The Printing Press Helped Fuel the Reformation

Direct video link on YouTube

Happy Reformation Day!

Martin Luther had received a revelation of the Holy Spirit about the life-changing grace of God given through faith in Jesus Christ as he struggled his way through reading the Book of Romans. He was compelled to share this truth despite the opposition it brought.

Others in Christian history like the early Pentecostals had received a revelation of the power of the Holy Spirit and they also felt compelled to share it in spite of the opposition it brought them.

Interestingly enough, the Apostle Paul attributed his ministry to both of these important truths in Ephesians 3:7:
“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace  given me through the working of his power.” 

Indeed, it was both the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that worked so effectively through Paul in impacting the early Body of Christ. 

I was re-reading some of the history of the Pentecostal Revival in Azuza street in Los Angeles, and I noticed how those early Pentecostal pioneers were referencing Martin Luther and the suffering and persecution he endured as a pioneer in the Reformation as an encouragement to themselves in their need to persevere also. 

Natural Aids to Spread Supernatural Truth 

One of the things that helped spread the Pentecostal revival was the mailing list William Seymour compiled and made which enabled him to communicate to people all over about what the Lord was doing.

One of things that helped spread the Reformation—the Reformation itself was a foundation for later revivals—was the printing press that enabled the reformers to communicate biblical truths to others and print and spread Bibles all over.

Reformation Trail

We visited Mainz while in Germany, on our last Euro-Mission adventure. 

The Lord used the influence of our friend over there—Pastor Sarah—and redirected our steps by some unusual divine intervention. 

After ministering in Frankfurt, we made a plan to meet up with Pastor Sarah the next morning for breakfast in our hotel lobby. After we checked into the hotel and came into our room, we noticed a whimsical painting on the wall with some travel drawings and the name Sarah… wow that was unexpected and so unique… I discerned the Lord was gonna give us some kind of word or direction through her when we saw that. 

The next morning during breakfast, she said to us: “I think you guys should go on the Reformation Trail while you’re here in Germany and she brought up Mainz in the conversation.” 

Interestingly enough after that, the Lord kept using unexpected things to direct and redirect us right onto the Reformation Trail in surprising ways. 

One of the places we ended up visiting in Germany was the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz which shares about the history of the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press and movable type, which was a central feature of the perfect storm that exploded into the Reformation. 

The mass printing of Bibles and other booklets and books by the reformers made it much harder to stomp out the early embers of what became the Reformation, as the powers that be of the religious system, had done in the past with early sparks of reform and renewal. 

In the past they had burned up the translations of the Bible into English that Wycliffe and his colleagues— the Lollards—had produced and burned to death the translators as well. 

The old reflection in jest as time went on was: “things are getting better; they only burned the translations this time… not the translators!”

Wycliffe’s Bibles had to be copied by hand, which took a painstakingly long time to get done… one by one.
 

When Gutenberg invented the printing press it tipped the scales.

Even though they tried to burn up all of Tyndale’s Bibles—as I referenced in our last post on this subject—and they strangled and then burned Tyndale himself at the stake—they still couldn’t stop the influx of his Bibles because they could just be quickly re-printed… this would not have been possible before the printing press. 

The printing press became an important tool in the leap forward of the Reformation in the return to Biblical faith.

Luther’s and Tyndale’s Bibles could be quickly reprinted and distributed and thus it was not so easy to stomp out the Bibles or the movement they were fomenting.

The powers that be of the religious system lost their ability to control the narrative as the Bible could be read by everyday regular people now. Cracks began to appeared under the substitutions for the Bible that were offered by the religious system in lieu of the Living Word like the booklet “The Little Hours of Mary” that promoted the cult of the Virgin.

Interesting how access to the Bible in the people's own language furthered the return to Biblical faith that spread out from the Reformation!

This short video above briefly shares on Luther and the use of the printing press and its role in the Reformation. 

The Reformation is important as it became the platform and foundation for the birth of: Renewal Movements, Revivals, Bible Translations, Evangelism, Social Reforms, and Mission Movements, as well as many more!

We encourage you to also check out our video playlist on the Reformation.

www.graceworldmission.org
https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

500th Anniversary of Tyndale's Translation of the New Testament

Direct link: https://youtu.be/ZEAl5iOyY6c?si=PpAa86Ddi9n37aHO

2026 marks the 500-year anniversary of the publication of William Tyndale’s English Translation of the New Testament.

Tyndale was the first to translate the New Testament Scriptures into English from the original Greek.

When the British Library paid over one million dollars, some years ago, for one of the last remaining copies of a Tyndale New Testament— only 3 are known to still exist—they stated that “This is the most important book in the English language.” That is quite a statement especially with how many historical books there are!

When Tyndale published and then smuggled his New Testaments into England, it furthered a renewal of faith in Christ, which had already been ignited by the Reformation. 

The ability to read for oneself such verses as: “It is by grace you are saved through faith… it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8), opened the spiritual eyes of many that faith in Christ was what was called for, meanwhile undermining things like rituals, penance, and indulgences, which were born not of Scripture but of the religious system.

That renewal spread far and wide and his English New Testament fueled the fires of faith, causing the British Isles to become known for a time in history as “People of the Book.” 

It furthermore codified the English language into a comprehensive whole while helping spread literacy throughout England. These things made it most important, yet most dangerous.

Because of the Oxford Constitutions of 1408 that made it illegal to translate the Bible into English, Tyndale was forced to flee England and he subsequently met with Martin Luther in Germany.

Luther’s German translation was a great aid for Tyndale in finishing and then publishing his New Testament. It was from Worms, Germany where Tyndale first published his New Testament in 1526, and then had printed copies shipped and smuggled into England.

His task was most dangerous because “the powers that be” a phrase coined by Tyndale himself by the way, sought to rid the earth of him and continued to hunt him down even after he fled England. 

He was finally caught, and after being imprisoned for some time, was brought to the stake where he was strangled and then burned in a public execution in Vilvoorde, Belgium. All for his efforts to give the English the Word of God in their own language, but not before Tyndale led his jailer and the jailer’s family to Christ, as well as praying these powerfully prophetic final words as he was about to be executed, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!”

Not only was Tyndale burned, but his New Testaments were bought up and burned by Tunstall, the Bishop of London, in his fanatical quest to stop the spread of the Word of God and the Reformation.

The Bible, according to “the powers that be,” must be kept in Latin. Since hardly anyone except a few elites knew Latin, the few elites of the cloth could  interpret it and stay in control.

The New Testament in the language of the people undermined their money-making schemes: From selling indulgences, which is paying for forgiveness and reduced time in Purgatory, to things like the adoration of relics, which were old bones and such allegedly belonging to Saints. Give a donation while adoring a relic and voilà, more reduced Purgatory time. These relic claims got so fanciful they even claimed to have a twig from the burning bush of Moses and a hair from Jesus’ head… yeah, sure who had the gall to sneak up on Jesus and pull out a hair out of his head and then kept it for the next 1500 years… the more time that passed, it seemed the more ludicrous these relic claims became! 

According to Oxford and Reformation Scholar Diarmaid MacCulloch, only three Tyndale New Testaments remain because people who got them back in the 16th Century were reading them so voraciously, they wore them out. Furthermore, they had to keep them hidden since they were illegal contraband Bibles. Constant reading and turning pages alongside hiding, for example, under a bed or in a bushel of hay, didn’t help perpetuate their longevity.

Interestingly however is that Tunstall’s fanatical burning of the Bibles backfired in numerous ways. Many were outraged that a man of the cloth would actually burn the sacred Scriptures, causing public sentiment to turn against him. 

In addition, the money used to buy up the Bibles was secretly given to Tyndale who published more of them as a result. When Thomas More inquired about who was funding Tyndale, it was answered that “the Bishop is! The money he is using to buy up the Bibles is secretly being given to Tyndale to print more!” 

Tyndale was influenced by the Reformation and went from being a priest who was just religious to having a conversion that brought him into a relationship with Christ based upon faith and grace. Tyndale writes: “Take no account of your works, be they either good or bad, faith in Christ is everything.”

Right before he was executed, Tyndale  prayed out loud:  “Lord, open the King of England’s  eyes.” Three years later King Henry the Eighth had Tyndale Bibles placed in all the churches in England so that all could read them! 

The Reformation caused a renewal of faith and led in time to revivals, renewal movements, missionary movements, evangelism, prayer movements, as well as raising up preachers, bringing about social reforms, and as stated, Bible translations. 

It spread across the channel into the UK from Germany and then in time came across the Atlantic, leading to the birth of a new nation called America.

It was a blessing to hear Oxford professor and Reformation scholar  Diarmaid MacCulloch’s recent lecture on Tyndale at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and while I watched the video, I noticed that he covered a lot of the same material that we have ourselves in our own videos on Tyndale featured here, so we encourage you to check them out!

There is a lot more interesting information to learn about in this subject. You can get a good overview in our videos from our new Tyndale and Other Translators of the Bible playlist on YouTube and other platforms.
 
A Note on Creating Content

When I was attending Fuller Theological Seminary I did a concentration—what you would call a major elsewhere—in Christian History. 

There was so much material to cover that a clear brief view of the person, or topic, was often obscured in the fog of extraneous details. 

I was thinking that it would be great if  there were some videos that would briefly explain certain figures and events in Christian History, that focused on the major aspects about them and their role. Especially since not everyone wants to read some lengthy, not very riveting, giant tome, just to get an idea of how the Lord may have worked through a particular historical figure.

The idea of doing short videos on some of these topics stayed with me… As I thought about that, I discerned the Holy Spirit impressing me with: You could do that!

The Lord subsequently took us through a journey that had us learning to shoot and edit videos. Editing is not as exciting as watching paint dry but … almost 😅!

As we have ministered in Europe over the years it has also served as something akin to attending another Spiritual Seminary as we have been led to visit certain key places and sites where events in Christian History actually took place, which has in turn driven us deeper into learning more about these subjects.

As a result, we have both been touched by the grace of God and the testimonies of those who encountered the Lord’s grace and mercy including in the Reformation!

We have thus made quite a few videos on that topic, and many others including Revivals, and have also recently made a “Reformation Playlist.”

The Reformation is an important event and, as stated above, it led to: Revivals, Renewal Movements, Evangelism, Raised up Preachers, Prayer Movements, Missionary Movements, and on and on, and even led to the birth of a new nation.

We are seeking to make clearer the connecting threads of the work of the Holy Spirit through the History of the Faith. 

Take a little time to check out some of our videos here, especially the main one featuring Tyndale, as it will give you a good overview in a short amount of time.

We would appreciate you considering donating to help us in our unique ministry that ranges from ministering renewal in the power of the Holy Spirit, to teaching and preaching, to doing evangelism, as well as teaching and making videos and other things on Christian History like this. Click here to give:https://www.graceworldmission.org/contact_us.htm

Thank you for all your support.
Love and blessings
Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux
www.graceworldmission.org
https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

Ministry Update: Spring-Summer 2026

Ministering in Salinas in Central California

Anniversary 

We were blessed to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary this summer. The Lord has sustained and blessed us through the years by His grace and the power of the Holy Spirit! He has turned trials around for blessing and caused us to grow in love for the Savior and one another and we are thankful for His mercy that never comes to an end! We are grateful to have been able to take a little time and go up into the Sierra Mountains for a little time to celebrate. 

Ministry Update 

We have been blessed to experience the presence of God moving amongst us as we have been ministering in different places. Here are a few highlights: 

Salinas and the South Bay 

We have done some Jesus People Revival remembrance type meetings recently, one in Salinas and another in San Diego. The one in Salinas was with our friend Dave, who was baptized/ empowered with the Holy Spirit back when we ministered at Surfing The Nations in Hawaii some years back, we stayed connected with Dave and have continued to do ministry things at times together since. 

