City Breakthrough: Pastor Makes Himself Homeless in Oshawa and Built an Altar

“I decided to turn the lights off, close my office door, and make myself homeless on the streets of our city for three days.”

As a pastor I can remember a time where I found myself frustrated with the Church…

Every Sunday we preached and encouraged people to go out and make an impact in the community. We often held altar calls, had lots of prophetic words, laying hands on people commissioning them to go out into the highways and byways of our city. However, each week things sort of carried on, business as usual at our church, apart from a few testimonies from people who went street evangelizing or had a ministry.

We had no shortage of prayer meetings and prophetic words about how God wanted us to be a “lighthouse in our city.” Some of those words described what kind of church we were going to be and the big things we will do one day. However, it seemed like a numbness began to settle on us. We weren’t seeing the breakthrough we prophesied and were praying for.

Waiting for the “it’s coming some day - but not yet” revival produced spiritual apathy.

We continued to come sit, wait, repeat.

During this season a desperation welled up in me to do something radical. Maybe it was born out of my own hunger, or maybe the Holy Spirit was responding to the prayers of the congregation all this time. Or maybe it was all of the above.

I decided to turn the lights off, close my office door, and make myself homeless on the streets of our city for three days. My purpose was to go and pray, sit where they sit, and sleep where they sleep. Taking my cue from Ezekiel when God told him to go and "sit in the midst of the people” (Ezekiel 3:17b),

I decided to do the same thing and pray. I desired an awakening inside myself to the realities of what we regularly preached about. I somehow felt that perhaps by doing this I would show God how serious I was about seeing revival visit our city.

Failing in prayer.

Day one of the three days I would spend on the streets arrived. I took nothing with me but a backpack with a Bible and a few necessities. As I began walking and praying, I was amazed by how exhausting it is to be “homeless.” You have to do a lot of walking, moving from place to place, anticipating where you will eat and eventually where you will sleep. These were probably the right conditions for me to pray with a little more desperation and sobriety than in our comfortable church prayer meeting time slot.

As I walked and began praying, I praised, worshipped and started “binding and loosing” any demonic influence I could think of. I blessed the city, rebuked things, and then, suddenly I was finished. I prayed for almost everything I could think of. As I continued walking wondering what I was going to do for the next three days, I began to conclude, surely someone has prayed for our city like this before, with these same words. Surely people have been binding, loosing and interceding on prayer walks similar to what I am doing now. Yet, our city was not changed.

What are we missing here? Why has the city Church not seen a breakthrough, and why did I feel prompted by the Holy Spirit, to go out and spend the next few days away from home like this?! I also started thinking about some fears and concerns about not only sleeping in the street, but any retaliation from the enemy I might experience because of my prayers targeting the devil.

Finally God moved.

As I continued wandering our city streets at now nightfall, finally the Lord had mercy on me. He took me to a passage of scripture when I felt suddenly prompted to open the little Bible I had with me. I landed exactly upon Luke 11:21-22. The words were highlighted to my spirit, practically jumping off the page.

“When a strongman, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder”
(Luke 11:20-22).

I knew the passage well as I heard and read it many times. But for some reason that night, I saw something new in the passage. I noticed the words “he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied.” I immediately realized if a Strongman presided over a city, a nation, or a family, his power is enforced by spiritual armor. This made absolute sense because there has been no shortage of spears and arrow prayers thrown and fired at the demonic powers holding our city in bondage.

Even though the city Church used their weapons of warfare shooting them at this ancient demonic entity, since he was fully armored, he was fortified. The arrows and spears accomplished very little and simply bounced off of him. Perhaps we only aroused his anger. This could explain the history of bizarre calamities and sicknesses such as repeated instances of brain tumors plaguing leaders daring to take the city for Jesus.

