Dec 29, noon IHOP Partners Luncheon, Onething Conference, Bartle Hall, Kansas City, MO
Around 70 folks were gathered for the lunch, and I enjoyed telling once again the story of Jacob. One of the best redemption stories in all Scripture. I took a solid hour with it. The group remained engaged throughout, and then I had the joy of connecting with several on a more personal level as they came up to greet me after the close of the meeting. It was great to work with Luis Cataldo and Jeff Price, who bring leadership to the IHOP Partners development arm. It was also nice to have Marci in the room, along with Tracey Sliker who helps us part-time in our offices. Thank you for praying me through!
Centro Cristiano Lluvia de Gracia, Poza Rica, Mexico
Saturday: I’m leaving the house at 4 a.m. today, to make my way to Poza Rica, Mexico (via Houston and Mexico City). As the Lord blesses my travels, I’ll be able to arrive in time to minister in tonight’s meeting. Then will stay over for Sunday morning.
This will be my first time to this city. This is their winter, so temps will not get much above 80. The weekend with Centro Cristiano Lluvia de Gracia was brought together by pastor Jose Felix from Guadalajara, who is connected to this church relationally. I was with Jose for the first time in Guadalajara in the summer of 2015, and since then they have released a Spanish translation of the book, UNRELENTING PRAYER. And Jose will be joining me in Poza Rica this weekend, he’ll be serving as my translator.
Saturday 6:30 pm: The adventure has launched! I’m in tropical, green, exotic Poza Rica. A city of almost 200,000. Three churches are gathering together to join in these meetings. Tonight’s meeting will be held in a church that has some kind of connection to Andres Spyker in Morelia. Their daughter is in Morelia right now at the newly launched Mas Vida internship.
Getting here was a trip. Navigating the Mexico City airport was interesting. I had to take a train to change terminals. Tried to get on the wrong plane. The airport code for Poza Rica is PAZ, and leaving at the same time was a flight for La Paz, at the same general gate area. I figured that must be another way to say PAZ, so I tried to give the agent my ticket. But as it turns out, La Paz is a different city. Eventually they figured out I was trying to get on the wrong plane, and they sent me to the right gate.
So I got here to Poza Rica. But my bags weren’t so lucky. I collected them in Mexico City, and put them on a conveyor belt for connecting domestic flights, but alas, they are spending the night in Mexico City. No books for tonight’s meeting. Hopefully they will arrive with the next flight to Poza Rica, which is tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 a.m. On the up side, I learned that our next meeting is Sunday 7:00 pm, rather than the 11:00 a.m. I was expecting, so I’m hoping the bags will arrive and I’ll have time to change into a fresh set of clothes.
They grow things tropical here: Mangos, coconuts, papaya, watermelon, oranges, cherries, melons, etc. I’m glad I’m here in the winter, today was plenty warm for me.
Saturday 11:00 pm: Good meeting tonight. My translator, Jose, traveled from Guadalajara today, and had challenges of his own to get here. He managed to arrive, however, during the course of the worship service. So he was able to translate me, thank the Lord. Tonight we asked the Lord to open our eyes to His perspective on our lives. I used the lives of Jacob, Joseph, Caleb, Naomi, and Jesus to illustrate how God usually has a different perspective from us on our circumstances.
After the meeting, the pastor’s wife took me over to a room in their facility that they have dedicated as a house of prayer. Very inviting. They’ve put strong effort into making it a meaningful place for prayer. Marvelous!
Sunday 2:00 pm: My bags just arrived!
Sunday 4:00 pm: I’m just back from a taco dinner. I’m telling you, Mexico knows how to do tacos!
Monday 10:00 a.m.: Greetings from the Poza Rica airport, where the adventure continues. I was awakened at 2:00 a.m. by a knock at my door. The hotel worker handed me a message. One of my hosts received an email from United, that my departure out of Poza Rica this morning was changed from 11:00 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. So I was being alerted because I would have to leave for the airport a lot earlier than planned. The email struck me as quite suspect, so I went onto the United site at 2:00 a.m., to see if I could decipher the thing. Punched in my United flight number, but the site said it was an invalid number. Aeromar Airlines is a partner with United, but Aeromar was not communicating electronically with United, and there was no way to confirm online with United what the actual time for my Aeromar flight was. So I went to Aeromar.com, and couldn’t read it because it was all in Spanish. So I set my alarm for an earlier rising, and tried to get back to sleep. Ended up grabbing a melatonin to help me, and eventually got back to sleep. The alarm at 6:45 a.m. was not my friend, smile. When my hosts came to collect me at 7:20 a.m., they went on the Aeromar site, and it showed the departure as being at 11:00 a.m., as my paperwork said. But there was no phone to call, no way to confirm verbally. So we decided to head for the airport. When we got to the airport ticket counter, it was confirmed that the flight leaves at 11:00. The email “from United” was bogus. The hotel had an exceptional breakfast, and I had papaya already in my mind. But it wasn’t meant to be today, ha. After checking in, I told the pastor I would just wait in the airport for my flight. But he indicated he wanted to visit for a couple minutes. A young man had accompanied us as a translator, so through the translator we started a conversation. He revealed to me that he has had Parkinson’s for 17 years. I thought his problem might have been cerebral palsy, so the Parkinson’s identification made sense, and helped me realize why he walksd and talked the way he does. He opened to me about the disease, and how it has affected his life and ministry. I ended up taking an hour to visit with him, and then to pray with him and his wife. So that had more eternal purpose to it than a nice hotel brunch! What seemed at first to be a disruption of sleep ended up being a time of very personal sharing and ministry. The Lord is good.
Last night’s service was a blessing. Believers gathered from several churches, the house was full, and the ministry was meaningful. Around 20 people came forward to surrender their lives to Christ. Clearly they were not all first-time altars of consecration, but the Lord was moving on their hearts and they were willing. After praying with that group, I opened up an invitation for those who have been tempted in recent days to give up in the race. Again, the altar area filled quickly with believers who were eager for the Spirit to fill them anew with courage and strength. We had a meaningful time of ministry, followed up in the end with a song of rejoicing. I enjoyed the fact that these saints don’t pay attention to the clock. They’re there to meet with God, not watch the time. So we poured out our hearts to God. It was beautiful, and I’m heading back to the USA with a heart of thanksgiving.
Today I’m not going home. Rather, I’m going to Pittsburgh to have a couple days with my family — with my parents and Sheldon & Tammy. I’m scheduled to arrive in Pittsburgh at 11 pm tonight, will have Tues and Wed with my family, and then head for Kansas City on Thursday. I’m looking forward to having this Christmas celebration time with them!
May your Christmas be filled with joy and peace in the Holy Spirit!
Dec. 9-11, Centro de Avivamiento Naucalpan, Naucalpan, Mexico
Friday: Good morning, prayer team! Today I’m heading down to Mexico City, to be for the first time with a church called Centro de Avivamiento Naucalpan. www.centrodeavivamientonaucalpan.org. Naucalpan is a city on the north side of the Mexico City metroplex. I’ve met the pastor at a couple events in the past, a great brother, and now am looking forward to being with their church.
I’m scheduled to speak once daily while here: Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday morning.
This church has taken their men’s ministry through a “covenant with my eyes seminar,” using my book (the Spanish translation), and this weekend I’m arriving just as the participants will be “graduating” from the seminar. So I plan to speak on an eye covenant Friday night. The men’s families will also be joining them, so it will be a general audience I think. Then Saturday I think will be on abiding in Christ. Then Sunday I think will be on Jesus the Author.
Sunday 7:00 pm: Hi from the sky. I’m on the CDMX-Atlanta leg. I thought the weekend went very well. This church embraced the eye covenant message very enthusiastically, taking their men through a 10-week seminar on that topic. Friday night I spoke on that topic, and then after the prayer response time (which was wonderful), we gave out a framed certificate of completion to each man/teen in the seminar. I was shocked when two men came out carrying a table laden with plaques. It took around 25 minutes just to hand out the certificates to all the brothers (and of course many of them wanted photos). The pastor decided to include me in the ceremony, so he handed each one to me, and I handed each one to the individuals. What a delightful evening.
Saturday evening I spoke on abiding in Christ from John 15, and how the Lord uses the pruning process of John 15:2 to help us find the glory of John 15:7, the glory of answered prayer. It’s been over 2 years since I’ve spoken on that topic, so it was fresh for me in a sweet way. I enjoyed talking about how stress is necessary to the health of a plant. As one person said it, “you’ll never get a vintage wine from an unstressed vine.” I’m not sure how meaningful the message was to the group, but at least I was blessed, ha.
Sunday morning I spoke on how Jesus is writing a story with our lives, and ended with the baseball story. They have two Sunday morning services, but as a helpful favor to me, they combined into one 9:00 a.m. service just for today. Their facility is able to accommodate everyone easily in one meeting, so it worked out great. I realized they are not a clock-watching group, so I relaxed and enjoyed walking my way through the message without feeling rushed. Afterwards, they thronged the front of the sanctuary in responding to the Lord. These saints are incredibly responsive to God. After possibly the best tacos I’ve ever had, we were off to the airport.
Dec. 4, Yejoen Baptist Church, Asan, Korea
Sunday 2:30 pm: Greetings from the KTX Train, it’s Korea’s high-speed electric train system. At one point we were doing 270 KPH, maybe it goes even faster. And sooo smooth. And the seats are very comfortable. This is so superior to a bus. We will get to the airport in something like 90-100 minutes. And the train is amazingly long, I didn’t count how many cars, but a very long passenger train. So efficient, so smart. What’s more, they have wifi!
Today’s service started at 11:30 a.m. We tried to get a sound check prior to the service, but kept hitting into hassles, and it seemed that the sound team was limited both by experience and equipment. So we had to give up on the sound check so service could start. We resumed the sound check when I got up to speak, and by then they must have worked out a couple kinks because it was better. It took us maybe 4-5 minutes at the beginning of the message, and finally we got a sound setting that could work, and we were off. The church was nicely full with around 250 adults. They were difficult to “read,” but I think that many were enjoying and receiving from the message. I had to leave right after the sermon, so I don’t know how many books might have sold (which sometimes helps to give a feel for how strongly they connected with the message).
It was the first time they’ve had an American preacher in their pulpit (with translator). So that was a fun privilege for me.
Up next: Mexico City on Friday.
Nov 30-Dec 2, MIT retreat, Jeoung Pyeoung, Korea
Wednesday 8 a.m.: Greetings from a lovely city in Korea, I think it’s called Jeoung Pyeoung, it’s a couple hours from Seoul. We are lodged in a 5-star hotel, very nice. I’m just back from a morning workout in their well-equipped fitness center. I’m too much of a simpleton to know how to use all the stuff they have. They also have a pool with lanes designed for doing laps. Soon I’ll head down to breakfast.
I got a decent rest last night, so feel ready to tackle the new time zone. Beds here are typically firmer than I’m used to. But I bet the mattresses last forever.
My first session will be tonight (Wednesday). We’re 15 hours ahead of USA Central time, so when our 7:00 pm meeting starts here, it will be Wednesday 4:00 a.m. in Kansas City. I feel drawn to speak of the cross of Christ, and the loyalty it inspires. “Loyalty to the Cross” Thursday I think I will speak on the chastening of the Lord, and then for Friday I’m leaning toward the Luke 18 parable on prayer, we’ll see if that sticks.
Saturday will be a bus ride with my interpreter Paul to Asan, to prepare for Sunday morning ministry at a Baptist church in Asan. Then Sunday evening I catch a return flight for home. So there’s the general look of the week.
Thank you for agreeing with in prayer for a mighty impartation of the Holy Spirit this week. I am asking the Lord that those who come will be equipped, challenged, and renewed.
Wednesday afternoon: This part of Korea must be in an economic boom. Looking out my hotel window, I see six large buildings immediately within my view with scaffolding and work parties buzzing — large buildings with many floors all going up at the same time.
Wednesday 11 pm: Tonight I spoke on “Loyalty to the Cross,” and while I didn’t have an awareness of how strong the anointing was on the message, I had an awareness that I was on the right topic. We ended with a time of Communion, and then a closing song during which we gave ourselves wholeheartedly in loyalty to Jesus. Sweet atmosphere. Of the leaders gathered, 7 are from Indonesia, and around 10-12 from Australia. The remainder are from Korea.
Thursday 9:00 pm: The Lord helped me in this afternoon’s session. After the teaching, all the women were invited to come forward for prayer, and I blessed each one in prayer. The men were told I will bless them in prayer tomorrow. Afterwards, we were treated to a marvelous Chinese dinner. It was Chinese food, Korean style. Very nice.
Friday 10 pm: This afternoon’s session was the final one of the conference. Most everybody stayed right to the end. Good energy in the conference. Good grace upon our closing session. At the end, we all prayed over the pastor and his wife. Then we prayed over the men in attendance. Everyone seemed to have a very good experience. This event was a first in a couple ways. It was the first time for this church to have guests from IHOP (three of us). And it was their first time to hold this conference. They hope it can be an annual event and grow in momentum. Afterwards, we were treated to an Italian restaurant.
Saturday at 1:00 pm Paul (my translator) and I will be collected and driven to Asan, to prepare for Sunday morning ministry. I think it might be a 3-hour drive to Asan from here. We are right now at a location that is apparently in the heart of the nation. Asan is closer to Seoul.
The church in Asan is called Yejoen Baptist Church. I am feeling inclined to speak on the Luke 18 parable on prayer. I would appreciate your prayers very much, for clear direction and a strong anointing. Service starts at 11 a.m. I think. Then I am catching a 2 pm train for the airport. For a 6 pm departure. Timing will be tight, to get to the train station for a 2 pm train.
Nov. 27, The Heaing Place, Shreveport, LA; thpshreveport.com
Saturday: Thanksgiving greetings to everybody! We’ve had a marvelous week with family and friends, celebrating the goodness of God. Today my in-laws return to Williamsport, and Joel and his family hit the road for CO Springs. And I’m zipping down to Shreveport.
This will be my first time to the Healing Place, thpshreveport.com. I don’t believe I’ve met the pastor, and I’m guessing the contact came through his interest in my writings and online stuff. This is a young congregation with a young pastor, and I’m very much looking forward to being with them. We’re scheduled for Sunday morning only ministry.
Sunday afternoon: Greetings from my plane, I’m heading for Atlanta and then KC. Shreveport’s history includes this, it’s the birthplace of Gordon’s Lindsay’s “Voice of Healing” magazine. This city had a strong share in the healing revival of the 40s and 50s. The saints at The Healing Place are seeking to dig up those wells of revival—let’s join them in praying and believing for that. I asked my host whether he had any insight into what might have triggered that revival, and he mentioned the Great Depression. That connection was very interesting to me, I’ve never before seen a connection between those two events. So now I have something to ponder.
I have a good report to share on this morning’s service. Great worship atmosphere, strong grace upon the message. While not many came forward to express a response, it seemed that everyone was edified by the word. Afterwards I enjoyed some boudin at a local restaurant—something I can find only in these parts.
Nov. 19-20, Foundation Stone Christian Center, Toledo, OH
Good Saturday morning! This morning I’m off to Toledo OH, to Foundation Stone Christian Center. This will be either my third or fourth visit with them. Services are Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
Saturday night: Tonight’s service was strongly graced of the Lord. At the close of the message, we all sat in silence for a few minutes to absorb what the Lord was saying.
Sunday 3:00 pm: Greetings from Detroit airport. I told you that I was wrestling for clarity for the Sunday message. That wrestle continued. On Saturday, I began to wonder if perhaps I should look at the topic which I’ve been meditating on in recent times — the life of Joseph. So I started to collect my thoughts on Joseph in a serious way on Saturday. Got up this morning and continued my work. I continued to work on the message after arriving at the church, and actually stepped into the worship service a few minutes late because of that. And as it turned out, I went with the Joseph message. I have used Joseph many times as an element in a message, but never have I dedicated an entire message to his story. Actually, I didn’t tell his story. I just shared meditations on aspects of his story — and then sent everyone home with the homework of reading his story this afternoon, Gen. 37-48. I felt that the message was very scattered, and even began with an apology for the message being so scattered. Rather than having a focus, the message was a spray of around 50 different ideas. At the conclusion I felt like the message was mostly a flop, and then was surprised at how many folks came to the altar at the conclusion to express their response to the Lord. I did my best to follow the Holy Spirit, and now leave the rest with Him. Joseph is such a strong hero for me, and I hope I can continue to craft a message on his life that is more focused and helpful to God’s people.