The Praise Report:

Winter 2016


We are thankful for the way God worked through us and went before us in 2015.

As we look back on the year and the ministry we did it is nice to share just a few highlights:
(If you want to read more you can go to our newsletter page on our website:

http://www.graceworldmission.org/indexpr.html)

Young Girl Touched by the Holy Spirit

A little girl probably about 10 years old was touched powerfully by the Holy Spirit when the Lord poured out His presence over a church in Orange where we ministered. As the Holy Spirit filled many people that day this young girl slowly began to lift her hands. I went and laid hands on her very gently, and the Spirit of God began to fill and empower her. As the Lord filled her heart with His love tears began streaming down her face. The power of God came on her more and more intensely and she then fell to the ground. The Lord filled her with the Holy Spirit for the first time in her life! She later testified before the congregation how the Lord had filled her up with His incredible love and power. Futhermore, she shared how she had also just been healed of some pain she was having as He touched her while she was on the ground. The Lord is doing so much more than we can see when His Spirit is moving on someone. It reminded us of the verse: “Let the children come unto me… for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” (Luke 18:16)

She was just one of many we’ve been blessed to see the Lord touch with His love and power as we’ve ministered both here and abroad this last year.

Young girl getting touched by Holy Spirit
Young girl about 10 years old who was filled powerfully with the Holy Spirit and healed when we prayed for her!
Ministering to a young boy who was filled powerfully with the Holy Spirit
Ministering to a young boy who was filled powerfully with the Holy Spirit that day, along with many others who also were filled with the Spirit of God that day!

Back to Europe

It was a blessing to return to Europe and minister in Norway, Sweden, England, and France once again. We witnessed people get saved, healed, and filled with the Holy Spirit as the Lord led us by His Spirit and we felt the Gospel was advancing forward and making breakthroughs. The Lord did so much as He led us and went before us.

It is always fun to remember a few of the highlights of the trip and get to share them in a little more detail:

Holy Ghost Surf Stories from Norway

We were ministering at a youth group in Norway and there was a bit of a cell phone distraction going on. So, in order to get and hold their attention, I felt led to share some Holy Ghost Surf Stories with these kids, telling how the Lord has given us wild divine appointments in different places around the world and often supplied surfboards, or waves, or places to stay, in unique and supernatural ways. We then began to minister as the Holy Spirit moved upon them. After ministering to some of them as the Lord filled many hearts, there were a few that were just watching and not really participating, so we felt led to ask if they had ever accepted the Lord in their lives.

Well we ended up leading four of those youth who had come that night to receive Christ as their Savior. We explained the Gospel and then prayed with them to receive Jesus! The Bible says the heavens rejoice whenever someone receives Christ, so it was four times the rejoicing that night!

We also had four more people get saved the next night in a service geared towards immigrants when we ministered. There were also many who got baptized in the Holy Spirit as well as experienced healing as the Lord poured out His presence.

As if to put the icing on the cake after having just shared about some of those Holy Ghost Surf Stories with the kids, we ended up experiencing one that very weekend.

The pastor’s sons just happened to bring along some surfboards for us all and wetsuits—gotta have wetsuits in Norway!—when we went to minister at the church a couple of hours away on Sunday morning. We would be preaching at two services but we had plenty of time in between them for a go at the surf should there just happen to be a few waves.

We all knew it was a long shot for it is very, very, rare for the little bay along the coast in the town of Mandal to get waves. First of all it is a protected bay that must have just the right winds and swell to generate the right conditions for the waves to break. Furthermore, surfing in Norway typically means driving up and down the coast all day hunting for the rare odd spot that might just break. Having waves come to you when and where you want them to just doesn’t happen there! Especially at this little bay that rarely breaks!

However, God can override all natural factors. And He did! For lo and behold there were some rideable waves breaking in the little bay when we had a look after preaching at the first church service. The weird thing was, there wasn’t even any wind when we looked; whenever there is surf there it is accompanied by strong winds…wow!

Well, we had more than enough time in between church services for an enjoyable, fun, surf session. We had just experienced an awesome service right before this where the Holy Spirit moved gloriously as we ministered! Now we were getting to go for a surf in between services at a spot that rarely breaks. A friend said, “Hey, what’s up here? This spot only seems to break when you’re in town huh!” Sometimes God’s grace is surprising and overwhelming in blessing us in ways that are meaningful to us personally! Glory!

