1st night of attack forces

friday was the first night that we were sent out to run the whole program in conjunction with the smaller churches around curitiba. fortunately, our attack force team leader, mark c., has a solid and matured gift of intercessory prayer, so we were not worried.

from the hotel, it was about 25 min drive, in the middle of a neighbourhood on a hill. the church is only (1) one block from the main street, but a hidden gem. the pastor is in his early 30's and has a heart of gold for the congregation and his community. i spent a long time getting to know the pastor and found out that his congregation is a church plant. the vision of the bigger church is to plant (1000) one thousand churches within (10) ten years. that is a tremendous amount of boldness and faith! after a little over (3) three years, they have planted over (200) two hundred congregations! God is faithful to His ministry as they are cell groups (home groups) popping up left and right, most of them are reaching non-believers. the brazilians are a wonderful example of walking in discipleship, raising, and equipping the next generation of leaders.

we began our time with this congregation by going out, knocking on doors, and inviting locals to the healing service. in a few cases, some of us were invited to pray for folks in their homes because they could not make it, while most did come by. we found many who have never believed, or those who have walked away for a variety reasons. what mattered to God and us, is that the seed was planted by walking those streets and loving on these people.

my translator for the evening service was a 19 year old female college student who had never personally witnessed a miracle. one 25 yr old gentleman was guided up by his mother and (2) two aunts. he could never physically open his mouth and completely deaf in both ears. he communicated with his mother via sign language. i was initially intimidated internally, but quickly cast that doubt to be gone in Jesus' Name. by God's grace, he was able to hear 50% in his left ear and open his mouth. i asked if we could continue and by the end, he could say "ah" and gained 50% hearing in both ears! the joy of the Lord had fallen over himself, the (2) two aunts and his mother. the mother explained that she had always wanted to hear her son's voice. the man did not want us to proceed again because he knew that God is going to finish that work.

child-like faith permeates in this country. thank You, Lord, for showing us examples of how we are to approach your throne.