Monthly Archives: April 2015

15 or more years ago, Cali featured in a video called ‘Transformations’, about a ‘revival’ that was happening here. Truth is, it wasn’t a revival. What was happening was that the foundations for revival were being dug, and calling it a revival seemed to have a negative effect on what was going on. It’s dangerous to call something it isn’t as though it is….From that point, it began to ‘fizzle’ out.

Then, about 10 years ago, God began to pour out his blessing on the nation, and with successive presidents, there has been a major ‘up-turn’, and those of you who have had the misfortune (!) to hear me speak, will know that I frequently refer to Cali as a city ‘under an open heaven’. It has always been that for me, as regular readers of the blog will know. Tonight, we were under an open heaven, in thee wonderful church ‘Nacer de Nuevo’ (New Birth) in one of the city’s most ‘dangerous’ barrios, Simon Bolivar. If you’ve followed my travels and ramblings for a few years, you’ll know how often I refer to this church, and their wonderful Pastors, dear friends Hernán & Helchie (Aida) Gonzalez. Tonight was an open heaven. And what was lovely for me is that I took no part in the meeting, save to introduce Brian and Paul. It has become so, so fulfilling for me to ‘open doors’ for other people to get the chance to do things they might not have too much opportunity to do back home. Of course I still love to do ‘do the stuff’ , as John Wimber so wonderfully described it 30 years ago. Of course, I’m always nervous before I do: but nerves go pretty quickly once the microphone is in your hand and you’re relying on God to speak through you. It takes so much stress out of it!

Brian shared what God had put on his heart very well, having greeted the church in Spanish, which always brings a cheer – especially in a broad Scottish brogue! Paul preached excellently, and then handled the move of God so well at the end. People stood to receive a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit – Paul had spoken on the verse in Ephesians ‘Go on being filled with the Holy Spirit. We had an ‘unknown quantity’ too, in that the church had provided translators who I didn’t know (sometimes a bit of a risk!!), and more, who didn’t know our voices, or possibly even know English (Paul and me) and Scottish (Brian) accents. But they were great, especially a brilliant young lady, Maria Paula Londono (perhaps the key is in he surname!!). She was excellent, accurate, fast. And she was thrilled to meet us, and offered her services whenever needed.

Personally, I felt that Paul needed to ‘direct’ the whole ministry time, which he did, I just threw in my pennyworth here and there. People who were sick stood, and rather than the ‘usual’ chairs at the front with us doing the praying, Paul got them to pray for each other. Testimony after testimony followed. I recorded some of them, and they can be seen here:

http://youtu.be/G763J-I0imA

A lovely lady with a damaged shoulder from a fall, healed as the people around her prayed for her. Another lady, with a septic very large dog bite on her leg – healed. If you can, watch the video – it ain’t too long!! Paul, again, handled the whole meeting so well. A lady healed tonight (she’s on the video) told, too, of my praying for her last year, when she had awful, painful bunions (I know they’re painful: my knees have knocked my feet out of place and shifted both my metatarsals so much I have to buy shoes two sizes too big… I love poking Satan in the eyes and kneeing him in the …er… (!) as he goes down…when God heals someone of something I’m suffering from!! This lady, Maria, has perfectly normal feet now… thank you, God!!!! You’re wonderful! Here’s her story –

A lovely Pastor in a wheelchair had both hips and knees out of alignment, with muscle spasms that were very painful. Here’s his story:

This has to be one of my favoured churches in Cali. So many miracles have happened there in the 5 years I’ve had the blessing of knowing Hernán & Aida. One of the loveliest was 18 months ago, with a lovely young lady, Daniella. I’ve often told her story, of how she came to a meeting, in November 2013, in the middle of a huge and scary asthma attack: but came to church for God to heal her. He did – instantly. When she stood in front of me, she couldn’t speak at first, so great were her problems breathing. I just said to her, ‘I can see what’s up, don’t try and talk’ – and in seconds the asthma had gone. It is STILL gone, 18 months on. She also had a dreadful hereditary eye disease: opthamologists had told her she’d be blind by the time she was 20. Thick, thick glasses, no distance sight at all beyond about 5 metres.

Moments later, I suggested she took off her glasses and read the notice on the wall at the back of the church, about 20 metres away. She did, and promptly gave her glasses to her mum! She’s never worn them since. I asked her – as God clearly wanted to bless her that evening! – if there was anything else wrong. Yes: born with severely flat feet, special shoes (so nothing ‘trendy’ for her, poor girl), and couldn’t really do anything in terms of sport. I asked her to sit on the platform and take her boots off. As she did, we watched the arches go into place, at which point she exploded in tears…. tonight, in trendy shoes, no glasses, and breathing normally, I got her to tell her story on video… it’s beautiful! Every tie I’ve been back to the church since, I get Daniella to pray for people with me. Everyone she’s prayed for gets healed, including her mum of the same eye disease, and her dad! She’s such a lovely young lady, blessed outrageously by God from head to toe, literally. Her story is here:

Many people from last week’s meeting at this church came to tell me that they still had their healing, including the lovely Julianna, who you might remember, had no voice, and in telling me after prayer that she’d ‘felt nothing’ said it with her voice fully restored: and Wilter, who’d had the bad tendon damage in his hand, publicly testified from the front of the church that his hand has been perfect, and pain- free ever since.

