Swiss ... Part Deux

Hey all

Well, after a stupid week last week trying to organize everything we finally arrived back in Switzerland on Saturday at about five pm. Sunday morning was great with the Le Chapelle and then Sunday afternoon we had another "fire" meeting ... we basically worshipped for a while, I shared a quick word (Simon even introduced me as "Pastor Lee" ... the first time anyone has ever called me that ha ha ha) and then we prayed for a whole load of people.

One of the things that we are noticing is that the level of accuracy in the prophetic is increasing (tres cool!) and also that God seems to be releasing more and more people (especially couples) into this kind of ministry.

Some testimony from last weekend ... I had a word of knowledge last week about a damaged knee from an accident. A man who had been in a motorcycle accident four years ago came forward for prayer and left with no pain! John, Paul and I prayed for a lady who was loosing her memory and her speech. The next day she came to the baptismal service speaking clearly and testified to a new clarity in her thinking!!! There are more ... but I can't think of them right now!

There are more meetings this week with the possibility of visiting a Spanish church in Geneva ... I'll keep you posted ...

Switzerland Ablaze

Wow ... what a trip!

We arrived back on Monday morning after about 3 hours sleep the night .. but what an amazing weekend.

We arrived late on Friday night around 9pm and went straight into a meeting where we prayed for the leadership of the La Chappelle (the church in Le Sentier). Right from the moment we started to pray God showed up powefully.

Saturday we had three recieving meetings, one at 10am another at 2pm, football at 6pm(Switzerland vs Czech Republic) and another meeting at 8:30pm. In all of the meetings God was moving powerfully, especially the Saturday night.

Sunday morning we were with the church again as they baptised 7 people and then another meeting in a different church at 3 in the afternoon. It really was an awesome time. We saw God pouring out His Spirit on hungry people; we saw God healing people and we saw God delivering people. The testimonies are still coming in so keep looking at the blog page and I'll post them as I get them.

And more exciting news ... the church there has asked us to stay on so ... we left Simon and Dora-Maria there for a week. Sarah and I are flying out on Saturday for another week or so to do more meetings in different churches around Geneva and Lausanne.

Switzerland! ... The Fire's Coming to Switzerland!

During the intensive one of the students had a dream about taking the fire (the stuff that God is doing) to Switzerland (we have some really good links with a church over there and we usually take the Ministry School students over for a mission trip).  

Being honest, I can't remember how many times this dream was confirmed. At least twice by people here in our church ... I think the Swiss pastor also had a dream about a team coming from the UK to "bring the fire" ...

... and the most hilarious bit ... I was told yesterday about the Lakeland meeting. In the middle of praying for a woman's healing Todd Bentley stops praying and shouts out "SWITZERLAND!, THE FIRE'S COMING TO SWITZERLAND!"

Ooooh i get goose bumps!

So, we are going! On friday! 9 of us! 

God send your fire to the nations and pour it out on Switzerland!!!! 

Back in Blighty

Wow ...

So many things have happened since I got back to the UK. In some ways it good that didn't have a job to go back to as I've been involved in so much ministry stuff that I haven't had time to work!!!

I got back to Gatwick at 10am Monday morning (the 19th of May) and finally back home at around 1. After sleeping for a couple of hours (next time I'm gonna fly first class ... its got to be more comfortable!) I went to a meeting at the church (Kingsland Lexden). Over the last few years we have been running a ministry school and this year we have about ten students. As part of the course we've run three day "Intensives" where we teach, worship and generally try to push deeper into God. The Monday evening was amazing, God was doing so much stuff in our midst. 

Having just returned from the States, I was asked to share about what had happened while I was away and about the Lakeland meetings. After this ... pray! "Pray for everyone" they said! Ok! It was amazing to watch as God met powerfully with people ... there were bodies everywhere!

These meetings went through Tuesday (we started at 10 and I think I got out of the building around 4:30 in the afternoon). Tuesday night was spent in Clacton with an Elim Pastor and his church doing much the same thing (he had just returned from Lakeland as well) and then more of the same on Wednesday.

I think I managed to get Thursday free, and then Friday went over to Tiptree for the Alpha course we had been running. 

This was such an amazing time. We ended up scrapping the alpha talk and started to pray for everyone. It was amazing ... again ... to see how powerfully God was meeting people ... and bear in mind that this is Alpha, a place to explore Christianity, not a full blown church meeting. People who said "I don't fall over" ended up on the floor laughing, people who were a little nervous of God would do found that they got very shaky couldn't stand up! We also had Mark Suttcliffe with us that night (a great friend, intercessor, teacher ... all sorts of things). We prayed for him and he started running on the spot! It was hilarious!  

I want to make something very clear at this point (and will try to blog some more thoughts about what God is doing later) ... When I pray for people to receive more of the Spirit and to release anointing I love to see these kinds of manifestations; it encourages me, especially when God does something unexpected. But it is not the manifestations that are important. Its all about fruit! I have said this so often ... are you more in love with Jesus today than yesterday? do you want to go deeper into the Word of God? Do you have a greater desire for an adventure in prayer? Are you allowing God to change your life, circumstances, motivations and reactions? It is these things that are important (... but I still love the manifestations!)

Well, more later I think!    

More USA

Hey all, 

Well its been a while ... a very long while actually since I updated this ... I'm doing it especially for AMY HICKS!!!! Are you serious that blog reading is better than soap operas?!?!?!

The second week away was just as eventful as the first. I was invited to go kayaking ... with alligators (!) on the Tuesday and then in the evening attended a bible study in a local restaurant. The guys there were great, they baked me a cake and put up a "Happy Birthday Princess" banner for me (hmmm). 

I was also invited to go to a mens lunch at Wycliffe Bible translators with a couple of the guys from Man in the Mirror ministries. Pat Morley (the head honcho at Man in the Mirror) spoke, there was a Chile cook-of and the biggest pile of pizza's I have ever seen in my life!

Friday lunchtime was spent with Tammy and Brian and some of Brian's work contacts. We dined (in a very posh restaurant in downtown Orlando) with a lady called Tina (see the photo ... she never smiles!) an ex-supermodel (Chanel, D&G, Robert Palmer music videos ... that kind of thing!). The food was amazing and I didn't have to pay as long as I recorded a cell phone answer message on Tina's phone in my best British accent! 

Friday afternoon was spent with the music director at Aloma, Mark, he's such a cool guy. WE chatted about all sorts of stuff ... music, counseling, the church, vision, life in general ... you know those kind of conversations? It was great. 

Sunday morning was church as usual (getting up at 6, being at church at 7 argghhh) and then off to the airport in the afternoon to find that I was 7 kilo's over weight! (my suitcase that is, not me personally). 

It was a really cool time in the US and I met so many great people ... I wanna go back!!!  

I AM NOT A GRASSHOPPER!!!

This morning (May 12th) was amazing. 

I traveled out of the city to the HQ of Campus Crusade for Christ and met up with a guy called Mark Tjenagle. Mark is the Chief Finance Officer for CCC ... that means he controls a budget of about half a billion a year!!! 

After a quick chat with him, Andy (a pastor from the Aloma church) and I went through the Jesus Video project tour. This is amazing. The Jesus video has been translated into 1027 different languages, but its not your usual badly lipped synced film. They record the dialogue using ordinary members of the community in their natural dialect. The recording is then shipped back to the US where the syllables are all matched up to the actors lips so that the finished film looks like Jesus is speaking Spanish or Mandarin or ... whatever! Its seriously cool!

After the tour, we met up with Mark again who took us "behind the scenes". We walked around the I.T. department (Jason, you'd be jealous man!). Then he took us to the executives suites. It was amazing to see photos of Bill and Vonette Bright (the founders of CCC) with a succession of past US presidents, and to see "keys to the city" hanging on the wall. 

Bill died in 2003 but CCC has kept his office as it was ... and he even still has a secretary! 

The most amazing thing was being shown into Bill's office. If you look at the pictures of the HQ above (and that's just one of the buildings!) you'd think his office would be palatial ... but it really wasn't. It was a small, corner office looking out on the back of the property. 

On his desk was a small plaque that read "I am not a grasshopper". Its a reference from Numbers 14, when 10 Israelites went to explore the promised land. Only Joshua and Caleb returned with a positive report while the other 8 focused on the Nephillim (giants) saying we looked like grass hoppers even in our own eyes! 

It was incredibly humbling to stand in the office of a man who had a vision from God that has literally touched the world. 

And then ... right there in the office of Bill Bright ... the founder of CCC ... the guys prayed for me, for direction and clarity! How cool is that!?!?!?!?!?

I AM NOT A GRASS HOPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Georgia ... The Wedding

Wow, I've been to some weddings but this one was truly beautiful. We drove up from Casslebury, leaving about 1:30 on Friday and arrived in Georgia at about 5:30. Its basically made up of various islands, so we ended up in place called St Simons. There is a big Christian retreat centre here, founded around a visit by John Wesley. 

The wedding was between Kelly (a woman who works at Man in The Mirror) and Jerry, a guy who had gone through the Salvation Army Adult Rehab program (see the other blog for more details). This guy has an awesome testimony of God getting him out of alcohol and serious drug abuse (and no word of lie, I really liked this guy the first moment I met him!). The wedding itself was quite simple, but the most powerful moments were when Jerry and Kelly made public commitments to Kelly's two Children and then to see them serving everyone in the congregation with communion. It really was awesome! (Its that word again Matt!). There was hardly a dry eye 

 

Some Updates

Hey guys,

Well its been a crazy few days and I've not really had time to catch up on the blog ... so here goes! I've decided to separate this out a little, so hopefully it will make more sense. 

The wedding over the weekend was awesome (see the blog above and some pics)

Sunday morning I was up at 6:00 and at church by 6:45! I will never again complain about having to be in Tiptree by 9:30!!! (... Sunday afternoon ... I was asleep!). They have three services on a Sunday morning (some pics above ... I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the church "in full flight" with the everyone dressed in robes but I'm sure you can imagine!). A traditional service at 8:00, a contemporary service at 9:15 followed by another traditional at 11:00. I'll try and blog some more observations of the church (ought to say the Church generally in the US) in the next few days ... I'm still reflecting!

This morning I went over to the HQ of Campus Crusade for Christ (see above) and the then this afternoon / evening I spent at an Alpha course run by the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Centre. This was very cool. About 110 guys in a facility outside Orlando all with alcohol and/or drug addictions. We spent some time setting up and then ate. When the "meeting" started we had about 45 minutes of worship, then watched a short version of Nicky Gumbels talk on prayer. I then joined one of the discussion groups (9 of us in all). Overall, there were 7 groups all about the same size. It was a really great evening and amazing and humbling to see members of the church sowing so much time, effort and money in to these guys. I didn't take any photos as it didn't seem right at the time, but it will be a lasting memory.  

Shikah Boom Bah!

Hey guys,

Wow, well its been a couple of days since I've updated this ... man what a rush its been! On Wednesday I did a bit of the tourist thing, went to Florida and and wandered around Downtown Disney (not the big resort but a small ... free version of it) and then hit the stores! I cant believe the prices over here. What we pay for stuff in pounds they pay in dollars so everything is half price or less! Its amazing!

Then last night we went down to Lakeland. The meeting was ... AWESOME! Two hours of worship, loads of miracles and stuff happening during the worship. A lady from Milton Keynes was there and gave testimony about a healing in England over an answer phone message! Todd then asked if there were any others from England ... there must have been about 150 at least! We literally ran down to the front! It was awesome! Cant really describe it in words but the presence was so strong. I ended up on the floor (somewhere at the bottom right hand side of the picture!) 

Not only that but Claudio Friedzen was there as well as Randy Clarke! It was such an awesome meeting! You can watch the meeting if you missed it here ...

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/401263

The impartation stuff for the UK is about 30 minutes in.

I'd been asking God for an impartation while I was in the US and especially at the meeting. I was chatting to guy afterwards who had been there since Saturday and he told that this was the first time Todd had prayed for the UK. Its just amazing to me how things have worked out. The start of the revival in April and continual meetings since then. Before I left for the US i was asking God not to let it end before I had a chance to get to it. Not only did I get to it but I also got to meeting where Todd prayed specifically for the UK!!!! Not only that, but He feels that the greatest outpouring of the healing revival outside of the US would be in the UK! God is so awesome! I'll have to tell you guys all about when I get back, its too much to type now ... expect a long story!!!

I took some video of the meeting too (some of the testimonies) but if you watch it from the link you shouldn't need it. 

We are living in unprecedented times. God is moving all over the earth in so many countries. Its what we have been praying for, for years. Don't get put of by the style or the presentation, or even the manifestations. Just push into what God has for you ... and us! Often God challenges the mind to get to the heart. I pray that we would all be open to what He is doing in our midst. 

Well, I gotta go. I'm traveling up to Georgia now for a wedding rehearsal for tomorrow. I'll try and blog some more stuff while I'm there ... there is so much to say!

Stay blessed, and keep pressing in!  

 

Man In The Mirror

Hey guys.

Well, I just got back home ... it's like 30 degrees outside and forecast to be hotter by the end of the week! It's about 2:50 here which is 7:50 your time. 

I spent the morning at the offices of a para-church ministry called "Man In The Mirror". It was started by a guy called Patrick Morley and is basically a teaching ministry with a focus on discipling men. I went to their weekly staff meeting first thing (at about 8:30) and then had a couple of meetings with two of the staff. The first was with a guy called Jim. We chatted about what I was in the US for and about the future ... it was really cool, very prophetic and he said some great stuff, and I get to catch up with him again next week at a chili cook off! I'm gonna try and get to his church on Sunday too.        

After that was a lunch meeting with Brett, another one of the teaching staff, a little more conservative than Jim but he still said some great things. I really feel that some of the people I'm meeting are those sort of "God moments" and that some lasting relationships will come out of them. It's all very cool (apart from the weather!)

Well, I'd better go, got a driving lesson this afternoon (I've never driven here before and being able to turn right on a red light is weirding me out a little!) and then I have  a bible study tonight at a local restaurant. 

Not sure what is happening tomorrow yet, but I know I have music rehearsal for Sunday in the evening. 

Thursday .... LAKELAND!!!

Bless ya 

ah ... there it is. This is of to one side

Northland Mega Church

Well, this is Northland ... or at least part of it! You wouldn't believe how big this place is. You cant see the balcony, or the two wings, the entrance hall, the coffee shop, the book store, the youth hall ... its huge!!!! 

Man, Its Hot!

Hey guys

Well I arrived in sunny Florida. Had a few nervous moments at the airport when I went to check in. I didn't realize that you had to give an address of where you are staying, at least for the first night. I didn't have a clue where I was staying so, after twenty minutes hunting through the internet we gave them the church address and hoped they wouldn't check it too carefully!

Well, they let me on the plane so that was a start. We flew Gatwick to Halifax (Canada) and then down to Sanford. Took about ten hours in all, with a forty minute stop at Halifax for fuel. Arrived at Sanford at about 5:20 local time (we are five hours behind here, so 10:20 your time). 

Well, today has been fun. I started off this morning with a tour of the church ... I'll have to send you some photos ... of the campus!!! Went to a couple of meetings this morning, one about developing leadership and then a worship planning meeting. The planning meeting was good but I have to admit a little weird ... I haven't planned worship for years.

Tonight has been fun. Four of us went to Northland Church ... an American mega church! total attendance over the weekend ... only about 7800!!! The service was great, way more traditional than i expected with some of the Anglican liturgy and communion. From what was said this was a little out of the ordinary, but made a real refreshing change. I tried to take a photo of the inside ... hm not sure of its working. I'll try to put it on facebook

Later

Another Meeting ... Another Miracle (well, quite a few actually!)

Wow! What an amazing couple of days its been.

Last nights evening meeting was amazing, and Simon Rennie if your reading this ... another meeting ... Another miracle! Actually, that's not quite true ... there were many miracles!

It was simply amazing and very humbling to watch God perform creative miracles right in front of our eyes. Here's a very brief list of the things we've seen happen ...
* An ankle healed (not sure of the details)
* Sleepachnia healed (hope I spelt that right!)
* A shoulder broken some years ago healed and full movement restored
* Bad pain from a broken ankle completely gone
* A left arm reconstructed and straightened following an accident 6 years ago

This is just the start!
* We also saw God working creative miracles in restoring missing cartilage in knees
* We even had a report of a woman healed from M.S. while being prayed for during the meeting
ON A CELL PHONE!!!!

You may well be think "yeah ok, whatever" but when some one stands up in the meeting and gives testimony of how they were healed in last years meeting you have to start taking it a bit more seriously! (I was in the meetings last year as well and I remember these two women)

One lady was prayed for last year from a condition called distonia. It cased severe shaking and major balance problems. It also affected her swallowing to the point were it was extremely difficult to eat. In her own words, she looked like a cross the between the village drunk and the village idiot, constantly falling over because of her condition. Today she is completely healed!

Another woman arrived in a wheel chair last year. She had been in a bad car accident and suffered severe whiplash with many complications. She was paralyzed from the neck down, unable to speak and suffered foot drop. During her time in the wheel chair she also suffered two major heart attacks which doctors told her had left scarring and irreparable damage to her heart.

She was prayed for last year (at the first evening meeting ... on the second day she arrived on crutches. On the third day, she left both her wheelchair and crutches in the boot of her car and walked into the meeting!

She stood in front of 2000 people this morning totally healed. On top of that, she had a check up two days before the conference started and Doctors could find no scarring or damage to her heart AT ALL!!!

Still not convinced?!?!?!

During one of the teaching seminars on Tuesday, a lady called Fran was prayed for. She had one leg 1 and 1/2 inches shorter than the other. She had to wear an extra heal in one shoe but had constant back pain. She received prayer and her leg grew out to the size of the other. THE MIRACLE WAS FILMED and shown to us in the meeting Wednesday morning!

It is such a priviledge to witness God doing this stuff and even more humbling to realise that we get to be involved as we pray ... and its for every believer, not a chosen few.

This is normal Chrisitainity!!!

So, there is the challenge. What are you waiting for? Go find some legal targets and get praying!!!

Its Life Jim ...

Yesterday was such a great day! The testimonies have stated to come in including people healed over cell phones while conference delegates prayed for them during the meeting! How cool!

Can I tell you a quick story? If any of you have heard me preach in the last year, I might have mentioned a guy called Jim. I first met Jim at the New Wine conference last year when Bill Johnson encouraged us to pray for each other. At the time Jim was wearing two hearing aids. Myself and another guy (sorry don't know his name) began to pray for Jim's healing ... just real simple short prayers. After a while, the other guy, standing next to Jim asked him if he could hear us talking (by this time Jim had taken his hearing aids of) to which he answered "yes". taking a couple of steps back he repeated the question ... the same answer ... another couple of steps back and the same question ... the same answer! It was awesome and really the first time that I had been part of a miracle! 

Yesterday morning just before the conference was due to start, everyone fighting for seats (you know how it is at Christian conferences!) I remembered Jim from last year. As soon as I said "I wonder if Jim is here this year" ... there he was a couple of rows in front of me!

I managed to catch up with him at the end of the seminar ... no hearing aids! He told me that in the last year God has been doing a great deal in his life and really breaking his heart for the lost and to see healing. He has visited Spokane and is now involved with healing on the streets. It was so good to see him again. We hugged ... I cried. 

God is Awesome!

Bill Johnson ... part 1

Hey everyone,

Well, what an awesome day! (I'm at the New Wine conference in case you've lost track!) just a quick post ... because I need food!!! John Coles spoke this morning ... which was amazing. He got us all to stand towards the end of the meeting and I was met powerfully by the Spirit. I've read loads of stories about peoples encounters with the Spirit and it being similar to an electric shock on the top you head (i think it was Jack Dere's book) ... well it was kind of like that. Just wave after wave of the Spirit ... on the top of my head! what's all that about?!?!? 

Bill Johnson has just finished his first seminar. Similar in content to last year but still just as awesome! Again, his team brought some words of knowledge and loads of people have been prayed for. 

Well over 100 people have testified to physical healing in tonights meeting!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll try and update you again tomorrow as the testimonies come in 

... and watch out for the story of my friend Jim ... AMAZING!

Bless ya

Hey all,

Well, its just over a week before I fly out to the sunny States and things are getting kinda exciting! I'll be flying into Sanford Airport near Orlando and staying with a couple from the church. One of the Pastor's, Andy, has organized an itinerary for the time that I'm there (I'll try and keep you posted as things happen) with stuff in the church, looking at some of the para-church ministries, plenty of time for personal prayer and even leading worship at a wedding in Georgia! 

Spiritually, things are really good and exciting at the moment. As some of you know, I was made redundant at the end of March and haven't had any work through April. This has been fantastic for my spiritual life though not so good on the bank balance (... and the rent is due next week!) but God is big enough to deal with that! 

With the New Wine conference (with Bill Johnson) as well as the Company of Prophetic People training and a church away day all before I fly out ... I'm gonna be high!

I've also been hearing news of healing revival in Lakeland, Florida. This is about an hour south of where I'll be staying! I love it when God turns up and starts doing things in our midst ... bring it on! 

The big question is ... will I want to come back again?!?!?

I'll keep you posted   

Do'h

Well, this is my first foray into the world of blogging! Yeah, ok I admit I'm a little behind the times! My main reason for doing this is to keep ya'll in touch with events while I'm away in the sunny States. ... After that ... who knows!