Ministry to the youth in Mandal, Norway.Immigrant church in Norway (right) and some friends from the youth group (above).
Ministry in Mandal, Norway.As we ministered 4 people got saved in each meeting respectively (8 total) and many others were filled with the Holy Spirit and some healed!

On the Return

We ministered at the El Calvario Youth Camp right upon our return from Europe. It was a phenomenal time as the Holy Spirit just poured God’s glory, power, and love, so richly over the meetings. The meetings literally just kept going and going and going way late, late, late, into the evenings. The Spirit of God met us all in such a powerful and refreshing way it just overwhelmed us! We also heard some powerful testimonies of the Lord’s transforming work from many people who came, including one from a young man named Javier who told us how the Lord just brought such a change in his life after we prayed for him at the camp. We were touched to see such open hearts getting filled, ministered and empowered in such an awesome way!

Recent Update

We’ve also been up and down the Pacific Coast ministering to different people, churches, and groups since we returned from Europe:

We recently ministered in Salinas, which is up north near Monterey on the Coast of California, about 370 miles up Highway 101. We ministered at a couple of different meetings in different locales there, including one of the local prayer and outreaches and another local church there. We experienced a very powerful move of the Holy Spirit each time. One of the leaders wrote: “You guys brought immense blessing and refreshing that was truly needed to Harvestlands Church.” Another friend named Dave wrote: “Thank you guys so much for your trip up here! It was such a blessing! I felt the Lord speaking that the Kingdom of God is invading Salinas!”

We also just ministered at Isla Vista Church’s retreat (a ministry that mainly reaches out to the students at the University of Santa Barbara.) The worship leader shared with me that he felt they needed to refocus on the power of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. I joined in doing the worship with him and waiting for the right time to move into ministering to many of the new people there. We ended up having a powerful outpouring and move of the Spirit of God when Mercedes and I began to step out and pray for those who were there at the retreat! The pastor Jason wrote afterwards: “...Bryan, Your life is a gift to countless lives...thank you for stewarding revival fire over the last 20 years! Love from the IV Church family.”

We ministered in Hollywood at an event on Sunset Boulevard. The Lord met us with His presence and the Holy Spirit filled and refreshed a lot of those we ministered to who are reaching out into that dark area with the light of the Gospel. There was also a man who just happened to stop in to the meeting who was visiting from Arizona. He noticed that there was a Christian event going on right on Sunset—right in the middle of the scene up there. He got very powerfully ministered to and filled and refreshed by the Spirit when we prayed for him, and ended up on the floor as the Lord refreshed and renewed him in his walk with Jesus. We ended up ministering at this event via divine appointment when we stopped by our friend’s prayer meeting she was doing in OC. She had us spontaneously minister at the prayer meeting and then set up things for us to minister with her in LA. Right before that divine appointment a prophetic minister wrote to encourage us: “You are some of the finest examples of walking in the Spirit I know of today…”

Ministering at Soboba Reservation.
Bryan ministering at the Soboba Native American Reservation at the Arise Missions Conference. We had a powerful ministry time that had many empowered to go out with the Gospel!
Ministering at Canyon Christian Center.
Ministering at Canyon Christian Center where we experienced some powerful healings and a refreshing time as we prayed for people!

We had some friends from Sweden connected with a church we ministered at when we were in Sweden recently, who happened to be over here studying at a ministry training center and who wanted to connect and also have a surf lesson. Well we got to hang out, give them a fun lesson, and pray for them as well to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the Lord met them in a powerful way when we ministered to them.

We were blessed to minister at the Arise Mission Conference on the Soboba Indian Reservation. It was a big blessing after preaching and then praying over the people to see many empowered with the Holy Spirit. The Lord powerfully filled many people with His presence as well as inspired them to take the Gospel out to other nations, both big and small.

We had a blessed time ministering at Canyon Christian Center in Anaheim. The Holy Spirit met us with His presence and we heard some powerful testimonies after we had preached and prayed for many of the people there: Our friend Sally shared how she was healed from a bad pain in her ear after I shared a word I had and prayed for her ear. Also, another brother was released from an attack of anxiety he had been having lately. He enthusiastically shared that he was released from the attack and felt a new peace come over his life when we prayed for him. Praise God! The brother who leads this church is from Canada and interestingly enough we got an email from Canada right before ministering there: A sister from Canada wrote us to tell us: “Your recent blog on the Reformation and Martin Luther greatly encouraged me, thank you so much!”
We shared at a pastor friend’s recent ministry celebration where the Lord gave us a message of encouragement. The Lord brought forth a release of hope and vision as we shared and prayed for the group gathered that night.

