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

Back In The Saddle Again – Part II

I told you that I would tell you about Sona. Here’s what we found out about her. Sona was born in Thailand to Phillipino parents. Now here Mom lives in Kentucky where she is very ill with advanced diabetes and for some reason she has ended up in the hood with her cousins. I got the impression just walking by Sona that she would hurt you if given a reason, any reason! She is a tough kid, probably near 20 years old who h as lived hard her entire life and had to adapt to it. When we ran into her, everything in the natural would have told you, RUN AWAY! But I was drawn to her, I just KNEW that God would have something for her… and He did!

THE STRONGMAN
We’ve learned something in the last few years preaching in dangerous places. If you go for the strongman in a neighborhood or group situation, everything else is easy and just falls like dominos. I’d describe the strongman as the person ruling an area or arena thorough intimidation, witchcraft, manipulation or demonic control. In a group setting, it’s the baddest, meanest and most demon possessed person. Sometimes in a neighborhood setting it’s the neighborhood violent drunk, drug dealer or math-head.

Jesus talked about the strongman here:

“Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, unless first he binds the strong one, and then he will plunder his house.” Matthew 12:29

The only way to plunder that sucker is to bind him. Practically, we are searching out the strongman and going after him, FIRST. William Booth said, “Go for sinners and go for the
worst!” The worst sinners many times make the best disciples! Even if they don’t bow the knee to Jesus, they control people through their intimidation and behavior. When you confront that and defy their control or intimidation, the people around them see them as frail and human and are set free. But as you can imagine, it can make some situations get a little hairy. The person acting as the strongman in a household or neighborhood likes their control and is used to their control. Sometimes they defend that house violently! Maybe that’s why we’ve been in more than a few altercations and riots?

BACK TO SONA
Anyway, we walked up to a group of men and women on the sidewalk. There were about 4- guys, dressed all thuggish with their 40oz. beers in their hands and 3-4 Phillipino girls talking out with them on the sidewalk. As we walked up to them I’m thinking, “Ok now, in this group, who is the strongman?” What you can count on is that many times the strongman has a big mouth! Everyone normally jumps when they say something. So we walked near them real slowly. They were all checking us out and it felt pretty uncomfortable. So this girl, Sona, takes a look at my shirt which says on the front, “got power?” and on the back, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power. – I Corinthians 4:20” and yells at me saying, “What, you think you got power or something?” Invitation received. That’s our cue to move in, seek out and destroy the Kingdom of darkness.

Instantly I could just tell that Sona was the strongman holding the little band of thugs and immoral women together. I could also tell that out of everyone standing around, Sona would be the one at her high school voted “Most likely to shank you in the prison yard”. This girl had anger and hate all over her face. She was hurting and all that it took to understand that was for her to challenge us. I turned to her and her friends and addressed her very simply, “I sure do.” I went on to tell them, “Jesus is with us and His power is at work in and through us. We see sick people healed and lost people such as you rescued from lives of sin!” They all went into “oh great, what do we have hear mode”. A couple of the guys scattered and scampered away, I called after them “where are you going? What are you afraid of? Get back here!” Sona was like, “So what, you here to preach or something?” I replied, “Oh yeah, you need what I’ve got!” Sona’s girlfriend, who I later found out was her cousin stood there and just said, “Don’t waste your time preaching to her, although she needs it the most (pointing to Sona).” Sona took a hard swig of her 40oz. beer and I could tell that she did not relish the thought of being the “hard case”.

So I focused in on her.

BREAKTHROUGH
I just stood there in front of her, looking at her and silently asking the Lord for something that would break her hardened heart. As I looked, the Lord began to show me that in her past she had to resort to violence to protect herself and the violence had become an addiction, she liked to inflict pain on others. I then saw a picture of her being pulled from either arm, one by the Lord and His Kingdom and one by the enemy and his kingdom. The enemy had been puling harder and she was about to completely give in to the dark side and just go with it. I started by telling her, “Listen, I have to tell you that Jesus is King! That means that He is the boss and we have to serve Him. You have to serve Him!” She rolled her eyes and backed up a little. I continued, “I also have to tell you that His Kingdom, a Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy is here, right now!”

I was about to lose them, they were backing away and losing interest, so I quickly said to Sona, “Look, sometimes Jesus shows me stuff about people and He’s showing me some things about you right now, do you want to hear them?” She just kind of stared. I took it as a yes and proceeded. “The Lord is showing me that you have been contended for. Both the Lord and the enemy have been working to gain your life. The Lord has saved you from certain death more than once and the enemy has really played his hand in your life. I believe that the Lord is showing me that the enemy has been pulling at you much harder than the Lord, but I am here to announce that it’s God’s turn! He’s going to start winning you over to Himself!” Tears welled up in her eyes and she started power drinking, just guzzling that booze. I told her, “I’m taking your swigging the beer that I’m on track?!” She nodded and so I continued. “The enemy’s work in your life has produced anger. Anger that seeks relief and you have found your relief through inflicting violence, but we’re here tonight to set you free of that anger. Do you want to be free?” She took another hard swig, this time tears streaming down here face and nodded, “yes”.

