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GOD
AT WORK – OVER TWELVE YEARS…
Rockford
Renewal Ministries – Fall 2009
The downpour of rain that
came as a result of Elijah’s prayers began
with a cloud
as small as a man’s hand (I Kg 18:44 NIV).
Here are some small clouds, God at work.
Look toward the horizon with us for more:
v
The
Rockford School District was convicted for
inequitable treatment of minorities on the
city’s West Side and came under Federal
control. Negative rhetoric filled the local
paper month after month.
Taxes increased.
People began to move out of the city
limits. Housing
values declined.
The school board was polarized.
Today the board is more unified than it
has been for many years.
The district is out from under Federal
control. Test scores are improving. Charter
schools are being organized. In 2010, a new
racially and gender diverse group organized
Rockford Partners for Excellence to address area
needs and to find peaceful and community based
creative solutions.
v
When
the prayer movement began, there were thirty-six
homicides in the county, more per capita than in
Chicago, Illinois.
In 2004 they were down to eleven.
In July 2005, the newspaper reported that
in the last ten years, the violent crime rate
dropped 34.6 percent.
The crime rate has dropped 3 years in a
row – 6.6 in 2005 in Rockford, 11% regionally.
Crime in 2008 was down 18.5%. At the end of the
decade, in 2009, crime was at it’s lowest
level since 2000.
v
The
Evangelical Minister’s and the Rockford
Minister’s Fellowships nearly disbanded but
have been re-birthed and are strong. In 2005,
Youth With a Mission’s Impact World Tour came
to the city.
Forty congregations and over 2000
volunteers united together for the IWT. The
budget was
met and 1,957 people made public
decisions. A diverse fellowship of Women In
Ministry has been birthed and is meeting
monthly.
v
Area-wide
prayer gatherings have been sustained since
1994, now meeting monthly, called GRIPP –
Greater Rockford in Prayer and Praise. On the
National Day of Prayer, May 3, 2007, 2000
gathered for prayer and worship, the largest
prayer gathering in the city’s history. In
2008, 1500 gathered. A new team was established
in 2008 to lead three annual major prayer
gatherings, Concerts of Prayer.
v
Redemptive
city and international ministries have been
birthed in the area like Kids Around the World,
Carpenter’s Place, and the Life Center. Others
have grown, like the Pregnancy Care Center,
doubled and strategically re-located, and the
Reachout Jail Ministry, tripled in staff.
Carpenter’s Place is seeing 300 homeless
people come off the street annually, 200 getting
jobs. A School of Discipleship has been opened
and is producing graduates.
The Gideons of the area were once some of
the smallest chapters, now they are some of the
largest. A Healing Room opened in Rockford in
2007. Reformers Unanimous, an addictions
recovery and discipleship ministry, began in
Rockford in 1996. Today there are 685 centers
nationally and 45 internationally.
v
There
is a growing passion and activity for
redevelopment in the city and efforts to
re-build her economy. The regional economy is
growing. The Coronado Theater has been restored;
the Metro Center renovated, the home of a new
hockey franchise. New semi-pro teams have come
to town like the Raptors and the RiverHawks. A
new Federal Court building began construction in
2008. The new Correctional Center is
state-of-the-art with many more rooms for
teaching and “correction.” Soon a rapid-rail
system will be extended from Chicago to Rockford
and beyond, bringing new business and providing
commuter services. The local airport has
expanded to a regional/international facility,
the Chicago Rockford International Airport. A
local UPS hub has located in the city and has
grown to be a regional hub. A large trucking hub
has been established South of the city. A large
Lowe’s distribution hub has been built. A new
tax referendum in 2007 allowed major road and
infrastructure improvements. Since 2005, there
has been a net gain of 47 businesses opened
downtown. Forty-five have been expanded. In
April 2007, the Chicago Tribune wrote, Rockford
might not be on everyone’s map of must-see
places, but it has just made it onto the
must-count industrial property chart of Colliers
Bennet & Kahnweiler, Inc., a full service
real estate firm…. Developers are acquiring
land in Rockford as the last western frontier. Rockford
has become a regional medical center with three
large hospital networks. She is recognized as
one of the best cities in America for heart
care.
v
Judson
College, a strong Christian school, has opened a
branch in Rockford. . Rasmussen and Benedictine
Colleges have come to Rockford. Rockford
Business College was reorganized, renamed
Rockford Career College, moved into new
attractive facility and is growing. In late
2009, Kindred College was birthed, a new
Christian college with a passion to help educate
the Church in a racially diverse community of
faith.
v
Sports
Illustrated
magazine named Rockford the 50th
Anniversary Sports town for the State of
Illinois. Rockford is a sports center and has
one of the finest park districts in the state,
and it is known Nationally for its golf courses.
The Aldeen course is rated the # 1 public course
in the state. A new baseball stadium was built
in 2007, the home of the Rockford Riverhawks
baseball team. A beautiful new Arboretum is
under construction along the Rock River, adding
to the beauty and recreational development of
the river. Rockford has one of the top
children’s museums in the USA. Anderson
Japanese Gardens has been rated #1 among public
Japanese Gardens in the Nation.
v
Love,
INC. (Love in the Name of Christ), has grown
from a struggling ministry, to over 70
congregations networked to meet special needs.
v
As
the city prepared for the construction of a new
jail, God prepared strategic ministry in the
vicinity: the
Rescue Mission—Hope Place, an additional
Pregnancy Care Center, the Life Center, and
Reformers Unanimous. Victory Outreach has been
reorganized and is growing.
v
The
Chairman of the County Board is a Christian.
In April of 2009 the city re-elected a
Christian Mayor. The Sheriff and Chief of Police
affirm Christian faith as do our two State
Representatives, our State Senator, and our
local US Congressman.
v
In
August 2005 and 2007, Rockford won the National
City-In-Bloom contest, as efforts to bring
gambling to the area were turned away.
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Heartland Community Church began
in 1998 with a passion to reach the culture
creatively, a different way to do Church.
Today, their attendance in four weekend services
averages 7,200. In 2009, attendance at their
Christmas services was 15,000. They have been
baptizing over 500 new Christ followers each
year. They have moved to a shopping
center to make room for more people. The
church aggressively reaches out to serve the
city in her areas of need—rehabbing schools,
social agency facilities, stocking food
pantries, helping many recover from addictions,
etc. Following the earthquake in Haiti, they
coordinated efforts to send one million meals to
victims. In early 2010 they launched Monvee, a
discipleship program, in over 100 churches
nationally and internationally. One weekend
early in 2010, 300 professed faith in Christ
publicly.
This is a historic move of God, unprecedented in
the city’s history. They are increasing the
number of baptism services to handle the number
of those coming to faith in Christ.
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