Divine Bus Rescue in Eisenach

We were on our way to Sweden to minister and stopped in Germany on the way to see some Martin Luther sights and do some filming.

We arrived in Eisenach, Germany very late at night.  After getting off the train and traipsing up the street with our luggage, kid, surfboard—I kept asking myself what am I doing with a surfboard in Eisenach, Germany—and backpacks in tow, a foreboding feeling was setting in. 

It looked completely empty and there were no cars on the street, nor people around, nothing.  We found a bus station but the buses had stopped running quite a while ago.

There were no taxis around either so we looked at one of those crude maps you find at the bus stop and realized that the place we had booked to stay was about 10 miles away.  There was nothing around so we started walking in the direction of where the place was, thinking, “At least we’ll get there sometime while it is still night hopefully.  However, when we started heading to the place, the sidewalk quickly disappeared and we found ourselves on a two-lane highway with no shoulder.   “This is not going to work.” We turned around and headed back to the area we had been by the bus stop. 

I went into a gas station convenience store and was trying to look at a map in the place and see if there was a different way to go or if there was a phone to call a taxi or something.  The gas station dude wasn’t very cool though and kept shooing me out of the store, saying in broken English: “Outside! You can’t be here.”   I kept trying to ask about using the phone to call a cab or something but the dude just kept shooing me out.

Forced outside, sitting on the sidewalk with our luggage in the middle of the night in a foreign little German town, wasn’t the nicest feeling; we were praying and wondering what to do.  A city transport bus pulled into the gas station and was filling up with gas, and we began to try and talk with the bus driver; Mercedes, using some broken German left over from high school German classes, asked about cabs to the hostel where we were staying.  He gave a concerned look and said in very broken English, “I sorry, but too late, no taxis now.”   Just wonderful! The train had dropped us off in Tinytown, Germany, without buses or metros or even a cab to get to our destination in the middle of the night.  The European transportation system, as great as it is, still has its dysfunctional moments like anywhere else.

The bus driver kept saying, “I very sorry,” and then looked around.  “I have idea.” “You wait.”  He left for a minute with the bus and we said, “Well, we’ll never see him again,” but a few minutes later he pulled back up in the bus.   He tried to explain what he went to do, but it was unintelligible, anyways he was back and we were stoked.

He pulled up to us and opened the door and told us “Schnell!” (“Hurry” in German.)  He then jumped out the door and started throwing our luggage in the undercarriage hold quite quickly.  When he picked up the board he gave me a quizzical look and said, “Sorry, nicht here, ocean very far away.”  “Yeah, yeah I know.” I’ve gotten used to the weird stares and remarks lugging this crazy thing around, it did come in handy earlier in the trip though, and lo and behold I did get some surf up on a tiny piece of German coast by Denmark.

Our new German buddy started driving up the same road we had tried to walk up earlier, and it was quite clear the further he went up the road that there was no way we would have been able to walk the ten miles. The road was really narrow and had no shoulder in most places; it would have been a suicide death march.  Through broken German and English, Mercedes and he dialogued as best they could and found out there were no other routes to where we were staying.

Somewhere in the middle of the drive it dawned on us what a huge miracle this was. This guy was using a city bus after hours and going hugely out of his way to drive us to our hostel.  We were blown away that this guy was going so far out of his way for us and with a city bus. We began to thank him for what he was doing with plenty of dankeschon’s.  We offered to pay for the trip but he said, “No, Danke Gott!”  Just thank God eh! Well, praise God! If you know anything about Germany, someone going out of their way like this after hours on a city bus and changing plans and schedules is completely unusual, it is the ultra-structured society.  But the Lord supplied someone with faith, flexibility, and a little guts to help us in our time of need.  Like the good Samaritan he was willing to go out of his way and interrupt his own schedule and do something a little crazy in order to help us who were stranded.

Sometimes when we go out of our way we may not realize we are fulfilling prayers and performing a miracle for someone.

We were able to have an awesome time in Eisenach afterwards, seeing the Luther sights such as the Wartburg Castle where Luther translated the New Testament, and doing some filming there like the video we just put up (The Priesthood of all Believers) However, we’ll always remember even more the way God sent a guy driving a big German city bus to pick us up in the middle of the night when we were stranded and give us door-to-door service to where we needed to go.

Check out our video on the Priesthood of all Believers shot on location in Eisenach, Germany.

Check out this audio program on Luther’s Conversion,  an important and comprehensive program on understanding grace and Christ’s payment for sin.

Holy Ghost Bike Story in Imperial Beach

It is so amazing how the Lord brings forth divine appointments in the most unexpected places that blow your mind and go beyond your expectations.

We’ve been staying busy ministering lately: just did a service recently in downtown San Diego where we preached and ministered four times in one day and the glory of God was just poured out in an amazing way with just an increasing outpouring of his presence in each service, just amazing and glorious.  We’ve been ministering at other various places as well (we’ll be speaking tomorrow in Corona at the Vineyard youth group.)  So in the middle of all this activity God had us go on a “little ride” that turned into a radical divine appointment…

A friend of ours was passing through town recently and wanted to connect so we decided to get a little exercise in the middle of everything and ride our bikes over and grab a bite with him at a restaurant.  We had an awesome time hanging out, afterward we went outside to take off and say bye when I noticed he was taking in the “old grandma 3-speed girl’s bike” Patrick was riding (in between bikes at the age he’s at.)

A couple days later out of nowhere he sent us a little letter saying he thought Patrick should have a better bike for these long bike rides with a gift to go along with it.  Well, that was an answer to a long-standing prayer of ours and of course Patrick’s.

So with a new bike ready to go we felt led that it was time to do a ride we haven’t done in about 5 years which was to bike down to the very tip of the southwest corner of the US—to Imperial Beach—the farthest southwest point you can go in the US.

So we hit the road, actually bike trails, and with a stop at our parent’s to stay the night on the way we ventured towards our destination.  72.5 miles later we were making our way there, but biking is a bit like going on a boat, there are a lot of variables that can affect when you get there, and it was in fact the ferry boat from San Diego to Coronado Island that delayed us about an hour, causing us to arrive in Imperial beach in the night time hours.

With it being summer and all and the crowds that go along with it we ended up not finding a place to stay in a normal location.  In fact we were in Imperial Beach riding around looking for the place, which was turning out to be nowhere near the beach at all but way up inland.   So, as we headed further and further up inland into some sketchy areas, I told everybody we best keep our voices down and just move fast and just get there.

We finally arrived and I was thinking, “Well, you never know what God might do on one of these trips,” as I was sensing the Holy Spirit preparing something on the way.

The next morning we went to grab some of the stuff they call breakfast at these motels they allegedly “give” you with your room.  There was no place to sit but a young woman started waving us over to her table, indicating that she’d share her table with us.  I was a little apprehensive, hoping she wasn’t wanting to sell us some Amway stuff or something, but God opened up a divine-centered conversation right away with her.

She turned out to be a believer and I felt led by the Holy Spirit to share a Holy Ghost story of how our ministry started, and the tears started rolling down her face.  We both felt led to pray for her and the glory just came down and began to fill her and touch her and deeply minister to her.  I was looking around as we were praying thinking, “Wow! We just met her a few moments ago and here we are praying for her in the middle of all these people, and the Spirit of God is just filling her and the glory just moving—Wow, how amazing is the Lord!!!”

After we finished praying and ministering to her, she gave us a big hug and said she had come down herself from LA and was just praying and seeking God and wondering what she was doing at this strange motel in this area.  She felt that this was the answer for her little trip and that God was speaking to her through this divine appointment about her next steps in life as she was in a point of transition.  “Wow, only the Lord can coordinate stuff like this on both ends,” I said.  We just sat there a while rolling in the glory of God and enjoying the moment of such an amazing divine appointment.

When we finally said good-bye and took off, we rode through the actual beach area of Imperial beach which has been fixed up nicely as of late from its former run-down state.  I stopped in front of a little surf shop where I remembered speaking at a surfer’s bible study years back, which came through a divine appointment and divine connection as well.

I felt the Lord speaking while stopping in front of the shop out of Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:17 and Romans 8:14: “Continue on being filled and led by the Holy Spirit!!!”

Now we just gotta pedal the 72.5 miles back!!!  But the glory of God sure got the attention off those sore legs, Hallelujah!!!

God's Grace, Protection, and Leading

Encounter at Tahquitz

We just spoke recently at a conference out in the desert in Palm Springs on the Jesus People Revival and Lonnie Frisbee’s impact in that move of God. We also had an awesome time sharing about all the retreats and radical times we had experienced with Lonnie in the desert also in Palm Springs back when it was a regular haunt for the group of us that were hanging out and hanging on everything Lonnie was doing in those days.

