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Hello everyone!
We are doing great here in General Santos City, Mindanao, Philippines. Cities here in the Philippines are divided into Barangays (Bar-on-guys - abbreviation is Brgy.) We are in Brgy. Fatima (Fa-tee-ma). Just for you to picture it here, Brgy. Fatima has around 100,000 people (size is approx. 2 mi. x 2 mi.).
For the past month, we have been staying with Pastor Reolan (who invited us to come to the Philippines) and his family. We will be moving into our own house on May 6th. It's exciting! We will send out our new address after we have moved. We also just purchased a motorcycle for our transportation here. It is very different here from the US. The main personal transportation here in the Philippines is motorcycles. It is also less expensive. We are learning how to drive this manual motorcycle because you do not shift with your feet you have a hand clutch and accelerator. So, everyday is a learning experience! We have hit the ground here running! LOL
We got off the plane here in General Santos City and Pastor Reolan took us straight to the church for a church-healing meeting! Literally, I'm not kidding! LOL We traveled for almost 24 hrs to arrive here.
We have arranged our schedule as follows;
Sunday morning: We travel to preach at different churches located here in Brgy. Fatima
Sunday night: preach at Ptr. Reolan church for missionary night
Tuesday: prison ministry - men and women
Wednesday: Prayer breakfast
Thursday night - street market crusade with Ptr. Camacho, and other surrounding Ptrs
Friday: afternoon - evangelism with Ptr. Reolan's disciples
This is our set schedule. The openings are made for scheduled meetings and events. We have been meeting and working with a lot of different pastors from different churches.
We have come here to unite the body of Christ beyond denomination.
Last Thursday afternoon, we were invited to speak at a burial service for a local pastors member. Then that evening, we went straight to a street market crusade and there were awesome miracles that took place! There was a deaf and mute man that Will and Ptr. Michael prayed for that heard and spoke for the first time that night! Melissa prayed for several women with lumps in their breasts and everyone saw a change or complete disappearance of the lump. There was a woman there who had a goiter the size of a tennis ball on her neck and as Will prayed for her it began to shrink right under his hand - many people surrounding Will and watched the miracle take place! In total, there were approximately 100 people healed that night and 60 people born again!
Last Saturday evening, we had our first discipleship training at MSU (Mindanao State University - located in Brgy. Fatima). There were a total of 12 leaders and 5 pastors. They were very hungry for God! Last Sunday morning, we ministered at King Jesus Four Square Gospel Church for Ptr. Mario Salinda. The church was 15 ft x 30 ft with a gathering of 40-50 people in the church. There were around 25 people that asked for prayer and were either instantly healed or immediately they were doing better! Many people with a cough or asthma healed in this meeting. There was a little boy around 5 yrs old who had trouble walking and Will prayed for him and after the service was over, the boy was running around playing normally with no problems with the other children.
Sunday afternoon, Will was asked to attend a meeting with the leaders for a ministerial fellowship called Workers For Christ. There are 79 of the 80 churches in Fatima that are part of Workers for Christ. They asked him to come to plan the upcoming healing crusade for an American evangelist. The week before we were invited to the members meeting.
On Monday, Will was invited to speak on the radio - E-Life 100 - for an hour. Two days ago Tuesday, Will ministered to the women prisoners at the prison in General Santos City. One woman was instantly healed of deafness in her right ear. There was a women brought to the meeting who had not walked and been bed-ridden for a year and 3 months. Will prayed for her and she got up and the whole crowd of women prisoners jumped up in surprise and shouted for joy! They were so excited about what God was doing! As Will was praying for people, he found out that many of these women were Muslim. At the end of the service, Will said to them, "you've seen the miracles and you know that I serve the true and living God, but the greatest miracle is when you pray to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and the Spirit of God then comes to dwell in you" and then he asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and 35 women became born again! That night we traveled into the city to pray for the son-in-law of a church member in the hospital. He was about to be put on a ventilator to breathe for him. We prayed for him and he felt that he could breathe much easier.
Melissa went to pm service at Christ Centered Fellowship - Ptr. Camacho's church - and found out that a mountain tribal pastor that had started another Christ Centered Fellowship in Malapatan was in the hospital. They asked her to go visit and pray for the pastor. He had an ulcer. Melissa prayed and he immediately felt relief. We spoke with Ptr. Camacho today and he will be released from the hospital tomorrow.
Today, Will went with Ptr. Cuison to several local work sites for a born again employer. She requires the employees to go to a bible study. Will went and ministered and over 50 healed and many born again! Then he went to Ptr. Cuison's church to eat and a women that was invited had a goiter on her neck and after prayer it disappeared and was able to drink liquid without pain for the first time in 20 years! Another woman was prayed for because she had pain in her hip and immediately she was healed. She said that yesterday she was crawling around on the ground in pain.
There is no way we can expect someone to believe our bible over their book unless we show and manifest the difference between religion and Christianity. God dwells inside the believer and brings the life of God inside. You either have the eternal life of God or you don't.
