DEAR FRIENDS I hope you had a great Easter celebrating the death and Resurrection of Jesus! Life has been busy over the past couple of months, as I have continued to travel and equip churches to reach lost people who are beyond the walls. In early February it was great to spend the weekend with Whitley Bay Baptist Church in the North East of England. A real highlight was the Sunday Morning gathering where, during the response time, 99% of those in attendance came and stood on the platform at the front of the church and asked God to fill their hearts with a vision of lost people that they know as He sees them. Whitley Bay Baptist church is now going through The Rooftop process and I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do as the seek to engage with lost people beyond the walls of the church.
Having spent some time in the UK I travelled to the US for a four week trip. I arrived in North Carolina (NC) on February 12 and we held the first board meeting of the international board in Raleigh Durham. It was
Rooftop Encounter in Kingman AZ WWW.DENNISPETHERS.COM • 1
Dennis at New Life Church, Conover
really good to spend time discussing the ways that the Lord is leading this ministry forward and to make some key decisions that will help us to develop the ministry across the world. Following the board meeting I drove back to Hickory with John Whaley, the Pioneer for The Rooftop US and on the Sunday it was a thrill to launch The Rooftop at New Life church in Conover NC. The Sunday morning gathering was a great experience as God touched the hearts of many who responded to the invitation to join Jesus in His mission. In the afternoon we went to the 7th floor of a high building in the city and looked across the city. Following the launch I was able to spend some days with John to work through a number of important things that will help to develop the ministry across the US—not least the completion of the US part of www.therooftop.org After this really productive time in NC I headed to Arizona to speak at the NET 21 conference in Phoenix and to preach and lead a number of The Rooftop gatherings across 2 • PETHERS PRAYERLINE • APRIL 2015
Some of the leaders on ‘A’ Mountain in Tucson
the state. I was the keynote speaker for the conference and I spoke on ‘Reaching the Never Churched’ a pastor commented afterwards: “I had never thought of people as ‘never-churched’ this has changed my whole perspective”. Following this, I lead a rooftop gathering with some pastors and church planters on ‘A’ Mountain, overlooking the city of Tucson. This was a special time as the leaders looked across the city and spoke openly about the things that need to change in them and the churches they lead if they are to effectively join Jesus in His mission. Next stop—Christian Challenge on the campus of Arizona State University. I engaged in conversations with several people during the day. I met many athiests, some who believe that all religions are fine, others campaigning for the legalization of drugs. The university campuses of the United States are a mission field full of an unreached people group—young American people! In the evening I spoke to the Christian Challenge gathering from
Hebrews 10 and the need to meet to encourage one another so that we will be effective when we are not together. The discussion and prayer time that followed was really encouraging as many of those gathered grasped that we need to be doing things in a new and more biblical way if we are to reach the mission field of ASU. I then drove north to Kingman AZ and Spoke at a men’s breakfast in a hall. It was packed full with men and I spoke from Luke 10. In this passage Jesus encourages his disciples to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers into His harvest field. Jesus’ next word is ‘Go’. The prayer that I encouraged the men to pray was not ‘Lord send somebody else’ but ‘Lord give me the passion and desire to go’. One man said, “We should be like Spartans, prepared to give everything, even our lives, to see people saved!” How different things would be if that were true of most of us as Christians. I then led a Rooftop Encounter with leaders from across the city. I then drove back down to Phoenix and led The Rooftop with Phoenix Downtown church. As the groups looked across the city and we talked about what we sensed the Lord was saying one lady shared “We are apathetic and judgmental! We don’t see people how we would like God to see us”. On the Sunday I Preached at Grace Community church on the edge of Tuscon AZ, a church that is considering a deeper partnership
With Fausto Vasconcelas
with The Rooftop. I then headed to Washington DC and met with Fausto Vasconselas, the head of Mission for the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). The BWA has now linked The Rooftop to its website and soon leaders across the world will be made aware of this ministry. I then travelled to Florida to be at Impact Church in Lakeland; it was good to be among a group of people who are really seeing transformation take place in their lives. 60% of the church is homeless and the building is in the middle of a community of homeless people. I preached on the theme of the power of the gospel from Romans 1:16 and had great conversations with many people afterwards. The following day I led a rooftop Encounter with churches overlooking the city of Lakeland. Impact is another church that is considering a deeper partnership with The Rooftop. My last port of call was 1st Baptist Church Sevierville where I spoke at the Connections Conference for Sunday School leaders. This was a great gathering of people from churches in the region and I was able to speak on the theme WWW.DENNISPETHERS.COM • 3
of reaching the Never Churched. I will be speaking again with leaders from the church regarding future collaboration around The Rooftop. I then came home!! Over the past few weeks in the UK I have been able to spend some time with Lynn, as well as meeting with leaders in many parts of the UK where we now have several churches that have registered to become part of the movement. I have also been in regular contact with South Africa and Australia—more news on this in the June Newsletter!
ITINERARY AT-A-GLANCE APRIL 2015 10 11 12 13 14 19
THANK YOU
26
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support that enable me to continue to help churches across the world to reach lost people beyond the walls—I am so thankful to God for you.
27
Dennis e: dennis@dennispethers.com w: www.dennispethers.com
30
Meeting Andy Frost, London Mission Collective With leaders at Chatsworth Baptist church London Preaching at Billericay Baptist Church Meeting leaders in Kent Meeting Pastor Osoba of London Baptist Association Preaching at Sidcup Baptist Church Preaching at Immanuel Baptist Church Meeting Church Leader, Croydon Travel to US
MAY 2015 1,2 At Impact Church FL 4–10 With Calvary Baptist Church Virginia Beach VA 11–17 With 1st Baptist Church Litchfield IL 18–25 Week off with Lynn in US 26 Back in UK
DENNISPETHERS.COM THEROOF TOP.ORG
4 • PETHERS PRAYERLINE • APRIL 2015