Wednesday Night at the Highland Oak Apartments in Abilene, TX God displayed His awesome love in many ways:

Relationship – A couple of students took the time during the outreach to sit and talk with some Nepalese refugees. They took time to get to know these people and hear their heart. As relationship was built the people became interested in the Jesus we love and serve. By the end of the night several of these people had received Christ & were connected with the international student Life Group in our College Ministry!

Healing – Before the outreach even started, as the team was praying, worshiping, and setting up, two of our girls met a 12 year old girl who was walking by. The young girl was severely crippled and walked with a limp because her leg was crooked. As they talked with her, they discovered that she had been in a car accident that had caused these serious injuries. She had metal rods in her back that caused constant back pain. The two students laid hands on her and began to pray for her healing. After three prayers with little improvement, they decided to pray a fourth time. Immediately when they began to pray the fourth time, the Holy Spirit came upon this 12-year old girl and she fell to the floor. The two girls praying for her were shocked at what was going on because they weren’t expecting it at all! They continued to minister to the little girl for several more minutes as she laid on the ground. When she came to, she had joy & peace unspeakable in her heart…and her back pain was totally gone & her limp was dramatically improved! Yea God!!!!

Loving on children – we have had a great opportunity to love on children through this week at the outreaches. Students have ministered to hundreds of children by loving them, playing with them, painting their faces, telling them about Jesus, and leading them to Jesus!

Sunday Morning (March 13th): Each of our teams went to a different small town to join in worship with some of the different churches we would be partnering with later in the week. One team went to Grace Point Community Church in Merkel with a heart to be a blessing and encouragement to the people there. Before getting off of the bus, the team took some time to listen to God for any specific words of encouragement or specific direction. They wrote down several different things they believed that God wanted to do and then went in to love on the people. The service went great and was an encouraging time of praise and worship. As the service ended the team was able to share some of the words that they had received from God with the congregation…and well, several of them were dead on, including words about healing of celiac, healing of a right hand, healing of a broken heart, healing of pain from the loss of a recent child, and several more. God did awesome things! The church was encouraged big time. Here is an email their pastor sent later that day to the elders at Beltway:

I just wanted to say what a blessing it was to have part of your college mission team over to visit for worship yesterday.  It was like a blitzkrieg of encouragement and prayer!  It was amazing and truly humbling to see the passion these young people have for the Lord.  I can honestly say that I don’t think one person was able to leave our church without someone from your team praying for them. I know that you are confident that the money you are investing in college missions is well spent but I just wanted you to hear from actual people on the receiving end of this ministry of how awesome it really is.  Thanks to everyone at Beltway for having such a Kingdom vision and a heart for the Big Country and we are looking forward to their return to Merkel on Thursday evening!

-Brit Pursley, Grace Point Church

Sunday Evening in Anson, TX: At the outreach in Anson on Sunday night our team saw God do an incredible miracle! After the gospel drama & preaching of the gospel by one of our students, there was an invitation to receive Christ and receive prayer for healing, here’s what followed:

Healing – two team members went over to an older Hispanic lady and asked if they could pray in any way for her. She said I would like for you to pray for my hand. She stuck out her hand that was severely crippled with arthritis (especially the ring finger). The knuckles were swollen & she was unable to stretch out her ring finger at all. The two team members prayed twice for her with a little improvement each time. On the third time, as they prayed the swelling visibly went completely away and her clinched fist was released! She stretched her fingers out for the first time in years! Totally healed right before our eyes.

Salvation – there were two young men there who believed upon the Lord for the first time. These two young men are sons of the biggest drug dealer in the city. They totally abandoned themselves to the Lord Jesus!

In the evening we did an outreach at a government apartment complex where one of the families from the church lives. This apartment complex was a dark place known for violence and immorality. At the outreach there were nearly 40 young kids from ages 6-18 as well as a good handful of adults. It was awesome to see all the kids gather around to hear the gospel and watch the drama about Jesus, many of the kids were hearing the gospel explained to them for the very first time! A group of 13-14 year old boys all made decisions for Christ and we were able to hand out a lot of Bible and disciple kids in how to grow in relationship with God.

Towards the end of our time there Jeremy got in a conversation with a man who was casually and curiously walking thru the parking lot. The man totally opened up about what was going on in his life and how he had turned away from God the past few month diving back into a very sinful lifestyle. After praying with him, the man said that a weight just fell off his shoulders! Then he mentioned that around 5:30pm that day his sister had come by to see if he wanted to go to church. He said no, but agreed to let her pray for him. All she had prayed was that God would send a man into his life to speak truth to him and help him get on the right track. He didn’t know about the outreach, but saw all the people hanging out so decided to go walk around. He walked right into the divine appointed answer to his sisters prayer within 2 hours of her praying. The icing on the cake was that the family from the Moss Bluff church lives a few doors over. So God sent a quick answer and a long term answer to help disciple this guy!

