Open Letter Calling for Corporate Action to the Pastors and Churches of Loudoun County

My name is Timothy Childs, and I am the Pastor of the Lighthouse Church (http://thelighthouseva.com/), a new church located here in Ashburn, affiliated with the Foursquare denomination. Our church has a heart for the body of Christ to be “One New Man” in Christ and seeks to send messengers to all the nations. While this will be the third church I have helped plant over my 32 years of ministry, I recognize both our church and my family are relative newcomers to the area.

That brings me to the point of this letter. I have had the immense privilege of meeting with several pastors based in Loudoun County over the last couple of years and I have seen an appeal for unity amongst the churches and a desire to work together to carry the message of Jesus Christ to those around us. I believe we are called to be the “One Body of Christ” in Loudoun County regardless of the label of your church. The need for unity is real and so is the desire for it. From the great work done at Convoy of Hope, to Pastor Michelle Thomas and her church, Holy and Whole Life Changing Ministries, recently sponsoring the “One Loudoun Revival”, Loudoun County is starting to reflect evidence of that spirit of collaboration. As we have been hearing recently from Pastor Lon Solomon of McLean Bible, God is pouring out his heart for unity on the entire DMV region, if not the nation.

I do not know if you sense it, but I believe God will continue to call us in Loudoun to host such events because he wants to use His Church to deliver the Good News to the lost. He wants to answer those prayers that so many of you have been bringing forth to pour out His spirit for a new awakening. As Loudoun grows and more people transition here, we want our community to come know the Word. To do that, the church will need to continue moving outside our walls and into the community to reach the next generation wherever they reside. Where is the next generation? The latest research from groups like Barna tell us it is not “inside” the walls of any of our congregations … it’s out in our communities! I believe in order for the church to be the most successful in bringing Jesus to this community, we have to be as intentional in our corporate efforts as we are in our individual ones to share the gospel.

Having coordinated city wide church activities for many years in Southern California, I wish to invite everyone who has a heart for it to come collaborate with us. Take a step toward equipping a team with the tools that are already out there. In the Old Testament, Gideon assembled thousands of warriors to come alongside him through the Holy Spirit. While God winnowed that down to 300 warriors that would eventually go into battle, the people came together when called to get ready for the battle that lay ahead.

Originally, The Lighthouse Church had invited a nationally known evangelist Jim Barbarossa to minister. We just wanted to do a simple outreach event for our church around the start of the Jewish New Year and the High Holy Days.

However, God reminded Jim of a vision he had a few years ago about the DC area. God then revealed He had other plans for us when He opened the doors for 5 pastors from other states that currently hold regional unity gatherings to accompany Jim to our event so that we can learn how they successfully unified their regions.

Jim now wants to bring his team and share what God has done elsewhere in casting a vision for regional unity meetings; going beyond the walls of the church; and providing proven ways to work together as one voice. In response I felt God impressed me to “invite the churches” of Loudoun and make this event about all of us, His body in Loudoun.

Long term we would like to start collaborating with all of you to form a “Gideon’s Army” to reach our community. In the short term we would like to start by inviting you to our upcoming free conference September 10th-12th, 2015.

The conference will take place at Pastor Jeff Jacobs’s Church, Word of Life International Church, 21641 Beaumeade Circle, Suite 319, in Ashburn (http://wolashburn.org/pages/home). We will start Thursday September 10, 2015 at 7:00 PM. All four sessions are free and childcare will be provided. You can register here. (https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07eaoiu0je9af13218&oseq=&c=&ch=).

After the Conference is over, our current attendees will be joining other ministries from around our region and country to participate in some of the other events going on that weekend and beyond. On Sunday, September 13, from 11am-1pm we will worship with The Lighthouse Church worship team at David’s Tent (http://www.davidstentdc.org/), an exciting ministry your church can participate in and support as well.

Afterwards, we will gather at David’s Tent (which is located on the Ellipse of the White House) and proceed to pray at strategic locations around the White House. These actions will culminate with the 3pm March for Christ (http://www.insightusa.us/#!march-for-christ/c1l5j) which is gathering intercessors from around the country. The march will travel from the reflecting Pool down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House while we intercede for our nation.

I hope this will be the first of many events that we can participate together and that we can use this as an opportunity to collaborate on sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those around us. The time to gather is now, the opportunity to unify is here. Let’s go out and make the whole world hear that Christ is Lord.

In His Love & Service
Pastor Timothy