March 2005
and his demonic hordes are defeated. That is the
REFLECTION
J esus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!. My prayer for you and yours is a
blessed Easter season. The great joy of
Christianity is that we Christians really do have
the truth – we believe that God has revealed it.
And the truth is absolutely awesome: That God is
a Trinity of three Persons, that God chose to create
and that the crown of His creation is human beings
– made in God’s image and likeness and invited to
spend eternity with Him. We had a beginning, but
we have no end: Our spirits, created by God at the
moment of our conception, are eternal. Mankind
sinned. But God chose to turn something bad into
something wonderful: He chose to redeem us in a
way and by a means that is incredible: He came
Himself. The second Person of the Trinity became
a Man – and Jesus the Christ walked among us.
He came to die, to take our sins upon Himself.
The Creator was brutally executed by the people
He created, and that means by all of us, for we all
have sinned and every one of our sins resulted in
His death. But the good news, of course, is that
death could not defeat Him. The plan all along
was for Jesus to rise from the dead. And in His
victory we find ours. This is the glorious message
of Easter, this is why we cry “Alleluia!” “Praise
God!’ As the Bible says, if Satan had been aware
of the consequences, he would have tried to stop
the crucifixion of Jesus rather than to egg it on.
And, brothers and sisters, this statement is what
leads to the intent of this reflection: Spiritual
warfare. No, I am not trying to rain on the Easter
parade. The fact is, the Resurrection is our
guarantee that ultimately Satan
good news. The challenging news for us
Christians is that Satan has been granted time by
God to be the ruler of this world, until Jesus
returns. We do not know why, but if we truly trust
God, we do not have to know anything more than
God does nothing nor
permits nothing that is not part of a
perfect plan and is for our final
good. So, the reality is that we
are in a time of testing; no, to
state it more strongly, we are
in a time of battle – a battle of
good versus evil. Easter does
not mean that we can take it
easy; no, Easter means that we are in the
final age, the age of the Church, and that Satan
knows his time is short and is furious and hates
God and hates people – and especially Christians,
who bear the name of Jesus Christ. So, I ask you,
and me, to reflect: Why are we on the UP Team?
Why is there an UP Team? Why be intercessors?
Because we have been called up from the reserves
to active duty. We are soldiers – just as every
member of every prayer group and every
individual intercessor is a soldier. It may not be
politically correct to say this, but here goes
anyway: Do you want to have a vivid picture of
the intensity and the horror of spiritual warfare?
Do you want to understand the impact of genuine
hate? Then look no further than terrorism. Just as
suicide bombers seek to destroy as many innocent
possible as possible, just as insurgents fight with
an almost insane intensity against a spread of true
freedom, so Satan, evil coward that he is, uses any
and all means to seek to destroy mankind. I truly
believe that God is permitting us to see the horror
of spiritual warfare going on all around us by
permitting the absolute insanity of terrorist acts. I
believe with all my being that God is trying to
give His people a wake-up call – a
call to arms, a call to an acute
awareness that we are in the midst
of a life and death struggle. The
absolutely wonderful, awesome
news is that God has empowered us
to fight and to win. There are many
ways to fight; but the absolutely most important
way and the way every single one of us has at our
disposal is the way of prayer. We have the
incredible privilege of being united by grace with
the Great High Priest, and our prayer, guided by
the Holy Spirit, becomes His prayer – and that
prayer is all powerful. So, while we rejoice at
Easter, let’s also see it as a privileged call to enter
into battle. Every time you and I are faithful in
prayer, no matter how little it may seem, it is
something wonderful and powerful. For we are
being used to equip the angels to do battle against
demonic forces; our prayer leads to Satanic defeat,
and the rescue of souls from his evil clutches.
