Father Loves the
The Story: Vision For Our Cities
by Barry Adams
In early 2001, I began to get a sense that God was going to begin to blanket
entire cities with the message of His love. I can remember telling my wife Ann
that I could see "Father Loves Houston" and "Father Loves Chicago" initiatives
happening some time in the future. I had no idea what to do with what I was
seeing so I left it in the Lord's hands. After the World Trade Center tragedy
of 9/11 I received an email from a pastor in Geneva, New York asking if we
would consider sending 1,000 FLL cds to the rescue workers at ground zero. With
the help of many friends, we were able to ship 4,000 FLL cds, 1,000 FLL videos
and 20,000 FLL cards to New York City in October 2001 for free distribution. I
was amazed at how open these NYC church and ministry leaders were to help us
deliver Father's Love Letter to so many hurting people in their city.
The Birth: "Father Loves New York"
To help support this initiative, we created a new website for the people of New
York called... www.FatherLovesNewYork.com.
Bill & Deborah Fisher of Jacksonville, Florida have championed this effort
and Deborah returned to New York City for the one year anniversary to give out
another 50,000 "Father Loves New York" cards. To read her report from this trip
you can access it online at
here.
When the Lord spoke to my heart that entire cities would be blanketed with His
love, I had no idea that the first city that would begin to open up would be
one of the biggest and most influential cities in the world... New York.
I believe that there will be many more cities that will begin to initiate
"Father Loves Our City" strategies. We are already beginning to see the first
fruits of this as Lisa Lannan from Kingman, Arizona has begun a "Father Loves
Kingman" initiative with the support of local churches and ministries.
"Father Loves Jacksonville"
Bill & Deborah Fisher have also been faithfully sowing the Father's love
message into their community as well and have recently launched their own
website FatherLovesJacksonville.com
Many local churches and ministries are getting behind their initiative to
blanket Jacksonville and the First Coast Regions with the message of Father's
love.
"Father Loves Tampa Bay"
Linda Chaney from Tampa Bay, Florida is spearheading a 'Father Loves Tampa Bay'
initiative in her local church (Praise Cathedral Renewal Center).
God's Work is Spreading
We have also heard from other cities in the United States, Canada, Europe and
Africa who are interested in starting starting similar "FatherLoves...."
initiatives in their own cities. What could this look like? To be honest I feel
like we are still "looking through a glass darkly", but it seems as if more
clarity comes with each step of faith we take. I can only share with you what I
see with the eyes of my heart. What I envision doesn't seem possible in the
natural, but praise be to God that we are not subject to the principles of this
world! Jesus taught us to pray that the Kingdom of our Father will come to
earth and that His will would be done as it is in heaven!
There is no possible way that I could ever hope to manage what I see in my
spirit. I only feel that I am called to be a catalyst, to stir up, encourage
and inspire others to see the incredible potential of what God the Father wants
to do in the cities and possibly the nations of the world. So having said that,
it is with the heart of a little boy with a really big Dad that I share with
you just a glimpse of what I see could happen if the revelation of God's
Fatherheart began to cover our cities.