Guyana Report

Where do I begin? How can I use words to describe the scope of what I experienced in Guyana? I’ve wrestled with it for days. Waiting until I had a beginning point—a place to dive into all that I experienced. I still don’t have that point. I want to share the stories of committed, faith-filled men and women and what God is doing through them, but that can’t be the launch point, not yet. I want to share with you what God did in my life, how full I returned and how blessed I was by the presence of God and the people I met, but that would take too long! Let me say though, that I received more than I gave out! God touched my life in a powerful way. Are you supposed to get that blessed on a mission’s trip?? I was blown away! I will never be the same!

Guyana-Land of Many Waters

 

Guyana means land of many waters and we saw lots of water. It was rainy season, so we got lots of rain. Still it was hot and those cold bottles of water, wrapped in a paper towel, that they handed us again and again, were so refreshing! That’s how I saw my role there, I was there as a water carrier, bringing water to refresh the precious children’s ministry leaders and pastors. It was a labor of love! And I saw on their faces and heard in their voices that they were as refreshed spiritually as I was, as we drank together from the rivers of living water that flowed out of that conference!

 

 

Pastor Tessa Smith, the National Sunday School Director invited Billy Burns, Ignite the Supernatural Conference, to speak into the Sunday School Leaders, Children’s Ministry Leaders and Pastors there. 278 people from a majority of the 10 districts of Guyana registered for the conference. Pastor Albert Cooper brought a group from Trinidad. Young people. Old People. Even in-between people attended. Eager to learn. Eager to pray. Eager to experience the presence of God. And we did. His presence was absolutely awesome. Precious Holy Spirit showed up powerfully!

 

 

The conference was a mixture of general ministry sessions and practical how-to workshops. Billy Burns has a special anointing on his life to help leaders, not just children’s ministry leaders, but all leaders and pastors, understand just how easy it is to help people receive precious Holy Spirit! He was on fire! But I guess that’s to be expected when you got a name like Burns! By the time the conference was over, there was a constant race to see who could say his mantra first, “Today is the day of the Holy Ghost!” And it really is.

 

Wayne taught leaders to use object lessons and costumed characters when teaching on Holy Spirit. He gave lots of practical illustrations and suggestions. Within small groups they came up with characters they could use in their ministry. My personal favorites were:

• the miner—they mine for bauxite, diamonds and gold in Guyana,
• the woman at the well
• and the insect.

These folks are so creative. Loved their ideas!

 

Vickie’s gentle personality explodes into passion and energy when she steps up to teach. She is transparent and encouraging as she teaches leaders how to take children into the presence of God through worship. Her fun songs were a hit and her inspiration was a home run!

 

And I got to teach on the anointing, one of my very, very favorite subjects, teaching children to pray, another one of my favorites, pastoring the altar, no I won’t say it again…can I just say I love, love what I do! I just have to mention one more of my favorite workshops– Holy Spirit, My Favorite Prayer Partner—I love teaching that workshop! Oh, I’m ready to teach it again!

 

And then on Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching in the House of Prayer! Can you believe that? The House of Prayer. The pastor, Rev. Louis Crawford was a gentleman and statesman. What a powerful man of God he is! The service started at 7:30 in the morning and wasn’t over until 10:45. As the worship continued for an extended time, Pastor leaned over and said, “Don’t worry, you will have an hour to speak.” An hour? A whole hour on Sunday morning? Hallelujah! I was in heaven! Preaching in Guyana on Pentecost Sunday and one hour to share what God had given me! What a day of Pentecost we celebrated that morning! The front was totally filled with people receiving precious Holy Spirit, as believers, the pastors and Wayne and I prayed for people to receive. It was glorious!

 

But that wasn’t the end of my day of Pentecost adventure, Pastor Crawford took us to Pastor Jadubal’s church where Billy Burns was preaching. That church was so full we had to sit outside. when the altar call was given the entire altar area was filled. When I say filled, I am not exaggerating! What an amazing church. What an amazing day! God showed up in that place. Do you know what I mean when I say that?

 

The highlight of the entire trip, for me, was meeting Pastor Jadubal. He is an amazing, amazing man of faith that God is using mightily. I can’t wait to share his stories with you.

 

As I close this post, will you pray for Guyana–right now? Ask God to empower His church to be agents of change in the midst of great darkness. Ask God to send revival that breaks the chains of idolatry that would enslave the minds of people. Pray for children’s ministry leaders to be bold to reach their communities for Christ creatively and through the power of precious Holy Spirit.

 

Thank you for joining me in prayer. Thank you for praying for us while we were gone. Thank you for being a light where you are—for doing the works of Jesus to impact your community. Thank you for letting me share my Guyana adventure with you. I appreciate you so much