Ministry Update: Spring - Summer 2025

 We are thankful to have been ministering in some different places and events in the past few months.

Canada 🇨🇦 

It was a blessing to get to visit and minister in Canada once again. We ministered at both the South and then the North end of Vancouver Island.

We did a lot of ministry way up on the Northern end of Vancouver Island, which is a gateway to those heading up to Alaska. We were doing some ministry, for the first time for us, amongst the indigenous peoples from the Kwakiutl Tribe at Fort Rupert.

Fort Rupert had the first known inhabitants of the island many thousands of years ago. We were told that they haven’t been that open to Caucasian people, but thanks to friends Lance and Sarah who set things up, we were welcomed, and the Lord gave us favor. 

Grand Chief Dave shared he was hungry for the Holy Spirit to move and that there were those, including in his family, who had become dried out and in need of renewal in their walks with Christ. We were stoked to experience the Holy Spirit moving amongst us powerfully as we ministered, and especially touching, filling and renewing, members from the Grand Chief’s family.

The Grand Chief and his mother, who is 93 years old, both encountered God’s presence in a major way in our first meeting. The Holy Spirit came upon him and his mother in a radical way and they, as well as others, spent a long time on the floor having been inundated under the presence of the Lord. They were there receiving and being filled with the living water which was renewing their hearts! His niece got powerfully filled in the next meeting we were doing and shared afterwards how she had been feeling so dry and really needed this touch from God as the tears were streaming down her face.

Then later I had a divine appointment when we were on the reserve visiting and helping out with some things. I felt the Holy Spirit’s leading that there was someone that needed ministering to. I ran into the niece whom we had prayed for the night before and began talking with her. 

She began to explain how her mother was so in need of ministry and renewal and while talking in the community kitchen, her mother unexpectedly showed up. We shared that we had just been talking about her and said we would like to pray for her. I went and got Mercedes and brought her over and we began to pray for her right there in the kitchen and the power of God came down on her in a very radical way and she began to weep heavily with many tears as God’s presence touched her deeply, then later the Lord began to fill her with joy, and she began to laugh and have burdens lifted off of her. It was a very powerful divine appointment. 

I was also able to share and witness and plant some seeds with others around the reserve and the surrounding area. It was also interesting to hear some stories Grand Chief shared of missionaries in the early 20th century—not too long ago really—who worked to translate the Bible into their Kwakiutl language!

We also ministered in Port Hardy later at The Bridge Christian Fellowship with Pastor George and his wife Karen, which is not too far from Fort Rupert. We were stoked to experience the Lord’s renewing presence filling, and empowering, and bringing healing, and had a few people rededicate their lives to Christ as well. The Holy Spirit moved powerfully amongst us the whole time with a radiant renewing presence that was so refreshing and just releasing healing and new life. Was also stoked to be part of the worship team in both situations in both Fort Rupert and Port Hardy, as well as leading some worship too earlier down in Victoria at a home meeting.

We were in the South of the island as well, ministering in the Victoria area. We were speaking at The House of Shiloh about the “Mothers Day Holy Spirit Outpouring” which took place back when Lonnie Frisbee (Jesus Revolution movie) ministered back at the then Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, which was later to become the Anaheim Vineyard. 

We were stoked to have the Holy Spirit‘s presence moving amongst us and release “healing, deliverance, strength, and power”—as one friend put it who was at the meetings—as we ministered together at the House of Shiloh. So many were ministered to and touched and renewed and a few people experienced the Baptism and Empowering of the Holy Spirit for the first time in their lives at this service, including a young man who was very powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing. 

We also did some other home meetings during the week where we led worship as well as experienced the Holy Spirit pouring out healing and freedom.

The Mother’s Day Outpouring was actually connected to the Jesus People Revival since Lonnie Frisbee was one of the principal evangelists of the Jesus People Revival. It has come to be understood as a historic outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Fuller Seminary Professor Peter Wagner called it an integral part of the “Third Wave Revival”—meaning there were 3 main outpourings in the 20th century that had an emphasis on the Baptism/Empowering of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5): The Pentecostal Revival, The Charismatic Renewal, and The Third Wave Revival. (There is a list at the end of this newsletter, and some new videos we have done too.)

We also had a couple of other divine appointments along the way in Canada with some people we met: One was with a Filipino guy we met that we witnessed to and prayed for! Another guy lost some cold-weather gloves that we found and caught up to him and shared that the Lord was watching over him and sent us to him to give him that message…he was very touched! PTL!

We also got a nice little break in along the coast in between things where Mercedes and I were able to get in some Canadian surfing and hiking etc. in the beautiful natural surroundings, as well as enjoying a little time in the Columbia Icefields area when we arrived in the country.

 

California Dreamin’ Conference 

We had some blessed meetings we spoke and ministered at in Costa Mesa at the “California Dreamin’“ conference, held at the original church where Lonnie Frisbee began to minister with Chuck Smith in the inception of the Jesus People Revival, as featured in the “Jesus Revolution” movie.

Mercedes and I were blessed to share about the significant revivals of the 20th century and how they were connected to California, including as we just referenced, the Pentecostal Revival, the Charismatic Renewal, and the Third Wave Revival. 

 

Salinas 

We had a blessed time ministering together as well as hanging out with our friend David Estrella at the Vineyard in Salinas with Pastor Dave and his wife Renee where we shared about the move of the Holy Spirit in different aspects of history, as well as the filling of the Holy Spirit Dave experienced when Mercedes and I ministered at Surfing the Nations (STN) in Hawaii some years ago. It was when we were ministering there at STN that David got filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit for the first time in his life after having grown up and gone to church his whole life.

The Holy Spirit moved amongst us as we ministered at the Vineyard and poured out His loving and healing presence over those who were there, including a young lady who wasn’t even gonna come to the meeting that night, but just showed up at the last moment because of a stress issue and got radically touched by the Lord!

We also got to enjoy taking a little time to enjoy some of the area and do some fun things in that scenic region. 

 

Orange and Dana Point

 

We were blessed to minister in the Orange area at Centro Cristiano Esperanza where we experienced the Holy Spirit filling many of the young people including touching some very young teenagers. 

We also joined Patrick and Emily as they led worship at OC Rock Church in South Orange County. We were the support team in the worship and praying for people, as they both taught from the Bible at that service.

We also shared about the Jesus People Revival and the real St Patrick on a Zoom meeting recently as well. We also have a new video about a “Holy Ghost Ski Story” that involves ministry we were led to by the Holy Spirit that involved us sharing about the real St. Patrick on St. Patrick’s day as a way to share the Gospel We have continued ministering as well in other places and in other venues including a blessed meeting in San Diego we just did that our friend Lauren set up! 

 

Anniversary 

We are thankful to be celebrating 33 years of marriage this summer, and we were stoked to finally get a chance to get a little time up in the mountains together to take time to celebrate that important milestone. We praise God for His grace, mercy, and are so grateful for the Holy Spirit’s presence that has blessed us and carried us through all these years.

 

We are so grateful for your ongoing prayers and support!

God Bless!

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

New videos on YouTube which can be found on the Grace World Mission page:

www.youtube.com/graceworldmission

• Wind Wind…music video and brief teaching on the Holy Spirit
• Holy Ghost Ski Stories…sharing about some traveling divine appointments
• Light of the Lighthouse…music video with pictures from our recent Canada mission trip
• Good News…sharing the Good News of the coming of Christ

 

Other videos mentioned in newsletter which can be found on the Grace World Mission page: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission

• Testimony of Dave Estrella getting filled with the Holy Spirit when we were ministering at STN
• Video on Lonnie and his impact on Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard
• Video Interview about Lonnie Frisbee
•  

Articles mentioned in newsletter:

• Mother’s Day Outpouring article:
• gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2020/05/40th-anniversary-of-mothers-day.html
• Lonnie Frisbee and the Jesus People Revival, (article was published by an international renewal publication, has since been expanded): www.graceworldmission.org/Jesus_ppl_revival.html

Ministry Update: Spring-Summer 2024

We have been blessed to experience the Holy Spirit moving amongst us as we have been ministering. Here are a few highlights from what the Lord has been doing: 

 

Salinas

 

We ministered recently up near the Bay Area in the city of Salinas at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Salinas is a very historic town with deep roots in California’s development and is the home of writer John Steinbeck as well as one of the main centers of farming and agriculture for the state.

 

We had a blessed time ministering together at the Vineyard Church with our friend Dave who was baptized in the Holy Spirit some years ago through our ministry when we were ministering in Hawaii. Dave had a dream later on, about us coming up to minister in Salinas afterwards. We have been going there off and on since then and have been blessed to see many get filled, set free and healed over the years through the power of God. 