Well, this is our usual schedule and it is filling up fast! LOL The next five Sunday morning services are already booked! We are so blessed to be here. There have been many, many adjustments to the culture and lifestyle but we know that this is where God has placed us and we are at peace and joyful about how God is using us to give Him glory!
Love you all,
William and Melissa
There is no way we can expect
someone to believe the bible over
their book unless we show and
manifest the difference between
religion and Christianity. God dwells
inside the believer and brings the
life of God inside. You either have
the eternal life of God or you don't!
We want to thank and praise God
for His goodness that He is letting
us be a part of - as we see one life
after another changed by the power
of God!
2 Cor. 3:5 Not that we are sufficient
of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
Hello everyone! Magandang hapon (ha-poon) (Tagalog for Good Afternoon)!
Wow, it's been a busy month. We started out the month with Ptr. Dodong Baydal's church on Sunday morning May 3rd. We have pictures! Yeah! I know some of you are very anxious to see them - mom - lol! On the 4th, we were invited by Ptr. Camacho to speak at the opening night of his national convention. This was a meeting for the churches in the mountains that are connected with Christ Centered Fellowship. Many of the Pastors and members of mountain churches had to walk 8 hrs to a place to picked up and then a 45 minute ride to brgy Fatima, the place of the convention. Will brought one of Pastor Reolan's disciples named Tauno to the meeting. Will told Tauno that he was going to see God move through him (Tauno) and people would be healed. Tauno had never done this before. The first five people Tauno prayed for were instantly healed, and he prayed for others and all but a couple of the people he prayed for were healed. Will brought Tauno to the meeting for Tauno to know that God would do the same healings and miracles through him that God is doing through us. That God is no respecter of people but he is a respecter of His Word; that he has the same Holy Spirit that we do and the Holy Spirit would confirm the Word of God through him also. Will put him in a position to be used by God so Tauno could begin to learn how to minister to people. We have a tremendous passion to equip others to walk in the power of God. Will is always helping people and putting them in a position to be used by God. God has shown him how to teach people how to work with God and to see that God will move through them by getting them to step out on the Word for themselves and see the miraculous power of God through them. It is one thing to see God move through someone else but when God does it through you, it really changes how you see things! Nothing else can be a substitute for experiencing what it is like to have God's power flow through you and it brings real, tangible changes in your life and the lives of others.
Will is continuing his prison ministry. Pastor Camacho is going to continue the prison ministry while we are in Manila. Ministry to the men is every other Tuesday at 10 am - ministry to the women is the other Tuesdays of the month at 1 pm. His contact for the prison ministry is Ptr. Cuison. I also have pictures included of him and his church and the outreach. There was a woman pastor at the prison who had cancer and asked Will to pray for her; so he prayed and she felt better and he told her to see the Dr. to get checked. Some time after that, Will returned to the prison and she told him that she had been to the Dr. and he could not find the cancer - it was gone! After visiting the prison every week, Will visits Ptr. Cuison's church and Ptr. Cuison usually has people there who want prayer for healing. One time, Will prayed for a school teacher who had colon cancer and Ptr. Cuison visited us a few days later telling us she had gone to the Dr. and it was gone! The Dr. was so surprised he wanted to do an extra examination, and she was examined again and the cancer was completely gone!
On May 6th, we officially moved into our rented house. On the 4th, during the day, we had lots of help from Ptr. Reolan's disciples to clean the house. It had not been lived in for awhile and it was very dirty! It took all day and there was plenty of work left over! I wish I would have taken pictures of the disciples after the work was done because they were all falling asleep everywhere! On the wood benches, on the table - most have only a mat on top of a wooden or bamboo bed so it's just like lying on their bed!
Also on May 6th, was the first of the weekly discipleship meetings held on Wednesdays at 2 pm. We have pictures. Wow, it's so much easier to have pictures - lol! On May 8th, we ministered at a kids camp at Jesus Mission Ministry. Will was explaining to the kids that if they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord that they have the same Holy Spirit that he does or any believer does. To demonstrate what he was teaching with power, he asked if anyone needed healing. There were three different people who needed healing. He had three different kids pray for one of the people that came up front for healing. Each one laid their hand on the person and prayed and had the person do something they couldn't do before - as Will instructed them to - and each one was healed! Praise God for the ability He has given each and every believer - whether a child or an adult it does not matter because the Holy Spirit lives in every believer in Jesus Christ!
On Mother's Day (May 10th), we ministered at Maranatha Assembly of God Church. The pastor there is Ptr. Gestopa. He is the president of the ministerial fellowship called Worker's For Christ, 79 of the 80 evangelical churches here in Barangay Fatima are part of Workers for Christ. Will and I focused the message on women because it was Mother's Day. We encouraged the mothers and other women with the scripture Galatians 3:28. We let them know that the message was for all men and women in Christ, but focused on encouraging the mothers and the women there about God being their ability to accomplish great things for God. We told them they have the ability in Christ to live the life set before them, and to truly glorify God by the grace of God upon their life. Then, we offered prayer for healing and about 25 people came and most were healed. There are pictures of this day. They had all the mothers stand up front and the husbands and children sang a special song to the mothers and also brought small gifts to their mothers. They wanted me to be up there as a "future mother".
Later that day, we had a Workers For Christ meeting to swear in the new officers of the organization at another church. After the meeting, Ptr. Gestopa informed us he wanted to make us the missionaries of the Workers For Christ. This is a new position made for us and not an elected position. We were very surprised and thankful to God for the great favor given to us in a short time! It was a long day because we also ministered at Talk About Jesus Ministries that night!
On May 15th, was the first of our weekly discipleship meetings on Friday at 7 pm. We have this in our home.
On May 16, we were invited to a pastor's meeting with the Elders of the City Organization. The Elders of the City is a ministerial fellowship located in General Santos City proper - which is a well respected organization. We are not located in the City proper but more in what you would call suburbs or more rural about 20 minutes outside of General Santos City. We were surprised and encouraged to see the vision they have presented to all the pastors of General Santos City. On Independence Day (of the Philippines is June 12th), they will be holding an all day prayer day - starting for personal prayer then family, local church then city-wide prayer ending in General Santos City. This prayer day is to ask God for His plan to shake General Santos City in a big way! Then they began to show us plans for city-wide crusades with evangelism and follow-up groups. This is something that God has been showing Will and giving him strategy for over a year's time! God has given him a unique and efficient way to reach whole cities for Christ and like the bible says that the fruit will remain - or in other words - people that not just accept Jesus and live their lives the same but that decision becoming a turning point in their lives.
On May 18th, Will was invited to speak at I.I.M (International Intercessors Movement).There were about 45-50 pastors there that day.
On May 19th, I was asked to travel with the founder of I.I.M (Mrs. Rivera) and 30 other I.I.M pastors and leaders to establish another I.I.M across Mindanao. We traveled 1.5-2 hrs through the mountains and across Mindanao. I was able to see much scenery and Mindanao is very beautiful (maganda - Tagalog for beautiful). The driving is not so safe though - lol! We were riding in a 10-passenger van and the driver was passing on blind turns and hills - we even blew a tire (it was a factory defect) but lets just say that I was not bored!
On May 24th, we ministered at Pete Ramil's church in a Muslium area of barangay Fatima. It was a small church that was not quite finished. We have pictures of this as well. During Will's message, the Holy Spirit instructed him to stop preaching and talk to a man that came to get a motorcycle parked by the church. There was a woman that was just healed and he had her testify about the how the Lord had just healed her about 15 minutes before this man came to get the motorcycle. Will explained the gospel to this man then asked him if he desired to give his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. The man wanted to accept Christ. Then, Will let him know he was free to go and the man went on his way, and Will continued on with the message. At a bible study we attend at Mindanao St. University We found out from Pastor Pete Ramil about this man coming back to Pastor Pete's church about a week after being saved and asked if he would marry him and his girlfriend. They had been living together without being married and had a child. The man was convicted by the Holy Spirit after he got saved and wanted to make things right between God and himself. That is awesome to see someone come to the Lord and begin to make honest changes in their life. They also asked for us to attend the wedding to be the godparents of their child. Praise God for the leading of the Holy Spirit! That night, Will spoke at an evangelistic crusade in Upper Banuwalan - more mountainous area. Most of the people who were there were Christians or church people. Will preached and gave an alter call for compassion for the lost and hunger to evangelize and there were about 150 people there that evening. I ministered at Talk About Jesus Ministries that night (our Sunday pm schedule is to minister there).
On Tuesday May 26, Will ministered at the prison and afterwards he went to pastor Cuizon's church and had lunch and prayed for several people and they were healed. While he was there Pastor Cuizon asked Will if he would go to the hospital and pray for a girl that was sick with Dengi, it is a disease that comes from mosquitoes and is more deadly then Malaria. It mainly affects children and older people. Will found out several days later that the little girl was completely healed - praise God.
On May 27-29, we had a Brgy. wide Evangelistic Crusade in the local high school gym. It holds approximately 1,500 people. They had an American Evangelist visit to speak at this crusade. His name is Lonnie R. Clinton from Columbus, Mississippi. He has a small ministry there he started 5 yrs ago. He met Ptr. Gestopa (president of Workers For Christ) over the Internet 4 yrs ago. In December 2008, they began to plan this crusade. They instructed all the pastors that they wanted all pastors to pray for people - not just the guest speaker, after they came up for the prayer of salvation. The first night, there were probably around 1,500 people in the gym. There were 400 documented salvations and many people healed! The next night there were approximately 1,500 people there. Again, there were hundreds of salvations and many healings! The last night, there were more than 1,500 people there. During the three nights, Will prayed for more than 50 people over the 3 nights that were healed. One person Will prayed for was a deaf mute who began to hear and speak! The important thing about this crusade is that they are working with the local churches and pastors to take the follow-up cards and contact these people and make sure that they do not become "spiritual orphans". If you don't help someone and point them in the direction to go many people will just go back to living the way they were before accepting Christ. There was a Ptr. from an Alliance church, that had been standing right next to Will on the third night of the crusade and observing all the healings that were taking place as Will prayed for people - he even began to bring people to Will to be prayed for. He then invited us to speak at his church on Sun. the 31st. This is an awesome thing because in the Alliance church, many of the ministers do not believe in healings and miracles. Many do not believe that healings and miracles still happen today. They believe healings and miracles were for bible days only.