We asked if we could pray for her and lay hands on her and she said yes. All of her friends, once mocking, just sat there in stunned silence watching their partner in crime break in front of us. She was a little girl again, vulnerable and needy. We laid hands on her and broke the demonic power of anger. We released her from all of the spiritual garbage she had attained while walking in darkness. Tears streamed down her face and she was shaking softly under the presence of God. I didn’t ask, I just instructed her, “Say this with me, Jesus” She said instantly, “Jesus”. “You’ve got my attention tonight and I now realize that you are King and Lord.” She repeated. “I tonight, repent of my anger, my violence and my walking apart from Your Kingdom and rule. I, tonight, ask forgiveness for the wrong I’ve done.” Without hesitation she said what I told her to say, growing stronger with every sentence. “I feel Your presence and Your peace right now and I want more of it! I submit to the Kingdom of God and commit my life to you in service.”

The Presence of God overshadowed her and she was weeping and trembling under His presence. When she looked up from the prayer she smiled! She had this huge, ear to ear grin across her face. All of her friends were staring, mouths open at their hardened friend, weeping like a baby! I couldn’t resist and used her countenance as a testimony, calling them to change the way they thing (repent) for the Kingdom of God is on the earth! The night ended with us prophesying to three of her friends and relatives, calling all of them to serve Jesus. One of them made Jesus her King and all of them witnessed the power of the Kingdom!

Bind the strongman, plunder his house… It’s as easy as that!

PS - We start our UMT - High School/College INTENSIVE tonight! (http://ngca.org/umt.htm) I'm excited!

Back In the Saddle Again - Part I

It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote. Mainly because I was off on vacation for a couple of weeks… Ah, the beach! Anyway, I’m back and have already seen God do some very cool stuff in the last week. What’s best is that I came home to a bunch of stories from our outreach team and other folks in the church. Lots of healings, salvations, disciples being made and even a few house churches coming together!

The week before I left town we visited a neighborhood that’s new to us this year. We’ve been in there 5 or 6 times already and before I left town for a couple of weeks I wanted to get in there again. This neighborhood has been weird, because we’ve seen some people get healed and prophesied and prayed for a bunch of people, but nothing really was happening past that point. No disciples were coming out of it and we haven’t got a meeting going in there yet. What we’re looking for is hunger; a hunger that lasts past the point of receiving a miracle or witnessing a demonstration of God’s power. As we demonstrate the power of the Gospel through prophetic gifts or healings and miracles, we then call people to repentance and to lay down their lives and serve Jesus. The ones who respond with true hunger are the disciples we can work with. So as we were driving into Sedgefield a couple of weeks ago, I was praying and asking the Lord to help us get our foot in the door and meet the right people.

The Lord didn’t just let us get our foot in the door; He let us kick it down!


THREATS OF VIOLENCE
We were barely in the neighborhood more than about ten minutes when I spotted a guy that we had talked to a couple of weeks before down the block and across the street. I turned to the team and told them, “This guy hates me.” It was because a couple of weeks before, things got a little heated. We were preaching to him and then he tried telling us about some demon doctrine through his alcohol induced haze, calling himself a Christian, etc. I can’t stand it when sloppy drunks try to instruct me in the things of God, so I told him that I didn’t want to hear anything from him until he sobered up and repented for his sin. He got ticked! But that was a couple of weeks before.

As we approached him, he looked up and saw me coming. He had a rag in his hand and started waving it around wildly, calling out to me, “If you step over to this side of the street, you’re going to get shot!” I proceeded directly towards him undeterred. I didn’t really bother preaching to him, I just wanted to remind him that everything I had told him a couple of weeks ago was still valid. Namely, if he wanted freedom, he just had to repent, call on Jesus and we would pray for him and get him delivered. He didn’t want anything to do with it, so I proceeded to talk to his neighbors sitting just a few feet away.


THE LOVE OF GOD REVEALED
So, we talked to several people sitting on some steps nearby. It started with the Lord showing me one thing about a lady having to do with a grace and gifting that the Lord had given her. I opened my mouth to share it and got more. Some 10 minutes later, the lady is in tears, rocked by the goodness of God. Her husband is sitting right there, affirming what we were saying. An older woman is there, she’s obviously inebriated, but asks meekly, “Is God showing you anything for me?” To be honest, at the moment, I had nothing. But I knew that the Lord had something for her so I told her, “sure!” Some might recoil at that, but after years of preaching the gospel to the lost, I’m convinced that God has things to say about EVERYONE, any time we ask Him! Think about it, He knows EVERYTHING going on with EVERYONE; all we have to do is ask Him for it.

