PRAISE REPORT: SUMMER 2011
Here is an update reviewing things we've been experiencing the Lord do. As we head out on another EuroMission we wanted to catch up before we go on the remarkable ways God has been working. It has taken us a while to get a full newsletter out because we’ve also been working on many projects as well as our regular radio and video and TV stuff so we’ve been keeping busy, but that’s because the Lord is good and has been moving in amazing ways.
Here is an overview and some recap of what the Lord has been doing in our midst:
Right before heading out we preached up at the base of Big Bear mountains in San Bernardino and had a phenomenal time. The Holy Spirit moved in power and then at the end of the meeting we prayed for the pastor and God's glory came down, we all began to get hammered and slain by the glory and we ourselves began to recieve and found ourselves seemingly nailed to floor for over an hour unable to get up and leave while receiving many powerful words oursleves. The glory was overwhelming as God's love and grace were so manifest. PTL!!!
We just did an online interview with Steve Maddox and Brae Wycoff on Prophetic Underground where we share many different Holy Ghost stories. Click this link and check it out!
We’ve been doing some different evangelistic outreaches and crusades and been blessed to see people coming to Christ in those settings as well as on a personal level when just sharing the Gospel. We recently did an evangelistic crusade in San Diego with different music groups including a traditional Mariachi band, which worked well as we were in a Hispanic area. Many were touched and empowered and ministered to as well as some who came to Christ. We have been seeing the Lord move in great power in some churches around that same area as well, pouring out his glory and filling people with the Holy Spirit in remarkable ways as well as some powerful healings.
We’ve also been seeing people come to Christ on a personal level: Like a guy recently who we found to help us with our lawn after our lawnmower broke. We began to witness to him and God gave me a word when he began to bring up some Jehovah’s Witness stuff, to which I said: “You keep hanging out with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and you’ll find that what they want is money.” Instead of being offended he laughed hysterically and said that had been just his experience. We prayed with him to receive Christ and have continued to meet with him and pray with him and give him materials since then, hallelujah! We also led a young woman from Latvia to the Lord in our driveway who was selling bug exterminator products. We began talking, which led to sharing the Lord with her, and she opened her heart and received Christ right out in front of our place, glory!
We’ve been seeing the Lord move in such power it is amazing. We were recently speaking in Ontario, and our message was focused on equipping people to go out and evangelize. Just as Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will bring power to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8.) We had people come forward to be equipped and there was a sudden rush of the power of God where His anointing was released in a great way as the Lord equipped and empowered many with mighty manifestations to be His witnesses.
North Central Coast of California
We’ve been up in the northern part of the Central Coast of California a couple of times over the past year and have really experienced the Lord moving.
Just recently we were on our way back from Northern California after doing some writing work on some Holy Ghost Surf Stories up in the mountains and taking a little ski break. As we drove down the highway I kept hearing a line from an old song: “Somewhere near Salinas.” It seemed like the Lord was directing us to go to Salinas and visit a friend of ours.
We got in touch with our friend Dave who lives there, and whom we had met at Surfing the Nations in Hawaii where he got filled with the Spirit when we prayed for him and experienced the love of God and the filling of the Spirit for the first time in his life even though he had grown up in church. He hadn’t experienced the Love of God like this until the Holy Spirit came upon him in power!!!
So we stopped by his place in Salinas and happened to arrive right when a friend of his was also stopping by who happened to be headed the other way up the highway towards Washington State. God arranged that both of us came to Dave’s house at the same time.
