I was heading to the office to end my shift then head off to church when we get a call about a man trying to kill himself. The call wasn’t even in my area and I shouldn’t have been dispatched to it, but I was and I went alone. I arrived on scene and talked to a very distraught guy. He said he was trying to change his life, but everybody was ripping on him and he couldn’t handle it any more and wanted to die. He had been in trouble most of his life and been smoking crack for 7 years. I talked him into going to the hospital and talk to a counselor. On the way I drove real slow and talked to him about the Lord. He had been to church, but never except Christ. I asked if he wanted to and he said God would never take him because of his life. I explained how Jesus died for all of us 2000 years ago because he loved us and he doesn’t see our sin any more because it is covered with the blood. I explained how
God wanted to free him from his addiction and heal him of his hurts and pains. I explained how God wanted to fill him with love and take care of him. I asked if he wanted to except Christ and be freed from his past and onto to a new life with him. He said yes. I then lead him to the Lord as he wept. Then I went into spiritual battle prayer over his life.
I took him to the hospital and helped him inside and stayed with him a little bit. As I left the hospital I told him I would get ahold of a local pastor and have him look the guy up and encourage him. The guy said wait, give him my number and have him call me.
Thirty minutes prior this guy was shaking and crying wanting to die. Now he was calm and still with hope in his eyes. Only our loving savior can do that.
I encourage you all to look at every situation as an opportunity to tell someone about the love of Jesus. What started out as a bad time turned out to be an in creditably blessing for me and a life changing experience for him.
I pray that all he reads this will be edified and receive new fire and boldness to spread the gospel. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
For four years, I prayed and believed God for an opportunity to make an impact locally through teaching in public schools. After many interviews and rejections, God opened a door into a one year contract due to a teacher taking a maternity leave at a district that is a five minute drive from my home. My previous position required me to drive 2 hours a day. At first, I was reluctant to take the position because there were no guarantees that I would be employed after the first year. I potentially was facing unemployment if the past teacher would decide to return. As I prayed with Pastor Mary Pat last summer, I heard the Lord say two things. He burned in my heart that He has taken care of His children since way before the day I was born through Jesus. Everything Jesus did through the shedding of his blood was also so we could walk in abundance in every area of our lives including PROVISION! I also felt the Lord tell me to walk in my favor like Jesus did that He would give to me through out the year.
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Luke 2:52
The Lord’s promise to me came true in amazing ways! I was blessed in so many ways through out the year as I walked in His promise for me. At the end of the year, the Lord used this situation to teach me to fully rely on him and trust in His character. From April till August, it seemed that I would not have a teaching position for the next school year. But, God…. who moves mountains, moved my mountain!!! The teacher decided to resign from her position to stay home with her family. This opened the door for full time employment in the district. This position is everything I could have ever wanted and more! I got the whole loaf (God’s very best) from the best Dad in the whole world!
A young woman came up for a personal picture. I asked the Lord for some help and the words “dreams and desires” popped into my head. I got a picture of someone on the back of an eagle, so I drew a stick figure on the back of a bird soaring through the air and another person trying to fly on his own. Ps. 37:4 was really on my heart for this woman so I wrote the verse in the open space on the picture. ”Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
I told her that the person on the back of the eagle was her with God in her life and the person trying to fly on her own was her trying to tackle life in her own strength. She said she had goosebumps and started to tear up. It turns out that Psalm 37:4 was her life verse. She was very encouraged that the Lord would confirm her life verse and said she really needed the reminder that her life is in God’s hands and he will give her the desires of her heart. The Lord was definitely moving – thank you Lord!
Earlier this year during a Friday night outreach God gave me a picture of a young man in a cast. He was showing me that we would run into this person durin the course of the night and God impressed on me strongly that we were to pray for this young man’s arm for complete healing. I knew God would come through, as He always does, and at the end of the night there up against a building on a street corner stood a young man with his arm in a cast.
I heard God speak to me and say “go and pray for him!” The young man, Ryan, was completely open to prayer and we shared with him that God gave us a picture of him in the cast before we even arrived. We knew God wanted to touch him with His love and healing power that night. We prayed for him and trusted that God would move in Ryan’s heart and bring healing and complete restoration for his arm.
This past Friday, at our First Friday outreach, we saw Ryan in the exact same spot we met him the first time – he was directly across from our “personal picture” booth! Peter and I went over to talk to him and he shared how the doctors were amazed by the mobility in his arm. They had said he would not be able to do much with his arm ever again because of the severity of the breaks. He shared how his arm was nearly 100% healed and he is believing God will finish the healing. He shared how this experience caused him to start to go to church with his girlfriend and how God is stirring his heart! We rejoiced with him for God’s goodness and encouraged him to keep seeing the Lord. Praise God for bringing heaven to earth for Ryan!
On Monday I was still motivated by Pastor Bill’s message on Sunday, so for my lunch break I decided to go to the local Wal-mart and pray for people. The first two people I approached rejected my offering of prayer. Ironically, I didn’t feel rejected – I actually loosened up and felt lighter with God’s compassion for them!
The third person I found was in the paper towel aisle. Her name was Betty. I actually walked past her aisle and then came back; God’s compassion grew in my heart and [He] gave me courage to talk to her! I ask if she needed prayer for anything and she said that her husband, Ron, needed prayer. She told me that he has gone through 17 surgeries, has back pains, numb feet, and many other problems. I asked if she personally needed prayer for anything now and she mentioned occasional back pains. I prayed for her and she really appreciated my kindness.
After that, as I walked by the front entrance, I noticed two guys sitting on a bench. One of them had a cane. I had the urge to sit by him and talk but I proceeded to walk halfway down the the store before turning around. Again, God’s compassion was too strong in my heart to say no! I headed back and asked him if I could sit down. He reluctantly said yes and then told me that he was waiting for his wife. He seemed a little grumpy and persistent in arguing about the necessity of sin, pain, and suffering on the earth until Jesus’ return. I talked to him for twenty minutes about my personal testimonies and Scripture, but he was still resistant to God’s Truth and Love (I realized that Satan has kept him in chronic pain his whole life and that was all he knew).
After a while, his wife returned. I couldn’t believe it…It was Betty!! The only person, out of the 300+ people at Wal-mart, that said yes to my willingness to pray for them. I instantly knew that God brought me these two people to share His love with them! I told Ron about God’s great love. Jesus cries over his pain and cares so much for him that he brought him, his wife, and me to this Wal-mart at that exact moment so that He could free him from his sufferings.
Even with the encouragement of me, his wife, and God’s Truth, he was still did not want to believe in God’s love though the power of prayer. Before they finally left to get to an appointment, he finally allowed me to pray for him and I know that Jesus will completely heal him! Betty and Ron might have both been in their seventies but they are still God’s favorite children! Jesus thank You for giving me Your eyes to see and Your heart to care!!
On Monday, two weeks ago, I went to the Canton Centre Shopping Center for my lunch break. When I returned to my car, I realized that I no longer had my car keys. I looked everywhere for them; but, I had covered a lot of ground
in the hour that I was there. I called my mom and asked if she could bring up the spare key to me. She was really busy and she wouldn’t be able to make it until at least midnight. Then she said something that really shocked me…“I will be praying that God will help you find your key” Then I called my dad and he said that he would start a prayer chain!! I was so impressed with my parents’ faith and willingness to trust in God and pray for me!
After a couple of hours I decided to walk back to work. Well, at five o’clock I asked Mike and Jamie to take me home. They prayed that I would find my key as we drove. Mike insisted that we go back and look for the key because he believed God would show us where to find it. We searched my car for the last time and still did not find it. Mike and Jamie both got the impression that God was telling them to look around JC Penney’s. The only place that I could have lost it was around the entrance where I had jumped over a railing a couple hours earlier. We looked all around the entrance and found nothing. So there we stood, at the front doors of JC Penney’s, and waited for God to show us where to look next. Right that second my eyes were drawn to a small, ordinary trash can. Out of nowhere, I remembered that I had thrown out an empty candy wrapper before entering the store. I thought it was crazy but I opened it up and searched through the trash. There at the very bottom was a single black car key!!! God thank you for sending Mike and Jamie to help me find my key! Thank you for working in my family and giving them such a great faith! Thank you for always providing!!
At First Friday [outreach in downtown Canton] there was a lady who had pain in her left knee. After praying for her, she was instantly healed and she started to dance around! Another woman had spurs in her feet and after praying for her a lot of the pain left. A third lady had severe pain in her back and hip and after praying for her she said it felt as though 100lbs just got lifted off her back!
Friday night I drew three prophetic pictures for a Mother and two daughters. One of the daughters was really skeptical, but I gave her a word about being knit together with the Lord and how He saw her as his daughter. She received the word, but didn’t really say anything about it. Afterwards, her mother came up to me and thanked me for giving them the pictures and words from the Lord and told me that I was right on about her daughter, and how the Lord wants her to see Him as her Father because she was raised without her natural father in her life. Her mom also told me that the revelation that God does see her daughter as His daughter is something that she (the mother) has been praying for for her daughter!
Right as we were getting ready to close up the booth for the night, a lady I had prayed for a few months ago also came by with her son, and I had a chance to pray for her again, along with Bethany, for her spine. She has a degenerative bone disease and lots of issues with her back and spine, and she said that she felt some release and was more at peace then she had been before we prayed for her.
First Friday outreaches are times when we rent a booth area in downtown Canton amidst artists, musicians and other secular cultural expressions to give prophetic words through impromptu art sketches for anyone stopping by our tent. The following testimonies are from one of these events:
The first picture I drew was of a horse for an 8 year old girl – that she recognized it as a horse was in itself a miracle (!). Then she told me that she loves horses and wants to own one (her Mom confirmed). I also got a rainbow for her with 3 colors. It turned out they were her favorite three …colors, and she even listed them in the same order as the rainbow.
I drew a picture of a purple butterfly for a young woman. I just saw that she’s a beautiful butterfly and that she’s going to be flying / traveling a lot. So I suggested that she’d packed her bag. The next day as I was talking to someone, standing by the pool, about what I drew & wondering if it really meant anything for the person, a beautiful big Monarch butterfly flew in and walked for a few feet next to where we were standing. What an awesome confirmation and answer to my question!
For a boy of about 12 I clearly saw a picture of him riding his bike down a steep hill then going off a jump. His eyes got huge when he saw it: he told me that just two days prior, he went down a hill and off a jump on his bike and fell off. He showed me the bruises. I was able to tell him and his parents about how God wants to be his protector.
Finally, for a young girl I drew her in a dark room with a huge flashlight on her. Her parents told me she was afraid of the dark and had trouble sleeping. I was able to tell her that Jesus wants to be her Light and to protect her from the darkness. WHAT FUN!!
~Tom, first time at First Friday outreach
Two ladies approached our table at First Friday out of curiosity. Only one of them wanted a picture, so I drew a simple picture and explained what the Lord was speaking through it. The lady the picture was for said it was exactly how she was feeling. So the other lady quickly said “Draw one for me too!” The picture I drew for her spoke right to her also!
C.O.O.L day, June 5th, 2010, hundreds of volunteers from churches, organizations, and citizens of Canton, Ohio, joined together to spread the love of Christ throughout their surrounding neighborhoods. This video, shot and edited by volunteers, Shadow Studios, and Castleview Media, tells the story of what it means to be ruined for the ordinary.
Frontline Ministries participated in a community-wide outreach of over 1,100 Christians mobilizing on Saturday, June 5, to show the practical and supernatural love of Jesus Christ in an inner-city neighborhood in Canton, Ohio. Specifically, Frontline was asked to minister to some of the neediest including a possible “prostitute house.” We were able to minister to these families by planting seeds of love. God blessed each occupant incredibly as we had a chance to minister the love of Jesus and practically impact their properties. Great hope was shared and tears of joy came forth. We thank God for the chance to make a local impact!
While helping Andy and Nikki clear trees and brush at their new home on a Saturday I was exposed to poison ivy. By Tuesday I had a poison ivy rash that was on both forearms, my face and my eyes. It was itching terribly and started to spread. I went to Fire and Wind on Tuesday evening and told Andy about my poison ivy rash and Andy shared he had it, too. Andy and I prayed that the poison ivy oils would dry up and there would be no further spreading. After the prayer I felt no further discomfort, itching and the rash dried up and was gone by the next day. I usually react violently to poison ivy and always need a prescription to heal. It was in a very dangerous place being close to my eyes but the Lord was faithful and healed me completely, immediately. I took no medication by mouth or ointment to help with the rash. Thank you, Father, for an immediate response to prayer.
This Sunday was awesome, the church prayed for the Ghana team and Moz/Swaziland team and a lot of Prophetic words were said. A lady who I have never seen before said she saw us climbing up Jesus’ body and as we crawled up his leg to his hand he took off His ring and gave it to each of us and we all had our rings from God and He said that we have the authority that He bought for us. There was a couple people who saw us walking and leaving a trail of gold behind us. There was a lot of gold that was shown around our group, and that we carry so much glory and authority. I saw people falling and extending their arms to God and the Lord spoke to my heart that these are the people going to be entering the Kingdom through us. For the Ghana team christy spoke out that they are going to be drunkards over there and that they will be in the intoxicating presence of God when they release the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
I graduated friday and on my seat where I was assigned to sit had gold sparkles all over, it got all over my gown, and there was so much of it.It wasnt like gold dust, like on my hands it was big and round flakes. I was covered in it and there was so much I sprinkled it on the people around me! this same exact kind of gold flakes were on my car seat a couple weeks prior to my graduation. Doesnt God ROCK!!
We were having a picnic at church for our teams going overseas this summer to Ghana and Mozambique. Someone borrowed my keys to open the office and put them down where I could see. Ten minutes later, they were no longer there. After the picnic and 45 minutes of searching, a group gathered to pray and ask the Lord where they were. One girl, Hannah heard that they were near the front of the sanctuary. Her sister, Bethany saw a picture of Jesus pointing to the front of the sanctuary. As we were looking, Pastor Mary Pat heard the Lord tell her to look in her purse. When she looked she discovered the set of keys that were probably put there by one of our precious little ones. Praise the Lord!
I’ve been off 5 medications for chronic allergy & asthma now for total of 3 weeks, even while the pollen count outside has been extremely high. God told me 3 weeks ago that in 2 weeks I will be healed. He told me that He wanted me to practice rebuking & taking authority for 2 weeks. Now in the 3rd week…and for the whole 3 weeks… I have only very minor irritation where usually it would be 10 (bad) on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s been only 1, and for the last week it’s been completely gone!!!!!! Last year at this time, with medication, I couldn’t even open my eyes. They would be swollen, irritated & extremely itchy! I just spent time outside (for the last 5 hours) and I am completely fine! (today’s pollen count is high). Praise the Lord…
Thank you Pastor Mary Pat and Pastor Bill for building up the faith & bringing the revelation of what kind of authority God has given us as His children! AWESOME!!!! What a privilege!
Last night Jaimie and I ran into Ben, who has come to several events at church, and his mom at the park. He had been diagnosed with clinical depression yesterday and his mom has struggled with similar things. Jaimie and I encouraged them and prayed for them. During the prayer, I heard the name “Harry” and asked if they knew anyone by that name. Ben’s mom said that Harry was her uncle, who helped raise her as a child. He had at one point apologized to her because at times he didn’t treat her well. Harry is on kidney dialysis and may not know the Lord. We prayed for him as well. Before we left, they both indicated they felt better and Ben said he felt a weight lift off of him.
