Ministry Newsletter

Dear Friends:

These events are spiritually intense. The men come with a lot of spiritual hunger. I cover many topics with the men, including spiritual purity, breaking free from the machismo attitude, treating women with respect, how to be healed from father wounds, and many other topics. Below you can see the scene at the altar after my session on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When the men fully surrender to the Spirit’s power they find a deeper level of healing from problems of abuse, abandonment, and fatherlessness.

These are the men who came to Barranquilla. We met at a retreat center on the edge of town where we had a swimming pool, palm trees, fresh mangoes and dorm-style accommodations. We ate empanadas, arepas, lulo juice and other Colombian foods. The men not only had deep encounters with God but they made lifelong friends and were challenged to make disciples.

So much healing happens in these retreats. Below you can see a scene at the altar after my message on healing from father wounds. We talk about five types of dysfunctional fathers—absent, distant, abusive, critical and addicted. Many guys said their dads had all five of those characteristics! But now, because of the healing of Jesus, generational patterns are changing and these men have decided to be present, affirming and affectionate with their children. The hearts of the fathers are turning to the children!

The photo below shows the men who came to the Cali retreat. The city of Cali feels much darker spiritually than Barranquilla, and we could sense warfare throughout the event. But men were healed and filled with the Holy Spirit during that glorious weekend. Thank you for praying for us! We seriously need more prayer covering as we invade the darkness.

I also preached at two large women’s events while I was in Barranquilla and Cali. Below you can see a scene from the women’s event in Cali, held at a local Baptist church. In Colombia, many Baptists are open to the Holy Spirit and they believe in the Holy Spirit’s gifts. These women certainly were! The Lord moved powerfully that night as I brought a message of hope from the Book of Ruth.

I am very excited that my two new books on discipleship are available now in Spanish from Editorial Desafio, a Spanish publisher. Sígueme(Follow Me) is already published, and Vamos mas Profundo will be out in Spanish in a few weeks. Many of the young men in Colombia got copies of the book, and they are writing to tell me how much it is helping them as they seek to invest their lives in others.

I am so encouraged to see how our overseas work is expanding. Below you can see the progress on our shelter in Mzuzu, Malawi. We need $6,500 to finalize the interior of the building. Please pray with us about this need. Once completed, we will be hosting classes on literacy, chicken raising, tailoring and discipleship for women who face challenges. And I will cut the ribbon and dedicate the building when I go there in July!

Below you can see the house we purchased in Mbeya, Tanzania. Thanks to a generous donor in North Carolina, we will be able to open the facility soon as a transitional shelter for women who have been trafficked by sexual predators and corrupt businessmen. Please pray that we will be able to pull many women out of that dark web as they come to this shelter to be discipled and healed. Bishop Berrings Mlambya, my ministry partner in Tanzania, is in the puple shirt. He is standing with our ministry team there.