New Website Launched

Our website has a whole new look!

Check it out: http://www.graceworldmission.org

Other available resources and useful tools:

· YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission.org

· Grace Alone podcast on iTunes

· Companion Christian History Timeline for Grace Alone Podcast on iTunes

Pretty wild to be putting up a new website, it makes me think about my first introduction to the Internet way back when: I was working at a publisher and a colleague brought in this thing called a modem. “I can communicate with other computers with it.” he said. “What is the point of that?” I said dismissively…

With that great insight into the future we proceeded to find ourselves in the middle of this crazy dot-com boom and then suddenly bust. That was about the time we decided to finally get a clue and get on board and join the Internet party and launched our website—right when nobody cared about the web anymore, yay!!!

But it came right back around and everyone started to figure out well, yes I guess the web does have some actual uses. Yep, you can actually get access to a lot of helpful materials these days that actually don't freeze up every ten seconds.

So times have changed a bit If you’re using a halfway decent computer and not still on Windows 95 or AOL dial-up, guess what? You don’t have to go make yourself a ham sandwich and read the newspaper while you’re waiting for that confounded video to finally download. Yes, the modern age has arrived and you can actually get through a twenty-minute video these days in twenty minutes—what a concept!

We’ve geared up for what the web is best used for and have put together numerous video and audio programs on a plethora of subjects from Biblical Studies, Christian History, Missions, Signs and Wonders, Divine Appointments, and more. We have now actually begun to arrange them into cohesive playlists where you can easily find and watch and listen to audio and video programs from genres that relate to one another, we’re actually getting organized—miracles do happen!

All this hard work nobody paid us to do made us think we’d be real gluttons for punishment and do some more. So we slaved away—chained ourselves to the keyboard—and lo and behold after our skin has turned a few shades whiter locked inside with fluorescent lights, a new web page is born. While we were at it we thought, torture has its redeeming side too so why not rearrange everything.

A little background on our Audio and Video programs:

We’ve had the privilege to minister in numerous countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and on our last mission trip to Europe—we’re about to leave on our eleventh—we were in over 17 countries, including: Kosovo, Romania, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy.

While traveling through many different places I began to notice that many people’s knowledge of Christian history in the Body of Christ was pretty slim to nonexistent.

Some years ago while on a mission trip deep in Southern Baja, Mexico, where people don’t even have running water, I noticed that in spite of lacking some of life’s main essentials, everyone still had a TV with a DVD deck and a radio with a CD player. Even small plywood shacks with dirt floors had them. Yes, TVs, DVD players, radios, and CD players are more accessible than running water.

With that revelation we began to put together video and audio programs on different biblical and historical figures and topics, while using the same formats even people living in plywood shacks with no running water had access too.

One thing you learn quickly is that it takes a lot of resources and time in the research, recording, filming, and editing to produce even a short video. In spite of that, we have done our best to offer these videos free on the web, even though it isn’t free for us to produce them, while most other ministries charge for their resources. We have a passion to see the Body of Christ get built up and edified. It is essential to know how the truth of God’s Word and power of His Spirit has continued to change lives and shape history through the ages.

Do It Yourself! What?

A lot of this teaching and information is hard work to come by. I spent a small fortune at Seminary and wasn’t learning things about Christian History I thought I should and then heard the professors say: “Well, you gotta go do the hard work yourself and do research on your own,” when I asked some questions. And here I thought I was paying this overpriced institution all this money for that reason! “Why am I paying them all this money then and why do they need a salary, a parking spot, and so much more of my tuition money all the time then, if we gotta do all the work?”

Well, in spite of my complaining I still had to learn the vast majority myself, through God’s help and my own personal studies. Instead of just figuring out what case and declension that Greek word was in, we might have spent more valuable time learning how God’s power filled people like Charles Finney, and why he was used so radically by God. Well, at least I learned some $1000 dollar words, anyone up for a “paradigm shift”?

When I had an American Church History professor who didn’t even mention the “Azusa Street Pentecostal Revival” while covering that period—we’re only talking about one of the most important Christian events in the last century here—because “we have more important things to discuss” I knew then that we needed to produce our own materials.

So we have sought to focus on many important aspects of Christian History while avoiding some of the extraneous details that typically bore everyone to sleep. You know, looking back, I remember that somehow that Church History Professor still managed to bore everybody to tears and then even squeezed in “The Birth of Fuller Seminary” in spite of all their “more important things” to discuss.

So we’ve been hard at work and have sought to produce materials that can inform and inspire while focusing on important acts of the Holy Spirit working throughout the ages. You can watch and hear some important biographical accounts, reflections, and insight as well. It is information you should get (but probably won’t) in a seminary and beyond, as we seek to focus on relevant topics in God’s redemptive acts through the ages: In-depth Bible studies of books like Galatians and Acts, to testimonies of missions, miracles, and divine appointments, as well as important historical events like the the Reformation and how God’s revelation of grace in Martin Luther’s life changed the course of Western History.

A Few Disclaimers

These materials are in both English and Spanish because shooting two videos of the same topic twice is four times the work—or something like that—either way it is way more work and who needs that. Moreover, English and Spanish are the two most spoken languages in the world, so you can actually learn another language while listening.

We are open to suggestions of re-shooting solely in English, or solely in Spanish, only if your suggestion is accompanied by a large suitcase filled with cash (small bills only please). Otherwise, try to practice Ephesians 4:29 “…let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

We do give permission to copy or duplicate our stuff; however, throwing them like frisbee's and beverage coaster use for DVD’s and CD’s (which we actually have seen some crazy kids at churches do) is strictly prohibited.

It may be noticed that we are human in some of our work and didn’t cover every aspect of a topic, or missed a point or two now and then. Working for free has its limitations!

In spite of being a bit direct with my jokes and references of my Alma Mater Fuller Seminary (they were the ones always saying I needed to learn to think critically- why not start with them) miraculously some of our materials are actually now in their David DuPlessis Center for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies as well as in the MacAllister Library. Being direct and having a sense of humor hasn’t barred us from being included in the lineup there—they actually even paid us for some of our materials—so I’ve gotten 1/100,000 of my tuition money back.

Lastly, on a more serious note

We do live in some incredibly changing times. The advent of the computer and computer programs together with the Internet give us the ability to create and edit audio and video content like never before seen. What used to require enormously expensive machines and production equipment that only Hollywood movie studios and music production houses could afford can now be done on a decent computer. There hasn’t been a technology sea change like this since the days of Gutenberg and the invention of the printing press. So, just like those students who took Martin Luther’s writings, reprinted them, and spread them all over the world shaking the nations, we also, like Paul, intend to “use every means available” (1 Cor. 9:22) to further the cause of Christ and build up His Body until the day of His return……

What!? He didn’t come back on May 21st !?! Oh no—stop running up those credit cards, looks like we’re gonna be here a little longer!!!

Hopefully you can take the time to check some of our stuff out!

Blessings to you!

Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

Available resources and useful tools:

· Updated website: http://www.graceworldmission.org

· YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission.org

· Grace Alone podcast on iTunes

· Companion Christian History Timeline for Grace Alone Podcast on iTunes

Ministry Update: June 2011

Ministering to a brother getting empowered and filled

at the "Summer of Love" celebration, as a video clip of

Lonnie Frisbee is hovering above us - wow pretty wild that!

We just had a blessed time while ministering in South Orange County at the “Summer of Love” celebration. We spoke on reflections of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and remarkable salvations and healings in the days of the “Third Wave Outpouring” and “Jesus People Revival.” The Spirit of God moved in power, just like back in the day, as many words of encouragement and prophecies were released as God moved in glory. Words of encouragement are what we need in this spiritual battle. Pastor Gerard Driscoll said it well at the meeting: It is Christ’s cross of power and pain that we walk in. We experience the power greatly but we also feel the pain as so much of the body of Christ seems to have forgotten that Paul’s word in Eph. 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit is not an option but a command to all believers.

Report from Salinas: Thank you guys for taking the time to come up to Salinas! It was such a major blessing! God definitely made a major impact on us that is continuing to affect us in our personal lives and in ministry. God is really starting to reveal the power of the finished work of the cross to me. It's the most freeing thing I have ever known! From Dave E.

We had a powerful outpouring of the Spirit in Ontario recently when we taught on learning to be available for God and sharing the Good News with others. Jesus’ words: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and be my witnesses…” That Scripture definitely came to life as the Lord poured His glory and power over people, filling and anointing them. An incredible wave of power swept over many, preparing them to witness to His truth.

Praying in Ontario for evangelistic empowering -

you shall recieve power..and be my witnesses!

We experienced that anointing kick in to put those words into reality and bring some people to Christ in some different evangelistic outreaches we’ve been doing, including a recent evangelistic crusade in San Diego. God moved and people were filled, healed, empowered and saved.

Evangelistic crusade in San Diego with ministry for healing

We recently ministered in Santa Barbara and were rejoicing to see the Holy Spirit filling and empowering and pouring out His love and releasing an atmosphere of freedom as the Spirit of God moved in glory. One sister shared later: “You guys always bring forth a breakthrough for us when you minister up here.”

Ministering in Santa Barbara with IVC

and enjoying the glory, freedom, and fellowship!

The Lord has put it on our hearts to head out again. We recently found some deals on tickets and will be heading to Europe soon. If you want to help out, please feel welcome, as it is as much “the expensive continent” as well as “the dark continent.” (Support page: http://www.graceworldmission.org/contact_us.htm). For far too long missions have been associated with helping people in poverty, however Jesus said “go into all the world.” Because there isn’t a need for food assistance or the like, Europe has been overlooked as a mission field and thus fallen to have only 3% of the population that is born-again Christian. The spiritual warfare that surrounds everything you do there blows away almost every other place in the world we’ve traveled to, which includes ministering on every continent except Antarctica—penguins don’t really need the Gospel so haven’t been there. With such relatively few believers in Europe, it really shouldn’t be that surprising, but the warfare always seems to land on you like you’re trying to catch a falling piano—yeah, you get a little flattened and broken but God uses it for good!

We should also remember that the apostle John commended and applauded the brothers in his third letter for opening their homes and hearts and support to those in the work of the Lord even though those workers were strangers to those who received them (3 John 5:8). How much more when we know each as fellow workers in the harvest field should we show love, financial support, and hospitality to one another and especially to fellow laborers in God’s harvest.

Your support and prayers are a huge blessing and always appreciated.

Blessings to you! Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

Summer of Love Celebration

Getting a blast of the Holy Spirit as Lonnie Frisbee

and Jill Austin prayed over me-whoa!

God has been moving in power as we’ve been ministering in various places lately. Seeing the work of the Holy Spirit takes me back to where it all began for myself when I got filled in the early days of Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, which later became the Vineyard.

Lonnie Frisbee was ministering in the notorious “back room” when the words: “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire” became my own reality (click for my full testimony.)

What started in the 60’s during the Summer of Love with a few hippies getting saved, turned into the powerful Jesus People Revival. We reflect on that wild season and the ministry of Lonnie Frisbee in a short article and video that gives some interesting insights. (There will be a Summer of Love/Jesus People Celebration Tomorrow-see below.)

Frisbee became a main figure in the cultural mission field of a movement searching for spiritual reality. Many actually found it when they encountered the Kingdom of God during the Jesus People Revival. And then again when the Spirit was poured out in Yorba Linda on Mother’s Day.

A book called Jesus People in the Age of Aquarius reviewed various aspects of the movement. They note how dramatically charismatic were churches like Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in those early days, with spiritual gifts and signs and wonders being a regular part of the services back then.

During some waning years, Frisbee ended up doing overseas missions. He began to be seen later up at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, and then one Mother’s Day John Wimber had him share his testimony and a radical outpouring followed. Documented in numerous books and publications, it turned into what missiologist Peter Wagner called “The Third Wave Revival” spreading signs and wonders out to the nations.

I remember being at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa when I started hearing some talk about the fact that Lonnie was back in town, and man, things are getting a bit too wild up there at Calvary Yorba Linda. The complaint could be summed up like this: “Lonnie’s back and, my goodness, they have let him off of his leash up there!”

In reality though, it wasn’t Lonnie who came off the leash but the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit we see referred to over 70 times in the book of Acts—you think God might be trying to say something with that?!? Maybe?— Yes, the same Holy Spirit mentioned over 70 times in the book of Acts made a bold re-entry into His church that Mother’s Day.

Lonnie’s words on that day are as applicable as ever, “The church has been quenching the Spirit for far too long.” Time to stop grieving and quenching the Spirit, take a fresh look at the book of Acts, let the Spirit of God off the leash, and see some life again!!!

As Billy Graham said at Amsterdam 2000: “If we as Christ’s Body don’t start getting back to Acts Chapter 2 and start walking in the power of the Holy Spirit we will have no hope of reaching this present generation.” The little movie clips and nifty jumbotron at the mega church just ain't gonna cut it man!

• There is a new short video with us being interviewed about those times. Meri Crouley, who is hosting the upcoming celebration, recently uploaded this video of an interview of us and others about the revival back in the day.

• There will be a Summer of Love and Jesus People Celebration tomorrow (Sat. 6/4) in South Orange County. We’ll be sharing along with others as well as some worship and ministry so come out if you can.

• We have a web page of our own reflections from the Jesus People Revival as well as a blog posting of the Mother's Day Service at what became the Vineyard. Check it out!

He is Risen

Glory to God! Jesus is risen from the grave!

Well, we had a weekend of divine appointments starting out in Encinitas Friday night where the Lord happened to hook us up with numeous friends who just happened to all be in the same area at the same time. We ended up sitting down at a little street cafe to the surprise of finding out that the waiter happened to remember us all from a church around the area and bringing us out free food -- totally unexpected. More people showed up as the night wore on and it turned into a Holy Ghost prayer time as the Spirit moved in power as we prayed for friends right out on the street as we sat at the table.

Later, we headed out to do a live radio program with Lauren Dowler as our special guest on the program that night, and our son Patrick even shared a bit too for the first time on the radio about his experience of being touched by God when he spontaneously got filled with the Holy Spirit while our friend Dave Estrella shared his testimony up in Salinas. After hanging in Christ's risen glory all weekend, as well as more divine appointments--even praying with another group of people in a fish restaurant later on--and then and all-night worship session, we have just gotten a chance to put up this cool Easter message with ourselves and Lauren and Patrick.

Direct audio link: http://www.graceworldmission.org/audio/kprzlive-lauren_easter.mp3

So, seek not the living amongst the dead. He is alive just as He said--praise God! Click up above and check it out. (Please excuse our audio levels as a train kept us blocked from getting into the station early enough to get our mic levels just right.)

Grace Awakenings and Holy Ghost Surprises

Somewhere near Salinas… I kept hearing that line from an old song reverberate in my head as we drove down the highway in Northern California just recently.

So as we were headed down the highway I figured the Spirit of God was seeking to direct us to something. So we got in touch with our friend Dave who lives in Salinas. We had met at Surfing the Nations (STN) in Hawaii and he got filled with the Spirit when we prayed for him over in the Islands. So we stopped by his place in Salinas and happened to arrive right when a friend of his was also stopping by, who happened to be headed the other way up the highway towards Washington State. Somehow, God is able to arrange that both of us came to Dave’s house at the same time; God coordinates things in such incredible ways it blows your mind.

Dave's friend from Washington had a recent encounter with the grace of God, something he never knew about nor understood even after being a Christian and attending church most of his life. After reading Romans and Galatians on his own where the Holy Spirit opened his eyes, he finally understood the full import of The New Covenant in Christ and The Righteousness that Comes From God. This opened up a long discussion with us where we were speaking even more of the grace of God into his life and then the Spirit of God began to fall on him and move on his life as we were talking, so we started praying for him. The Spirit of God began pouring out on him, and then also on other people who were there, as well as others who showed up later. We ended up having an all-night Holy Ghost outpouring as the Spirit of God filled everyone with His fire and glory: those who showed up to the house later who came straight into the glory when they came inside, along with a few who were there hanging out in other parts of the house that were drawn into the Holy Ghost fire. The Spirit of God moved with His power and filled, and filled, and filled, everyone there all night long. It was 3:33 in the morning when we finally hit the sack—basking in the glory while finally going to sleep.

Dave’s friend from Washington headed up home that next morning. However, the next night, another friend who was part of the Jesus People Revival back in the day came by, as well as another guy starting out in ministry who realized he needed the power of God, and with them and a few others we had another Holy Ghost all-nighter. God poured out his power, bringing forth another time of people being Filled with the Holy Spirit intensely, and after praying for hours for each other, we flowed into singing old Jesus People songs and worshiping in the Spirit late into the wee hours.

Well after another night of going to sleep around 4:00 AM I'm getting the feeling in these outpourings that there isn't going to be much sleeping going on in heaven, just basking in the glory! Praise God!

Broken things can be frustrating but....

On another note, sometimes you wonder how God can work all things for good: After trying to figure out how to mow the lawn after the lawn mower died on us and it was beginning to look like the Amazon jungle, we finally broke down just yesterday and hired a guy to do a quick job for a few bucks until we got it fixed. I began to think there was something more to why this guy was with us mowing the lawn. We began to witness to him and he was listening and interacting pretty well but he then began to talk about all this stuff he learned from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Instead of giving into the temptation to argue about the Jehovah's witness stuff I began to get a word from God that seemed like it might be offensive but I went for it anyways: "You keep getting involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses and you'll find out that what they want from you is money." Instead of being offended, he began to laugh hysterically and told us that’s exactly what he had experienced as he was involved with them. That word actually opened him up even more to what we had to say. He said he knew "that Christ doesn't charge us." We told him: "That's right. He offers salvation freely to all who will receive Him as Savior and Lord." He then prayed with us on the driveway to receive Jesus the Son of God, God the Son, as His Savior. Hallelujah!! Even broken stuff like lawnmowers can be used for higher purposes in God's Kingdom.

Columcille--A Spiritual Descendant of St. Patrick

Tower named after Columcille

in County Donegal, Ireland

One of St. Patrick’s spiritual descendants who had a similar impact as a pioneer missionary was Columcille (in Gaelic) also known as Columba (anglicized.) Much like Patrick, he crossed a treacherous sea to bring the Gospel to a foreign people, only Columcille did it in a curagh, a small, open boat made of hide and wood, and this going all the way from Ireland to Scotland in some pretty heavy seas in a tiny vessel.

Columcille, who was known for having a temper, had instigated a battle in his native Ireland where a large number of people were killed, something in the neighborhood of 5,000. Lamenting his involvement, he cried out to God that he wanted to spend the rest of his life seeing at least as many souls saved as were killed in the battle.

After being banished for his involvement in the battle—let’s not forget about Moses’ killing of an Egyptian and subsequent exile, as well as David’s time in exile—he was moved by the love and mercy of Christ and headed off from the coast of Ireland with some companions to reach the Picts in the land of Scotland.

As Columba sought to reach out to the tribe of the Picts in Scotland, he soon encountered opposition from Druids, just as Patrick had in Ireland, as well as from Brude, a chief in Inverness who wanted nothing to do with him or the faith he was proclaiming and in fact locked the gates to his city to keep Columcille out. Columcille persisted and remained steadfast, praying in front of the massive doors, when the gates suddenly flew open as he made the sign of the cross before them. Having witnessed the power of God in this miracle, the formerly closed and resistant Brude now listened and welcomed Columcille into the city. He began to reach people but also saw continued resistance from Druids and other pagans, but breakthroughs came mostly through power encounters as Columcille and his disciples relied on the power of God as they saw modeled with the disciples in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.

One of the most important aspects of his ministry was establishing a center on Iona—a small, bleak, and foggy Island off the coast of Scotland—where missionaries and evangelists were trained to go out with the Gospel. These Celtic missionaries went all over continental Europe proclaiming the Gospel of Christ; they held to justification by faith and the Scripture as the true authority, refusing to involve themselves in politics. Popular misunderstandings not withstanding, they were not Roman Catholic and in fact were very much in conflict with the Catholic Church as they sought to follow God’s Spirit and proclaim the Gospel as they saw it in Scripture. This incensed many a bishop and priest who were appalled at their willingness to enter their areas and preach, as well as their refusal to submit to the Pope and the Roman hierarchy. It seems rather, that these Celtic Christians chose to look at the whole of Scripture recognizing that God led Moses to resist Pharaoh and thus Christians shouldn’t be dictated to by a spiritual pharaoh and took Jesus’ words to heart: "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant." (Matthew 23:8-11--King James Version)

The studious and prayerful lives of the Celtic Christians led them to be standard bearers during a bleak time when Catholicism slid further and further into a political malaise; they persevered not only in holding to the true Gospel during a time of spiritual darkness but also preserved numerous important manuscripts and important works when the scourge of the Vikings later threw much of Europe and especially the British Isles into havoc. It is why it has been said that “the Irish saved Civilization” during that time.

Columcille was from County Donegal in Ireland, a place we’ve been blessed to visit on occasion and we’ve found out firsthand how rough that sea can be, in both good and bad ways—great surf when the conditions are right but treacherous when they’re not. We were driving through Donegal on one particular trip when I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to turn back towards a place we had just driven past. I wrestled with the why’s for a moment, as did Mercedes. However God’s presence prevailed and we went back to a small set of ancient buildings we had passed, to find not only a church that Columcille was part of, but also a tower that his disciples had later erected to watch for marauding Vikings coming ashore. (Ireland isn’t so great in marking out important historical places.) They had used these towers to not only hide important works but themselves as well from the menacing hordes invading from the north. We took a moment while visiting there to reminisce on that great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us: those who have proclaimed the truth of Christ long before our time. Columcille stands as one of those very witnesses in that great cloud and it is inspiring to know what he did for the sake of the Kingdom.

