Response to Obama at UofR (Journal Excerpt)

Just an excerpt from my journal as I processed what I heard and saw this morning.

President Obama was at U of R this morning. It was really weird. He sounded like a high schooler making an SCA election speech. He kept promising things like more jobs, better schools, less taxes, but gave zero “how” to the “what.” The one thing he did say was that there is a bill going thru Congress that will make more jobs and lower taxable income. He kept saying things like, “when it passes,” “congress will pass it,” “vote for this and you will see.....” but he never said a word about what is in the bill.

But the people kept cheering. They shouted out, “I love you, Barak!” and he responded, “I love you back!” every time. It was so weird.

The people seemed completely swept away by the President’s congeniality. He was gracious, he interacted with them when they cheered for him, he joked with them, he made personal comments about Richmond and Virginia leaders, which connected with the peoples’ hearts...he called it refreshing to be in Richmond. It’s like he found a way into the hearts of Richmond by bringing affirmation and love and speaking beauty about the city, whose heart is deeply affected by wounds from its past.

It was way more spiritual than even I gave credit for at first. It was total false hope delivered to a city in desperate need of real hope and transformation. And that’s what he was tapping into--the city’s need for transformation. But it wasn’t right. He called for restoration of the American Dream--met by fervent cheers--he called out for prosperity to arise in this city that has known so much depression, both economic and otherwise. He is 100% an excellent rally-er, and knows how to respond to the excitement in the atmosphere.

I think it’s urgent now that we pray for God to explode truth into Richmond, because this IS our shot--it really is now or not ever--we have to chose what will unite our city, and it is a time of big spiritual warfare.

We were made appealing promises this morning but they can’t happen apart from the Gospel. Richmond is clamoring for freedom and real restoration, and Obama aptly discerned the atmosphere of our city. But we can’t stand on emptiness and anything outside of the hand of God is empty.

There is a loud and rapidly rising cry in Richmond for salvation and it is near...but we have to grab the right hand.

April/May Update!

The Lord has been breathing on us exceedingly regarding standing with Israel. He has been leading RIHOP to develop a teaching series on God’s heart for Israel called Root Awakening. At first the message of God’s heart for Israel can seem like a “rude” awakening; but as Gentile believers, the Lord has been teaching us about the roots of our faith--the root people Israel and their Savior and ours, Jesus Christ. We kind of have a lot to say about this ongoing series, so...here we go.

March Update in May

In March, Rosemary Schindler, great niece of Oskar Schindler, along Dror Vichansky, a tour guide from Israel spoke at RIHOP. Dror shared about current political issues regarding Israel and gave us his testimony of how He came to faith in Yeshua. We celebrated Shabbat (Sabbath) with Rosemary and Dror the next evening. It was just like a family get together with REALLY great food and then we entered into a spontaneous time of prayer and prophecy for the city of Richmond.

Now on to April and May!

The months of April and May have been part of one of the busiest seasons in RIHOP. For months we were planning our I3 Internship which turned into us hosting a few mini-conferences for the general public, members of other houses of prayer, city pastors and leaders, as well as all of RIHOP staff becoming students in I3 as well!

Jewish History Seminar with Rabbi Jamie Cowen

We began our mini-conferences with 25 hours of intense teaching on the history of the Jewish people. Just like with every culture, in order to minister to them you have to know about them. Rabbi Jamie Cowen, a Messianic Jewish believer and Rabbi of Tikvat Israel (a Messianic Congregation in Richmond), reviewed the entire history of the Jewish people beginning with Noah up to the present time. Jamie (Harner) and I were struck with how much the Jewish people have gone through and how God has faithfully been calling for them to come back to Himself. We were also impacted that the church is called to stand with Israel.

CityWide Passover Seder and Drama

Immediately after Jamie Cowen’s history course, we hosted a citywide Passover Seder at the Robinson Theatre in Church Hill. Rabbi Jamie Cowen facilitated the Seder and RIHOP, along with students from the YWAM-Va base’s April Discipleship Training School and volunteers from our community and church (Legacy Fellowship International) performed a short drama displaying God’s faithfulness to Israel and ultimate redemption of the Jewish people. The main purpose behind the citywide Seder was to declare God’s heart for Israel to the pastors and leaders of the city. We had 135 pastors and city leaders in attendance, many of whom left dramatically touched by God for the Jewish people, making a declaration that Richmond stands with God’s covenant and chosen people.

