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Back in the South 2010!
So I haven’t written in a while so this is long overdue and I do not know how I will fit everything that has been going on in one post…so I will try to make a long story short-er. :)
After having the most incredible experience staffing in Kona I came back to South Carolina and hit the ground running! To my delight there were several “Kingdom” ministries I could jump right into!
I got to be a part of the 24 hours straight launch of AHOP (Anderson House of Prayer). My brother in law Jed Aho and his friend Matt Beasley had the vision to start AHOP and the welcomed me in to helping start it. So as the launch date neared we all prayed and had huge expectation for the first weekend of Ahop…and we were not disappointed! God went above and beyond what we could have hoped for! I remember seeing the Spirit tangibly move in waves over that 24 hours (minus some when I slept). There were moves where everyone was laughing…then where lots of people were crying…then where everyone was dancing. People were healed, and set free; lives were changed in that weekend.
The prayer house is still going strong! We have prayer sets Monday and Wednesday, and eventually will have them 5 days a week. A couple others and me lead the prayer set on Wed. nights and we pray for Israel. Hollywood, and South Carolina. It has been a powerful time and the Spirit led us on what to do and what to pray. We also have a Saturday renewal service and it’s pretty hard to explain because every Saturday is powerful but completely different than the last. The best way I can explain Saturdays is we don’t plan it we just say Holy Spirit have your way, and we ask that anyone that feels or hears anything from God to feel free to share. Every week hungry people show up and are filled. God shows off every time. :)
I have also been a part of different homeless ministries in Greenville but feel like I am to be a consistent part of one in particular through my Church. What they do is go to the homeless in Greenville, where they live (under bridges, etc) and bring food to them, pray for them, hang out with them. I went out with this particular homeless ministry once and we brought sleeping bags, jackets, socks etc to them and prayed for them. This night was one of the best nights of my life. We went to the ghetto and met people’s needs physically with things they needed to stay warm, but more importantly Spiritually by showing them Gods love, and representing the Kingdom to them.
One older man walks up to us with a cane and I grabbed Adam Westbury and then a few others joined. Before he even told us why he used a can Adam got a word of knowledge that it was his back and he said yes so I began to command his back to come into alignment and released healing from heaven into his body in Jesus name then others prayed as well and guess what? He was healed right then! We had him test it and do something he could before, and so he did and said he had no pain. He kept saying “I feel the spirit” and as he walked of (not using a cane) we yelled out Jesus, and he in response jumped up and did a heal click! A heal click! Not only did God heal Him but also He restored him to the health of a youth! Come on!
One more story about this glorious night…There was this man that was clearly drunk and acting very crazy and he didn’t make much sense as he staggered around. I asked Peter Perry to come pray with me for him, so him and I asked if we could pray for him and he said yes. I began breaking the spirit of addiction off of him and he immediately began to cry. Peter prayed for him too and this man was so ministered too he kept hugging us and thanking us. I really believe God broke his addictions right then and there as we joined with Heaven interceding for this man.
Ok I have so much more to say about what Jesus is doing in South Carolina and the people here, but I think this is long enough for now!
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The quality of your inner life is measured by how much opposition it takes to discourage you.
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Expectations. Exceeded.
It is half way through lecture phase and I can not believe how much God has done in just 6 weeks time! The students are running hard after God, and growing so much! It is actually amazing to see them transform week after week as they fall more in love with Jesus! On Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays we all are in the prayer room for 2 hours praying about different topics that are on Gods heart for the world (Abortion, Hollywood, The Church in America, Sex Trafficking and other issues), and I have also seen such transformation with the students in these prayer times! God has really been giving the students a heart of prayer and intercession, which I think has been so missing in our generation.
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”. 2 Coronicles 7:14
We are a “we want it now” generation (especially in America) and have not taken time to pray, and wait upon the Lord in a place of intercession. I know I have been guilty of this, but God has taken me to a place where I love to intercede and can not get enough of it! This past friday after the prayer room set a group of students got together and prayed for each other and for other students from other schools for 12 hours straight! I found out about it after they had been praying for about 8 hours, because I heard them literally crying out to the Lord. Some of these students had just learned about the Holy Spirit for the first time a couple weeks ago, and are already flowing in the Spiritual gifts! I jumped in for a while and they were getting spot on words for me about my life and for my future, things they did not know about me, and things I have felt God speaking to me. They were praying and hearing from God! I can’t wait to see them on outreach, they will bring the Kingdom of heaven by FORCE to the Nations!
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it”. Matthew 11:12
Every tuesday night all of us staff and the students also get to apply what we are learning about God, and about His love, by taking it to the streets of Kona. We have seen a lot of lives changed by the students simply telling people on the streets about what God has done in their lives! We have seen people healed, set free, and saved. Last tuesday night we all met up (after going out in groups of three-four for a couple hours) to shared what God had done that evening. After only a few minutes of sharing we as staff found out that the students had led four people to the Lord! YES JESUS!!!!! We are not waiting to go on outreach to tell people about Jesus, we know it is our privilege to tell people about HIM every chance we get wherever we are! NOW is the time to tell people about JESUS!
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The lady sweeping….
I have now been in Hawaii two months, and wow has it flown by! I have had full days preparing things for the DTS (discipleship training school) I will be staffing, and preparing for the students to arrive. I can’t believe the time has come, and the students arrive next Thursday! I have read the students applications, talked to many of them on the phone, and have been praying for them for 2 months. I am excited to meet them! For the first month it was just John, Jenni, and I (John and Jenni are a Godly couple that is leading the Call2All DTS I am staffing). The first month I was here, John, Jenni, and I prayed and asked God to bring in more staff…and He did!
For more info about “Call2All” please check this out- http://uofnkona.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=452&Itemid=658
We now have seven more people on staff! We have Aaron and Rhonda-they are a couple from Tacoma Washington and they have three adorable children; Carissa-is also from Tacoma, WA; Kim-she staffed Call2All last quarter so she really carries the vision of Call2All; Aaron-this is his second DTS he has staffed, Neil-he has been with YWAM for a while but this is his first time staffing, and Young Baek- he has staffed a few DTS schools, so we will all learn a lot from him. I will be telling you more about this amazing group I get to staff with in blogs to come!
So you are probably wondering about the title of my blog…. Every Tuesday night we go on community outreach into Kona. We pray and ask God to show us specific things to point us to the people He wants us to find so we can pray for them, or just talk to them. So a couple Tuesdays ago I got to go in a group with my brother Calvin (him and his wife Camille had just got back to Hawaii from their outreach) and a few other people. We prayed and I got a picture in my mind of someone sweeping. Weird I know, I thought it was too. They got a few things too and so we all went out to see what God had in store.
Calvin had a specific place he felt we were to go so we headed there first. This place was a stone wall by the ocean, back behind a shopping plaza. As we approached the area we did not see anyone, it was dark because it was about seven at night. Then I saw someone over to our right sitting on the stone wall Calvin had felt we were suppose to go to! So we started walking casually her way not wanting to scare her. As we approached her we said hello and began to chat with her.
She had a bunch of little plastic containers with her so she was probably eating her dinner. We found out her name was Lilly, but not much more because she was pretty shy. We asked her if she needed prayer for anything, but she said no. I think we all were feeling a bit defeated when all of a sudden my brother Calvin started speaking life to her. She had been very timid the whole time we were there but suddenly Calvin had her full attention. He began to tell her how much God loved her and just speaking life to her. She had her gaze fixed on Calvin hanging onto every word he said. It was amazing!
After Calvin finished I told him and the others I would catch up to them, and I stayed a bit longer to chat with Lilly. She did not open up to me much, and after a few minutes I felt it was time to go. So I set out to look for my group. I walked down toward the pier, but no luck. I was starting to get discouraged and began to ask God for direction. I felt I was supposed to turn around and head back towards where we meet at the end of our outreach. Right as I started walking back I saw a women sweeping in a shop across the street!
I darted over and walked in the shop. I began to make small talk with the women and found out her name was Jade. I noticed she had a brace on her wrist so I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she had Carpal Tunnel so she had to wear the brace when it got bad. She said she was on prescription medicine so it was not painful at the time, but when she does not have her brace or medicine, she said it was very painful. So I asked her if I could pray for her. She said yes right away! I began to speak healing to her and pray with the authority Jesus has given us. After I prayed I told her how God had showed me a picture of someone sweeping, and how it lead me to her. She was really encouraged. I want to go back and see how her wrist is doing, but I believe she will not need to take medicine anymore because Jesus healed her.