This is the scriptural basis for what I’m saying:

And He said to them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him? And he answering from inside may say, Do not trouble me. The door is now shut and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise and give to you. I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needs. And I say to you, Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks it shall be opened. Luke 11:5-10

If someone comes to us and asks us for bread (the word of God) we can, in boldness, go to God and ask Him for bread (spiritual provision, the word of God) to feed our friends. It’s not because of our relationship or intimacy with the Lord that He gives us what we ask for, but because of our boldness to ask Him. Time and time again we’ve seen this work. It’s a normal thing now for new believers to bring us their friends and family members, sit them right in front of us and simply say,”do them”. Meaning, “prophesy”. 90% of the time, we have nothing, but in faith, we go to God and get something for them, meeting the hunger of their heart.


BACK TO THE LADY...
I opened my mouth to say something (although I don’t know what) and out came some stuff concerning her dream life. It obviously made an impact. One of the ladies with me had something for her about the love of God and in a few minutes, she’s literally in a heap on the stairs, weeping under the presence of God. On and on it went that night, I believe we prophesied over about 12 people, all of them visibly shaken by what the Lord was giving us, and the accuracy of what the Lord was giving us was startling. The Lord showed us what people did for a living, what relationships in their homes were like… On and on it went, all night long. 3 people gave their lives to Jesus and a dozen were shaken to the core.


PROPHETIC POWER!
More and more I’m convinced that the prophetic gifts are one of the most powerful weapons in the Christian’s arsenal. Jesus used them with unbelievers and so can we. Remember the story of the woman at the well?

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me to drink. John 4:7

Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. John 4:17-18

Jesus, talking to a complete stranger, starts telling her things about her life that there is no way He could have done in the natural. He gives her some very clear details about her life, namely that she is living with a man outside of marriage and that she has had five husbands in her past. Jesus received this as revelation from God the Father, through the Holy Ghost. Just look at the result from Jesus telling her details about her life.

The woman then left her water pot and went into the city and said to the men, Come see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Is this One not the Christ? And they went out of the city and came to Him. John 4:28-30

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed upon Him because of the saying of the woman, who testified, He told me all that I ever did. John 4:39

Many in a city come out and believe on Jesus… why? Because Jesus received a word of knowledge. Her testimony spread like wildfire throughout the city and the hearts of many unbelievers were unlocked to receive the gospel through her testimony of what Jesus said to her. Over and over we have seen the same scene play out, the Lord will show us some stuff for an individual and many times they will go and get their friends and family members, bring them to us and basically say, “Do them”. I believe that we have led more people to the Lord through prophetic evangelism than any other means, by far.

Next time, I’ll tell you about Sona, who gave her life to Jesus that night.

Come on Jesus!

Urban Missionary Training - High School/College INTENSIVE - 6 Fridays, Sept. 28th - Nov. 2nd

We've got something coming up in the next few weeks that I am very excited about. For the last sever years we have been going out and preaching the Gospel with power at local hangouts and High School sporting events. This year, we're going to take people with us and show them the ropes" of how to start a revival in public!

Here's some info:




The Urban Missionary Training - High School/College Intensive is a six (6) week training module taking place on Friday evenings that will take High School and College age students from a timid, "defense" oriented Christian to a passionate and empowered "offense" minded believer, equipped with the tools and experience to affect their high school or college campus for the Kingdom of God!

All participants will not only receive training in the miracle ministry of Jesus, but each week, we will actually take you with us as we invade public high school and college campuses with the gospel of the Kingdom of God! You will see with your very own eyes miracles happening on high school and college campuses, kids giving their lives to the Lord and the kingdom of God coming with power!

Click here for more information.

It Happened Last Night

Last night, I had one of those moments of clarity that sharply brought into focus the “why” of what I do. It was one of those poignant moments that make what is worthwhile incredibly clear and what is worthless terribly dim. It’s moments like these that rekindle the passion in your heart as you watch Jesus do what He loves to do. It was so simple, yet so profound. God @ Work. Driving home, I was so touched by God’s goodness that I called everyone I could think of just to tell them what had happened. It wasn’t something spectacular, like a blind person seeing or lame person walking, but for whatever reason, it rocked me to the core more than any of those things.

ON AN ERRAND
Yesterday, my Dad spoke with his hairdresser about her Mom. Her Mom had been through several rounds of chemotherapy and was declared to be in remission from three different types of cancer. My Dad had prayed for her previously and she had received some good reports. Recently they found spots on her brain that they believe to be active cancer and she is gearing up for another round of chemo. We got permission from the hairdresser and her mom to stop by and pray for her before her next appointment with the doctor. At the church we had five different teams going to five different places in the community. I took Stephanie with me and off we went to find and pray for the lady with brain cancer.

We found the place pretty quickly and were invited inside to pray for her. She was obviously in a rush and almost before we got there she was asking us to leave. We quickly gave her some scriptures about “On earth as it is in Heaven…” and encouraged her that cancer is not from God, but from the enemy! She was with us, believing God for a miracle. We prayed for her. Nothing spectacular, just commanding the cancer to leave by the blood of Jesus. We felt the presence of God, but nothing over the top. We quickly wrapped our prayer and walked out the door.

