Maranatha Life
Were invited by a couple to come over and celebrate the Passover with
them. There were tornado warnings in the area, so we took authority over
them. According to the weather radar on TV, the area all around us was in
trouble, while Milford, where we were was safe. Stayed with them until
Thurs.
New Mexico
5 Aug 99 - We were on our way through New Mexico on I-10, so we stopped in Deming for a couple of days. Had lunch with pasotr Andre on one day, and on Thursday night we joined them for their service. The pastor ended up asking Rich to minister. Rich preached on "Don't Lose Track of the Vision."
At the end of praise and worship, the pastor did a word study on Praise. We got everyone up, and had them act out what he was talking about. He turned the mike over to Rich, & we taught them “Hine Ma Tov.” Then Rich & Debbie demonstrated a dance. Rich ministered on “The Love of the Father” (haceed). At the end of the message, felt the Holy Spirit’s prompting, and invited people up for prayer who hadn’t felt a father’s love, or had been hurt. Prayed for about 15 people, hugging them, and asking for God to show them His love. The last man for prayer was a Hindu man, who had only come because his daughter had been recently saved. Rich wrapped his arms around him, and prayed for him. The man, broke down and started crying on Rich’s shoulder for about 10 minutes.
After praying, Rich sat down, and the pastor gave an altar call. The hindu
man accepted the Lord! This is the first time, we have had the opportunity
to lead a Hindu to the
Lord!
Their praise and worship were wonderful, with most of the congregation dancing. During worship, the pastor asked for Rich to come and talk with him again. He asked a couple of questions, then said that God wanted for us to minister that morning. Not only had God told him, but also one of the ladies in the congregation.
When the pastor introduced us, he said that in 23 years of pastoring, he'd
never asked someone to minister in his church that he didn't know, but God
wanted us to minister. Rich preached on "Benefits of Covenant
Relationship." Afterwards, we went out to lunch so that we could get
to know each
other.
8 Mar 97 - We did our first all day marriage
seminar based upon our book "And God Created
Sex."
Pastor asked us to share. Rich talked about our ministry, some testimonies, and “By My Spirit.” Debbie shared about reaching out to other ethnic groups. Went out with the pastor & wife for pizza. Spent a couple of hours ministering to them. He recognized Rich’s apostolic anointing. We stayed a couple of days to minister to the pastor and his wife. Rich went to the local minister’s luncheon with him. A retired pastor asked Rich to sit with him, and asked about ministering to Jews. The conversation turned to Jewish customs, and shared several things with him. Ended up with half of the group listening in. The group leader asked Rich to share the message. 19-29 Jul 98 - Felt God wanted us to go see a pastor and his wife in Charlotte, NC. This was the first church that God had ever told us to go back to. When we arrived in Charlotte, NC it was the weekend for the HINTS homeschool convention, so even though we weren’t registered, we decided to stop in and see if they had any space available. Arrived one hour before the book fair started and got a choice table. the pastor's wife came into the book fair and saw us. She was thrilled we were there. Said that God had told her we’d be there, even though she didn’t see our name in the program. After the conference, we went over to the church. The pastor and his wife came over to the church, and we had dinner together. He and Rich talked about what God had been doing, specifically what He had been doing in the area of revival. The pastor was excited and said they’d been praying for revival. At the prayer meeting Saturday night God’s presence was awesome. We prayed for God’s will & for revival. God told Rich that revival could start tomorrow (Sun) and what the plan for Sunday was. Rich couldn’t share this with the pastor, but had to wait for God to tell him His plan. God woke Rich up at 5:00 to start praying for the service. The pastor was still struggling with God telling him to have Rich minister. He even started putting the mike on once, and took it back off. Praise & worship was great, and ended with some time of prayer. Rich ministered the Word. Started by talking about revival, then “On the Altar.” Declared in faith that this was the first day of revival. First altar call was for people putting themselves and other hinderences on the altar. When Rich did the altar call, 90% of the congregation came forward. Second altar call was for a touch from God, about 40% of the people came forward. God knocked several down in the Spirit and ministered to them. Rich told the pastor he felt that God wanted an evening service. The pastor put it to the congregation, and half raised their hands. When we went out to lunch. We were asking the question “how do we know it’s really revival?” We didn’t have an answer, but the pastor said “when I see the youth at the altar, then I’ll know it’s revival.” In the evening service, at the end of praise & worship, we went right into altar time. Rich had said at the end of the morning service that the word for the evening was “victory.” God soverignly gave people victory and restoration in their lives. There were a group of 6 youth (all girls) crying at the altar, right at Tony’s feet. No word was preached. At the end of the service, the pastor asked “who wants to come back tomorrow night?” There weren’t as many people as he’d believed for, but he went ahead and scheduled the service. For the Monday evening service, both the pastor and Rich had the word “cleansing fire.” Praise & worship went directly into altar time. God was bringing the cleansing fire soverignly, without our doing anything. As the altar prayer slowed, Rich gave the Word of God on “Get Over It.” A new time of prayer started, with people putting their hurts on the altar, and God healing them. Many fell out in the Spirit. Had about 8 testimonies given of God touching people.
We stayed for a week and a half. God was moving constantly. Every
night, there were people at the church, some of them from other churches.
When we had pulled into town, one of the tires on the trailer went flat.
This was Saturday evening, so we couldn't find any place to do something
about it. It turned out that one of the people in the church worked
for a tire company, and got us tires for
wholesale.
On Sunday afternoon, we again went to the Hispanic service. After the worship, the pastor did announcements, and said that the HOLY SPIRIT told him to have us minister, so he asked us to. Rich preached on “Year of Jubilee & Redemption.” Debbie translated.
Stayed over for Monday eve prayer. After praying, we shared about revival,
the 4 moves of the Holy Spirit, becoming the Bride without spot, wrinkle,
or blemish.
Pennsylvania
Before the service, Rich was praying & the Holy Spirit fell on me. When
worship started, h went flat on my face for 40 minutes, and was unable to
move. The worship was ALL songs of the Lord. At the end of worship,
one of the elders came and asked if Rich had “the word of the Lord for
tonight.” Rich said yes, and preached for almost 2 hours on
“Being Led By the Spirit.” At the
end, had an alter call for people who wanted to be led by & used by the
Spirit; everyone in the church came up. Rich anointed them all, and
prayed for the church, the pastor, and the elders. Afterwards, we found
out that they had an elder's meeting the night before. Every concern
that came out in the meeting was addressed in the message that God had Rich
preach.
During the morning service we went directly from praise & worship into altar time. The pastor asked us come up to pray for people. We had people falling down all over. God gave Rich several prophetic prayers for people. For the evening service Rich ministered “On the Altar.” Pretty much everyone came forward for the altar call. Afterwards, prayed for people to receive a touch from the Holy Spirit. Again had people on the floor, and prophetic prayers for people. The church gave us a good size love offering . When the pastor gave me the check, he said “this isn’t closing.” We ended up staying all week. During the week, God moved in many ways, both in our family, and in others that we met. The next Sunday (16 Aug 98) the presence of the Holy Spirit was especially heavy there. Rich preached about 5 minutes on “Become a Vessel Fit for the Master’s Use.” Had an altar call, 12 - 15 people came forward. Then prayed for people for a touch of the Spirit. Didn’t see much happen, it was like people were holding back from coming forward.
In the evening service it was different. We were just about ready to
give up here, but still felt that God wasn’t through. The pastor had
several people give testimonies about what God had done that week between
praise and worship. At the end of worship, he took the mike and we
sang “More of You.” Then he asked everyone to come forward who wanted
more of God. We all prayed. The pastor was out on the floor for
over an hour. Rich invited people forward to receive more of God.
Just about everyone came forward for prayer. Most of them fell under
the power of God. When service was dismissed the pastor was still on
the floor, and nobody wanted to
leave.
Arrived at the church about 9:00, taking five hours to get there instead of the hour and a half it should have. Camped out in the church parking lot. Our motor home took up 1/3 of the parking lot. The pastor came back from holding revival services in another town about 11:00 pm , and was surprised to find us in the parking lot. We talked about revival, and were able to confirm several things for her.
Rich shared briefly in the morning service about how God led us around, and
“4 Moves of the Holy Spirit”. Spent the afternoon with the pastor. We ended
up shaking the people up there so much, between being Jewish, and our worship,
that it greatly effected the
service.
Went to New Vision Fellowship, which we had passed by looking for the other
one. There were some people there, for a children’s program practice.
Two of the women invited us to their care groups. Then, they
decided to have a joint care group at the church. After calling the pastor
to verify that it was okay, they called the other care groups to invite them.
We ended up with a spontaneous church service, without the pastor being
able to attend. Rich taught on “An Excellent
Spirit.”
Churches & Ministry in Austin, TX
On Wednesday, we felt we should go to Maranatha Faith Center for that evening service. As soon as we walked in, the pastor gave Rich the mike. A couple that works with us in the ministry felt that they were to come, and showed up during the middle of worship. Rich ministered on “An Excellent Spirit.” When Rich gave the altar call, everyone came up for prayer.
The pastor's wife said that they had something at the house they needed to
give us. They brought us a love offering. This now gave us just enough
money for the trip to Colorado we had planned for
Christmas.
14 Dec 97 - Pastor Mike from Powerhouse of Praise called on Saturday, and asked if we were still coming on Sunday. Rich said yes, and he asked us to minister. During praise, they played a Jewish medley, and we took off dancing. Started grabbing people in the congregation, and ended up with just about everyone dancing. Debbie did some special worship music. Rich ministered on “The Jewish Wedding and the Bride of Christ.” Prayed for people to become the true bride. Prayed prophetically for several people. 18 Feb 98 - Pastor Mike turned the bible study over to us to share what God had been doing. Also shared about wilderness - Isaiah 40. Pastor Mike asked Rich to preach on Sunday. 22 Feb 98 - Rich preached on “Getting the Victory.”
10 May 98 - Went to Powerhouse of Praise. Rich ministered on “God
of the Impossible,” and gave testimonies.
Churches & Ministry in Other Parts of Texas
Sunday evening we had been asked to go to one of the cell groups that specialized in marriage teachings. We taught on marriage & intimacy for two hours, and ministered to three couples individually afterwards. On Monday the pastor took us to lunch, so we could fellowship together. We were able to minister to them about several things. We went to Burger King, so that the kids could play. As we were getting out table, an old Italian lady asked Debbie if she was a Christian. She and her husband, who was from Austria, were just moving to the town, and asked what church we went to. Debbie told them about the church we were at, and it looks like they'll be going there. One of the couples who had been at the marriage class on Sun PM came to Burger King. They asked if they could bring some unsaved friends to the church that night so that we could minister to them. We said yes. The couple they brought were on the brink of divorce, and were already separated. We ministered to them for a couple of hours, and at the end, they were moving back in together. One of the things we told them was that they needed God in their marriage. It looks like they'll be coming to the church. On Tuesday we spent some time sharing with the pastor. He wants us to come back and minister. One of the ladies in the church came over and asked what she could do to serve us. We went over to her house for dinner, and intercession and ministry to her and her husband on faith. For the Wednesday evening service, the wife of the apostle's over that ministered. The pastor felt led to take up an offering for us, even though we didn't preach there. Between the various offering we recieved there, it was the most cash offerings we had ever received in any church, and we didn't even preach in the church once. 25 Mar - 6 Apr 99 On Sunday, the 25th, Rich preached on "The Baptism of Fire." At the altar call, about 75% of the congregation came forward. Afterwards, we went to the pastor's house for lunch. He had invited two other couples also. The discussion turned to us ministering to them on marriage. In the evening, there was a youth Bible study. We were asked to go and minister. Rich shared on "Putting it on the altar" (Gen 22). On Tuesday night, we ministered to the youth group. Rich preached on God's Plan for Sexual Intimacy, and How to Remain Pure. The kids were speechless. Wednesday wsa the first day of Passover, so that evening Rich did the Passover Seder for the church, showing how the Passover reveals the death, burial, and ressurection of our Lord, Jesus, the Christ. On Thursday evening, we had an impromptu teaching session on "And God Created Sex." We announced it Wednesday evening and 16 couples showed up. Throughout the entire time we were there, we ministered to one couple after another, helping them to receive freedom in their marriages, especially in their sexual intimacy. PLUS -
In the morning service, the pastor asked Rich to introduce us, share about
our ministry, and being led by the Sprit to churches. Then he asked Jenni
(Jeremiah) to say something to the youth. In the evening service, the
pastor asked Rich to share something. Rich shared about the river, from Ezekiel
47. We should be where the river is deep enough it can't be crossed now,
and we aren't there yet.
For the evening service, Rich preached on "Loving God With All Your Heart." At the altar call, about half the congregation raised their hands. Then the pastor asked for us to pray for fire. We had the leadership come up, and they went down under the power of the Spirit. Then we asked people to come up and receive from God, we ended up praying for everyone in the place. Almost all of them went down under the Spirit.
Jenny (12 years old) ministered to the kids on praise & worship.. After
the service, they were having a pot trust fellowship. The pastor sold 9 of
our And God Created Sex books for
us.
On Sun., Rich preached on "Desperate for God." We had prophetic prayers for quite a few people. There was a fellowship lunch afterward
9 - 12 Jun 99 - Returned to House of Faith in Carthage, TX for ministry
and AGCS seminar. On Thursday night, Rich preached on
"After God's Own Heart" talking about
haceed. On Friday, Rich preached on "Covenant Relationship." Then
on Saturday we had an all day "And God Created Sex"
marriage seminar. We finished on Sunday with Rich preaching on
"The Bride." talking about the 12 blemishes
that keep us from being the purified bride of
Christ.
18 Mar 99 - Came back to preach, on the way from ministering in Acuna,
Mexico. The pastor invited Rich to be on their radio program with him.
In the evening service, Rich preached on "Being Desperate for God."
For churches & ministry in the Rio Grande Valley, Click here. Virginia
We met 7 or 8 Indian pastors there. In fact, the first two we met were before we even checked in. All of them invited us to come to India to minister. Seemed like God was trying to tell us something. The Indians were the only internationals we spent any time with, even though there were people from other countries, including Africa. One pastor wanted to take Josh back to India with him for a year. Another prophesied that Josh would be the greatest preacher of his generation. Friday night at the end of the service Ruth had them play some Jewish dance music. We started dancing as a family, and everyone but Rich dropped out. Rich was dancing by himself, and another circle broke up, so that they could follow him. Afterwards, prayed for about a dozen people, whom God touched.
Ministered on “Catching Up With the Book of Acts.” Gave an altar call for commitment, the whole congregation came forward. Then started praying for people. Ended up with people on the floor all over the place, had several prophetic prayers. After a while, people started coming back for second prayers, some as families, or mother daughter. Was wonderful time of prayer. They gave us the largest we had received to date in a church.
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Church on the Move - Roswell, NM - 16-17
Feb 99 - Stopped in to see the people at the church we'd gone to when
we lived in Roswell, NM. The church name had changed (it was Living
Waters before), and the church had grown. Ministered to several families
we knew before. The church gave us a love
offering