We want to thank and praise God for His goodness that He is letting us be a part of - as we see one life after another changed by the power of God! None of this letter is to lift us up in any kind of way. Anything that we have accomplished here is only because of the GRACE OF GOD and we are nothing more than people empowered by THE GRACE OF GOD to accomplish God's will for our life. We are not the healers - God works through us to help people. 2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; This scripture communicates what we are trying to say in an excellent way.
We love all of you,
Will and Melissa Sweeney
Hello it's Will and Melissa again!
By the middle of June we had scheduled to travel to Manila and Baguio on the island of Luzon. We arrived in Manila and met with a pastor friend of Pastor Reolan Ejas his name is Ptr. Edgar Calumba. He lives in an area called Angono in the Rizal province next to metro Manila. He was contacted by Ptr. Ejas only several days before our arrival but was immediately shown from the Holy Spirit to help us. He had a church member who allowed us to stay in her home. So, we stayed several days there and preached at Ptr. Edgar's prayer meeting. Several people were also healed.
Then we traveled eight hours by bus from Manila to Baguio. We met an American missionary Ptr. Carl Henderson. He is the Philippine director of Elijah Challenge and also a teacher/leader in The Way of the Master. We were able to stay with him at his house for a week. We traveled with him and his team to teach The Way of the Master in Pangasinan, a town about 1.5 hours away. He taught them evangelism and then in the afternoon we went out and evangelized. At the end of the time there he asked if anyone needed healing. 10-12 people came up for prayer. He had all of his team members lay hands on the people and command the pain, sickness or disease to leave their bodies and all were healed! This was an introduction to Elijah Challenge. By staying with Ptr. Carl we were able to talk and share and both parties were benefited by our experiences together. We are doing many different training conferences and we will invite Ptr. Carl to help train for evangelism.
We then traveled back to Manila eight hours by bus. When we returned, we were notified that a local pastor and relative of the church member we were staying with would like us to come and stay with them and speak to their leaders. So, we traveled across metro Manila to Quezon City. Ptr. Doy SanPedro was the pastor we were to stay with. He is a businessman who is also pastoring a local church. When we arrived and met with the leaders and were surprised to find that many of the leaders were barely out of high school! This was a group of young people on fire for God and hungry for the supernatural. We stayed with them a week. During that week, we had 3 street crusades and 4 church meetings. We also ministered at the Pasig City jail. Will ministered to the men and I ministered to the women. One woman I prayed for at the jail had epilepsy. She said if she would exercise she would have an attack. I prayed for her and had her start jumping up and down (remember, we are in a jail and they cannot move about freely lol). She jumped up and down until she was tired and never had any symptoms of the attack coming! Isn't God good! At one of the street crusades held at night, the clouds came and it began to rain. The night before we had taught the leaders about Gen. 1:26 and that God had given man dominion over the earth. So, Will as he was ministering, began to command the rain to cease in the Name of Jesus. As he was doing this he reminded the people that he had taught many of them the night before that man was given dominion in the earth, according to Gen. 1:26. He began to tell then to begin commanding the rain to stop and clouds to leave. After 15 minutes, it not only stopped raining but the clouds parted and there was a distinct hole in the clouds directly above the crusade site and the hole got bigger and bigger, there was over 100 people that were there to witness this! He also had different people from Pastor Doy's church minister healing to many people.
We returned back to Ptr. Edgar's church and church member's home for the anniversary celebration of his church. Ptr. Will spoke and gave a solid message about compassion for the lost and hunger for the supernatural power of God to flow through every believer. The next day, Ptr. Edgar was travelling to Mindanao to start a church so we had a week to relax and time to spend with God. This was a great growing experience as we pressed in to the Lord and God began to reveal to us how other ministers succeeded and also failed.
The next week we met another one of Ptr. Ejas' friends named Ptr. Rick Alay. He is a Assemblies of God pastor as well as the president of an Assemblies of God Bible School. We met with him and he invited us to preach at the bible school's chapel service. He believed the students needed to be stirred up for compassion for the lost and to go and reach them. We ministered there, and the presence of God was great and Ptr.Will had an altar call for greater compassion for the lost and the majority of students came up to the altar and got on their hands and knees and just began to weep and call out to God. The impact was great! Also several people were healed.
After several days, we were in need of a place to stay. We knew that God had more for us to do in metro Manila, so we asked Ptr. Alay if he knew of a place we could stay. He offered what they called the Elisha room. It was a dorm room type setting on the second floor of the AGSOM bible school. We were grateful and accepted.
As soon as we arrived it started to downpour and the wind was blowing strongly. The person who was to meet us at the bible school and let us in was not there yet. A Pastora Verona happened to live on the bible school property and welcomed us in out of the rain. We began to talk with her about what vision God has given to us and also offered to pray for her because she had suffered a stroke and had trouble with mobility. She began to walk and move more freely and asked if we would like to meet her son who is also the senior pastor of a church. After meeting with her son, Ptr. Allan, he asked if we could do several days of teaching and ministering at their chruch. We were excited and knew that God was confirming the right decision we had made to move around the city more!
