July 11, 2008

To:  Pastors and Christian Leaders in Florida and Arizona

From: Pastors and Christian Leaders in California 

We are a collection of California pastors – writing to pastors in FL and AZ.  Our three states have something in common.  On November 4,California, Arizona and Florida will be voting on the definition of marriage.  As California pastors, we are honored to partner with our good friend, John Stemberger in Florida who has worked so faithfully for marriage and family.  We now join him! 

On June 25^th, over 1,600 of us joined together to protect marriage in a Statewide Pastors Conference Call.  We gathered at 101 locations throughout the state.  Now we are preparing for our next conference call.

 3 STATE CONFERENCE CALL – INVITING YOU  Two thousand pastors and Christian leaders across California are coming together at 200+ locations (host churches) for a statewide Pastors Strategic Protect Marriage Conference Call (1 hour and 45 minutes) on Wednesday, July 30, at 10 AM in California and Arizona, and 1 PM in Florida. 

May we invite all pastors and Christian leaders from Florida and Arizona to join us for this gathering?  Would it be beneficial for us to have “three state solidarity” on this issue from now until November 4, Election Day?   If so, would you please forward this email invitation to every Florida and Arizona pastor and Christian leader you know.  We plan to offer the conference call in simultaneous Spanish translation.

 HOSTING A SITE  If you, as a pastor, are willing to host a gathering of Florida or Arizona pastors and Christian leaders at your church, please see the PS section at the end of this letter 

 FORWARD AND ALERT US TO NEW EMAIL ADDRESSES  Additionally, please forward this email to as many Florida and Arizona pastors and Christian leaders as you can - or email us from Florida at 
marriagequestion3@skylinechurch.org and from Arizona at marriagequestion2@skylinechurch.org  with the names of pastors and Christian leaders so that we can keep them informed of future developments.

 STRATEGY  In addition, we will cover the strategy for preparing for (and winning) the California, Arizona and Florida Constitutional Marriage Amendment votes in November.  This is a winnable war.  And, unfortunately, the freedom to proclaim the Gospel hinges on the outcome of this election.

 Here in California, we are focused on a 100-Day Prayer Period will launch July 28, ending at the election, November 4.  Within that 100 day period, there will be a 40-Day Statewide Fast, from September 24 to November 2.  Individuals may fast portions or all of the 40 days, as they are led, or they may fast in “relays” as teams.   If you feel it is pleasing to the Holy Spirit, we invite our pastor friends in Florida and Arizona to join us in this prayer and fasting period.

 In our hearts, we know that what is really needed is more than a voting victory in November.  What is needed is revival and an avalanche of Holy Spirit-given evangelism. That is why we pray.

 RESPONSE NEEDED NOW  Online registration for the meeting is available on www.protectmarriagesd.com  Please register on-line to insure sufficient materials are available for those attending at each location.

 Brothers and sisters, so called gay marriage is not inevitable.  This IS winnable! 

 We pray blessings on you – Florida and Arizona – this day.

 Your pastor friends… in this ultimately victorious battle,

 Jim Garlow, Skyline Church, San Diego

Chris Clark, East Clairemont Baptist Church, San Diego

Miles McPherson, The Rock Church, San Diego

Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills (LA area)

Jim Franklin, Cornerstone Church, Fresno

Dudley Rutherford, Shepherd of the Hills, Porter Ranch (LA area)

Timothy Winters, Bayview Baptist Church, San Diego

 Along with 1600 other CA pastors and Christian leaders who love Florida and Arizona 

PS - WHAT IS NEEDED IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HOST A SITE

If you can host a site, or if you know of a pastor who will host, please contact Chris Clark at marriagequestion4@skylinechurch.org  if from Arizona or marriagequestion5@skylinechurch.org  if from Florida, or call 619-415-5453 ASAP if you are willing to host.

In our June 25 statewide pastors call, we offered only audio capability (with some 200 power point slides for the 90 minute event).  For our July 30 three-state call, we hope to present two technological options for site hosts: 

(1) Webinar (a seminar broadcast via the internet) or

(2) Conference call (such as we did for our June 25 gathering). 

We are currently testing our capability to broadcast this and future conference calls to sites that have a broadband (Cable, DSL, or T1) internet connection for the webinar.  Future emails will communicate the details for the site hosts.

If we are able to go live with the webinar format in July, sites must be able to project the internet-based presentation (audio and video) from a computer. 

If you do not have broadband, and prefer to utilize the conference call format, you only need to have speaker-phone capability that can be adequately amplified, along with the ability to magnify or project a PowerPoint presentation.

• For those who have broadband: Webinar participants will not need anyone on-site to run the PowerPoint presentation – the presentation and the audio will be streamed to your site via GoToWebinar.com.

• For those who do not have broadband: The traditional conference call will be an audio transmission, with a PowerPoint presentation available for conference call sites to show while the audio plays, making the event more "informationally friendly." (A person at that site must listen to a separate conference call giving PowerPoint instruction and cues.) 

Be assured that the information shared will be extremely beneficial for the future of the cause of Christ.  Saying it another way, it is worth canceling all other appointments in order to be present at one of these locations.