 

In this recent meeting at the Vineyard, we were already experiencing the Lord’s presence moving amongst us after preaching and sharing but then it turned into a more radical ministry time when a prophecy came forth about the Lord bringing a fresh outpouring… I called everyone forward and pressed into the word and the fire of God just poured out with a fresh empowering with many ending up on the floor receiving for some time, praise the Lord! 

 

We also had a divine appointment later on where we ended up ministering to a friend of Dave’s whom the Lord touched powerfully as we prayed for him, he had recently yielded to Christ after experiencing some trials. The Lord ministered to him as we prayed for him and was renewed and encouraged. 

 

We have had some ups and downs over the years with some leaders in that area who were less than excited about the work of the Holy Spirit happening through us. Nevertheless, on this trip Dave took us to visit a pastor with whom we had preached at his church long ago, which back at that time was not so open to the work of the Holy Spirit... However, the pastor has come around all these years later and is preaching the same message at his church now that we preached back then … sometimes you plant a seed thinking nothing came of it… yet it sprouts and grows all these years later, thank you Jesus!

 

It was also a blessing while in the area to get out to take in some of the awesome views out on the nearby Monterey Peninsula.

 

Orange County

 

We were blessed to join the newlyweds Patrick and Emily at a small fellowship where they lead worship in Orange County doing the worship with them as well praying for some people at the meeting when they were sharing the message together that evening. We prayed and ministered to some different people who got ministered to by the Lord’s power and it turned out that one of the people we ended up praying for was an old friend from the Anaheim Vineyard from years back. Was an awesome time praying for her as well as catching up after all these years. She wrote us later to tell us about how powerfully and personally she was deeply ministered to when we prayed for her, thank you Lord!

 

Patrick and Emily also joined us as we ministered in Orange County at a Hispanic service. We had a powerful move of the Holy Spirit at Centro Cristiano Esperanza after preaching on the righteousness that God credits to us by faith in Christ and how He gives us the Holy Spirit freely through faith by grace as well! We were glad to have Patrick and Emily there helping us pray for people! We had an awesome outpouring of the Holy Spirit that touched many who were there, including a couple of young girls who were about 10 to 11 years old that were filled very powerfully with the Holy Spirit with many manifestations of God’s power while tears streamed down their little faces! Many others who were there were also filled, empowered, and refreshed by the Lord’s presence, as well as a couple of people who also surrendered their hearts to Christ! Hallelujah!

 

Online: Meri’s Meeting on St Patrick & Lonnie Frisbee 

 

We ministered at an online meeting with our friend Meri whose Zoom meetings have grown to be quite sizable with many people online from different parts of the country. 

 

We shared about St Patrick and his evangelistic ministry in Ireland where he preached the Gospel as a missionary, having returned to Ireland due to a vision from the Lord, after being held captive there previously as a slave after he was taken by force from Roman Britain as a teenager. The Lord worked through his situation and led him to come back to Ireland bringing the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

 

You can check out our video that has more of the story of the Real St Patrick at the Grace World Mission page on YouTube. We also shared about Lonnie Frisbee and what is called “incarnational missionary outreach” which is a missiology term to describe how, by having the same culture, clothing, style, etc., Lonnie Frisbee was able to relate and reach out to the hippies effectively during the Jesus People Revival, which was recently portrayed in the Jesus Revolution film. 

You can check out some of our videos that have more of that story on our channel: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission as well as all of the other videos we mention in this update.

 

Speaking of Lonnie Frisbee, we’ve been involved in some different Home Meetings in different areas over the years, sometimes called Prayer Fests, sometimes not official Prayer Fests but doing the same thing—which is gathering some people together to pray for the fullness of the Holy Spirit—amongst other things. We had an especially blessed home meeting in Carlsbad recently hosted by our friend Lauren, the Holy Spirit unexpectedly showed up in the early part of the meeting! We were just beginning…just talking with some of the people there about Lonnie Frisbee and the Mother’s Day Outpouring when the Holy Spirit took over and began moving way before we expected and we spent the rest of the night praying for each other as the Lord moved by the power of His Spirit! It was a powerfully renewing time! We have a piece we did on Lonnie Frisbee and the Mother’s Day Outpouring that you can check out on our Grace Notes blog.

 

Colorado and More Encounters Via St Patrick’s Day

 

Speaking of St Patrick, we had a wild divine appointment and encounter as we stepped out in faith recently. I was discerning that the Lord was leading us to head out to Colorado. However, we had nothing planned nor set up ministry-wise, but we felt the Holy Spirit leading us out that way for something of that nature…so we loaded up our vehicle and started driving out in that direction, making some stops on the way. 

 

One of the places we felt led to stop through on the way was Death Valley. There, we encountered an unusual prophetic sign at Badwater Basin, which is the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. Badwater is an ancient dried-up lakebed. However, it was filled with water at that time when we stopped there! Hurricane Hilary (a Cat. 4 hurricane) came ashore last year in Southern California as a Tropical Storm and then stalled over Death Valley filling up the Badwater Basin with water while wreaking havoc on the national park which had to close for 3 months afterwards. While we were there and taking in the unusual phenomenon of this ancient dried-up lakebed filled with water at that time, the Lord gave me this Scripture:  Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs up, Do you not know it? Indeed, I put a way in the wilderness, In a desolate place—floods. Isaiah 43:19 (Literal Translation) You can check out a video about this visit  on our YouTube page.

 

So, we ventured on after that, buoyed by that sign from the Lord—it's not always easy stepping out on faith when you don’t know what the plan is. We continued on towards Colorado, which is quite a long drive, and as we crossed the border into Colorado, we got a phone call from a friend we have ministered with over the years, inviting us to come to his church shortly after that and minister. We let him know, Hey, we're already on our way.

 

We ended up ministering on their special “Mission Sunday Service” which also happened to be on Saint Patrick's Day! The Lord had a plan…we just had to be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit and follow! We shared about the missionary work of the real St. Patrick and also about how the Holy Spirit works in empowering us as believers to make us witnesses for Christ. There was a group of young men who were there who were baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit with some very powerful manifestations and gifts of the Holy Spirit flowing forth. We also ministered while we were in Colorado at the YWAM base in Denver with our friend Rosko. We shared about some of our own missionary adventures and then moved into equipping young people for an upcoming missionary trip praying over them for the empowering of the Holy Spirit as well.

 

We had some divine appointments in the mountains while we were skiing afterwards where we ended up using the story of the real St Patrick as a bridge to share the Gospel with some different people. One of those situations was quite remarkable: After a long day in the mountains where we both skied and rode bikes afterwards, we were quite hungry…to put it mildly…but places to eat were already closed when we got back, so we were praying what to do. We stopped at a bench to take a breather in this little mountain village and we found a boxed-up package of food from an Irish restaurant nearby. This food had been obviously forgotten. We waited quite a while and no one was around… the village had become quite a ghost town at this hour. We prayed and waited and got the confirmation that “the Lord had provided.” The order had not been touched nor had been opened up. After waiting for some time and realizing no one was ever coming back for it, we finally had ourselves a nice Irish dinner …divinely provided.

 

Then the next day we had some leftover Irish Stew from that food and we were beginning to eat some in a little hotel we we're staying in. A service worker there was quite helpful in assisting us with getting it heated up and even giving us some bread to go with it. We ended up witnessing to her and once again using Saint Patrick as a bridge to share the Gospel and it turned out—that of all the wild things happening with all this already—that her name was Patricia! Wow! So, we were witnessing to her using St Patrick as a bridge for sharing the Gospel while eating supernaturally provided Irish Stew while witnessing to a person with that same namesake! Wow again! We prayed for her and the Lord touched her heart! Along with experiencing a unique divine appointment and a unique form of provision, amongst other things, the Lord was really putting an exclamation point on the way the story of the real Saint Patrick can be used as a bridge in sharing the Gospel!

 

Holy Ghost Ski Stories 

 

We have recently completed some new videos. One in particular shares some more wild “Holy Ghost Ski Stories” that we’ve experienced in the mountains where we have had divine appointments and encounters, including leading people to the Lord, and praying for others who were radically touched by the Lord! 

 

Check out this video as well as other new videos like “The Holy Spirit’s leading towards ministry in Canada” on our YouTube page.

 

Anniversary and Beyond 

 

We are also thankful to be celebrating 32 years of marriage, having just had our anniversary. It was also just a year ago that our son Patrick got married, so we have a lot to be thankful for!

 

The Lord has continued to do a profound and deep work of healing and restoration in our lives—passing milestones often brings up things from the past—not always easy to confront things you grew up with that caused pain but praise God, the Lord has the healing balm in His merciful hands that He pours out through the Holy Spirit, hallelujah!

 

Historical Perspective 

 

There has been a systematic indoctrination going on in many of our nation’s campuses for a long time… Decades ago I experienced the extreme bias in secular universities of leftist professors who don’t teach but rather try and indoctrinate, and things have only become worse with this these days.

 

What a difference when I went to Fuller Theological Seminary, where actual learning was encouraged along with dialogue. I didn’t have to agree with every last thing or else have the professors attempt a public humiliation…There was allowance for freedom in thought and actual learning. While there, I found that there was also access to a wide range of resources they had to offer in their huge library, especially on historical topics.

 

We have been working to put those insights into action and inform and teach on the rich Christian History that led up to and involved so much of Western history, as well as America’s founding, which we have garnered through our own studies as well as during our Christian educational backgrounds.

 

This is something that has by and large been omitted from a lot of the teaching going on in many public schools these days. Moreover, we have also brought a unique “Spirit-filled” perspective to the topics, which is not normally found when these topics are taught or shared.

 

We have a wide variety of subjects ranging from the Reformation to revivals, to historical ministers and missionaries, and more. Videos and audio programs can be accessed on: YouTube, SoundCloud, iTunes, and other services, as well as music we’ve produced on: Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and YouTube, as well as books that have had stories from our ministry published in them listed on our web page at www.graceworldmission.org

 

We greatly appreciate your prayers and support as we work to do our part to share the blessings we’ve experienced through our rich Christian heritage, as well as minister the fullness of the Kingdom of God to others.

 

Many blessings to you and may the Lord pour back to you pressed down, shaken together, and running over!

 

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

Year in Review

A Milestone 

2023 was a unique time in that our son Patrick got married. We were stoked to celebrate with friends and family as Patrick and Emily were joined together. The Lord blessed Patrick with a beautiful godly bride in Emily who also grew up involved in missionary adventures herself. We tend to have our own little ideas, thinking that maybe this person or that would be good to introduce our son to, none of that human effort ever went anywhere though.

It was, however, an unexpected word that the Lord gave me, which at the time seemed to have nothing to do with what happened later—meeting a young lady—that actually connected Patrick and Emily.

 

We had recently connected with Dave and Natalie Hess on the coast for some lunch after years of emailing one another but never being here in the US at the same time. 

 

However, the Lord’s timing is so different than our own and He knows what needs to happen and when.

 

After connecting with them and getting to know each other, we were getting ready to leave to go to a meeting they were hosting, when I saw Patrick getting ready to do something else and I told him: “I just got an impression from the Lord, and I think you are supposed to come to this meeting with us tonight.”  

 

We celebrated 10 years of ministry in Canada on our latest trip there last year. This video shares about the supernatural way the Holy Spirit led us and opened the doors to begin ministry there!

Direct link: https://youtu.be/OD_-ve4G81s?si=KhUqPmUo1JqPuyJo

We were actually going to dinner with Dave and Natalie first, and Patrick wasn't even invited…but I just brought him along because the Lord gave me that word! It was important to listen to the Lord versus following social decorum.

 

I figured Patrick was just supposed to come with us and help pray for people at the meeting after dinner… 

 

Instead, the Lord had a different plan and he met Emily who wasn't even supposed to be there at that meeting that night either. They connected at that meeting and went to an evangelistic outreach down on the coast together shortly after that.

 

Mercedes and I actually ran into them down there at the outreach and we also had a divine appointment with an old friend down there. As we were all talking with them, I got a leading from the Holy Spirit to have us all pray together in our own little circle of about 8 of us, off to the side, over by the beach. As we joined hands to pray, the Holy Spirit just fell on all of us in this little prayer circle with power and grace and we all ended up down on the ground as the Holy Spirit moved on us all with His presence, hallelujah! 

 

The police actually showed up and started giving the guys leading the outreach over on their platform a hard time and they were just staring over at us as not knowing what to think of this strange little group off to the side and down on the ground getting hammered by the Holy Spirit! While the Holy Spirit touched us, I got an impression from the Lord that He was doing something significant in this relationship that was forming. That was quite a wild night being their first outing together.

 

After about a year later of them going surfing and to ministry outreaches etc, Patrick proposed, and they began making wedding plans. They are now married and leading worship together regularly! The worship leading thing was another word I had for Patrick early on. However, the Lord had to bring it to pass himself in his own way! 

 

I had a word while on a trip that Patrick would lead worship later—this was in his early teens. I tried to help that word get going in my own way—which met a lot of resistance—but the Lord had his own plan, which he worked out in His own way, in his own time, that I didn’t foresee. Praise the Lord! His ways and thoughts are higher than ours!

