A response to the current state of American affairs….

I have been, as many of you have been, watching the current horrific actions of our national leaders centering around the partial government shutdown, and the debate over raising the debt limit.  I have been appalled at the petty actions to hurt the American people by denying access, and even arresting those who cross barriers to national monuments, and denying people access to their own homes if they happen to be on federal land.

I have to confess my total outrage and disgust at the pettiness that is being shown on so many levels.

My heart is broken for our society in these days, where at a school in Washington state, balls are banned because they might harm students, and the NSA spying issues, the lack of leadership, and the list can go on and on .

I have to confess too, that I found myself being caught up on a sense of hopelessness for a time… a negativity that we have seen the last gasps of our great republic.  I had thoughts that I would live to see the descent of The United States of America into a form of government none of us wanted, but none of us stood up to protest.

But God…

Those are the words that I was reminded of out of that pit of hopeless thinking.  I was reminded that this is a perfect time, a perfect opportunity for the church to respond in the appropriate manner, in the manner that has, in the past brought great Awakenings to our country,

I think many Americans today are not aware of the writings and teachings of the revival historian, Dr. J. Edwin Orr.

In a speech called “The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening,” Dr. Orr describes the conditions in the colonies prior to the First Great Awaking. This is what he writes:

 Not many people realize that in the wake of the American Revolution there was a moral slump. Drunkenness became epidemic. Out of a population of five million, 300,000 were confirmed drunkards: they were burying fifteen thousand of them each year. Profanity was of the most shocking kind. For the first time in the history of the American settlement, women were afraid to go out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence. What about the churches? The Methodists were losing more members than they were gaining. The Baptists said that they had their most wintry season. The Presbyterians in general assembly deplored the nation’s ungodliness. In a typical Congregational church, the Rev. Samuel Shepherd of Lennox, Massachusetts in sixteen years had not taken one young person into fellowship. The Lutherans were so languishing that they discussed uniting with Episcopalians who were even worse off. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York, Bishop Samuel Provost, quit functioning: he had confirmed no one for so long that he decided he was out of work, so he took up other employment. The Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, wrote to the Bishop of Virginia, James Madison, that the Church “was too far gone ever to be redeemed.” Voltaire averred, and Tom Paine echoed, “Christianity will be forgotten in thirty years.”

Take the liberal arts colleges at that time. A poll taken at Harvard had discovered not one believer in the whole of the student body. They took a poll at Princeton, a much more evangelical place: they discovered only two believers in the student body, and only five that did not belong to the filthy speech movement of that day. Students rioted. They held a mock communion at Williams College; and they put on anti-Christian plays at

Dartmouth. They burned down the Nassau Hall at Princeton. They forced the resignation of the president of Harvard. They took a Bible out of a local Presbyterian church in New Jersey, and burned it in a public bonfire.

Christians were so few on campus in the 1790s that they met in secret, like a communist cell, and kept their minutes in code so that no one would know.

In case this is thought to be the hysteria of the moment, Kenneth Scott Latourette, the great church historian, wrote: “It seemed as if Christianity were about to be ushered out of the affairs of men.” The churches had their backs to the wall, [highlights mine] seeming as if they were about to be wiped out. How did the situation change? It came through a concert of prayer

Dr. Orr goes on to describe how people began to gather in concerted gatherings of prayer, and in response to concerted, humble, desperate prayer, God responded with what we now call the First Great Awakening.

The Word of God is always true in every fluctuation of society, and when He says,
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NLT)

It is a promise we can count on.

Are things terrible in our country right now? Yes, on many levels. Does any of this catch God by surprise? Not at all. Is any of this beyond His ability to bring revival and transformation? Not in the least.

The question is, what will my response be? What will our response be? Will be wring our hands in fear, or pound our fists in anger, or will be get on our knees and humble ourselves and confess that we as the people of God have been part of the problem? Will be cry out to him in concerted, humble, desperate prayer? Or will we hold on to our own sins and pride and watch things continue to crumble before us?

I am not a prophet, but I know the Scriptures are true, and I know the testimony of history. If we will respond as God directs us, He will be faithful to answer us.

Now is the time for the church to unite in humble desperate prayer for our nation. Turn off Fox News, and CNN, yes, and even Facebook, and gather in prayer with other believers and petition God for the salvation of our nation. It is not too late. The Lord awaits our response.

This is my plea to believers wherever  you are… start now…. Don’t let up until He answers with power in your life, in your family, in your city, in our nation.