It went by so quickly that we had more than an hour of daylight left by the time we left her house. I had one of those quick decision moments: do we head back to the church and call it a night? Or do we drive to the other side of town and hit a neighborhood for only 20-30 minutes? You see, this stuff is now a lifestyle, we do it all the time. To have an early night would be great. I’d get to see my kids before bed and have dinner with my wife, etc. But what would we be missing? I quickly chewed it over until I got to the end of the street. Decision time. Take a right and head back to the church? We’d be back around 8:00pm instead of our normal 8:30pm… Or take a left and preach?

We took a left.

THOMAS
We headed into the lower rent district of Marietta where our work is now centered. I had scouted several new neighborhoods and we drove though them quickly to determine where to go. After ruling two out (mainly Spanish speaking) we found a place that looked promising. We got out of the car and immediately were being suspiciously watched by the tenants through windows and doorways. This is one of those horrible, run down places where people are paying the cheapest rent, yet in front of one house is a $75,000 BMW. How does that work? D R U G S.

So we are no more than 30 steps out of the car and we see a shorter Latino man just kind of walking around the common area. I spot him because he has a VERY swollen cheek and that presents an opportunity to see God do the miraculous! Stephanie and I walked up to him and said hi. He was very friendly and greeted us warmly. I told him, “I’m here to tell you that Jesus is King and His Kingdom is here on the earth. And we are looking for opportunities to prove it.” I asked him what he thought about that and he was like, “Sure man, yeah, Jesus is great”. Very typical what we hear in the south. EVERYONE is a “Christian” around here. Yet not everyone has made Jesus their King and Lord and lives a laid down life of service to Him!

I pressed him, asking if there was anything we could pray for to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom. He told us that he was fine, etc. I asked him point blank about his swollen cheek and he told me that he was born with it, like it was a birthmark or something. He said it didn’t hurt and actually seemed quite proud of it. Quickly I’m seeing that healing won’t be the doorway to his heart and I silently begin to ask God to show us something that will get his attention.

The daylight was fading and the apartment started to buzz a little, people were milling all around us. I stalled for a minute, asking him if he lived here, etc. but all the time I was listening, “Lord, what do you have to say to this guy?” In my spirit I saw a quick picture of a spider’s web. In the past when the Lord has shown me a spider’s web, He’s given me some understanding about what it means. We call it our personal prophetic “language” that God begins to develop with us as we start to listen to His voice. The Lord speaks many times with pictures for a very simple reason. It’s been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Well, that’s true! When God wants to speak something, many times He will simply show us a picture. In the picture, there are many “words” to speak to others!

So, in my personal experience, when the Lord shows me a spider’s web, what He’s saying is that this person is trapped in a “web” of circumstances, decisions and addictions and they are very close to being devoured by them, much like the spider devours its prey once they become trapped in the web. So I began to share the meaning of what I had seen. You could tell instantly that it had impact. This gentleman, Thomas, was absolutely trapped and was close to being devoured by his decisions, addictions, etc. he started saying, “This is amazing, this is incredible!”

We had his attention.

Stephanie spoke up and gave him a very simple word that God wanted to restore a broken relationship with his daughter. He froze, mid-sentence and said icily, “How did you know that?!” We explained that God knows everything and He was showing us these things to get his attention and that he would listen. As it turns out, Thomas does not have a blood daughter, but has a very close friendship with a 13 year old family friend whom he calls his daughter. He started weeping and sobbing. In a moment we went from simply having his attention to unlocking his heart. He was heaving and sobbing almost uncontrollably. We told him of the love and kindness of God that draws him to repentance and he readily accepted everything we had to say. He was convicted and convinced in just a few minutes. The secrets of his heart were laid bare and he literally began to worship saying, “Thank you God, thank you Jesus!”

We led him to Jesus, barely ten minutes after we met him. The presence of God was so strong in that moment! This guy got BORN AGAIN. You could literally see the transformation from darkness to light! His face brightened and his eyes shone! He was trembling all over his body with the presence of God and started to just exude joy. We prayed for the presence of God to increase and honestly, I thought that he might pass out; he was so happy and full of the life of God! He invited us back to check on him and showed us where he lives. I gave him an anointed hanky to keep as a reminder and instructed him to call on the presence of God whenever, wherever. Walking away, Stephanie and I were totally blown away at how awesome God is!

Barely 10 minutes after leaving him, he called me just to thank us. His literal words were, “Thank you SO much for coming…This is amazing! Thank you for Jesus!”

Thank you for JESUS… Nothing in the world makes me as happy as hearing that.

From Gangster To Godly

For the last few months we have been sending teams into “The Hood”. These areas are mainly section 8 housing, or low rent apartments where crime, addiction and sin thrive. It’s not unusual in these communities for people to get shot, cars to get stolen, houses get broken into and to have almost daily police interventions. We started going there when it became obvious that much of our message was being trodden underfoot in the trailer parks that we have spent the last several years evangelizing. We went looking for the primarily English speaking poor in our community and found these “honey holes” as I call them for bringing the Kingdom of God. The response has been tremendous. MANY have met the Lord, MANY have been healed and disciples are being made. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING HERE?
One of the most exciting things for me is to transcend cultural “limitations” as our teams, who are mostly white middle class invade predominantly poor black neighborhoods. The reactions upon us entering a neighborhood have run the gamut from total shock to anger. Already this year, we have been threatened with being shot, threatened to get beat up and had a bunch of folks attempting to intimidate us and shut us down. That is, until we get the opportunity to preach the Gospel and demonstrate the power of the Kingdom. I’ve been told for years by the theorists and philosophizers of evangelism that you have to “relate” with folks in order to have the “equity” with them to preach and share your faith.

Hogwash.

What in God’s name do I, a middle class, lily-white, churchgoing gospel preacher have in common with a poor, black, crack-addicted alcoholic? The answer? Nothing. But does that preclude me from preaching the gospel to them? No way! I am commanded in the Bible to preach the Gospel to ALL CREATION. Not just the ones that I have things in common with, EVERYONE! If I take a powerless, American gospel to them that is based more on my personality or some program then I will HAVE to have something in common with them just to open the door. But when you walk into unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar people and cultures that you are clueless about armed with the Gospel of the Kingdom and a demonstration of God’s power, you’re fine!

AN EXAMPLE
A couple of weeks ago, I was with a small team in a nearby low-rent neighborhood. I’m with my buddy Tommy, and he takes me a few buildings down from his house to preach to a few guys that are known for getting into some trouble. These guys are just flat out thugs, living out every rap stereotype I’ve ever heard. Smoking blunts, drinking 40’s and doing their best to get rich! They were standing by a car with the music blaring and they were practicing freestyle rap to the beats playing over the stereo. It was actually very cool, these guys had talent! They could pick up on a theme and just spit out these incredible rhymes (laced with obscenity of course) effortlessly.

While they were rapping away I was asking the Lord to show me something about them to get their attention. One of the guys had a full wrist and forearm soft cast, wrapped up real tight. I started by asking him what was wrong with his arm and he told me that he had just broken a couple bones. I asked him if he had any pain and he just blew me off. Undeterred, I started in on his friend by telling him, “Hey, sometimes, God shows me stuff for people and I believe the Lord is showing me something for you, do you want to hear it?” He was like, “Sure man, cut loose!” I could tell he was high AND drunk. It would take a miracle just to get him to pay attention and listen through his cannabis and alcohol induced haze. So I told him, “First things first, I’ve got to tell you that Jesus is King and His Kingdom is here on the earth. You’re going to have to change the way you think (repent) just to see it.” He showed his annoyance at once, who do I think I am, talking to him like this?

Then I started in to what the Lord showed me. When he was rapping with his buddy, I was asking the Lord to show me something and in my mind, I kept seeing him playing a keyboard, picking out melodies and working with beats. So I told him, “Right now, you’re sitting here rapping with your buddy, but I think that your real talent and where the gifting is at is in writing and working out melodies on the keyboard. I also see you programming beats into a keyboard. Let others do the rapping, you should spend time working out melodies and beats.” He went silent and still, no longer screwing around and acting like an idiot. Then what we call “automatic mouth” started. It’s when you start to prophesy with a little bit of information and then God just takes over and you’re talking to them, telling them all sorts of stuff about themselves.

I told him, “On one side of your family there’s this Rastafarian thing going on and the other side, it’s Islam. You have never been able to get into either religion and it’s because you have never had the anger that your family has. You’ve always been at peace with the world and never gotten real angry, but your family doesn’t understand this and has been aggressively trying to get you into Islam and Rastafarianism.”

PROOF
He was shocked. Instantly I commanded both of their attention. They both knew each other pretty well and apparently what I had told him was spot on. I used the opportunity to preach the Gospel to both of them and began telling them that Jesus knows everything about them and that He was revealing these things to get their attention. Now they needed to listen to me! I told them Jesus was King and they needed to serve Him. I told them about the Kingdom of God and how it’s a Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. I told them about miracles and the power of God. We confronted their spiritual apathy and in a few short minutes, both of these guys were confessing their sins to us. The guy with the brace opened up and told us that he had just broken a couple of bones in his hand and wrist when had put his fist through a car window in a fit of rage. We wanted healing for the wrist and deliverance from the anger.

We prayed for his wrist and he took off the brace. Instantly, much of the pain left and he began to open and close his hand, marveling at what God was doing. It wasn’t quite a 100%, even after we prayed several times, but he was grateful just the same. We prophesied that it would be 100% by the time he woke up in the morning. By the time we were through with them, both of these guys were rocked by a demonstration of the power of God to them and prayed with us, committing their lives to the Lord.

The next day, my buddy in that neighborhood saw the guy with the brace from the day before and he wasn't wearing the brace! He talked to him and when he woke up that morning, he discovered that all pain and immobility had left his wrist and forearm! He was 100% and took off the brace, never to put it on again. Within the week, he was picked up by the police for something he had done a few weeks before and spent a few days in jail. This proved to be the best thing in the world for him as he saw it as a sign from God to get his life in order. Between the prophetic words we spoke over him, his wrist being healed and being picked up by the cops, he was broken! The very next Sunday, he showed up at my buddy Tommy’s church and has been going faithfully since, pursuing God.

The most relevant thing in the world, to every culture and to every demographic is the love and power of God revealed in the Gospel of the Kingdom!

UMT Summer Boot Camp - WEEKEND REPORT

WOW! What an amazing weekend! The Lord really showed off and did some spectacular things over the last few days. We saw a ton of POWERFUL miracles and about 20 people met the Lord this weekend!

For the evening meetings we had the band Living Anthem, an amazing praise and worship crew from Bremen, Georgia. These really are more than rockers; they’ve had an authentic encounter with the Lord that’s released an awesome anointing on their music.

We were so blessed to have Surprise Sithole from Iris Ministries with us. Suprise is a true Apostle overseeing 7,000 churches, representing more than 1,000,000 believers in Africa alone! With more responsibility than any other minister I have ever met, Suprise has more joy and is the happiest person I have ever been around! That alone was worth the price of admission (free), but we got a lot more too. The simplicity of his message, his lifestyle of exuberant joy and passionate love for God, along with the power of the Holy Spirit released during the ministry times, we were blessed! Most every ministry time ended with the people running to the altar and throwing themselves on the ground, worshipping and crying out for more of Jesus!

Most all of our plans for the weekend were changed as the time for equipping workshops was set aside for time in a Holy Ghost “dog pile”. Just a mass of people on their face, worshipping, repenting and crying out to Jesus, asking for MORE! We did however get to go out in groups two times, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The results were fantastic! Each day, more than 70 people went out, preaching the Gospel to the poor, healing the sick and casting out devils. It was just like in Luke 10:

"And after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, And He sent them two and two before His face into every city and place where He was about to come." Luke 10:1

"And heal the sick that are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near you!" Luke 10:9

"And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your name. And He said to them, I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning. Behold, I give to you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the authority of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. Yet do not rejoice in this, that the evil spirits are subject to you, rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven." Luke 10:17-20

So the teams went out to preach the Gospel and heal the sick and they did! When everyone returned on Sunday evening to tell the testimonies of what the Lord had done, we were blown away!

Here are some of the testimonies:


LUNGS HEALED, CRIPPLE WALKS!
One of the teams encountered a woman in her thirties in a wheelchair, being pushed by two other people. They found out after asking that she had a severe lung disease that hardened her lung tissue and restricted her breathing. Her shallow, labored breathing meant that she could only take a few steps without becoming fatigued and out of breath. She had the team examine her and they could actually feel the hardened lung tissue underneath her ribs, poking out and restricting her air flow. The doctors gave her only a few months to live with the degenerative nature of the disease.

One of the young men on the team asked if the team could pray for her telling her that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. He then prophesied that her lung tissue would soften, shrink and she would be able to breathe. As they prayed, exactly what they had prophesied began to happen! Under their hands, the lung tissue softened and shrank. They told her to try and breathe deeply and she took deep, cleansing breaths! They then commanded her to get up out of the wheelchair and walk and she did! Instead of taking a few steps and being tired, she took many steps without fatigue! She was praising God and they sent her home without need for the wheel chair!


TWIN BLIND EYES OPENED!
This is a weird testimony. Two teams, in two different locations ran into older women with the same conditions in the same parts of their body! Both had severe diabetes and both had severe vision loss. Both of these ladies (two different women, living in neighborhoods ten miles from each other) had blind left eyes with extremely blurry vision in their right eyes. Both women were confronted with the Kingdom and very receptive to the power of God. Both women were saved and “waiting on their miracle”. They had both received instruction in the things of God, but were not told that the power of God and the Kingdom of God is ON THE EARTH and AT HAND!

As the team prayed for each of them, their blind left eyes were opened and they both began to see out of them, one about 50% vision and the other 100%. In both of them, the blurriness in the right eyes instantly dissolved! They were thanking and praising God for the miracles they had received in the name of Jesus!


THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING LEG!
One team encountered a woman with severe rheumatoid arthritis. She could not speak English, but was communicating through her daughter and granddaughter. The team told them about the Kingdom of God being on the earth today and to offer proof asked if they could pray for her healing. She had pain and severe swelling in her legs, calf and ankles. She was wearing calf high socks that were tight due to the swelling caused by her arthritic condition. The team offered prayer for her, commanding the arthritis to go. After they prayed, one of the team members was giving a word to daughter when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the leg was shrinking! The other team members witnessed the leg shrinking dramatically before their eyes! The lady, although she couldn’t speak English was shocked and began to make hand motions indicating that the leg was shrinking. The once tight socks now became loose and started to slide off of her now much smaller leg! The pain left her and she went on her way praising God!