 

Divine Appointments 

 

We have had numerous divine appointments over the last year. Each unique in its own way, here’s a couple highlights:

 

There was a recent divine appointment that took place just a few weeks ago: We started conversing with a young lady up in the mountains. One thing led to another, and we began sharing the Gospel with her and as we did, the Holy Spirit began to visibly move upon her heart, and she began tearing up! She then shared that she was a believer who had drifted away from the Lord in the last year. She knew that the Lord had arranged this moment of us sharing with her. We prayed together with her as she re-surrendered her heart to Christ while tears fell down her face! Praise the Lord she was a prodigal that has come back home! 

 

It was one of those moments that required us to slow down and pay attention to what the Lord had in store, something that requires constant learning in this go go go world!

We also had a divine appointment with a security guard at a beach mall. We ended up in a conversation with him and it turned out he was a believer. We shared and then prayed with him about the filling of the Holy Spirit, and he was greatly touched and encouraged as the presence of the Lord filled and renewed him, hallelujah!

 

We had another divine appointment driving along the coast on our way north on a ministry trip. I was about to get off the coast route and get on the freeway…when I sensed a check and felt I should stay on the coast route at the moment. We finally stayed in a place where we ended up ministering to one of the Hispanic housekeepers the next day who we ended up talking with and then prayed for! She responded to a word I had “about a burden she was dealing with” turned out she was a believer who had an estranged son that was weighing heavily on her heart… the Lord touched her with His presence and buoyed her heart…the maid ministry continues on 😎!

 

Ministering Our Way Up The Pacific Coast Trail

 

We were blessed to minister our way along the coast in 2023 all the way from San Diego up to the northern tip of Vancouver Island in Canada at Port Hardy.

We experienced the power of God being poured out as many were baptized in the Holy Spirit, others received Christ into their lives, along with many others who received healing and breakthroughs along the way.

 

A few moments that stand out: A man in Port Hardy receiving Christ as his Savior and also getting empowered with the Holy Spirit right after he was so overcome, he had tears and snot just flooding down his face as he was getting so touched by the presence of the Lord! 

 

There was also a First Nations lady there who had received Christ as we ministered on a previous trip and shared how she now regularly attends Bible Studies and is serving the Lord! A woman in Salinas who received tongues finally after many years of praying and seeking the Lord for a breakthrough in that area, she along with many others was overcome by the presence of the Lord and impacted powerfully. 

 

There was an old friend who was just radically overcome by the presence of the Lord as we prayed for her while she experienced a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit and healing that was releasing her from some heavy burdens, this along with others who surrendered their hearts to Christ as well rededicated themselves to the Lord, along with numerous others who were touched and filled as the Holy Spirit was poured out in power at the CDO Church in Downtown San Diego just recently as we preached and ministered there. Many were also touched by God’s presence and filled with the Holy Spirit, along with others who received healing, as well as some who received Christ in North County San Diego, Santa Barbara, Costa Mesa, Orange, and San Clemente and down in the Southern Border Region, as we ministered in those areas. 

 

Deeper Healing 

 

Looking back at the last few years 2023 is actually the first full year where things were not hampered by lingering Covid restrictions. It was only the latter half of 2022 when a lot of the restrictions were finally done. It is an unusual time we have all lived through that still requires some reflections and processing. On our end we are thankful of how the Lord can: “Work everything together for good.” (Romans 8:28)

 

That unusual season of Covid was actually something where the Holy Spirit began to take things to a whole deeper level in the area of healing of past things that involved growing up in broken situations in both of our lives. 

 

This felt unusual at first since we have both already experienced healing like that before, however, this was on a much deeper level. Moreover, He’s God and we are not, and the fruit has shown the wisdom from on high that surpasses the weakness of our puny little human minds.

 

One thing needed on this journey was a surrendering of the will and human reasoning—possibly some of the hardest things we can ever lay down—the path did not make sense at first, but the Lord knew the end from the beginning.

 

His infinite divine wisdom surpasses our lowly human intelligence. While there may always be some things still to walk through in life, that season of intense healing has brought forth divine fruit that continues to bless us! Hallelujah, He is able to work everything together for good!

 

After walking through that season where the Lord did so much deep stuff, we have both been blessed to experience new levels of freedom and peace in certain areas of our lives and there has been a definite strengthening in our marriage—things just went from good—to even better. 

 

This involves some of the mystery of the divine grace of God. He has taken us both on a journey that may have been a bit tough at first to embark on and walk through, but in the end, things have gone from good… to even better! Praise the Lord!

 

We pray that the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ refresh and renew you as you walk with him into this New Year and beyond! 