Doug Hershey

After the Seder, we had a little rest. With so much information to process, we had to sit and ask ourselves, “what does this mean for us as Spirit-filled Christians called to serve the Jewish people?” The Lord helped answer that question for us by bringing us a man named Doug Hershey. Doug and his wife Rebecca, are the directors of The Ebed Network based in southern Maine. The vision of The Ebed Network is to demonstrate love in practical ways to Israel and her neighbors. Doug has authored a book called The Christian's Biblical Guide to Understanding Israel, published by Creation House and is an amazing Bible teacher with a heart to serve God’s chosen people. He taught at RIHOP on Jesus and the Torah (Law) and the New Covenant. He showed us that Jesus did not put an end to the Law but rather fulfilled every single aspect of it, giving us power as Jews and Gentiles alike to fulfill His Word. We felt that this was an appropriate and exciting end to the Spring Root Awakening Series.

Dover Baptist Association

We are also involved in a church plant along with RIHOP called Legacy Fellowship International. At our church we want to raise up disciples who will in turn also raise up disciples. A local Baptist association called Dover caught wind of what we are doing in downtown Richmond and began approaching us about supporting our ministry. On May 1st, we attended to the 228th semi-annual Dover Baptist Association meeting where they officially welcomed us in as a church plant and pledged to begin financially supporting our church. We are very excited; however, what most excites us are the relationships that the Lord is building across denominations to reach our city for the gospel.

Personal Updates!

Plans are going really well for our wedding. In May we are beginning marriage counseling with our pastors Matthew and Sherrie Moore. Having been immensely blessed by seeing their marriage, we are really excited to learn from them; they are incredible examples to us as a married couple in ministry. As we see their ministry gifts working together, we are learning how to let each other flow in our areas of giftedness. We will be meeting with them twice a month until October.

We are also still in “high gear” for raising support. However, we are seeing our support base grow monthly. We are so thankful! Please continue to pray for us for the full provision God has promised.

We have a combined monthly income of about $685. We believe the Lord is going to give us the 3rd floor apartment above RIHOP to be our first home together; we also believe that we will be fully supported before we are married in October. Our goal is a monthly income of $4000. Would you consider supporting us monthly?

Monthly partners! We love and appreciate you so much.

If you wish to have donations be tax deductible, checks may be made payable to RIHOP. Otherwise, please make checks out to Shawn Jarrard. All donations may be sent to this address:

(please email shawn at shawnjarrard@rihop.com for or me at jamie.harner@yahoo.com for the address...didn't want to put it up online for the whole world to see!!)

You can also donate to us online via Paypal by visiting www.paypal.com or thru Jamie’s blog at soundignified.blogspot.com and using this Paypal ID (for both websites): jamie.harner@yahoo.com.

I would like to receive monthly updates from Shawn and Jamie: Yes No

If yes, would you circle either: Email Snail Mail (please include mailing address)

I would like to become a monthly partner with Shawn and Jamie: Yes No

With a monthly donation of: $1-49 $50-75 $100-150 $200 $400 or more

Shawn and Jamie update February 2011

Shawn and I started a monthly newsletter in January (sorry I didn't think to post that one here!) I'll be posting the content of the monthly updates here!! Here's the one we just sent out for an overview of February.

Hey there! Remember last month we told you about Pray Metro

Richmond? We had a great time serving through leading worship with

some amazing musicians and talented singers. Most of our time was

simply praying for awakening in Richmond and for revival in every

sphere of society.

It was particularly striking for both Jamie and I when after 3 hours of

worship and prayer, many black young people came up to us asking

us about our ministry. While I was connecting with some of the musicians,

Jamie began talking with a young woman about finding some accountability in her walk with Christ. It

was amazing to see the hunger in these young adults, many of whom want to get connected to play with worship

teams at RIHOP. We came away encouraged and with a burden to pray for the fullness of God’s plan to

come forth in the black community.

Ministering at Lynchburg House of Prayer

The Lord has been opening up some doors for us to lead worship across the state. We feel like He is using us

to lead others into prophetic worship by meditating on and singing the Word. This month, our journey led us to

Lynchburg, VA. We met up with Jeff Struss, Jr., who leads a house of prayer right in the middle of downtown

Lynchburg (Lynchburg HOP). We joined in the River that God was already releasing and got to minister to them

as we ministered to the Lord. One of my (Shawn’s) favorite moments was seeing almost everyone in the room

with open Bibles, eyes closed and hearts engaged with the Lord. It was so exciting to minister along with these

folks and to bring some encouragement to their house of prayer.