The meeting in Salinas was really powerful, we shared a lot of stories about the Jesus People Revival, as well as some of our own stories, and had a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In fact, as the Holy Spirit was poured out some of the women there were overcome by the presence of the Lord and ended up on the floor, and as they were on the ground they were receiving healing, filling, getting liberated from oppression, and on and on! Just that particular aspect of the meeting praying for one another lasted for over an hour and was glorious! 

We also shared at a Jesus Revolution Outpouring meeting in San Diego recently, where we shared about Lonnie Frisbee and the way God used him in the Jesus People Revival and in what became the Vineyard Movement. We were blessed to learn from Lonnie about some of his triumphs, as well as his mistakes—and how to avoid them! The Holy Spirit moved there as well, and it was a blessed time at both meetings! 

Mercedes and I also led the worship at both those events with some of the songs that were popular during the Jesus People Days… something that these types of meetings I thought have needed! It was a blessed time in both meetings as the Holy Spirit swept in as we worshiped! Jesus said that the Father seeks those who worship him in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24).This is the important thing in worship: to focus on Jesus who is the truth and to tune into the leading of the Holy Spirit!

There is also something about reflecting on Revival that is important, along with the music of that time! The Bible says to recall the mighty deeds of the Lord (Psalm 77: 11-13, Psalm 105:2-5, 1 Chronicle 16:12). In fact, the Book of Judges talks woefully about a generation that grew up not knowing the mighty deeds that the Lord had done and lamented the lack of faith it produced! 

When certain Scriptures say “forget the former things” we should remember that the Bible doesn’t contradict itself. Thus, forgetting in that context was meant for Israel to receive forgiveness and forget its former rebellious behavior and the miserable trials and bitter disappointments their sins had reaped. Likewise, we are to receive and apply the Lord’s forgiveness and grace in our own lives and forget our sins and mistakes and stumbles, and instead the focus should be on resetting on the Lord’s plans for good for us. Likewise, we are called to remember the miraculous renewals and revivals of the past that He has wrought and have faith for the same once again! 

The Jesus People Revival and the next wave that proceeded out of it that produced the renewal which became the Vineyard Movement should be remembered and recalled as something that displayed God‘s incredible mercy and grace and reflecting on it stirs faith for the same once again. 

Ministering at CDO in south San Diego

Ministry in Southern California 

We had a blessed time ministering at CDO Church down in south San Diego where we did a number of meetings… four altogether. 

The Holy Spirit moved in power in every meeting as we preached, and then prayed for people. It was an awesome time seeing so many get touched, ministered to, and filled with the Holy Spirit! 

We also had quite a few people receive Christ, as well as others who rededicated their lives to Christ as well! It was a powerful time! Praise the Lord! 

We also had a glorious move of the Holy Spirit as we ministered at Centro Cristiano Esperanza. The Holy Spirit blessed the time as we shared about “the righteousness that is credited to us by faith in Jesus Christ…” Romans 3:21, which is a main recurring theme that the Apostle Paul emphasizes so strongly and something so important for us to grasp as believers. 

The Holy Spirit moved on the ministry time and kept pouring out His presence for quite some time as we prayed for the congregation … on and on it continued as the glory of the Lord just kept filling the place and people there with wave after wave of His presence! 

2 Corinthians 12:9 says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” We felt a bit tired and weak on that particular day having been traveling right before … we were still recovering but… as often has happened when in situations like that…the Lord took over and poured out His presence in a very intense way and in a much more powerful way than we expected!! His power is indeed perfected in our weakness, Hallelujah! 

PrayerFest in Hemet

Hemet 

We had a house meeting recently out in the desert in Hemet with our friends Jeff and Jeanette that we have come to call a PrayerFest where we regularly lead people into the empowering/baptism of the Holy Spirit, as well as pray for one another. 

It was a time of renewal as the Holy Spirit poured out on all of us and recharged our own batteries. There was also a missionary friend visiting, and it was a great time to pray for and share with her, as we were able to share and identify and swap stories with her about the spiritual battles of ministering in Europe.  

We have had many people from non-charismatic backgrounds over the years like: Baptists, Nazarenes, Presbyterians, etc., get filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit at these meetings. This last meeting, like others, was a blessed Holy Ghost time! 

