end-time in-gathering, or harvest, of souls.
So, in inviting Rabbi Librach, I know I was stretching the envelope a bit for some of you. To have a non-Messianic rabbi take a Christian pulpit is a bit of a stretch. But this was done with intention and with the elders' approval and blessing. I was confident that the rabbi, who is an excellent Bible teacher, would give us some solid understanding of the feast, and honor our faith in the process.
I have given him a rain check. We will let you know when this works out. I look forward to that--I hope you will as well.
In the meantime, may you all have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week.
Pastor Rick
P.S. By the way, the rabbi invited any and all of us to the United Jewish Center on Wednesday evening, April 18 at 7:30 for observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. I am planning to go myself. Maybe some of us can carpool down to Danbury.

Sunday morning we arrived back from our week-plus in Israel. It was an amazing tour and prayer journey. Wow! Thanks to all of you who prayed for us during our time in the Holy Land. We had many divine appointments and more than a couple divine encounters.

We experienced an amazing sense of the Lord's presence and peace at the Garden Tomb--the place where many believe Jesus was buried and rose again on the third day. I can't vouch for the authenticity of the location--but I know He is Risen! Then the heavens opened and the Spirit was poured out upon our group in Jaffa, where the Holy Spirit first fell upon Gentiles, as recorded in Acts 10. We met with Israeli soldiers on the northern border, about 250 yards from a Hizbollah headquarters. We met with leaders of an amazing ministry in Jericho called 'Seeds of Hope.' There are seven (7!) born-again believers in this ancient city that is now controlled by the Palestinian Authority. They run a kindergarten and community center to serve the local population and open doors for the gospel. We took the children of the kindergarten a gift from our own 'Welldiggers Weekday' school.

We were accompanied on the tour by Rabbi Cliff Librach of the United Jewish Center in Danbury, CT. Actually Rabbi Cliff helped to lead the tour. We had hoped that the good rabbi would be with us this coming Sunday to teach on the biblical Passover. But alas, his return flight and the drawn-out process of immigration control at JFK will prevent him from arriving on time to be at both services. So . . . the congregation will be forced to listen to me. (Hope you come anyway!)

I do plan to teach a bit about Passover and its significance to all the people of God, with some very contemporary applications for Americans in 2012. The Lord gave me a powerful middle-of-the-night download a month or so ago and I believe the timing is right to share this with all of you.

I also want to tell you about plans for Holy Week. We will observe Maundy Thursday on April 5th at 7:00 PM. This will be a special observance of the Last Supper with readings from the gospel texts and response in song. Childcare for 6 and under will be provided in the nursery.

Then on Resurrection Sunday, April 8th, we will hold to our normal schedule of services at 9:00 and 11:00. The children from Well Diggers, Go Fish, and The Rock will share in the service with song and some dramatic touches that should add a special touch to the festivities.

I am sorry that Rabbi Cliff will not be able to launch the week. But we have given him a rain check for another date to be named later.


Many blessings, Pastor Rick

This coming Friday Debbie and I will be joined by about 20 other pilgrims as we make our way from JFK in New York to Ben Gurion Airport, outside of Tel Aviv.

Would you like to come along? You can join us and help us in our assignment with your prayers.
Our trip has many purposes. It will be a prayer journey, a spiritual adventure and a learning holiday. We intend to visit many sites of biblical importance and to immerse ourselves in the life and culture of Israel. This includes meeting with Messianic believers in the land, especially our missionary and friend, Ariel Laurence Blumenthal and his wife and daughter.

We are blessed to have Rabbi Cliff Librach and his wife, Miriam, co-lead this spiritual adventure. Cliff has led several tours to Israel before, but this is his first church tour. He loves the folk at Wellspring, just as he is highly esteemed and loved by many of us. We are praying that the trip will be a spiritual blessing to the Librachs. Will you join us in that prayer?

Jerusalem, Jericho, Capernaum, Nazareth, En Gedi, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea--these are all places we will visit. We hope to learn much by being on the ground and in the land where the biblical story actually occurred.

Many of you are undoubtedly aware of the tensions and threats that have arisen for Israel in recent weeks and days--first from Iran and then rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel. We have been quite aware of these potential dangers. But as we have prayed, we have sensed a green light to proceed. Indeed, the Lord has spoken to me that we have an assignment for this trip. I am not sure of the specifics, but I do believe that we are carrying prayers and declarations and blessings for the land and people of Israel at this time.

Will you partner with us in this assignment? Our intercessory protocol for this trip centers on a daily declaration of Psalm 91. Will you pray that for us, declare it for the mission in agreement with us each day while we are gone? Thank you! We leave March 16 and return March 25.

We expect to bring back plenty of blessings to share with all of you!
Pastor Rick

"Steve Backlund. Man, that guy really changed my life!"

Those were words I heard from several members of the staff team at Bethel Church when Debbie and I were there this past autumn for our sabbatical. Steve's message on relentless mind renewal has caused me to elevate hope in my own walk. And it has given rise to us intentionally pursuing hope this year as a congregation.

I have said to many that of all the outside speakers and ministers we have had at Wellspring over the years, Steve has been the most practical and his ministry has born the most consistent fruit. And we have had some great folks here over the years.

So what else can I say except, "Steve is coming this Friday evening!" We will have ONE meeting with him and his team of interns from Bethel Church this fall and it is this Friday, March 9 at 7:00 PM. Come expecting solid teaching; come expecting a touch from God; come expecting a prophetic word; come expecting healing in your body; come expecting heaven to invade earth.

Tuesday was Valentine's Day--as you all know. We had a surprise in staff prayer time.

Jenn Beglinger read some of the Valentine's cards the kids in Go Fish had made and written to Jesus. Cute, funny, poignant. We smiled, laughed, sighed.

Then came the not-so-unexpected surprise. The Love of all loves showed up in the room. Wow!

This Sunday I plan to share with all of you some of the cards we read on Tuesday morning. Jesus said unless we allow ourselves to become as little children we block ourselves from fully entering the Kingdom of heaven. Our children helped open up the Kingdom to us a bit more on Tuesday. Thanks, kids! And thanks, Jenn, for your great work with our children's ministry.

And to the rest of you, I invite you to come Sunday prepared to receive as a little child.

Get ready!

Do you know about the WOW factor?


The Partnering for Purpose gatherings have definitely been marked by the WOW factor! The WOW factor is the intense presence of God as we have gathered to worship, pray and seek the Lord for the coming year.


As we were wrapping up the meeting on Monday night one of the other pastors said to me, "We need to tell the people to call their friends and tell them not to miss this!"


I agree. Consider yourself told! These gatherings have been extraordinary and I have a sense that they will continue to build in intensity.


Tonight (Wednesday) our Wellspring youth worship team will be leading the worship and we will be partaking of communion together. We will continue to meet at 7:00 every evening with the other churches through Saturday night. On that night Prophet Darren Begley will be ministering, as we seek to call forth the destiny of each congregation and to pray for increased anointing for each ministry.


Also on Saturday, beginning at 7:00 AM, there will be a continual presence of worship and prayer in the sanctuary up to our own Wellspring Covenant Renewal Service at 7:00 PM, Sunday evening. Please come at any point during those 36 hours to continue to 'stoke the fires on the Lord's altar' for the coming year of 2012. Mike McKinniss will be teaching on covenant at the morning services. And that evening at the Covenant Renewal Service we will be announcing the recipients of the annual Welly Awards for outstanding ministry and service. That is always a fun time as we recognize what God is doing through his amazing people here at Wellspring.


Lots going on this week. Lots of WOW!


Pastor Rick

As I write this brief post, I am just coming out of one of the most significant Tuesday prayer times with Gatekeeper pastors I have ever had the joy of experiencing. This is a fellowship of area pastors I have been part of for many, many years. We meet weekly to pray, worship, encourage one another, share our burdens and share our joys. The trust levels run deep; the love and honor for one another is genuine; the fellowship is satisfying and life-giving.

But Tuesday's meeting was extraordinary - the sense of unity, expectancy and the presence of the Lord in our midst registered upon all of us. AND - here is the connect for this post - we all had a sense this unique time of encounter is in anticipation of next week's meetings for united worship and prayer.

'Partnering for Purpose' begins this Sunday evening, January 15, and continues every night next week. We will gather each night at 7:00 p.m. to pursue the Lord's presence and blessing for the coming year. Each night we will be led by a different worship team from the participating congregations. There will be no scheduled preaching, but there may well be prophetic exhortation, times of focused intercession, and opportunities for ministry.

Then on Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. we will begin an intensive 36-hour vigil for Wellspring folks. We want to bring an offering of extravagant worship and fervent intercession to the Lord leading up to our Annual Covenant Service on Sunday night, January 22, at 7:00 p.m.

Please make plans and sacrificial effort to be part of these gatherings next week. I am filled with expectancy for what the Lord will do in our midst.

Pastor Rick

As we launch our ministry and life together into the New Year our banner verse for 2012 comes from Romans 15.13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

For a long time it has been our practice to seek the Lord for a verse to claim and believe and march under for the year. This year the focus is upon hope.

Why hope?

Because we need it to navigate life in this fallen and at-times very difficult world. I know that for myself hope has become one of life's most valuable commodities. When I am overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit I can 'leap tall buildings in a single bound.' Without it, I can be defeated by a crack in the sidewalk.

Over the next two Sundays I will be focusing upon hope in the morning teaching times. We also have a couple surprises to unveil on these two mornings that speak to this theme of hope.

So . . . I hope you will be here these next two weeks as we set the compass to navigate by hope for 2012.

Blessings, Pastor Rick

P. S. Remember that we have a week of consecration planned for January 15-22. On each of those nights we will be gathering to seek the Lord in worship and prayer. The first seven of those evenings, we will be gathering at 7:00 PM with folks from other area congregations--worship teams from the various churches will be leading us each night. On the evening of the 22nd the Wellspring family will gather for our annual covenant renewal service.