IN CLOSING
These are just a few of the MANY testimonies of healings and miracles that took place out in the street, in the projects and in local stores. I’ll tell more in the next update. The list is long and includes pain dissolving, lupus being healed, paralysis being destroyed, prophetic words of knowledge unlocking sinner’s hearts and almost two dozen people meeting the Lord! Many were released into powerful Kingdom ministry and we’re already preparing for the next equipping and releasing events. One that I am especially excited about is the following:


UMT – Youth Track (Ages 13-19)
This is a track we are very excited about that will take place in the fall. It will be a 6 – 8 week program that will equip, train and release young people in Junior High and High School to view their schools as mission fields for the Kingdom of God. We will have intense worship, powerful teaching and ministry and weekly invasions of local high school football games so that everyone involved can see the power of God moving on high school campuses and among high school and college age kids.

Stay tuned!

Blessings,
Ryan

You Know What You Call That, Don’t You?

We’re very excited, tonight is the start of our Urban Missionary Training, Summer Boot Camp. We have Surprise Sithole from Iris Ministries in Africa here with us and we’re looking forward to getting people activated into powerful Kingdom ministry. You’ll hear me talk a lot more about that in the near future, but I had a dream from the Lord where we were commissioned to train, equip and release “Urban Missionaries”. Urban meaning, “city dwellers” and missionaries meaning, people on a mission (or the Great Commission). This is what we are and this is what we’ve been doing for the last several years and now we’re getting language for it!

STUDENTS FROM MORNINGSTAR
A couple of weeks ago we had several students from the Morningstar School of Ministry in town on their faith course. The faith course at Morningstar is basically a week where students are given two pages of supernatural assignments that they have to complete for their final grade. The course is designed to get students out of their “norm” and into accomplishing supernatural feats through the faith and the power of God! There is stuff on there like doing kind acts for strangers and also stuff like healings, miracles and leading people to Jesus.

Several of the students remembered us from our Trip to Morningstar last October so on their way down to Atlanta, they looked us up through the Morningstar Fellowship of Ministries directory. I got an email on Monday night telling me that they were on their way down and I returned the call Tuesday. I asked how we could help and one of the students, Jonathan explained to me a little about the faith course, asking if they could come out on outreach with us.

Fast forward to Wednesday and we meet up with the guys. There is a team of three girls and another team of two guys in town. The guys meet up with me on Wednesday afternoon and we head out into “the hood”. We get out of the car and start banging on a couple of doors. A few minutes later we spot a group of people sitting out on their front steps and drinking. We walk up to them and one of the ladies there gets very nervous and just blurts out, “Are you the police?!” “Do I look like a police officer?” I said. “I don’t know, but it’s not every day three big white boys go walking in the neighborhood!” So I started to explain to them that we’re here to preach the Gospel and demonstrate it through the power of God. We get talking to them and a few minutes later, the vocal woman gets up and says, “I’m going to get my husband!” I was concerned; I really didn’t know her intentions at all. A few minutes later, she comes out of her house with her husband and he starts asking us questions.

Immediately, we start prophesying to the guy, telling him what the Lord is showing us about his life. We were telling him that he is really a true disciple and walks with the Lord, yet few know about it, we’re also telling him that he has a pastoral and teaching gift, etc. etc. etc. He takes us off the steps, ushers us into his house and asks for more. The next 45 minutes are spent prophesying and encouraging this man in his calling and purpose. As it turns out, he’s a relatively new believer that has been isolated and discouraged. He knows the Lord but his wife doesn’t. She drinks heavily and uses drugs and this guy has been holding the fort for the last couple of years without any encouragement! We were just what he needed. In fact, in the last few weeks since this happened I have been meeting with him most every week and we now have a little house church in that neighborhood!

We ended up at the church later that night and we met up with the team of girls. Over dinner, the guys are breathlessly telling the girls how awesome things were that evening and I told them, “You know what you call that, don’t you?” “Call what?” they said. “What we did today” I replied. They were sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for some deep answer and I let them wonder for a few seconds… “Wednesday” I told them. “Huh?!” They were confused. “Wednesday happens every week and comes around every seven days. It’s normal to be used of God in that way among the lost and dying, hence the name Wednesday.” They got it. It was normal to “do the stuff”.

THURSDAY
So the next day they had a laundry list of stuff that they had to accomplish. I asked them “So what’s left on your list? Give me the most intimidating thing you have to accomplish on there”. “Well, one of the big things on here is to have a public healing and miracle service and advertise it creatively” they told me. “No problem, I know just the place” I confidently said. I was going to take them down to Grady Hospital where lots of sick people hang out, a great place to do a public miracle service. Before we left I asked them what their ideas were for advertising creatively. The only thing they could come up with was writing “Free Prayer” or something like that on poster boards. I told them, “That’s just lame; you can do better than that”. “What did you have in mind” they asked. “Well, why don’t you do it like Jesus did? How did Jesus advertise his healing and miracle ministry?” I asked them. “He didn’t” they said. “Wrong. He sure did.” and then I gave them this scripture:

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria.” Matthew 4:23, 24

I told them, “The best advertisement for healings and miracles is healings and miracles! If you want to draw a crowd, get people healed!” They looked at me very skeptically. “I’ll show you” I told them.