We also ministered at the CdO/Casa de Oración Church in San Diego, which was a great blessing. We did 4 services in a row there. We had many make decisions for Christ in each service and there were many people who got filled with the Holy Spirit in each service as well as experiencing healing. God met us with strength and poured out His power over and over in each service and all those we prayed for in an awesome way! A brother named Sergio Torres wrote about our ministry afterwards: “If you are ever in one of their services you never forget them! God uses them in a very powerful way with signs and wonders and many come to Christ, they are a powerhouse for Jesus!”

We had good friends from Europe come into town and visit right after we landed from our own trip over there, and we got to spend some time visiting with them at their campground. The Lord continually met us and ministered to us all in an awesome way. The Holy Spirit just showed up and poured out His power in their camper late into the evenings. It was great to connect with them and other old friends from way back that were there and have the Lord show up in such an awesome way! This was followed by another family we reconnected with and ministered to and whose daughter shared with us: “I felt I needed to reconnect with you guys after so many years in places that left me feeling so dry. You’re the only ones I know of that minister in the Spirit in such a refreshing and renewing way!”

Ministry in San Diego.Ministering at Casa de Oración/CdO Church where during the four services in a row we preached and ministered at we saw so many, filled, healed and saved!
Ministry at Dedicated Youth Camp.“Dedicated Youth Camp” where we ministered after returning from Europe and experienced a phenomenal outpouring of God’s love and power that extended the meetings late, late, late into the evenings!

Into 2016...

As we’ve begun 2016 we’ve been blessed to experience the Lord meeting us with His presence as we minister:
We had an awesome time ministering at The Father’s House in Huntington Beach just recently.

The Holy Spirit met us in power after sharing about early days at Calvary Chapel and then the Vineyard and getting filled with the Holy Spirit! It was a blessed time as the Lord met us and we connected with those who have similar roots to ours in those movements.

We also just ministered in Orange at Centro Cristiano Esperanza. The Lord poured out His Spirit after sharing about how God uses our trials for good when we persevere and lean into Him. We also had a divine appointment at the end of the day after the service was well over. I was walking out the door of the almost empty church building at that point when a family came up to ask some questions. They said they would like to get prayer but don’t really understand it all or how it all works.

After asking them some questions it was clear they had never received Christ as their Savior. They had a Catholic background but had never heard the Gospel explained to them. I took some time to explain the Gospel to them and inquired if they would like to receive Christ. They responded very affirmatively and we led them in the sinner’s prayer to receive Jesus. Hallelujah!

The Lord filled their hearts and the father of this family got touched especially powerfully with his hands in the air and tears streaming down his face as we prayed for him. So awesome to see one so newly saved getting so touched! Glory!

We recently ministered at IV Church in Santa Barbara which is an outreach to students at UCSB. It was a good follow up after recently ministering at their retreat. The Holy Spirit continued to fan the flames and empower those who came. There were also some coming from Westmont College who have been learning about power evangelism, so it is good to the see the Holy Spirit move on them in power!

We shared about some historical figures like Luther and Wesley and how they encountered the Kingdom of God and Christ’s grace and also told a few Holy Ghost Surf Stories. Incredibly, after sharing some Holy Ghost Surf Stories, we experienced a Holy Ghost Surfing Miracle the next day. After sleeping over at the pastor's house we went to check the surf.  It was epic conditions and no one was out hardly; we went out and had some great waves. This was at a point break right below the campus! To experience an uncrowded point break, especially one right on a college campus in this day of crowded waves was just amazing. We were blown away that nobody ever came out there until we were leaving! There was just one other local we were surfing with who said, “Enjoy this moment, it is never good like this and yet uncrowded at the same time.”  After the long drive up there, through a heavy storm with strong winds, and all the efforts that go into ministering some distance away, that was a nice blessing from the Lord!

Ministering at the Father's House in Huntington Beach.Ministering at The Father's House in Huntington Beach. It was a blessing to share history with the Holy Spirit back in the Vineyard days.
Ministry at IVC in Santa Barbara.Preaching in Isla Vista Church where we had a blessed Holy Ghost service and a Holy Ghost surf session afterwards!

Many Thanks

Thank you so much for your prayers and support, as they bear much fruit through what Christ is doing through this ministry! We are so grateful and appreciative!

May God's blessings be richly poured out upon your life!
Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux