Patrick and Emily Get Married!
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| Celebrating the marriage of Patrick and Emily. Now aka Mr. and Mrs Marleaux |
We are excited to have just experienced an amazing life event as our son Patrick got married! It was such an awesome time celebrating with friends and family as Patrick and his beautiful bride Emily came together in the union of marriage at their wedding!
We also had such a fun-filled week leading up to the big day, getting in some surfing and beach time and other activities with them and some others as the time drew near.
We are stoked that Emily is a strong believer and that they both are leading worship together! In fact, there is an important story behind this that is about perseverance which I think is important to share, which I also shared at the wedding:
We were on a trip years back when Patrick had just begun his teens. We had a rental car since ours was in the shop, which had satellite radio in it. We were driving along when a long set of Gospel music and Hymns sung by Elvis came on.
I began worshiping along which brought me into the presence of the Lord. I unexpectedly got a word of knowledge that Patrick would someday lead worship, which took me by surprise.
It caused me to remember that some years before this, Mercedes and I were leading worship at Pearl Chapel on the Central California Coast, when Patrick who was just 9 years old, spontaneously came up on the platform to the microphone and started singing with us. I knew it was something prophetic…then came this word while driving which confirmed it (you can see it in this video: https://youtu.be/MGH8Vpnp_tI)
Then the trials began! I had been teaching him guitar already. After the word came I began to try teaching him about doing worship and some worship songs. It couldn’t have gone more opposite than I expected.
Those early teens are also when some of that typical teenage rebelliousness starts flaring up. I was tempted to just forget it because he would just go, “ahh worship stuff is so boring… this is dullsville...” and he just wanted to do riffs and leads on the guitar and just ignore what I was teaching him.
I actually tried to work with his interests and incorporate riffs and leads into teaching and still slip in worship stuff but the resistance to the worship parts continued. He was quite stubborn about it and I was tempted to give up many times, but the Lord just kept showing me to persevere and that it would come to fruition…in His time.
Well, I had another word of knowledge about two years ago that Patrick was supposed to come to a meeting we were going to in Orange County with some missionary friends.
He decided to come and that is where he unexpectedly met Emily.
They began going to some House Church meetings together, where he encountered some guys his age doing worship and his attitude started changing. Then, an opportunity came for him and Emily to lead worship together themselves at a small House Church … they stepped through that door and are still doing it! Patrick actually apologized later for some of that earlier teenage stubbornness, praise God!
The Lord fulfilled the word in His time…it just took some perseverance…around 7 years worth or so. I was rejoicing when I watched him show a visiting friend recently all the worship songs he has learned.
We as believers may sometimes get a word, or a vision, or something of that nature for ourselves, or something like that for a son or daughter, and maybe it’s not fulfilled right away, maybe it takes a long, long time, and even gets to a point that it seems it will never happen…however, perseverance is emphasized as a needed factor in the Kingdom of God: from Abraham all the way through to the Apostle Paul, perseverance was required to fulfill the call!
Then, sometimes when it’s fulfilled, it happens in a way we didn’t expect at all. But as we walk on in the Kingdom, we see that His grace and mercy never fades nor diminishes….even if His higher ways are sometimes mysterious and not understood right away…Praise the Lord!
Patrick and Emily got to enjoy a beautiful honeymoon and are now beginning their newly joined union and lives together. And we are catching our breath after all that activity of the last few months leading up to the wedding. It was an especially busy time as the wedding rolled up and took place while plenty of other ministry was going on as well.
Ministry Update
Here are some highlights from recent ministry:
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| Ministering the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday @ CCSC |
We had just been preaching up north in Salinas at the Vineyard Church there, right before Patrick and Emily’s big day. We were ministering with our friend Dave E. and were sharing and reflecting on: The Mother’s Day Outpouring at what was then called Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda. It later became The Anaheim Vineyard and we shared how Lonnie Frisbee had ministered there on Mother’s Day and the outpouring that followed when Lonnie began praying for the Holy Spirit to come over the congregation. We experienced a very powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit ourselves in Salinas as we shared about that and then ministered with many being filled, empowered, and renewed, including some who had awesome breakthroughs with being filled and touched in a fresh way by the Holy Spirit’s power! In fact, a woman who had been wanting to receive the gift of tongues for years got her breakthrough when she got prayed for! Others received healing, and testimonies came of those who were set free from depression and discouragement and others shared of important encounters and personal revelations that buoyed their faith. Hallelujah!