We ministered several meetings at their church and it seemed that the Holy Spirit took the services another way. We focused mainly on the moving of the Holy Spirit, flowing with the Holy Spirit, Baptism in the Holy Spirit and manifesting the presence of God. During the services there, many people were healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit. The first meeting was awesome as we saw around 40 different people healed! There was a boy that Ptr. Will prayed for who had a cyst under his arm and after prayer it disappeared! Ptr. Melissa prayed for a woman with Scoliosis and another woman with kidney inflammation and both received instant healings! There were many hungry people and God moved in such a strong way during those two weeks! The altar was filled with people after we asked for those who wanted to repent and live in the fire of God; to press into what God wants to do through them to reach the lost. We also did an evangelistic and healing crusade in another area of Manila with Ptr. Allan called Antipolo. The second night was powerful! Ptr.Will spoke on the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and many people received the Baptism and even more were visibly touched and changed by God's manifested presence! Many of the people there had never been around the presence and power of God in manifestaion in such a powerful way.
During those two weeks we also visited the church of the Assemblies of God Bible school Administrator Ptra. Flor. and President - Ptr. Alay's churches. Ptra. Flor's church was celebrating their church anniversary and Ptr. Will spoke on the miraculous being available for every believer (John 14:12, Mark 16:17-18); and to reach out to people through God's power. There were many people instantly healed and many others were healed before we finished that day. I prayed for a woman with severe Scoliosis and her spine began to move and change. Her mother, brother and Ptr. Flor were shocked and amazed at God's healing power! One man who had been prayed for by Ptr. Will who had been in excruciating pain the day before, was then completely pain free! While this man was watching Ptr. Will pray for other people, he saw in the spirit and saw a warrior angel with wings standing behind Ptr. Will. He knew he was a warrior because he had a shield and sword but his wings were at his side. He was visibly shaken when he was describing this to Ptr. Will! We need to be more aware of the supernatural more than the natural world! Jesus stated this in John 3:13 that as He was standing on earth He was living out of heaven! And angels are sent forth to minister to and for the heirs of salvation (Heb 1:14).
At Ptr. Alay's they were also celebrating their church anniversary. Ptr. Will spoke about the Glory of God; the manifested Glory of God. He really challenged the people to be hungry for much, much more of God. There is so much more available for all, and we should not allow anything to stop us from pressing into the deeper realms of God. The communion was powerful and there was not a dry eye in the house! Many were touched by the presence of God!
We had a meeting to discuss a conference in Angono Rizal (Manila) with the ministerial fellowship which Ptr. Edgar Calumba was president over. At that meeting we met two pastors in which invited us to have conferences with them. The first pastor, Ptr. Jun Mesias, invited us back to Angono. The second pastor, Ptr. Ramon Espana, asked Ptr. Will if he would come to an island called Mindoro (which is located in the Visyas just below Luzon). Will had peace about going there, so we will be there in Oct for 2 weeks. We have scheduled Angono also for the month of October.
Ptr. Alay asked us to join him in a meeting with the League of Philippine Evangelists. On the way to the meeting, we met one of the members whose name is Ptr. Mario Pineda, from the province of Pampanga which is just north of Manila. We will be with Ptr. Pineda at the end of Sept having a training conference. Ptr Will was given the chance to minister about compassion for the lost and demonstrating God's power with boldness to reach them. When he was finished speaking he asked if anyone needed healing, to come now and be healed! An older minister came up, he had a stroke before, and Ptr. Will began to move the man's arm that had not been functioning good at all. After ministering to this man for maybe 2 minutes, he told the man to raise that arm. The man immediately raised that arm straight up in the air, something he had not done in a long time! It is so important that we live what we teach and preach if we really want to be effective and accomplish the will of God to reach the harvest of souls.
Melissa flew back to General Santos on 8/3/09 to take care of some business and move out of our rented home. While in Manila, we met with a trucking company owner who is a Christian and desires that his drivers hear about Chirst. So, he was giving free travel across the Philippines to ministers so they would be able to share the gospel with the drivers. So, Will is going to take the journey from Manila all the way back to General Santos by cargo truck.
Mark 16:15-20 is how we live and train disciples to live their every day life. The only effective way to reach cities and nations is to follow Jesus' example and live supernaturally by the grace of God, and do the same miraculous works that He did!
I arrived back in General Santos City on August 3rd, and we had to move out of our house in Barangay Fatima by August 6th. So, we began a search for another house to move to. We were unable to find a suitable house in our budget. One of our disciples, Estella, has a home of her own with an extra bedroom and offered for us to stay with her. We excepted because it would make it easier for us to continue to disciple them and also we will be travelling more around the Philippines. So, we moved into Estellas house on August 6th. It is a very beautiful house in a different Barangay, in Barangay Tambler, in a place named Upper Banualan. It is a little farther from General Santos City proper. It is a concrete-block house, with glass windows and a beautiful garden with lots of different flowers and plants.
While we were still in Manila, we contacted Tom, Estella, and Sheryl by yahoo messenger and discussed what has been going on in General Santos City. They said they had visited the hospital and the staff and guards asked where we were. That lets us know the type of impact we are having there. The disciples prayed for many people and over 25 people were healed at the hospital! This really demonstrated that how we were discipling them is based on the Word of God because they went without us; we were not there to instruct them in any kind of way and they were helping many people, and many were healed through them by the Holy Spirit.
This is Mark 16 in action,
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mar 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Mar 16:20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Mark 16:15-20 is how Jesus said to take the Gospel to the world. Mark 16:15-20 is how we live and train disciples to live in their every day life. The only effective way to reach cities and nations is to follow Jesus' example and live supernaturally by the grace of God, and do the same miraculous works that he did. This truly glorifies the Lord, for it is only by His grace that you can work the works of God. Every miraculous work through a believers hands bears witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, proof that the resurrection is true and not a lie.
He said in John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
So if we just live the word of God, we as the body of Christ, living Mark 16:15-20 and working together, we can reach this planet for Jesus!
Just think what your town would look like if all the believers there were doing what Mark 16:15-20 says that we can do, and are responsible to do, to reach our neighbors.
Also, we spoke with Sheryl and she was upset because one of her friends was murdered. She wanted to know what she could do. Will told her, if she had peace about raising him from the dead, to go and raise this man up from the dead. Will told her to be prepared to pray for many hours or it could happen rather quickly. He said there is no text book way to raise someone up, but just be prepared to begin and dont stop until he gets up. (This young man was not born again so we know where he would be going) So, they went and the family allowed them to pray for the young man. They touched him, after praying for him for a little while, and realized that he was not cold and stiff from rigor mortis yet but he had been dead over a day. They were very excited and this built confidence in them, as well as the Holy Spirits presence, that this young man would be raised from the dead! As they were praying, the family stopped them because they believed in purgatory and they will continue to pray without action. Unfortunately, the family is mistaken.
While in Manila, we met a Christian man who owns a trucking company. He allows pastors to ride for free in his trucks so they can share the gospel with his drivers; he wants them to get born again. So, Will took almost a 1,000-mile trip by land and ferry boat from Manila to General Santos City. It was a 3-day trip with about 10 hours of sleep the whole trip! He has many pictures and enjoyed seeing more of the Philippines. As he was travelling through southern Luzon, they stopped to get some dinner. As soon as they pulled in to the restaurant the Holy Spirit told Will that someone needed healing. When he was being served his dinner, he asked the person if he knew if anyone who needed healing. He looked at Will with a look of surprise and said, My father just went to the hospital 15 minutes ago, what made you ask that? He said that, as soon as they pulled in to get something to eat the Holy Spirit told him to ask that question. The man was shocked, and Will said can we go to the hospital right now, and he said yes. Will had to ask the cargo truck driver if he would wait for him to go and pray for this mans father. He went to the hospital and prayed for the man and instantly the pain left the mans body. When Will got back to the truck, the driver was very surprised that he was back in 15 minutes.
On August 9th, I attended the local church where our disciples attend. They invited Melissa back that night to speak at the church. The Holy Spirit was stirring in me about true repentance; truly giving everything to God and living 100% for Him. There were many who were touched and stirred by the message. After, Ptr. Will asked the people if they were really satisfied with their lives, or the way they were living. He asked those who did not want their lives to be the same in 5 yrs to come to the front of the church and make a commitment to the Lord. Many came forward and committed to give every part of their lives to God! We laid hands on them and God touched many in a radical way! One woman came to the church and she was Catholic and had never really given her life to Jesus and been born again. She gave her life to Christ and was totally set free by the grace of God!
On August 11th, Ptr. Will, Stella, Tom, Sheryl (our disciples), 2 ladies from the church I spoke at on Sunday pm and I travelled to the city marketplace in General Santos City proper. We were going to minister with Ptr. Rick Pamplona. He has a tricycle (motorcycle with a steel cart attached on the side to carry people and objects) with a sound systems and speakers to preach. We call it the gospel mobile. So, we set up in the middle of the marketplace with the speakers and began to call for anyone who had sickness or pain to come and be healed by God. Of course, it always takes a few minutes for people to come because of shyness but many who are desperate will come forward anyway. This is a market with many Muslim vendors and customers. That day we prayed for more than 50 people that were healed. Then we travelled to the government Emergency hospital and prayed for many people there. Almost 100 people were healed there in several hours with 7 people praying. The 2 ladies that joined us from the church were surprised and so excited to see God use them to pray for the sick and see them healed! They said it was so easy! Yes, because its based on the power, ability and grace of God not on us without God!
Before travelling to Manila again, we were invited to visit an orphanage located near General Santos City called Mercyville. Ptr. David Kim, a Korean missionary, is the overseer of the orphanage and Pastor of the church in Mercyville. Later in the week of August 11th, we finally were able to visit the orphanage. It was a beautiful place with the mountains as a backdrop and plenty of durian trees. Durian is a fruit that smells like rotting flesh but as I am told is actually a very delicious fruit. Most Filipinos love durian! I have not had the courage to try this yet. LOL Ptr. David took us out to eat at a restaurant that serves great barbequed manok (chicken). This is a restaurant were you have to eat with your hands because there is no silverware. While we were eating we asked if there was a local hospital in Tupi (where the restaurant is) that we could go and pray for the sick. We told what had happened a couple of days before in General Santos City. We told him how simple it was to see miraculous healings and how God would use him (Ptr Kim) to heal the sick. So, we visited the hospital. We prayed for many with dengue (a disease caused by mosquito bites, but is more deadly than malaria there is no known cure for this disease) and all that we prayed for were instantly healed! As, we were leaving to go to a different part of the hospital, those we had prayed for were lounging outside their rooms, enjoying themselves and talking to one another a big difference than when we arrived! When we arrived they were all lying in bed in fear and torment because of different diseases and pain they were in. There was a woman in the emergency room, which was bent over with intense stomach pain, and we prayed for her and had her run up and down the hall. In a very short time she was feeling well because all the pain disappeared! Her family was so touched by God that they received Jesus Christ right there in the hospital hallway! We are always looking for opportunities to reach lost souls. We have used miraculous healings to reach and lead hundreds of people into being born again, since our arrival on March 26, 2009. Oh! If the body of Christ would trust in the grace of God, His ability in the body of Christ, and not human reasoning and human ability, like Apostle Paul said in
1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing power:
1Co 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
For the next two weeks, we were prepared and planned for the Barangay Fatima training and equipping conference. I did not understand all the logistics that needed to be managed until I realized I had to take care of the entire conference! It was a stretching and growing period for me, but I know God is working and as we learn we have a pattern to follow whenever we have to plan another conference.
But, as we planned, we also continued to minister and returned to the Gen San marketplace again on August 18th. Again, we called for people to come and be healed by God. Many, even Muslims, received healing and were set free by the power of God! When the people are healed, we then have information written down from them so they can be followed up on. This is also the time that if they had not received Jesus, then we share the gospel with them, and many are coming to the Lord. Many times Muslims come up for healing and then they are being led to Jesus. We had only limited response to the immediate call for healing so we began to go to the people inside the marketplace. We went around and started talking to people and asked if anyone needed healing.
We have started using an evangelism tool called, The Way of the Master. Minister Ray Comfort, and actor Kirk Cameron created it. When I first heard of this, I immediately thought they were preaching legalism or hell-fire preaching or condemnation. But, when I allowed myself to look through the scriptures, I saw a part of evangelism that we had not been utilizing and therefore, a type of people who could not be reached effectively. There are many people in the earth who are content with their lives without God; those who have maybe only told a lie once in a while or maybe stolen only as a child. But, because they live a fairly normal and moral life they believe they will be going to heaven because they are basically good. We know, being good does not guarantee heaven unless you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, continue to put Him as first priority in your life and live a holy life. Paul stated that he would not know what sin is without the law (10 commandments) (Romans 7:7-12). Also, the scriptures state that the law stops every mouth and leaves the world all guilty before God (Romans 3:19). The law is a schoolmaster leading us to Christ (Gal. 3:24). Also, the law is used for the unrighteous and ungodly not for the saints (1 Tim 1:8). If you are not familiar with this evangelism tool check it out at www.wayofthemaster.com or search on you tube. I was really praying about this and God gave me the verse in Jude 1:21-23. Before receiving Gods forgiveness, we are guilty of breaking Gods laws and justice has to be served. Someone has to pay for breaking Gods laws or God would be unjust. So, the innocent one came and died in our place, the guilty ones. When you combine the demonstration of the Word of God with miraculous power, and this simple message The way of the master you will see the multitudes come to Christ! It does not matter what country you are in!
On the 25th, we returned to the marketplace. By this time, Ptr. Ric Pamplona was so excited he praying for people for healing without us prompting him too. He is so on fire! He really has a heart for the Muslims and the Lord told him that he would not reach them without the miraculous. He told us that he heard of someone that had preached to the Muslims for many years and had not reached anyone. Ptr. Ric knew the Lord was sending him to the Muslim people. He asked the Lord a question; he asked how does someone reach the Muslims? He (Ptr. Ric) was able to reach only 1 Muslim person in 10 years. The Muslim who accepted the Lord did so after Ptr Ric prayed for him and his broken leg was instantly healed! The Lord told Ptr Ric that the only way you are going to be able to reach the Muslims is with signs and wonders. He told us that we were the answer to his prayer. But, really, he and many others are the answer to our prayers because we have a passion to train others to go forth with the Gospel that is confirmed with signs and wonders to reach the lost. It is awesome to be around people like Ptr Ric. He and many others are so willing and excited to just step out on Gods Word and demonstrate it with power!