Next, I asked the Holy Spirit, “What is the spiritual armor” a Strongman relies on? What gives him legal rights to hold territory when Jesus is greater than all principalities and powers? Like a flash, I understood the only thing giving legal grounds to a defeated enemy to oppress a city, family and even an individual, is unrepentant sin. The sin issue and transgressions within our city was of a level that the Strongman was fully armored and had legal grounds to hold the territory. Sin pays wages.  

Prayer that backfires. Literally.

A missionary friend of mine once asked a witchdoctor in another part of the world, why witches and voodoo leaders can curse some Christian ministers trying to establish churches in different regions. The witch doctor responded, “Many ministers are unfortified and have sin in their lives. This gives the curse access to be affective.” In short, the unrepentant, willful continued sin in even a Christian leader’s life has power to give the devil legal grounds to harm them.

Let me emphasis the biblical concept of “willful, continued and unrepentant sin.” We’re not talking about the sins, intentional or unintentional, we commit and regularly bring to “the throne of grace” and “find mercy” (Hebrews 4:15). Rest assured when a believer repents with all godly sorrow, God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What we’re talking about is the practice of unconfessed sin leaving us unfortified, opening a door for the devil to have access to us. Jesus gave us a hint to the power of being fully fortified when He said, “the enemy came and found nothing in me” (John 14:30).

In the same way unrepentant sin of an individual can keep demonic spirits in power over a person, this also applies to the sins and transgressions of a city. The sin gives the demonic entity legal access, armor, to rule in the city or region. As shocking as this may sound, it is good news. Because no one dealt with sin once and for all quite like Jesus did when He took the sin upon Himself on the cross.

“When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him” (Colossians 2:15).

The reality that Jesus has triumphed overall, is exactly what the devil doesn’t want you to know or invest your faith into. Knowing this means you can pray effectively, using your God given delegated authority to displace the enemy, a “squatter” in a home he no longer owns. This is big news!

But what do we do if an individual, people group, city, or nation won’t repent?

We then move into intercessory prayer. Here God looks for a man, woman, or collective group to “stand in the gap.” He looks for someone willing to repent on behalf of the sins of the people, bridging the gap between them and God. When this takes place, the legal access points the enemy may have, is lifted. When the blood of Jesus is applied, the strongman loses his power. This now presents the opportunity for an individual or Church body to take action through tangible acts of love, words and efforts, freely leading a person or a city into right relationship with God. A person, or people group, can knowingly come into revelation of sin and the Savior, embracing Jesus and His Kingdom, with unveiled eyes. This eliminates the strongman’s legal right in holding people in bondage.

Receiving this revelation on night one of my three-day prayer mission,revolutionized my prayer strategy. Instead of focusing my attention on demonic powers trying to use the right words and vocal volume to “bind them,” I turned my attention to the discernment of the Holy Spirit regarding what sin and transgression was present. I asked the Holy Spirit to help me take on the burden of an intercessor for my city.

As a pastor, spiritual leader or gatekeeper, I knew I had significant authority to pray for the city. When I started praying this time, rather than a short half hour sprint where I ran out of things to pray about, I prayed close to 10 hours a day. The Holy Spirit had my full attention away from the busyness of ministry duties at the church, and He took advantage of this. He began revealing all kinds of things related to the foundations and issues within our city. So much so I started writing down everything He revealed to me to repent of and pray about. He even led me to certain key physical locations in the city to pray.

“…somehow, under the weight of the day-to-day management of church issues, locked inside our church building, the real issues where lost people lived, was at a distance.”

One of the most significant things I noticed while praying and walking over those 3 days of homelessness, was that suddenly it felt like my eyes were open to the issues in our city surrounding me around every corner.

I noticed prostitution taking place I had not seen before. I saw the issue of drug addiction, alcoholism, idolatry and hopelessness hovering like a cloud over the land. Why hadn’t I seen these things before? After all, I wasn’t completely oblivious to our city’s challenges, having lived here all my life and pastored for nearly a decade at this point. But somehow, under the weight of the day-to-day management of church issues, locked inside our church building, the real issues where lost people lived, was at a distance.

