The "Lord’s" Banquet

Last night, our church hosted a beautiful Christmas Banquet, complete with fine china, ornate crystal, delicious food and live entertainment. We spared no expense to make our honored guests feel like part of the family. Many folks in the church elaborately decorated their tables and showcased their creativity (which is abundant), giving their tables their own personal touch. The buffet line was absolutely amazing! It was decorated to the nines and brimming with copious amounts of delicious turkey with dressing, hams, casseroles and desserts.

In planning our annual Christmas Banquet this year, we decided to forgo the usual way we do our annual Church Christmas Banquet and were provoked to follow the Lord’s specific instructions for having a banquet. Did you know that the Lord spoke specifically about having a banquet?

“And He also said to him who invited Him, When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends or your brothers, or your kinsmen, or your rich neighbors; lest they also invite you again, and a recompense be made to you. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you shall be blessed, for they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:12-14

When we first got the word out about how we would be doing our Christmas Banquet this year, the response was amazing! Money came pouring in to cover the considerable cost of hosting such an event. Also, volunteers from the church came out in force. We actually had too many people offering to serve and host tables! The dedication to detail and folks giving their very best was awe inspiring.

The next step was going around to all of the neighborhoods and communities that we have been ministering the gospel in these last few months and years and invited all to the banquet. We also made special efforts to invite and bring in many from the Latino communities that we have been in. Many of these folks are living in abject poverty all within about a 5 mile radius from the church. Many of them are sick and infirmed, as well as demonically tormented. In short, they need Jesus.

We were a little worried as to who would come and not come, but as it turns out, we had over 60 folks from all over the community that we brought it or who managed to make it out on their own, filling our tables with our extended “Family”. It was an awesome sight to see our guests come in and be loved, accepted and welcomed by our church family. You had successful businessmen and upper middle class families mingling with the poor and strong believers mingling with unbelievers. The whole mood was ecstatic and you could feel the presence of God brooding over the place.

As part of our outreach team that has been ministering in these neighborhoods the last couple of years, it was such a treat to see many of the folks we have been preaching to in the same place at the same time. It made our efforts “real” and really helped me see the fruit of our labors these last few months. It also was great for our church to connect with the folks that they have heard about in testimonies, but never really met personally.

During the course of the night, several folks, moved by the love of the church towards them, gave their lives to the Lord. There was prayer for healing going on and prophetic words given. A group of Hispanic men asked us when they could come back for a Spanish speaking service (it’s in the works, trust me!) and several folks that have never stepped foot in the church before promised that they would be back.

All in all, it was a great success and we are so pleased with the Lord and His goodness, as well as the amazing generosity of the Lord’s people.

Going Out With A Bang! - Part II

Hey There,

Here's the OTHER account to what happened at our last High School football game of the year... Remember, both of these accounts come from teenage girls out preaching the Gospel with signs, wonders, healings and miracles at local football games on Friday Nights.

Come on Jesus!

Blessings,
Ryan

********************

Hey Ryan!

Yeah it was AWESOME!!!!

I was SO provoked by Sarah’s story (from last weekend), that all this week I have been telling the Lord that I am grateful if only 5-6 kids get born again, but that I wanted to see crowds of kids getting born again too...and I totally saw it!

So here is the story...

We actually drove to a football game at Roswell, but the kids over there said that they didn't have a game. So, we left and went to Lassiter. It was so full of kids, I guess because it was the last game...but I had never seen that many people at a football game!

So I looked at Katie and said, "Katie, we absolutely have to go for it...it's the last game, we can't hold back." and she totally agreed! So we went to the corner of Lassiter where there was a HUGE crowd of kids just screwing around. I walked over to them and shouted, "Hey all you guys, come here! I have something really awesome to tell you!"

So all of these kids stopped and stared...haha! Me, Katie and Rebekah, started prophesying to these kids one after another. It was awesome! Then, Stephanie, who was also at that game came over and joined us...

Okay, this is funny...all of the kids started saying, "OH my gosh! You guys are what they were talking about/warning us about in our prep class...". We couldn't figure it out, but we think people are talking about what we have been doing at their football games in their prep classes! :)

We then asked them if they were born again, and most of them seemed unsure... Then one of their moms came over, cuz she was really curious about what was going on...so we told her that we were preaching the kingdom to all of these kids...and get this...she starts telling all of the kids there that they need to listen to us!!!

So, we told all of the kids they needed to get born again. So about 10 kids got on their knees ready to give their lives to Jesus!

BUT WAIT IT GETS BETTER!!!!!!

All of these kids around us were watching, so I stood up and shouted, "Hey, you guys, we are giving our lives to Jesus and making him our King. Come on you guys get on your knees too, and give your lived to Jesus too. AND THEY DID! 10-15 kids got on their knees too! So I think between 20 and 25 kids got born again and got filled with the spirit! I think that happened at least three times...I would look over at Katie and she would be on her knees with a huge group of kids, and so I would get on my knees with them and then she would look over and I would be on my knees with a huge group of kids and so she would get on her knees too!

Then we started calling down the Holy spirit, and the fire of God onto these kids. They were so open and hungry it was so freaking awesome! They literally started falling back, and when I say falling back I mean FALLING not stepping!!! Katie, Stephanie, and I actually had to catch them so they didn't hit the ground!

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

So awesome that I guess we drew too big of a crowd because we got approached by 3 cops and a Lassiter guy. They told us that we couldn't do what we were doing anymore, and we couldn't touch the kids anymore (even with permission). He said that he appreciated what we were doing but that what we were doing was meant for inside a church, not football games. :)

We were really compliant, so they left, etc. So we turned around to all of the kids and told them what the cops had told us. We told them that they didn't have to leave, and that we could still call down the Holy spirit and the fire of God without touching them at all. So we did, and kids started falling back! They were saying that they felt a hot burning all along their backs and their heads...we didn't even tell them that they would feel heat or anything!

So that started drawing another crowd, and around 10 kids gave their lives to Jesus! Then, since we couldn't touch them, they decided to touch each other, and they started calling down the Holy spirit onto their friends, and their friends started falling back! HAHA!!! So, by that time we had really upset a little Jewish girl. She came over to us and was all like, "stop, stop! I am mad!" and I was like, "why?" Then she said that she was mad because we were converting kids to Christianity, and she didn't like that, and she didn't think parents would like that either! So I told her that we couldn't stop. She wanted to argue, and I didn't want too, because such awesome stuff was happening... So I said, "listen chick, I believe what I believe just as strongly as you believe what you believe, nothing you say can change my mind".

I told her that every tree will be judged according to it's fruit and that I was seeing WAY too much fruit to stop. So she got really mad and left...

About 5 minutes later we got approached by the Lassiter guy, and he said we were not welcome to do this at his school, and that we had to leave... So we did... hahahahaha!!!

IT WAS AWESOME!!! I think at least 50 kids gave their lives to Jesus! I get so excited just thinking about it again! Sorry the story was so long! SO much happened, I didn't want to leave any of it out! :)

Erin