I haven't had time to blog in what seems to me to be ages. Sorry to those of you who tune in regularly. I have the best of intentions, but you know what road is paved with those don't you?

I just got back from Pittsburgh, PA; after spending a few days with some men at a BAND OF BROTHERS CONFERENCE hosted by Word and Worship Church of North Braddock, PA and supported by the NETWORK OF RELATED PASTORS (NRP) which our church is a part. I also got to hang around the church on Sunday to preach at one of their campuses and that night, with Pastor Rod Aguillard, spoke prophetically over numbers of their local leaders and people. It was "off the chart" as they say, with the prophetic word coming as sharp, detailed, and direct as I have experienced in a long time. That was encouraging for everyone. Thanks to pastors Rick and Natalie Paladin for being first class hosts in a world class church.

The conference was a rallying cry for the men of the church and this nation to prepare for cultural war and transformation. This is not the jihad of the Muslims, but rather the spiritual warfare and confrontation the Bible teaches us to enter into against the powers and principalities of the air. While our problems certainly stem from people and power brokers making bad decisions, we understand that there is a spirit behind all of this which we call...the devil.

Every message was "spot on" and built on the one previous. It amazes me how no one coordinates their message with another, yet each one is like part 2, 3, 4, etc. I guess that means the Holy Spirit was involved in what was being shared.

It was also encouraging to see these 200 men from these churches (30 churches represented) passionately worshiping God and shouting "amen". We need that zealous spirit to again rekindle the passion for righteousness in all our men. We have a lot of great guys who love the Lord, but we need to stir up the zeal again and get hungry for the things of God. I believe some of that happened.

The most dramatic moment for me was the trip on Saturday morning to the Pittsburgh Planned Parenthood Building in downtown Pittsburgh along with about 100 men. This abortion mill kills approximately 20 babies a day. As Pastor Keith Tucci exhorted us, it is "the gates of hell". One hundred men at 6:00 am drove to downtown Pittsburgh and simply prayed at the doorstep of hell. We lined up, down the sidewalks and across the street and spent about one hour doing spiritual warfare against the powers of darkness. There is nothing pretty about what is going on and you can sense the evil. Ironically, right next door to the abortion mill is a gay bar which had unmentionable posters displayed concerning what goes on inside. One of their special nights is called, "Sin till you win". I will leave it at that. It is true, is it not, the spirits of darkness love to congregate together.

As workers of the abortion mill came to work, you could see by how they entered quickly and secretly that there was shame associated with their work. This is not a compassionate act they are involved with. Let there be no doubt, this is big business. The sad part is that there is more regulation on our church to remove an oak tree than there is to extinguish the life of a baby. While I am not sure our direct act saved any lives this day, I did find it interesting that while we were standing there a mini-van drove by and then spun its tires and sped off in another direction. When I saw that my hope was that a mom changed her mind and decided to choose life.

All the time we were praying, Pastor Keith Tucci paced back and forth in the provided zone that was marked for protestors on the street. He paced in front of us all who were lined up there to pray exhorting us and preaching to us that there was never a greater illustration of the proclamation of the gospel to the poor and innocent than what was going on at that moment. He reminded me of a general keeping the troops focused. It looked like the scene in BRAVEHEART when William Wallace rode back and forth on horseback exhorting the troops to fight.

At the end, we all raised our arms up on the streets of downtown Pittsburgh and cried out a war shout for God to bring the "high place" of child sacrifice down, to tear out its stronghold, and dry up its resources. It was an amazing sound to hear 100 male voices crying out in downtown Pittsburgh. The police eventually showed up, but by that time we were in our cars preparing to go back to the conference. I suspect they got a call thinking we were going to stage a "take-over" or something. They were driving a van in case of arrests I guess. Bottom line, this was purely a spiritual confrontation.

That took one hour. I don't know if any babies were saved that day. My hope is that there was a residual effect of the anointing and all day long as women walked down the sidewalk to this place they felt strangely compelled to just keep walking. I shake my head to consider how careful we are in America in protecting animals, trees, and the environment; but find it strangely acceptable to extinguish life like this. It isn't about health really...it's about convenience.

This is just the beginning for the men of Legacy. There is a CAUSE in this nation that awaits us. I am believing for 100 men to join our ranks quickly, for our time is running short. I will say more in the future, but at least this can keep you caught up.

Planting a Cross,

Pastor