Dave's friend from Washington had a recent encounter with the grace of God, something he never understood even after being a Christian and attending church most of his life. After reading Romans and Galatians on his own where the Holy Spirit opened his eyes, he finally understood The New Covenant in Christ and The Righteousness that Comes From God. This opened up a long discussion with him where we were speaking even more of the grace of God into his life and then the Spirit of God began to fall on him and move on his life as we were talking, so we started praying for him. The Spirit of God began pouring out on him, and then also on other people who were there, as well as others who showed up later. We ended up having an all-night Holy Ghost outpouring as the Spirit of God filled everyone with His fire and glory: those who showed up to the house later came straight into the glory as they walked inside, along with a few who were there hanging out in other parts of the house that were drawn into the Holy Ghost fire. The Spirit of God moved with His power and filled, and filled, and filled, everyone there all night long. It was 3:33 in the morning when we finally hit the sack—basking in the glory while finally going to sleep.
Dave’s friend from Washington headed up home that next morning. However, the next night, another friend who was part of the Jesus People Revival back in the day came by, as well as another guy starting out in ministry who realized he needed the power of God, and with them and a few others we had another Holy Ghost all-nighter. God poured out his power, bringing forth another time of being Filled with the Holy Spirit intensely, and after praying for hours for each other, we flowed into singing old Jesus People songs and worshiping in the Spirit late into the wee hours.
On a previous trip up there we experienced other powerful moves of the Lord:
We had some radical meetings as we spoke at some different churches and places in Monterey, Salinas, and Santa Maria, from a Presbyterian youth group to some different Calvary Chapels to a Foursquare church as well as Freedom Christian Fellowship to home meetings.
We saw many young people empowered as we've been sharing how God wants to empower us to use us to reach out to others. The Lord put that immediately to demonstration after ministering to the Foursquare Church in Salinas. We had a radical outpouring on the youth after teaching on being used to reach others and divine appointments:
After the service we were driving back to where we were staying but I kept having a sense that God wanted us to do
something other than just head back home. As I was praying in the Spirit seeking God's direction, our friend Dave felt that we should stop. I agreed, and led by the Holy Spirit we went into a parking lot where some people were coming out of a college. We felt led to get out of the car and seek God if there was someone he wanted us to talk to. I ended up talking to this lady, trying to be tactful but the Spirit of God just caused me to blurt out and ask if she knew the Lord. She said she did but then we were asking if she had any prayer requests and our friend Dave had a word of knowledge and began to ask her how her walk with God really was and she began to confess that it wasn't very good at this time and then he said the Lord showed him that she was backslidden. At that she began to tear up and weep and we began to pray with her to turn her life back over to the Lord.
Right there in the parking lot of a local community college we were praying for her as people walked by looking on and she was gloriously re-connected with Christ and filled with His love. We had another divine appointment shortly thereafter where we prayed for another woman in a pizza restaurant who was a Christian but needed a fresh touch of God's power, and boy did the Lord bring it.
We kept on witnessing to others throughout the night. Later, as we sought to record some of what God did on video, the Spirit of God fell on our son Patrick who experienced the love of Christ in a marvelous and intimate way as Dave shared his testimony on tape. Patrick said he feels led to share now with others and preach too! Glory!!!
Washington State Trip
We took a trip up to Washington State not too long ago. We sensed the Lord leading us to just pack up and head up to a friend’s wedding there and see what the Lord would do along the way. We experienced many divine appointments along the way:
We were in Oregon and felt like we needed to just get off the road for a bit and headed out to Coos bay. We were checking out the waves when we met a guy who had lost his keys to his car. We shared with him while helping look for his keys and then prayed with him. He exclaimed that he had heard a country music song on the way there that day that mentioned God, which caused him to think about God for the first time in ages…and then all of a sudden he met us and we also tell him about God. We shared a while with him and saw a great impact on him as the Lord was beginning the process of reaching into his life.
Speaking of surf we were getting close to crossing the Oregon border from California when we realized I didn’t know where any of the surf spots were in Oregon. We met a guy at a campground who just gave us three guidebooks to surfing the Oregon Coast for the South, Central and North part of the Oregon Coast—something that would cost some bucks to buy yourself. We got some great surf in Oregon thanks to this divine supply, without the crowds of the California lineups and had more divine appointments as we went on.