Costa Mesa 

Had a blessed time sharing in the Newport—Costa Mesa area with our friend Meri at the little chapel that was the original church where Chuck Smith was Pastor at the beginnings of the Jesus People Revival. 

We were blessed to share about our connection with Lonnie Frisbee as well as our ministry in Europe recently. 

It was also a blessing to be there to hear one of the daughters of Robert Schuler from the Crystal Cathedral, talk about her recent experience of getting filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We also spent some time praying for those there which was a blessed time as it’s always great when the Holy Spirit moves! 

San Diego 

We’ve been doing some different worship and prayer house meetings at our friend Lauren’s place that involve us sharing in leading worship and praying for one another as well as sharing encouragement from the Bible. The Holy Spirit has been moving in these meetings down in San Diego and touching and filling people from different parts of that area. 

We have also had some powerful divine appointments including one in San Diego that really stands out. 

Divine Appointments 

We had a divine appointment when taking a walk around Coronado Island which is just south of Downtown San Diego. We used to teach a Bible study down there with our friend John and we would often go and eat at his family’s restaurant afterwards. 

The restaurant has since changed hands, but as we were taking a look at it, we ended up talking to someone in front of that restaurant who worked there. We ended up sharing the Gospel with this young lady who said she had been on a search for God in her life. After we shared with her for a bit and explained the Gospel, she opened her heart to receive Christ as we shared and then prayed with her! The Bible says when one person opens their heart to receive Christ the angels in heaven rejoice! Hallelujah! 

We also had a woman come to Christ recently in another divine appointment up in the mountains of Utah. We were walking around and went into a food court area and there was a Hispanic lady cleaning up all by herself at the end of the day. We started talking to her and then the Lord opened the door to share the Gospel with her about how Jesus is the way the truth and the life. After we shared, she was very open about her need for God, and we prayed for her to receive Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord! Hallelujah again! 

Before the meeting we shared about earlier in Salinas even got going, the Lord was already moving. We went up to a beach one day to get a few waves and then hit a Taco Shop afterwards. I noticed a historic picture in the Taco shop of St. Martin of Tours, the Soldier in the 400’s AD who cut his coat in half and gave the other half to a beggar, that night he had a dream that he had given the half to Jesus. St. Martin became a follower of Christ and a minister as well as experienced miracles and led others to Christ. 

I had an impression that the Lord would use the picture in the Taco shop. Then, when one of the guys working there came up, I told him about the painting. He was blown away and hadn’t known anything about the painting and we shared Christ with him as a segue after talking about the picture and planted some seeds of the Gospel in his life. 

Then another guy who worked there came over to the painting, and he happened to be a believer, he got touched and filled with the Holy Spirit when we shared about it and then gave him words and prayed for him. He actually got ministered to very powerfully right there standing in the Taco shop! He exclaimed that he was getting touched and filled by the Holy Spirit when we shared the story and then prayed for him. 

Later on, we were getting some food at a Taco truck in Salinas with our friend Dave and he had a word for a guy there getting food. We shared with him the word and then we prayed for him, and he got ministered to powerfully as well! 

Videos 

We shared the story in a video about the taco shop divine appointment and it is presently on our YouTube channel as well as other platforms, so check it out! 

We also had a friend share about how they were touched powerfully by the worship on another one of our new videos that has worship we did in one of the recent meetings we shared about, as well as a number of new videos you can see on YouTube on the Grace World Mission channel. 

Present Needs 

We always appreciate those who help us with our unique ministry and missions: not only do we engage regularly in renewal, evangelism, teaching and preaching, amongst other things, but we also make different videos to minister to and reach out to others, including many different aspects of Christian History taught from a Spirit-filled point of view, something that is needed but not common in the Body of Christ. We always appreciate those of you who support us through praying for us as well as finances. We have had a few people pass away who were long-time supporters, as well as some who retired, so it has been a tight season. However, we are in need of upgrading some of our equipment. We appreciate anything that the Lord might lay on your heart to give and assist in this area. May the Lord bless you abundantly as you do. 

We are so grateful for all your prayers and support! 

God Bless! 

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

www.graceworldmission.org

https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

Reflections on the Faith of the Pilgrims: The Original Roots of America



Direct link: https://youtu.be/ehXwF_eXHqY?si=V70LJeXYip8Tyy3O

Happy 250^th birthday to America!

The original Pilgrims who came were influenced by: the Reformation, seeking to worship freely, and spurred on by the Great Commission. 

Puritan Preachers in England were emphasizing the Great Commission to take the Gospel out far and wide and they considered themselves a chosen people for that task according to Historian Sydney Ahlstrom.

Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette also points out how it was Martin Luther‘s teaching on the “Priesthood of all Believers” the ethic of seeing all as equals before God, that formed the roots of what would later become modern American democracy.

As they stepped ashore at Plymouth, the Pilgrims’ Compact written out on the Mayflower before they went ashore stated that they were taking on this endeavor “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith…”

According to the Plymouth Museum they were helped in their struggles in the new land by the Native People with whom they maintained good relations for over 80 years—even liberal NPR had a Native American expert on in the past who verified this fact. 

These are the Christian roots of the Nation.

Check out these short videos shot on location in Plymouth, England, from where the Pilgrims set sail (above), and also from Plymouth, Massachusetts, shot on location where they came ashore on the Mayflower (below).

Direct link: https://youtu.be/xRM3-jqexe0?si=lKY5ymP0fVhNEg34

Resurrection Reflections

“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
Romans 4:25 

 

Praise the Lord that Jesus went to the cross and paid for our sins—paid the debt we could not pay—and then rose from the grave! And, as the Reformer Martin Luther says, the message of the Gospel brings joy because there on the cross Christ overcame sin, death, and hell.

As the Scripture above says, “he was raised to life for our justification,” which means to be made right— to be put in right stead with God. In fact, the Bible says we have been credited with the very righteousness of Jesus simply through faith in Him.

When we believe on Jesus and receive him as Savior, our sins are washed away and we are then credited and covered with the very righteousness of Christ—justifying us by grace— completely on the basis of what Jesus did and not on the basis of our own works or merit. “However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Romans 4:5 

The Amplified Bible explains it even better: “But to the one who does not work [that is, the one who does not try to earn his salvation by doing good], but believes and completely trusts in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).” Romans 4:5 AMP

Christ paid for our sin once for all, and by simply believing in Him we are justified by His grace. 

Thus the resurrection of Jesus is joy, peace, and life!

Joy because he paid the price we could not pay! (Rom 5:8, Gal 5:22)

Peace because we now have peace with God having been justified by faith through his grace! (Rom 5:1-2)

Life because he has given us eternal life! (Rom 6:23, 1 John 5:11)

Holy Ghost Surf Stories from the Emerald Isle

Direct link: https://youtu.be/kjQvy_G3fUo?si=onr9xPpqlb4pfm3z

We have a new Holy Ghost Surf Stories video from Ireland, the land of St. Patrick. 

The real Saint Patrick was an evangelist, who focused on leading people to Christ.

In the first part of this new video, we share about an encounter with a TV presenter— we may have ended up on Irish TV after he interviewed us—and afterwards he wanted to talk to us about our faith, which gave us an opportunity to plant the seeds of the Gospel in his heart. He shared that he was a Roman Catholic who went to church every Sunday but didn’t believe in God. Such is the state with many today in some of these places who have religion, but do not have a relationship with Christ.

The Gospel needs to be shared, communicated, preached, and reached out with, once again, in what have become the new modern mission fields: places that used to send out missionaries need them in their own lands once again.

Saint Patrick is an example of someone who reached out with the Gospel and the power of God and sought to lead people to Christ. According to most prominent historians, he was not Roman Catholic, was not Irish, rather he was a missionary to the Irish, who came from Roman Britain, and crossed the raging dangerous sea back to the land where he had formerly been a slave and a captive, in order to share the Gospel.

It’s easy to overlook places today that we consider part of the developed world, but Jesus said: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.”  Lord, give forth that boldness of these ancient believers! 

More Videos: 

The Real St Patrick 

Celtic Treasures 

Lindisfarne 

Driving Through the Irish Countryside

Ministry Update: Fall-Winter 2025-2026

Euro Mission

We recently returned from a mission trip to Europe. Europe is an emerging mission field caught in a pitched spiritual battle as darkness and false religion seek to fill the spiritual void left by the negative influence of secular humanism. Even though we often feel the heat of the battle, the Lord is the Victor and is moving things forward, and we were blessed to be ministering there again in England and Germany.

England

Ministering in London

We had a blessed time as we ministered together in London, England. We were in the area of Lewisham in southeast London, sharing about some of our different mission adventures in different places, as well as some Holy Ghost stories that included divine appointments. We had a powerful time, as the Holy Spirit moved amongst us as we prayed for the people there after preaching, many were touched in a glorious way, including a couple of kids in their early teens who got powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit, as well as others who were ministered to powerfully as we prayed for them.

We also had a divine appointment with a guy we met who was from Kosovo when we were getting a lift at another point in London. He was of Islamic background, but the Lord opened the door to witness and pray for him and plant the seeds of the Gospel when we shared that we had been to Kosovo ourselves on a mission trip, as it is not really a tourist destination. 

 

Surprisingly, we had some other encounters and opportunities to witness to some other people from Kosovo on this trip, as well as some divine appointments on our return back to the U.S. with some different Hispanic people whom we witnessed to, as well as others we prayed for that were believers.

Germany

We had a blessed time as we ministered together in Germany, in Giessen and Frankfurt, where we were sharing about some Mission Adventures, the Jesus People Revival, and the Reformation. It was a blessing to see the Holy Spirit move amongst us as we ministered, touching and filling, as well as empowering those who were in all the different meetings we did over the time we were there. Many were filled, renewed, empowered, encouraged, and received healing both physically and emotionally as the Lord poured out His grace and mercy through the Holy Spirit. We also had a few people make decisions for Christ, one shared with us personally how they were glad to have the Gospel explained so clearly when we preached and to know that they were on their way to Heaven now! Hallelujah! 

 

Ministering in Giessen and Frankfurt in Germany

We also got to share a few worship songs in the youth meeting we did as well as jam with the worship team in another meeting… they were all checking out and wanting to play the little Backpacker Guitar I was traveling with. 

When we ministered there last year, there was a young man from Iran who was  getting touched by the power of the Holy Spirit when we were praying for people. After this happened to him a few times, he then came to Christ when the Gospel was shared with him, praise God! He made a special trip this year to come to a meeting we were doing, even though he had moved out of the area, and visited with us as we ministered there again. He has been reading the Bible, and growing in Christ, and he helped us pray for people as we ministered this year. It was a blessing to see that fruit from the previous trip growing! Was a blessed time!

Divine Detours 

We had some surprising divine detours on this trip. One of the things that has happened on mission trips at times, is that we step out in faith to go and minister to others; however, many times we have also found that the Lord begins ministering to us in the midst of the mission as well. This happened in some unique ways on this most recent mission trip. We were praying if we should go on to minister possibly in some other places when the Lord made it clear he wanted to minister to us now. 

 

A little later on, after ministering in Giessen and Frankfurt, we were in the city of Hamburg. We were taking a walking tour of the city and had done 7 miles when we stopped in an old church to rest our weary feet, use the bathroom, and then we took a little rest by sitting down in a pew in the back corner. We noticed a small choir was singing up in the front of the church with just a handful of people. We realized they were singing in English (very unusual) and were singing about the Lord healing our hearts with His love. Completely out of nowhere, the presence of the Holy Spirit just began falling on us. The Lord’s presence just kept pouring over us again and again as we sat there in what felt like a vortex of God’s presence, just receiving from the Lord for quite a while… as that one single song about The Lord Healing our Hearts kept being sung on and on and on for quite some time… for like 30 minutes they just kept singing that one particular song … it was all so surreal.

 

After the singing waned and we came back to earth we looked around and noticed we were sitting right under a painting of Martin Luther… which the Holy Spirit used to illuminate the Lord’s grace and mercy even more to us. This wasn’t really a church known for being a big Reformation place, but we again found ourselves on the Reformation Trail and encountered the grace of Jesus in a powerful and unusual way. The Lord spoke into our hearts that He wanted us to pause and receive from Him at this point, which we continued to do. I remembered—as I shared previously in our Christmas letter—that a friend we had ministered with mentioned that we should hit the Reformation Trail since we were in Germany. Without trying, we ended up doing so in a few different situations. 

 

Here is a short recap of that story:

We were having breakfast with a pastor friend named Sarah after we had been ministering with her and her husband, who said: “Since you guys are in Germany you should take some time to go on the Reformation Trail—visit the towns connected with Martin Luther and the Reformation.” We were kind of just thinking about what she said, but not sure if that would work out… when circumstances took place that literally drove us into that situation, and eventually made it clear she had given us a word from the Lord. 

 

We in fact ended up being diverted by really bad traffic, there were six consecutive accidents in a row (!) when we were driving afterwards, that had us detoured off the autobahn and unexpectedly ending up in a little Lutherstadt (Luther Town). I don’t think I’ve ever experienced running into six accidents in a row, even with all the chaotic driving in California—driving in Germany is much more disciplined, so this was very unusual. We prayed, Lord what’s going on? And discerned that He was in fact allowing these trying circumstances and battles to reroute our steps right onto the Reformation Trail, the passage about Paul being redirected in the Book of Acts coming to my heart as we prayed. Having been redirected, we hit the little Luther Museum in the town the next day, which shared insights we had not known before.

 

Ministering at the Glory of Christmas in SoCal

Having read different books, studied the Reformation, including in seminary, as well as visited many different places connected with the Reformation, I do not know how we never knew this fact: that even though Luther grew up in church, was an altar boy and sang in the choir, was at mass every week his whole life, yet he never even saw a Bible until he was 20 years old! Thus, these mission trips have also served as something of a spiritual seminary for us… taking us deeper and deeper into subjects we may know something about, but through these experiences learning more all the time.

Luther was sent off to study the Bible by the leader of his monastery just to get him out of their hair with his constant confessing of his sins for hours and hours a day—reading and studying the Bible was an unusual task then reserved only for theologians in that time, the Bible being completely inaccessible to the vast majority of people. Forced into the Scriptures, which he had learned nothing of his whole life in church, having instead been replaced with rituals and traditions, he now began to stumble his way into a revelation of the amazing mercy and grace of God. Revelation came to Martin Luther as he read the Bible: the Living Word, the Ancient Logos came to life to Luther via the anointing of Christ! A revelation of God’s grace is in fact what he experienced, and it changed his life, just as it has countless others throughout the passages of time. We found ourselves amazed and bowled over as well, the way the Lord took us on these detours to minister His grace and mercy to us.

Southern California 

We were blessed to share at the Glory of Christmas meeting in Costa Mesa right as we returned from Europe, which was a great time as we had just experienced all the Christmas Markets and the influence of Martin Luther's awe over the incarnation while in Germany. The true Spirit of Christmas is the Holy Spirit, and we were glad to have the Holy Spirit move as we prayed for people there as well.

 

We were doing some online meetings, as well as some other meetings in-person in the college area of San Diego, organized by our friend Lauren, before we left and after we came back, where we've been blessed to share missionary adventure testimonies and pray for others there as well as share in the worship. In fact, we’ve had some people get breakthroughs and get powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit in some of the meetings. 

Videos

Some of our video Shorts on YouTube

We shot some short videos along the way as we traveled, sharing about different aspects of Christian History in different locations where certain historical events took place. In fact, it turned out to be the most videos we have ever completed and uploaded while we were traveling.

You can have a look at one of these Shorts we did as we traveled here: https://youtube.com/shorts/1UwToTBtYaA?si=EIo13AyXGcMoDQ3A

We are so grateful for all your prayers and support!

God bless!

Bryan and Mercedes

www.graceworldmission.org

https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission