We had an excellent time at CATAPULT gathering. There is a lenghty RECAP below... but first a few housekeeping items:
Fasting & Prayer!!! We've had quite a few extended fasting and prayer initiatives going on nationally, regionally and locally. As a result, we've had over 1000 hours of prayer coverage document on the Craven24Seven prayer calendar for Oct/Nov! We don't want this momentum to stop and ask for YOU to stand watch with us! This is a pivotal season and we ask you to join us to fast and pray. If you are praying for extended amounts of time, would you please consider partnering with the Craven24Seven prayer initiative? Sign up (as an individual or on behalf of a group) for one hour intercession and/or worship time slots. Every hour that is covered is one step closer to 24/7 prayer in Eastern NC. We need YOU to sign up and take action!!! We have opened up a prayer room @ TJ's CAVE from 6am-9am (Mon-Sat) to make a place available for our commUNITY if you feel led. Grab a cup of coffee @ TJ's Cafe to help you sustain, and utilize the 600 square foot room to soak, pray, study, banners...etc!!!
What's next? We will continue partnering with Mission Xtreme for a season of tent meetings!!! We've already joined forces to host a few of our regular 4th Friday Burns at the MX Tent and we're behind them as a Burn community to support as needed at other unofficial Burn times. These tent meetings are a collaborative effort among local ministries to ultimately build "the Kingdom" beyond any one specific ministry. The Mission Xtreme tent will be set up in various locations throughout our community for several days, weeks or months for prayer/worship meetings as the Lord leads... see Mission Xtreme website and/or facebook for more details. The tent will be set up in Vanceboro, NC Nov 24th-27th. Scott Murphy (Mission Xtreme) will be heading this up and we encourage the BNB community to be engaged. The Thorsby family (Burn New Bern Directors) will not be able to invest much in Nov/Dec events due to a new baby (Thor 3.0) coming soon so we're hoping others will step up and represent BNB on our behalf!
**Please note: there will be no officially scheduled 4th Friday Burns in November or December. We encourage everyone to put their efforts during these months into partnering with the Mission Xtreme tent, other regional Burns/events and worshipping with your family and local ministries.**
We recognize that at the Burn, we're all worshipping together and really trying to focus all our awareness on God's Presence. We realize that it's tough to make space for building relationships in that context, and that's why we encourage everyone to come out to the Burn Community Group (BCG) on Monday nights. Our heart is to build relationships and future leaders through discipleship. We typically start the evenings with relational ministry and breaking bread (pot-luck style) and finish with teaching/worship/encounter as the Lord leads. If you would like to join us for BCG, please email thorsby@theburn247.com and we will give you more details. We will be taking a short break from hosting Nov 15-Jan 8 due to a new baby and we will resume Jan 9th @ 6:00pm!
Upcoming Burn Events:
Nov 7th - (6pm-8pm) Burn Community Group - Mondays @ The Hobbit House
Nov 14th - (6pm-8pm) Burn Community Group - Mondays @ The Hobbit House
Nov 24th-27th - Mission Xtreme Tent @ Vanceboro, NC
Nov 15-Jan 8 - No official BCG meetings - we will resume Jan 9th @ 6:00pm
Dec 30-31 - Igniting Azusa East - Dunn, NC
Jan 27th - (7pm-7am) Burn New Bern - Location TBD
See current schedule and event details at Burn New Bern and Facebook sites.
Share our facebook events with friends and help spread the FIRE!!!
CATAPULT - Weapons Of Warfare - Oct 28th-31st, 2016 - RECAP
WARNING – This is long… but worth the read! It’s important to know what’s going on in our region! Each day could be a blog of its own!
It’s been over a week since we took down the Mission Xtreme tent from Union Point Park in New Bern, NC. I’m still literally unpacking physically, spiritually and emotionally. When the Lord told me to launch a 77-hour worship, prayer and outreach initiative in downtown New Bern, I was a little hesitant. After all, that’s a lot of work, people, exposure, warfare, commitment, logistics, finances and investments on many levels. There are weather factors, there are a lot of other events going on in the area, it’s Halloween weekend where it’s often a bit on the dark side (New Bern was once a headquarters for Wicca), people may have other commitments…etc. Those were just a few of the things in my head as I processed what I felt the Lord saying. I clearly felt like it was supposed to be connected to the Halloween weekend to be a light in a dark place and to take back ground that has been lost. As I communicated the vision to Scott Murphy (Mission Xtreme), he was immediately on board to partner with us (to my surprise). As I communicated the vision to our Burn core team, they didn’t give me the hesitation I was expecting. They were filled with faith to GO FOR IT so those were just a few of many confirmations.
