Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A few thoughts from Robert:


Greetings to one and all at this most wonderful time of the year. All of us here at Elijah House wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We are experiencing a very white Christmas. Our area has been blessed by record snowfalls over the past several days (more than a meter of snow, and more is on its way!). After two thirds of this fell in just 24 hours, for the first time in many years, we told our staff and clients not to come to Elijah House because is was just too dangerous to drive. The following day we had a snowy adventure just getting drifts cleared away from the doors so we could enter the building!

On that very day I met with one of our service providers. As we were discussing the difficult financial times that have gripped our nation, he reminded me that many years ago during a similar downturn, newscasters were sent to find out why our inland northwest region was able to avoid the recession. One of the persons interviewed on T.V., a local pastor, reported that prayer was the key, and that local believers had decided not to participate in the recession!
As the Executive Director of Elijah House I have decided that our ministry will adopt this position. Not that I am in favor of putting our heads in the sand (snow, in our case) and ignoring reality. Rather, we will stand on the promises of God to provide for our needs.

Will you join us in believing God for this ministry as well as the hundreds of other worthy ministries that are also praying for provision? Thank you for your prayers and support!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

What's New at Elijah House


 

            Turning Hearts……Changing Lives


 


November 2008—What's New at Elijah House!

A Few Thoughts from Mark:

At our recent conference, "Kingdom Warfare, Solid Solutions for Today," we asked the audience to sit for a few minutes, soaking in God's love. Then we asked them to pass that love on to the next generation, by allowing God to direct us in warfare on their behalf. The Lord led us to invite all persons 25 years old and younger to come forward to receive prayers, blessings and whatever prophetic words God might choose to bestow upon them. What an anointed evening! Young people cried and laughed and basked in blessings some of them had never received from their parents.


 

Increasingly, I feel an urgency for my generation to reach beyond itself to bring to life the children we have too often aborted, neglected and discarded. Pray that the call of Malachi 4:5,6—to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers—truly gets through to the hearts of my selfish self-absorbed generation, in my nation and in yours.

A Few Thoughts from Robert:

I was recently reminded of one of the original goals for teaching Elijah House principles—to equip the whole Body of Christ to do inner healing! In the past, effective prayer ministry was relegated to just a few Christian "super stars" who had a "special anointing" and who were required to complete extensive training to pray for people. I remember that in 1981 John and Paula said, "The day of the prima donna is over." Through teaching and modeling how to pray about bitter roots, inner vows, foundational lies, etc, every believer can be equipped with tools for inner healing for themselves, their families, the neighbor next door, the friend who joins him for a cup of coffee, his work associates, or anyone the Lord brings across his path whom the Holy Spirit says is ready and willing to receive prayer.

The keys of knowledge that God gave to John and Paula are a gift to the whole Body of Christ. Let's remember to slay every hint of pride in thinking that we have to be the "expert" to qualify to pray healing prayers.

Ephesians 4:11-12 "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."

A prayer request:

Many of you have asked about John and Paula. Last summer John suffered a very mild stroke. He was hospitalized for two days and then released, with no lasting ill effects. Although he has retired from traveling to teach, he keeps very busy editing and revising their books (alongside Mark) and doing some local teaching as he is able.

As you know, Paula has severe Alzheimer's. She has been moved to a lovely assisted-living home nearby so that John and the rest of the family can visit her often. Please continue to pray for the Sandford family.

News items:

Great news! Early this Autumn, Mark wrote an email to the head editor at Strang Publications requesting that they publish Burnout, Renewal in the Wilderness, by Loren Sandford.. In recent times, only Loren's church could sell it because the copyright was held up by another party (long story). The copyright has been released, and Strang has chosen to publish, promote and distribute the book. Loren will revise and update it a little, and it will be out (with a new cover) by next January, selling to an exponentially wider audience! This should prove to be a great benefit to Elijah House as well!

Last week we were overjoyed to receive several computers and monitors, donated to Elijah House by a government organization that was updating their equipment. We were able to replace some of our older, barely functioning computers for our Bookkeeper and in our Resource Department! Praise the Lord!

New products & Systems:

  • The new Deliverance and Inner Healing book is here and available! Mark is very happy with the changes that have been made and prefers the new version greatly over the old. You can purchase this new product by phone or through our web store (the new web site and web store will come on line very soon).
  • Sheri Hancock, Resources writes: I have a fresh passion and excitement for my position in the resource dept. as I have been able to move to the shipping/mailing room and hand over the in-house sales to Rachel (our receptionist). Along with that, the consistent part time help from Craig (the newest part time worker) and the continued volunteer hours from both Craig and Janice (faithful volunteer) are making the light at the end of this tunnel seem brighter than the sun!


 

Seminars:

December 6-7, 2008         "Awakening the Slumbering Spirit"

Amish Community Church, Libby, Montana

Robert and Kathie Fetveit

January 30-February 1    "Discovering the Heart of a Man" Men's Retreat

                Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, Spokane, Washington

                Robert Fetveit and Mark Sandford

February 25-March 1        "Elijah House Inner Healing and Deliverance"

                Wagner Leadership Institute, Colorado Springs, Colorado

                Mark Sandford

February 27-March 1        "The Valley of Trouble—The Door of Hope"

                Women's Retreat

                Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, Spokane, Washington

                Thea Loughery and Sarah Compton


 

Live Schools (for 2009):

May 10-22            Basic I    

                Ross Point Bible Camp, Post Falls, Idaho

August 3-15            Basic II

                Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, Spokane, Washington


 

Prayer Ministry and Internships:

Some of you may not be aware that at EH USA we have replaced the 15 hour intensive week of prayer ministry with a 12 hour intensive week. At this time we are not doing local hourly prayer ministry.


 

Internship I and II is back in full swing, and we have added a four-week Practicum (the intern sees a client under observation by a full time staff prayer minister) to our six-month Residency. Starr Beer has now completed her practicum and will begin her six month residency in January of 2009. This means she will be seeing her own clients.


 

New Staff:

When you phone Elijah House USA, you will be greeted by the friendly voice of our new receptionist, Rachel Batchelder. Rachel is a joy to have around! Her sincere love for the Lord and her heart to serve is obvious to all, and we are very happy to have her on board.

Intercession:

Staff and friends of Elijah House USA meet every Tuesday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. to listen to God and pray regarding whatever is on His heart. Many times we pray as well for other Elijah Houses or requests that we hear about. We truly appreciate those of you who are committed to pray for the needs of our ministry.

International Elijah Houses:

Austria: Simon and Dagmar Pollit, Directors     Web site: www.elijahhouse.at

                        Contact:
simon@elijahhouse.at

Finland: Tarja Savolainen, Exec. Director    Web site: www.elijah.fi

                        Contact:
tarja.savolainen@elijah.fi

South Africa: Ina Jordaan, Director         Contact: inajordaan@absamail.co.za

Philippines: Virmi Nery , EH Representative    Contact: virmi.nery@gmail.com

Japan:      Masanori Miura, Director        Contact: info@elijahhouse.jp

Taiwan: Kuo-ren and Miranda Lin, Directors     Contact: krmlin@yahoo.com

Australia: Simon Moore, Director        Web site: www.elijahhouse.com.au

                        Contact:
scmoore@acenet.net.au

New Zealand: Marie Nield, Chairperson    Web site: www.elijahhouse.org.nz

                        Contact: added.value@xtra.co

Malaysia: Nancy Quay and Mei Lin Chong,     Contact: nancyqkg@gmail.com     

Directors    


 

Tidbits………

From Brian Hancock, Communications Department: God is Good to me!
Many of you recently heard about my tragic loss of a special $2,500 Martin guitar. I was leading worship at an Elijah House basic school when it was broken. This was a tragic loss to me. I had played for 25 years, and I love to play. The students volunteered to take up an offering, and raised nearly half the guitar's worth. Without my prompting, my church also took up an offering. When it was all said and done, $1,600 had been raised! I spent some time looking around, and found a wonderful replacement, a Taylor 414ce that simply sounded out of this world. But the dilemma was that the Taylor, which retails for $2,500, was on sale for $1,899, but only until Oct. 31. Obviously, $1,600.00 would not cover the cost. But last week I felt prompted by the Lord to check ebay, and found a new Taylor 414ce limited edition. The limited's are worth about $4500-$5000. I had only $1,600.00! How does that work? I did what I felt led to do… I bid $1,599! I Waited…………… And I won! Isn't God goooooood! My new guitar will arrive next Wednesday. I am so amazed about how much God loves me! We talk about it all the time, but do we really believe that our God is more than able? He is willing! I hope this blesses you as much as it has blessed me!

About Robin Fisher, Office Manager: Recently, Robin and her husband, Casey, visited Hope for the Children Orphanage in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. For 13 years, they have been leading teams of 30 or more adults and teens on annual missions from Word of Life Church in Stateline, Washington to this little oasis in the desert. Recently, during morning devotions, Robin showed us a slide show of her trip. Like a proud mama, she lovingly named each one of the children and told us a little about their stories. She told us how one of the children would run to Casey with arms up, crying, "Daddy, Daddy." Just one more way that God is turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers!