UMT Intensive Report – Week 4

WOW. We had a total blowout last week at the games. By the end of the night we had 61 kids give their lives to Jesus very publicly, on their knees. We had about 50 healings and miracles that took place, ranging from the healing of broken bones to torn ligaments, injuries of every kind, tendinitis, carpal tunnel, etc. One of out teams got thrown out of the game by the principal. Why? There were too many kids receiving ministry and not enough kids actually watching the game!

Come on Jesus.

We’ve been meeting up at the church and heading off to several local games. This last weekend we went to three different games. All of them had a different “flavor”, if you will. At one of the games there was a healing blowout, at another one there was a prophecy blowout and at the other game, a salvation blowout. Figure that.

PROPHETIC BLOWOUT
At one of the games we had about 10-12 of our folks there. They reported that there was hardly anyone visibly sick at the game, everyone looked healthy. See, we instruct our guys that when they go out to look for anyone visibly ill. That means that if you have a cast, cane, crutch, brace or even a good limp, we’ll approach you and see if we can pray for you! That approach is in line with Luke 10 and the instructions that Jesus gave to His disciples:

And into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick that are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near you! Luke 10:8,9

So, they were looking for the sick and not finding them. The next weapon in our arsenal is the prophetic gifts. So the young folks in our group waded into the fray and started prophesying over everyone they met! The accuracy that the Lord was giving the team was startling and several of the kids began to break down and weep under the anointing. In less than 2 hours, 25 kids gave their lives to Jesus as the secrets of their hearts were revealed!

Now we say there was hardly anyone sick there, but the kids that were, got healed! I walked up to one kid with his arm on a sling and asked him what happened. He had just destroyed his arm and had pins and screws put in it. I asked him, “Are you in pain?” He responded that he wasn’t. I was a bit puzzled and asked again, “No pain? Are you sure?” “Yeah man, I am feeling, NO PAIN!” So I told him, “Well, if you were in pain, I would pray for God to heal you.” He and his girlfriend with him looked surprised and said, “Two other people have already prayed for me tonight… And it worked!” I feigned surprise. The girlfriend chimed in and said. “I was there, I saw it. They prayed for him and it worked!” I was like, “Really??!” They were incredulous, trying to convince me, “I tell you no lie, they prayed and it worked!” Funny. That was two of our teams that had prayed for him and got him healed. He had NO pain and 100% mobility, although his arm was in a hard cast.

SALVATION BLOWOUT
At another school that we had teams in, the “theme” of the night wasn’t the prophetic, although it was in operation, it wasn’t healing, although it was happening, it was simple boldness to declare the Gospel of the Kingdom to people and their response with salvation. As our team preached the Gospel, with boldness, more than 2 dozen kids responded (conservatively) by giving their lives to Jesus! 25 kids at one school, giving their lives to the Lord on their knees as a public declaration of repentance and service to Jesus!

HEALING EXPLOSION!
Lastly, at one of the schools there was a complete and total healing EXPLOSION! My brother Jordan was there at witnessed the whole thing, here is his testimony:

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By Jordan Lawson

We were at the game, nothing much was really going on, so we found a group of kids and just started talking to them about the kingdom of God and the healing of the sick, and as we were preaching to them, they started mocking us. One of them said "If we bring our friend over here, can you guys heal him? His leg is broken" I told them that of course God will heal them, because there are no broken legs in heaven. So one of them went and got their friend. When he showed up, I noticed that it was the same guy in the wheelchair that one of our groups had prayed for earlier! When he showed up, 30+ people gathered to witness the healing. So we preached the Gospel to the guy in the wheelchair and told him that Jesus is King over broken and sprained ankles and that God wanted to heal him today. So we got down on our knees, laid our hands on his ankle and called down the Fire of God and commanded healing into his leg.

While we were praying, we could hear the crowd around us mocking what we were doing. We persisted, declaring the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and commanding healing for his leg. Right when we finished praying, I told him to get up out of his wheelchair and do something that he wasn't able to do before we prayed. Right when he stood up, he had the "Deer in the headlights" look on his face. He looked at me and said "Oh my God!! I can stand up! It feels totally normal!" When he had said that and when the crowd witnessed him standing up out of his wheelchair, they erupted in applause instead of mocking! They were all freaking out, and even some of them started praising God! At this point, it TOTALLY broke out! Then 60 + people started pressing in on us, saying "Can you pray for me? Can you heal me? I have this problem and that problem".

It was INSANE! There were kids all around us asking us to pray for their healing from every kind of disease and injury. The guy who was in the wheelchair stood up and started walking and got his mom who was working in one of the concession stands to tell her what had happened. After he started walking, healing broke out among the crowd. There were kids getting INSTANTLY healed of broken fingers, broken wrists, broken arms and knees, and injuries and illnesses of all different kinds including tendinitis, colds, strep throats, and etc. They were ALL getting healed INSTANTLY! This one guy who had a cast on his forearm/hand came up to me and said "I broke my wrist the other day, can you heal it?" We prayed for the guy, and seriously, not 10 seconds later he started moving his wrist with the deer in the headlights look on his face. He was bewildered! He said, "I can move this hand just like the other one! There's absolutely no pain! I can't believe this, this is incredible!" I then told him to take off his cast, and he took it off and threw it towards me! It was absolutely amazing!

While all this was happening, wheelchair guy broke through the crowd and came back to me with his mom with him this time. His mom looked rather puzzled and asked, "What did you do to him?! What happened to him? How can his pain be totally gone?" She didn't seem to believe what had happened to her son at first. Her son replied to her saying, "They prayed for me mom! They healed me!" We then replied to that saying, "Jesus healed him of his injury. He doesn't need his wheelchair anymore."

And just in case any of you don't know, we've started a collection of casts, canes, crutches, wheelchairs, slings, eye patches to have at our church to show off for the Glory of God. So, knowing that we're "trying" to collect these items, I tried to get the wheelchair from him. I asked him at first after he got healed, "May we have your wheelchair to show off for the Glory of God?" and at first he declined. Then I told him that we would purchase it from him if he decided to give it to us. He wasn't totally declining anymore, but he was still leaning more towards a "no" answer rather than a "yes". So to continue on with the story, his mom is there, amazed that her son is healed but still not able to figure out that the Lord had actually healed him. Then she witnessed us heal 3 more people of a broken finger, broken wrist, and a person with bad knee problems and she started praising God for what she had seen! I asked her if we could purchase the wheelchair from her since she was the rightful owner of it. She said "Just take it!"

The crowd was growing, and growing in numbers. The “press” got to the point to where I and the two ladies who were with me were all separately praying for groups of sick people! It was astounding! This continued for about 2 hours or so. After it was all said and done, the principal of the school came out and asked me what had been going on. I told her the truth that we were healing the sick and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She then said that she didn't want us doing that and had us escorted off of the property by a police guard.

Jesus is King! Praise you Jesus!

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Jesus is King! Even on Public High School Campuses!

Update On Edouard

Hey There,

Here is a quick update on Pastor Edouard in the Congo. Edouard, as you may remember is the pastor that we ministered with in the Congo a in March, whose baby got sick and died as we were in his village preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.

You can go here for the updates on that trip:
Adventures In Africa - Part I
Adventures In Africa - Part II
Adventures In Africa - Part III
Adventures In Africa - Part IV
Adventures In Africa - Part V
In Memory of John Wesley

The update was written by my friend David Dixon.

Blessings,
Ryan

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Edouard Update
10-20-07

It has been a while since I sent out word about what is happening in the Congo. Many of you have asked "what is happening with Edouard?" By some standards people might say that his situation is rough, others would say he is doing awesome. Me? I say that the times and trials that he and his church are going through are rough, but he is handling it beautifully.

A month or so ago, I called Edouard to see how he was doing. I learned that his wife, who if you haven't been keeping track has been trying to kill him since the death of their son John Wesley, was pregnant. And the baby is Edouard’s. Since that time she has given birth to a baby girl. Edouard has not been able to see the child because of the repeated attempts on his life. Though he has sent many invitations to his wife to come home and all will be forgiven, she has repeatedly refused and threatened his life over and over again. Edouard asks that we pray for the health and safety of his baby girl.

Despite the problems, persecution, assassination attempts, and arrests, Edouard is raising up a church that is continually preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom with power. Just last week a pastor from the Northern Region of Congo came to visit Brazzaville, where Edouard lives, and asked to speak in Edouard's church. This Pastor is much older and has been with their denomination for a long time. He brought with him another Congolese man who calls himself an apostle. They thought that they could help Edouard by giving him advice on how to pastor and grow his church. They preached for three days in Edouard's church during a "revival service". They came in thinking they could help but left shocked and stirred by what they saw in Edouard's church. They spent much of their time praying for the sick with very little results so Edouard called up a young man to help them pray. When the young man prayed people were instantly healed. The visiting pastors said "who is this young boy?" "He is the 10 year old son of one of our members." The visitors were astonished and became even more astonished when Edouard asked many of his congregation to come up and help pray for the sick after the services. Many people were healed instantly by normal members of the congregation. When the visiting pastors were alone with Edouard they asked how this could happen in his church. They left very happy and stirred up, asking Edouard for his help in teaching their people back in the northern region.

Through it all Edouard has stood strong and as we had hoped, his vision has grown not only to build his church and train them to preach the Gospel with power, but to train others outside his church. Many pastors that are seeing the fruit in his life are asking him for help. His vision now is to raise up an apostolic center where people can be trained and sent out to neighboring villages and bring the Gospel of the King and His Kingdom. Please pray for him as he continues to preach the Gospel in a country that so desperately needs it. Edouard was once a full time teacher but now since the growth of his church he has had to spend more time preaching the gospel and teaching the people. Our prayers and support will allow him to do this even more effectively.

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You can support Edouard and the work in the Congo by going here:
http://ngca.org/congo.htm

UMT Intensive Report – Weeks 2 & 3

I’m going to roll a couple of weeks updates into one. The last couple of weeks have been great. The saints are being equipped to get out there and do the stuff and last week we had an explosion of God at a local high school football game. It was off the hook!

Also, in the next few days I hope to post a quick update on Edouard, our Pastor friend in the Congo. We’ve been hearing some good things back from Edouard and the church there and I’d like to share them with you.

WEEK #2
Our second week of the 6-week UMT High School/College Intensive was a great one. Jim Drown is an absolute fireball! He has been seeing Middle and South America lit up with the power of God over the last ten years as he’s been taking teams into the streets and prisons as well as holding citywide crusades throughout Peru and other nations. He has a wealth of real life experience and his life and testimony was and is contagious! He is a living, breathing picture of what revival looks like! Of course, after the meeting we were raring and ready to go out there and hit the streets with the power and glory of God.

NAMAAN
We entered the fray of the parking lot by approaching a rough and tumble group of burly guys with what we thought was a word of knowledge. Turns out, we had the word of knowledge totally wrong! But this one kid that was standing to the side looked bewildered and confused. While the other guys were talking to the guy they missed the prophetic word for, I asked the confused kid what was going on and why he was so wierded out. He was taken aback that we would walk up to a stranger and start preaching and talking about what he called the three things you NEVER speak about with strangers: politics, religion or sexual orientation.

I told him that he had bought the politically correct lies spewed out by pop culture and that frankly, he was a chicken to stay so safe in conversation. He asked me what we were doing there and I told him that we were bringing life where there is death, peace where there is anxiety and joy where there is anger. He was listening, but asked why I thought that what I believed should be told to people that believe differently. I told him flatly, “Because what you believe is wrong”. He looked at me like I had three heads. I continued and told him that Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit, good fruit, good tree and bad fruit from a bad tree. I asked him what was the fruit, or produce of his beliefs. I asked him if he had peace, joy or righteousness. I could see in his eyes that he was anxious and fearful.

He still asked, “Why do you think you have the right to speak to other people who believe differently?” I told him the story of how we don’t just tell, but demonstrate and that the demonstration gets people’s attention so that they will listen to us. He asked me what I meant and I told him how the week before we had seen a ladies blind eye opened in Jesus name and two cancerous tumors the size of golf balls shrink under our hands. Now he was listening intently. He stopped me mid-sentence and said, “You might not believe me, but I have been seeking and searching for Him… I desperately need help.” Like a diamond in the rough, we discovered this kid among a bunch of rebels. This kid was seeking the reality of the Holy Spirit and he found it. We prophesied over him, spoke destiny to him and before the night was over, he had heard and tasted of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Lots of other stuff happened that night as our group boldly proclaimed and demonstrated the Gospel among a bunch of crazy young people, some who are agnostic, pagan or just plain rebellious.

WEEK #3
We were all looking forward to last week. Last week we took teams to local high school football games and wouldn’t you know it, GOD showed up! Three sets of teams to three different local games. Every team had encounters with unbelievers, many were prophesied over and more than a few healings took place. The Gospel was demonstrated on local high school campuses! But at one of the schools we went to, it blew up!

A GOOD START
There were three teams of 3-4 people that went to the school I was at. We had seen some cool stuff at this school before and were expecting great things. I could tell right away that we would have to tread lightly and show wisdom as the police presence was so prevalent. The main place where we preach and demonstrate the Gospel is the concession area and there were six Sheriff’s deputies encircling the area. Most of the kids that hang there are middle and high school kids with almost all the parents in the stands. So when we walked up, I and another obvious “grown-up” stood to the side and cut the younger guys (or at the least the ones that look younger) loose. It was a very unique experience for me. Normally, I am almost always right in the middle of things, but this night I got to just stand there and watch a move of God grow and break out.

Very cool.

Robert and I had just been standing there, sipping our drinks for a few minutes when one of the groups walked up to us and handed us a pair of crutches! I was like, “what’s this all about?” and they told me that some kids knee and calf got healed. He walked into the game using the crutches, in pain and walked away, without the crutches and in no pain! Still, among the accurate prophetic words and scattered healings, there wasn’t much of a stir being created yet.

A STIR
One of the teams approached a young girl with a brace on her wrist and hand and asked if they could pray for her. She was taken aback until they showed her the unused crutches I was hanging onto. Wrestling with her religious arguments, finally the group was given the opportunity to pray for her. It wasn’t the result of the prayer, but the fact that the team wanted to pray that broke things open. They explained the gospel of the kingdom to a gathering group of middle school kids. You could see them being attracted to what was happening. It was like turning on a blue light and watching the bugs come racing to get zapped! The more people stopped to listen to the team preaching, the more people would pay attention and the group grew. After preaching to them, they asked who wanted to respond by pledging their life to serve Jesus and advance His Kingdom. About 15 kids all raised their hands and jumped in. They were commanded to bow their knees and give their lives to Jesus. Without hesitation, all the kids that raised their hands and even a few others hit their knees and prayed LOUDLY for salvation and repentance.

They say that success breeds success and it’s true. As the kids were bowing, giving their lives to the Lord, a new group of kids walked up to see what was going on. After another brief explanation of the Kingdom of God, the group pressed a girl forward who had lupus. The new believers in the group were told to extend their hands and pray healing for her in Jesus name. Probably the highlight of that night for me was watching these brand new Christians ministering healing LOUDLY, "IN JESUS NAME, BE HEALED!!!" which drew more people.

Now there was a buzz. All the kids that walked by stopped to hear what was being said. Our group decided that the new believers needed a touch of the Holy Spirit and told them of the fire of God and that they needed to be filled with the presence of God! They broke up and each of our 8 team members there had a group of 10-20 kids surrounding them asking for healing, prophecy or a touch from God. I watched as they extended their hands and released the Holy Ghost on these kids and their friends. Without being coached on what the Holy Spirit’s touch is like they started saying that they felt heat coming from their belly and moving up their chest.

One unsuspecting kid jumped into a mass prayer as he walked by and was at the back of the huddle of kids. I saw him walk up, extend his hands as they prayed, “Fire of God!” and immediately fall out under the power of God onto the cement! No one was even paying attention and it was hilarious to see him jump up from the ground, dust himself off and look embarrassed as he tried to regain composure. All in all, there were dozens of kids touched by the power of God an about 20 of them confessed Jesus as their Lord and King, publicly, in the dirt. Many miracles happened as tendons and ligaments were healed, broken bones were knitted back together and pain left the bodies of many who were injured or sick. The game was near wrapping up when the police got involved and started to break things up, so we decided to call it a night.