I felt the Lord specifically leading us to Union Point Park which is strategically located downtown near a lot of historical sites. It’s also a place where land, air and sea intersect and I felt this was significant to who the Lord is bringing in and sending out from our area. The flow of the Neuse and Trent rivers intersect in New Bern at Union Point and this is a representation of ministry streams that will begin to converge in our region for a unified effort. We began declaring victory over that site months before the gathering. We even starting advertising for that location in faith well before we got the approval from the city to “expand our tent pegs”. The city rarely does overnight-type gatherings since the parks are closed and recently rejected a request for a similar type of event. Hurricane Matthew flooded the area just weeks before the gathering and we still didn’t have the approval yet. This triggered concern but we knew the Lord was in control. In the midst of hurricane aftermath clean-up, we got the word that we were approved for the tent site. WOW! God didn’t forget us even in the midst of chaos. Sometimes those are the situations where we find ourselves pressing in even harder… and maybe that’s what God wants. If we could do it all on our own, it may seem as if we didn’t need Him. But He gives us victories where we often don’t expect them! There is POWER in the name of JESUS! There is POWER in obedience!! There is POWER in the secret place!!!
I’ll share a few highlights from each day. This doesn’t discount the plowing that went forth among those not mentioned in the highlights. We are all pioneers taking responsibility to pave the way for some of these highlights that we see with our physical eyes. Some of those unmentioned leaders may have been ripping down spiritual strongholds and planting seeds well beyond what we can see… #teameffort
On Fri (Oct 29, 2016) – Right out of the gate the Presence of God was descending upon the tent. We got blasted with powerful worship and word from a diverse group of leaders with multi-cultural, multi-denominational and multi-generational representation. This was the cry of our hearts for the weekend and we saw all of those on the FIRST night… and throughout the gathering! We even had a few Messianic Jews come through to worship! Sandy Quinonez brought a refreshing message filled with declaration over our destiny. NC Senator Norman Sanderson and his wife Linda led us in communion and prayer over our government. The devil even tried to distract us with a last-minute cancellation but Ray Hansley jumped in to cover it and delivered a powerful word fresh from the throne room of heaven. He reminded us by his obedience why it’s important to be prepared in season and out of season. I had the privilege of leading worship to finish off the first night. This was the first of many sets I had the privilege of leading daily. I’ve been leading worship as part of Burn 24-7 for quite a few years and this was the first time I’ve ever gotten a tip thrown at me… at midnight… at a tent meeting… in the middle of a park! Either I was really bad and this young caucasian couple thought I needed lessons or they were getting wrecked by the love of Jesus at a nearby park bench away from the tent because they randomly came out of nowhere! We’re talking $8… not just a “here’s a quarter, call someone who cares” type of a tip! As it was nearing the midnight hour, a young African American couple from out of town was lingering on the outskirts of the tent after a New Bern High School reunion. They were getting wrecked by His Presence and ended up coming back to lead an awesome worship set at 7am that morning… after only a few hours of sleep… while on VACATION.
On Sat (Oct 30, 2016) – Ray Hansley and Ty Chapman brought the word earlier in the day with Brittany Thompson leading worship between them and they must have broken something open because it overflowed throughout the day. Around 4:30pm, an airplane went spiraling down in the Neuse river behind the tent stage and the stunt pilot safely ejected (miraculously). He parachuted to the water and was rescued by a local boater as emergency services arrived. The focus and attention shifted to the incident instead of what God was doing at the tent. With emergency vehicles flooding the area with lights, sirens, news crews, traffic… etc., it was essentially a distraction (especially for the worship leader). As we transitioned bands in the midst of that chaos, the atmosphere notably shifted. There was a commanding sound being released from the Wilmington crew, led by Sara Hauser, that drew us back into His Presence and regained focus. There may not have been many people in front of the tent but there were many people surrounding the outskirts of the tent (in the air, on foot, in vehicles, on boats, in strollers, on hotel balconies, in news trucks…etc). The traffic was at a deadlock due to emergency vehicles and all that were in earshot of the tent and beyond were impacted. It was reported to me that this offering of praise through worship was blasted on the local airwaves in the background of the news reports covering the airplane incident. God can use anything for His glory! Thanks to the obedience of that band to be there and plow with us at that specific time, the impact was multiplied beyond what could be seen with our own eyes. This also set the tone for what happened throughout the remainder of the night… much fruit!!! This type of surrendered obedience from everyone involved led to tremendous fruit and planted seeds well beyond what we have seen with our own eyes!!!