After this conference some of us took a hike up to Tahquitz Canyon, the place where Lonnie had his radical vision and encounter with God that became intimately connected with the Jesus People Revival.

When we finally got up to the top, at the little crystal pool where the waterfall flows down into the canyon, we happened to run into a few other hikers. It turned into a divine appointment as Mercedes and I began to witness to these hikers. After sharing the gospel with them for a bit, we ended leading a young lady to the Lord there and then praying for her friend, who was saved already, but who told us she was seeking the filling of the Spirit. It was quite a wild day already, but leading someone to the Lord and praying for her friend for the filling of the Spirit right in the spot where Lonnie had his vision and encounter with Jesus, was something truly supernatural and prophetic.

The Lord then also brought back to my memory a dream both myself and Patrick had in France the night after we had a car accident (a clear attack of the enemy). We both happened to dream the same thing on the same night. In our dreams, we both saw ourselves going up a mountain to a waterfall and there the Lord met us and began to intimately speak to us.

A little later on after praying with those hikers, I jumped under the cascading water coming down in the waterfall and then, suddenly, the power of God struck me and reminded me of the dream and showed me that this was the actual place in the dream I had seen—needless to say, there was quite the encounter with God under that waterfall as the Lord met me in quite a “refreshing” way. Being under the waterfall that you saw in a dream getting hammered by the power of God after a divine appointment where you were just leading one person to the Lord and another into the baptism of the Holy Spirit up in a canyon where one of the major leaders of two revivals encountered Jesus does have that “refreshing” effect –Glory!!

A Little Background...

Well, for those unaware, Lonnie was used radically in the Jesus People Revival. The Jesus People Revival is a real study in missiology, as Chuck Smith let go of entrenched cultural church traditions—to the scorn of many other leaders in that day—and opened up to contemporary music styles, modern forms of dress and language, and most importantly, connected via divine appointment with a Hippie named Lonnie Frisbee who not only was able to speak in the language and style of the Hippie subculture but was endowed with the power of God. Lonnie preached in the cadence of the Hippie people in a way that they could hear and relate to the Gospel message he was bringing, and both he and Chuck Smith found themselves falling headlong into a radical revival that eventually would extend out to other nations. A second wave of that revival emerged in a later context in the 80's in what would later become the Vineyard. This was yet again another missiological move towards contemporary music and styles “a la 1980's” to reach the culture of that time, which was connected with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began under Lonnie's preaching at what was originally was called Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda—later to become known as the Anaheim Vineyard. John Wimber’s book Power Evangelism (pages 23-27) notes his very first power encounter ever with the power of God as a time when a young man—Lonnie Frisbee—preached at his church (the famed and well-reported Mother’s Day service) and a radical outpouring of the Spirit took place. Wimber’s four subsequent books after this “power encounter” all begin with the word “Power” and his whole ministry was marked by equipping the saints to operate in the power of God; thus, Frisbee’s influence on Wimber can be said to be no less than massive!

I was blessed to be involved in both movements, Calvary and Vineyard, and see the importance and impact of God's power and how essential and biblically central it is to the Christian life, as well as to learn how important the impact of contextualizing the Gospel without compromising the message is.

I encountered “the Frisbeen” at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and later was baptized in the Holy Spirit through Lonnie's ministry at the then Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda—later to become Anaheim Vineyard. Later we were able to experience even more and learn many things hanging out with Lonnie, a historically significant figure in regards to evangelism and the power of God of our time. It was truly a blessing to spend all those times in that blazing hot desert in Palm Springs and get to listen to Lonnie teach sometimes for hours on end on the importance of learning to walk in the power of the Spirit.

One of the craziest things happened on a hike up to Tahquitz when I was walking ahead of Lonnie and found half an old Bible buried in the sand; Lonnie found the other half a few moments later and began to lay out some prophecies over me. I told Lonnie later, "I thought we were going up that canyon for a hike. Instead, I end up rolling around in the dirt when I was struck by the power of God when you gave me those prophetic words." Wow, what an experience it was, hanging out with someone who had been used so powerfully in two major revivals!!