Dozens filled, or refilled, with the Holy Spirit. Dozens healed. Old friendships consolidated and grown: new friendships developed. A great new, willing, excellent translator to work with me and the people I bring with me. And the power of God cut loose in an already wonderful church, which, of course, is the most wonderful thing that can ever be experienced….

Hernán & Aida’s church is in a barrio where there is a large concentration of gangs, with a large number of the ‘$20-50’ killers living there. He invited many to the meeting, but they didn’t come…. SO, I suggested to him that, in July, instead of inviting THEM to US, onto ‘strange territory’ for them (church), why not us go to them? Hernán got so thrilled at this idea that he’s going to arrange a meeting – meetings, even – on the street, to which they’ll be invited. It will be dangerous, sure: but in the recent past they have asked him to let them know when the ‘gringoes’ (us!) are going to be there, as they have people they want healed….but these guys need to see the Power of God, they need to be introduced to the Father who loves them, and be given the opportunity to hear – and see a demonstration of – the gospel. a demonstration that Jesus and his Father love them, no matter what…

This picture is just a ‘fun’ one really! – it’s a mountain ‘bus’ for the villages much higher and less accessible in the Andes, on the edge of Cali. This one was a short-wheel base jeep, and we watched at least 20 – maybe 25 – people get into it and on to it! That, and a family of 5 – dad, mum, three kids – on a 125cc motorbike are two the memorable and frequent sights in Cali!

Paul, as a driving instructor in ‘real’ life back in England, held his hands over his eyes for some his early forays through Cali, in taxis! – but now he’s getting used to it! By the way, if you live around Bexleyheath, London, and want to learn to drive, you’ll not find a nicer or better driving instructor! Already Paul is talking about coming back here – and he hasn’t even left yet!

My last night in Cali. Paul and Paul went to one church with William whilst Brian and I went to another in the north of the city with Wilmar. Brian introduced himself then handed over to me. I gave a simple message with testimony and called people forward for prayer. This was a time very much of emotional healing. Most of the people present were women. We prayed for one young lady whose husband had just died, another hose husband had left her and a third whose husband had gone off with other women and was trapped by drink and drugs.

Another lady had a tumour in her ovaries, and as I prayed, she said she felt an intense heat. Then Brian broke the power of the spirit of death over her, and as I held her hands I ended up several feet away from where I started as she shook violently. She was barely five feet tall, but had immense strength running through her. When she was finally free, I hugged her and she sobbed uncontrollably. Then Brian hugged her and she became a dead weight in his arms, at peace but totally under God’s power.
Fernanda asked us to pray that she would know God better. We did so, and she firstly wept, then sang from the heart. As a complete non English speaker, when Wilmar pointed out that she was no longer singing in Spanish, I clearly recognised some English words in her tongue.

Jenny was next, wanting to know God better, and after we prayed God’s blessing on her, she too fell under the influence of the Holy Spirit as Brian hugged her.

Finally we prayed for the pastor’s daughter, who had recently had convulsions. As we prayed, she also felt an intense heat in her head, and wept at length.

All in all, a brilliant last night here. We have several commitments tomorrow, including some before I leave, so at the risk of taking advantage of your patient reading, there will be one last post tomorrow, either from Cali airport at about midnight UK time, or at Bogota a little later.

Once again, thanks for reading all my ramblings. Until a couple of days ago, roughly one third of the group members had read each post, and for that I am truly grateful. So here’s to tomorrow morning and a safe journey home!

No, it’s not an exaggerated header! A lady, 90% blind in her left eye, saw perfectly: a 12 year old young lady, Marcela, thick, thick glasses, took them off, and read a digital clock on the wall (no one else could read it from where we were sitting), then the tiny print of a tract my translator, Frank, gave her to read. She’d already been healed of cysts in her chest (the pain and discomfort had gone). An elderly man, 60% deaf right ear, 90% deaf left ear, heard perfectly. Countless knees were healed, as ‘usual’ these days. Spinal issues set free from pain. Arthroses (arthritis in the UK) – at least 4 totally freed from pain – in addition to the knees. A young lady, WITH a chronic migraine was at the meeting (I’ve blogged about that as a reason for ‘why doesn’t happen in the west’

questions I get asked, previously) AND major pain in her throat, suffering thryoiditis – that’s what it’s called here – healed, instantly. Martha, Frank, the translator’s wife, healed of spinal pain, also getting better and better vision by the minute from myopia and astigmatism…

….in a Baptist church, Centro de Alabanza (Worship Centre) in the barrio, Salomia. Paul has preached well all trip, but last night he jettisoned into a new dimension, speaking on the Grace of God: over 160 adults in the meeting, children had left for the own activity, but came back in for the ministry time, so we were kept busy (and late!) praying for just about all of them! Those mentioned

were just a fw of the people I prayed for: we were too tied, and back too late, to really compare ‘notes’ on what God had done through each of us, but I do know that Brian saw countless knees healed (thank you Lord!!) as did I…. my very long-time and great friend, Hendrik (Hein), an apostle in South America, translated in the meeting for us, we all shared a little, but Paul carried the weight of the meeting with his excellent sermon. It was heaven-touching-earth in the ministry time, really it was: just wonderful! Today is a packed, busy day – home visits to pray for the sick, including lunch thrown in at one of them (!), then onto the streets in a dangerous area, to pray for and give food to a large number of street people, serving the ministry of the lovely Dr Ana Bustos. Then tonight, two churches – both of them I love – but opposite ends of the city, so I have to choose one sadly, unless God transports me! Dios con Nosotros (God with Us) in the south, Antorchas de Fuego (Torches of Fire), in the north – miracles have happened – BIG miracles – in every meeting I’ve been in, at both churches, in the past… Touch earth again tonight, Living God!

The ultimate redemption! The notorious Rodriguez brothers owned many houses in Cali: they were Colombia’s biggest drug cartel after Pablo Escobar’s, and a house once owned by them is now the place redeemed by Christians, with God’s help, the home now of ‘Reconocer’ (To recognise) – the Christian Drug Rehabilitation Centre, run by a wonderful man, Enrique Leal. Yesterday was something of a quieter day, vital after the exertions of Sunday, there was a great meeting at ‘Reconocer’ , as there always is. Preceded by a meal with Pastor William Castaño and his lovely family, Reconocer was, for Chis, Paul, and Brian, this topped a great day, after they’d had to endure food shopping! And preceded a lovely evening blessing some of the people who bless us so much, with a get-together to give them food, and drinks.

Why only Chris, Brian, and Paul? Well, it was leaving the supermarket, pushing the trolley (which I redeem as a non-obvious ‘zimmer’ frame!), there was a slope which I didn’t see, so putting my foot down where there should have been concrete, meant that I jarred by knees down a bigger drop than anticipated! Wisdom ruled, as the last week here is very, very busy, and I WILL to do my full whack of the programme! Testimonies from recent years are coming to our attention: Enrique Leal, the WONDERFUL director of Reconocer, told Brian his eyes had improved since Bri prayed for them 18 months ago, meaning that he could pray for them more.

Astrid (I’ve mentioned her before) told me on Saturday evening that I’d no prayed for her 7 times for cancer, and she’d been healed every time. God is so amazing!

Today, I get the chance to pray for ‘shot’ Maria (from Saturday’s meeting) again, this time with reinforcements of the other 3 guys. It will be amazing when she gets out of her wheelchair. That’s at 3pm here – your prayers in the UK at 9 pm would be so valued.

A meeting this evening at ‘Centro de Alabanza’ (a new church to me, I think – Worship Centre. Quite a large church we’re told, and Paul is geared up to preach, with ‘us’ lurking cronies waiting for the ministry time! Another night of God’s power being shown, his kingdom coming to earth, and four guys figuratively with a building brick in their hands wanting to be kingdom builders….