Ptr. Cuison, an Alliance pastor who we met through the prison ministry, offered to let us use his radio broadcast time slot to promote our conference and stir up the body of Christ to start moving forward in the things of God. It was a great experience for us as well as our disciples. They each shared about their experience with us, and what God has done in their lives since they met us. We wanted them to share about how the word of God has really impacted their lives. Two of the disciples that we are training were born again on April 5, 2009 and one of them was born again in Dec 2008. These disciples have been a part of hundreds of people being healed and they have led many to Jesus also. (Since we returned to General Santos City there has been over 300 hundred people healed and many born again all across this area, to God be the Glory!!!!!).
After that we had planned a meeting with Bishop Eze. He is a Nigerian pastor who has great influence in Mindanao and especially in General Santos City. He knows Ptr. Daniel Eckechuku, who is the man that was raised from the dead in Nigeria. Reinhardt Bonnke was ministering at a church in Nigeria when Ptr. Daniels body was brought in a coffin to the church to be prayed for. Bishop Eze is from the same tribe in Nigeria, and has planned a month long tour with crusades in different cities all over the Philippines. The first meetings will be here in General Santos City on Sept 15-17. We had previously met Bishop Eze, briefly in a ministerial fellowship meeting at I.I.M and then also in Manila. At this meeting, they were promoting this event and Bishop Eze asked Ptr. Will to be in charge of the deliverance team for the crusade.
On the 27-29th, we had an Equipping and Training Conference for the pastors in Barangay Fatima. We provided lunch and dinner on the 27th, Breakfast, lunch and dinner on the 28th, and breakfast and lunch on the 29th (that is part of the Filipino culture to provide a meal or snack when having a conference or meeting). The first day started after noon. We taught twice and then applied the teaching, by going out around the pastors churches and did house to house evangelism and prayed for the sick. Some of these people, even the pastors, had never done that before! It was exciting to hear their testimonies and experiences and see the fire of God ignite in peoples hearts and lives! This conference was a seed we planted into this area. Our purposes for the conference are as follows; for people to really catch the heart of God, to be propelled by a passion for souls, to make disciples, to go beyond titles, and to honestly love our neighbors. Each day, we would teach and then in the evening we would do evangelism. The last night, we set up street crusades near the pastors churches. Each pastor involved would work together with other churches, which are located in their area. We wanted not only for the pastors to begin to move regularly in evangelism and healing the sick but also to work together. When they work together, they can start many new bible studies so the newly saved could be discipled. We wanted people to look beyond their differences and come together for the common goal and look to what they can agree on; which is, Jesus is the answer for everyone! The people who attended the conference stated that they did not understand how easy it was for God to use them! Time and time again, we heard first time testimonies about prayer for healing. When the pastor or believer would command the sickness to leave the person and get the person to act, (do something that they could not do before they were ministered to) and they were instantly healed! The person offering prayer said they were even surprised when the person said they were healed! We must not limit God in our own mentality that we need something extra for God to use us. The mighty God, who created the entire universe and everything around you, lives in every believer and He is just waiting for us to step out on the Word so He can work through us. Remember, the Word of God says that the Holy Spirit is our helper. He is not called the doer of the Word we are supposed to step out in faith and God is the power to back up His Word through us. We are the vessel and He is the power! Jesus stated clearly that those who believe would do even greater works so we are just helping people realize the truth of Jesus words!
Praise God we are living our dream! It is awesome to honestly follow God and live in the will of God. We are thankful to be a part of many lives being eternally impacted by Gods grace. Well, until next time, have an awesome day! May you live the dream God has given you!
Pastors William and Melissa Sweeney of Mission Outreach Int.
The angel also said that Ptr. Daniel said a prayer of forgiveness before he died but it could not be answered because he said the prayer without forgiving his wife. The angel reminded him that the Word of God says that forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us (Matt 6:12). You cannot sow un-forgiveness and reap forgiveness. The Word of God says in Galatians 6:7, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Sept. 2009
Right after the pastors conference, we began to work with some local pastors in street evangelism. Ptr. Sailo has 3 house fellowships; so we did a street meeting and healing crusade around each on 3 different days.
We preached at Ptr. Sailos church on Sunday morning. Ptra. Sailo was having some health problems so they were very eager to hear the Word of God. They are really embracing who they are in Christ and excited to look towards the future. That afternoon, we attended a Workers For Christ ministerial meeting. At the end of the meeting, Ptr. Gestopa recognized us and the pastors conference we just had and said (speaking for the group) that they will fully support our work in General Santos City and fully participate in the continuing work in Brgy. Fatima. He was saying that what we were doing was from God and they wanted to be a part of it.
We were asked before the pastors conference to be the head of the deliverance team for the Raised From the Dead conference with Ptr. Daniel Ekechukwu. So, on Monday evening, we set up training sessions with those who wanted to participate in the deliverance team. Many signed up but most had never seen God heal through their hands. So, we taught them some of the basics of who they are in Christ and immediately we took those who desired to the market and God used them that night to heal those who were sick! So, five people went with us to the market and the amazed looks on their faces, when God used them, were priceless! Before we left that night, they were praying for people without our help or encouragement! For the next two Saturday mornings, we would teach for a short period of time and then take them on the streets to participate in praying for healing and evangelism. There were pastors that were surprised and excited that God used them for the very first time in healing!