Even so, Come! Lord Jesus…in revival power.

humbly submitted,

Steve Loopstra

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Your Servant in Christ Ministries

Steve Loopstra

 2012  Year End Perspectives

 Paul writes to the Ephesians, and in Chapter 5, verses 15 -17,

 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.
Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. (NLT)

The exhortation of “…be careful how you live” has the idea of looking around, being aware of your life and what is going on around you and then “redeeming” or making the most of every moment as you understand what the Lord would have you to do with those moments He has given you. The year 2012 was a year where I desperately tried to live that way.

The year 2012 has been a year like no other in my life. The year started, still in shock and grief over the loss of my dear wife, Marilou on September 3^rd. December of 2011, I took her ashes to Brazil, and returned home just before Christmas.

January of 2012 was a time of trying to find my orientation… “who am I,” “what do I do now?” I was determined not to fall into a victim mode, but to “redeem” this new season of my life. It was a time of asking and seeking from the Lord the direction He would have me to take. In December when in Brazil, Bishop Eneas Araujo, pastor of First Baptist Church in Valentina had asked me to consider coming and working with them in Brazil. In January, this was still only a seed beginning to germinate.

February brought some greater clarity to this, in a telephone conversation with a prayer/revival leader, who in the midst of our conversation told me that as they were praying for me, they had the sense that the Lord had put a “Macedonian Call” on my life. He explained,  “When a nation calls, you do not take it lightly.” It was a powerful confirmation for me of what had been stirring since that December invitation.

 In February, I conducted a “College of Prayer” in Wisconsin, and then began to investigate what would be needed for me to move to Brazil. I also began to seek opportunities to preach, and raise an income, since the income from The Sentinel Group had dried up back about the time Marilou died.

In March, while having coffee at Caribou with Pastor Scott McClure on the subject of prayer, he leaned over to me and said, “You need a family.” It was exactly what I needed to hear. Thus a personal and ministry relationship began with Monroe Community Chapel, who would later sponsor Your Servant in Christ Ministries, which began that month.

In April I had cataract surgery and began the process of a check list for what I needed to do to get a “Missionary Visa” to go to Brazil. I continued to work on the mission and message of Your Servant in Christ Ministries, and raise an income by preaching in various chuches.

From April until July was a matter of waiting, preaching, praying and doing what I could to prepare to move. On July23rd, the last document I needed for my visa arrived.. the FBI report arrived. I immediately made my online application and made an appointment to take the application to the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco. The appointment was for July 30^th at 11:00 am. On July 25^th, I drove to California. I stayed with my good friend Mark McPherson over the weekend, and on Monday drove to San Francisco to the Consulate. I had investigated many options for my visa. The website said the processing time was 90 “Business Days” which means you exclude weekends, and Brazilian as well as American holidays. My estimate according to those figures was early December to be able to arrive in Brazil. I arrived an hour early and by my appointment time, I was heading out the door of the consulate, and the girl said I would have the visa by August 10^th . It arrived the 9^th.

In September I made a wonderful trip to the Twin Cities to visit friends and try to rest the rest of my support.

October was full of packing, selling and preparing to leave on October 25^th – MOVING to Brazil.  I arrived here in Joao Pessoa, Saturday, October 27^th at about 2:30 am.

The last two months have gone by so very quickly, and much has happened. I am working on language study, and learning the culture…sometimes the hard way.

When I began plans to come to Brazil, the Lord gave me a passage in Psalm 71, verses 17-21, which says,

 O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.  Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side.                                          Psalm 71:17-21 (NKJV)

In many ways the Lord has already begun to fulfill this word to me.

I have a house to live in, and right above the House of Prayer… The people of the church have been so warm and made me feel a part of the family from the beginning… I LOVE the climate… no shoveling snow here!!… and…I have a wonderful “connection” with many of the youth in the church, and have had opportunities to begin to invest into their lives.

What an honor that is. I have seen multiple ways in which the Lord has confirmed over and over that I am in the right place. He is bringing me comfort on many levels, and I consider myself among men, greatly blessed.

Thank you for your interest in Prayer Transformation Ministries and my ministry in Brazil.

Only the Lord knows what awaits in 2013, but we can know that His desire is to bless us with all His heart… Jeremiah 32:41. Thank you for praying. Please continue to lift this ministry up to the Lord that I might was, as Paul says, redeeming the time that He gives me.

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