God is so cool. He just keeps doing all kinds of fun stuff because he loves people and is after a personal intimate relationship with them!

One group of students while praying and listening to the Lord got a specific word of knowledge of a man named Robert that would be under a bridge and had arthritis. So they went to the nearest bridge that they knew of and guess what they found. Under that I-10 bridge was a man living in his truck named Robert and yes he had arthritis in his right shoulder. The group was blown away and so was the man when they showed him the paper that had the specific details already written on it. They put together a care package of food, bug spray, sunscreen, a Bible, and some other things that would be a blessing to him. He was so thankful and the group was able to pray with him and share Jesus with him.

While this group was with Robert another group was led to a man named Jimmy who was also homeless. Jimmy was thankful for the water and food, and even more thankful for the students sticking around to just talk with him. Seeing that the students were genuine people that really loved Jesus and people, Jimmy directed them to secret homeless camp where they could find a group of homeless poor who they could love on.

Also, earlier in the day, one of the teenage boys of the Moss Bluff Church felt like God put on his heart the name Keith, amnesia, and Isaiah 59:1. (Side note: the people of the Moss Bluff Church have been getting discipled in hearing God, praying for the sick, and sharing the gospel all week by our students and this was great fruit in this teenagers life!).

We dropped off the girls at a battered women and children’s shelter where they were going to hang out with and minister to the women there. The guys all went out to the homeless camp that we had been told about earlier in the day.

The homeless camp was off a dirt road that went way back in the woods. When we arrived and began to walk back into the forest where the camp was, we were met by a not-so-friendly dog running straight towards us that was called off by a woman’s voice just before it reached us. We were surprised by the scene of the camp, it was like a third world country neighborhood that had tents up, trash everywhere, a horrible smell, but two friendly faces that met us. We introduced ourselves to a man named John and a woman named Ruth who were really hospitable and glad to have visitors. We talked for a little while with them and then asked if there were any others with them at the camp. John said there were several others further back in the woods. So he took some of the guys on a hike back into the woods, where about 100 yards back through brush, over train tracks, through the mud and mosquitos, we came upon another camp where 3 homeless men and 1 woman were hanging out shooting the breeze. They welcomed us gladly and so we sat down and began to talk with them. We brought them a couple of cases of water and boxes of chips, which they were very thankful for.

These people were so grateful for us coming to just be with them! After talking with them for a while, playing music for them, and having some good laughs one of the men said, “Who would have thought that God would reach all the way back into the woods to find us” (See Isaiah 59:1). The woman was writing in a spiral, and when asked what she was writing, she said I need a roll call because I am writing an account of the incredible things that have happened just now with yall coming out here.

One of the men named Keith, needed prayer for his feet that were swollen. As we were praying for his feet, he began to get light headed and said he needed to lay down. As soon as we layed him down, he began to have a severe seizure shaking violently on the floor. We had cell phones, so we called 911 as we continued to pray for him as he was shaking. After he stopped shaking our men picked him up to carry him 100 yards back through the woods to where the street was where the ambulance would come. The ambulance came and took the man to the hospital where he could be treated. Had we not been there, they would have had no way to contact help, much less carry him out of the woods cause all the other homeless people were disabled and unable to carry a man that big.

We were in awe of what God did through this whole ordeal. Isaiah 58 says that God cares for the marginalized. We experienced today that if we set our heart to be obedient to the Lord in this and make ourselves totally available to his use, He will lead us right to the places of deepest need in the most remote places at just the right time because “His arm is not to short to save”.

Here are a few of the many testimonies from the treasure hunts this afternoon:

-       During our prayer time, Kristen P. got a mental picture of a Tobacco Store and a rough looking man with a bunch of tattoos. The sense she had from the Lord was that the man just needed some encouragement. When their team arrived at the Tobacco Store, Kristen and Logan got out to go find this man. As they were walking up to the store an intimidating looking man with tattoos all over walks out talking on his cell phone. Concluding he was the one they were to talk to, they run up to him and share what God had put on their hearts. The man was totally receptive and was also totally in awe of God’s pursuit of him. He had just gotten off the phone with his wife who had said that she wanted to start going to church again, though he was not feeling as ready. Kristen’s word cut him right to the heart and he said that he was now ready and excited about going to church with his wife cause he knew God saw him and that God’s concern for him was real!

-       Jamie Z. and Chelsea G. felt impressed by God to go to Church’s Chicken and minister to someone there. When they arrived they immediately found a girl who seemed to need some encouragement. They invited her to come join them at their table and talk and she came and joined them. They talked with her for a long while about life, shared the gospel with her, and prayed for her to be healed of brokenness and receive God’s peace. Later in the afternoon when all of our teams met up again, they were sharing this story with the others on our team. As they shared they began to put the pieces together. This girl was the next door neighbor of one of the families in the church who some of our students are staying with this week. Just the day before, Linda (who was staying at this particular house) had been talking with the host who shared the story about these particular neighbors. Linda was burdened by the situation and went next door to talk to them. They weren’t home, so Linda prayed that God would open wide a door for the gospel in this situation and would set up divine appointments for her. The next day in a Church’s Chicken far across town Jamie and Chelsea meet this girl and minister to her freely for over an hour!

-       Briana and some other students got a word of knowledge about a red brick house and the name Phillips. On the way to one of their other outreach locations they got stuck in traffic and had to take a detour. They turn on a random road and start driving down the street when one of the students says, “Guys look at the name of this street we are on!”…”Phillips!”…so they all eagerly start looking for a red brick house. The last house on the street is a red brick house! They go knock on the door and a lady answers the door. They asked her if their was any way they could pray for her and she immediately said let me go get my sister in law who is inside. The sister in law’s husband had just died from cancer and was a total emotional wreck. Briana shares the story of how they ended up there and the woman begins to sob overwhelmed by the kindness of God to send perfectly random strangers to her front door to pray with her in the deepest moment of need in her life. Both of the women were believers and told our students “thank you for listening to the Holy Spirit and following His leading here!”

In the evening we went to a local park to do an outreach (dramas, music, share the gospel, etc.) and here are some of the awesome stories of what God did:

-       Joey and Lindsey felt like God gave them a word of knowledge about there being a couple that would come to the outreach whose marriage God wanted to specifically bless. After the drama and gospel presentation, they approached this particular couple that God had placed on their hearts. Joey first asked the couple if they were married (not wanting to assume anything), and they replied with “well…uh…kinda…uh sorta…yes”. So Joey went ahead and shared the word about God wanting to bless their marriage….and their jaws hit the floor. The couple was married but had been separated for 2 months, and tonight was their first time to see each other since they separated. They were meeting at the park to walk and talk about getting back together and restoring their marriage. Needless to say, God was at work and they were super encouraged. Not only was their marriage getting restored, but also their individual relationships with Jesus! Joey led them both in prayers of rededication to Christ and prayed for them to be filled with the Spirit. They did not have a church home, so Joey invited them to Moss Bluff Church and they said they would be there on Sunday to worship with us!!!!

-       Byron and some other students ministered to a 18 year old guy who was at the park playing soccer. He came to the outreach and was touched by every part of it, especially Matt Davis’ testimony. The young man had a ruptured disc in his back that was causing him severe and constant pain. After Byron and the team laid hands on him and prayed for him, God’s presence came on him and the pain left his back!!! He has not yet surrendered his life to Jesus, but we believe he will soon. He texted Byron later in the evening and said, “Man thanks for everything, I was really touched tonight.”

God was so faithful to lead us today, giving us divine appointments all over the place, and open doors for the gospel! More to come in the days ahead!

The other team went on a treasure hunt! Based out of Luke 15:8-10 and modeled well by Philip in Acts 8:26-40, treasure hunts work pretty simple. We took time to listen to God for very specific words of direction and encouragement and then went out and shared them/prayed them with people. One group felt like God said to go to the music store and that there would specifically be someone who needed prayer for abdominal pain, as well as someone who had been wounded and felt like time was short. The group went to the store and began to ask people if they could pray for them. The second man they went to, who was a middle aged black man who worked at the store, was totally shocked when they asked if he needed prayer for abdominal pain. He had just called the doctor to set up an appointment for the pain he had in his stomach. As the group prayed with him he became pretty emotional and said that as he drove to work that morning he had prayed for God to send him a sign out of the ordinary to encourage him! He then shared how he and his wife have been doing a music ministry, but he really lacks confidence and courage to do it cause he doesn’t feel good enough. They then asked if he had been wounded in the past by anyone. When asked, the man broke into tears cause he had been wounded by his mom who said he would never amount to anything and that word had specifically bound him for decades, but it was broken!!!! They then ministered the last word that the time was short, God was with him, those words from his mother were a lie and God had great things in store for his ministry with his wife! He was completely encouraged! In the afternoon, the teams switched locations and assignments.

In the evening our entire team went to the neighborhood where we had been working. We broken up into 2s and 3s and went door to door sharing the gospel and praying for the sick. We saw healing take place in a number of situations and were able to pray for many of the neighbors’ relationship with Jesus. We made a lot of connections with people needing a church home and are connecting them with Moss Bluff Church. Many of the words God had given us the day before as we prayed through the neighborhoods (including specific names, needs for healing, and spiritual strongholds) we encountered and were able to minister the power of Jesus to those people.

After dinner, we had a time for sharing testimonies and encouragement with the Moss Bluff Church. Byron Rogers taught on “Sonship, Identity, and Praying for the sick”. A number of people in our team and the Moss Bluff church experienced healing in their body as we put the teaching into practice. It was a great day!!!