So we arrive down at Grady Hospital in downtown Atlanta and it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to spot some very sick and injured people. We find s guy down there with a swollen, nasty ankle sitting on a bench. I asked him what’s going on with his ankle and he told us that he was held down and beat with a baseball bat. He said that they wanted to put him in a cast because the ankle is fractured, but he wouldn’t let them. He couldn’t put any weight on it whatsoever without excruciating pain and walked out of the hospital with a single crutch, waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up. I had three of the kids from Morningstar with me and I told the guys about the Kingdom of God, that there are no crutches and lameness in Heaven. I told him that if heaven touched his ankle, he would be pain free and healed. He allowed us to pray for him and as we prayed, he said that he didn’t feel anything. I then told him the story how I was instantly healed of a broken ankle a few years ago. I told him that when I was prayed for, all pain left the ankle and I stamped my foot on the ground, pain free!

You could literally see the faith spring up in his eyes! His face lit up and he hoped off the bench and tapped his foot to the ground. As he did, this CRAZY look came over his face and he began to stamp his foot and busted ankle on the ground. “No pain!” he said. He then began walking up and down the sidewalk, putting all his weight on the foot. He then jumped on it and hollered a bit saying, “NO PAIN!” I turned around to the 10-15 people surrounding us and said, “Jesus healed this guy’s ankle!” On cue, the people surrounding us LINE UP and start asking us for healing prayer. All of a sudden, everyone in the group is praying for healings and miracles on the street. I tap Jonathan on the shoulder and tell him, “You’re having your public healing and miracle service right now. And the guy with the healed ankle was your creative advertising!” The kids look at me and grin sheepishly.

“Oh yeah, you know what you call this, don’t you?” I said.

Thursday.

An Amazing Update On Edouard

Edouard, our friend and Pastor in the Congo has had some amazing things happening to him. Some of them frightening and some of them supernatural. God is with this guy. Every time I hear back from the Congo, it’s like reading a chapter from the book of Acts.

Here’s the latest:

SOME BACKGROUND
Since we returned from the Congo, Edouard and the church have been under INTENSE persecution. We’re not talking about people slandering them behind their backs; we’re talking about life and death situations. When we were there in March, witch doctors cursed the child and his 3 ½ month old baby son died from pneumonia. His wife’s family was enraged and tried to kill us and ended up destroying Edouard’s church and his wife has yet to return to him.

After this his wife, embittered by the loss of their son in March, tried to have Edouard arrested for all kinds of bizarre reasons, making up and fabricating lies about him. So far she has accused him of being involved in witchcraft and human body smuggling on the black market. Edouard was taken into custody and spent a night and a day in jail awaiting a hearing on those charges, but it all came to nothing, he’s blameless.

We just found out that after the legal action did not work Edouard’s wife and her family hired witch doctors to curse and kill Edouard. They threw the kitchen sink at him with their witchcraft, yet nothing happened! This is actually very unusual in Africa. The witch doctors there are very powerful in demonic power and when they curse you, you get sick and die. But not if you are protected by the Holy Spirit like Edouard! When witchcraft didn’t work they poisoned his food in an attempt to kill him. For some reason, Edouard was not hungry and didn’t eat the meal that they poisoned (also very unusual in Africa), so that attack didn’t work. The witch doctors reported to Edouard’s wife that there is nothing more they can do.

This is where it gets really interesting.

ASSASSINS
Finally, when the legal and spiritual attacks on Edouard failed, Edouard’s wife resorted to hiring 5, count them, 5 assassins to not hurt, but KILL Edouard. The first of the five assassins was sent to find and locate Edouard so that the rest could come and kill him. He found Edouard ministering to some at his church. After listening Edouard preach and minister he came up afterwards and told Edouard, “I have something to tell you”. Edouard listened as the man confessed that he was an assassin sent to locate and then kill him. He then remarked, “But you are a man of God and I cannot kill a man of God”. Edouard talked with the man and got the story about the other assassins, as well as the witch doctors and poisoning attempt. This assassin, a professional killer was so impacted by Edouard’s story and his life that Edouard ended up LEADING HIM TO THE LORD!

Not only that, but with the money we have raised for Edouard this month, this (former) assassin stayed with the church and yesterday was helping them rebuild their church facility! Edouard not only was not killed by this guy, but he led him to the Lord, added him to the church and this guy is now serving in the church!!!

Unbelievable.

But the drama is not yet complete. There are still 4 assassins out there with the commission to kill Edouard. Pray for his protection and the unraveling of this plot. Also pray that his wife would quickly repent of her wicked actions.

Edouard’s family and church have surrounded him, coming to his aide. They have raised the money to pay the police (the only way to get the police to do anything in Congo) and the police have opened an investigation into the assassination plot. With the information given to them by the fifth assassin, they believe that they will be able to catch the other four men and arrest them.

Keep praying.


SUPPORT THE CONGO!
Also, if you have been moved by Edouard’s story and want to join us in supporting him, please follow this link to make a secure, one-time donation.

http://www.ngca.org/congo.htm


Blessings,
Ryan