Not, this is not some science fiction tale; this is the
absolute truth and reality. And the best news is
that ultimately the victory is ours because the
battle is the Lord’s.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
I had forgotten the following old story; someone
sent it to me, and it certainly fits the theme of
spiritual warfare: On the outskirts of a small
town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside
the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a
bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of
sight, and began dividing the nuts. “One for you,
one for me. One for you, one for me,” said one
boy. Several pecans dropped and rolled
down toward the fence. Another boy
came riding along the road on his
bike. As he passed the cemetery,
he thought he heard voices from
inside. So, he slowed down to
investigate. Sure enough, he heard,
“One for you, one for me. One for you,
one for me.” ‘Oh, my,” the boy gasped;
“It’s Satan and the Lord dividing the
souls at the cemetery!” He jumped back
on his bike and rode off. Just around a
bend in the road he met an old man with a cane,
hobbling along. “Come here quick!” said the boy.
“You won’t believe what I just heard! Satan and
the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the
souls.” The man said, “Beat it, kid! Can’t you see
that it’s hard for me to walk?” When the boy kept
insisting, the old man hobbled to the cemetery.
Standing by the fence, they heard, “One for you,
one for me. One for you, one for me.” The old
man whispered, “Boy, you’ve been telling me the
truth. Let’s see if we can see the Lord Himself!”
Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence,
but they could not see anything. The man and the
boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence
tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of
the Lord. Finally they heard, “One for you, one
for me. One for you, one for me. That’s all. Now
let’s go get those nuts by the fence and we’ll be
done.” They say the old man made it back to town
a full five minutes ahead of the boy on the bike.
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
T hursday, May 5, is the National Day of
Prayer. There will be various prayer events
in the area on that day. I encourage you to
participate in one or more if at all possible. One
event that day will be the fourth annual Branson
Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. It will be at the White
House Theater, from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. There
will be a buffet breakfast, special music and
prayer, a message by Wes Neal, a great man of
God in our area, and the presentation of the
Kingdom Builder Award, to a person responsible
for a high level of Christian service. Individual
tickets are $20 and the cost of a table is $120. The
Christian Business Men’s Committee (CBMC)
sponsors the event.
POLK AND CEDAR COUNTIES UP TEAM
T he UP Team modeled on ours, covering two
counties north of Springfield (including
Humansville), has a new
Coordinator. Colleen
Staley has taken on that
responsibility. She is
the lady who designed
the 10 Commandments
tee shirts in support of
Gregory Thompson, the
Humansville Superintendent ultimately discharged
for his stand and the founder of that UP Team.
Please pray for Colleen and also for Jim Gardner,
the dedicated man she is replacing as Coordinator.
Also, if you are interested in Colleen’s tee shirts
(it has become a thriving ministry), her address is
142 E. 360th Rd, Humansville 65674. Also, if you
would like to add Polk and Cedar Counties to your
prayer list during your hour, please let me know.
We can partner that way. Their sectors and days
are the same as ours, except on Monday – they
have Agri-Business instead of Entertainment.
TORCHBEARERS
T his ministry, founded by Dr. Martin Niboh of
the College of the Ozarks, is one that we
should certainly pray for regularly. Martin is from
Cameroon and he has a deep passion for the move
of God in that nation. We have a real bonding
with them – Martin and his wife pray
for UP, there is an UP member on
their Board, Pastor Howard Boyd
on the UP Steering Committee went
to Cameroon with Martin last year,
and last month I shared Martin’s
amazing story about the birth of the
baby “Miracle” (after his mother had been in a
nine month coma). The most recent Torchbearer
Newsletter I received identifies prayer needs for
each day of the month. Listen to the prayer
request for March 14 (the day I am writing this):
“Continue to pray with the Body of Christ in
Cameroon as they prepare to pray together for the
transformation of Cameroon on May 15, 2005.
II Chronicles 7: 14” I believe that this is highly
significant, for them and for us. Note the common
theme: Spiritual transformation of an area and a
people. They seek it for Cameroon; we seek it for
SW Missouri. Indeed, we all seek it for Africa,
the United States and the world. So, let’s join
spiritual forces as the Body of Christ. This kind of
bonding infuriates Satan; so let’s recognize the
call of the Holy Spirit to be in prayer.