 

We thank the Lord for each and every one of you and always really appreciate all your prayers and support. 

 

Blessings to you in Jesus’ Name!

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

Connect to Grace World Mission: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

Ministry Update: Fall 2023

We have been blessed to be experiencing the presence of the Lord moving amongst us in power as we have been ministering in various places recently!

 

Canada Mission Trip

 

We recently returned from a month-long mission trip ministering in Canada.

 

We had a blessed time celebrating the 10-Year Anniversary at the House of Shiloh, one of the churches we have been connected with in Victoria, B.C., Canada.

 

Pastor Dan invited us to share at their anniversary service, and we realized after he invited us that it was also our 10-year anniversary of ministering in Canada!

 

We shared about how the Lord brought us up to Canada through divine guidance and intervention and connected us with them through a series of divine appointments.

 

We continued ministering in different meetings throughout the island after that initial ministry at the anniversary service, including some midweek meetings and other services.

 

While doing different meetings in the Victoria area, we experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit move in an awesome way! We did some house meetings on a Native Land Reservation where we experienced an unusual outpouring in a particular meeting. It was quite unexpected as it was a very hot day, and the heat was overwhelming inside the small mobile home we were to meet in, so we moved the meeting outdoors in front of the place.

 

There were a lot of distractions outside: acorns were falling out of the trees and pelting people, people were walking by and gawking, so it took a long time to get around to sharing, but as we shared some Holy Ghost stories and then finally began to pray over others in the meeting, the Holy Spirit fell in unexpected power, and holy laughter ripped across the meeting and people began falling over. It was completely unexpected after all the distractions, and it ended up being one of the most powerful meetings in the Victoria area the whole time: His power is made perfect in our weakness! Sometimes when we're least expecting it, the Lord shows up in the most powerful way! We had some powerful testimonies we received, including some people who said: No ministers ever make me cry, but I couldn't stop feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit the whole time! Hallelujah!

 

We also joined up with our friends Lance and Sarah, joining in on the guitar to do some worship with them and outreach in the town of Duncan a few times where they meet out in an open-air venue and minister to various communities in the town. We shared and gave some words of encouragement and prayed for lots of people in those areas and saw some people get significantly ministered to, including a couple who just came out from the east coast of Canada and had a powerful encounter with the Lord when we prayed for them!

 

We also had an awesome time ministering up island in Port Hardy Christian Fellowship where we did a number of meetings, as well as joining in on the guitar for some of the worship. Port Hardy is an isolated little port town up at the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island, “going out to the ends of the earth.”

 

The Holy Spirit was pouring out in all of the consecutive meetings that we did up there and we received lots of testimonies of people blessed and ministered to and lives touched and transformed: 

 

In fact, a woman from a First Nations Tribe who got saved and set free when we were ministering there last year shared with us how she reads the Bible every day now and goes to church meetings regularly now too. It was so great to hear about fruit that sustains and remains like that! 

 

A woman named Alex got hit by the Holy Spirit Friday night and said she has never felt anything like that in her life: she felt electricity volts from the top of her head to the tips of her feet and shared how she felt renewed and on fire for the Lord now! She had just started coming to this church a couple of weeks ago. She was being courted by Jehovah’s Witnesses just recently but now she knows after this—her eyes have been opened—that she has found her true tribe and her family. 

 

Michael had an experience with God Sunday night and got saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit then too! Michael said the power of God hit him and he had tears and snot running down his face. He felt weak in the knees and could not stand. Eventually he managed to sit on the stage, but he said he could feel something happening on the inside of him that he couldn't explain. He shared how he now has hope for the first time in a long time. 

 

Michael came to Tuesday night prayer afterwards and brought his girlfriend who is finding God again, after struggling with a very legalistic abusive past, because of what happened with Michael. He had anger issues and she shared how God is taking all that out of him. 

 

There was also a fisherman who we prayed for and ministered to who surrendered his life to Christ at the very end of the last meeting. He said he was tired of resisting the Lord and surrendered his heart fully to God as we prayed for him … many tears streamed down his face as we prayed, not the thing you see every day with a tough fisherman like that! Reminded us of fishermen way down south of the other border that we experienced the same thing with some years back!

 

“Thanks so much for all you gave and deposited here!” wrote Pastor George. 