We had a fun time on Pentecost Sunday and their night of worship at Calvary Chapel San Clemente as they played some of that worship from back in the Jesus People Revival and I followed up by sharing about some adventures back in the Jesus People Revival and how I ended up at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Mercedes shared about the times we had learning and being organically discipled by Lonnie Frisbee. It was an awesome time of worship, sharing, and praying for others for the filling of the Holy Spirit whose presence was with us as we ministered! We have also done some Afterglows with them in recent months as well!
We were blessed to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones while ministering recently in the Santa Barbara area at Mission Isla Vista. We had a blessed time sharing and praying for people. The Holy Spirit filled, empowered, and renewed so many who were there, we also heard about some healings that happened too. We were told it was the most people they have had respond for prayer there and it was one of the most powerful times we’ve had ministering there, hallelujah! We also got to enjoy a few things in the area including a little biking and some firing waves at Rincon on the way out of town that suddenly had an unexpected late season swell just show up. An unusual encounter with a famous pro surfer from the area encouraged us to get out there even if it was a little crowded. In fact, Mercedes was stoked that she got to surf and experience the famous point break herself for the first time!
We had a powerful time ministering at Centro Cristiano Esperanza in Orange County and we were blessed to have Patrick and Emily join us to help pray for people there as well. This led to many people getting ministered to in a powerful way, many were filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit as well as a few who received Christ along with some who who rededicated their lives to the Lord! The power and glory of the Lord was amongst us as we ministered!
We’ve continued ministering in various regions including the border areas sharing the Gospel and praying for others and have also had some powerful divine appointments. As the Jesus Revolution movie came out, it has sparked fresh interest about experiences with that revival and with Lonnie Frisbee, which we have been sharing about. You can check out an article we did which was actually picked up by an International Renewal publication as well as a video we’ve done here: https://www.graceworldmission.org/Jesus_ppl_revival.html
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| With our friends Jeff and Jeannette and other friends at PrayerFest. |
In fact, the main focus at these meetings has been leading people into “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” We have been blessed to see many who are not necessarily Charismatic nor Pentecostal but rather have backgrounds like Baptist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, etc, come into the Fullness and Baptism of the Holy Spirit and be empowered with the gifts in these meetings in awesome ways, Praise the Lord!
We are glad to be continuing on with the legacy of our old friend and another mentor, Harald Bredesen, who was a Lutheran that got filled with the Holy Spirit and subsequently led many others in the Body of Christ who were not Charismatic/Pentecostal in background to come into the baptism of the Holy Spirit in that powerful Charismatic Renewal, which Harald helped birth and lead.
It is an important need in the Body of Christ: I recall a friend who shared how he was worshiping at one of the biggest mega churches in the country and out of nowhere he began speaking in tongues. He was subsequently escorted from his seat and shown the door, and then kicked out of the church! His story gives insight into the desperate need in the Body of Christ for clear teaching and ministry on the empowering and baptism of the Holy Spirit that is sound evangelically and taught in a way that can be received without the pitfalls of extremism. We have been blessed to minister over the years to unexpected groups which are not normally open to the empowering and baptism of the Holy Spirit and see many get filled and blessed by the fullness of the Holy Spirit! Hallelujah!
Acts 1:5: “For John truly baptized with water, but in a few days hence you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit!
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| Ministering and praying for people in Santa Barbar at IVC |
We greatly appreciate your prayers and support! As you may know the whole deal with us as parents that are helping pay for the Honeymoon, the Rehearsal Dinner, and for many other things Patrick needed for the wedding really add up, so we greatly appreciate any extra support you can give to help us out with that at this time, thanks so much!
We praise God and thank you for your prayers and support! We are so appreciative and give thanks in Jesus’ Name!
Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux
