Testimony of God at Work
The 2023-2024 Spirit & Truth travel season has officially begun! This year we’re visiting almost double the number of churches we visited last year, and that doesn’t include the various solo speaking engagements that members of the staff are sometimes asked to do. It’s certainly going to be a busy year– but I am excited!
I was reminded at the most recent church we visited, Stillwater Church in Saraland, Alabama, just how specifically God knows us as individuals, and as gathered groups of people. It was very clear from the moment we walked in the doors of Stillwater, that the Lord had a particular plan for our time at this church. The Spirit & Truth team definitely had to practice what we preach when we discerned there was an equipping need among the people we were serving that we hadn’t come prepared to address. But we listened and (gulp) obeyed and ended up leading our first-ever equipping module on spiritual warfare.
The model S&T employs is different. If you’re unfamiliar with what we do here’s a quick breakdown of the process:
A church leader, usually the pastor, reaches out to us and says he or she is interested in having us lead some ministry-equipping sessions.
We have a zoom call. During this call, S&T staff have a conversation with the church leader. We ask all kinds of questions, some practical, some relating to the season of spiritual growth the church is in. During this conversation, S&T staff is listening to the Holy Spirit and seeking wisdom about whether this is an opportunity God has for us to partner with his will in these circumstances.
After the conversation, if we discern the circumstances are right, we send a proposal with a suggested schedule, usually for what we call an Awakening Weekend.
We travel with a team of between 3-5 people depending on the need and size of the church.
We arrive early before the official event begins and we pray in the sanctuary of the church. We ask the Lord to tell us about the church and the desires of his heart for that specific group of people. We often hear very specific and detailed things!
The event usually begins in the evening on the first day. We always begin with prayer. Then we explain the schedule and process and we immediately begin the work of inviting the presence of God into the space, into the hearts of the people, and we surrender the weekend to him.
Over the course of the weekend, there is prayer, teaching, doing-the-stuff-we-teach, preaching, and of course TESTIMONY (my favorite part)!
God shows up trip after trip and does amazing things. My list of testimonies from the people we’ve had the privilege of serving is blessedly long. Some of my favorites include the woman who is a lifelong Christian who said: “I thought if I kept doing the same thing, week after week that would be enough, but now I realize God wants to know me, and he actually wants me to know him! He actually loves me!” Or the man who pulled me aside after my teaching on listening for God’s voice and said he’d been feeling a consistent nudge to pray for his sick neighbor and was now going to actually do it because he realized it was God’s power through him that did the heavy lifting– not him. There are all of the pastors who get to see their people engage their faith in new ways. Not to mention the ministry the pastor’s themselves receive. Because everything we do is led by the Holy Spirit, the way we engage the topics of evangelism, the work of the Holy Spirit, discipleship, and prayer varies a little from community to community. And this is at the heart of my own testimony of what it’s been like to work at S&T. I’ve learned that the Lord loves his Bride so unconditionally and that all things truly can work together for our good if we are willing to surrender completely to his Lordship. I’ve learned that while spiritual warfare is real and human beings are sometimes unwitting partners in the schemes of the enemy, (most notably through the desire to be in control) it is no match for the holiness of God’s presence.
The most profound thing I’ve learned from is best summed up by something Matt Reynolds, S&T’s founder, and president said just the other day– God will absolutely send a whole team of people from Ohio all the way to a church in TX, or AL, or GA, or… wherever, not only minister to the collective need of a particular church, but also to the specific individuals within those churches. We’ve seen it over and over and it never gets old.
Lord be with the team and be with the churches to whom we minister this year. Give us all the ability to persevere and abide in you. Help us surrender to hear your voice, surrender to your will, and obey.