On June 8, 2019, after 25 plus years of PRMI teaching and ministry in the Pacific Northwest of the US, the regional Dunamis Fellowship Northwest United States (DFNWUS) was brought into this world.
Rev Cindy Strickler, current Director of the Dunamis Fellowship International, flew out to Seattle, WA to officially mid-wife this new creation. Ninety-one people were in attendance, coming from all over Washington State, Portland, Oregon and even a few from British Columbia. Dunamis Fellowships in Alaska, Canada and Korea all sent their congratulations.
DFNWUS leader Rev Nick Krantz wrote,
“Praise the Lord for an amazing time of birthing our new regional fellowship yesterday. The Holy Spirit’s presence was palpable throughout our time together.
Nick Krantz
Thank you each one for your labor of love and sacrifice before the Lord to make this event not only happen, but also be a launch pad for the expansion of God’s kingdom in our region.
As Ben Torrey [co-director of Dunamis Fellowship Korea] put it, we are now the new “baby” region and we’ll need to continue to nurture and uphold one another and our region in prayer as we grow – but God’s promises are “yes” and “amen” as we sang yesterday and step into today!”
The leaders of the other regional Dunamis Fellowships have been advising the Dunamis leaders in the Northwest for the past few years, helping them to grow the ministry and to bring the leaders into alignment with each other.
Founding Team and First Meeting
The founding leadership team for this new region is:
- Nick Krantz—team leader
- Sandy Doss
- Carol Elliott,
- Rich DeRuiter
- James Kearny
- Bea Eaton, and
- Arlene VanderMeer.
The inaugural meeting of this regional expression of the Dunamis Fellowship International included prayer, worship, anointing and commissioning of the leaders.
The assembly broke into small groups focusing on:
- Dunamis Projects
- Worship
- Prayer
- the Walk
- Congregational Dunamis
- PRMI’s International Mission
The leadership will follow up with those interested in serving in those areas.
Foster Tukwila Presbyterian Church hosted the event including a delicious dinner. After dinner, Cindy commissioned the founding leadership team and invited people to join the Dunamis Fellowship International. The group took up a generous offering for PRMI and ended with communion and prayers for empowerment.
What’s happening in the region now
The most recent Dunamis Track in our area has grown from 45 participants for Dunamis Project 1: Gateways to Empowerment to over 150 for Dunamis Project 5: Equipping for Spiritual Warfare this past April (2019).
They are praying about and developing leadership for four tracks in the state of Washington:
- Bellingham,
- the Seattle area,
- the Olympia-Vancouver area and
- in Eastern Washington.
Rev. James Kearny, one of the leaders in the region and former PRMI Board member, has also been developing the Dunamis materials for the use in congregations, shooting new teaching videos and editing the written lessons. Several congregations in our region are now going through the reformatted Gateways series.
A local Chinese pastor brought around 15 members from a collection of Evangelical Chinese Churches in the Seattle area. He had sent two members to the April 2019 Dunamis Project conference.
After hearing their positive testimony, he wanted to expose more of his church to PRMI’s ministry. He will be getting the Dunamis materials in Mandarin and praying about getting more involved.
Looking forward
The DFNWUS leadership team is embarking on 50 days of prayer to seek God’s direction and empowerment for the next steps.
The Dunamis Project in Bellingham will conclude their present series October 16-19, 2019 with Dunamis Project 6, Listening Evangelism.
Two Seattle congregations have leaders who are going through the reformatted Gateways video series in the summer of 2019 to prepare to lead their congregations through the series this Fall.
Be encouraged. God is up to building His Kingdom in the Northwest corner of the United States. PRMI is providing the tools for a growing group of Spirit-filled disciples.
Connect
If you are a Facebook user, we have a PRMI Facebook Group for our region for you to stay informed.
