Lansing!

We had a great time in Lansing last week! From the time we arrived on Thursday afternoon, we knew we were welcome, and there was much anticipation in the air. We had the opportunity to talk with Pastor Fred McGlone and Ron Burns before heading to our host homes for the night. Pastor Ron asked each one of us to share what we felt God was going to do in our time there. Several of us had words of joy, celebration, or new life for the church and the area of Lansing. A few others felt that God wanted to bring increase of His Word, His anointing, and His Presence. Pastor Fred summed it all up to be a time of refreshing, joy, and empowerment. We definitely saw these things take action in the church while we were there. The people are so hungry for God’s Presence and full of life.
On Friday afternoon we got to be a part of an after school elementary program that some people from New Covenant put on called “Fire Up Friday.” It was their last time for this school year, so they talked a lot about Jesus and salvation. Almost all of the kids stood up to receive Christ at the end! To show them how Heaven celebrates when people decide to live for Christ, we did our dance “Rejoice” at the end. There was such a sense of joy in the place and it was cool to see how God is using this program to speak to kids’ hearts.
That night we had a service with the church; it’s something they have once a month on Fridays called “Encounter Night.” God really showed up in the worship time, and everyone responded to His Presence. Larissa was planning on sharing her prophetic arts workshop, so before she taught, each of the MC’s shared a piece of their own prophetic art. Kristen prophetically danced over the church for her first time, and a lot of people were very touched by it! Jordan and Laura drew pictures; Jordan’s was for the church and Laura gave hers to specific people. Denica shared a prophetic poem and gave it to a girl, and John played and sang prophetically on the guitar. Genesis had some breakthrough in dance during the worship time. Our goal was to show them all the different ways we can express worship or prophecy in the arts and to release the body even more into that, whether they have the specific gift or not. Larissa then did her teaching, which was incredible and produced a lot of excitement in people. She then had everyone practice drawing a “prophetic sketch” for someone. So everyone got a partner and they exchanged pictures. Many people got up to share what they drew or what was drawn for them and how it encouraged them. The girl that Denica drew a picture for was amazed by how accurate the word was and how it confirmed everything that has been spoken over her before. We also got to pray for people at the end. Laura really connected with a girl about her age and got to speak a word over her which she had gotten herself that she is not going to be alone.
That night Jordan had a pretty huge breakthrough in worship. At the beginning of the MC year, God gave him a picture of him waving a pink banner. Now, Jordan hates the color pink, so this was pretty improbable for him. But God told him that the color pink was going to symbolize change for him. So, to his surprise, there was a huge pink flag at New Covenant, and Jordan had the wonderful opportunity to wave it during worship! And on Sunday, two people gave him pink shirts; he said he would never wear a pink shirt! But he did. We all see this as a major turning point for him.
On Saturday we watched some videos on Communication by Dann Farrelly from Bethel church in Redding, California. It was actually very timely and helpful in knowing how to relate with one another and be clear in our intentions. We then had some “team time” where we got to connect as a group and pray for each other, which was needed. The rest of the day we worked outside at the church and then hung out at Laura’s house. Genesis went on her first canoe trip and loved it!
Sunday morning we did our dances and testimonies for the service. During worship, we had two guys from the church do prophetic paintings along with Denica. It’s awesome to be able to release people into that when they probably never thought they’d be able to do it. We prayed and prophesied over people at the end of the service. God released many words and touched a lot of people’s hearts. He also brought some physical healing to people! We were so blessed by the way this church opened up their hearts to us and pulled out of us what God has given, and we are excited for where God is taking them. It was also a blessing for Laura to be home and even have the opportunity to invite some people that wouldn’t normally come to church. Overall, it was an incredible time of seeing God move once again!
Well, we are in Middlefield, Ohio now and will tell you more about what God is doing here in a day or two! God bless you all, and we can’t wait to see you when we get back, all of you in OKC!