Thank you for reading! This is just one of the many ways God has shown His faithfulness and blessings here in Kona! I will be sharing many more stories in my blog entries to come! Please pray for the other staff and I, and for John and Jenni as leaders. Pray that God will give us more grace, wisdom and love, so we can pour it out onto the students that are coming! We know God has placed us in this season to disciple the students, by following Jesus together with the students.
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The Crazy Journey Begins…
Hi everyone! Thanks so much for coming to my blog website and for supporting me! Many of you know what I am up to, but for those of you who don’t let me explain………
I felt the Lord leading me to Kona Hawaii to be on staff with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) for the upcoming April quarter, so I started walking by faith and God continued to make a way for me to come here! So I arrived in Kona about two weeks ago and have jumped on board with what God is doing here! I will be staffing a school called Discipleship Training school (DTS). A DTS is a school where people of all ages come to learn more about Jesus and the purpose and plans God has for them! There are different speakers each week that come from all over the world. The speakers teach on many different topics, such as: Hearing God’s voice, The power of the Holy Spirit, and The cross & Evangelism, to name a few.
I completed my DTS in 2004 and I also took a secondary school called Introduction to Biblical Counseling in 2006. DTS radically changed my life, and I am honored to be a part of what God wants to do in the lives of the students He is sending to us! I have been working in the DTS office processing and praying over applications of potential students, and I have been in the prayer room many hours a week getting the heart for what God is doing here and all over the world! I have also been doing community outreaches here in Kona, the base is involved with several community outreaches such as; feeding the poor in the community, and going out to actually get to know and pray for locals here.
This past Tuesday night a group of us went to downtown Kona for community outreach and God moved on the streets of Kona! A few of us had played volleyball at the local sand court a few nights before and had met some nice local girls. We saw them on community outreach night and started chatting with them. Before long we were praying for them and I felt God had a very simple thing He wanted one specific girl to know, so I said to her what I felt God wanted me to say- ” God wants to show off your heart”. She immediately began to cry! I continued to minister to her what I felt God speaking through me, and she received it! When the Holy Spirit is behind what you are saying, even the simplest statements can bring healing to a heart!
After we prayed for her we found out that her friend had a fractured ankle, so we were like- “Ok lets pray for your ankle”! So three of us laid hands on her ankle and began speaking life and God’s word over her ankle. After we were finished she said she felt it pop while we were praying, and another girl that was laying hands on her ankle felt it pop! So I asked her to test it out and see of it was healed! She put all of her weight on the ankle that was just fractured minutes before, and said that she didn’t feel any pain! Yay Jesus! I knew even more after that night of seeing people healed and restored by Jesus, that this is what we as Christians are made for! We are commissioned to bring God’s Kingdom to Earth! We were made to love God and be loved! We were made to show God’s love!
So here I am in Kona, completely getting wrecked (in a good way) by Jesus and His love! I cannot wait to get back out on the streets to show His love again! Staff training starts in March, and then the students will be arriving April 8th! Please be in prayer that we will get more staff, so far its just me and my leaders- John and Jenni Gillespie. We need a few more solid staff. Let me know if you know of anyone that has completed a DTS and that you think would be a asset to us and the students that are coming! I love you guys!
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Hawaii - Day 1
So I arrived in Hawaii last night and wow is it good to be back here (I was here in 2004 and 2006 doing different schools with Youth With A Mission). I felt so welcomed last night by Jeff and Beth Reid (YWAM leaders and family friends). I met my four roommates, and also felt very welcomed by them. I got my choice of a top bunk or a bottom bunk and opted for the bottom bunk, but soon realized it was really low and I have hit my head several times already. Haha! I got to have breakfast with Joel Mattila (another family friend), and it was great to hear him tell stories of campus life! You can feel the excitement and joy in the air here! Everyone is so in love with Jesus and cant help but give His love out. As I am sitting by the library writing this, a little girl (probably around four) is walking by singing “Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down”, so good! The sounds of people worshiping in a nearby prayer room fills the air. I am going to be stopping by two different Discipleship Training Schools to hear the speakers (one of which is Jeff Reid speaking on evangelism). To be continued……..
