Spain Mission Trip

This document is a report of the mission trip that Judy and I took to Spain from October 30 till November 10, 2014. We travelled with Dr. Dennis Sempebwa of Eagles Wings International Ministry and his team. This document has 2 parts. Part 1 is comprised of the daily reports I sent while we were in Spain. They have been lightly edited by Judy to fix the most egregious spelling and punctuation errors. I call this part ‘Notes From the Field’. Part 2 is a synthesis of my impressions and thoughts after I returned to Houston. Most of this part was written in November and December 2014, but not completed until January 2015.

Part 1 – Notes From the Field

Spain – Day 1

Greetings from Estepona, Spain. Left Houston on Thursday, October 30, arrived here on Friday. Estepona is on the coast of the Mediterranean. Dry climate. Nice weather. Saturday morning and afternoon we saw the sights and had dinner downtown. Took a short nap. Good thing I did. Saturday at 7 PM we gathered at a church that met in a converted movie theater downtown. We left at 1:00 AM. 

I have been thinking about how to communicate what happened in that church on Saturday night and early Sunday morning. I don’t think I have the words. But I’ll give it a try. 

 We met with the pastor, his wife, and about 70 youth and young adults. After the team prayed for the power of God to be with us, for the heavens to open and for the Holy Spirit to pour down on us, we went into the small theatre, now a place of worship. The band played passionately for about an hour. Mostly songs I knew but in Spanish. The crowd worshipped with fervor. Then Dennis Sempebwa got up to preach. Not so much a sermon as a message about his walk with the Lord and the power of God in his life. Then he began to prophesy over individuals. 

 As he did that the Holy Spirit fell on each person. I don’t really know how else to describe it. People began to weep or dance or laugh or even to fall backward onto the ground. We were there to catch them. At one time there were about 10 of us ministering to different people. 

 After a while Dennis called all the young women up to the front. He told them about their value to God. Many wept when the Spirit convicted them of their value and beauty. Many were set free from spirits of unworthiness. Much more ministry took place as more fell and wept. 

 Then Dennis called forward boys who were struggling with pornography. After the first brave boy went forward, the front was flooded with boys. More deliverance and freedom. Yikes, we were busy. Weeping and joy as boys were set free. At about 11:30 PM the room was in controlled chaos, all the chairs had been pushed back and our team of 13 was ministering all over the place. So much joy, dancing, laughter, hugging, freedom, and fire. And God’s power was everywhere. I finally got to bed at 2:00 AM. Today we attend church there and then more ministry tonight. Oh, you should have seen Judy. Dennis called her up onto the stage, gave her the microphone, and she ministered with words of power and authority to the young women. She was awesome. The power of God. 

 Our team has 13. Dennis, Sergio, Judy and me, Cam and Jeannie, Dean and Lisa, Grace, Carol, LJ, and Bill and Leslie. Ok. Blessings to you all. More later.

Grace and Peace, 

 John

Spain – Day 2

Friends,

Sunday 11/2 was a busy day. First, we attended church at the converted movie theater, but in a larger room. There were about 350 in attendance. After communion (real wine, not juice) pastor Dennis preached on Jesus in the boat during the storm. Storms are inevitable in life, he said, but Jesus is in the boat with us. Then he called individuals forward for healing and prophecy. Like the night before, there was much emotional healing and freedom. The Spirit moved powerfully. At one point he called everyone forward who were experiencing a storm in their lives. Many came forward and we all jumped in to help minister with prayer. So much joy, freedom, tears. Many on the floor. You had to watch where you stepped. This is not our culture and it is easy to dismiss this as pure emotionalism, but I tell you the Holy Spirit was moving; this cannot be faked. I spoke with several afterward and I believe that there was true transformation. At the end of the service, Judy and I prayed for healing for a woman’s back. She experienced healing. You should have seen the look of astonishment she gave us when she realized the pain was gone.

After a long lunch of tapas, and a short nap, we split into two teams. Judy and I went to a church plant off of the large movie-theater church (named Iglesia Evangelica Cristo Vive). Sergio, one of the other team members, preached. We saw more healings, but in a more subdued service. Still, powerful. We got back to our room at about midnight.

So far, I have made 4 observations:

1) The healing only comes in His Presence. It is His Presence that we seek first, not the other way around. The blessing is His Presence. Or the blessing is His Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is here. And in his Kingdom there is no disease, addiction, depression, etc. We cry out for His Kingdom.

2) One of the manifestations of his Spirit is passion, maybe accompanied by tears. But it is important to allow the Spirit to focus this passion, to channel it for His purposes.

3) Love first, then healing. In a sense, it is His love flowing out of us that accomplishes the healing. Healing is not about adding another healing story to our credit, it is about loving the other person and then –

4) Shut up and listen. Before we even begin to think about any healing or prophecy we need to seek God (His Presence) and listen to Him and typically the person he has brought before us. Sometimes the healing happens in the listening. That can also be a supernatural healing.

Obviously, I have a lot to learn about how God works. One thing I have seen is that powerful healing occurs in the presence of His Spirit and when that Spirit shows up it is not typically ‘decently and in order’. Of course, the Spirit can work in many different ways and it is wise to draw on the full complement of God’s gifts including teaching, preaching, prophecy, evangelism, and the work of apostles. To get out of balance is dangerous. But when we make room for God to work and cry out for His Presence – Wow, Amazing! It has been a privilege to witness God at work in Spain. I want to share this work with you.

Grace and peace, John

Spain – Day 3

Dear friends,

I am trying to sort out what I am seeing, learning, and experiencing so that I can email to you the heart of what God is doing here in Spain. The obvious thing is to share with you the powerful move of the Spirit. That is important because it shows how God works among us. Of course, this move of God is how people today are experiencing God all over the world today, including in the West. But there is so much more that I am learning. I am learning about the Holy Spirit and how He moves, about how to spark a revival, about how to meet and interact with local pastors and their churches, about what local churches are really hungry for. And what they are really hungry for cannot, most of the time, be brought to them by the American church. They are hungry for something that we do not have!! They are hungry for the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit who is manifesting Himself in healing and deliverance, freedom, and peace. They are looking for someone who can show them how to lead the breakout of the Holy Spirit. They are saying “show us how to build and grow a church that does not spread a ‘dead’ word but one that brings real transformation to lives that can then, filled with the Holy Spirit, bring life to others.

I have seen the future of Christianity, and it does not look anything like us. Well, that is not entirely true. The future does require our love and knowledge of scripture, our teaching and preaching, and to a lesser extant our gift for organization and problem solving. But these gifts, as important as they are, can be taught by men. Right now the church around the world (including our world) needs and has a hunger for the Holy Spirit in a way we (in the west) just do not understand. And so we cannot help them; we need them to help us.

Last night we went to a Filipino church outside of Estepona in an industrial town called Marbella. The church is in a gritty warehouse and industrial district. What I saw there rocked my world. I am still processing what I saw. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow. Today is a travel day. I need a day off! This is hard work.

Grace and peace, John

Spain – Day 4

Friends,

Yesterday Tuesday we travelled from Estepona to Seville. Today we will tour Seville during the day and then minister most of the evening in a Gypsy church here in town. But I want to try to convey to you the experience had in the Filipino church in Marbella on Monday night.

We arrived at the industrial/warehouse district at about 7 PM. We had some trouble finding the church, but ultimately we found ourselves in a clean, small room with a small stage, a really loud sound system, and seats for about 50. About 30 Filipino women and men had already arrived. Later in the evening that number would grow to about 40.

The music was loud (we asked them to turn down the volume) with 4 teenaged boys on drums, guitars, and base, and a middle-aged woman singing. Not a great musical performance, but wow, did they worship. The place was filled with real, powerful, joyful worship. We were caught up in the praise and adoration to an awesome God. The music ushered us into His Presence. We all felt it. That small community was on fire (aqui, ahora, mas fuego).

Pastor Dennis delivered a message about Gideon. We are all called to show up to face the spiritual challenges in life, especially the ones that look too big to handle. God will be with us. For us the Midianites that Gideon faced represent the enemy. Then Dennis began to call individuals that God showed him for healing and deliverance. The place exploded with the Spirit.

By the end of the evening pretty much everyone had been prayed over. It was crazy. Almost everyone was down on the floor. Dennis called Judy over to minister to one woman, Judy touched her and she went down. Another woman came up with back pain. Dennis called me over. I whispered in her ear, “God bring a river of healing into this woman’s back.” That is all. She went down and lay on the floor for over an hour, crying out to God. At one point the chairs had been pushed back or stacked and there were 20 people on the floor, including the pastor and his wife who went down holding hands. The room was filled with so much joy, tears, and deliverances.

Three women on the floor at different times during the evening coughed strenuously, even violently. Team members prayed for demons to come out of them. Ultimately the coughing stopped and there was great freedom for each woman.

Near the end of the evening God showed me a young woman to pray for. I prayed fire, freedom over her expecting (and secretly hoping) that she would fall down. But she didn’t. Then God told me to hug her and just say “the Father’s love.” She began to weep and hugged me back tightly. She didn’t move for over 5 minutes. I couldn’t have done that if she had fallen down.

This phase of the evening with prophecy and healing lasted two hours. Each person came up off the floor weeping, filled with joy and freedom. The woman who had back pain was healed. It was a remarkable evening in the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Afterward, they brought out food and we had a party. No kidding. So much love and joy. Hard to describe. Our small group and the people in the church felt like we had known each other for years.

We left at about 11 PM.

A lot of firsts: so many on the floor at once, someone fell to the floor when Judy and I prayed for them; deliverances, even the level of joy and freedom were a first.

Friends, there was real healing and setting free done in that room. None of it could be faked. It was all Jesus. And it was powerful and joyful. There was light and life. We asked God to show up, have His way, and He answered our prayers. I think the intensity of the evening was due to the fact that the church hadf expectancy, desire, and belief. They were ready for the breakout of the Spirit, not afraid, and they received it. I am coming to believe that these experiences are a necessary part of discipleship. Not everyone will fall down. Perhaps most will not. But the level of pain I saw healed, and my sense that this pain is a part of each of us, was eye opening. I sense that it is deep-seated pain like this that prevents us from living the life Christ died for us to have, prevents us from being filled with God’s spirit to the level he desires, leads us to find our value in idols, and prevents us from being rivers of living water to the rest of the world. These are the reasons why Jesus said His mission was to heal the broken hearted and set the prisoners free. That is what we saw in a small church in Marbella, Spain. To be the authentic Church I believe this type of ministry should be a major objective.

One final thought. Yesterday’s note might have conveyed the idea that our group brings the Holy Spirit to a church. Not true. The Holy Spirit is present in the hearts of all believers. What we are doing on this trip is helping activate or release this Spirit and then stepping back and letting the Spirit go and do what It will. Perhaps the word is facilitate. We are releasing the Kingdom of

God into the kingdom of the world, pushing back the darkness. And that evening we knew that “the Kingdom of God is here.

Apologies for the long note. So much to share.

Grace and peace, John

Spain – Day 5

Dear friends and family,

Last night we ministered in a Gypsy church. The Gypsies or Roma in Europe are outcasts, generally despised throughout Europe. The church was in another warehouse complex, but bigger and newer than the night before. It had been there for two years, moving there from the Pastor’s home where it was started. The room was large, bright, and had a stage up front. When we entered, several of us prayed over the room and felt a heaviness that we had not felt in the Filipino church.

We started with worship. The Pastor stood on the stage during the worship. He is a man on fire for The Lord. Dennis preached on the Leper healed and made whole by Jesus. Jesus told him to go and not tell anyone. So, the leper went out and told everyone that he had been healed by Jesus. “Do you want to be healed by Jesus?” was the invitation from Dennis to the congregation of about 40.

He began to call forward individuals. Not too many tears, fewer falling down (I think only 3 or 4), but still a sense of God’s Presence, healing, and freedom. But not as strong as in the Filipino church. I kept praying for walls to come down. One man I ministered to made a strong impression on me.

He was called forward by Dennis. I saw him come in and sensed that he would receive ministry that night. He was about 45 years old. He did fall when Dennis prophesied over him (FYI, falling is not some special manifestation or sign of healing. If they don’t fall, it does not mean they have not received the Spirit. It only means, well, they didn’t fall) and lay on the ground for about 15 minutes. When we helped him up he was wobbly and I and 2 others guys held him. Dennis came by, gave me the microphone, and told me to continue ministering to him. I took a deep breath and felt God call me to tell him of the Father’s love. Judy translated and I told him. “You are loved by The Father, you are His beloved child, receive the Father’s love.” I shared a word spoken by Brennan Manning in the movie Ragamuffin (the story of Rich Mullin’s life) “when you get to heaven God is going to ask you just one question ‘did you believe I loved you?’” I kept repeating, “Receive the father’s love.” He was weeping and then he looked up at me. Our faces were about 8 inches apart. I saw in his eyes years of rejection and devaluing, years of hopelessness. I also saw joy and most of all gratitude. I don’t think he had ever had such a personal encounter with the father’s love. I sensed that he had never known the love of an earthly father either. I believe that he had heard the intellectual message that “you are loved,” but this was different. This time The Father’s love reached deep into his heart. If several others and I hadn’t been holding him tightly, he would have collapsed onto the floor again.

I kept repeating, “Receive the father’s love.” He held on to me tightly and wept and wept. He did not want to break off. It was as if his whole life was being transformed; his whole history was being rewritten in that warehouse. After what seemed like 10 minutes he sat down; I could tell he was profoundly impacted. Don’t ask me how I knew, I just did. We embraced again

before he left and he kept saying “Jesus, gracias.”

I had a similar encounter with another older man, about 60. When told of the Father’s love, he also wept. Such a powerful message of healing and hope.

How many times had these two men heard that god loves them? Yet, until they were ministered to in the Spirit I don’t think that message had broken through into their heart. It is amazing what the Holy Spirit can do when we invite him out of the box we have placed Him in. In His Presence there is healing and wholeness. Gracias, Jesus.

Grace and peace, John

Spain – Day 6

Friends,

We have been ministering in a small church led by pastor Oscar and his wife. We had a healing and prophecy service on Thursday night with about 30 people. Friday we toured the town and prayed over the city. The church has been under attack for several months. We went to the highest place in town and blew the Shofar and prayed over the village.

Friday night the gathering for worship was about 50, including pastor Bernardino and his wife from another local church. Dennis preached a message from John 6:1-14 focused on the boy who brought the loaves and fishes. We bring gifts to our meetings with Jesus. We see these gifts as small and inadequate, but Jesus takes our gifts, multiplies them, and uses them to accomplish miracles. Then Dennis began to call forward people for prophecy and healing prayer, as he usually does at each gathering.

It was my privilege to pray for several people. I prayed over Pastor Bernardino. At one point I ‘saw’ rivers of living water flowing from him into the hearts of many people. Later I learned he is a Wycliffe Bible translator in addition to being a pastor, translating the Bible for a country in Africa. I also prayed for two young men from Cameroon who recently arrived in Spain and are now living in the Red Cross shelter. If they don’t get jobs soon, they will be sent back to Africa. Ultimately everyone who wanted prayer was prayed over, and as usual there was freedom, healing, and much joy and laughter.

The last person I prayed for was an older woman who wanted healing for her mother’s knees. One of our other non-Spanish speaking team members was praying for her and called me over to help. I told her “let’s get Judy to translate.” She said, “no, you pray.” So, in English I prayed. I don’t even remember what I said, but probably something like “Father, we pray…” She went right down on the floor. Just collapsed. Fortunately, several of our guys were nearby and caught her. I finished my prayer whispering in her ear, translated by Bernardino. Wow! The Holy Spirit is amazing and surprising.

I am reading the Bible in 90 days and came across the first three verses of Psalm 126. They accurately capture the trip for me so far: so much healing, so much joy, so much laughter:

“When The Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy”. Amen

The trip is almost over. We leave soon this morning for another town. Might be back to Seville. Not sure. We minister tonight, then Sunday AM, Monday off to tour Seville, then Tuesday home. More later. Thanks for prayers. Y’all are blessing us.

Grace and peace, John

Spain – Day 7

Dear Friends,

Our mission trip to Spain is almost over. One day touring Seville tomorrow and then fly home on Tuesday. Yesterday evening we ministered in a small church in Carmona, 30 minutes outside of Seville. Carmona is supposedly the oldest town in Europe. That’s old. We had a small group in the church that night, maybe 20, but God did amazing work. Four teenagers accepted Christ during the worship. Then these four youth, led by Sergio, one of our team who speaks Spanish, prayed for healing for two other teenagers, one with a sprained shoulder, the other with a broken arm. Both were in a car with their family when it was flipped in an accident. The girl’s shoulder was healed and the boys broken arm was also healed. He took his arm out of the sling and he had full motion with no pain (his Mom assured us that the arm was broken, although it was not in a cast). He said he felt heat when they prayed for his arm the first time. A few minutes later they prayed a second time, he felt more heat, and he was healed. Wow!!!

We returned today for worship and more ministry this morning. Dennis preached on blind Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus shouted out “Jesus Son of David, have mercy on me,” acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah. That cry of faith from deep in his heart caused Jesus to stop and call Bartimaeus to Him. “What do you want from me?” Jesus said. “I want to see.” “Go, your faith has healed you.” Dennis pointed out that Bartimaeus didn’t care what anyone else thought of him. His cry was a cry of desperation and faith. And it was because of this cry that he was healed. During the subsequent ministry that morning we saw many healed and set free.

I have been thinking how to describe to you what that time of worship, prayer, prophecy, and healing was like. I decided that I really couldn’t come up with a written description. The best I can do is to use these words: joy, intimacy with God and each other, although many were meeting for the first time; power, amazing healing, mostly emotional today; sweetness, simplicity, Spirit-filled, amazing, His Presence, filled to overflowing, indwelling, love, completeness, wholeness, obedience, centered on Christ, freedom, and fire. We were weeping, laughing, hugging, praising, and encouraging all under the influence of the Holy Spirit. God was there in the room with us and we continually acknowledged Him and gave Him the Glory. Gloria a Dios was on everyone’s lips continuously.

In the midst of this, another woman asked to accept Christ. Dennis gave Judy the microphone and the woman repeated after Judy the words of acceptance. Wow!!!!

As usual, a few on the floor.

What an awesome God. What an awesome morning. And do you know what? That church has about 10 members. It was as close to an Acts church as I think I will ever get in this world.

What an incredible way to end the trip.

I am still processing how I have been changed by this trip. For sure, such proximity to the Holy Spirit manifested in tangible ways, changes you. Healing, prayer, missions’ trips, worship, my ideas about the Kingdom of God, what it means to walk in God’s presence have all been impacted. I’ll process over the next few days. But I want to leave you with this thought. The constant thread linking every day together has been walking intimately in His Presence and seeing His Glory. That is what we mean when we say that “the Kingdom of God is here.” And I know, because I saw it over and over and over again, that His Glory, the outstreaming manifestation of His beauty and power, is revealed in the healing of God’s children.

Grace and peace, John

Part 2 – Impressions and Thoughts in Houston After the Trip

In Spain I saw the Glory of God. People healed, made whole, set free, delivered, and saved. I saw the love that people have for God and the love He has for them. It filled me with awe and wonder; this is the Church as it is meant to be. Jesus came to heal and save us (salvation is from the Greek word sozo, which means ‘healed and made whole’). Jesus gave us His mission statement, His Nazareth manifesto, in Luke 4 “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed” (Luke 4:18) and later “I must preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43). Jesus came to heal us and give us liberty. In Isaiah 61 (the passage from which Luke 4:18 was taken) we read, “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His Glory” (Isaiah 61:3). We are healed, made whole, and set free for His Glory and the accomplishment of His ultimate and eternal purpose – to defeat Satan and his power: to take back the territory, to push back the darkness, and restore and redeem the Cosmos. As C.S. Lewis said “every square inch and every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan”. Every person healed and set free by the Holy Spirit is “rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of the Son He loves” (Colossians 1:13), the Kingdom of God. And with each person plucked from the kingdom of darkness, aka the kingdom of the world, the Kingdom of God expands and the kingdom of darkness shrinks. So our healing is His victory and Satan’s defeat. To heal means to restore to health. God’s ultimate purpose is to restore His creation, so in that sense God’s ultimate purpose is to heal.

I thought I would reflect on my trip in four areas: 1) what was the purpose of this mission’s trip; 2) what did I learn about mission’s trips in general; 3) How did what I saw in Spain relate to how I see God moving at my church; and finally 4) what did I learn on this trip about my walk with Christ.

What was the purpose of this mission’s trip: To tell you the truth, before we left I didn’t know what we were going to do in Spain; I didn’t even know where we were going in Spain. I had some pretrip jitters, to say the least. Who is this guy Dennis Sempebwa? I knew him, but not well. I just knew that God was calling me to Spain and that Judy had agreed to go along as her birthday present to me (seriously).

To understand the purpose of the trip as it unfolded, I needed to know something about Spain. The Spanish Civil War was a particularly brutal war leaving half a million dead. The spiritual scars from that time are still present in Spain. Following the Civil War, the dictator Franco ran the country as totalitarian state with concentration camps, forced labor, and executions until his death in 1975, which also impacted spiritual life in Spain. Today there are about 8100 municipalities in Spain, about 7400 of them do not have a functioning church. Small evangelical churches are being planted in Spain today, but they typically have about 50 or fewer members and are struggling in a spiritually dark land.

We visited seven churches. In each church we joined their congregation in worship led by them. Dennis preached a message and then called individuals forward for prophecy and prayer. At this point in the service the Holy Spirit usually was really moving in the church. After a while the entire team was praying over people, ministering to those who had fallen on the floor, and following up with words of comfort and encouragement. As the trip went on I began to see that we were bringing ‘fresh oil and new wine’ to pastors and congregations that were burned out in their uphill fight against darkness. I saw that the purpose of our trip was to ignite, release, and activate the Holy Spirit. Ours was a ministry of restoration. One of the pastor’s wives said “we were an oasis in the middle of a desert”. In effect, we brought mini-renewals to these churches by bringing a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God used us to be His conduits to encourage His people fighting for His name in a dark place.

We had one other purpose. Dennis and Sergio (one of our team members and a Spaniard) are developing a plan with the local churches to evangelize all of Spain. We were building relationships with pastors and Dennis and Sergio were meeting with them to plan the way forward to plant churches to take Spain for Christ.

What did I learn about mission’s trips: After having been on a bunch of mission’s trips I have learned that there is no single type of mission trip. But, I believe that each mission trip, no matter what the outward purpose is, should have at it’s heart God’s eternal purpose: to push back the darkness and take the territory for Christ. Each trip should go out empowered by and live daily in His Presence; each trip should view itself as a time of extended worship and conduct itself accordingly. I see a mission’s trip as a type of vehicle for spiritual warfare, so the Spirit of Christ must be released in some way. It could take the form of evangelism, healing, or preaching/teaching. We could pass out food, build a playground, paint a building, or perform some other service like many mission’s trip do, but these external things must always be a way of getting to know people, sharing Jesus and the power of God with them. We can’t show up ‘in the name of Jesus’, hand out food for example, and leave. If we are there ‘in the name of Jesus’, then we have to share, pray, preach, prophesy, or heal ‘in the name of Jesus’. People around the world are oppressed by poverty, corruption, disease, and witchcraft. If we show up to just paint a building or give them medicine that will relieve their physical symptoms but don’t tell them about the real path to freedom, health, joy, and peace for eternity we might as well stay home. They deserve better. They need to know that there is a God who loves them. Some time ago I sensed God tell me that the Church should focus on doing what only the Church can do: preach the Gospel, heal the sick, lead people into abundant, eternal life, and proclaim, “The Kingdom of God is here”. In other words, align itself with God’s ultimate purpose and make that purpose their purpose. Which is why, I am happy to say, my church’s stated purpose is ‘empowered by the Holy Spirit, we bring the Gospel to Houston and the world”. Not that we can’t do a better job of articulating what that means and implementing it. But at least we are on the right track.

Of course, we almost always do mission’s trip under the auspices of a local partner. We are their guests. They develop our program, usually in consultation with us. As I said above, we sometimes go to encourage them with fresh oil and new wine. However we release the Kingdom of God, we first get their permission and work alongside of them. Relationships are important. But if I am going to spend thousands of dollars to fly overseas for a mission’s trip, I want to participate in a way that will release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.

There are two other dimensions to mission’s trips that I have been thinking about. The first is compassion. Wherever we go, we go to love the people we will meet. As I learned in Spain: first love, then healing. For sure, we want the environment of the people we go to serve improved: more sanitation, better working conditions, more education, better nutrition. These are things that Jesus also wants for them. But, in my opinion, if compassion becomes our only focus, and we take our eyes off of the main goal – the abundant life with Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and the defeat of the enemy– we are not being the Church. Corporations, governments, the UN, NGO’s, the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation and others like them can do these things, and in many cases, better than the church. None of them can give a person the abundant life now in spite of external circumstances and this abundant life for eternity. Only the Church can do this. That is a huge responsibility.

The other issue is discipleship. Jesus does not just want the Christian’s life to be skin deep; He wants the entire person, spirit-soul-and body, to be transformed. That requires teaching, mentoring, and modeling. This more time-intensive work is generally beyond the scope of most missions trips. For this reason partnership with the local church is important. They have to provide the local infrastructure for hands-on discipleship. In my opinion, a well-thought out mission’s trip should have provision for on-going discipleship that is primarily provided by the local church. Perhaps the mission trip team could spend part of their in-country time (or maybe all of their time) participating in discipleship.

To often a mission trip is seen as a short-term, one-off trip. But, the work in Spain is designed to be long-term. Sergio and Dennis are committed to Spain for at least seven years. They have a long-term vision that begins with trips to small churches, gradually working to join churches together into larger units, and eventually helping to plant other churches out of these larger bodies. So, the mission’s trip is just one facet of a larger plan. This makes a lot of sense to me. Context is everything. A one-off mission’s trip might scratch some itch in the church, but does it really advance the Kingdom of God?

Finally, as I think about missions based on my (brief) experience in Spain, these ideas should not just apply to one or two international trips each year. They should be the foundation of the entire Church. And why just overseas? Why not at home also? Releasing the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world, proclaiming the Kingdom of God is here, healing and interceding with prayer, and discipling are what the Church should be all about, wherever it is.

How do my experiences in Spain impact my life in my home church: I know that the Holy Spirit is alive in my church; I sense the Spirit moving in many places and at multiple levels. I see the Spirit being released in preaching, in some prayer groups, in teaching, and in the hearts of many believers in the church. The following are some of the areas I would like to see grow in my church:

One of the biggest differences I saw between most of the churches in Spain and my church was expectancy. When we asked God to show up in Spain, we expected that He would. When we prayed for healing, we (and they) expected healing would take place. And usually, it did. Broadly speaking, it is my experience at my home church that we do not have the same level of expectancy. Sometimes I pray for healing for a person believing that God can heal, but not expecting healing to occur. For me, this is the difference between faith and expectancy. Faith is the belief that God can heal; expectancy is the certainty that God will heal. Jesus prayed with expectancy. My expectancy grew in Spain.

My home church is a place where we are true to our traditions; knowledge of Scripture is elevated to a high place. We are known for our intellectual approach to God’s word. Which is, in itself, not a bad thing. But we cannot know God with our minds alone. We need the Holy Spirit to illuminate God who lives in our hearts. An overly intellectual approach to Scripture can rob God’s word of the power to renew, refresh, and restore people to God’s ongoing Kingdom power and purpose. We need to focus on ways to release God’s Spirit into our church that is consistent with and true to Scripture. The biggest danger is that we will put God’s Spirit in a box in some way. Come Holy Spirit. Oops, not that way.

In Spain I thought about love a lot. First love, then healing and prophesy. Not just love for the one I am ministering to. Of course, love for God. But love for me (in a healthy way). Seeing myself as God sees me. I think FPC does a great job of communicating these various aspects of who we are in Christ. But God is also a God of power. Scripture makes clear that same power has been given to us. Paul makes this audacious statement “that we might know in incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead” (Ephesians 1:19, 20). At my church we need to teach about power: what it is, what it means for our lives, how it is meant to be applied, and what is our purpose, given that power has been apportioned to us. Although we preach and teach from God’s word, we rarely teach about power, possibly because that leads us into uncomfortable areas of faith like the power to heal and cast out demons. “But a powerless Gospel is of considerable benefit to the enemy.” We have been given power and authority; we are called rulers and priests. Most of us have never heard that and have no idea what it means for our daily lives, especially our prayer lives where power is most effectively wielded.

I got to know the people I travelled with in Spain. Almost all of them have deep spiritual lives. Some have full-time ministries back in their hometowns dealing with some type of spiritual warfare. They are committed to praying in their personal lives in a way that draws them daily deeper into God’s heart. I suppose I would call them ‘mystics’. This is a strange word for many of us but I think that we should encourage all of our church to become a bit more ‘mystical’. To me, a mystic can be defined as someone “who by mediation and self-surrender, seeks a union with God that is out of the ordinary. They seek to reach truths beyond mere rational, intellectual understanding.” Shouldn’t we all seek this type of relationship with God? Mystics seek God’s face, as well as God’s will. If we know God, we should know His will. Knowing God’s will allows our prayers to have real power. As John says in 1 John “if we ask anything according to His will…we know that we have what we asked of him.”