What will Jesus do this week?

UMT Intensive Report – Week 1

Well, this last Friday and Saturday we began our 6-week UMT High School/College Intensive and it started with a bang! Over the weekend of equipping and activation we had two astounding miracles occur.

Here’s what happened:

EQUIPPING & RELEASING
We’ve learned over the last couple of years that it’s not the amount of or quality of spiritual information that Christians have, but rather the amount they are actively putting into practice. All Christians have heard the Lord’s Prayer, yet few are actively doing what the Lord instructed us, His disciples to do. His instructions start with:

“Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name,
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,
On Earth as it is in Heaven…”

The Lord actually told us to pray the will and Kingdom of God, as they are manifested in heaven would come to earth! When Heaven comes to earth, miracles are the result. Impossibility bows in the name of Jesus as possibility takes its place. Our prayer and our mandate as believers is to bring heaven to earth! This is what we preached on and taught on both Friday night and Saturday morning. But all that information means nothing unless we are ready and willing to put it into practice! This is why we go out and do outreaches as part of our equipping...

So, our team, comprised of business men, house moms, grandmas and students divided up into teams and headed into the inner city to preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. We go downtown because it’s what I call a “target rich environment”. The teams are instructed ahead of time to spread out and find anyone with a visible ailment, be it casts, canes, crutches, wheelchairs, braces and even a good limp! We then tell them that the Kingdom of God is at hand and then get them healed!

MIRACLE #1
One of our teams was at a local hospital. While there, they encountered a woman who recently had a stroke and lost use of her right side. She was getting some of the use of her limbs back, but since the stroke her right eye had been blinded. All that she could see was colors; she could make no distinction of shapes, etc. The team told her that there are no blind eyes in Heaven and that if Heaven came to her body, she would be healed! They asked if they could pray and she agreed.

As they prayed, they asked her what was happening. She responded that something was going on and that she was starting to see shapes. Like Jesus in the Bible, they prayed for her sight again. This time she started to get excited! The first words out of her mouth were, "They are going to think I was lying to them in the hospital!" The team had her cover her good eye and started checking the bad eye, holding up fingers in front of her. She quickly called them out without any problem. They backed up and got about 12 feet from her and she continued to make the distinction of shapes as her vision was completely restored!

MIRACLES #2 & #3
I was with a couple other team members and we were in a local area park that is frequented by the homeless. While there, we encountered a gentleman who had recently been bitten by a brown recluse spider. The venom had devastated his leg and he was in intense pain and the wounds were itching terribly. On of our girls on the team asked if she could pray for him telling him that there are no spider bites and intense pain in Heaven. As she prayed, the pain and itching left the wounds immediately! The man was excited and the team continued to minister to him encouraging him with prophetic words.

Meanwhile, a couple was in the park watching this exchange from a distance. The young lady in the couple walked up to the team and asked for prayer. As we found out, she had just been released from the hospital after being diagnosed with cancer in her abdomen. There were two visible tumors at the top of her hip, both about the size of golf balls. She had gone to the doctor because she could feel the masses as she walked and they caused her discomfort. The team, freshly instructed on bringing the Kingdom of God told them woman that there is no cancer and no tumors in Heaven. If Heaven came to her body, she would be healed!

One of the girls on our team prayed and within a few seconds, the first tumor completely disappeared! We all were excited and the lady we were praying for began weeping and rejoicing. You should have seen her face! Her husband was standing right there, in awe of what God was doing. We didn't didn’t stop praying, but continued to pray for the other tumor to be destroyed. Within a minute it had shrunk to the size of a marble, another few minutes to the size of a pea and just a couple of minutes later, it had completely dissolved! We all went nuts! Everyone was rejoicing and praising God right there in the park as the presence of God overshadowed the whole group! The lady fell out under the power of God and we were able to prophesy to the couple about their destiny in God.

All in all, a good start, don’t you think?

PS – If you want to come, you can be a part:
http://ngca.org/umt.htm