We got up to Washington and the wedding and were seeking the Lord on how to impact the friend we were visiting. Our old friend Harald Bredesen, one of the fathers of the Charismatic Renewal, used to love to take people up for a hike at a place he called Prayer Mountain. Harald followed the example of Paul in Acts 19 always inquiring if one was filled with the Holy Spirit, and walking in the Spirit of God. This would often lead into a fresh filling of the Spirit’s power for many people. I kept remembering Harald and his Prayer Mountain walks, so while we were there visiting our friend, who I had helped bring into the kingdom years back, we invited him to take a hike up a mountain and had a prayer time where we not only saw him come into a breakthrough but also get a fresh filling of the Spirit's power.
We got to experience some other awesome hikes there and around Leavenworth and the Enchanted Mountains as well as other awesome scenery along the coast and the Islands in Puget Sound and down in Oregon on the way back as we took a little time to get refreshed in the North Pacific.
Hesperia Happenings
A friend named Valeria received a healing when we prayed for her. The Spirit of God came powerfully upon her and some other friends as we just spontaneously felt led to pray for her while visiting at a friend’s house. As God touched her she began to weep and experience His presence deeply and she was healed from chronic headaches. Similar spontaneous outpourings and afterglows keep happening lately as powerful visitations keeping popping up unexpectedly.
We were in Hesperia again later having a barbecue and fixing some stuff on our car with Valeria’s husband Javier when two girls came up looking for a lost dog. I felt led to offer to pray with them that God would help them find the dog. This in turn led to sharing Christ with them. Even though they attended a popular evangelical church they had not ever heard the Gospel…What???? Yes, that is the case all too often today, the Gospel is not preached, instead people get video clips on the jumbotron and vapid motivational messages—Ichabod!!!
After sharing about Christ we asked if they would like to receive Jesus. They responded affirmatively and we led them to
the Lord right there, hallelujah! The next day a neighbor and his son were visiting for a few moments and while talking to them we found out that the Dad knew the Lord but the son had only heard but never really received Christ himself. We ended up praying for the son to receive Christ and for the Dad to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, praise God! The angels rejoice in heaven when someone comes to Christ so why not join them in Hallelujah. We should always be prepared with the Good News!
We also ministered in Hesperia when our French friend and partner in different European mission endeavors, Laetitia, was staying with us. Pastor Raul felt led when we contacted him at the last minute to change things around for us to come and minister and God showed his hand in it in an incredible way.
A missionary to Brazil shared first about the 15,353 Foursquare churches in Brazil. That displayed the contrast with Europe as one of the most emergent mission field in our day. There are only 10 Foursquare churches that exist in the whole of France – compare that to 15,353 Foursquare churches in Brazil. France is one of Europe’s largest nations, and yet less than 1% of it’s population has been regenerated in Christ. Romania has only 2 Foursquare churches. Europe is in desperate need of the Gospel, missionaries, evangelists, and the power of the Spirit – the issue though is that the Europeans themselves aren’t always aware or open to that concept and it can be hard ground. Laetitia shared that while growing up in France she didn’t know a single born-again Christian her age outside of her own family.
We had a wonderful move of the Spirit at that church in Hesperia and God continued to pour out His Spirit the rest of the day as we visited at Raul’s house. Spontaneous afterglows just keep happening!!! We all continued to experience the glory of God throughout the day in a wild way as God continued to pour out His power while visiting, and we ended up praying for one another the rest of the day. It was such a heavy visitation of the Lord it is hard to put into words to describe how powerfully God moved all day long!!! Glory!!!
San Diego and the Surrounding Areas
We’ve had some glorious outpourings in San Diego, on the border and across as God leads, at different places. On one particular Sunday we preached at three different services in one day at a downtown church and each time God met us with incredible visitation. Even as one service had ended and another was beginning, the Lord continued to move on people in power making it difficult to start the next service.
A woman shared at a church about how we had prayed for her and gave her a word sometime back. Since then God began a new phase in her life and brought her into ministry. She was excited to share how God had fulfilled all that we had prayed and prophesied over her. We’ve also been seeing the Spirit of God releasing healing and salvation and delivering many.
There was a woman who seriously-impaired vision that we prayed for in another church and who told us right as we prayed that she could see what I was wearing, she couldn’t see like that moments before, and then began seeing even more detail as we continued to pray for her. She still needs more prayer but it is a start; I’ve learned healing can be just as much of a process as an event. God is in control not us.
At another church a person in a lot of pain due to a toothache was healed and the people rejoiced as God empowered as well. There were some children who were also powerfully baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, which is always a glorious thing to witness, as it is such a sovereign work of God when this happens.
Speaking of children being filled and empowered, we were at a meeting at USC where God really used our son Patrick in a lot ministry. He prayed for a Korean woman who ended up being overcome by the Spirit and fell to the floor. Soon after this he had a pretty good line of Koreans lining up to get prayer from him who had witnessed God working through him. He ended up praying for quite a few people who were ministered to powerfully by the Spirit of God: “Let the little children come unto me and do not hinder them for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Patrick also received an unexpected word of prophecy and encouragement while we were on a bike ride in Newport Beach when we ran into an old friend from way back. We’ve been doing other ministry with Korean groups and churches in Los Angeles and San Diego areas and rejoice to see the Lord moving in power and opening hearts to a fresh visitation of His presence. In San Diego area we saw many powerfully touched at a youth group, including many who were starting to step out into missions—in fact we had a small prayer time again in a separate room for some preparing for mission trips after the main meeting and there was just this wild outpouring where some of the guys and gals there were just suddenly knocked down and bowled over by the power of God with some mighty manifestations of the Lord’s presence.
Santa Barbara and Other Stuff
We joined Mel Tari who wrote the book Like a Mighty Wind as he ministered and were blessed to experience the way God
released such faith and encouragement through his ministry. We reconnected with Tom Bauer and a lot of the Surfing the Nations crew who were in town back some time for a special film premiere, which gave us a reunion with a lot of the crew from Hawaii. We also ministered with a youth group at the Vineyard in San Dimas where the Lord moved in power and touched some of the youth there with his power and glory.
We had a radical divine appointment in Santa Barbara on the way down the coast as we were coming back home from a ministry trip further north. To see it come to pass, however, we had to be willing to be very flexible.
A friend who happened to be staying in Santa Barbara called us late at night a little after 11:00pm while we were driving home through that area and asked us to come visit her and some friends in Isla Vista at the last moment. We felt God’s hand was upon this even though it was late and we were tired and culturally it was very awkward to show up at someone's home so late and unplanned like this. We went over and ended up actually spending the night and miraculously wound up in an all-day outpouring of the Spirit the next day.
This group of mostly college students near UCSB was very interested in hearing about Lonnie Frisbee and how God worked through him back in the Jesus People Revival and Vineyard Outpouring. Having had the blessing to travel with Lonnie and experience firsthand God’s work through him, we were stoked to share some stories. We also had a short video to play. Right in the middle of watching this video, God sovereignly started moving on people in power, which sparked a Holy Ghost outpouring where we began praying for people and powerful manifestations began to take place. Other students and friends kept showing up and coming into this spontaneous prayer meeting as God kept pouring out His Spirit all day long; this unplanned meeting which started in the morning continued on until around three in the afternoon with lots of powerful moves, fillings, and empowerings of many lives.
I finally realized we hadn’t eaten, drank, or consumed anything or taken a break the whole day—this is the kind of fasting that is worthwhile though, when God is in the midst of it versus that other forced dead kind which Jesus criticized the Pharisees for doing out of dead ritual.
It was an awesome time and just when I thought I’d keel over from all the focus and intensity of praying for others all day long without any sustenance, I was offered some sardines to remind us of our Euro mission trips and a few laughs.
I was just thinking it would be good to take a break and get a surf in before it was too late when one of the many surfers there offered to take us out for a surf break too.
We scored some fun, sunny, 2 to 4’ clean and peaky, zippy waves right straight out at Campus Point. I queried how often it broke this time of year like this since I couldn’t ever remember seeing waves like this in summer in this area of Santa Barbara since the Channel Islands there block the summer swells. The answer was, “Well…. never…it never breaks this time of year!” Another Holy Ghost Surfing Miracle!! And that after a long day of Holy Ghost spontaneous ministry! Yea God!!
More S. B.
We’ve returned to Santa Barbara numerous times since and experienced other outpourings of the Spirit, much like the one we first did! An example follows:
We went up after attending a wedding in the area feeling the Spirit was leading us to just go by there with no real plans set up for anything other than just stopping by. And we ended up experiencing another outpouring.
We showed up to one of their meetings and gave a spontaneous word right at the very end of one of their services, having spent the majority of that meeting out in the street in the middle of a divine appointment, where we were leading a guy to Christ. We came in for the remainder of the meeting, and as a gave a word that God put on my heart all of a sudden, it led to the Spirit being poured out at the end of their meeting in a very powerful way.
That move of the Spirit continued on throughout that evening as we prayed with others, in fact we had quite the move of holy laughter late that same night as God moved powerfully on a guy who was new to all this and got radically touched by God in a major way as he got filled and broke out in the joy of the Lord. That infectious joy of the Spirit spread to many others including myself, and we were deeply refreshed, and then the next day the Holy Spirit was poured out throughout the whole day as well.
In fact, the next morning, after staying the night, we woke up to a group of guys who had forgotten their Bible there at the house church where we were staying. I went out to the car and some guy kept staring at me. He and his friends eventually came in and we started talking with them, one of them had a word that he felt he needed to pray over us and we got blasted first thing in the morning by the Holy Spirit; what a cool way to start the day, and then the blasting continued as others began to spontaneously show up at the house. We then began to pray for them and had another all-day outpouring of the Spirit that went on from morning until way late in the day.
The Holy Spirit was moving so deeply and powerfully over so many lives in such a significant way. It was truly amazing to experience and see God move, touch, and fill one person after another after another, the presence of God spreading like wildfire the whole time to where we just felt like we were living in the glory. On the way home we stopped along the way by an out-of-the-way surf spot I felt led to check out and even though the onshore winds were howling and every place was trashed and blown out to where it was looking like "victory at sea." However this one particular spot was completely glassy, clean, and surprisingly unaffected by the wind for some reason, even though 100 yards down the beach,but even more amazing was the fact that we surfed it completely by ourselves. Wow Holy Ghost surfing – glory!!! It felt like a surreal scene, a glassy spot without the overpopulated lineups of the 21st century. Praise God! Such blessings flow with the wind of his Spirit of God.
Other blessing of the Pneuma –-The Holy Spirit’s Leading (the wind in John 3:7)
We were saying a quick prayer in a parking lot in Temecula with some friends asking God to give us divine appointments that weekend as we headed our separate ways. As the words came out of my mouth, the Holy Spirit spoke: "One is right in front of you." I waited a moment and then I looked over at a young guy walking across the parking lot. The Holy Spirit was pulling at me to go talk to him but I asked for some kind of confirmation. I then noticed he was wearing a shirt with a big picture of Christ on it, that's when the Lord spoke in my heart, "Is that enough confirmation?" I ran over after that and asked him if he had a relationship with Christ whom he wore on his shirt, he said he didn't, but as we talked with him he confessed that many had been witnessing to him and in his own words, "God was chasing after him." The chase was over as we led him to Christ right there in the parking lot as we prayed with him. I knew God had a wild weekend in store when things started like that but the blessings go beyond our expectations when we follow the wind of the Spirit!!!
Crazy Crashes and Little Lessons From Trials That Turn to Gold
I got bit by a barracuda while surfing which led to lots of bleeding and I ended up digging a tooth out of my hand sometime later! Wow that was bizarre! This happened while discipling a young guy here with us from overseas. Surfing or swimming in the ocean with a shiny silver watch on your wrist is not reccomended since certain fish, especially Barracuda, are highly attracted to that and will attack it. I had just learned that fact on a discovery channel show but paid no attention – laziness has its consequences – then it happened to me. Pay attention when God may be trying to warn you of something and change that shiny watch when you surf or swim in the ocean!! I found it out the hard way, I should have known since I’ve caught numerous barracuda right in that area with a shiny lure that has the exact same look and finish just like the watch.
I somehow crashed into a poison oak plant while mountain biking on the Central Coast of California, this was in the middle of a ministry trip and filming a ministry video. Weird oozing sores on my chest and abdomen arose a few days after the incident and Mercedes thought I might have shingles, which freaked us both out. I was relieved to find out it was only poison oak. Only???!!! That stuff is horrid and gives you stinging burning pain and oozing sores for weeks!!
I stepped on a big construction nail that went way up in my foot while walking across the beach, the puzzling thing was that this happened right after I was praying for someone and other ministry.
We have to be awake and alert since sometimes may be at greater risk of accidents and incidents surrounding ministry – numerous unexplained car crashes and other things like that have happened to us many times while ministering the word says “always be alert...” we have an enemy who goes around like a prowling lion waiting and hiding in the grass, waiting to pounce. C.S. Lewis says it like this: We don’t want to say there is a demon behind every last bush but it is equally extreme to deny that we are in a spiritual battle and constantly wrestling against spiritual forces of darkness.
Extreme sports can also lead to extreme pain and that is for sure. God uses everything for good though, an interesting divine appointment came out of this agony of da-feet! It demonstrates again how the Lord turns things for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
Having had enough of sitting around waiting to recover from things, we headed down to the San Diego area take a bike ride (something less painful and not to hard to do with a sore foot.) We immediately ran into a group of other Christians also on a bike ride as well and started talking to them. They invited us to come with them to a fair. We had fellowship an ended up at a fun unexpected event. However God had something even more unexpected in store though in regards to His larger healing purposes. We ended up listening to a band play some music from a southern area of the country that my father, who has long since passed away, was from. The Spirit of God began to minister to me as we listened. Then someone handed me a flyer which I didn't really look at until the next day. I happened to pick it up the next morning and wham!!! The Holy Spirit fell upon me in power and started ministering deeply to me as I looked at the picture which resembled my own dad. The Holy Spirit spoke different scriptures and flooded my inner being with the revelation of Rmns 8: 16 of: The abba Father love poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit in a very deep and profound way while healing in a deep way.
I realized afterwards how the Lord used even that painful nail on the beach to get us to be where he wanted, we wouldn't have been down there bike riding if that hadn't happened. He is the great Physician who does use that scalple to cut into us, he wounds that he might heal.
In spite of that reality my prayer still goes "Lord I'm open I'll receive what you want to do, I don't need anymore afflictions to get me open." Like Job there are some lessons though only learned in the middle of suffering that often aren't revealed any other way.
Shoulder Update and Recap
Well, speaking of pain, you may remember I dislocated my shoulder. That was a much heavier deal with a very difficult recovery that consumed a lot of time and life. Praise God for his healing power though, I was able to avoid the surgeons scalpel and received divine physical healing instead and I also received much healing in my inner man as well as the Lord used the opportunity to bring forth a lot of healing in my life on an inner level as well.
I was constantly reminded by all the medical people that it is an injury that is “very severe and traumatic and takes a long time to recover from.”
The orthopedic surgeon told me I would need surgery as there was a tear in my shoulder from the injury. However I knew another factor from on high that could change the situation. I got as much prayer as I could before the next appointment with the surgeon where he had planned on scheduling my surgery.