For further reading click here and for related sources click here.

MINISTRY UPDATE--FEBRUARY 2011

We were performing some worship songs—something the Lord has us doing more and more of lately—at a meeting of radio producers, and had a real visitation of the presence of God while we worshipped. This led to us leading some worship as well as speaking at a church, where again the Lord poured out His Spirit in power. Many people in this small Hispanic congregation testified of how the Lord met them in grace and power that day. The pastor was amazed at how heavily God poured out His power after what he saw as merely a straightforward evangelical message on God’s grace: “You weren’t screaming or yelling or jumping up and down or wearing a shiny expensive white suit or any of the things associated with Charismatic stuff I see usually, and yet we experienced this powerful and incredible outpouring of God’s power!”

Even more amazing though was a surprise move of the Spirit at the end of the day. After eating lunch at the pastor’s house and talking a while, we were getting ready to leave and saying a quick prayer for God’s traveling mercies before heading out the door. As our quick prayer was closing up, I felt led to lay my hand on a young woman who had showed up during the middle of lunch, so as I was quickly saying a few words, suddenly she was powerfully struck by the Spirit of God and collapsed down to her knees and began to cry out in tongues with the sound of languages from places like Greece and Macedonia, which began to reveal a mission call on her life. This time the pastor’s mind was really blown—all we were doing is saying a closing prayer and this unexpected outpouring again, now on this sister?

Paul's words again and again remind us of the importance of walking in the power of the Spirit as a central core to the Christian life not only for ourselves but to influence others to do the same. It is His words that tell us in Romans 8:14 to be led by the Spirit. When we do, exciting things can happen, and we can be naturally supernatural about it. It is also exciting to continue to pass on to others that glorious blessing.

CAR UPDATE

I shared about some car problems we were having a while back so here’s a little update: We were having a mechanic work on one of our vehicles, but ended up getting stuck at his place when we went to pick it up as it immediately failed again right when we started driving off. We were stuck at his place for quite some time while he tried to figure out what was going on. With nothing to do, we began to talk with him and he began to open up a little bit and share how he had first come to the Lord. As we talked to him some more, I began to feel we needed to pray for him, though we had no idea for what or how he would respond. He didn't seem terribly open but we went for it and laid hands on him and nothing really happened right away. It was a bit uncomfortable for a bit there, but as the Lord started to give us specific revelation about what to pray for, a tear came down his face and then another one and more and more to where finally like a river God was pouring His Spirit into him while his tears flowed out. God powerfully moved on his heart and he was touched deeply by God’s grace; he seemed like a different guy after that prayer.

Well, we were stoked just on what God did with that. The blessing continued when he called us and said, “I’m not going to charge for the first car and have torn up the check.” Praise God for a breakthrough there as we really needed it! The other broken car still needed repaired too though and needed a lot of parts but he did discount the labor charge on that one too. Praise God for the breakthroughs and the work of the Holy Spirit in this guy’s life which is incomparably more important than money—God can use even car problems for good!

The car warfare continued though—each time these car problems happened it was on the way to some ministry event. We were on our way to a home meeting where we’ve been seeing some people from backgrounds not really known as Charismatic get filled with the Spirit when the hood came loose and was looking like it would fly up into the windshield. We had to immediately get off the freeway and drive slowly on surface streets, which of course made us pretty late to the meeting. Didn’t stop God from doing awesome stuff though.

We were quoted about two hundred dollars for a repair for that hood. However, Mercedes was driving around town one day and felt the Lord leading her down a street and ended up at a junkyard, where she started talking to the guys there. They are probably not used to having pretty female visitors on a regular basis and thus they went out of their way to help her out—not my experience at junkyards at all! Well, they not only found the right part to fix the hood but gave it to her and installed it all free of charge! Praise God! It’s awesome how God can use even car problems for good!! Hallelujah!

Thank you for your prayers and support, as they keep us out there “doin’ the stuff” as John Wimber used to say, in all kinds of different situations and settings.

Click here to donate: http://www.graceworldmission.org/contact_us.htm