In my travels I often minister in places where people’s expectations of God’s intervention to bring healing or any kind of transformation are low. This is usually because they’ve suffered big disappointments: praying for friends and family who haven’t been healed but remain ill or in pain, or have died and not been resurrected.

Disappointment naturally leads people to accommodate to the status quo. We too often adjust our theology and practice to make room for prayers not being answered. On a recent trip to England Gracie and I ministered in a church that had been through some major trials and big losses, including the death of their beloved pastor from cancer five years before.

I was speaking on Acts 6-8, one of my favorite sections of Scripture these days—and was struck in a whole new way by the realism and idealism in this story. Acts 6 begins with the apostles’ selection of seven people “of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” to serve widows at an early church version of a soup kitchen. The apostles feel called to prayer and ministry of the word, and lay hands on these seven to serve in keeping with Jesus’ way of indiscriminate love.

I continue to be amazed to read how the first of the seven, Steven is consequently “full of grace and power, performing great wonders and signs among the people” (v. 8). Then right away in Acts 7 he preaches a mega sermon that enrages his audience to such an extent that they stone him to death and widespread persecution of Jesus’ followers results.

Such a big blow to these first Christians, who’d already been through so many devastating disappointments. Jesus’ betrayal by one of their own and his arrest and execution were fresh in their memories. His resurrection certainly brought radical hope, but Jesus then left them in his ascension.

Gathering and waiting was not in vain. The Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, and frightened, timid apostles were transformed overnight into bold witnesses. But persecution followed swiftly: arrests, threats, beatings, orders to not speak in Jesus’ name again. Acts 5 ends with the apostles going away from their flogging “rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name” (v. 41).

The apostles laying on of hands leads to empowerment for healing and preaching, which leads once again to martyrdom and unprecedented persecution that scatters the remaining six table servers throughout Judea and Samaria, leading to house-to-house searches, arrests and imprisonment (8:1-3). As I was preaching a verse I have mostly overlooked struck me as critical for my English audience:

“Some devout people buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him” (8:2).

Loud lamentation over Stephen shows how seriously these early Christians took their disappointment and pain. Lamentation, the public and private expressions of grief, of disillusionment is essential. I wondered whether this community needed to give louder voice to pain, to complaint, risking the loss of faith to receive faith anew.

I invited people suffering from deep disappointment and despondency to come forward for prayer and was surprised by how many came to the front, some of them weeping. As Gracie and I began to pray the Holy Spirit came strong and people were being visibly touched. People were comforting and praying for each other and the love of God was so tangible and deeply moving. The presence of God was so strong that many people where not able to remain standing.

After a while Gracie and I both received some words of knowledge for healing and we invited people with various conditions to come for prayer. Person after person was being healed as we had people praying for each other and Gracie and I ministered to many.

I’ve been recalling many examples in the Gospels where people who come to Jesus expressing their grief or honest assessment of their lack of relief are met with Jesus’ apt response. I feel inspired anew to bring my uncensored laments, complaints and needs before Jesus, and am finding my expectations for his saving touch increasing together with an intense longing for God’s realm to come here and now.

It’s important to note that lamentation is not a technique that guarantees immediate breakthrough. After loudly lamenting Stephen’s death, things don’t get immediately better. Saul does house-to-house searches and drags people off to prison (8:3). But in the next story Philip, the second person ordained to care for widows, flees to Samaria where crowds hear his preaching and see miraculous signs.

“For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. So there was much rejoicing in that city” (Acts 8:7-8).

Persecution leads to scattering, which brings God’s strong presence to the excluded Samaritans and soon to the African continent through Philip’s next encounter (8:25ff). Philip’s dramatic faith adventure continues as the Spirit transports him to his next assignment, inviting us into ours.

Last Saturday my 16-year-old daughter Anna and I attended Bruce Cockburn’s concert in Seattle. Bruce’s music inspired and sustained Gracie and I during our years in Central America in the 1980s—when poverty, death squads and wars weighed heavy… and has continued to greatly bless us. Bruce’s song “Waiting for a miracle” inspires hope and active waiting for God’s intervention, which we often get to witness and continue to long for in greater and greater measure.

“…You rub your palm
On the grimy pane
In the hope that you can see
You stand up proud
You pretend you’re strong
In the hope that you can be
Like the ones who’ve cried
Like the ones who’ve died
Trying to set the angel in us free
While they’re waiting for a miracle

Struggle for a dollar, scuffle for a dime
Step out from the past and try to hold the line
So how come history takes such a long, long time
When you’re waiting for a miracle…”
View here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgdIjvBMwoA

The other night as Bruce sang and played this song, my thoughts hovered over two immediate situations, one already being accomplished, another awaiting resolution.

Three weeks ago I came into the jail on a Thursday night to lead four back-to-back Bible studies. John, a guy in his late forties bounded into the multipurpose room, eager to attend the first gathering, scraggly goatee surrounding his crooked smile. He had good news to tell.

“Hey, remember when you prayed for my back two weeks ago?” he asked excitedly. “Well, I woke up that next morning and pain was gone, and it hasn’t come back.”

“Wow, really? That’s great news! Tell me more,” I said. “So how did you hurt your back and how long has it hurt?” I asked.

John told how when he was twelve years old (he’s now almost 50) he and a buddy were pushing a mini-bike along a road at night when suddenly they were hit head on by a man on a motorcycle. His friend was instantly killed, and he was thrown critically injured into someone’s front yard. 42 bones were broken, including a disk in his back. After four years of hospitalization where he was regularly put on morphine and meth, an addiction started that led to a life-long drug problem and four prison terms.

“I’ve been in nearly every prison in Washington State,” he said. On top of that he saw his dad lose his leg in a boating accident and his uncle die of a heart attack as he witnessed the horrific loss.

“I’ve seen lots of terrible things,” he recounted, “including my brother die beside me on a couch after a 13-year-old shot him in the back of the head with a 22.”

“All these memories replay in my head all the time” he continued, “and I’ve been mentally tormented as a result. My back has hurt continuously all these years… until two weeks ago when you prayed,” he recounted, with joy on his face.

We give thanks to Jesus for this miracle, and pray for God to lift off trauma and cleanse his memories. I look forward to seeing him again tomorrow night to find out how he’s doing, and if he’s experiencing any relief from his tormenting memories.

In contrast to the “already” of this long-awaited breakthrough, conflict brews in a dusty village in central Honduras. I’m told the story of a man who migrated to the USA over ten years ago, putting his brother in charge of his land. He sent money down and his brother managed it with great care, avoided common pitfalls of drinking and trouble, and flourished. Siblings became jealous of his success, and spread lies against their brother that stirred up a bitter family feud, including conflict between the brothers. The brother who managed the farm was brutally murdered in February, and a cycle of vengeance is now underway that has led to the recent murder of the brother recently deported from the US, followed by the assassination of his nephew. More killings are expected, and law-enforcement are absent from the scene in Honduras’ current governmental chaos and resulting power vacuum.

Tierra Nueva’s main Honduran leader is deeply involved in peacemaking efforts and is in need of our prayers at this time. This coming Saturday at 2:00pm he and Tierra Nueva’s house church members are conducting a prayer walk around the village, interceding for an end to the violence. He has succeeded in engaging the participation of the Catholic and Pentecostal leaders, who will be joining the procession. Please pray for God to protect our leader, giving him great wisdom and success in his peacemaking efforts. We are praying and waiting for miracles— conversion and true repentance of those now caught up in the cycle of retributive violence, and an end to the death campaign and resulting terror in the region. Pray too for TNs growing house church movement, ‘hogares en transformacion’ (households in transformation). I’ll keep you posted.

There’s a growing spiritual openness among French people both inside and outside the church that was clearly visible during a short visit in late April, 2011.

I sat beside a French woman on a train from London to Paris who ended up sharing her life story and faith journey with me. It turned out that like me she’d been a serious rock climber. But she’d had to stop climbing 4-5 years back due to restless leg syndrome. After telling her about an inmate who God healed of this condition last month during a Bible study, she wanted me to pray for her, and expressed true openness to Jesus. Spiritual hunger among ordinary secular French people is spurring French Christians to seek more training and empowerment for ministry.

I arrived in Paris to attend a two-day course on deliverance that drew a crowd of people from across the city, eager to experience breakthrough. The course was excellent, and I was also able to check out an apartment for our family and schools for Anna (16) and Luke (18). Gracie and I are now preparing for a special ministry assignment in France through Tierra Nueva beginning September 1, 2011. For one year we will be based in Paris with two of our children. Our Tierra Nueva leadership team will run the ministry here in our absence.

Gracie and I attended seminary in France from 1989-1991, completing our MDivs there. Our oldest son Isaac was born at the end of our stay and Bob completed a doctorate in theology from Institut Protestant de Théologie in Montpellier in 1997. For the past 20 years we have maintained our relationships with friends and faith communities and with Eglise Reformée de France pastors and seminary professors. French versions of Bob’s two books have been published and he has been doing regular speaking in churches and training of jail chaplains in France for the past 7 years.

We have been invited to minister and teach with a church in Paris that is experiencing rapid growth and is serving as a theological and ministry training center to equip and empower French Christians. Our desire is to deepen our knowledge and experience of inner healing, deliverance and discipleship so we can bring these desperately-needed skills and knowledge back to Tierra Nueva and beyond. Because of our years of involvement we are uniquely prepared to bridge divergent streams in the body of Christ through a growing ministry of reconciliation.

We appreciate your prayers as we prepare to leave and work with our Tierra Nueva leadership to arrange for our specific tasks here to be covered in our absence.

Integral Mission Roundtable Highlights

Just before the train ride to France I spent four days in the England with 25 Christian leaders from around the world at a roundtable on Integral Mission organized by Tearfund– a Christian charity in the UK.

The leaders had been called together by Jenny Flannagan, a previous WTC mission student of mine who now works with Tearfund. The hope was that like-minded leaders could clearly identify global mission challenges and priorities, signs of God’s advancing Kingdom and hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. And this certainly happened.

It’s hard to summarize the many rich discussions, presentations and times of worship. I return home more convinced than ever that followers of Jesus must humbly learn from each other, seeking unity and collaboration rather than each building their own organization & name. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 shows his conviction that oneness brings the world to faith in Jesus’ being the Father’s sent one

“That they may all be one; even as you, Father are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17:21)

Here are some highlights for me from the roundtable.

Melba Maggay from the Philippines shared how loan officers are trained to naturally share their faith, bringing microfinance and evangelism together in a dynamic approach. Women on the margins are being empowered by economic opportunity and over 30,000 people are coming to faith every year.

Claudio Oliver from Curitiba, Brazil critiqued notions of progress that applaud Brazil’s economic growth as one of the Big Four, or BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) as idolatrous. He emphasized how critical it is for integral development groups to remember that Jesus’ kingdom radically differs from dominant notions of economic and material progress that make the Western lifestyle the destination.

Ash Barker of Urban Neighbors of Hope shared about his ten years living with his wife and children in the heart of a Bangkok slum, where 80,000 people live in a 2 sq. km area. He pointed out that 1.2 billion people live in slums, and that 2 out of 3 slum dwellers live in the 10/40 window where there are the least number of Jesus followers. He referred to a recent survey where 80% of Christian respondents answered “yes” to the question “did Jesus spent time with the poor,” but only 2% answered “yes” to the question “do you spend time with the poor?” His call for Christians to relocate into places of darkness and need echoes the witness of Servant of Asia’s Urban Poor, Servant Partners, Word Made Flesh, InnerChange as well as Iris Ministries, Tierra Nueva and many others.

Jenny Flannagan talked about more and more Christians in the UK are discovering the imagination to live differently, go against the culture in some way, not getting on the ladder. Sign of something else being visible. Network of people trying to live in estates, building relationships with neighbors, rooting ourselves somewhere. Going against what parents expect. Another compelling logic.

Here are some highlights about what people heard the Spirit saying to the churches:

* Our responses to disasters bring people to faith—little churches working alongside people, with compassion over the long time—this leads people to believe. Need concrete things: signs of the kingdom, acts of compassion, otherwise we’re pie in the sky. But also we need a vision.
* The destination is outside of our control— in Christ. Our destination is Jesus, who takes us to the Father.
* Need to repent of our confusion between the kingdom of God and development. Need to redefine success.
* Sign of the kingdom: putting the name of Jesus, rather than our own names in the highest place. Losing our name & perhaps our funding… to find our true identities.
* Must be ready to bear witness to the hope that lies within us.
* Call to discern what God is doing in a place, who God is doing it through, how can I support them.
* How do we trust God rather than in methods, knowing what’s God’s role and what is ours. Need to create the space, and trust God to do the supernatural part.
* Feeling the challenge to let go of competing, and presenting our ministry as robust. Let’s live instead in the vulnerability… fragility. Need for demolition sometimes. In Jeremiah 1:10 there are four verbs of demolition followed by “build” and “plant.” We’re good at saying: come do this. But not good at “stop that.” We need to learn how to agree with what needs to be broken down, demolished.
* Importance of bridge building. Reminding ourselves of “inside influence.” We all have networks. Need to expand those networks. Especially in media, business, church. At the end of the day: who gets the credit? We have models that says “we do.” But in the kingdom if poverty is being alleviated, if Good News is being preached to the poor… that’s what’s important.
* Two individuals from two separate small groups both received the words: “Shut up,” “listen,” [let’s not be] “lukewarm,” “stop” [doing what Spirit isn’t calling us to do].
* The term “Visitor” on our Tearfund badges was underlined as a reminder that Jesus Kingdom is not of this world and we are “strangers and aliens” even though we anticipate “on earth as in heaven.”
* Season of networking and journeying together. Building each other up.
* Need to avoid standardization at all costs. Need to keep the diversity. All the fruits are different. Fruit salad.

Just two nights before the big royal wedding in London, Andy Flannagan took four of us into the British Parliament where he works in an outreach to MPs (Ministers of Parliament) who are Christians. We were able to pray for God’s Kingdom to break in our own intercessor lobbying efforts right in the lobby between the House of Lords and the House of Commons, (where the very term “lobbyist” began).

I return home excited to see Tierra Nueva moving forward in our corner of the globe, pursuing God’s kingdom of mercy and love among prisoners, gang members, immigrant and people in recovery. At the same time I can see God’s call on Gracie and I to carry the riches we’ve gained in the trenches of ministry across lines to other camps, leveraging what God has taught us to raise up leaders across the body of Christ who eager to learn from Jesus, the poor and from each other for the advancement of God’s reign.

Last month in Cheltenham, England I decided to end a five-day course on missions at Westminster Theological Centre’s Residential by sending students out on a mission. My teaching covered diverse dimensions of mission: Biblical overview, advocacy & human rights, reading the Bible with people on the margins, healing and deliverance, liberation theology, sustainable development… For our last hour most everyone excitedly agreed to divide up into small groups to go out on the streets on a “treasure hunt.”

The notion of “treasure hunt” comes from Jesus’ parable in Luke 15 of the woman who loses a precious coin, sweeping her house clean until she finds it. Jesus’ second parable is about a shepherd who leaves the 99 in search of the one lost sheep “until he finds it.” More recently “treasure hunt” strategies have been developed in books like Kevin Dedmon, The Ultimate Treasure Hunt: A guide to supernatural evangelism through supernatural encounters and Mark Stibbe’s Prophetic Evangelism.

Everyone was nervous and excited as we numbered off so as to have five groups of three. One of the students, John seemed uncomfortable and asked to be excused from the mission. Another student, Rowena, asked if she could stay back and pray because she didn’t feel up to walking around town.

Once everyone else knew their group number & before breaking up we prayed for divine “intelligence” or clues regarding the “treasure” God had for us to find out on the streets: places, names, physical characteristics, conditions God wanted to heal, clothing color, etc. We took five minutes for each of us to write down thoughts and impressions that came to mind before breaking up into groups, praying for each other and then sharing our thoughts/impressions in our small missional groups. Our plan was to offer to pray prayers of blessing or healing for people we found who fit descriptions we received in prayer. We agreed to return 30 minutes later to debrief.

In my group Jan’s list of impressions included a man with beige overcoat holding umbrella, lower back pain. Rob had written down “black and white,” “Z,” confetti and arthritis. I envisioned a big parking lot, a bright blue car, a man with grey pants and black shoes and knee pain.

Since there were acres of big parking lots adjacent to the Church of England complex where we were meeting, we headed into the parking lot looking for blue cars and men with grey pants, black shoes, beige overcoats with umbrellas, “black & white,” & confetti. We searched through parking lot after parking lot, finding blue cars, but nobody anywhere on the streets matching any of the other clues! I was feeling some embarrassment, thinking: “Oh no, I’ve set up our groups for disappointment” and “did we hear wrong—all of us?” Praying for breakthrough, we headed back towards the church with only 5 minutes left before we needed to meet up with everyone else in the classroom.

We were heading back across the last parking lot, no treasure yet found when suddenly from a distance we spotted a man with a beige overcoat approaching a blue car. We picked up our pace. Were his pants in fact grey? (I later learned that in the UK pants=underpants & “trousers” is proper English). The closer we got the more the clues matched. Yes, his trousers were grey. Yes he had black shoes. He even was carrying an umbrella!

Then he spotted us and walked towards us, arms outstretched. It was John—the student who had opted out. John was the treasure we’d been sent to find! While his lower back and knee were pain free—his hip was hurting. We prayed for him and were all very moved and delighted by God’s seeking and finding of John, the reluctant one, one of our very own sheep, through us.

We then spotted a white Z pattern on the bottom of a young man’s shoe that faced us as he sat on a concrete planter with one leg crossed over the other. He had a black coat with a white collar, matching Rob’s “black & white.” We approached him and learned he and his girlfriend were homeless. While they didn’t have knee or back pain they were glad to receive our prayers and blessing.

We returned excitedly together with John to our classmates and heard some beautiful testimonies from other groups who had had found treasures of their own. I include John’s testimony and photos below.

Trying to run away from God

My name is John. Last week I was on a Residential Study Week in Cheltenham with Westminster Theological Centre. The pace of the teaching was extremely intense, with lectures from 9.0 am till 9.0 pm. By the end of the week I was exhausted, and longing to go home. Our final lecture commenced at 5.30 pm on the Friday, and you can imagine my dismay when our lecturer, Bob Ekblad, announced, “we’re going on a Treasure Hunt in Cheltenham at the end of this lecture.” I thought to myself, “Oh, no, we’re not.”

When it was time for the Treasure Hunt to start, I told Bob I would not be taking part. He was disappointed, as he wanted us to bless the people of Cheltenham, but he agreed to my request to stay behind in the classroom and pray for the others. At this other point, another student named Rowena said she would also stay behind and pray. The remainder of the class, including Bob himself, split into groups of three, and went to different corners of the room to pray, and to ask God for pictures of the people He wanted them to bless. Bob was in a group with my fellow students Jan and Rob.

All the students dispersed around Cheltenham, while Rowena and I stayed behind and prayed. After 5 minutes, I told Rowena, “I’m sorry, I can’t stay any longer. I’m anxious about the journey home, and I need to find the three first-year students I’m giving a lift to.” I left the building and went across the road to Trinity Church to find my passengers. I found two of them, Sarah and Tim, but Lee had gone missing. Sarah surprised me by presenting me with a beautiful bunch of spring daffodils.

As we needed to wait for Lee, I decided to use the time by walking across to the car park in Portland Street to put Sarah’s daffodils in the boot of my car, which is a blue Peugeot. I put on my beige raincoat, on top of my grey suit, and carrying my umbrella, went to my car. As I was closing the boot, I was conscious of Bob Ekblad, Jan and Rob walking across the car park towards me. Jan was laughing, and the closer they got to me, the louder Jan’s laughter became. I could hear her saying, “It’s John!! Would you believe it? It’s John!! Ha, ha, ha!!” I was puzzled as to why she should be so surprised to see me, as we had spent the whole week together in lectures.

When the three of them came face-to-face with me, I asked them, “Did you find any of the people on your list?” Jan, still laughing, said “We have now.” I looked around, but could not see anyone else nearby. I asked, “Who did you find?” She replied, “We found you!!” When they had been praying in the classroom, God had given Jan a picture of a man in a beige raincoat carrying an umbrella; and He had given Bob a picture of a man in grey “pants” (meaning trousers) getting out of a blue car.

Jan announced, “You are our treasure, John, and God has told us to pray for your back pain.” I replied, “Praise God, I don’t suffer from back pain, but I have got a sore right hip as a result of sitting on those small metal-framed chairs in the classroom for twelve hours a day.” Bob, Jan and Rob gathered round me and prayed for my hip. I felt a warm sensation immediately, and have not had any pain since.

I know that God was smiling, as He saw me trying to run away from His plans for a Treasure Hunt, when I fact I was running headlong into Him.

John Auton
Servant of God and Disciple of Jesus

These days I’m more aware than ever of the extreme need for effective ministry in jails, prisons and juvenile facilities around the world. Two weeks agao I returned from 15 days of speaking in France and the UK. I’m seeing tremendous hunger for God and desire to step into direct ministry there and here. Everywhere I go I find people longing to step more closely alongside Jesus in his ministry of announcing Good News with concrete signs confirming the words.

A highlight in France was a visit to a French jail in the heart of Clermont-Ferrand in the Massive Central mountain range three hours south of Paris. Jean-Paul, a young Pentecostal pastor who does one-on-one visits with inmates invited me. He has also started a house church for people on the margins. He had never led a group Bible study in the jail and wanted me to help him get one going. Guards escorted us down narrow stone corridors through thick wooden doors with huge medieval-like key holes and giant black iron hinges. Men who’d signed up were led into a small multipurpose room one at a time by burly guards. We ended up with 8-9 men from France, N. Africa and sub-Sahara Africa.

Jean-Paul opened in prayer and I talked about our ministry to inmates in Skagit County. Soon we were reading the story of Jesus’ call of Matthew the tax-collector and the men engaged well, surprised by Jesus’ following of Matthew to his house, eating with his tax-collector/sinner friends and sending the law-enforcers away to learn what it means to have compassion. These men didn’t seem to have ever heard that Jesus is a friend of sinners. They were especially moved when we got some words of knowledge about conditions Jesus wanted to heal then and there: a heart condition, depression, night mares, back and knee pain.

“Is there someone here who was stabbed in the back and you’re still feeling pain?” I asked, launching out on a faint impression. “Yeah, I am,” said a N. African guy. He was open to receiving prayer and said the pain went away immediately. Jean-Paul and I prayed for several others who claimed immediate relief from back and knee problems. I was deeply moved to see these men touched by Jesus’ real Presence to heal. Jean-Paul just wrote me to say his first Bible study after I left went really well, and that Muslim man was healed of a back problem.

Upon returning to work with Tierra Nueva last week I went with Ryan to the jail for our Sunday Bible studies for inmates in B-Pod. In the midst of short reflections on Scripture we prayed for a man with restless-leg syndrome and another man with a broken hand. On Thursday night Chris and I did our four back-to-back Bible studies where I was surprised by one of the groups who declared proudly that they were “the God pod,” and had been meeting regularly for prayer and Bible study.

“So when did that start?” I asked. An older Caucasian guy answered confidently: “It was after two of us who suffered from back problems found that our backs weren’t hurting anymore, even with these uncomfortable beds, after you guys prayed for us a few weeks back. That kind of starting things off for us I guess,” he said happily.

Today Chris and I met with last week’s Sunday groups in B-Pod. I invited the men to put out their hands to receive God’s love, the Spirit’s Presence and we prayed for Jesus to pour out his Spirit on us all. I then invited the men to put their hands where they needed prayer, and most of the guys put their hands on their hearts.

Then I got an impression of one of the men’s foreheads hitting and shattering the windshield of his car, leaving him mentally confused, and decided to ask if anyone had been in a head-on collision and gone through the windshield. The guy I was looking at said:

“Yeah, I have. I went through the windshield and was thrown from my truck going 85 mph, was all covered with blood. I prayed for this guy, lifting off shock and trauma and praying for freedom from confusion he’s felt since the accident. After I sat down one of the inmates told me that this was the guys we’d prayed for who had the broken hand, and that two days later it was completely healed. This guy looked like Jesus’ special care and pursuit was really starting to sink in. The guy with the restless leg syndrome then told everyone that since receiving prayer the week before his legs were almost completely better.

While I am fully aware that healing is only one dimension of Jesus’ ministry, I am deeply moved to see how impactful it is for these beat-up men to experience God’s love in such tangible ways.

I was also moved by the growing interest among French Christians in reaching out to people in their prison system. The publisher of the French version of Reading the Bible with the Damned (Lire la bible avec les exclus) just published the French version of A New Christian Manifesto. I had two radio interviews with national catholic stations and will be featured in the French Catholic weekly Temoignage Chretien (Christian Witness), regarding ministry to inmates and others on the margins. In the UK, too, I have received invitations to train chaplains and to visit prisons in London and Manchester.

The harvest is plentiful and the workers are increasing and wanting training. Please pray for even more hunger and fruitfulness as our Tierra Nueva teams reach out to women, men and juvenile offenders here in Mount Vernon.

This morning I awoke in the dusty Honduran village of Mal Paso to barking dogs and roosters on the last day of a rich, seven-day visit to our ministry. After packing my bags, braving a cold shower from a bare white PBC pipe, and eating a delicious breakfast of beans, eggs, chicken and tortillas I said goodbyes and I took off in my 4×4 rental for Tegucigalpa to catch my flight home.

Tierra Nueva’s Honduran leader Angel David suggested that he accompany me on the first hour of my journey. Honduras has been especially unstable of late due to a devastated economy, political and moral chaos. In our once-peaceful town of Minas de Oro there has been an alarming increase in home break-ins and armed robberies. Police defend those who pay them, and look the other way when citizens shoot to kill local thieves.

On the road into Tegucigalpa bands of young men with AK-47s, often freshly-deported from the US, have been assaulting motorists and kidnapping people—often killing those who resist. So Angel David’s company was comforting—and we were able to wrap up some plans to encourage a beautiful wave of God’s Presence that is growing into an unstoppable remedy to crime with its resulting insecurity and fear. And I am now on a flight from Houston to Seattle.

Angel David leads Tierra Nueva’s growing movement of young leaders emerging from home Bible study/prayer groups we’re calling “Hogares en Transformacion” (Households in Transformation). These began 2-3 years back when he began visiting some of the poorest and most spiritually-alienated families in Minas de Oro. He spoke to them of Jesus’ special friendship with sinners, listened to their problems and prayed for them. We’ve been amazed to see Jesus heal one person after the other in ways that directly confirm the message of God’s unconditional love for the poor and undeserving.

Last week over 50 young leaders from these households from age 13 to 70 gathered for two days for teaching on the ministry of Jesus with lots of worship, conversation and prayer. The third day we took two truckloads of main leaders (28) on a day-long field-trip to visit Tierra Nueva’s 15-acre coffee farm high in the mountains of Yoro (first two photos below, second photo showing Dago and Angel David) to check on the harvest for our Underground Coffee Project in Burlington. Many of these young people had never been out of their villages. We met and talked with the workers as they picked coffee and saw the new coffee processing plant.

The last two days Angel David and I have visited most of the leaders in their homes. Here are some highlights.

Carina (third picture below), is 15 and eagerly accompanies us from house to house, laying hands on people in need of healing and commanding pain to go in short, non-religious commands. “Go away sickness in Jesus name,” she says, hands placed on a woman’s congested chest. The woman coughs and sputters for a few minutes and then announces that she’s cleared up and feeling better. We pray over her and her husband’s house for God’s protection from evil spirits that torment them at night, before heading down the trail to another home where more healing and peace are offered and received.

Carina’s father left for El Norte (the US) years ago and is now with someone else. Carina looks to Angel David for paternal support and receives it—like many others who text him day and night with “textos para cobrar” (“collect texts” that he pays from his credit as they can’t afford their own minutes) for their raggedy cell phones.

Elena (not her name) is another emerging leader in her early thirties who came to every event hungry for learning and prayer—though she was strongly rebuked by a man who goes back and forth from her to his wife in another village. Elena was traumatized at a young age when her mother paid someone to kill her father after he reputedly cheated on her. She consequently dropped out of school after third grade and began selling goods and then her own body in the capital. She has four kids from three fathers. When we visit her she wants prayer to forgive her mother and be free from deep crippling resentment.

Elena just finished 4th grade in an adult education program that Tierra Nueva sponsors called Educatodos (Educate Everyone), which now has over 30 participants. I attended the graduation two nights ago and saw Jorge, Angel David’s 65 year-old brother and veteran TN promoter receive his 6th grade diploma. Angel David (53) himself graduated from 7th grade this year!

Yesterday Angel David introduced me to a group of notorious young men who he visits weekly in one of Minas de Oro’s poorest neighborhoods. Nearly all of them are now enrolled in 4th grade with Educatodos, and Angel David has organized them into a soccer team that played Mal Paso’s young men yesterday (photos below). We visited the parents of the most at-risk youth, whose older brother is in prison for robbery.

We visited Abram (59) and his wife Ana Gloria (58), parents of two young men who attend all of Tierra Nueva’s activities and are emerging leaders. We watched Abram’s lame ankle strengthen and Ana Gloria become free of knee pain before our very eyes.

Lester is a young man we recently helped with a $150 loan towards buying a cow to start a butcher business. He has now built up enough earnings to provide for his parents, grandfather and younger siblings.

I’m convinced that a peace movement is on the rise through these hogares en transformacion that combines practical skills-training, education, Bible study, prayer for healing and deliverance, subsistence agriculture and loans for micro-enterprises. Regular pastoral visits by a growing cadre of workers empowered by fresh impartation of the Holy Spirit keep things moving forward. Angel David and I discovered a scripture that seems to encompass much of what we are witnesses firsthand:

“Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but he will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness (Isaiah 35:3-6).”

Please intercede for Angel David and these emerging leaders, for:
· Wisdom and strength
· Growing spiritual hunger, awareness of God’s goodness and understanding during the Bible studies.
· Favor from religious and civil leaders in the community.
· Protection, conversion and new hope for the young bandits of our region.
· Financial support for our many projects in Honduras.

Check out my website for my photos (www.bobekblad.com) and order some coffee at www.undergroundcoffee.com

Have a blessed Christmas!

Bob Ekblad

I recently spent four days ministering at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church in Wayland, Iowa. There I witnessed varied signs of Jesus’ Kingdom coming together here & now in ways rare & desperately-needed in North America.

Sugar Creek is a historic peace church in the Anabaptist tradition. They believe in Jesus’ teaching on love of neighbor and enemy alike—which works itself out in lavish potlucks, barn raisings and other community-oriented good deeds and a commitment to resisting war.

Over 20 of Sugar Creek’s members were conscientious objectors in WWII– an unpopular outworking of following Jesus in choosing to love and pray for (rather than kill) national enemies. Like many peace churches, living out Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is a high priority. Nathan, the pastor, had invited me to share on dimensions of discipleship less known & practiced by his congregation– the gifts of the Holy Spirit & healing prayer.

Right after the morning service in the lineup for the potluck I had my first surprise, prepping me for the next three evening sessions. A woman in her early 80s who walked with a cane was complaining of knee pain and her fears of a knee replacement. I offered to pray for her there in the line, and after flexing and testing it she said in amazement that the pain had completely gone away. Wow, I’d never seen someone that old have their knee healed!

That night I shared my own spiritual journey and invited people who desired more of the Spirit to come forward for prayer. The last time I’d given this talk in Stockholm nearly the whole church had come forward. This time I awkwardly stood there as nobody budged except to go out the back doors. Finally a man timidly approached and said: “well, why not, I supposed I would want more of the Holy Spirit” and asked me to pray for him. I blessed him and prayed for his back too. I later heard that someone had commented: “doesn’t he know we are Mennonites?”

Fortunately I had done an exercise where I had people with pain raise their hands and asked those in the pews around them lay hands on them and pray for their healing. I also had prayed for an older man who used a walker and complained of mental confusion and imbalance after a stroke.

A few people lingered, and eventually asked for prayer. The first three or four people apologized before stating what they wanted prayer for, speaking near identical refrains: “I know that we get our healing when we die, but….” — clearly a tendency towards under-realized eschatology. I was perplexed by Sugar Creek’s brand of selective embracing of Jesus’ teaching & practice—and they proved themselves open to stepping into greater expectation of Jesus healing and liberation in this life.

It turned that that in the narthex that first night the man with the walker who’d had the stroke was meeting the people coming out of the sanctuary, without his walker!, saying excitedly that he was almost completely better. I just got word that at his last physical therapist session a few days ago he was told he didn’t need to come back—and that he’s back to his normal state before the stroke.

Monday and Tuesday nights were well-attended as many of the people who had been prayed for by others the night before were relieved of their pain. The word had gone out and people in need of healing were bringing family members and friends— and we ended up praying for a lot more people. One man with 4th stage lymphoma just wrote me saying his blood test showed such dramatic improvement at his appointment three days after prayer that chemotherapy has been called off for the time being and he doesn’t need to come back for a checkup until February.

People laughed when I pointed out that Jesus didn’t encourage the masses to wait until they died to receive their healing—even in the 1st century when life-expectancy was so low & people didn’t have to wait so long to die! And yet I realized as older people kept reporting being healed that my low expectation for God to heal people with normal aches and pains of aging was being challenged. Jesus’ ministry of healing & deliverance, his embrace of the excluded, love of enemies & proclamation of the Good News of the reign of God must all be pursued with expectation for this life—even though God’s Kingdom will not be fully realized until the next.