Welcome! What a pleasure it is to be in touch with you again. The FMI Report mainly documents the previous month's activities. We would like to thank all of you who have been forwarding these messages to your friends and family. 

In This Month's Report:
* Editorial - "A Lion Roars"
* Feedback - great testimonies
* October Events - City Transformation, Mayor's Dinner, Traditional Marriage, Future Prophets
* October Ministry - our ministry activities over the past month
* Coming Soon - clergy civil action, historic reconciliation, ICA
* Tips and Resources - Women of faith
* Products - order "Worship Wars" (see link below)
* Partnership - invest in God's program for the Northeast of America

We would love to hear from you; please send us your feedback today. Don’t forget the ever-popular 'GOD THOUGHTS' at the end of this report. Enjoy! JB

INTRODUCTION

Faith and morality played major roles on November 2nd as American voters re-elected President Bush and approved amendments to protect marriage in 11 states.

Ohio's Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, estimated that 25 percent of Bush's raw vote in Ohio came from white evangelicals. "The faith factor was the difference in this election," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Not only did more than 75 percent of evangelicals vote for Bush, but "a whole lot more of them voted" than in 2000, Land said. Even The New York Times acknowledged that faith was a major factor "Because people of faith voted their values, their beliefs and their convictions...."

BACK TO BASICS

Bush is the first wartime president in modern history to not only win but to increase his majority in the House and the Senate and win a majority of the popular vote. Gary Bauer, president of American Values, said, "The upsets in the Senate and House races and the 11 marriage amendments showed that no matter where you lived, people came out to support the kind of values that founded and built this great nation...." (source: www.Crosswalk.com).

A Cultural Revolution in Respect

The day after the election, City Covenant Coalition hosted a roundtable meeting for Tristate leaders in Brooklyn, NY, where Tony Carnes, a senior editor of Christianity Today magazine, was able to give us some analysis of the election. In the lead up to November 2nd, Tony had interviewed President Bush. He said that the election result was a deep expression of a cultural revolution going on in this nation.

"The core of Bush's support has been the Evangelicals, whose primary motive was that the the Democrats did not respect them..... We have not gotten much respect from the elites in this city.... The churches today are asking for a cultural transformation.... There are 7,100 Evangelical/Pentecostal ministers in New York City…. Most are conservative/moderates, a number that has doubled since 1997. The galvanizing issues have been gay marriage, the Bush Presidency, and lack of respect from the power block" said Carnes.

SILENT NO MORE!

For many years, conservative evangelicals in America have been considered the 'silent majority.' The secular minority, aided by a left-leaning media, believed that they had the power to create the impression that they were the mainstream. They had worked hard in re-defining values from being traditional to secular. Again, the media elite failed to respect the 'silent majority' who had enough of being characterized as dumb hicks in 'fly-over country' and let its voice be heard in the vote. A lion roared and was silent no more!

There is more hope for America now that the church has begun to wake up and take responsibility for its mandate to transform culture. Let the cultural revolution begin! #

"Dear Jeff: I’ve been reading your newsletters and enjoying listening to your tapes, which by the way are encouraging as well as enlightening. I am so pleased to see how much Firepower Ministries is accomplishing in God’s work.

I want you to know that I stand in agreement that Traditional Marriage is to be defended. It is so great that thousands of families came out to renew their wedding vows and made a statement for truth and morality. I pray the body of Christ will be encouraged and move to stand up for all righteousness in this nation and take their rightful position in this land. I’m believing the Lord will accomplish His plan and bring this nation back once again into a Godly nation.

Please know you are in my prayers! I pray the Lord will continually keep you strengthened, in good health, spiritually anointed and prosperous in all you do for Him. God bless you! Elaine Barry"

CCC Leadership Summit on City Transformation - Dr. Peter Wagner and Dr. John Kelly were our special guests for the City Transformation Conference sponsored by City Covenant Coalition in Brooklyn, NY, October 5th and 6th. Both speakers brought new revelation concerning the restoration of apostolic ministries at this time in cities around the world, both within the Church and in the workplace.

Dr. Wagner asserted that since 1990 no US city has been transformed. This is mainly because of unrealistic goals and the wrong approach. The two missing pieces have been the functioning of territorial and workplace apostles. However, these ministries have been increasingly restored to the Body and changes are now evident that were not possible before.

City transformation will rise or fall on persevering leadership! The question is, who are the God-appointed leaders, or spiritual gatekeepers, of the city or region. The assumption of the nineties was that pastors were the gatekeepers, but that did not bear much fruit until it was acknowledged that true apostolic leaders were the real gatekeepers. There needs to be a shift from administrative leaders to risk-taking leaders if we are going to see our cities transformed.

New York Mayor Bloomberg Hosts Dinner in Honor of Hispanic Community  - On October 6th, Mayor Bloomberg hosted a dinner in honor of the NYC Hispanic Community at his residence, Gracie Mansion on Manhattan's east side. Dr. Joseph Mattera and I were invited to join several hundred others. The mayor paid homage to the tremendous input the Hispanic community has to New York City (see photo below).

More On NJ Statewide Clergy Defense of Traditional Marriage - On October 4th, the state capitol of New Jersey saw 248 clergy gather from all denominations for a prayer breakfast and press conference in defense of traditional marriage. This event was covered by most of the newspapers in New Jersey, some TV stations and many radio stations. Numerous papers made this event the subject of several editorials, some of which were positive towards this cause and some that were negative to our stand. In The Record, Wednesday, Oct. 6th, Op/Ed writer Lawrence Aaron responded to the fact that about one third of the clergy who gathered with us in Trenton were African-American, "...Among black clergy the argument against gay rights has been twofold - as a moral issue and as a heretical chapter of the civil rights movement. In the African-American lay community... there has been steadfast opposition to twinning gay rights and civil rights. 'The rights for which our African-American ancestors have died are not the same as gay rights,' said Rev. Darrell Armstrong of Trenton's Shiloh Baptist Church...." The fight continues! Keep your prayers focused on this issue with us. We cannot afford to lose the culture war!

National School of the Prophets Comes to New Jersey to Release the Future Prophets - Dutch Sheets, Barbara Yoder, John Eckhart, Peter Wagner and Chuck Pierce joined many other leaders from around the state and nation for the "Releasing the Prophets of the Future Conference" hosted at The Church of Grace and Peace, Toms River, NJ (FMI's US base). Many of the speakers said this was the most powerful conference of its type they had been a part of.

Dutch Sheets spoke of the Jeremiah 33:3 Revolution which is almost upon us where the younger generation will be energized to take the prophetic mantle a step higher with a major demonstration of signs and wonders accompanying them.