July 15, 2003
FSM 372 CM/FM 6/01
Special Action FSM #8
Fruit of Your Meetings
Copyright © 2001 by The Family
Cover pic: Family friends Penelope and Iliane send love your way! Thank God for the Family Expansion Program! This is the fruit!
By Seek, Morelia, Mexico
We are learning so much since we started incorporating our friends into our outreach and follow-up programs. It makes them much more a part of our work. Before, we would basically give them Bible classes when they came over, keeping them on the fringes while we were the ones who actually did all the planning, leading, teaching, organizing, etc.
The Lord helped us see as we went along how letting them lead was His will and how we should be open for others to be much more a part of what we do by giving them different responsibilities. We saw the need to begin shepherding in new ways, in order to teach our friends how to lead.
Five Homes in our area planned an Activated seminar together and took a number of questions to the Lord in prayer and prophecy. The Lord spoke to us beautifully about the importance of including some of our friends as presenters, even in this first seminar. (Please see the photo story Our First Activated Seminar on pg. 4.)
We have a friend, Moises, who was saved when we first pioneered Morelia and has been a dear friend, helping with many of our CTP projects. He is someone that we counsel with about our different projects, as to what will work and what won’t work so well. As we’ve prayed about his counsel and suggestions, his help has been invaluable.
Along this line, we have also counseled with government organizations and social groups to get their ideas. When we contact them in this way, we also get their support, which has helped us get started here and contributed to the success of our work.
When we presented the seminar idea to our friend Moises, he was flipped and said that the theme The Things That Are Most Important in Life: How to Give Them Priority was something he and many of his friends needed. We specifically asked the Lord in prophecy if we should ask our friends to do the main illustration of the seminar, the one in Reflections #108, The Big Rocks, and He confirmed that we should. Our friend was very excited about the idea and invited many of his friends and was eager to get together with us when we practiced for the seminar. We have known this man for over three years, yet giving him a special part in the seminar really turned his key!
Alex has also been coming over for our discipleship class on Monday nights. Jason, Brian, John, Renee, and Lisa met him while they were singing in a restaurant and gave him our phone number. We were a little overwhelmed when he called, as he wanted to come over right away. That evening we had planned a meeting with some of our friends and contacts to ask their counsel about the seminar we were planning. We were going to ask them to fill out a questionnaire to help us plan weekly meetings. We hesitated to invite him to come, but when we prayed the Lord said to invite him a little early and then go from there. He was so thrilled to be able to come right away that day, and he has since become very active in our work.
This friend, Alex, was at one time a very rich man. His family had the type of business which also caused him to be involved with those in power who did favors for him in exchange for the products from his family’s business. He said he was a very self-centered, unkind, heartless person. He was used to a very rich, fast life and had never given much thought to the Lord or the needs of others. His life was changed one day when he was kidnapped, tortured, and didn’t expect to return home alive, but amazingly he escaped and fled to the U.S. There he was in hiding, afraid to come out of the house. He said he often only had enough food to eat, and led a very sparse existence.
At that time someone led him to the Lord and he began to attend Bible studies; he became very sold on the Lord, the Bible, and wanted to do more for Him. When we first met him he went to church a lot, but he said he was tired of going to church and talking to other Christians about the Lord. He said he wanted to reach people that needed the message. God bless him!
Once a month we have a CTP for thirty poor families who come for food and clothing. We invited Alex to come and help out and to be responsible for one part of our CTP that day. I also asked him to translate for me when I shared a few things about the Lord with the families who had come. (I could very well say the things I needed to say myself, but I felt that it would help to bring him in more and make him feel useful if he shared something about the Lord.) I had to slow down a little as he was pretty nervous and I had to rescue him when he stumbled, but I could see it really touched his heart to be able to talk to this group of people.
Once we got started, different members of the Home came and asked about helping with the particular part of the CTP that Alex was responsible for. When they asked me what to do, I would say to ask Alex.
The next week, Alex went with us to a juvenile detention center and we asked him to give his testimony before we prayed with these young people to receive Jesus. He can be a little preachy, and talks in churchy language when he starts talking about the Lord. I explained to Alex how these people don’t know the Lord and so we have to talk to them on their level and in a way they would understand. I think it was a little humbling, but he accepted the suggestion and the boys were fascinated by his testimony.
When we first started having Monday night classes, Alex was the only one coming and we started these classes as a way to minister to him. Then a young Christian started to attend who knew nothing of the Bible or the Spirit. Alex helped us explain the Holy Spirit, prayed for this new person to receive the Spirit, and shared many things from the Bible.
We are sure this is only the beginning of what we will learn about incorporating our friends in our work and letting them take the lead in some areas. We see this is the only way to really make them part of our work and accomplish the goals of our extended family. It’s exciting to see the new pubs coming to life, how they work, and how Activated is changing our future!
A Picture Story from Morelia, Mexico
Participation of Our Friends
One of the most inspiring things about our first Activated seminar was the participation of some of our friends as presenters of some of the main parts of the program.
We met Moises when we first arrived in Morelia over three years ago. He volunteered to do the main part of the program and turned out to be a natural, an excellent speaker even though he said he had never been a public speaker before. He also volunteered to help in a skit, which he did very well. He jumped right in at practice and was very funny!
Jaime, who comes to our discipleship class on Monday nights, did a skit with Jason, Ah, the Simple Life (taken from Reflections #99). After the skit, Jaime went up to the microphone and did a beautiful job of sharing what he felt to be its message. He too had never spoken before an audience, but really got into his part, preparing and getting his own props together.
Alex, a member of our discipleship classes on Monday night, has a touching testimony of how he was kidnapped and tortured, but by a miracle escaped and fled to the U.S. where he met the Lord and his life changed. Here he is giving his testimony as it applies to our theme The Things That Are Most Important in Life.
Working Together with Other Homes
We had a variety of speakers from the Family as well. Here are Jorge (our emcee) and Christina, introducing What Is Activated? and Why We Chose the Theme for the seminar.
As far as our format, we found that we needed to keep the speakers’ parts very short and that everyone really enjoyed the three funny skits that were interspersed throughout the program. We started with live music, had a sort of show and tell illustration to get across the theme of the program, and Jessica wrote the main points on a white board for the speakers.
Here is our beautifully decorated conference room which Manantial provisioned the use of from a hotel contact.
The live band provided a very special introduction to the seminar; Homes from Mexico City and Cuernavaca cooperated with us to provide personnel for the band. Brethren from Homes in Urapan and Zamora also attended and brought some of their Activated members. There was a raffle for three prizes at the end of the program: a children’s video, Activated membership, and a collection of wooden handicrafts made by Servant.
Sixty adults who have been friends and contacts attended the seminar, some bringing their entire family. We were very surprised to see how ready everyone was to participate when they had their opportunity to speak up and share The Things That Are Important in Life. We hadn’t gotten very deep in our interaction with many of them before, but when we heard their reactions, we realized that they are very sincere about their desire for the Lord and for spiritual things.
We gave each person a questionnaire, along with a folder with materials used in the seminar. Their answers encouraged us, as many expressed interest in further activities and in studying many important themes. Many new ideas developed the night of the seminar from people’s reactions, suggestions, and comments.
Stevie played the keyboard as the audience took a few minutes to write on a sheet from their folder the five things they felt were most important in life.
Christina and Jessica did a great job at the registration table. They asked everyone to register and gave each one a nametag and folder. Some people brought toys to use for our Christmas CTP and others gave a donation. They also signed up for the raffle and were told to help themselves to sandwiches, cake, coffee, or punch.
Our goal was to invite a large number of people who have been contacts for over three years and see who would come and who would show an interest in future activities. The Lord used the seminar to accomplish that purpose, and a number of people who we only have known casually are now very potential for future classes and discipleship, praise the Lord!
The Lord gave us specific direction about many different things concerning the seminar in prophecy and told us that prayer was what would make the event a success. So we kept praying over everything that needed to happen and especially for people to attend. He did it all, thank You, Jesus!
(For a detailed outline and script of the seminar, please see the Activated section of the Members Only site, the article entitled, Text of the Morelia Meeting.)
By Ahlai, for the Mexico City Home, November 2000
This is the new era. It’s going to be an era of change, an era of action, an era of faith, an era of reaping, an era of shepherding and teaching. So grab on to the new! Move forward by faith for I will do more than you’ve ever imagined! (ML #3308:13, GN 908).
All we can say is that our faithful Mate fulfills this prophecy regarding Activated every time we even begin to plan meetings and events here in Mexico City. It is so much more than we have ever imagined that we stand back and marvel! Our regular sheep, our neighbors, our friends—they are all getting more turned on for the Lord and activated—the beginnings of an on-fire local group of disciples who really want to witness. A double blessing has been working together with all the other Homes as a tightly knit team. It is a group effort in which God gets the glory.
How He brought us this far
As the Lord said it would be, 2000 was quite a year for all of us! Prophecy has been the rudder of our lives, and if it weren’t for that, we would have really been sunk.
Through prophecy He miraculously helped us close down the big DC Home and move with a small team to this wonderful field. That in itself is nothing short of a miracle, which we could write pages on. However, it could be summarized in what we call the dustpan vision, in which our dear Husband scooped up the broken, smashed pieces of our lives with His loving broom and dustpan, and translated us over the border in His tender love and mercy! Here we are in this lovely, lively, and very fruitful field.—He is so good to us!
But once we got here we really didn’t know what He wanted us to do—we were pioneering! We listened to the Lord, and along with singing, witnessing, and reaching others with the tools, we dug in with Considering the Poor and provisioning as outlined in Mexico—A Needy Mission Field (ML #3083, Vol. 23), and the need indeed is very great here. We are very involved weekly with our neighborhood orphanage, feeding the poor, and other projects.
One super blessing that we (the pioneer team of Vas, Joni, Justin, Julia, Dust and I) have to mention is the better half of our marriage, the Mexican side. Nationals that lovingly took up the challenge to live with us and pioneer together, they were the strength of our Home—Alex, Paz, and their kids David and Miggy! They’re the greatest! It is a privilege and an honor to be together with them, and when they came, things really began to roll! What a team!
Then we were thrilled to attend the Activated (Conéctate) meetings with the SACRO and NACRO brethren. As a picture is worth a thousand words, so were the examples we saw and testimonies we heard. It all became so clear and simple! In our area we had a thriving group of young people that Julia and Justin had been meeting at the park, and all kinds of friends and contacts in our new city from Vas and Joni’s busking teams, but the vision presented at these meetings was the missing link in how to minister to all these folks—thank You, Jesus!
Activated benefits
Activated has now taken us back to the basics of witnessing and winning, giving us a plan for doing it that makes things so very clear and simple. We have needed that. The magazines are terrific!—God bless everyone who has worked on them! It’s all right there—Activated Made Simple—and in our case it’s Activated for Dummies (us!), as the planning and prep work is done for you and has made our weekly meetings so easy! We are very thankful.
As parents it’s great to see that this push involves every age group from child to FGA. Our teens are becoming youth leaders or leading CC groups during the meetings. Our younger children can learn to share their praise times and enthusiasm more with others in meetings, or even sit in them, which is progress for some, ha! Everyone is taking part; it’s very neat.
Actually this Activated program is a solution on so many levels where there was previously a need. There is no doubt in our minds and hearts that the initiation of this program by Mama and Peter and all the team is God’s plan, as well as God’s timing.
Personally we know we were not ready for all that is occurring on the battlefront now—especially with Activated! We have needed the shepherding from our shepherds plus from the Lord through prophecy. He’s been giving us a real cleanup in the spirit, helping us to recognize and get delivered from some gaping NWOs, and to move on. Whew! And that’s not to mention the time we’ve spent sharpening the scythe—brushing up on our memory work and Bible studies, honing our gifts of prophecy, and clinging ever closer to the Lord in intimacy. If there is a way to love Jesus more and serve and love Him better, we want it and need it! How about you? He had to do a real job on us and break our pride and self-righteousness, and we have needed every bit of that too. From here on out we know it has to be the Lord! So Jesus, it is all Your show, and we love it!
Sharing ideas, manpower, and paper power
It was our good fortune that the newly established National Conéctate Committee was meeting in our Home for prayer, prophecy, and planning. (Please see the article by Jason about this meeting in FSM 361, pg. 23.) It gave us a rich blend of faithful witnessers of varied ages and nationalities who were a big help in pulling off our November Activated meeting.—Our meeting every month is a miracle! The picture story about this meeting follows on page 11, and with it comes a big thank-you to all of the visiting missionaries who dug in to help us with it.
As an area (central Mexico) we made a commitment to have a monthly event, where the first week of the month we bring our Bible study groups together from all the Homes. For our first meeting we had only 18 visitors (and over 40 Family, ha!), but for our second we had over 50 visitors! It is almost like Activated has taken on a life of its own!
Following the Lord’s leading, we rotate between the Homes in the area, trading off on the program and skit planning, giving each Home a chance to shine and feed the sheep. When it was Cuernavaca’s turn, Marcos, Robin, and David planned the message and music around the theme Para Salir Vencedor (How to Win). Complete with paperwork and think and pray assignments, skits, and songs, it was a thorough study on how to fight discouragement which all of us could relate to, both Family members and guests!
A banner has helped our meetings have a tent-meeting excitement, as well as generate interest and help people focus on the Lord’s theme. Here they only cost 100 pesos [$10] or so, but you can provision a discount. Each month a dear friend removes the old slogan and repaints the new month’s theme on the same sturdy vinyl banner.
Sharing theme ideas, skit ideas, paper power, and folder inserts, banners and props between areas is another time saver that has simplified our Conéctate (Activated) meetings a lot. For example, Seek in Morelia shared their Home’s entire seminar, much of which was received in prophecy, which we used for our first united meeting in Mexico City, The Things That Are Most Important in Life. (See the articles on pages 2 and 4 of this FSM, about this seminar. The text of this meeting is available on the MO site.) Then Jason CRO helped Alex, Miggy, me, and many others with our presentation of the same material for our meeting here. In turn we were able to send our banner to Morelia for their use, etc. As always, working together is the way to win the world, as none of us can do everything alone.
The real reward—sheep becoming shepherds
The real reward in our last meeting was to see the wave already rippling out and the anointing passing to the sheep. Marcos and Robin employed the help of their live-outs in sharing the message with other visitors, and in skits that were both hilarious and meaningful. Vas, Joni, David, Angie (of Simon), Justin, and others sang very moving songs along with weekly Bible students, for example Chuey, David’s brother. Joni’s singing Paz, En Medio de la Tormenta (Peace in the Midst of Storm) and Chuey’s Ahora Entiendo (Through It All) brought tears to many eyes. In the music field, we are very blessed, and our Family music is a big part of our meeting. (At our first weekly meeting we sang along with Family CDs, as we had no musicians!)
The Lord opens the door to our garage!
Following God step by step in the prep for meetings can be quite an adventure. In a recent monthly meeting, with a house full of expectant visitors coming in and out for several days, guests, as well as 17 Family delegates also eager to attend the event, Alex and I received some less-than-inspiring news. Only a few hours before the meeting was to begin the security guard of the building where we have our meetings told us that the building was closed tighter than a drum for Dia de Los Muertos (Mexican Halloween) and there was no way we could get in! What to do?!
Well, thank God for the comfort and encouragement of His voice. The Lord told us clearly that He would never close a door without opening a window. He told us to open wide our doors and tenderly gather them in to the garage of our Home, which is located in the heart of Mexico City!
Within a couple of hours we had the garage transformed into a meeting room! Everyone pitched in as we washed down the driveway, provisioned the use of about 60 chairs from a nearby restaurant, put up a backdrop so you couldn’t see the water tank and kitchen doors, and hung up the banner and some Christmas lights for lighting! It looked like a block party—and that’s what it turned out to be, with all our neighbors and even lots of passers-by feeling very at home, coming right in and taking a seat. The nice loud music called folks from all over, and by the end of the evening there was standing room only! People were way out of the garage onto the sidewalk and street! It was great! Thank You Lord for closing the doors on the provisioned meeting room and teaching us so many new things.
It is God’s time, a brand-new era, and this is surely God’s plan for us! We are activated all the way and are so thankful to be right here, right now, and have a part of it. It is evident that all over Mexico there is currently a wild wave of Activated witnessing, with new subscribers every month, weekly Bible studies, and seminars with the Conéctate mags. We love you!
—Our First Conéctate Meeting!
From Alex, Mexico City Home
When we had our first Conéctate seminar, six Homes from the central area of the country participated, each of them doing their best to create a very warm atmosphere for our sheep, a total of 18.
We went ahead and invited all of our friends, even though we thought that there was no way we could take care of all of them. Although we didn’t feel prepared, we did it anyway, thanking God for His promises. He encouraged us every morning when we listened to Him. He told us, I’m going to send them not only by the pairs but by the dozens.
The event was held in a beautiful penthouse that God supplied for us, with a very nice view of the city. It was incredible seeing the way that the Lord worked to bring in the sheep, some of them people that we didn’t even know!
Seeing the love and the attention that the brethren give to our friends, to people who they never saw before, made me think of the unselfish love that the Lord has for us, and in the fulfillment of the New Wine, when He told us that this explosion is going to force us to give more of ourselves to the sheep! And believe me, I can feel it. The Lord is preparing us for a very exciting phase of our lives—the time to become real missionaries!
It’s important to mention that it was the participation of all the Homes in the area, through skits, songs, etc., that made it possible for everything to run so smoothly, and it certainly made our load lighter!
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1. Writing down the Big rocks in their lives
2. Victoriano, one of our happy winners!
3. (L-R) Isabel, Julia, Robin, Ahlai, Gloria, and Alex
4. Julia and Isabel, friends through Conéctate!
5. A new subscription, from Gloria! Center, with Ahlai and Robin.
Activated Takes on a Life of Its Own in Mexico City!
Vas, Joni, and David (of Hosey) singing songs of the heart on the theme Para Salir Vencedor, such as Joni’s Peace in the Midst of Storm.
Each week new visitors or brethren join with our core singing group of Vas, Joni, and David, making for very inspiring music where our live-out members take part.
Gabe (of Sunshine), Ahlai (of Dust), and Eric (5) with a friend.
More live-out members: Rocio and daughter.
Luis Miguel (who came all the way from Cuernavaca) has pledged help from his company with printing, publications, and involvement.—He is witnessing to everyone, announcing to all his allegiance to the Family, a true member! Shown here with sweet Robin.
Vas and Joni have been feeding Jeff and Ana (who they met and faithfully witnessed to while at the park with Rowen and Chaddy) for some time. Now they attend both weekly and monthly Bible studies and want to give weekly Spanish classes to us who need it. Jeff, a bilingual reporter who travels all over the world for assignments, and Ana have gotten so much closer to the Lord.
Juan (left), here with our guys Vas and David, was on a bus six months ago when he overheard Jono and Joy speaking English, caught the spirit of the Family and asked if they were in any way related to Katrina and family who lived in Cuernavaca eight years ago—when he was a regular catacomber! Wow! He has been praying to come back to the Family for years. Now, at 25, he is one of Cuernavaca’s most faithful and potential brothers!
Miggy (center), one of our weekly Conéctate teachers here in Mexico City, shown here with Belem (left) and Leisha (right), whose dad (Dito Servant) was in the Family back in the ‘70s. She has grown up wanting to join!
Beautiful Argentinean Angie (of Simon) adds spice and love to our meetings with her beautiful songs. Here she is sharing her testimony with new brother Juan.
Eric, of Dust and Ahlai and the How to Win! banner.
Two Frogs—Marcos of Rebecca and buddy Eric.
Ben and Ruth Rico and their lovely daughters make the two-hour trip from Puebla to participate in the monthly meetings. Here Ben is with Mauricio, faithful contributor and student of Ben and Maria’s Home, and Gabriel, another faithful live-out brother.
Reunion after many years! Faithful long-time live-outs Lina and Victor had not seen Seek in eight years, Ahlai in twenty-seven or Vas in ten!! Still going strong for the Lord, always there for the Family, whoever it may be, as well as maintaining ministries of their own to the needy in institutions. God bless them; they are true Family members.
It was our good fortune that the newly formed National Conéctate Committee was in our Home for three days having delegates meetings of prayer, planning, and prophecy, giving us a rich blend of generations and nationalities (such as Cush, Joy, and Phin from Guadalajara) to minister to the many sheep the Lord knew would come to our meeting! Thanks for coming.—We couldn’t have done it without you!
Lovely Paz—who takes care of the kids so faithfully (and has #3 on the way!), shown here making nametags for Activated guests—sends love your way! She’s the wife of Alex, who helps plan and emcee our meetings each month, provision, do public relations, and countless other things.—God bless them both!
Luis Miguel and Marcos—Conéctate all the way!
God bless the behind-the-scenes staff who take care of all the structure of the Home and without whom we could never host nearly 80-100 people at a moment’s notice when the Lord changes plans—as He did for our November meeting when He told us in prophecy to transfer the meeting to our garage! You’re the BEST! (L to R) Julia, Holly, Emma, Juliet, Ben, and Claire! (Justin and Miggy too!—Not pictured.)
How We Depend on Our Expanded Family!
From Seek, Morelia, Mexico (March 2001)
We are learning that as we follow the Lord’s leading, we arrive at our destination! It’s very exciting to see Him fulfill His will, His plan, and the promises He’s given in the era of action pubs.
Our planning for each monthly Activated meeting begins the month before, when we pray and schedule the meeting. We then have a whole month to pass out invitations to our friends, contacts, and people who have already been attending. The Lord also told us that the only way to get the Mexican people to come to our Home is through personal visitation, so we have made every Thursday personal visitation day. This has been very inspiring and especially fruitful.
The vision of expanding our Family has been not only inspiring but essential—as our Home is much smaller than it has been and we actually need to teach and train others to teach others. Some of our friends have had speaking parts in Activated meetings (see the article on page 4); others are helping with our monthly CTP project where we are giving classes to 80 poor mothers and their 85 children. Our friends are very interested in participating in the CTP, and different ones sign up to teach in areas where they are professionals. Our baker gave the ladies a class and demonstration on how to bake bread. Our dentist wants to teach dental care. Another wants to teach sewing, and in the future wants to help us start a school to also teach them to read and write.
Our monthly Sunday Family Day Activated meeting is quite a collection of different activities for adults, teens, and children. We start at 4:00 p.m. with volleyball for adults and teens, while the children watch or have their own game of basketball. In the living area of the house we serve sandwiches, pastries, punch, and coffee—plenty to last the duration of the activity, as people like to eat before and after the meeting. Then at about 5:30 we start the children’s activities downstairs in our game room, and the adult Activated meeting is held on the covered patio. Each month a company donates the use of chairs and tables for the event.
We give our friends their parts in the program ahead of time. When it is their turn to speak, they do exceptionally well and really put their hearts into the pieces that they have to say. The program is usually interspersed with a couple of skits, and people have a lot of fun with this part of our program. Afterwards we have audience participation and various ones help us to bring out the message of the skit.
The people also love the singing. They have favorite songs now, and we have time at the end where we sing special requests from their song sheets. We also give them something to take home with them along the line of the theme of the day, as well as photocopies that they can follow along with during parts of the program.
At the adult meetings we talk a little about what is happening with Activated internationally, to help them know they are part of a new movement that’s really advancing. We also tell them about our Monday night Bible study, which is also growing like wildfire since we started our course with Jason teaching The Endtime. We also explain our CTP projects and many help with used clothing and goods for us to distribute. We introduce the Activated magazine for those who are new and give them the opportunity to subscribe.
The children’s Activated meeting going on downstairs at the same time is very important, and we have to plan and prepare for it, too. This month Nehemiah and his Home put on a very good puppet show. The children are taught a song and a quote that they are able to sing and quote for their parents at the end of the adult meeting.
After the meetings are over, there is lots of talking and fellowship. Some play more volleyball and the families stay around about another hour before everyone leaves. During the next few days after our meeting we plan our next meeting, print colorful invitations, and start to pass them out during our outreach, provisioning, and personal visitation. We also start immediately to pray for the next meeting. The Lord has shown us repeatedly that no matter how much effort we put into the organization, it is prayer that brings the people in, supplies the needs for the meeting, and helps it to be successful!
Just a note: The three Homes in our city work together on the Activated meeting and they all invite their friends. Generally the Saturday afternoon before the monthly meeting, the musicians get together to practice their songs, and we go over the different speaking parts in the meeting, the emcee parts, and the skits.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1. The theme this month was How to Overcome! Jason is the captain in a skit with Renee where she asks, Oh, no! Has it come to that?
2. Jaime was one of the first people to attend our weekly Bible studies. He is wholeheartedly giving his part in the adult meeting and later participated in a skit with Jason and Jessica.
3. Nehemiah, Stevie, and our children helping with the puppet show for the children’s Activated meeting.
By Jason, Mexico
A year ago it was hard to imagine it would actually be happening here in our city. And even after the Conéctate meetings last summer, which swept through Mexico lighting and activating everyone’s fire, and introducing many of us to new terms such as Greater Church, Retreats, Outside Members, Discipleship Courses, etc., we still anxiously wondered just how the Lord was going to fulfill His promises and make the Activated vision a reality here in our neck of the woods.
Well, the exciting news is that it’s really begun, and we have been getting those golden comments from our closest friends like, We don’t want to just attend one weekly meeting. We want to be more a part of what you do and what you are. These things that were discussed only in theory just months ago are now reality and the highlight of our week.
Participating in weekly Endtime classes and having a regular feeding to invite our friends and sheep to every week has been a major victory and answer to prayer for our Home, as I know it has been for the other Homes in the area as well. God bless my parents (Seek and Servant) and their sweet team who really got the ball rolling here in our city; now we are all enjoying the fruit it’s bearing. It’s a blessing to all our sheep and has brought spiritual benefits to us all through our pouring out and really fulfilling the teacher role that the Lord wants us to play in this era of action. Helping to prepare for and teach these classes has been nothing short of far-out, and has helped me to brush a lot of dust off that had built up on my Bible. Ha!
The Lord led us to begin teaching a course on the Endtime to our closest friends who have been regularly attending the Monday-night Bible studies. When we gave the first class on the Signs of the Times, we weren’t quite sure how it would go over, if there would be a vacuum for that particular subject, but we were absolutely amazed at the response we got. It was unlike anything I have seen for a long time, because they just ate it up and didn’t want to stop. The classes developed into a five-week course, which everyone has been showing up for without fail. Many have even been bringing new attendees when they come, some of which are not your churchgoer types, but who have left flipped out about Bible prophecy. For some this is the first time they have ever opened a Bible, much less dug into it the way we have been in these classes.
The class on the rise of the Antichrist was amazing. We watched the dramatized songs, Kathy Don’t Go and He’s Coming Soon from the S.O.S. video in Spanish to help explain the subject, and they loved it. One young guy brought a friend who hadn’t received the Lord yet, but who got such a witness during the class that he said to one of our Family girls sitting beside him during the class, How can I be one of the ‘stars’? (referring to Dan.12:3). At the end of the class he eagerly prayed to receive the Lord. The meaty Endtime message helped him see his need for receiving the Lord, as he compared what awaits God’s children who are written in the Book of Life with those that receive the Mark of the Beast. It wasn’t your usual approach to salvation, but sure did the trick for this guy. Ha!
We’ve been seeing that the Endtime is also great bait to get people turned on to the Word itself, as there are so many undeniable confirmations through Bible prophecy that the Bible is the Word of God, and that helps them realize just how current and happening a document it is.
We’ve been averaging eight to ten adults every Monday night for this Endtime course, and their ages have ranged from 19 to 55. Everyone has been right there in the spirit. The teaching part has been a breeze, as they have been creating such an incredible vacuum to absorb everything we are sharing right out of the Bible. The last class was hard to wrap up because everybody just wanted to keep at it! Wow!
We have also been adding in a few related songs here and there from the Final Stand video, which have provided a helpful visual on each subject we’ve been covering. We are offering them a Basic Endtime Bible Prophecy Course Certificate at the end of the course and they are all very turned on about this.
Here are some comments about the course so far, from those attending.
From a 31-year-old: I really like Bible classes the way you all present them. I went to three years of Catholic seminary, and they mainly concentrate on the Latin meaning of words, the definitions, etc., but this really keeps our attention.
From a 55-year-old lady, the mother of one of our closest live-outs: The stories and anecdotes you share really help to keep our attention, and help us understand things better.
A lot of them have commented how exciting it is to be part of a course that they know that they wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else. It’s been a boost to our faith and vision to know that we are finally getting some consistent feeding going, and have a real live flock and national church together—just like the Lord has promised would happen if we step out and obey.
Graduation and a New Course!
(Update by Jason, April 2001)
We filmed the Endtime Course Graduation as it was such a momentous occasion for us, seeing the Lord’s Word being fulfilled!—And this is just the beginning!
The Lord told us in prophecy that the following six weeks should be dedicated to a course on discipleship, which we are kicking off with a class on Acts 1-10. In this course we need to cover witnessing, the Holy Spirit, tithing, etc., and the exciting thing is that some people who have been coming have already been asking about these things and showing signs that they want to do more for the Lord.
Right after one of our classes on the Endtime, a sweet couple in their early thirties who have been attending faithfully came up to Seek and me, and out of the blue the wife said, My husband and I have been talking about it, and we want to start tithing to you. Who should we give the money to? My mom and I looked at each other sort of stumped, because they were beating us to the punch! We hadn’t even covered the subject of tithing with them yet, but it just goes to show how the Lord’s Spirit has been working in their lives through the Word they have already been receiving.
The husband and wife both hold good jobs. In the middle of one of the Endtime classes we were discussing not being ashamed of witnessing and telling others about the Lord, in reference to the verse Daniel 12:3 about some of us shining when we get to Heaven and others living in shame and contempt. This young woman said that since coming to our classes, she and her husband have no longer been afraid of what their neighbors or co-workers think about them being Christians. (Sometimes evangelicos have a bad reputation here because of their self-righteous hellfire-and-brimstone approach with the Catholics.) She said, I used to worry about it, but now even though I know our neighbors can hear right through our walls, I put on a Word or Praise tape and spend time praising the Lord in song, and I don’t care what anyone else thinks.
This same young woman, during our class on The Marriage Supper of the Lamb, caught on to the Loving Jesus revelation very quickly! I had been tip-toeing around the subject of Loving Jesus when discussing the Marriage Supper, when going over the verses about how we are Jesus’ Bride. I then went on to discuss rewards in Heaven, and was fishing for the verse, Well done, thou good and faithful servant when I asked what everybody wanted to hear as they stood before the Lord when they get to Heaven. I turned to this young woman and asked her what she thought Jesus was going to ask her. She replied, Will you marry Me? She cracked everybody up! Boy, so much for trying to play it down, ha!
We are seeing that old things (and ways) are passed away, and we are off to a new and exciting day of greater ministering and growth.
From Lisa YA, Eman, Dust, and Smile, in Albania
We had our first Activated-based Sunday morning sermon at a Canadian-sponsored Christian church here in Albania! This church ministers to the poor, and has bought our whole set of Activated magazines and some extra books for the young national leaders, who were left in charge for six weeks while the pastor went to Canada to raise funds. We have been in communication with these young leaders, have become good friends with them, and even did extra shows for two of the Sunday services for the kids.
We thought that we had done all we could for these folks, but then one day they visited us and asked if we could do the preaching the following Sunday for the adults! (Every day they have two sermons for the kids and one longer one for the adults.) We were taken aback, as we had never thought about preaching! We prayed and the Lord showed us that it was His will. So after receiving this confirmation from the Boss, we prayed about what we should present and He told us to give a talk on the topic of spending time with the Lord, and hearing from Him daily in prophecy. To go with it we prepared a skit in which someone played Jesus, and then two girls call Him on the telephone. One is fretting, not really listening to the answers that He is giving, while the other is having sweet communion with Him and thereby receiving the answers she is seeking.
After the sermon/skit, people came up and congratulated us. It was really only the Lord as we were very nervous, but the Lord shone through. They asked to teach them the drama, ha! There were about 250 adults that day, and unexpectedly, even the pastor of a nearby German-sponsored church came.
When the pastor returned from Canada, he expressed his thanks for all the help that we had given while he was gone and asked if we could work together on other projects. He is also trying to find a way to help us with donations. So thank the Lord! He did it!
By Kristia, Tim and Joy for the Garden Home, Bangkok
Here on a non-English-speaking, non-Christian field, we have recently made progress in getting on the follow-up Activated bandwagon by encouraging our local sheep to do more for the Lord. Consistency is the key and, Lord helping us, we hope to do more with the few on-fire sheep we have, so that they can teach others to teach others, being part of the follow-up revolution themselves!
Vicky, the bellwether in the group, is already witnessing in her work daily and is now planning to bring her sheep over for our weekly Bible studies as well.
(Editor’s note: Please see Vicky’s testimony in FAR 154 of how the Lord healed her of multiple food allergies and a spinal problem. Shortly after she cried out to the most powerful God of all gods, He sent two Family members to her door to witness to her and lead her to Him. She then became a faithful friend. She says, As the team lived far away, I would drive 150 km to their Home once a month just for fellowship. God bless them, they kept up their follow-up by calling and writing me, constantly feeding me. Thank the Lord! That’s why I want to witness and share with all what Jesus has done for me.)
In this country, which is steeped in Buddhism, there aren’t many wildly willing sheep or contacts on the line who want to or can get out publicly witnessing. However, recently we were able to activate a couple of our dear Thai friends to draw closer to the Lord and bring His love to others.
We were preparing to send a team of teens—our show troupe—and a couple of adults to provide Christmas programs to rural schools in the province. This was a way we could give out the message to many and bring them the true meaning of Christmas.
When we mentioned it to our dear friend Vicky, she was thrilled with the prospect of bringing Christmas to the upcountry schools in this way. However, she runs her own confectionery business and wasn’t sure if she could go, as it was one of the busiest times for her, with increased orders for the festive season. She decided to pray and ask the Lord about it.
She excitedly called the next day and said, Jesus told me I should go! The Lord had assured her that if she gave those two days to Him by serving Him in this way, He would take care of her and bless her business. (He did with a 100% increase in sales after she returned to work!)
She mentioned these plans to Tim, a friend of hers who also loves the Lord. He manages a small construction firm and it’s very difficult for him to even get away for a day. However, she encouraged him to pray about it, as she had. The Lord got through to Tim as well and he phoned to say he was joining our Christmas team!
So our big team of Steve, Joy, Vicky, Tim, and our three teen girls set off on a 200-mile faith trip, not knowing where they would find accommodations, food, or even which schools they were going to, for that matter. The team miraculously got to visit and perform at two schools, getting out more than 1,000 posters and leading all staff and kids to receive the best Christmas gift—God’s love in Jesus!
Vicky surprised us all by gladly doing all the emceeing for all our shows, getting better with each one! She would introduce the program and eventually lead all the kids to pray and receive Jesus!
On the second day, after two shows in the morning, the Lord showed us to do some personal witnessing at a teachers college. This was where Tim really let his light shine, as he hadn’t been too involved with the school shows. He personally witnessed to and led 19 souls to the Lord that afternoon. Vicky went with two of our teen girls to help them with their witnessing, eventually getting over 40 souls between them!
Both Vicky and Tim were challenged and excited to see how the Lord worked a miracle in providing two nice hotel rooms for the team to stay in. On the way back, Vicky got so inspired that she insisted on trying to provision some fuel for the trip back to Bangkok. Since it was getting pretty late for our long journey home, we set a limit: three tries, then we buy. She was pretty on-fire, despite the fact that nothing worked out at the first two stations, as the managers had gone home. However, the Lord encouraged her, and the miracle happened at the third and final station. The sweet daughter of the owner was still in, and she helped us with 25 liters of fuel and even received the Lord when we were praying for her illness and sharing about Jesus’ Christmas present.
Vicky and Tim thanked us for letting them come on the trip, but we all thanked the Lord for His wonder-working ways in having them come closer in this way and showing them an avenue to serve Him in faith. They helped us reap over 1,400 souls and distribute 1,100 posters.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Tim (far right) leads one of our weekly Sunday Bible studies. Pictured with him (from right to left) are live-outs Teerapong and Vicky, along with some sheep and Joy (Tim’s mate).
From the Bangalore Service Home, India
For Christmas we were debating whether to have a Christmas DF meeting for our friends and contacts, but the Lord told us in prophecy that it would be better to have something for our friends prior to the Christmas witnessing push, to prevent disrupting our witnessing at that very important time.
He then showed us to have something for our friends who were Activated subscribers, as well as for those newly activated. This turned into an Activated meeting to give our friends the vision to continue getting out the Activated magazine, to encourage new Activated subscribers to get it out to their friends, and to help them all get to know us better. We called this program an Activated Launch—and the preparations began!
It was a big success, and many people turned up who were very hungry for the message. The program consisted of songs from all age groups, a skit on The Three Empty Sacks, as well as lots of stories, quotes, and meaningful anecdotes. At the end, we handed out a form for them to fill in called Let’s Talk about Love. Following is the form, with an example of the answers people gave:
Let’s Talk about Love
My vision: To make a person feel more loved and cared for because they have interacted with me.
My commitment: I will do all that I can to live by the principle that the greatest joy comes in giving.
I will subscribe a friend to Activated or sponsor the magazine for a person in need.
My personal goal: (Following are some of the reactions:) To forgive my friends who betrayed me. To win my friend’s soul for Jesus Christ. To spread the happiness, purpose. To keep smiling. To love everyone and to give and share. To radiate happiness within and around me. To help the poor and needy. To help people know more about Jesus. To make a little difference in the world. To make the world a better place because I have lived in it. To tell all my friends about Activated.
We tried to help them become more a part of our Family and the Activated program, and this certainly helped to shorten the cord and bring people in closer. After the show, we served refreshments and were able to sit down and talk with those who came. Lots of people committed themselves to get Activated out to their friends and contacts. It was overall a big success in helping people understand more about Activated, who we are, and what we’re about.
A lot of our friends are now getting their friends activated, having set their own personal monthly goals to reach. They are very inspired about this and eagerly await their next Activated meeting. We meet regularly with the closer ones for Bible studies, Church of Love, youth meetings, as well as encouraging them to come and help with our CTPs, etc.
Later we were able to follow up on some foreigners who had come, by arranging to meet them at their college. They were very hungry, loved the magazine, and were instrumental in us getting 78 paid subscriptions for the Activated magazines from their friends and fellow students. It was a big encouragement not only to us, but to them, too, to see so many subscribing to a magazine they truly enjoy.
Our landlord came to collect his six-month rent (he lives out of the country). He is already activated and likes it very much. When we handed over the rent, he gave back $100 and said to use it for our work. He also came to the Activated Launch, where his daughter got activated and pledged to get at least three of her friends activated also. Praise the Lord!
From Marcos 16:15 (of Rebecca), Mexico
After the Conéctate meetings, the Lord started to do great things for us. For a while, our desire had been to have study groups for our sheep. In the Conéctate meetings we were given a more clear vision on how to make our sheep outside disciples, so we launched out by faith, went on the attack, and held a party with the friends we already had. We did a puppet show for our friends’ children, and for the adults we prepared songs of praise and witnessing, plus skits. This meeting was an opportunity for them to know more about us, and afterwards we invited them to study groups. Two study groups emerged from this meeting.
We started the groups with the few friends we had and the Lord has blessed our faith. Now we have a group on Tuesday (our contacts from the market), another one on Wednesday (young people who want to do something for the Lord), and another one on Thursday in a nearby city. These three groups are growing every week and it’s amazing to see how the Lord is working in their lives and has helped them to open up more to Him and us. The Lord told us to form the groups according to the sheep’s needs, like youth, married couples, etc. We’re giving a basic course from the Conéctate magazines.
In the youth group, the majority are Christians who have a basic knowledge of the Bible. They are tired of the church groups for young people, and desire to do more for the Lord. They have shown such enthusiasm and have a lot of potential. Please pray that the Lord will help us keep the vision for feeding His sheep.
From Tabitha (of Pedro Emmanuel), Brazil
Our Bible classes are really taking off. We have five different class groups a week, all of which are for beginners. We have this number of groups meeting outside the Home, because most of these friends cannot come to our weekly class at home. Some work late into the night and others live far away. One of these classes is also geared toward the friends of our live-out university students; these people would probably never come to a missionary house.
We are also working on setting up discipleship training for those who have been with us longer. We can see the Word fulfilling itself, where it says the battlefronts will be outside our Homes and that people will be begging for the Word.
From Prem and Ruth, India
We have begun having Saturday night Word studies (or Activated Evenings as we call them) for close friends at our Home, and it has been thrilling to see the Lord bringing His sheep in. Our first three meetings this year have been on the following themes: New Beginnings, The Power of Prayer, and The Beauty of Forgiveness. We have been putting together class sheets and song sheets from the HomeARC and the Family Songbook CD. SGAs David and Sharon along with JETT Deepti have been making it a point to learn four or five new songs each week, performing them with a guitar and keyboard. The class is followed by a simple but nice snack. The response from our friends has been terrific!!
Three of our faithful attendees are, coincidentally, school principals and just absolutely love our materials, especially Stories to Grow By. One of them, though not from a Christian background, is so taken by our materials and the Word that she recently ordered 40 Trudge and Zippy books for her school. She bought just about everything else for herself, including all the Get Activated books we had.
Another principal asked for prayer for a miracle. She was going to have a meeting with a government official and was planning to request that he give her land to build a large school. At the end of the class on Prayer, we all got together and prayed for her—and she got the land! It was a great testimony for all the other attendees to the power of prayer!
Another gentleman we met as a result of the Jeremy Spencer concert in India in 1995 drives nearly 80 kilometers in peak traffic to attend the Activated Evening and says he would not miss one of them for the world. Yet another dear friend says, My soul is parched for this kind of input. He has offered us the use of his downtown apartment for upcoming Activated Evenings, God bless him!
It’s been thrilling to see the Lord working in the lives of His sheep and we just pray that we can be faithful to fulfill our commission to feed them.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Ruth giving a seminar for parents.
By Jonathan and Mercy Nubes, from the Conéctate-Chile Home
For the past nine months we’ve been having stirring GP fellowships and Bible classes in a centrally located restaurant in our city. The idea came about when we started receiving a steady influx of letters and e-mail from people in our area who wanted to meet us and come to one of our get-togethers. They had either received a tract on the street or had visited our Web site on the Internet.—Most of the Homes were leery of inviting people over whom they didn’t really know, and it was becoming harder and harder to meet them individually in a restaurant or park. Then the Lord provided this restaurant; the owner is a very kind Italian man whom Isaaco met while witnessing. He agreed to let us use the upper floor of his restaurant for Bible classes and inspirations with our friends and acquaintances, and has even attended a couple of times himself.
Before our first meeting, we braced for the worst—that is, that not a single person would come. But our fears did not came to pass, and about 15-20 people showed up, which is a good turnout in a country where unreliability and unpunctuality reign supreme and are intricately woven into the national fiber! (Still, if that ever happens to you, don’t panic. Have a nice fellowship amongst yourselves and try again next time. It iss von ting yust to shtick! The sheep will hear the Lord’s voice and will come!)
From that time, we have continued having our fellowships every week without fail. Sometimes one person shows up, sometimes 10 or 12, but we’ve always had someone there to pour into. The reward has been to see people growing through the Word, prayer, praise, song, fellowship, and drawing closer to the Family.
This venture has also contributed toward inter-Home unity, since people from different Homes help and participate—some with the actual classes; some with the music; others by just attending and being a support with their comments, testimonies, etc. Young people also participate and have been a tremendous sample to those attending. Cooperation eases the burden for everyone. Strange as it may seem, these meetings have even provided spiritual fellowship for CM/FM members who, because of the demands of life or lack of personnel, might not get a chance to sing and pray and praise together with other brethren very often.
Each meeting varies in content, but generally they consist of lots of music (the attendees find the Loving Jesus songs irresistible), a good Bible study or Word reading, testimonies on the subject of the study, prayer and a little personal fellowship at the end. We also recompense the faithful by giving out the latest FARs or Reflections to muse upon throughout the week. (Editor’s note: This would be a good opportunity to bring out the Activated mags as well, and sell your sheep on subscribing or on getting their friends to subscribe!)
So if you are looking for a way to meet with your sheep and new converts, try this or a similar idea. It takes a little time, but brings forth gratifying fruit! Best of all, it puts you right in the fray in the era of action!
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1. Our first Church of Love meeting. Quite a turnout for our first time!
2. Our candlelight service 2000.
3. Luchi, Mercy, and Jonathan with Pablo, Juan, and Omar, precious friends who first contacted us through our Spanish Family Web site. (This is the restaurant where we held our first meetings.)
4. Luchi coloring with the kids while the parents enjoy Bible class.
5. Rocking and rolling out the Word! The young people here with friends and sheep. They get together with their sheep and potential disciples every Thursday and have a great time doing skits, singing, and reading the Word. They are really rocking and crazy for the Lord!—Just what we need in this era of action!
6. Isaaco giving a Bible class. Beside him, Moni, a faithful friend.
From Ruth Marie, Mexico
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get on the bandwagon with Activated meetings. But with all our regular puppet shows, the home front, phone calls, the children, etc., it seemed like I couldn’t for a while. Then it happened: The Twelve Foundation Stones started being posted on the Website. How much easier could the Lord make it?—A full program to start with, and soon I had a brand-new crowd to train. I put the Lord and myself on the spot by informing some of our sheep that we were starting Bible classes this new year.
Here are some of our regulars: Tina, a precious Christian friend, had wanted her husband to go along with her to Bible studies that she was taking at her church, but he would never go. When Carlos, her husband, met us and came to help out at our Christmas CTP meal, he realized that this was the group that he wanted to fellowship with. So Tina dropped her regular Bible study class and now her husband comes with her to our classes.
Another of our students is Patty, a sweet friend we know from expos where we sometimes have a stand and promote our tools. She was also a Christian, but needed more regular feeding and loves it. Another is Lupita, an old friend of brethren in another city, who recently moved to our city.
So this is our small beginning. We pray and trust that all these lives, as well as the lives of their families and friends, will be changed through the training that they are receiving. They are already now calling us more regularly for prayer, counsel, or questions they have about the Word that they are reading.
One obstacle was that the program is in English, but by God’s grace I’ve been able to translate the classes one class at a time, usually just in time for the evening’s Bible study. It has been a lot of work and a big challenge, but the blessing is that now I get a little extra Word time in my busy schedule. Ha! Also I’m so thankful for my daughter Talitha, who types the translations for me.
On Valentine’s Day, instead of a class we had a dinner together with our students, to help us get to know each other better. We also started inviting other friends over for dinner to draw them closer and to see their potential for future classes.
From Christina and Jered, Russia
This month we gave The 12 Foundation Stones introductory class to our closest sheep, catacombers, and others. Some had been regulars earlier, but with time had lost their fire somewhat. They’ve all gotten inspired to try this new course. Most are signing up and committing themselves to follow through for the six months it’ll take to complete.
From Mark Free, India
We started our Home’s first 12 Foundation Stones course! We have these classes twice a week and are pretty much following the suggestions offered in this material, which we downloaded from the MO Website. About 10 of our closer sheep are attending these classes, and have all commented how much they are getting fed from the classes.
God bless the dear ones who put these classes together! It is so beautiful to see the sheep turned on to the Word, and several of them have started to memorize the Word after the class on memorization.
An Easter Retreat for Friends and Live-outs in Family Style
From María (of Andy), Colombia, April 2001
A month before Easter, the Lord told us to hold a retreat for our closest friends and live-outs during the Easter holidays, which last four days in our country.
We’d held short retreats here and there, but for no longer than two days, and not with as many people. We’re a small Home, composed mainly of young people, and none of us felt like a whiz in the field of organizing meetings and the care of more than 30 people—all quite different types—for a period of four days. So for all of us it was an overwhelming thought.
What a relief it was for us when we took everything about the retreat to the Lord in prayer: general planning, the place, the schedule, the rooming situation, what Word to give, what songs to sing, menus, special activities for kids and adults, etc. He gave us specific instructions for each and every one of those questions—and more! With total faith that He was leading and guiding and that everything would turn out right, we launched out, all hands on deck!
For the occasion, a friend lent us a very nice, cozy country house, away from the city, phones, and worldly concerns. Many of our friends expressed how important it was for them to have this time away from the world to connect with Jesus and only with Him. Some live-outs own companies and businesses that demand a lot of their attention and time, even during holidays, but they took a step of faith by leaving it all in the Lord’s hands as they came to the retreat and put Jesus first. God bless them!
We in our Home divided the ministries amongst ourselves. Laura (18) and Irene (16) took care of the kitchen, cooking, etc. Isabel (19) and Sara (16) took care of all the kids and the preparation of all the activities to be done with them, as most of our friends brought their kids along. Christian (16) took care of the maintenance, schedule pushing, and relations with the caretakers of the country house, who lived outside the main property. Cristina (14) took care of the home care department and all the details involved, including distributing the JJTs, etc. (By the way, everyone loved participating in the cleaning and dishwashing. They just loved to see their names on the daily schedule. Ha! God bless them!) My husband Andy and I took care of the meetings and classes. All Home members also helped in the talk times that our friends and active members had during those days.
The Lord showed us to live those days as if we were in a normal Family Home, and to impart the spirit of David in greater measure to the ones that had already embraced the Family as their own fold. We had boys’ bedrooms and girls’ bedrooms, as well as schedules for the JJT/dishwashing responsibilities and for planned activities such as get-out, etc.
We had two meetings during the day—one from 9:30 to 12:30 a.m., and another one from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. In those meetings we studied the story of Easter from Dad’s Letters, as well as holding classes on The New Weapons, Our Great Commission, Hearing from the Lord. On Sunday morning we touched on the resurrection—all material taken from the Letters.
Our friends were flipped out about the meat that was being given them! They ate up each word and message from Jesus with hunger and desire. We started every meeting with lots of singing, using special songbooks we had made for the occasion. Kids and adults would join together for inspiration time, then the kids would leave. They had activities related to the themes the adults were studying, but at their level.
At night we had special activities planned. One night we had communion and feet washing by the light of the fireplace. It was a beautiful and unforgettable experience! A few couples got cleansed that night from deep-rooted bitterness against their mates. Another night we had a Loving Jesus time, singing love songs to Him, telling Him how much we love Him, etc. We also took time to hear from Heaven, and many friends received prophecies for the first time. God bless them! We all got beautiful things from the Lord, some quite specific for our situation here in our city. The Lord inspired us all to work as a team to win this part of the world for Him. What a challenge!
This confirms what the Lord recently told us about the new expanded Family vision: I will make a way for those who wish to be disciples to be so, even if they can’t leave all and follow Me. I will make a way for you to expand. You will have the help that you need by teaching, training, and feeding these who will become your flocks, helpers, and co-workers. They will rise up and work alongside you (ML #3308:30, GN 908).
The last evening we watched the movie Jesus.
In general we enjoyed beautiful days of Heaven! We lived like a Family Home—everyone contributing and helping each other; kids playing and working together in unity. Many friends mentioned how fed they were by the love and harmony with their brothers and sisters. Some were from very different social status and cultures, but Jesus and the Word united our hearts and lives!
The friends that hadn’t known us for so long got sold out on the Family’s way of living and on our society itself. We knew that one couple was holding on to doubts as to whether the Family really was what we were saying and preaching; they had heard some lies about us from bitter and jealous religious people. So that’s probably why the Lord led us to organize this retreat in a very Family style—to be a living sample of the Word! These same friends came to us at the end of the retreat and told us: We’ve fallen in love with the Family. Now we know where we belong!
This couple has been searching for some time in churches or religious groups for a place where they could feel at home and where they could grow and feel the Lord’s Spirit. They met us about 10 months ago and have come to our meetings ever since. They were very faithful in many ways, but not committed, as they were studying our unconventional and radical beliefs. Prophecy, for example, was quite heavy meat for them to swallow, coming from a very religious background where it could be interpreted as witchcraft.
The New Wine mags have been a tremendous tool for feeding friends and helping their faith in prophecy and their use of it to grow. (Editor’s note: The New Wine mags are edited or cut-down versions of recent GNs that can be given to live-out members or former members who are hungry for the Word and feeding. Most are fairly meaty in content. They’re available for downloading from the MO site.) The couple we referred to previously, for example, has been growing a lot by reading this pub, but watching a whole group of people get quiet and still, waiting on the Lord and then receiving His Words—this was what sold them and helped them take the step to join the Family in spirit! They are totally new creatures ever since the retreat.
Through these meetings most of our friends have developed a stronger connection with the Lord and learned the importance of taking time daily with Him and His Word. They’ve also become more committed to follow and serve Him closer. The retreat was a real success in all aspects. The Lord really knows how to organize and plan things well!
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
Andy and Maria, Colombia
Happy smiles after one of our Word classes.
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