 

It was also great to get out to the coast and get in a little Canadian cold-water surf! We got some fun surf with great sunny conditions in Tofino, which is Canada’s surf central destination with a number of spots to surf—we’ve had many witnessing opportunities there over the years! Also got to have a fun adventure with friends Laurie and Jodi who took us out from Port Hardy roughly 50 km in their heavy-duty truck on dirt roads out to the Island’s Northern Coast to San Josef Bay where we got in some awesome scenery and hiking, as well as a bit of surfing too in the wild and stormy conditions up there!

 

Back in the day we learned from our friend Lonnie Frisbee, who shared the good, the bad, and the ugly with us when we were with him for 3 1/2 years of discipleship: Learn to incorporate fun with your mission and ministry work and that way you can avoid burnout! Take your time and pace yourself and smell the roses too. He attributed burnout as one of the things that made him stumble along the way. However, the Lord picked him up and got him back on track again with full power flowing to the very end! We are regularly seeking the Lord to continue to incorporate that wisdom!

 

PrayerFests and House Meetings 

 

We have done some Prayerfest-type meetings and House meetings recently in some different places:  

 

We had a blessed one in Hemet with our old friends Jeff and Jeanette. We had a powerful refreshing time praying for one another just as we returned from Canada, which was a good way to refill our tanks after ministering and giving out on a long mission trip.

 

Some other missionary friends also got refreshed as well, and the wife shared afterwards that she woke up energized and praying in the Spirit the day after the meeting! They were also stoked to hear us share about Harald Bredesen, one of Jeff’s and our mutual mentors, who was a Lutheran that got filled with the Holy Spirit and became a founder and leader in the Charismatic Renewal. Unbeknownst to us, the missionary couple were going to be ministering in a Lutheran Church that very next week! 

 

We have had other Prayerfest type meetings also, working together with our friend Lauren down on the coast in Encinitas. The Holy Spirit touched and ministered to pretty much everyone that came including ourselves, who also got some refreshing! 

 

We were also recently sharing and ministering in Costa Mesa at a House Church Meeting with our friend John Ruttkay, who was also a mutual friend of Lonnie’s. John invited our son Patrick and Emily and me to do the worship there and we also got to see old friends like Stan, Diane and Jacob Frisbee. We were also blessed to get out to see a C.S. Lewis play recently together with John, Patrick, and Emily too after a board meeting, which was just amazing…the play was sold out with a line around the block to get in!

 

Speaking of Costa Mesa, it was a fun time recently sharing about the early days of the Jesus People Revival in the very church where Chuck Smith first opened the doors to Lonnie Frisbee. We shared how Lonnie not only evangelized the Hippies, which eventually led to a wave of Hippies getting saved, but how he also regularly led others into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, equipping and empowering others to minister and reach out with the Gospel as well. This was actually one of the underlying factors and keys of the Jesus People Revival that reproduced others to reach out and minister as well, and similarly in the Vineyard movement proceeding on afterwards too. We have a few different videos on Lonnie and the Jesus People Revival, which you can check out at this link: https://www.graceworldmission.org/Jesus_ppl_revival.html

 

We also shared about the Reformation on an online meeting which had over 100 people on the call with our friend Meri. We also published a new video and blog on the Reformation as well as a new blog we did on America’s Roots in the English Reformation at Thanksgiving time. These are great resources to aid in understanding the history of America’s development, as it covers the Reformation’s trajectory of unleashing renewal and revival, which eventually led to the coming of the Pilgrims and the birthing of America. (You can check it out at this link: https://gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2023/11/americas-founding-and-its-ties-to.html) 

 

We encourage you to like and share these videos and blogs with others as it helps in spreading the important history of our roots, especially in the light of recent statements like this by a Christian education group:

 

Misinformation about America’s founding is spreading across our country like wildfire. Unfortunately, that is true in the public education system as well. But America is an exceptional nation, and every citizen should know about its unique history…which is steeped in and influenced by the Christian faith…

 

Our recent videos on “Martin Luther’s Revelation: Foundation For Revival” and “The Reformation and Revival and America’s Roots” give important and unique perspectives of the Christian faith’s influence on this nation’s founding and development, which are important reflections during this season. You can check them out at this link: https://youtu.be/9ROTGU2dWfc or by going to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@graceworldmission.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We celebrated a little extra this year with a “Friendsgiving” our friend Lauren put together that turned into something of another “Prayerfest” which turned into a time of us leading some worship and praying for one another! It was a blessed time! 

 

We pray the Lord’s richest blessings be with you in Jesus’ Name!

 

We greatly appreciate all your prayers and support! 

Love and blessings!

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

 

Connect to Grace World Mission: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission