Robert leaves for Venezuela

robert-airport-1.JPGHello. Darren and I sent Robert off this afternoon to Venezuela. Originally his flight was to leave this morning, but it got rescheduled to 5pm. He’s connecting in Miami but his next flight doesn’t leave untill 1am Wed. Please keep him in your prayers because he gets in about 5am, then has one-on-one prayer ministry sessions at 9am! He’ll be there a week so I’ll try to keep updates coming fairly regular. Till next time……blessings!

Visit from Bulgarian pastor & family

stephanov.jpgWe just had a couple days visit with Bobby & Rali Stefanov. Robert held a conference in his church a little over a year ago. They’ve been in the states since October and they’ll be leaving in April after finishing up their intinerating. They joined us for our midweek service last night which was a Night of Praise. They love worship too so we had a great time! Afterwards we had a late dinner at Sneakers where the kids thoroughly enjoyed the many TV screens! They left today for North Carolina, then New York, a few other stops and eventually to California where his mom lives. Their kids are Joanna (12),  Samuel (9), and Theodore (4). Please pray for them and their precious country.

Upcoming Venezuela Trip

Leaving Febuary 12-19, 2008

Healings In Shiliguri, India

healed.jpghealed-2.jpg In the 3 main conferences we did, over 50 people were saved and about that many were healed. One older pastor who had pain in his knees for years started running up and down the stairs at one point, displaying his healing. Another young man who had injured his head and his back had hurt for a long time also—totally healed! Praise the Lord!

Check out photos http://fountainsoflife.org/photos.htm

Check out video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTWASxOMOfM

Shiliguri India

elephant.jpgelephant-2.jpg  These pastors have churches in the villages around Shiliguri, India. They had to leave the conference by 4pm each day because elephants have been coming in the evenings and tearing up their crops, so they needed to be back to their villages in time to chase them away with torches. Imagine that! Check out photos http://fountainsoflife.org/photos.htm

The Earthquake in People’s Lives

img_4768.JPG          Pastor Juan said, “I called my children and repented to them and told them I love them; when I get home I will also repent to my church and tell them I love them.” We hear testimonies of restitution and an embracing of agape values in place of works in most every conference we do. But during the earthquake in Peru, as the church and relief agencies were mobilizing quickly, I thought, “Who is attending to the emotional ‘earthquakes’ in people’s lives on a day to day basis?”           While in Peru we heard of a pastor who had built a very large church over many years. Many other churches were started all over the country as a result. A pastors network developed and they all loved this leader because he had a gift to make these various pastors feel supported and encouraged. Unfortunately today he has left his wife of many years and is living in the US with his secretary. I know of a very similar story in Manila, Philippines. In India—most pastors physically abuse their wives. As a minister, you minister what you are. So what is coming down from these pastors as a standard over the men in the churches they preach in every Sunday?          We believe in ministering healing and loved based values, not placing ministry above family, not having identity in how big we can grow our ministries. If we can stem the tide of the earthquakes in people’s lives, we can effect even more relief in families than in cases of natural emergencies. For every leader that begins to embrace these values, they will in turn influence all they minister to. Thank you for helping us in this task!

Peru (Flight Delays, Earthquakes & Illnesses)

img_4745.JPGIt was 6:40pm and we were halfway to the airport when our car started shaking. I thought someone was pushing on the back of the taxi. The furthest thing from my mind was an earthquake. I was so in shock it never occurred to me to be fearful. It went on and on. People on the sidewalks began running and weeping. We realized later that this earthquake was probably much worse near the epicenter. It was. More than 380 died! Our host was in contact with one pastor whose church had completely crumbled to the ground. A nearby prison also had collapsed and 600 prisoners were loose compounding the problems of looting. People had to stay near their damaged properties armed with guns.           The couple traveling with me (Bob & Kelly Parr) had flight delays from Miami, hence our trip to the airport here in Lima. Their rescheduled flight was delayed 10 minutes in landing which without would have landed them right during the earthquake with possible catastrophic results.           A few days later on Sunday I got food poisoning and had to miss the morning service. Luckily Bob could cover for me at the last minute (I let him know that morning). Then Bob had a sore throat for several days and our missionary host had stomach problems. We really got under some health attacks on this  trip!           Despite all this warfare, all three of our conferences went very well. People’s hearts seemed to have been shaken open. One person noted how soft and open even the men were. God is good!

War Torn Bosnia and the Church

mostar-bridge.jpgUnderstanding Bosnia

Watch Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FlOhJyvH-c           

             In 1054AD Rome divided its east and west regions right through what is present day Bosnia. The east became the Orthodox Church and the west Catholic. In the 14th century the Ottoman Turks came and many converted to Islam.             Yugoslavia was made up of six provinces: Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Montenegrins and the sixth, Bosnia,  was intermingled with three groups Serbs (Orthodox), Croats (Catholic) and Bosniacs (Slavs that had converted to Islam). After the communist dictator Tito died, the provinces started moving toward independence. In Bosnia this led to civil war as both the Serbs and Croats wanted control.             Initially, in the town of Mostar where we were, the Croats and Bosniacs united against the aggression of the Serbs and won. However, the Croats then turned on the Bosniacs (Muslims). They created a camp of deplorable conditions and would bust into Muslim homes and drag them off to this concentration camp. In Bihar, mass graves were found full of Bosniacs bodies. There are some women with no men left in their family lines.            As a result of the war, cities that used to be mixed are now much more homogeneous. Sarajevo is now 90% Muslim and has allowed few non-Muslims to return to the city after the war. Unemployment is 50-70% depending on the area. Racial tensions have kept evangelization to a minimum. Their identity is tied to their religion, so to get saved is to deny what they fought a war over and even lost loved ones over. Pray for the nations.