To get a little overview of Frisbee's ministry click here: http://www.graceworldmission.org/Jesus_ppl_revival.html

Old Photo with "the Frisbeen" back in the day

"Keep your eyes on the prize"

Adventures in Scandinavia

We've been experiencing many blessings while ministering here in Scandinavia. We had some awesome meetings in Sweden and Norway with wonderful outpourings of the Holy Spirit's power: It was a glorious to see how many who showed up were touched and filled in the meetings we did. It was such a joy to see God moving that way--people just getting so filled and empowered and impacted by the glory of God.

The priesthood of all believers being equipped for ministry has been a theme the Lord has laid on our hearts while in Scandinavia and we've been excited to see God empowering people with His fire and power in a glorious manner with young and old being being equipped for ministry themselves by God's presence.

We also have had some healing moves of the Lord: a young friend who got touched radically in Sweden by God's power. He was on the ground getting blasted by God's presence and overcome by the love of God for a very long time. He told us later about how he has had asthma but last time we talked with him he told us how he's been running and biking since with no problems. While in Norway we had a man with heart problems we prayed for who reported back later that he felt significantly better. He was so blessed when we prayed for him that he went out and prayed for someone else on the street who was powerfully touched too. Another minister who has had serious throat problems was touched and came back to tell us that he felt significantly better after we prayed for him also.

We did a meeting with about 35 to 45 young adults and teenagers in Norway and quite a few there got radically touched by the Lord and filled with the fire of God. The Lord also poured out his love and grace very significantly on some in a healing way and it was awesome to see the Lord moving in such a way that we were able to minister late into the night since it was a home meeting. We also did some worship in a church service; every meeting we've done has had significant moves of the Holy Spirt with the glory and fire of God being poured out in power.

The Power of God moving deep

We were also able to have a little R and R with some friends here who took us out for a few days of rest on their sailboat. We really appreciated this after traveling for over two and a half months in Europe. We've had incredible blessings everywhere we've been but also had some warfare as we shared before. Getting into Scandinavia turned into a literal nightmare with a bomb scare at the airport and then a sick pilot who stopped the flight right as we were getting on the plane. Then we were rerouted to the wrong destination and were left by the airlines stranded with no means of further travel. On our final leg of the trip that day, the train broke down and we had to transfer to a new one---never had so many things happen in one day before like that, it turned a 4-hour journey into 14 hours. We see now that the opposition came as God had so many blessings in store here in Scandinavia.

Fire and glory falling

Norway was the first country in Europe to receive the Pentecostal outpouring from the Azusa Street Revival years back and the Swedes brought the fire of Pentecost first to Latin America, so we are excited to see God moving in power and reviving the ancient places long devastated by the secularism that has crept in like decay over Europe and the religiosity that the enemy has used to leech the life out of the true Gospel of life and power.

As we've ministered in Europe in places like France and England and Scandinavia we are excited to see what God is doing; it is a blessing to see God moving as we preach and minister in many of these thirsty places. We are reminded of Argentina when we survey the land in Europe: Argentina was one of the toughest places spiritually in Latin America, and yet later had one of the biggest revivals. Nothing is impossible with God!

Getting a few waves on the Nordic coast

The Glory Falls in France

French views of Paris and Biarritz

“I can’t geet up, I am stuck” were the words of the French pastor who was interpreting in one of the meeting we just did in France. Struck by the glory of God to the ground, he was then glued to the floor and unable to get up and keep interpreting. The move of God’s power through the congregation bowled him over and we were left without an interpreter. I repeated a few phrases in French like Gloire a Dieu! to fill the air, while he laid stuck to the ground as the Lord continued pouring out Spirit in great power.

The glory and light of God fall in power ( above and photos below)

My broken French wasn’t even noticed though as the glory was falling so radically and people were crying out, laughing, some screaming and receiving deliverance. We began to get hammered by the glory as well and the meeting was just completely overtaken by the power of God and was so glorious it just continued on and on with no way to conclude the meeting – God just kept moving and moving!!

When the Lord moves like that it blows out the “in by 10 out by 12” stuff that we call church! The glory just takes over and all the human-planned stuff is left by the wayside while God does His real work of the kingdom: Healing, and pouring out His love, power, grace, and compassion as He transforms hearts and lives with the reality of His presence.

That move of God was phenomenal enough but we've had others following it as we ministered later again in the cities of Tours and then Paris. In another meeting the Lord began to move by His Spirit even during the preaching, visibly touching people with His power even while we were still speaking. He has continued to bless many with power, grace, and healing as well as bring some to salvation and re-dedications as we've continued to minister in France. We had a very powerful time ministering in Paris--the interpretation situation was quite unstable but a woman who just happened to be at the church before moving into another area the next week and who spoke very good English and French volunteered to interpret at the last moment and we had a very radical time. The woman interpreting testified that she was herself touched for the first time in her life by the Spirit of God in such a powerful way as we prayed for her as well. Many received deliverance and the filling of the Holy Spirit and healing power- Gloire a Dieu!

Preaching together at a French service -- we've been doing more ministry together--sharing the preaching, teaching and praying for people--than any trip in the past!

It is a glorious thing to see the Lord move so powerfully in a place as dark as France. It is one thing to go into a place that is quite alive and see God do some awesome works but quite another to go into such a dark, dark country and see such a radical move of God: The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it!

As well as seeing the Lord move so gloriously we have also had some wild divine appointments and some blessed encounters with fellow believers. We just happened to run into a young french guy who was in relationship trouble and approached us about how to make a call to the United States—guess we’re not as incognito as Americans as we would hope to be. We talked with him a bit as he was stressed about his girlfriend in the US and it opened an opportunity to witness to him and even to pray for him right there out on the walking corridors of Biarritz. We were also blessed to connect up with some fellow believers from Christian Surfers as we mutually passed through the southwest of the coast of France and enjoyed a bit of fellowship and a few waves together and prayed and talked about ways to reach into the French and Basque culture—surfing can be a good tool as they are quite hip on it here. We also had a divine appointment with a German guy that let me use his longboard when we came across some small waves further up the coast and the topic of Luther was a good segue to talk to him as well.

Getting blessed with a bit of warm water and French surf in-between ministry. A good way to get the batteries recharged and meet unbelievers.

Spiritual Battlefield With Fiery Darts Flying

Like I said it really is quite awesome to see a move of God like the one we just had in a place like France since France is definitely a heavy battleground spiritually. It is all the more awesome when God moves in such an oppressed place but it does not come without a heavy price. For it is truly a very dark place spiritually, a recent study by missiologist Peter Wagner reveals the depth of the spiritual darkness as the average French person is more likely to go to a physic or spiritualist than an actual doctor when in physical need. Darkness covers the land and thick darkness the people as the actual Bible-believing regenerated Christian population remains below 1%. Think about that for a moment – less than 1% percent of the population is saved! France’s history is also riddled with persecution of vital Christian movements that have sprung up in the past which they deliberately sought to wipe out (we will touch on that in a moment).

As well as experiencing the glory of God we have also definitely felt the sting of the spiritual battle every time we have touched the ground in this nation and this trip is no exception. We have already experienced so much spiritual warfare in the short time while here that it is stunning. From the moment we crossed the Channel from England to France and came upon the ground here we have experienced intense spiritual warfare. While passing through Normandy, on the way to our ministry destination, and seeing first hand the incredible sacrifice made by those Americans and British soldiers who liberated this land from the hand of the Nazis during WWII, the Lord began to truly speak to us about the price of liberty. Shortly after God visited us so powerfully we were in a car accident. Praise God we are all ok and not hurt, except for some soreness in Bryan’s back, but we were definitely shaken up quite a bit. The deductible for car rental insurance in France is quite high so we definitely could use your prayers and financial support (link) as we have been hit by the enemy while walking in the glory—walking in God’s glory and power is so awesome but it also makes you a target of the enemy as old friends like Harald Bredesen and Lonnie Frisbee used to remind us from the pages of Scripture.

Rows and rows of crosses at Normandy speak of the American and British soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice to liberate the occupied land of France and Europe. A new wave of soldiers of the cross are needed to see spiritual liberation in Europe today!

The warfare has continued with other things like clothes being destroyed. Right before preaching we were getting ready to go to the service when Mercedes just barely touched a barely warm iron to some pants I was going to wear which immediately did the weirdest thing and began smoking and smoldering and had a strange huge hole burned into them and were rendered useless, neither of us have ever seen anything like that before – it is a hard thing to deal with as you only bring so many clothes when traveling and a lot of other clothes have been ruined as well, I barely have anything left to wear and have had to buy other clothes; it seems like I’m leaving a trail of clothes behind throughout Europe on each trip. Anyways, we can definitely use your prayers and financial support, anything you can donate at this time would be definitely appreciated (Make a donation) as we have recently had quite a few extra unexpected expenses like train tickets and clothes that we weren’t planning on having to get; after the accident we had other unexpected charges like the car deductible we mentioned too.

Battles of the Past Reflect the Intense Warfare

As I have said, the sting of the spiritual battle is something we have experienced every time we have touched the ground in this nation, some things that happened here to us in the past are:

One time a car we were using started by itself with no one in it and lurched forward when I was standing in front of it and sought to run me over and then ran into a wall and caught on fire –can you say “Spiritual Warfare!?!” Another time, a room we were staying in started to catch on fire. And on yet another occasion when we were crossing the border and coming into France a train conductor one time began yelling at us for no reason whatsoever the moment we crossed into France. We have been targets of pickpockets but they were thwarted. Our last time here we began to receive the news of the death of my younger brother while driving through France into the Balkans – one of the heaviest things ever to deal with while on the mission field.

Understanding the situation through their History of Spiritual Darkness, Oppression, and Persecution—This is France!

As stated before, France’s history is riddled with persecution of vital Christian movements that have sprung up in the past, which they sought to literally wipe out:

In the 1100’s a pre-reformation group called the Waldensians sprung up in the South of France seeking to turn back to the Bible, praying for others for healing and following Christ fully. They were severely persecuted as the French State aligned with the Catholic Church in a literal crusade—known as the Third Crusade—to wipe them off the face of the earth. When the Catholic leader came upon the town of Beziers he was asked by the lead soldier if they shouldn’t sort out the Catholics first before the killing began to spare their fellow Catholics. The Leader replied with the infamous statement, “Kill them all and let God sort them out.” The few surviving Waldensians were driven into the hills of Switzerland to try and eke out a survival.

Later during the Reformation, a Reformation group of believers arose called the Hugenots who again sought to return to a biblical faith. A massive massacre was launched against them slaughtering somewhere near 100,000 Christian believers in Frace, including women and children. The remaining surviving Hugenots fled for safety to the English Port and Protestant city of La Rochelle where the Catholic Cardinal Richelieu issued a blockade so no goods or supplies could get in until all were starved to death. French reform leader John Calvin himself also had to flee to Switzerland to stay alive and carry on the work God called him to do there.

The American revolution had many Christian influences and aspects to it stemming from the Protestant Reformation. England’s and Scotland’s Reformation directly influenced the American Revolution and march towards liberty as well.

A Purely Secular Revolution and a Society Chained to Empty Philosophers

France’s Revolution was nothing like this at all, and in fact it was completely contrary to the Christian-based ideals that influenced the early Americans: Because of the severe corruption of the Catholic Church the leader of the French Revolution Robespierre sought to completely expunge every aspect of Christianity from French society and life. He even went so far as to create a new calendar so that no Christian holidays like Christmas or Easter could be celebrated and so absolutely no vestige of influence from Christianity would remain in the French society he sought to create. Furthermore, the French Revolution took a path that was so bloody that it is said the blood from the guillotine flowed waist-high down the streets of Paris. England, it is said, was spared this heinous violence specifically because of the impact of the preaching and ministry of George Whitfield and John Wesley and the Methodist Revival.

France does not know, nor has it experienced, hardly any of this revival nor reformation history and thus remains chained in the medieval dungeons of darkness bound to its failed secular philosophers and mindset that is pulling the whole of Europe down into the bottomless abyss.

Historic views at every turn (above and below)

Thinking of themselves as enlightened, the French are perhaps the most in darkness of all the European nations, having known very little of any kind of lasting vital and true Christian impact.

It was France recently that had the lines in the European Union Constitution removed recently that referred to Europe’s unique Christian history—they couldn’t stomach a reference of any kind to Christianity—the ghost of Robespierre lives on as they vie for that purely secular state like the old defunct Soviet Union—any comparison with the US because they are both western democracies truly ends there.

It is no wonder the intense darkness one encounters here but then it is even more glorious to see God break through and touch lives!! Needless to say we can us your prayers and support while ministering here and other places in Europe.

On Some Other Notes—News You May or May Not Have Heard About!