Insight from Sara Thorsby: “While we were worshiping Saturday night, my heart’s attention was specifically drawn to Five Points. The Five Points area in New Bern is a low-income community with a mostly African American population, lots of government housing, etc. I specifically felt like God was saying that the Five Points area is a seedbed for the Five-Fold ministry… that there were many people living there who felt buried, forgotten and were in a dark place. But God is sending ministers to pour living water on them, fertilize/feed them, and shine the light of the Son on them and they are going to burst forth with the fruit of apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. This correlated with Mike Thornton’s word about the African American community rising up as leaders in the church within our community. The next day there was a young man who lives in the Five Points area who came to the tent. He said, “I was walking down the road near my house and I felt like I was supposed to come to this tent.” He walked to the tent (about a mile walk, maybe more) and stayed for the majority of Sunday and Monday. WHAT?!?!!! J”
A few summary clips from Todd Ferebee: “On Sat, things really began to heat up. The worship during the day was very powerful. In fact, we received a massive sign that Jezebel's throne was being torn down on that afternoon when we watched the stunt pilot crash their plane over the waters near the park. I heard the Lord say that the enemy's stunts were over in the city of New Bern and later that night while in intense intercession, I saw a massive throne in the mid heavens that was on fire. When the 5 PM worship set began, the presence of God descended very strongly upon the tent and I had to literally walk out of the tent because it was so strong. The 6 PM worship set with Matthew Lilley of Burn Greenville pretty much ripped open Heaven and the entire tent was engulfed with Heaven. There was not one person in the tent that did not get a touch from the Lord during that set. One of the songs that he did in that set that absolutely poured Heaven was Seth Yates's "Strike the Ground" from Azusa Now. I have no doubt in my mind that this song literally ripped Jezebel down from her throne in New Bern. Powerful song. But the evening was far from finished. Speaker Mike Thornton of Ignite Ministries came down from Wilmington and declared a truly epic prophecy over New Bern around 7 PM. The two keys that I got out of it were as follows. New Bern needs to unite around the African Americans because they will be leading the upcoming revival. Repentance for the poor treatment of the African Americans continues to be a major theme that will unlock the revival in the Southern US and subsequently the nation. The Lord was saying through him that we need to try and repair and restore the relationships with these churches. The African American people are poor in Spirit and contrite in heart like Jesus and they will truly carry a powerful anointing in the upcoming revival. Key number two was HUGE. He said that you will know that the Third Great Awakening will be very near, even at the door, when you start seeing the church awaken their love for one another coming together in unity. Before the end of the event, under the cloak of darkness I personally blew the shofar towards Bridgeton, James City, and New Bern and prophesied that the church would awaken their love for their fellow brothers and sisters in the community that were poor, needy, etc. This is a big key and a reason why Jesus always focused on the poor. He was poor and had nowhere to lay his head either! He was a prophet without honor in his own hometown. After giving the word, Mike prophesied individually over the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers that were at the event. It was very encouraging.”
