Trusting God to Bring Whom He Wills

On Saturday, April 28th and on Saturday, May 5th, NAECHOG held two days of workshops focusing on Islam by Dr. Ruth Lyons and having some fun and ministry by a ventriloquist, Kerry Miller who is prayerfully supported and assisted by his wife, Terry.

Pastors Woodrow (Woody) and Trish, located in Chillicothe, OH. at God’s Community Church, and Pastor Shannon and his wife Jen and Pastor Donna Bevels, located at First Church of God, in Farmington, MO. were all instrumental in making both of these events happen.

All of them found in the process of planning these events that they encountered in one way or another opposition and setbacks but persevered. They could have quit! Neither certainly gained anything monetarily by hosting the events, but they made a difference in their communities and results will be evident in Heaven!

We know that there had been over a period of time praying for God to bring those who should be there and we believe He did! It was evident in each event by the end. For both of the presenters, it is not about numbers, but individuals and relationships. In each event, we knew that those who came went away having “got it”! In other words, they went away with the intention to make more of an impact from now on.

What exactly does this mean? Well, for some this meant that through their lives in their daily routine, reaching out to their Muslim colleague or neighbor or contact and for others it meant praying more fervently for God to reveal himself through dreams, and for individuals to learn about Christ one way or another, and for all to be full of more faith to believe God can bring hope to a broken world and not live in fear or be afraid of that which is different.

At the gathering in Missouri, they had asked for pre-registration and they had not had one single registration by the night before the event. It was so bad, they had phone calls from people who were saying they could not be there! I must confess that after hearing this I just prayed to the Lord and said: “Lord, if it is your will then let nobody come tomorrow and I guess you want me to have a day off.”

The next morning everything was set and ready to begin at 9.00 and at about 9.10 a van with “Jesus loves you” written in large letters on the sides of the vehicle, pulled into the parking lot and a woman was dropped off. She had come from a nearby town because she wanted to learn more about how to reach Muslims. She was a pastor’s wife of an interdenominational church in a town a half hour or so away.

She was a woman filled with the Holy Spirit and who was determined to let God use her how He wanted and who would definitely share with others what she learned from the event. We had a precious time of fellowship with her and gave her a private workshop for 4 hours! She left ready to do something with what she had learned.

In both of these events, we believe God brought who He wanted there and hearts were touched and challenged and the world will be a different place as these individuals impact more lives through their fervent prayers and personal outreach in showing love, respect and building relationships with those who are different from them and are spiritually lost.

Thank you to both of our host churches for all the preparation and organization and for caring.