Summary of Moscow Catch The Fire II (1997)

Last year Randy Clark took a team of people to Moscow to hold a renewal conference for pastors and worship leaders from many different denominations. God moved very powerfully and the conference was such a success that the Russian leadership asked Randy to come back the following year and hold another "Catch the Fire" conference ... but in a larger facility so that more people could attend. Thus the "Moscow Catch the Fire II" conference was born. It was held May 19 through May 23, 1997. I was blessed to be allowed to partisipate on the ministry team for both Moscow Catch the Fire conferences.

You would not believe all that God did in Moscow this year! I used to describe last year's trip as 'living the book of acts'. But this year God outdid Himself!

There were about 200 salvations (many first time decisions for the Lord, some rededications from people who'd walked away from God).

There were so many healings ... some of them miraculous. One lady I prayed for had lost the cartaledge in her knees in a fire (causing loss of mobility and a great deal of pain when she walked) and God regenerated the cartalege -- now she is literally walking and leaping and praising God. I saw large cancerous lumps dissolve under my touch as I prayed for healing and deliverance for a woman ... and God did both! One lady had some fused vertebrae on her spinal column and God healed her back as she watched me dance (I was doing worship dance on the stage, along with some other team members)... the next morning she came up to the side of the stage and danced with me for a while!

God healed almost everyone who I prayed for... and many of the other team members experienced the same thing. One of the ladies who is a prophetic leader in Randy's Church (Jennifer) was given an anointing to see blind eyes opened. She prayed for four legally blind women who had their sight totally restored and another four who received a partial healing in their vision. I saw one partial eye-opening myself... I prayed for a lady with double vision and who was very nearsighted and God removed the double vision all together and she was a little less near sighted after the prayer... but not totally healed.

The worship was incredible... I think it touched me more deeply this year because I had taken the time to learn the songs in Russian, so I could sing along. Also, I ended up dancing on the stage (not my original plan, but it sort of worked out that way). At some points, I could feel the Lord's presense/glory/holiness in a very tangible way. On more than one occasion, I became so overwhelmed with His presense that I ended up face down on the stage, worshipping Him. Other dancers were having similar experiences. One of the Russian Churches (Rosa Church) had a dance worship team... they had beautiful costumes and were very skilled dancers... using their skill to worship the Lord. Dance really was very much a part of the worship this year. I think we will see the Lord setting aside more and more of the arts to be used in worship!

The Lord's presense seemed to fill the place ... on more than one occasion, Randy skipped his teaching and went straight to an alter call and ministry time after worship... Randy explained that when God's presense was heavy in the room from worship, His anointing was also present to convict the unsaved and to heal the sick... So Randy gave an altar call with absolutely no teaching. The first night he did this, 44 people came forward to receive Christ... I distinctly remember one young woman running forward with tears streaming down her face. The conviction and power of the Holy Spirit was very real as God's presence drew near to us.

God did a move among the children as well. On Wednsday night myself and another lady were interceeding for the service, backstage, just behind the big velvet curtains on stage left. Two of the girls from our group (one about 11 and the other in her early teens) came back there and God fell on them. The other intercessor, Cathleen, begin to pray for one of the girls, so I began to pray for the other. God was on both of them very heavily.. more so that I'd seen before. He seemed to be imparting gifts into them, so we began to bless that. They were doing a lot of manifestations (crunching, shaking, etc) but the remarkable part was that the glory of God was written tangibly on them. All of the sudden, a bunch of young Russian children, ranging from about 4 to 10 had gathered around and were watching. Cathleen motioned them over to help pray for the girls. Then Cathleen prayed for one of the children, a hpyeractive little boy, and God was all over him. He went out under the spirit and laid perfectly still for about 45 minutes -- that HAD to be God on him, or he would have never stayed down that long. As soon as he went down, the other children began to request prayer... they did not have to speak English to communicate their desire... so both Cathleen and I began to pray for them. This was one of the most powerful ministry times I have ever experienced. In fact, I could feel God's power flowing through me so powerfully that I wondered if I was going to survive this.

Then something very interesting happened.. the kids that had been out on the floor got up and began praying for each other... and God fell on them as they prayed for each other... I could hardly believe my eyes... a four year old praying for a 10 year old and a 6 year old stepping in to be a catcher... at first I though they were playing... mimicing the ministry time they'd seen the adults do... until the 10 year old went down and shook under the power for about 20 minutes. Then a couple of the kids dedided to pray for me.. .the next thing I knew, I was on the ground surrounded by the glory of God and lost in His presense for a while. It was a powerful touch of God. These kids were not playing.. God was releasing something in and through them.

One little girl (probalby 7 or 8 years old) had a hat on that came off when she was down.. she was bald.. probably a cancer patient as she was thin and frial and had no color in her face. Both Cathleen and I got the impression that she had cancer and we jointly prayed for her for healing... and the color came back in her cheeks as she lay there shaking under God's power. When she got up, she was all smiles. (Her parents came back with an interpertetator the next day to mention that for the first time in a long time the little girl slept all night and was not in any pain. The interpretator was not the greatest and I couldn't verify God healed the little girl of cancer, but I think that is what happened).

More and more kids keep appearing back stage.. the place was literally littered with little bodies laughing, crying, resting peacably in Him or shaking under His power. As soon as one of those little ones got up, some other kid would come and this child would transform into a fairly anointed minister... and pray for the other child. Each kid seemed to pray for 3 or 4 kids and then get more prayer themself. They did not need us adults any more .. .they were ministering to each other.. and God was showing up! It was incredible to watch. This lasted until they closed the building down.

The next night I was dancing on stage during worship. All of the sudden I was overwhelmed by a tangible sense of His presense. So I just kneeled down where I was... right in plain veiw of everyone in the auditorium, on stage left with other dancers dancing around me. A few minutes later, the Lord said to me, "I am going to send the little children to you... do not turn them away." The next thing I knew, one of the children from the night before came and climed onto my lap. I've never been one that kids are particularly attracted to, but for some reason God put an anointing on me for kids that night. Within 5 mintues, I had a mob of about 20 Russian kids sitting in my lap and crowded around me on the stage floor. I just kept laying my hands on each of them and quitely praying God's blessings on them. It was an incredible experience for me.. it kinda reminded of that bible story where the parents brought their children to Jesus to be blessed and He blessed all of the children. I had a strong sense of God's desire to bless the children.

Worship on the last night of the conference was incredible -- beyond description. I was on stage (but not dancing) because I had been assisting Mark Endres with distributing the worship tapes that we were giving away from last year's conference. Mark could tell I was dieing to go worship and dance... and I finally grinned at me and told me to go worship. God's presense was so tangible that I thought I would be translated right into His presense. I had this sense of His holiness as well as His magesty and His goodness. It almost felt like He was stepping on stage with us in response to our worship. As the worship ended, someone from the seats cried out, "Look, a glory cloud!" I was still on the stage. I looked up and there was a haze above us. I wondered if it was just natural condensation (though there had not been any of that on any other nights) or if it was really a glory cloud. I did not get much time to ponder that, because suddenly His presence around me seemed so tangible... in fact I became excruciatingly aware of His holiness (and my lack of the same by comparision) and something close to a terror hit me... I dropped to my face on the stage. The floor of the stage was shaking and it reminded me of the charriots of heaven... I was both awed and scared at the same time. I had not realized just how Holy God is. I don't know whether or not that was really a glory cloud that formed over my head... but I do know that I got a very tangible sense of His holiness and of His splendor... it was scary and wonderful at the same time. Our God truely is an awesome God!

I could go on with many other stories of awesome things God did there!