God's power and the prayers I received from different people and in different places prevailed. When I was getting an MRI the Spirit of God fell on me while in that tube and showed me that all would be OK. I returned to see the Orthopedic surgeon, and lo and behold, he was very surprised to find that I actually didn’t need the surgery now, he had said I was going to have to it, Praise God!!
The internal injury was “somehow gone” so no need for any surgery. God took care of the impossible—hallelujah. I would just need some time of re-strengthening because atrophy had set in from not using that arm for a while.
Not using my shoulder for around six months brought on the muscle tone of a 90-year-old grandmother. So I needed to rebuild the muscles. So praise God my shoulder has become much stronger and more solid all the time. I’m back to surfing and have actually learned a new regiment of staying healthy—learning to lift weights properly—before it was in and out of the gym in a few minutes. I’ve learned that the Lord wants us to be long distance runners who are in the battle for the long haul and to do so we need to learn to keep our bodies in shape and be healthy and fit.
I look back and think wow I’m lifting weights and doing it in a correct way and lifting more and doing more now than ever and it is also helping my back and knee’s and all the rest of the scar-tissued areas from a million bike crashes, skateboarding mishaps, and surfing fiascos I’ve had over the years. At first it was an accomplishment just to lift a soup can but God has turned it all around for good—like He iis so able to do when we seek him in the midst of trials!
In the middle of it all the Lord began to speak to us that he was using this time as a deepening phase, working in us and preparing us for things to come and to bring us into a deeper place of intimacy with him.
God began to speak and show us how so many different ministers in history including Paul, Peter, John as well as others in the Bible like Joseph and David went through different phases and trials in preparation to take them further towards God’s purposes and that He was doing the same, glory to God!
Mexico Mission
We are working with some brothers on putting together a mission cruise in Mexico where you can go down and minister and evangelize without the hassle of border lines and other problems. We'll let you know more about it in the future when things come together.
Euro Mission
We are getting ready to head out on a European mission trip. The Lord has put it on our hearts to head out again. We recently found some deals on tickets and will be heading to Europe soon. If you want to help out, please feel welcome, as it is as much “the expensive continent” as well as “the dark continent.” (Support page). For far too long missions have been associated with helping people in poverty, however Jesus said “go into all the world.” Because there isn’t a need for food assistance or the like, Europe has been overlooked as a mission field and thus fallen to have only 3% of the population that is born-again Christian. The spiritual warfare that surrounds everything you do there blows away almost every other place in the world we’ve traveled to, which includes ministering on every continent except Antarctica—penguins don’t really need the Gospel so haven’t been there. With such relatively few believers in Europe, it really shouldn’t be that surprising, but the warfare always seems to land on you like you’re trying to catch a falling piano—yeah, you get a little flattened and broken but God uses it for good!
The Lord led us to book some tickets for Europe so we stepped out on faith when we found a deal. It's after you have stepped out on faith already though and have the bill and not all the provision you need yet that you start sweating it out - which I was doing and starting to think well maybe I could get some extra money if went and did this or went and did that which is ok if that is what God is saying to you individually. However a word kept coming from Acts 6:2 - just stay in prayer and the word!!! A word that our friend Jason had shared. After sweating it out a bit and that word popping up a few times in unexpected ways while just sticking to what it seemed the Lord was saying he brought in some needed breakthrough for the trip - which came so far out of left field it was amazing. A guy from Europe we know who got touched in a meeting we did over there wrote and said he felt God was leading him to send some help with a possible Europe trip - we hadn't communicated anything to him! So after sweating it out a bit God brought some breakthrough!! Glory!!
We should remember that the apostle John commended and applauded the brothers in his third letter for opening their homes and hearts and support to those in the work of the Lord even though those workers were strangers to those who received them (3 John 5:8). How much more when we know each as fellow workers in the harvest field should we show love, financial support, and hospitality to one another and especially to fellow laborers in God’s harvest.
Your support and prayers are a huge blessing and always appreciated.