For those who might not know, I was supposed to go to the Dominican Republic to do fore-work for a trip in the fall. Things do not always go as planned though, and I ended up going to Peru instead, joining a group in reaching the city of Lima before a larger Gospel crusade that was about to happen there. The team I had there consisted of my friend Cimarron and me, as well as a Pastor Jovita and several members of her church. We were located in San Juan de Lurigancho, a division of Lima, which has a population of almost a million people. It’s very crowded and it’s positioned in the middle of the mountains with only one way in and one way out.
At the beginning of our trip, our goal was to take out a truck with a very loud speaker and use it to gather a crowd and preach the Gospel on the streets. We found that this wasn’t effective like it is in Africa though because of so much noise pollution. The city had loads of advertising and people using megaphones to sell and advertise. People had learned to just ignore sounds, so we changed up our plans and did a lot of one-on-one ministry instead. It was much more effective! Once we figured this out, my friend Cimarron and I found places where people weren’t in a hurry and talked to them. God showed us right where to go. We went to hospitals, markets that weren’t busy, and parks in the evening.
What we saw was truly like the book of Acts. We shared the Gospel, someone would get saved or healed, they would tell a friend, and then people would just line up. There were times people would come to us after we prayed for someone else and say I need salvation. I had never seen people line up for prayer by word of mouth like that. We were just a few people with a passion and a love for God.
We also saw a great impact on the local church that decided to volunteer their time with us every morning. Pastor Jovita and her volunteers, which included our translator, were a an amazing part of our team. Each day they started out by handing out flyers for the upcoming crusade, while we prayed for people and ministered. They had many questions about reaching their city, and we were so happy to share and build them up as we journeyed place to place. By the end, they were leading people to Jesus and seeing the sick healed too!
They were so touched by the way they had seen God move and use each of us. With tears they thanked us when it was time for us to leave. I was so blessed to be apart of seeing this church grow. Follow up and discipleship are such a huge part of what is needed once we leave and this is one church doing that. Since leaving, we’ve had the great news that they had 21 first time attendees from the ministry we did with them. How incredible is that!?
It was amazing to be a part of the supernatural growth of a congregation, and incredible to see how God uses simple people like us to be vessels of His Glory. We each have a valuable roll in carrying His presence to others. (That includes you. People need the Jesus you have) It’s even more wonderful though, that we have a place with God because of His Son. My prayer is, ”Lord use me, use us, in America this same way. I want to see the next Jesus Revolution.”
Commentaires