On Sun (Oct 30, 2016) – We had a plethora of diversity throughout the day and fresh levels of outpouring from guest speakers Ron Estes, Ray Hansley, Tammie Southerland and James Dowe. Ron Estes literally cancelled a portion of his church service to bring “church” to the people in the park at 12:00pm. As he ministered, he gave words of knowledge and the ministry team prayed with each person. Signs, wonders & miracles took place in the name of Jesus! In the afternoon, some of the SC crew rolled in as an outreach team was rolling out. Ironically, they brought with them two old-style pews affectionately called “the Jesus Bench”. One was placed on the lawn and one inside of the tent. These became pillars and talking points to stir up evangelism. As the outreach team, led by Tammy Smith, took to the streets in downtown New Bern, fruit followed. A lady was healed of a shoulder injury and trauma, they praying over the polling place for elections (near the courthouse) and later that night ministered to a man getting delivered of some tormenting demons. Back at the tent, Tammie Southerland began to pour out a fresh alabaster jar of oil on our commUNITY as she poured her heart out with Paul McRae and the rest of her team leading us to a deeper place of intimacy. The torch was handed over to the Darshi family (Burn India/Southeast Asia Directors) to lead worship and they continued the flow. Prathap Darshi is from India and Regina Darshi is from Germany so they released an international sound that was quite timely. Scott Murphy & I left the 9pm slot open because we felt weeks beforehand that a black man was supposed to lead that slot. As of Sunday morning, that slot still wasn’t filled so I messaged Ty Chapman since he had just powerfully poured out the day before. At 8:52am, he confirmed he was unavailable due to another commitment. I was a bit discouraged and began praying harder for clarity. I didn’t want to settle and just put anybody in there. Somehow the night before, the Lord put it on James Dowe’s heart to lead worship in the morning at 9am so one of our leaders signed him up. That just happened to be the time I actually had a few hours to go home, shower and eat so I wasn’t there to partake. While I was sitting on my front porch around 9am looking at facebook while I was eating a bowl of cereal, Scott Murphy posted a live feed of James (“a black man”) at the tent leading worship (harp & bowl style). I immediately knew he was the guy that we were looking for. I didn’t have his contact information but the Lord orchestrated an encounter for us later in the day. I asked him to lead, he accepted and he was exactly who the Lord wanted in that slot. How do I know??? Because of the fruit! He decided to minister from the keyboard and it was as if he was speaking directly to our souls through musical and spoken declarations. It was quite powerful. Aslan & Lydia Hart continued the spontaneous worship flow leading into the night watch as they did EVERY night at 10pm. The fresh sounds they release are direct manna from heaven and you can tell they spend a lot of time in the secret place connecting to Papa! No music stands. No set lists. No prepared songs. Just fresh overflow of the heart! And they do this with their 2 year old son (Zadok) strapped to Aslan’s back as the joy radiates from his face! What a blessing!
On Mon (Oct 31, 2016) – The night watch got intense as Tammie Southerland’s crew from SC plowed for hours. Note - Paul McRae played guitar & keyboard for like 3 hours straight (12-3am) and did same later in the day (12-3pm) while pouring out vocally after leading the previous 3 days as well. WOW! The prime time slot on Sunday night where Tammie led was just a warm-up for the night watch outpouring! Somewhere along the lines we all ended up ministering to each other, giving prophetic words, scripture reading and simply had a great time of refreshing in the presence of God. The wind was blowing in the physical and spiritual realms as the weather shifted on the final day. The SC crew stirred up the waters to start the afternoon which led to an intense outpouring through the GroundBreakers crew as the sun was setting. I feel that it was significant to have “GroundBreakers” leading during the transition from daylight to dark on the final night as if it was reminding us of our passion and calling for both day and night worship and prayer (essentially breaking the ground)! Sherri Ezzell ministered to the people on a corporate and individual level that brought restoration and release to those in attendance. Prathap Darshi (with his wife Regina on keys) had the privilege of being the final guest ministers of the event and had a chance to share from a different cultural perspective. It was quite refreshing! The last hour finished with a remnant of fiery Jesus lovers gathering around praying together, sharing testimonies and declaring victory over the enemy with a trumpet blast!
There were trumpets, shofars and ram’s horns blown throughout the weekend signifying a call to worship, a call to battle and a call to engagement in our commUNITY! We did prayer walks around the park, we ministered to homeless people, we saw signs, miracles and wonders on various levels and most importantly encountered the presence of God. As we fanned the flames of revival, there were many embers ignited that will spread like wildfire throughout our region. We look forward to the trails they will blaze!!!
I want to give a special shout-out to three pillars that held the fort down for this gathering (Scott Murphy, Todd Ferebee & Michael Thorsby). Each of us committed to 12 hours per day (plus tent set-up & tear-down and months of logistics planning) but we each ended up spending 16-20 hours per day literally at the tent site…plus additional logistics stuff at home. We had many others helping on various levels. Some served for an hour or two, some served large chunks of time, some served multiple hours/days, some served as-needed…etc. We couldn’t have done what the Lord called us to do without the sacrifice and obedience of everyone involved. I personally thank each of you and pray for increased favor and resources. Your investment will not return void!
We have posted some pics on the Burn New Bern facebook page (2016 Catapult Album) but it barely captured all that took place. We were too busy engaging to take good pics! If you have any GOOD pics or videos, please email your favorites to media@burnnewbern.com or share them to the Burn New Bern FB page!
Filled with audacious HOPE!!! Until ALL hear...
Michael Thorsby
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