Looks like we left England at just the right time! As you’ve probably heard on the news, the English nation was consumed by four days of severe rioting, with people even being killed in certain areas. In fact, the very street we were staying on in London was shown on the news as one of the places hard hit by the severe rioting. Some of the very stores we shopped at and walked past every day have been torched and looted and burned to the ground while the “do-nothing” police merely looked on like a bunch of spectators.

Europe in general is reeling from a debt crisis as is the US, and France’s credit rating looks like the next one to take a hit. The French economy as well as the rest of Europe is feeling the pinch!

Ireland is being hit hard on many different fronts, the economy is in tatters and the Prime Minister of Ireland and the Archbishop of Canterbury (England’s spiritual leader in the Anglican Church) both recently stated that the Catholic Church has lost all its credibility and can never be trusted again due to the child sex abuse scandals involving Catholic priests—the situation and cover ups over here are even worse than the US if you can imagine that! It continues as a denomination that won’t reform itself! Spain, Portugal, and Italy are all reeling from the debt crisis as well and are constantly in the news here as they teeter on the brink!

Everything that can be shaken will be shaken—God indeed is shaking the nations!!

Thanks for your prayers and support as we proclaim the true Ruler of all Nations' sovereignty and power and glory!

Blessings, Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

The Lord's Leading Through England

Ministering at Hollybush in North Yorkshire, England

We have seen the Lord do amazing things as we continued on traveling and ministering our way through England. We just recently passed the date where we have been in England over one whole month already. We came to the Island nation just open to whatever God might want to do, thinking we would be here maybe only a few days or so. However, the Lord has been opening doors all over and continued to lead our steps so we have just stayed here and ministered as He has led us.

Just a couple of days ago we preached at a very powerful meeting at Hollybush Christian Fellowship, a church in North Yorkshire. God moved in awesome power as we saw many renewed and empowered with a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit that swept through the fellowship. Many were filled with the Spirit and ministered to as God’s presence moved gloriously upon the meeting. We saw a number of people ministered to very powerfully who came forward for prayer and healing power was released. In fact, Patrick and a few other young guys prayed for each other and each were ministered to by one another and some healing took place there.

How God set this up is equally incredible. We had been ministering in Darlington in the Durham area and having some powerful spontaneous meetings there. Before that we had been in Newcastle in Northumberland as well as having a powerful time in the city of Southport over by Liverpool. Our friend Heidi in Southport is an old pal through meetings Lonnie Frisbee used to do; Lonnie’s name and heritage keeps ringing the bell for revival in so many places.

Well, our friend in Darlington had talked to the pastor in North Yorkshire and found out that he hadn’t heard from the scheduled preacher for that evening’s meeting. He thus wanted us to come over to the church that very night and be ready for anything that God might want us to do. The other preacher never showed up and so we ended up doing all the preaching and ministering in a church of a couple hundred people where we had a very powerful time as God poured out His power with mighty manifestations following—truly a glorious and blessed time. We both shared different Holy Ghost Stories and passages from the Word and saw a double impact as God poured out His presence in double portion! We also had a woman share what a unique experience it was for us to pray for her, this was just in a casual setting at a lunch at our friends’ home, as she had only been prayed for once before; she really experienced God’s touch and wind and fire and healing as we laid hands on her.

Visiting Lindisfarne, early center of Celtic Christianity in Britain.

We had a chance to visit the island of Lindisfarne, center of Celtic Christianity as well as the location of the first Viking invasions. We have also been blessed with fun surf all over the place. In fact, a Polish pastor who was ministered to when we prayed for him in a home meeting asked us to come fishing with him, but the waves were too big for the boats to go out or to even fish from shore. I had the boards with us so we went surfing instead and happened to get 4 to 6 foot bowls with offshore winds with only about 6 other guys out or so, all on the East Coast of England! Waves like this anywhere else in the world, even in Cornwall or California, would have been packed with the typical ten thousand other surfers fighting for each wave. Since it happened on the East Coast, there just weren’t that many surfers around to catch it—even on a Saturday—Glory.

After a month in England with plenty of ministry in so many places we are over to France now for some ministry there. Our friend arranged a complimentary travel passage for us across the English Channel, which is a huge blessing as all this transportation expenses do run up the bills. We were blessed to see the famed White Cliffs of Dover as we pulled out of the Channel crossing over to France. In fact, we will be preaching this Sunday in Tours in two different church services, as well as a bit later in Paris at a church there. We appreciate your prayers as we continue carrying out the work God has called us to do here in Europe.