Saturday, March 30, 2013

Overcoming Power For This Generation

The night meeting here at the family camp has just been explosive! Everyone came in early just praising God and excited about what God was going to do next. God’s power starting moving right in the beginning of the service! As the worship leaders sang the congregation just opened their mouth and offered God a thunderous praise. Tears flowed from people’s eyes as they cried out to God in worship.  The Musicians were playing their guitars and dancing and jumping as the presence of God moved through the church. There was so much joy in God’s House tonight. We could sense the victory all over the place. It was like God was showing us by His Spirit that He has all things in control, He alone is all powerful and nothing is too hard for Him.  So right in the praise service we took the limits off of God! Jesus said if you ask the father for anything in my name it shall be done. So we started asking for the impossible and the miraculous!

When song service was over I preached on the overcoming power for this generation. As I ministered God’s Word the precious Holy Ghost began to fall like rain in building. Many people were baptized in the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance. Pastor Gustavo and Pastor Augustine were going through the church laying hands on their members. People were falling out under the power of God all over the church. The church leaders were praying for one another and all you could see was breakthrough after breakthrough! Shouts of joy and cries of victory flowed out of the mouths of the saints of God! The Lord was in the midst of His people and He was doing great things and it was marvelous in our eyes!

For a while it seemed as if God was just really moving on the elders and ministry leaders. They were being saturated by God’s presence but then it was like God took a turn and young people around five and six years old started getting baptized in the Holy Ghost! Young children were crying and lifting their hands and talking in tongues because God was filling them up with the overcoming power! Theses children were falling out all over the altar! Some of these children danced as the presence of God came on them. Then the power of God moved on the young people again and they started going around laying hands on each other. The church was on fire! The praise and cries to God was so loud it completely filled the atmosphere! It was after 11:00 pm and the Spirit was God was still moving! And just when we thought it was all over God moved mightily on the teenagers, even the ones that would not raise their hands and they did not really enter in but just stood in the back of everyone talking and looking around. But not for long for the power of God move to back and hit them where they stood and many of them started screaming as God was delivering some and setting others free! Even the ones that tried to put up a wall could not, the walls broke down in the presence of God! But God did not stop their because then He began to fill them up with the Holy Ghost! Teenagers were falling out and talking in tongues. Some rolling, some crying! Yes! teenagers. This computer age, I-phone, face book internet  generation got the same thing that fell in the upper room on the day of Pentecost when the wind of the Holy Ghost blew through the house and cloven tongues of fire sat on each them!  Oh Glory to God! Jeremiah said “ It’s just like fire! Shut up in my bones! Halleluiah! Halleluiah! Halleluiah!

Can I just stop right here for a minute and tell you that God still knows how to reach your children! God knows how to save your family, God knows how to heal your body!  God knows how to bring your enemies down! Can I just take another minute and tell you He is still the God of miracles! He still walks on the water, He still rides the storm, He still answers prayer! He still can make a way out of no way and open up a door that no man can shut!  All God needs is for somebody, anybody to stand on his Word and declare “I believe God!” For nothing is impossible to him that believes! So tell me whose report will you believe? I encourage you today with all my heart to take a minute out for your time and rise up with all the faith you have inside and start believing God for the miraculous right now!

God bless you & thank you for praying!
Rev. Melvin L. Sanchez

A Great Transformation

Rev. Sanchez is in Peru and is reporting on the Family Camp Meetings with Pastor Gustavo from Lima!  Here is the first blog.

Greetings from Pastor Gustavo’s Family Camp Meeting in Peru! Everyone is so happy and excited for me to be here with them again this year. The food is wonderful and the fellowship has been fantastic. The church here has all types of things set up for the people to do from football to swimming. There are many fun events to cause families to interact together which is so needed in the day that we live.

The morning meeting was dynamic. The singing and the worship has caused people to really enter into God’s presence. Everyone sang like they were giving their own solo unto God. It was great! When it was time to minster I preached a message called the Great Transformation. I spoke about the process of the caterpillar to the butterfly. This message really touched the hearts of many people. Some were crying and others I found out after church were set free from things that have held them bound for years. Pastor Gustavo said, "You hit things that were right on target in many people lives. It was only God that could have done that.”

As I continued to minster we could feel God walking through the church and ministering to His people. He was doing a deep work in their lives. Some people got out of their seats and just laid on the floor crying out to God. The Lord was truly having His way and the service was in His hands. One of the brothers just started shouting and crying! He could not stop! He just kept shouting and crying and jumping! He left his seat and ran all over the church crying and shouting! The power of God starting falling in such a powerful way it is hard for me to explain. God’s presence was so thick it practically shook the place. The church was being saturated by the power of God! Elders and teenagers were falling out under the power of the Holy Ghost and the Lord just continued to move.

I finally got to the part of the message where the butterfly breaks out of the cocoon and spreads his wings to fly and the power of Pentecost hit that building one more time! People ran to the altar - some were filled with the Holy Ghost! Other were set free from past hurts and bondages, young people were praying for one another. There was great deliverance in the church this morning! People were praying in groups, people were praying for other people, it was amazing! Then God began to heal and to touch lives in ways I could never explain. One of the elders said to me after church, “It was like heaven came down and filled the temple.”  Many people came up to me and told me they had back pains, headaches that would not go away, shoulder pains and sickness, but when the presence of God flooded the church God took all the sicknesses and pains away! What a mighty God we serve! We spent from the morning til sometime in the afternoon in the presence of God around the altar. Young people came up to me still crying and sharing with me how God stirred them and how they have surrendered to God and are going to get involved in ministries of the church! What a great victory!

After service one of the pastor's sons came up to me, he was about 10 years old. He told me that on the way to service this morning he found a giant caterpillar just before he entered into the church and decided to bring it in. His mother testified and showed everyone the giant caterpillar and everyone started shouting and praising God. It was  like  God was saying to the people get a hold of my Word because a great transformation has taken place and now it's time to spread our wings and fly!

God bless you & Thank you for praying!
Rev. Melvin L. Sanchez

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Youth Conference Time!

God is moving!  We started the Youth Conference last night and it was a great start!  The worship time was just beautiful as God's presence filled the church.  The congregation was shouting and praising God as we sang.  Rev. Lautenbach preached on "Where's Waldo?".  He talked about how sometimes we feel so alone and wonder who sees us.  He then talked about Zacchaeus and how Jesus knew him and knew right where he was.  The church was encouraged to run to Jesus when the enemy is chasing them - He is their safe place.  When the altar call was given, some of the young people came crying and calling out to Christ.  God touched many lives and one lady got saved!  It was a wonderful night and we are expecting great things on Thursday.

Thank you and God bless you!!

Rev. Melissa Erha & Team

Ministering in Rinconada

Praise The Lord!  We started off Tuesday by visiting the clinic that shares the same building as the church.  We met one of the new doctors and delivered some donations of exam gloves, face masks, glucose meters, gauze, etc.  He and the nurses were so excited and very thankful. 

We then distributed some baby clothes to the mothers that were in the waiting area.  The team had a great time picking out the clothes for each baby and child and then giving it to the moms. Everyone loved playing with the babies and making them smile and giggle.  The head nurse was filled with gratitude - she has only been working in the clinic for 2 months and she has a huge vision of what she'd like to do to help that community.  In the end, they invited us back on Monday so they could show us their appreciation.

In the afternoon, we split into groups with some of the youth and kids from the church and went through the community evangelizing and distributing fliers for the youth conference.  The kids were so excited to help, they kept running up ahead of us handing out their fliers and then they would run back saying, "we ran out! we need more!"  We are praying that many who received the fliers will be in the meetings this week.

God bless you!
Rev. Melissa Erha & Team

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Special Visits in Rinconada

Rev. Melissa Erha, Rev. John, Adrienne & Anabelle Lautenbach, Andy & Lorraine Nelson are in Peru for Youth Meetings and more.  You can follow their blogs here. 
Monday 3/25 - What a day!! Words can't even describe how beautiful this day was! We visited 4 homes in the Rinconada community. First, we went to Pastor Pelayo's mother's house - what a blessing! To get to their house, we had to take public transportation for about 5 min. and then climb down and up a few steep hills. Just when we thought we were there, Pastor Pelayo led us up about 50 steep stairs that were built into the side of the mountain. As we climbed up, he explained how each week they have to haul their water up in large buckets and they store it in a trough outside of their home. His mother, grandmother and aunt greeted us with homemade Chicha Morada - a peruvian juice made from purple corn. They were so happy we were in their home and just kept giggling. Pastor Pelayo's grandmother speaks Quechua (language from the mountains) and doesn't know Spanish, so he would have to translate from Quechua to Spanish and then our interpreter would translate from Spanish to English! Before we left, all 3 of them wanted us to pray for them. God's presence came into that house as Rev. Lautenbach prayed for healing for their bodies, strength and that God would give them a special blessing.

We also visited a brother from the church. He has a small factory in his home where his family makes fabric that is used for school uniforms, sports jerseys, sneakers and many other things. The team was amazed to see how he lived, as he allowed us to tour his factory. We were able to talk with him and answer questions he had regarding water baptism. At one point he said that he feared failing God and Bro. Andy Nelson had a scripture to encourage him. With a smile from ear to ear, he just kept saying "I am so happy you are here in my home - thank you for coming!"

In another home, we ministered to a 19 year old girl who used to attend the Sunday School at the Lighthouse Church. Her family is very concerned about her right now because she parties all night and sleeps till noon every day. They worry that she is getting into prostitution because she doesn't have a job but somehow has money. At first, as we talked with her mother, she didn't want anything to do with us and would hide her face. Then, all of a sudden, she saw Rev. Lautenbach and said, "I remember you!" She showed us a photo that she and her sister had taken with Rev. Lautenbach 13 years ago. Immediately she began to open up to us and we encouraged her to come to the Youth Revival this week. We are praying and believing that she gives her life to Christ!

Altogether we were able to visit 5 homes where we ministered and prayed for people. It was beautiful to see the team walking down the paths with their Bibles under their arms, ready to minister to whomever had a need. Thank you for praying for us. We are excited about what is going to happen during the Youth Conference, which starts on Wednesday PM!

Rev. Melissa Erha & Team

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

La Rinconada, Peru Trip Report #1



Rinconada, Peru Trip - Report #1

Greetings!  We had a wonderful start to our time here in Peru.  Here are just some highlights.

Saturday 3/23 - We began our trip attending the Sat. PM youth group at the Lighthouse Church in Rinconada where Pastor Pelayo and all the youth were so excited to see us all!  During the meeting, the youth group and the USA team took turns introducing themselves and telling a little bit about themselves.  The entire team was moved as the youth shared about their struggles.  Many of them are the only ones in their family that are saved.  We were amazed at the young people's faith in God as they talked about the needs they have and asked for everyone to pray for their parents and siblings.  They also encouraged each other to continue on in their walk with God.  It was so beautiful!  As we listened to each one, we cried, laughed and praised God for what He is doing in their lives.  These young people really want to do something great for God and we know that He is going to speak into their lives during the youth conference this week!  They are expecting a mighty move of God!!

Sunday 3/24 - It was a joy to be able to visit our friend, Pastor Gustavo, and his church on Sunday AM.  The presence of God was so great in that place.  Rev. Lautenbach preached on "Breakthrough" and what an awesome message it was!  The people responded during the altar call, crying out to God, breaking through the walls that have hindered them from receiving God's promise for their lives.

This weekend was a great beginning and the team is doing wonderful!  Thank you for your prayers!  Stay tuned for our next report from visiting homes in the Rinconada community!

God bless you!
Rev. Melissa Erha

Monday, March 25, 2013

Walk A Mile, Feed The World Walk-A-Thon

Join us for our 3rd Annual Walk-A-Thon!
 
All proceeds benefit the feeding outreaches of WWLM, Inc. in the local and worldwide community.

Last year we raised $5,366.04!
Help us reach this year's goal of $8,000.00!
 
Date: Saturday, May 18, 2013 (rain date: May 25)
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Charter Oak Park, Manchester, CT
Distance: 3 mile walk on the Manchester Bike Trail

You can participate in any of the following ways:
  • Register to Walk (see reg. info below)
  • Donate / Pledge a Walker
  • Become an Event Sponsor
  • Volunteer on Event Day
 
Registration Info:   
Pre-Registration Deadline: 5/5/2013
 
Walk Only (non-pledge) - $20
Pledge Walkers - $10*
Children (ages 7-17) - $10
               (ages 6 & under) – Free
 
*with commitment to bring minimum of $15 in pledge funds on event day

For more details on how YOU can be a part, please visit the event website at www.walk4wwlm.com