I3 Update

We, along with the rest of the staff at RIHOP, are gearing up to begin the last

month of planning for the Intimacy, Intercession and Israel (I3) Internship that

will begin April 1. We have shortened the internship from 12 weeks to 8 and

made a few changes including lowering the cost (yay!) and changing the dates,

which now run from April 1-May 31. We are still accepting applications for this

exciting new internship that focuses on God’s heart for Israel and our crucial

stance with His covenant people as both a nation and a city. If you, or anyone

you know, is interested in learning more or applying, let Shawn and I know!!

Development of an Israel Watch and Israel Drama

RIHOP has always felt a special call to stand with and pray for the people and nation of Israel. Over the past

few years there have been many prayer watches dedicated to Israel with the focus of them coming to know Jesus

as their Messiah. One of our worship leaders has faithfully been leading an Israel prayer watch for about a

year that Jamie and I have become a part of, with Jamie singing and me leading prayer. During one of the recent

prayer sets, as I (Shawn) prayed on the mic the Lord began knitting our hearts together as a whole team. As we

meet weekly, we will begin studying the promises of God for Israel and praying in one accord for God’s destiny

to be released toward Israel and the Middle East. We are all really excited to see how God is moving in this!!

In April, we are hosting a citywide Passover Seder for local pastors and leaders. We will be presenting a

drama depicting the history of Israel and the great revival scheduled to touch them in the coming days. The

drama demonstrates how Israel has been persecuted through the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Russian Pogroms

and the Holocaust. It ends with Christians surrounding Israel through prayer and meeting practical needs which

results in the nations coming to serve God’s purpose in Israel. We are excited to share the story of Israel with

our city, pray for many hearts to be touched and that our city will stand with Israel.

iShoutforJoy.com Interview

This month has been so jam-packed with exciting things!! Shawn and I, along

with RIHOP’s director, Sherrie Moore, and her son Michael recently had the opportunity

to share about our ministry on a local internet radio station,

iShoutforJoy.com. We were interviewed by gospel band Zechariah’s Song on

their Monday night show which you can catch live at ishoutforjoy.com every

Monday night at 6 p.m.

All four of us were able to speak briefly on God’s heart for Israel and His

move to awaken the world to His covenant plan. Sherrie and Michael shared

about the growing move of the Lord across our city to apprehend the younger

generation and the black community. Shawn and I had the amazing opportunity

to share a little bit of our story as a couple and speak briefly on Purity as it has guided us in our relationship. It’s

one of my favorite things to talk about, actually! I capitalize the word “Purity” because it is much more than just

a concept of abstinence, refraining from watching certain media, using certain language, wearing certain clothes

etc. Purity is a person, and His name is Jesus. In the interview we shared that as we sit before Him and grow to

know Him intimately, we are ushered into a lifestyle of purity as it is the expression of His love to us.

You can listen to the whole interview here (it’s about an hour long and is saved as three different parts, so

make sure to listen to each part! Sherrie and Michael speak first, then Shawn and I speak):

http://www.ishoutforjoy.com/forum/topics/feb-28-2011-richmond.

Personal Updates

Oh, before we forget...WE’RE OFFICIALLY ENGAGED!!

In January I (Shawn) was given an anonymous

envelope filled with a wad of cash to the amount

of $800. There was an accompanying note specifying

how the funds were to be used. With that money, I

made a down payment on a ring and asked Jamie to be

my wife. We have set a date for October 1st, 2011 to

get married.

Now we are really in support raising mode...more

than ever! While we are beginning to plan our wedding,

reception and honeymoon we are also looking

for those who want to support us monthly as husband and wife. We believe the Lord is setting us on the wall

together as watchmen, raising up day and night prayer for Richmond and abroad. We so LOVE our monthly

supporters and we are so thankful for your gifts!!

Currently, we have a combined monthly income of $800-1000. We believe the Lord is going to give us the

3rd floor apartment above RIHOP to be our first home together; we also believe that we will be fully supported

before we are married in October. Our goal is a monthly income of $4000. Would you consider supporting us

monthly?

Checks may be made payable to RIHOP and sent to this address:

Shawn Jarrard

4900 Bur Oak Court

Richmond, VA 23237

You can donate to us via paypal: Jamie.harner@yahoo.com

I would like to receive monthly updates from Shawn and Jamie: Yes No (circle one)

If yes, would you circle either: Email Postal service

I would like to become a monthly partner with Shawn and Jamie: Yes No

With a monthly donation of: $1-49 $50-75 $100-150 $200 $400 or more