The past few months have been some of the most enjoyable (and busy) months of my life. Michelle and I purchased our first home. I started teaching at one of my alma mater’s, Victory Bible College. But most enjoyable of all was the opportunity to preach the Gospel all over the world. From July to November I traveled to the United States, Canada, South Africa, Madagascar, Egypt, El Salvador and Mexico preaching at crusades, churches, leadership conferences, school conferences, youth camps, Bible colleges, parent meetings, teacher meetings and more. It has been such a fun and rewarding season to see how the Lord is working all over the world. I have updated you on most of these trips but I wanted to share about one that I haven’t yet talked about.
The last trip that I was on was a ministry trip to Reynosa, Mexico. Reynosa is a border town on the Texas border and as a result there has been a lot of violence in this community. The Christian leadership in this city is especially concerned for the youth of the community as many of the young people get involved in gangs and drugs and violence. Some dear friends of mine, who run a church and a school in Reynosa, asked me to come and speak at their annual youth camp, their church, a citywide conference and at their school. I was thrilled to go and am so thankful for what the Lord did. I want to share just a few of the stories from that trip.
On Sunday morning I preached at one of the largest churches in Reynosa. I preached a sermon about faith and how to receive your miracle from the Lord. At the end of my sermon I asked everyone who was believing for a miracle to come forward for prayer. We had 200 people come to the front! I spent the next 90 minutes laying my hands on the people and it was amazing to see how many people the Lord touched.
We were at the youth camp for three days, and we had so much fun with the students that were there. Sports, late-night campfires, sleeping in bunks—camp is so much fun! The best part of the camp, though, was the services. From the very first night students were responded and gave their lives to Jesus. We came to the final night of the camp and at the end of the service I was praying for the students when I felt led to go and pray for a specific girl. This girl was a senior in high school, one of the oldest at the camp. I went to her and just asked her if I could pray for her. She immediately started to cry and for the next 20 minutes she told me about how she had been battling with a sin for 3 years had never told anyone. She began to open up to me and for the first time in three years she asked for prayer and help. We prayed and I got her connected to one of the leaders at the camp. We have since stayed in contact and months later she is still giving me updates about how she is so free and so happy and thankful for what the Lord has done in her life!
My last day of ministry in Mexico was at the school. I first spoke to the high school and junior high students. After speaking to them the principal told me, “We have one more group of students to whom we would like for you to speak,” and in walked 100 kindergarten-3rdgraders. I opened by asking the kids what dreams they had. Some responded that they wanted to be soccer (or “futbol,” as they say) players. Others responded that they wanted to be doctors. One little boy said, “I want to be a Pastor” and one little girl responded, “I want to be a mommy.” I then told them about Jesus and how Jesus wanted to be their very best friend. It was so rewarding to lead 100 little children in a prayer to ask Jesus to be their very best friend.
All in all it was an amazing trip and an amazing finish to 2014. The past few months of ministry, despite the long flights and jetlag and “interesting” food and lack of sleep, have been some of the most enjoyable of my life, and I want to thank you for making stories like the ones above possible. Together we are changing churches and high school students and even kindergarteners all over the world.
For The King,
Joshua