IMPORTANT CALL TO PARTNER IN
PRAYER
omething very crucial will be occurring in
Fayetteville, AR on June 10-11 of this year.
Promise Keepers will be conducting a gathering.
Promise Keepers is a powerful ministry to men
and has had amazing impact on
the lives of individuals and
families. Northwest
Arkansas is our immediate
neighbor to the south and
west and I believe that
community transformation is
as much a part of God’s plan for them as for us. I
just met with four on-fire folks. Mark and Diane
Willits are the coordinators for the Fayetteville
gathering. Dean Kerns and Don Leetch are the
founders of DaySpring Greeting Cards, the largest
Christian greeting card company in the country.
DaySpring has its headquarters in NW Arkansas
and is actually a subsidiary now of Hallmark. Bill
Budnick, a fellow member of Christian
Businessmen’s Committee and a strong supporter
of Promise Keepers, joined me in a two hour
meeting. It is awesome to listen to a vision for
NW Arkansas almost exactly the same as the
vision for SW Missouri. NW Arkansas is growing
rapidly; there are three Fortune 500 companies
headquartered there: WalMart, Tyson’s, and JB
Hunt Trucking. I will be sharing more in the next
two Newsletters; but here are a few items to think
about and pray about: Over the past few years,
Promise Keepers has been moving away from
large outdoor stadiums for their gatherings and to
smaller, indoor venues. So, the folks began
looking for such a place in the Fayetteville area.
But God touched the heart of Frank
Broyles and he
suggested Razorback
Stadium. Well, the
name Frank Broyles
and Razorback Stadium
sends chills down the
spine of yours truly, a
long time Hogs fan.
Frank is a veritable sports
icon in Arkansas. What is
interesting is that there has never been anything
except football in Razorback Stadium, until now.
So, there will be a 70,000 seat stadium as the
venue for the June Promise Keepers gathering.
That is one indicator of God’s guiding presence.
Another is the fact that something is happening in
the marketplace in the area; marketplace folks are
bonding together in new ways and are providing
the leadership for this event. I find that
fascinating, because at our January Marketplace
Prayer Summit here, the facilitator from
Minneapolis emphasized strongly the importance
of Christians in the marketplace to a move of God.
So, how can we partner? 1) Begin praying now
for Promise Keepers. In fact, Diane Willits is
coordinating an organized prayer focus between
now and then, including offering people to take a
day of the month in March, April, May and June
to fast and pray in whatever way the Lord leads.
Of course, praying daily would also be good. 2)
Consider going to Promise Keepers. It can be a
life-changing time. There will be multiple
speakers and many opportunities for prayer,
Friday evening and during the day on Saturday.
Though the event is for men, women will be
gathering there behind the scenes to pray for the
men. 3) Encourage others to go. This is not really
an event, but a move of God. I truly believe that
lives will be touched and that this is an important
piece of God’s plan for the heartland. If you
would like more information, you may call me or
call directly to Mark or Diane Willits at (479) 845-
0955, or go to www.June10-2005.com. Please
pray!
A MAN GOES TO CHINA
Roger Whitley lives in Omaha,
Arkansas; he is a member of
Church on the Go in
Hollister. I have had the
privilege of getting to know
Roger at several prayer
summits, including our UP
Team Gatherings. He told me a story during
the Marketplace Prayer Summit at Stonecroft in
January, and I asked him to send me more details.
Several days ago I received a 20 page handwritten
journal, describing his recent amazing trip. The
move of God while he was in China was the
primary reason he wrote to me. But in this edition
of the Newsletter, I want to share a couple of
stories about what happened to Roger before he
even arrived in China. As you read, join with me
in praising our God who is so amazingly into the
details of life. Roger had been saving money, a
little bit each year, to realize a dream: To go to
see the New York Yankees
play baseball. He finally had
enough and one Sunday
morning before the service he
told his pastor, Charlie Stevens,
that he had saved a little over
two thousand dollars over a
fifteen year period and was going to
realize his dream. The pastor looked at
him strangely; and then in the service he
announced that someone who had planned to
participate in a missionary trip to China had to
drop out – and that there was an opening that
would cost a little over two thousand dollars. The
pastor looked at Roger and told him that he
believed Roger should go. A few nights later,
Roger had a dream about him standing with a
pregnant Chinese lady and laying hands on her,
and when he woke up he knew he should go.