At our church we preached and prayed about the issues, but seldom went beyond the church walls far enough to actually confront them in a way that would bring change.

One thing became clear during those three days of prayer in the city. Pastors must not lose heart when confronted by the issues of ministry in a region. You as a pastor, leader, or participant, probably have a great church. Do not fall into the trap of thinking your church is weak or small. Reality is the needs and issues within your city are great. Take heart! You are effective. Keep going.

As I was led in significant deep times of intercession and travail for the sins of our city over those three days, the list of issues to pray about grew larger and larger. I didn’t realize that God was using me to build an altar of prayer that would produce fruit shortly. However, I can truthfully say, there did come a point when I felt a release and returned home. This meant I could make it in time for our church’s All-Night Prayer meeting and share all I experienced. I could equip those present in a greater strategy of prayer for our city.

Dealing with the Strongman

Those three days on the streets of our city led to an incredible season of equipping our church in prayer strategy. We as a church started practicing our discernment in how to repent, and what to repent about in intercession. Only when we felt the burden of repentance lift on an issue, did we shift to rebuking, binding and loosing. Once the sins of the land have been repented of by key gatekeepers or a critical mass with authority like the Church, the Strongman’s armor “on which he relied” is stripped from him, making him completely vulnerable to the powerful spears and arrows prayed by the people.

Using this prayer strategy we easily removed the grip of the Strongman, finger by finger, until he lost his grip. Once a Strongman or principality is displaced from a region, it’s time to send the saints into the territory in a practical way. Then we take back the ground once held by the enemy, start ministries, reach the lost, occupy key leadership positions of influence and establish the Kingdom.

After this strategic season in our church of targeted prayer and intercession, a movement of training and equipping was launched. We began frequently holding three-day trainings called “History Makers Trainings.” In a relatively short time, not only did we see many of our church members radically transformed, but we saw tremendous fruit and influence multiply in their lives.

Reaching 250,000 people through apostolic strategy.

Due to the unusual fruit we were seeing from the trainings, we organized a collective group of equipped individuals into what we call “Society Small Groups.” We then began mobilizing them for city impact. These small groups became active in our community from the base of our local church. Through them, we watched God use what looked “small” greatly impact our city. These individuals saw amazing doors opening to them for the purpose of Kingdom influence in society.

It was a tremendous strategy to use small groups to bridge the gap between “the big church on Sunday” and our city communities during the week. Through this model, we reached close to 250,000 people both in our city and globally in just under two years. These strategic small groups of no more than twelve to fifteen trained people were considered the “Navy SEALs” for societal influence. These leaders went on to establish social programs and ministries in the community. Some pursued government grants and worked towards becoming major influencers in their sphere of influence and calling!

One woman started a program called, “Little Mister and Miss Tea Party.” Parents and their children came together for a tea party and were simultaneously taught etiquette, Christian values, and character skills. As the group grew, she was given the use of a building in the city free of rent. Eventually she was even given an office in the building, completely rent free.  

Aisha Francis created an incredible ministry impacting families in our community. Once her community project was taking shape, she invited the city councilmen, mayor, representatives from the local university, and many other key people to present her ministry “Project Restore FIBI”. The program helps rehabilitate families impacted by incarceration. Both secular and Christian leaders attended the event. Aisha successfully gave a strategic presentation that was like an unveiling to the community. Her program is now recognized because of this initial event. Aisha isn’t only having extraordinary influence in the community, but her development has reached global proportions. She has spoken from many stages and has had influence even beyond her initial project.

Patrick Flontek began giving leadership in two “senior’s churches” and started a program called “Budding with Seniors.” In this program the young generations meet with senior citizens to give them hope. Before starting the program, he mentioned he had not led a single person to Christ in the twenty years he’d been saved and attending our church. After starting the program, he led people to Christ almost weekly.

Donna Loback started attending City Council meetings, taking others with her. She often said, “Did you know we can have influence in laws that are passed? We just have to show up.” She started showing up with other church members and launched a ministry called “Project City Revitalization.” Since the Mayor approved it, she began chairing meetings with the Mayor and City Councilors and had the nativity scene brought back into the city.

City wide recognition.

I won’t soon forget the look on John Henry’s face, the City Mayor at the time of the launch of our strategy, when he found out there were only thirteen leaders from our church (at that time), making so much impact. The effects of those thirteen well-trained individuals had such incredible influence in the community that people thought we numbered in the hundreds. The city Mayor presented us with an award for our transformative work in the community.

One by one a domino effect began in our city. Our own church and ministries were not the only ones swept up in the wave of all God was doing. Other churches and other leaders began taking ground in our city for Jesus as well and many new ministries and ministry breakthroughs have happened.

From the media to becoming the Mayor.

There was a man named Dan Carter who ran a city-wide television program called Chex TV. One day while driving down the main road our church is on, he felt prompted to turn into the church parking lot. He got out of the car and walked into the church office. When he came in, he requested to speak with my father, who was the Lead pastor, and said, “I am here because I believe it is the right time now for our city.”

My father had the great privilege of leading Dan to the Lord in his office. Not long after God began using Dan Carter in remarkable ways! He started attending our church regularly and helped support the various ministries taking place in the community. Dan Carter went on to become a City Councilor and eventually the Mayor of our city!  

Our story is a real case study for the power of strategic prayer and intercession coupled with organized action once the Heavens are opened over a city. Here are just a few of the powerful testimonies that came out of this great work.

When demonic powers are dethroned, the Kingdom of God comes and expresses itself through ordinary individuals.

Lidia Hristova developed a system to help patients with her medical equipment for the early diagnosis of diabetes. She applied the system and has now helped hundreds prevent the development of diabetes and serious heart conditions.

“I sat in church inactive for years waiting for my release into my calling. Since being equipped through History Makers Training, I created a curriculum for families that is now in over 36 countries and counting.”

- Marguerite McLeod-Fleming

“I created an athletics program teaching underprivileged youth character, and Biblical principles through basketball.”

- Dane Lai Cheong

“I launched a sports ministry reaching athletes, started a business, and became an ordained minister. My wife hardly recognized me and our marriage flourished!”

- Rohan Stoby

“I launched a platform called LE SEMEUR to help people redesign their life purpose. My wife started a program in Africa helping orphans find Christian families.”

- Jude Gbekou

“Our group initiates and organizes public meetings and peaceful protests against gender ideology deception and social justice issues in our country.”

- Emilia D.

“Our group created biblically based textbooks now used in the school system in our country. This is a miracle of reformation in the education sphere.”

- Maria Jambazova

“I started a project called TR3:Art Program, a program designed to reach and equip children through art. The response from the community has been amazing!”

- Jackie Henry

“We started a ‘Cowboy Church’ and launched a yearly evangelistic event called Awaken in Pennsylvania USA. We are now reaching our community and seeing the lost saved!”

- Josh and Ashley Shedden

“I received the tools of how to systematically create a curriculum to equip children. I created 72 lessons in just 4 months!”

- Pastor Judy Crummer

“Our Society Group founded a total rehabilitation program for Gypsy people, and I published my first book!”

- Pastor Encho Hristov

“I started an Addiction Recovery Center where addicts are being set free and becoming leaders!”

- Dima Karpov

“I started my own kingdom business!”

- Crystal Courtney - Elliott

“I launched a program for single women and single mothers, educating them in Kingdom principles.”

- Kate Hudson

“I founded ‘Church in the park.’ A unity outdoor evangelistic event that gathers hundreds to worship together publicly in our city. We plan to establish these in other cities.”

- Bruce Richardson

The gospel we have been given is a result-oriented gospel. We have authority from Heaven and prayer mixed with strategy changes things.