Praying over a city

Christy and myself believe that prayer and worship is a very important part of outreach. We believe that prayer or intercession allows us to understand God’s heart for a place, the people who live there and what it would be like for his kingdom to move in a place.

So during the recent outreach that we lead to the south of Spain we made sure we included this regularly in our time. On one of these occasions we felt that we should climb the mountain over looking the city in which we were ministering and spend time worshiping God and praying over the place. It was a beautiful day and we set of fairly early to get to the top.

It was a pretty amazing time, with all our prayers focusing on identity and freedom, and that Jesus would be know by the people. As we came back down it felt like we had done something very significant and special. Our time doing this helped us to see what God was doing in this part of Southern Spain, which helped us to better engage with the people we were talking with every day.

Welcome visitor

We arrived at Church on the last Sunday of our recent outreach to find a man in a florescent jacket waiting outside to come in. I got to sit and have a chat with him, he was not a Christian, and had lost his wife to cancer about 3 months earlier, she was a Christian. He was walking from the Isle of White to Herne Bay and it was his birthday on the Monday so wanted to come somewhere he knew he could be with people and also to honour his wife’s memory.

As we talked he told me that he was probably very close to becoming a Christian, inviting Jesus into his life, but he had one question in scripture that was confusing him. The question he had was why and what did Jesus write in the sand. So we talked about it and I showed him a passage in Daniel where God writes on the wall of the palace. After we had talked for about 15 minutes he said to me thank you, I have no more questions.

At the end of the service the church leader felt he should ask if anyone want to give their lives to Jesus and The guy I had been talking with stood up and invited Jesus into his life. The change in him was amazing; as he left he seemed to have a fresh hope, he walked out of the door lighter. It was great to see God touch his life in a really significant way, it really made my day to be able to talk with him and be apart of his journey.

God is faithful to heal

Last month we got to experience God fulfil a promise that we felt God give us several years ago, and we are so thankful. Christy has been unable to tolerate wheat/gluten all her life, when she eats it she experiences a lot of pain.

While we were leading a team on outreach between December and February to Spain we spent some time praying for healing for each other. Christy and I have been praying for the last few years for healing in her digestion based on a promise we felt God give to us. While we were praying as a team she felt a shift in her stomach area and then she felt God say I have given you new intestines, now you can eat Pizza! Pizza is one of Christy’s favourite foods. The next day we went to get pizza together and to step out in faith that God really has done something.

So we enjoyed pizza together, normally Christy would start to hurt about an hour after eating. She had no pain, and has not had any pain since; we have been able to enjoy Pasta, bread, doughnuts etc. It has opened up a whole world of food for us.

It has both humbled us and caused us to rejoice in the promises and faithfulness of God. God is truly amazing, and we are so excited to see what else God is going to do, it is an amazing adventure.

A Special New Year

While we were on outreach in Spain Christy and I had the privilege of being able to baptize one of our team members, Nina.

It was the first time either of us had been asked to baptize anyone so we were very excited. After we had talked about when and where we decided that what better way for her start her year but with a public declaration of faith.  As we were staying on the coast of the Mediterranean we thought it would be fun to do this in the ocean.

New years day was sunny and warm, one of the best that the local pastors have ever experienced. We headed down to the beach and spent some time worshiping and hearing Nina’s story of coming to faith, before heading into the ocean.

It was a really special day, and being able to share it with the church we were working with made it even better. It was very encouraging for all involved. To hear how she came to know God and what He has done in her life is really inspiring. It makes doing what we do worth every moment, seeking after God and seeing him changes lives for the better.

DTS Outreach 2013

Christy and myself have just returned from leading a DTS outreach (Discipleship Training School Outreach) to Malaga and Sevilla in Spain and Brighton in the UK. We spent about two months travelling and working with different churches and ministries in these different cities with a team of 10 people from 7 different nations. The DTS is a 6-month teaching and practical missions course that YWAM (Youth With A Mission) run. It helps to give young people a good understanding in what it means to live a life for Jesus and how and why to share this with others.

The group we took grew so much in their love for God and passion to see others healed and come to know God. When I look back over the time we get to spend with all the trainees it always blows me away how much God does in each and every one, including myself, and how what God does propels us all to want to go and share this amazing gift with others.

The team got to share with and pray with so many people. We saw God heal people from simple sports injuries to food allergies up to things like arthritis and mental disorders. We also got to be apart of over a dozen people getting to meet Jesus properly for the first time. The change in those individuals was incredible, the Joy and lightness with which they walked afterwards.

I have been involved with this now for the last few years and there is nothing I would rather be doing, getting to be apart of Jesus transforming lives and restoring people to wholeness. It is such a special gift.

God at Work

I really love when you see God at work in people’s lives. This is what happened when a small group of us spent some time in Brighton last Friday talking with people on the streets about Jesus. It was a really encouraging time, with many people willing to stop and talk to us about what they think and believe.

My favorite conversation was with a guy who was feeling quite depressed when I first starting talking to him. We got to talk about the difference that knowing Jesus makes in our lives. It was a really great conversation. At the end of it I got to pray with him and see Jesus touch his life. We then walked down the street together continuing to talk and we noticed a guy who was leaning against a bin having severe chest pains. A shop security guard was seeing him to and they were waiting for an ambulance. The guy I had been talking to and praying with immediately said this guy needs prayer and went straight up to the people seeing to him and asked if he could pray for the man. They let him and so he prayed for the guy. By the time the ambulance arrived the man who was in pain was doing much better.

It is amazing when God touches one life how it just spreads. This guy challenged me in my faith, his boldness and conviction that if he prayed it would make a difference, just as it had made a difference to his.

God is really amazing.

A weekend out

Christy and I had the pleasure of taking a group from the current Discipleship Training School (DTS) for a weekend of outreach with a church in Brighton. We headed down on the Friday and returned late on the Sunday. We started by spending the Friday evening prayer walking around the centre of Brighton, as this is what we felt God asked us to start with. The Saturday was then spent in the same area talking to people about Jesus and praying with people. Then we had a time of worship in the evening. The Sunday was spent helping to prepare and lead the service in the church we worked with.

It was a really significant time for all involved; everyone had to step out of their comfort zones. We got to have quite a number of significant conversations with people, as well as a number of very short ones. A good number of people wanted prayer after we had had conversations with them. One of the people we got to talk to started by saying that “He was not the right person to talk to, he was not interested”, the conversation ended up being about 30 minutes and he gave us his phone number and asked to be called later after he had finished work to talk more.

The last person I got to chat with was a guy from Majorca, it was a shorter conversation than some of others in the day, but it was a very significant one. I really felt that God simply wanted him to know the depth of Love that He has for him. When I shared this with him tears started to well up in his eyes, I did not get to have much more time with him as the person he had been waiting for arrived and they needed to go. It showed me how much just sharing the love of God can mean to people.

Our time of worship in the evening was probably one of the deepest times we have had so far during this school. God seemed much more real to everyone that evening. When you have been out speaking to others about Jesus and what he has done in our lives, when you come back to a place of worship after this, it helps to focus the reason for worshiping, and the depth you go to with God.

Everyone who came grew so much and really enjoyed their time. It certainly challenged them to step out and talk to people about Jesus, but it is something that we all need to become confident to do to see the kingdom of God grow.