In This Month's Report:
* Editorial - Pilgrims Regress?
* Feedback - FMI's 20th Anniversary
* November Events - New Apostolic Alliance
* November Ministry - Impacting the Northeast and Beyond
* News and Resources - Children Born Believing In God
* Products - Four Exciting Resources (see link below)
* Partnership - Invest In God's Program for the Northeast of America
* God Thoughts - A Man of Sense

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

"Go on, then, in your generous enterprise with gratitude to Heaven for past success, and confidence of it in the future. For my own part, I ask no greater blessing than to share with you the common danger and common glory... that these American States may never cease to be free and independent." ~Samuel Adams

Note from Jeff: Thanksgiving is a uniquely American celebration commemorating the Pilgrim's survival of their first brutal winter in the new world. This year, Thanksgiving follows soon after a very divisive presidential election. Since the church at large will be both elated and deflated as a result of the outcome, how should we respond? Below is a guest editorial from Mark Alexander combining the election and Thanksgiving 2008 into his perspective.
 

Pilgrims Regress By Mark Alexander www.patriotpost.us

In the aftermath of a momentous election, an election sure to change the course of our nation, it is tempting to despair. On this Thanksgiving, though, let us resist that powerful temptation and instead take stock of the blessings of liberty.

President Ronald Reagan often cited the Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving as our forebears who charted the path of American freedom. He made frequent reference to John Winthrop's "shining city upon a hill."

As Reagan explained, "The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free."

Who were these "freedom men," and how did they eventually blaze the path of true liberty? They were Calvinist Protestants who rejected the institutional Church of England, believing that worshipping God must originate freely in the individual soul, without coercion. Suffering persecution and imprisonment in England for their beliefs, a group of these separatists fled to Holland in 1608. There, they found spiritual liberty in the midst of a disjointed economy that failed to provide adequate compensation for their labors, and a dissolute, degraded, corrupt culture that tempted their children to stray from faith.

Determined to protect their families from such spiritual and cultural dangers, the Pilgrims left Plymouth, England, on 6 September 1620, sailing for a new world that offered the promise of both civil and religious liberty. After an arduous journey, they dropped anchor off the coast of what is now Massachusetts.

On 11 December 1620, prior to disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they signed the Mayflower Compact, America's original document of civil government. It was the first to introduce self-government, and the foundation on which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were built. Governor William Bradford described the Compact as "a combination... that when they came ashore they would use their owne libertie; for none had power to command them."

Upon landing, the Pilgrims conducted a prayer service and quickly turned to building shelters. Under harrowing conditions, the colonists persisted through prayer and hard work, reaping a bountiful summer harvest. But their material prosperity soon evaporated, for the Pilgrims had erred in acquiescing to their European investors' demands for a financial arrangement holding all crops and property in common, in order to return an agreed-to half to their overseas backers.

By 1623, however, Plymouth Colony was near failure as a result of famine, blight and drought, as well as excessive taxation and what amounted to forced collectivization.

In desperation, the Pilgrims set a day for prayers of repentance; God answered, delivering a gentle rainfall by evening. Bradford's diary recounts how the colonists repented in action: "At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other things to go in the general way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number."

Property ownership and families freely laboring on their own behalf replaced the "common store," but only after their ill-advised experiment with communism nearly wiped out the entire settlement.

In their simple representative government, born out of dedication to religious freedom, the Pilgrims replaced the rule of men -- with its arbitrary justice administered capriciously at the whim of rulers who favor some at the expense of others -- with the rule of law, treating individuals equally. Yet even these "freedom men" strayed under straits. So could we, if we revert to materialistic government reliance instead of grateful obedience to God. Sadly, we're a long way down that path already.

Closing his farewell address in 1989, Ronald Reagan asked, "And how stands the city on this winter night?"

Contemplating our blessings of liberty this Thanksgiving, nearly 20 years after President Reagan left office and 20 generations past the Pilgrims' experience, how stands the city on our watch? #

"Hi Jeff, It's always a blessing to receive positive and uplifting news from you. I just wanted to say thanks for your faithfulness to the calling God has placed on your life. I don't read all your e-mails but the times I do have the chance, they are always encouraging. God Bless and keep you!" Omar, New Jersey

"Hi Jeff, It is so great to hear from you – we love what you are doing over in the US to make a difference for Jesus! Keep on going!! We love you Jeff!!" Vince & Kathy Squillace, Sydney, Australia

"Dear Jeff: I noticed in your recent newsletter that you were coming up to your 20th anniversary for Firepower Ministries International, so I just wanted to write and congratulate you on this important occasion. May God continue to bless you, your wife, and your ministry in ever-increasing ways in the next 20 years or more. Blessings." Alan Langstaff, Kairos Ministries Inc., Minnesota

“I want to thank you so much for being at Peckville with Pastor Terry. I was so blessed by all of what you said.... I just love to hear about God and all He did for others. I want to thank you so much just for who you are, and sharing God’s grace with others. If you can keep me in your prayers I would be so grateful. Thanks just for being an ear to me. God bless you and all you do for the Kingdom of God." Trudy, Peckville, PA
 

Alliance for Apostolic Advancement Attracts Local, National and International Leaders to Metro New York - For two days (November 13th and 14th), our Metro New York based network, Christ Covenant Coalition (CCC) hosted a gathering of leaders from several different states and nations designed to enhance apostolic advancement of the Kingdom of God.

The central hub of Newark, NJ was the location for this strategic event moderated by Bishop Joseph Mattera, founder of CCC, with input from many key apostolic leaders, including Apostle John Kelly of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA).

Kelly remarked, "The two scriptural models of apostolic networks are the Church of Antioch, who received their vision through revelation, and the Church at Jerusalem, who got it through persecution. Very few get it by revelation… most get it through persecution!"

The various networks represented determined to work together, on a strong covenantal basis, for the greater good of the Kingdom of God. We will meet again in April 2009 to further solidify this purpose and vision.