When he changed planes in Detroit, he found
himself in a very busy and strange place with no
friends or acquaintances. This is what Roger
wrote: “I am poor at directions and organizing,
and, even with God’s help, I usually go past the
turn or have to ask over and over for directions.
At Detroit we only had a few minutes to get from
one plane to the other – wherever that was. “Off
the ramp, up the stairs, through the doors, down
the concourse, and across the lobby,” the
stewardess said. I made it through the doors, and
off the ramp, and then there were halls going in
every direction, and doors everywhere. I was lost.
I walked toward some doors and then stopped and
looked, and looked, at other doors. I saw a lady
standing way over to the side under a sign that
said ‘Information’; she was leaning against the
stand and looked like a cleaning lady for the
airport. She wasn’t behind the Information booth,
she was on the side of it, leaning against it. The
third or fourth time I glanced at her, she signaled
me to come over to her. She kept waving me
forward to her. ‘Are you a Christian?’ she asked
in very broken English. ‘Yes,’ I said. She replied,
‘I saw you three weeks ago in a dream, and God
told me to stand here today and wait for you.’ She
said she was a Christian from the Dominican
Republic and was going home. She gave me a
Scripture to read and gave me directions. Then
she said, ‘God only is watching you.’ I turned
right and after awhile there was the group leader
and all the missionary group, just getting ready to
get on the plane.” So, with that kind of guidance,
there is no doubt that Roger was supposed to go
and that God touched people through that
missionary group!
GATHERINGS OF PEOPLE WHO PRAY
L ast year our Gatherings were on the eve of the
special election and the national election.
This year we will return to our normal schedule
and place. Mark your calendar: We will meet at
the Reunion Hall at Silver Dollar City from 7 to 9
p.m. on Tuesday, May 17 and on Tuesday,
September 20. The Park will be closed on those
days. These are good opportunities for us to come
together and pray. You are all so faithful with
your prayer time on your own; this is a way for us
to encourage and build up one another.
AN UP TEAM MEMBER IS AN AUTHOR
I shared in a Newsletter about a year ago a
miracle that occurred for Pastor Bill Post, of
New Hope Church of the Nazarene in Reeds
Spring. Both Bill and his wife, Deborah, take UP
Team hours. They are wonderful Christian
friends, and role models for us all. Bill had a torn
aorta, and he should not have lived. But he did.
He had two more incidents that could have
resulted in death, but they did not. Now Bill has
written a book entitled “No, I Didn’t See Jesus
(But I Did See the Light!)”. If you would like to
have a copy, Bill will send you one for $10, which
will cover costs. But he also emphasized that if
anyone wants it and cannot afford it, he will be
sure you get it. That is the kind of person he is.
Just send a $10 donation to P.O. Box 791, Nixa,
MO 65714.
MORE ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
F red and his wife Edna went to the state fair
every year. Every year Fred would say,
“Edna, I’d like to ride in that there airplane.” And
every year Edna would say, “I know, Fred, but
that airplane ride costs ten dollars, and ten dollars
is ten dollars.” One year when Fred and Edna
went to the fair, Fred said, “Edna, I’m 71 years
old. If I don’t ride that airplane this year, I may
never get another chance.” Edna replied, “Fred,
that there airplane ride costs ten dollars, and ten
dollars is ten dollars.” The pilot overhead them
and said, “Folks,
I’ll make you a
deal. I’ll take you
both up for a ride. If
you can stay quiet for
the entire ride
and not say a
word, I won’t
charge you; but if you
say even one word,
it’s ten dollars.” Fred
and Edna agreed, and up they went. The pilot,
smiling to himself, did all kinds of twists and turns
and rolls and dives; but he heard not a word. So
he did them all again, but still not a word. They
landed and the pilot turned to Fred and said, “By
golly, I did everything I could think of to get you
to yell out, but you didn’t.” Fred replied, “Well, I
was going to say something when Edna fell out –
but ten dollars is ten dollars.” (Obviously Fred
never went to Promise Keepers!)
