Ghana 2002 Summary

June 9-12

Ministry at Life Christian Centre:

The team is divided into “SEALS groups,” small ministry groups that allow the team members to receive on-the-job training from the leadership as they gain experiential knowledge by actually ministering to the needs of others. The SEALS groups were able to teach the church members at the different branches of Life Christian Centre throughout the trip, encouraging the Ghanaians as they become rooted and grounded in their faith. This is also helping the team grow in their ability to teach the Word.

Ministry Tools

Drama has proved to be an effective tool in reaching the Ghanaians with the message of the Gospel. The team worked hard to perfect “The Journey,” a twenty-minute drama that depicts a man’s journey to salvation through colorful choreography, music, and narration. In addition, the Lord has been continually faithful in giving the team ideas for original dramas that provide an anointed way to point people to the cross. This year the team developed two powerful new skits, as well as two original dances that were used in ministry. In addition, the puppet ministry is taking off under the direction of Cynthia Peralta. The Ghanaians are captivated at seeing the puppets dance to their native music, and it’s a wonderful way to reach the children. All of these tools were also used effectively during our two major crusades. Another avenue of ministry is the donated items such as clothing and Bibles that the team collects and distributes to meet the physical needs of the Ghanaian Christians.

June 13-14

Adabraka Crusade

This two-day crusade was an explosive start to our ministry this year. Thursday night was started off with upbeat Ghanaian worship and the puppet team’s first performance of the year in a choreographed Ghanaian song which warmed up the crowd. After the drama team performed “The Journey,” Bill and Mary Pat preached the Gospel. A number of people were healed during this time, including one deaf man that had his left ear healed! One lady who had suffered from stomach pains for 16 years was touched by God during a mass prayer for healing. One of the team members saw her lay her hands on her abdomen during the prayer time and she asked her what had happened. The woman then came forward to testify that the pain was completely gone!

Friday night was a unique time of ministry for the team. Last year we were able to witness to several drug addicts and dealers that lived in the area. This year we learned that they were part of a semi-organized gang called Bankok, and a few of the team members went and invited the rest of the gang to come to the crusade. In the meantime, it began to rain and we had to move the whole crusade into the school hall, packing people in wherever we could fit them. As we continued, the Holy Spirit prompted us to change our program and include two skits that show how Jesus can set us free from every addiction. Just as the dramas started, the gang members wandered into the back of the room. They were immediately attentive and began to elbow each other, clearly identifying with the skits. As the music for the drama “Released” started, one could physically feel the Holy Spirit moving in the room. Afterwards, Bill stood up and shared who Jesus is and what He can do in one’s life. Some of these ‘hardened’ gang members rushed to the front to receive Jesus. Andy Sommers, another team member, shared his personal testimony of how God has freed him from all the addictions of his past. As Mary Pat challenged the crowd to let Jesus set them free, many of the other gang members came forward, as well as the women who were with them. In all, there were about 62 salvations that night, including 8 of the 11 Bangkok gang members. God took a seemingly impossible situation (a rained-out crusade field) and used it for His glory!

June 15-17

FMI’s New Property

Frontline Ministries International has purchased land in Ghana with plans to build a Bible Training Center in the near future. The land is close to Pastor Samuel Quarcoopome’s house and is 13 plots (equal to approximately 2 acres). Much headway in the design and preparation aspects of this project was made during the trip, and is continuing in an exciting way! When the team was able to set foot on this ground for the first time we dedicated it to the Lord for His use. We walked the borders, prayed over the land, and spent time praising and worshiping our Provider.

June 18-23

The Northern Region

This year the team traveled to the Northern Region of Ghana on a 24 hour bus ride. We were amazed and blessed to see how the Lord moved through us powerfully in this new territory. Although this is an area with a strong Muslim presence and a lot of idol and ancestor worship, there were many people that received salvation during our time there, and we saw many signs and wonders as well. When we met for the first church service of the brand new Life Christian Centre branch at the end of the week, we were blessed to worship with 78 adults as well as lots of children. We were able to distribute some of the donated clothing to these needy people, and they were very excited to receive their gifts. The Life Christian Centre pastors are very excited at what the Lord is doing in this remote region. Previously, they had informed us that they would be blessed to see 10 solid salvations in the course of the entire week of witnessing, so we praise the Lord for His goodness!

Stephen’s Village

One afternoon the team was able to travel to the village in which Stephen, one of our contacts, grew up. Four years ago Stephen accepted the Lord after one of our street dramas. When we returned the next year he had become a faithful member of the church and was actually the treasurer for Life Christian Centre. Each year he has been a blessing to the ministry and is always full of the joy of the Lord. We drove on a rough track through the “bush” to get to this village, where we were able to meet Stephen’s family and perform the drama. Approximately 60 adults and many children came to watch the drama, and afterwards 34 adults came forward to receive Jesus. One of them was the chief of the village, who was a Muslim! Prayer was given for healing and during this time we had the opportunity to share the Gospel again with Stephen’s mother, as Stephen translated! Her son had the opportunity to lead her in the prayer of salvation as she received Jesus. We left some of the donated clothing for the people of the village as we got back on the bus with joyful hearts.

Gboughbouduri Village

We were able to perform the drama “Released” in the small village of Gboughbouduri, and 41 people responded to the Gospel as Bill shared with them the good news of the Gospel. These precious people prayed to receive Jesus as their only Lord and Savior, promising to destroy any idols or fetishes they had been using. Praise the Lord! There were a number of people at this village suffering from various sicknesses and diseases. However, we know that Jesus bore our sickness and pain on the cross, and as we shared that message with the Ghanaians we saw the power of God at work. A woman named Ruth was only able to walk painfully when assisted by both a cane and a person. To get her to the drama site, one of the women from the village put her on her back and carried her the last part of the way. When Mary Pat prayed for her, she stood and walked much more easily. As Christy helped her around, Ruth kept saying “Jesus! Jesus!” She had met Jesus in her African village and He had in turn met her need. Another woman who had been completely blind in one eye was able to partially see after we prayed for her. We were not able to stay to see the full manifestation of her healing, but God promises that He is faithful to complete all that He begins so we expect that we will soon hear of her full recovery.

Prayer Camp

After we left the village of Gbougbouduri, we headed to the Prayer Camp led by Pastor Samuel (not Quarcoopome) who will be leading the new church planted in the Northern Region. Many come to this prayer camp with physical and mental sicknesses, expecting God to set them free of their ailment. For some of the people the visit to the prayer camp is voluntary, but a few are physically carried there by others in their community because they are physically dangerous. Some of these are even chained to logs because they are so violent that they will be harmful to themselves or others. The spiritual strongholds and oppression here were very strong. We performed “Released” for these people and then Mary Pat stood up to give the message. Initially, 9 people responded to the call for salvation. After we prayed with them, Mary Pat began a time of mass prayer for the sick and oppressed. Suddenly, we had stepped into “the enemy’s camp” and were shaking Satan’s strongholds in the area. People began to show demonic demonstrations as we went from person to person, praying for their freedom and healing. It is hard to describe the demonstrative deliverances that were taking place, but we were seeing the Great Commission (as read in Mark 16) being played out right in front of our eyes. The living God was setting people free! In fact, two of the three young men who were chained to logs were unshackled after they received salvation and walked free from their physical chains as well as the spiritual chains that had them bound- to the glory of God!

June 24-30

Kumasi

The team also spent a week in the large city of Kumasi, where many people’s lives were touched through our drama ministry. There were many salvations, including two brothers who were drug addicts. As they were passing by a drama site they felt drawn to come and listen, for no apparent reason. They ended up giving their whole lives to Jesus and were set free from their addiction! At another drama site, we gave a mass prayer for healing and a man came forward immediately to share what Jesus had done for him. He had been suffering from head and back pains and was not able to bend over. When he came forward, with a big smile on his face, he was able to bend and move completely free from pain! These are only a few of the numerous accounts of people who were touched by the Lord.

We were also able to meet with and encourage the Life Christian Centre branch that was planted in the area two years before. Kenneth, a young man who was healed from deafness last year at the Anwomaso Crusade, has been faithfully attending church for the past year and has been a great asset to Life Christian Centre. He testified to his healing at a drama site and again at a church service, and in this way was able to share with his own people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition, we planted another church right in the heart of the city. We met on Sunday for the first service with 43 new converts from the week’s ministry. It was a wonderful time of preaching from the Word, and a powerful time of prayer for the believers who needed God’s physical healing.

July 1-7

Revival Services at Aflame Evangelistic Ministry

The team was able to spend a week ministering with Aflame Evangelistic Ministry, a sister church with Life Christian Centre. We went out in the afternoons and perform our dramas in the area surrounding the church, and then come back in the evening for church services in which Bill gave the message. The church has a youth evangelism team that traveled with us to the ministry sites, so we were able to encourage them as well as feed new believers into their congregation. There are many accounts of how the Lord touched people’s lives during this week, such as the man who came forward at one drama site to testify to his instant healing. He was twisting and turning and bending down, obviously very excited to tell what God had done for him! Six years ago he had been in a village when something had happened to cause injury to his back. Because he was in a remote location, there was no “good medicine” for him and he went largely untreated. There had been pain and discomfort in his back ever since...until Mary Pat gave a general prayer for healing and the Lord touched him instantly! Praise God that he was able to move and demonstrate his healing without pain.

July 8-10

Witnessing to Muslims

The team was able to spend three days in Nima and Mamobi, the Muslim sections of the city of Accra. We split up into our four SEALS ministry groups and had some intense street evangelism, sharing with those we met about the saving power of our Risen Lord and inviting everyone to the crusade we were holding in the area at the end of the week. We were able to share the Gospel message very clearly with a number of Muslims, and many seeds were planted. Some of these people who are typically resistant to the Gospel heard the truth of the message and decided to turn from Islam and give their lives to Jesus. Three young people who wanted to follow Jesus were willing to pray with some of the team members right in front of their friends and their Muslim employer. They decided that knowing Jesus was more important than any future repercussions. Two of the girls on the team were able to pray with a young Muslim woman to receive Jesus as her Savior. This was especially exciting as she was about to move to another city, where her brother is a Christian pastor and will be able to provide her with some support. Over the course of these three days, Bill and Mary Pat were able to meet with many of the new Christians who received the Lord as a result of our ministry in this area last year. They were able to provide important teaching and encouragement for these brothers and sisters who are living in a potentially difficult area. We praise the Lord for how He’s moving among these people!

July11-13

Nima Crusade

The crusade in the Nima/Mamobi area took place over three nights, and was a great success. The Lord performed many miracles even before the crusade took place, by taking care of all the logistical de

tails involving the stage, lighting, sound system, electricity, and publicity. He divinely connected us with several churches, pastors, and ministry teams in the area, and the opportunity to work with these fellow brothers and sisters in putting on the crusade was a special blessing. On the first night, 1, 200 people showed up for the crusade. After Bill and Mary Pat shared the Gospel, 156 people came forward to receive Christ, including one young Muslim who then came forward to testify. He shared with the crowd how he was drawn in by the drama and the preaching. He said that his heart began to pound and he had to come forward to receive Jesus!

On the second evening, many were drawn into the crusade site as the team performed their dances and dramas. On this night, as the invitation was given to receive salvation, the first ones to come dropped down on their knees at the base of the platform. The anointing of the Lord was moving very strongly! Mary Pat then called for anyone who needed the Lord to heal their minds, hearts, or bodies to come forward for prayer. After a mass prayer was offered in their behalf, one lady began to move her arms and legs without pain for the first time in four months! Another lady with a headache and leg pains danced off the stage after testifying of her healing. After these and additional testimonies, another opportunity was given for those who wanted to give their lives to the Lord and more people moved forward. Because of the Lord’s goodness, over 300 people came forward to receive Christ as their Savior over the course of the evening.

On the final night there were about 1200-1300 people at the crusade grounds as the team performed many of their brand new ministry tools: puppet skits, dramas, dances and songs. Throughout the time of ministry approximately 250 people committed their lives to Christ, including Zaki, a Muslim brought to the crusade by Mark. Mark was formerly known as Al-Hassen and is one of the young men who turned to Jesus last year in Nima. Mark and his friend stood at the back of the crusade ground watching the skits and listening to the message, but Zaki did not come forward when the initial altar call was given. Several minutes later the invitation to receive Christ was given again, and several of the team members were able to watch from the stage as Zaki walked to the front to commit his life to Jesus, escorted by his friend Mark. What an exciting moment!

God accomplished so much during this crusade! In addition to the salvations and healings we were able to witness, much spiritual ground was won behind the scenes. Through working together at this crusade, the churches in the area were unified with the single purpose of reaching the lost in the Muslim sections of Nima and Mamobi! The people in these communities were also touched by the simple fact that we cared enough to come and meet them on their own ground, and many seeds have been planted in the hearts and minds of these people. It will be exciting to see how the Lord continues the work that has been started here.

July 14

Life Christian Centre

On Sunday morning we met with the Life Christian Centre congregation as they worshiped in the courtyard of Pastor Samuel’s house. We were able to give some of the Nima believers a ride to the service in our bus, including Mark and his friend Zaki who had turned from Islam to Christianity just the night before. Zaki asked to receive a Christian name to signify his change of identity, and is now called Timothy! The team was able to present the church congregation with the clothing and Bibles that were donated to them from people back in the U.S. We were glad to be able to rejoice with our Ghanaian family and reflect on all that the Lord had accomplished in the last few weeks!

July 15

Ministry at Doblo Gono

On our last day of ministry the team loaded up the bus once more and headed to the village of Doblo Gono, where we had planted a church two years ago after the chief of the village committed his heart to Jesus. We were able to perform some of our new dances and dramas for the people there, and after two of the team members shared the Gospel about 10 people came forward to accept Jesus as Lord. After the salvation prayer, we had an opportunity to pray with a number of the people for healing. During this time, as the team was praying, we saw God set two young women free from demonic strongholds that were present in their lives and begin the same process in the life of a third young woman. It is so good to see the enemy’s territory being pushed back as Jesus sets people free! We believe that others will also be healed and set free in this village as the Word of God continues to go forth.

July 16-17

Praise the Lord!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported the mission to Ghana. Without the prayer support from our Christian family we would not have been able to accomplish the things God called us to do. Thank you for participating with us in the Great Commission! Over the five and a half weeks of the trip we saw nearly 2500 salvations, planted 2 churches, and witnessed many people receive their healing and deliverance. There were also 97 people who received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We praise God for all that He has done!