The morning sessions (Wednesday through Saturday) are designed to train the Brazilian pastors and their spouses to serve as ministry team for the large outreach meeting where crowds in the neighborhood of 20,000 to 30,000 are expected each night. There were about 750 pastors/leaders attending these training sessions. I found that the teaching was not just stretching the Brazilian pastors, it was stretching me as well.

Randy had spoken on day one (Wednesday) about the role of angels in healing ministry. That violated my personal theology but he developed it clearly from scripture and while Randy was teaching, God kept telling me "yes and Amen" to what Randy shared. So I decided to lay my personal theology on the altar and invite God to redefine it. I came to accept that angels work with us in healing. Randy had used one allegory that I found helpful. He said, "the Church is the army of God and the angels are the air support. The army is able to be much more effective on an offensive drive when they have air support." So on Wed night, I had asked God to send an angel to help me, and I had seen an incredible number of healings. I figured that God had "messed" with me enough on day one (theology-wise), and expected that He would leave me alone on day two. But He had other plans.

Bill Johnson taught on various things including the power of testimony and how testimony (sharing was God has done) is in the same realm of as the prophetic (from the verse "prophecy is the testimony of Jesus") and how it releases an anointing God to perform the same miracle again. Bill told many stories and shared many testimonies as he taught. One of them was about a lady who was missing a muscle in her leg, and she wanted a healing.

I am telling this from memory and may get some of the specific details wrong, but the gist of it is correct... When Bill was speaking on faith for healing, she came up and said she wanted a healing, so he prayed for her and the missing leg muscle grew back. Bill asked her to share her testimony in the next meeting (he was doing a series of meetings at the same location). As she shared her testimony, a lady walked to the front and said, "I have the same condition and I want the same healing!" So Bill had the lady who shared the testimony pray for the other lady, and God regenerated her leg as well. Another lady watched all of this happen, and it sparked her faith, so she also came forward for prayer. The two who had been healed, along with the pastor's wife, prayed for this third lady and she was also healed. Then Bill went to speak at another healing conference in another part of the country. He shared that testimony, and while he was sharing it, it sparked faith in another person who had the same condition. That person came forward for prayer and God grew a new leg muscle for that person.

As I listened to this story, I heard God tell me that He was regenerating my leg muscle as well. (I guess I should backtrack and share what my condition was. I had ripped my calf muscle on a missions trip to South Africa, where the Achilles tendon attaches to the muscle. The doctor I saw in South Africa said to wait until I got home (over a week later) for treatment. The doctor I saw at home said I'd waited too long to operate successfully, so now we would try physical therapy. I was on crutches for months. When all was said/done, I had most of my mobility and strength back, but there was a big dent in my leg where there had been some "perminate" muscle athrophy. I could walk normally, but it would become fatigued and cramp if I walked too fast or too long. The dent was not disfiguring, but was visible enough that I felt sensitive and seldom wore shorts. I wore long pants to cover it up. All the same, I did not consider this as something that I needed healing for, it was just a little problem, no big deal.)

Anyhow, God said that He was healing my leg as I listened to the testimony that Bill Johnson was sharing about leg muscles growing back. I did not feel any heat or tingling, so I figured it was probably just my imagination and not really God's voice. I knew it would be a very long time before I could check it out, because I was seated on the platform with the rest of the team and we would have to minister for a while before I could sneak away to the lady's room and check my calf. That was pretty much what happened.. we had another great ministry time. There was so much anointing of God on those meetings. As ministry time wound down, I was reminded of what I'd heard God say, so I went to the lady's room and looked. I could not find the dent in my leg! (It was not the sort of thing you could easily miss, it was a pretty big dent.) I double-checked, spending some time looking for it, just in case the position I was in masked it or something along those lines. No dent, it was gone. I had this dent since September of 1999. From time to time when I wore shorts or a bathing suit, someone would notice it and ask me about it. Now it was totally gone. It was not there at all!

I felt a bit excited, so I hunted up Bill Johnson and told him about it. He was excited too. Then I tested it out on the way back from lunch, about a 2 or 3 block walk to the bus. I walked as fast as I could.. this would have ALWAYS produced some muscle fatigue and mild cramping in the past... but nothing. No pain, no strain, no fatigue. I am not sure why God chose to heal something that I did not consider enough of a problem to seek healing for, but it was still a blessing for me. Maybe He did it to underscore what Bill Johnson was teaching about the power of our testimony. He said something to the effect of, "When we share something that God has done, this releases faith in the hearer and creates an atmosphere for God to release the same miracle again."

The warfare was so intense on Thursday afternoon. There was a spirit of discouragement on the bus, and it was not discerned in time to get ejected before doing damage. About 1/3 of the team was so discouraged last night that they could hardly function, including me. A lot of physical stuff hit us too. For me, it was a burning in my esophagus that was so severe I could not drink water (which we need to drink a lot of in this hot climate.) Throughout the service, several people on the team required prayer from their teammates. I remember feeling confused because God healed the leg muslce thing, which I considered a non-problem, but He did not help me with this much more pressing and painful esophagus problem.

Logistics had gone terribly wrong and we ended up sitting on the bus for about 45 minutes in front of the hotel (usually it leaves right away). The spirit of discouragement was at work during that time, undetected by us. By the end of the bus ride, Julie (the Global Awakening coordinator) was in tears, team energy was low, and several of us were starting to feel physically sick. In fact, one person on the bus began to choke and required medical attention... fortunately one of the team members was an a medical doctor, and was able to attend her. I am not sure, but I think they said she was taken to a clinic for medical attention. Warfare was tough that night.

We had bee told to expect about 2,000 people, but the building that the meeting was held in was no where near that large. It looked like it held about 600 or so. They had at least another 100 stuffed in there standing along the walls all along the sides and back of the room. Randy preached on healing and salvation, giving a clear gospel message. Then he said that God would demonstrate the truth of that message by healing people.. and He did. There were words of knowledge and a lot of people were healed.. I am guessing maybe 100 or so. Then there was an altar call and a good number came forward. I was not in a good position to count them, but I am guessing maybe 50 people.

They were having healed people share testimonies and I was in so much pain that I could not swallow. People were moving freely about the platform, so I went up to Bill Johnson and asked him to pray for me. The intensity went down almost immediately and I could swallow again, but it was not 100% .. there was still mild burning in my esophagus and I still felt discouraged. I did not want to pray for anyone, I just wanted to go home. A voice began "whispering in my ear" that I would never again see the type of anointing I had seen the night before where over 35 people were healed. Of course, I rebuked that thought, but I began to wonder if maybe I'd already used my quota of the miraculous for this trip. I began to look around at the team (we were all seated on the platform, all 60 of us). That was when I noticed that many were struggling. I realized that this was spiritual warfare and I began to resist, knowing it was a battle and not just my own issues.

When they sent us down to pray, it was a bit of chaos. At first I could not get an interpreter, and I could not tell what people wanted prayer for. After a short while, I went over to join Rodney (my pastor) who was praying for a lady. A few minutes later, he grabbed a man for me to pray for and an interpreter to find out what the problem was. The level of interpreter that was available was very minimal.. they were really struggling with the simplest things and we were getting translations like "lungs" -- e.g., they were not giving us very much information.

The first man I prayed for had a vision problem and I don't think he was healed. I thought to myself, "man this is going to be a tough night!"

But as I prayed for people, my heart of compassion was stirred for them. I forgot about the burning and discomfort in my lungs. I forgot about my own discouragement, I simply saw men and women who God loved and I did my best to minister to them. As the evening progressed my physical symptoms went away.

Praying was harder.. that fast power anointing was not there and it was straight vineyard 5-step model (with limited interview because there were not many interpreters available and several of us had to share each one.) But God still healed. I personally prayed for about a dozen people and seven of them were healed. One lady could not bend her knees when she came to me, but she was marching and bending it after God healed her. Things like that. One deaf ear opened. A lady with really bad asthma was healed, and she could take deep breaths without coughing for the first time in a long time. Things like that.

Even in the midst of the warfare, God was on the move. It did not "feel" powerful, but God did a lot of healings and people were saved. God's power is not a matter of "feeling good" it is a matter of His kingdom advancing. And He advanced His kingdom that night.