“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” “The LORD says, ‘I will rescue those who love Me. I will protect those who trust in My name.’”
(Psalm 91:1,14 NLT)
July 15th, 2008
Jesus has really blessed us this week and given us peace as we have spent time meditating on Psalm 91. As our team has worked from sunrise to sunset day after day, God’s word has spoken powerfully into our hearts. The intensity of this week’s ministry was only bearable and enjoyable because of the authentic ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
“It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
(Zechariah 4:6b NLT)
This week we were able to teach that, “God is real, Jesus is alive and there is a purpose for your life!!” in 20 different religious education classes at The Ilfracombe College here in North Devon. This school is like a high school in America with kids ages 12 to 18. These “religious” classes are often taught by pagans and usually include Islam, Hinduism, Satanism, Buddhism, New Age and “Christianity" which is really just taught as a Roman Catholicism lumped with Judaism.
During the morning and afternoon on Tuesday through Friday we shared testimonies, answered questions, played music and explained our faith in Christ to hundreds and hundreds of kids that know very little or nothing about the One we serve. Many on our team said it was one of the most fruitful times of ministry they have ever been involved with! As the teachers introduced us, we simply told the students that we are: “an American rock band that is on a world tour to tell everyone who will listen to repent of their sin, trust in Jesus and become bold Christ followers.” After making the kids laugh & open up by acting like “crazy Americans” and giving away free CDs we invited these students to ask us any questions they would like.
Understand that out of the 1,000+ students, there are only a couple dozen faint-hearted believers that get persecuted for being a “stupid Christian”. We also we able to experience true persecution as we were ridiculed and disrespected in every class we were able to teach. Sometimes the kids made statements like: “Your gay” “God isn’t real” “I believe in the big bang” Often times the kids would ask tough questions that took Spirit filled answers: “Why is there suffering in the world if there is a God?” “If God made the world, who made Him?” “How do you know Jesus is God?” Then there were those wonderful questions that always led to the Gospel being presented: “How has Jesus changed your lives?” “What types of miracles have you experienced?” “Why did you become a Christian?” We understood why the Apostle Peter told us to always be ready to defend our faith.
“If someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.”
(1st Peter 3:15b,14a NLT)
One of the great blessings Jesus gave us this week was a little time for our band to practice some new songs we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to share while we are here. We were able to rehearse on Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday we were blessed to do a worship concert in Bratton Fleming as a follow up to the last Roadshow. The next day we had the opportunity to do two evangelism concerts in Ilfracombe. In the afternoon we played a handful of songs at The Ilfracombe College during their lunch break. The auditorium was packed with over 400 students, some of them hearing about our Lord Jesus Christ for the VERY FIRST TIME!
Friday night we did a concert with Universal Royalty in a church right across from the local nightclub. It was awesome to see locals walk in to hear about Jesus just because they were headed to the club. It gave our team a rare opportunity to witness to those that would never have normally listened to the message.
On Sunday our team was invited to lead Calvary Chapel Woolacombe’s morning church service and evening prayer service. During the morning we led about 10 worship songs with the congregation singing louder than the sound system could go. In between the music, Eric and Ian taught though 2nd Corinthians 5:11-15 in a way that was encouraging and exhortive.
Take No Glory is blessed to have three lead singers that all switch roles (Johnna, Landon & Mandy) and two Bible teachers that have chosen to preach together as a team. It is a great physical example that our team takes no glory from Jesus because no one person is exalted above another. We pray that Jesus is the ONLY ONE that is praised and remembered! That night we lead about a dozen different worship songs and had a powerful time of prayer during Calvary’s evening service.
“Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, ‘Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.” (The verbal response to the enemy was) “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight!” (The physical response to the enemy was) “We worked early and late, from sunrise to sunset.”
(Nehemiah 4:11,14b,21a NLT)
And that is exactly what we have been doing, working from when we wake until we sleep. Before you send an email that exhorts us to rest, know that each of us spend quality time alone with Jesus on Mondays and all of us still spend time together praying and fasting on Tuesdays. We are helpless to do anything spiritually beneficial without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. If we don’t have intimate time to hear from God we will be destructive in our actions rather than productive.
The spiritual attacks that we have endured this week are memorable. Dreams, visions, prophesies, gripping fear, verbal assult & physical aggression were consistent. The locals would tell you there are likely more witches than Christians here in North Devon. Jesus is alive, but Satan is alive as well and he wants to destroy us. However, as he desires to “swoop down, kill us and end our work” we respond with the courage of the LORD!
Demonic attack is a reality that drives us to our knees desperate for our King to shelter us as He has promised. Because the Holy Spirit is our strength, we are willing and able to do more than humanly possible! We choose to fight this spiritual battle because Jesus is “great and glorious”. We are so grateful for the battle that reminds us to pray with more passion and zeal.
“Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hears and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:6,7 NLT)
We love to partner with you in prayer. How can we be specifically praying for you and those you care about? Know that we are so VERY grateful for your prayers! Please pray for our: [1] time and intimacy with Jesus [2] unity in the team [3] effectiveness and spiritual fruit [4] supernatural protection (hearts, souls, and minds) [5] health [6] marriages (Ian&Johnna Jeff&Melaine Boy&Ellena Eric&Mandy) [7] kids (Nadiya, Elijah, Eden and Kanani) [8] other servants (Landon, Chris, Connor, Kalei, Kauhi, Naili, Landrew) [9] preparation for the concerts and outreaches ahead [10] financial provision for what’s ahead & all our debts to be paid.
Also please pray for Scott Cunningham and his family (Wife, Megan and 5 daughters: Madison, Rileigh, Emaline, Sabella and Analise). They arrive in England today and Scott will be leading our team for the next month here in London and then in Austria. Scott is a music pastor and songwriter from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in California. Every year Scott travels to Devon to do free concerts here with Creation Fest. He has combined his great passion for God and his ability to communicate through song to create a powerful worship album called “Grace Amazing” and has just finished his new album “Till The Whole World Hears”.
“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”
(2nd Peter 1:5-7 NLT)
We have now “finalized” our schedule for our last 3 weeks here in England. We have dozens of events on our calendar during the next 20 days. And it looks like after we serve in Austria, from August 6th to 20th, we will do three-day outreach events on the east coast. We are praying about serving with Ken Graves in Bangor, Maine August 22nd, 23rd & 24th. Then serving with Joe Mann in Fort Wayne, Indiana August 29th, 30th & 31st. Finally serving with Tom Camp in Lafayette, Indiana September 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th.
We have a vision to do Friday night “Worship, Prayer & Communion” gatherings. Then on Saturday all those that attended the gathering can go out and evangelize in the morning / afternoon and invite people to a Saturday night “Free Rock Concert” where the Gospel will be preached boldly. Finally we meet again on Sunday morning for “Church & Baptisms”. Please pray as we begin to plan these weekends with the local pastors that have invited us to come serve their communities.
“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”
(Proverbs 19:21 NLT)
Joyfully serving Jesus,
The Take No Glory Team
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