The Internet here has been very intermittent. Apologies for the long post, but what with near exhaustion, and the lack of reliable wifi it’s been difficult. I can never remember names, of people or places so apologies for that too. Thanks for your prayers – they mean a huge amount.
It’s Monday morning here in Cali. The last 72 hrs have been non stop. Paul Goodman and I left London on Friday night, arriving at 4am local time. A quick flight later we were in Cali, met by Chris Spark, who had been here since the previous Saturday, and the wonderful Wilmar Gomez, Pastor, and all round “man who can”.
There was little time to catch breath, and we went “downtown” to try and sort some mobile phone issues. It’s not as simple as it might sound. Buying two Colombian sims and sorting out some mobile internet took around three hours, and involved visiting three different shops. I will never complain about queuing in the O2 shop again.
After lunch, We returned to the apartment where there was just time for an hours sleep, before we were collected for our first meeting.
The music was loud – probably due to the fact that the room was not much bigger than a living room at home, yet the amps were turned up enough to fill a church hall. That, coupled with lack of sleep left for a bit of a daze. Around 30 mins into the meeting, Chris and Paul G were collected to go to another meeting. This presented a bit of a problem, as Chris was due to preach. I spoke very briefly, before handing over to Paul B, then we got down to praying for people.
We had a translator each, and I know Paul saw some amazing healing in the process of becoming miracles. One lady, in a wheel chair, who had been shot, and told she would never move anything other than here eyes again, received movement to hands. We hope to go and pray for her again today.
I think that partly as I was so tired, and partly because the people that I prayed for asked for emotional issues, or family issues to be dealt with (often for family members who were elsewhere) it was next to impossible to confirm any immediate results. If I’m honest, I was a bit deflated, as I didn’t feel I had “hit the ground running in the same way as last visit.
Paul B and I were taken out for dinner after the meeting – bear in mind I had had approx 2 hrs sleep in the previous 48hrs, and got back to the apartment, and bed, around 11:30pm.
We were collected at 7am on Easter Saturday for what turned out to be a 17hr marathon. 11 of us, including plus two drivers, packed into a mini bus for a 3hr trip to another city Tulauoa). We stopped at a roadside “restaurant for breakfast. Scrambled eggs on bread. A significant improvement on the eggs we had on the plane.
There were two meetings at 10am, so we split into teams. Chris and I went to one meeting, the two Paul’s to the other.
Again worship was loud, but passionate (the drummer lead worship – video to follow) and I spoke on identity and what Jesus had paid for when he rose from the dead. It seemed to unlock something – Chris again saw lots of healing and breakthrough. But yet again there were lots of emotional issues to pray for.
The timings were tight – we needed to get lunch, and on to the next meeting so we prayed for groups rather than taking as much time as we would have liked with each person. Lots of people felt a peace depend on them – and they felt a lot more confident about the future. The last person I prayed for here was a 34 year old lady, who having had surgery for a brain tumour which had damaged the optic nerve, was blind. She reported feeling a heat in her head, during and after prayer. Whilst she’s didn’t see – it was clear that God was doing something amazing. It was a reminder that we don’t do this to see great stories to tell back home – we do it to model Jesus – because we have compassion for these people. When this lady receives her sight, (and I really believe she will) the chances of me hearing about it are almost nil.
Lunch was another “out of my comfort zone” moment. I ended up having a chicken soup, with potato, corn (still on the cob) and yucca. If I’m honest I wasn’t that impressed, and didn’t risk the
Yucca. This was followed by rices, chips and pork with a cherry sauce.
From here we went to. A drug rehab centre in a town around 20mins away. We had an hour only, so I spoke briefly about how God loves us the way we are, isn’t concerned with our past, and has plans for our future.
We then split into three groups to pray. There was only time to pray for about 3-4 people each. Unsurprisingly, there were identity issues and emotional trauma from the past. The first guy had been a drug addict for 40 years, and clean for 3, when he became a Christian. He was still tormented about the past. He also had a limp, which I hadn’t noticed before, and after praying for some others called him back to pray for that too. He hadn’t told us he was due for tests for a possible knee replacement on Tuesday. We prayed for a new knee instead.
I had to overcome my fear of feet next, as the next person had pain in her heels, had no arches, metal plates in various parts of her body following an accident, memory problems (although she had no trouble remembering a list of about 10 symptoms in great detail. We prayed for each one – and will have to wait for the breakthrough here.
Several photos and selfies later we we whisked away to the next two meetings where we split into familiar groups again.
Our meeting felt very different. There was an LED light show with green and red lights floating around the room. There was a dancer, dressed in gold, red, and orange. She had two gold flags, and a tambourine.
Chris spoke very well and then we got to praying for people. Chris reports that he found it very difficult to pray here – the music was very loud, there were people praying (into microphones around us) people were filming us on smartphones. Very surreal. I didn’t struggle as much, (with anything other than my hearing.) it was great to see people set free from pain, especially in bones. There seems to be lots of the same sort of issues in each church. Chris and I prayed for around 30 people each, and perhaps half of them had bone or joint pain, specifically mentioning the shoulder. There were also a number of polycystic ovaries. There were a number of people who left the meeting last night either pain free, or with a significant reduction in pain. Others said they felt peace. Still others reported a heat where they had previous pain. God is good.

We had to pray a general prayer at the end, as we had to go, pick up the rest of the team, and head back to Cali (3hrs again). It was at this point that we were informed that the entire meeting had been broadcast on the Internet, and there was a lady in Belgium (yes you read that correctly) who would like us to pray for her!!!
After picking up the eat of the team, we stopped for some snacks, and began the long trip back. We had a quick drink and debrief before bed.
Monday : supposed to be a free day, but already 3 meetings planned in the afternoon, including a visit to the drug rehab that I visited the last time I was here in the house previously owned by the Rodriguiez brothers.
This evening we plan to host a “party” with various friends, and their families. Can’t wait. All we need really is more reliable internet access. It’s been down all morning, so I’m posting this in its entirety as I don’t know when it will be down again.
Miss you all.