Plays on words: A bicycle can’t stand alone
because it is two-tired…What’s the definition of a
will? (It’s a dead giveaway.)…Time flies like an
arrow; fruit flies like a banana…A backward poet
writes inverse…In democracy, it’s your vote that
counts; in feudalism, it’s your count that votes…If
you don’t pay your exorcist you get repossessed…
When a clock is hungry it goes back four
seconds…The man who fell into an upholstery
machine is fully recovered…You feel stuck with
your debt if you can’t budge it…A lot of money is
tainted: ‘Taint yours
and ‘taint mine…A
boiled egg in the
morning is hard to
beat…The short
fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small
medium at large…Those who get too big for their
britches will be exposed in the end…When you’ve
seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall…
When the actress saw her first strands of gray hair
she thought she’d dye…Santa’s helpers are
subordinate clauses…Acupuncture is a jab well
done…Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer
the agony of defeat.
PRAYER NEED
Daniel and Joanne.” So, prayer warriors, please
keep this precious couple on your list.
FINAL THOUGHT
E phesians 2: 4-5: “Because of His great love
for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us
alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions – it is by grace you have been
saved.” The following story is from
“FOODFORTHOUGHT”: “During WWII it was
the custom in the United States for a family who

D aniel Norr and his wife, Joanne, are both

members of the UP Team. Daniel has an e-
mail ministry, she is an artist, and they both have a
had a son serving in the military to place a star in
the front window of their home…One night a man
was walking down a New York City street with
praise and worship ministry at their church. his five-year-old son. The little fellow was
Daniel had been losing weight rapidly and had interested in the brightly lighted windows of the
been diagnosed with cancer. This is what he houses and wanted to know why some houses had
wrote in an e-mail on March 11: “Dear brothers & a star in the window. The father explained that
sisters, friends and pray-ers: Joanne and I went to those families had given a son to fight in the war.
the oncologist again this past Tuesday for the The child would clap his hands as he saw another
latest update. The cancer is Stage 4 (out of a star in the window and would cry out, ‘Look,
possible 4). As near as they can tell it started in Daddy, there’s another family who gave his son
my lungs. It has metastasized to my bones, being for his country.’ At last they came to an empty lot
also in my jaw, backbone, and right femur (upper and a break in a row of houses. Through the gap a
leg). It is also in my lymph nodes. star could be seen shining brightly in the sky. The
Prognostication is 6-8 months from a strictly little lad caught his breath and said, ‘Oh, Daddy,
medical point of view. To my knowledge they look at the star in the window of heaven! God
have not contacted the Lord, Who has the ultimate must have given His Son, too!’” Christ has died,
answer. We have had brothers and sisters from Christ has risen – Alleluia!
Church over to pray with me nearly every day.
The pain comes and goes. Today I am doing God bless you and yours. Peace.
pretty well. To those of you who were receiving
my scriptural scribblings, I apologize. I have not
had the energy to sit at the computer and write; my Bob Burton
back gets tired quickly. We have not decided on 338-8036
chemo yet. We will see a video at the local
doctor’s office on Monday. We have also found
an alternative therapy hospital up near Chicago
which we will be going to on the 22nd, for
3-5 days. I appreciate the phone calls. Please
keep them short as I tend to run out of energy
quickly. (My lung capacity is
less than 50% although I have
around 95% oxygen, a
miracle in itself.)
Thank you for all the
prayers, calls, and
cards. God is not
finished with me yet! 
God bless you all.