Along with the lack of instruction on power is a lack of emphasis on spiritual gifts at my church, which include the gifts of healing and prophecy. In the early church, based on the letters of Paul, these gifts were essential to the life of the church. I am not thinking about ‘spiritual gift inventories’. I am thinking about preaching and teaching on spiritual gifts so people can begin to see them in their day-to-day lives.

I suppose the ministry I saw in Spain would be characterized as charismatic. My guess is that it means different things to different people. I know that charismatic derives from charisma or gifts. A charismatic Christian then believes that the gifts given to the church (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12) are still active in the church today. Based on what I saw in Spain and have seen in Africa this is true. I like a line I read in the book ‘Western Christians in Global Mission’ which stated “My advice: if you want to be a cessationist, don’t travel! The church in the Majority World did not get the memo”. I believe a charismatic Christian would say that they experience God in a supernatural way in worship, prayer, and at other times like a small group or in solitary mediation or even at unexpected moments during the day or night. God’s Presence is real to them and they seek to walk in His Presence moment by moment. Charismatic and mystical are closely related. God’s Presence is also manifested in tangible ways, not just in supernatural experience. These ways include, but are not restricted to, healing, deliverance, and prophecy; all common occurrences in the first Century church. When I use the name ‘charismatic’ these are the things that come to my mind. In keeping with my other thoughts above then, I would like to see my church become more ‘charismatic’. I think it is also important to stop using names in a pejorative or devaluing way.

My church is a strategic church for God’s Kingdom work. I would like us to begin drawing our people deeper into the life of the Spirit in everything we do. A good place to start is with prayer, which praise God, we are doing.

What did I learn on this trip about my walk with Christ: I came back from Spain with 5 ‘impressions’ about my walk with Jesus.

First, it is all about His Presence. This is the ultimate thing. Everything else is secondary. Healing, deliverance, and prophecy – everything depends upon His Presence. Without His Presence there is no power, only emptiness and a type of spiritual loneliness. In His Presence there is amazing joy, freedom and liberty, peace, and power. In the Kingdom of God, all of this emanates from His Presence. In some of the churches we went into, His Presence was noticeable. It was here that we experienced the greatest worship, fellowship, supernatural sense of God, and the greatest miracles, healings, and deliverances. In those churches where more emphasis was placed on knowledge, His Presence was generally absent or greatly diminished. And so were the manifestations of His Presence.

I need to strive to walk more intentionally in His Presence. Or maybe I should say, “I need to rest more in His presence.” Or both.

Second, I personally found that the prayer to “receive the Father’s love” had great power. This was an important lesson for me. Now I pray to receive the Father’s love every time I enter a time of prayer. There is so much packed into these four words. I prayed this prayer for people in the churches that we visited many times, with incredible results. These are recorded in the daily accounts of the trip in Part 1, above. All of who we are and what we can do for the Kingdom of God depends on receiving the Father’s love. It is the Father’s love that is the antidote to the pernicious word spoken into all of us by the enemy: “you are not good enough”. The Father’s love silences that voice and replaces it with another – you are my beloved. We receive the Father’s love as we live in His Presence.

Third, I came to understand that when we receive the Father’s love we receive the Father because God is love. I know that Christ and therefore the Father live in us. But when we receive that Father’s love and therefore the Father, we receive it in a fresh way each day. When we receive the Father, we receive the Father’s power. God intends for us to use that power to bring Him glory and release His Kingdom, to defeat the spirit of darkness. In a sense, to receive the Father is to be drawn into the Kingdom of God each day in a new, fresh way. Perhaps this is what grace means. Also, as we receive the Father’s love we also receive the Father’s kindness and the Father’s acceptance. There is great healing in these gifts of the Father that are available for all who believe.

Fourth, as I mentioned above I came to understand the importance of expectancy. In intercessory prayer for sure, but also in my day expecting that God would show up in some unexpected but beautiful and powerful way. He almost always did. It was if my expectancy drew Him in or opened a door for him to enter.

Fifth, I came closer to understanding the Nature of God. He is good, He is for me. He desires relationship, intimacy. He is gentle and does not intrude where He is not wanted. In Him we have power, peace, patience, freedom, joy, and forgiveness. I came to understand, in a deeper way, that “God stands supreme in His loving-kindness, compassion, and goodness. Slow to anger, full of patience and wonderfully faithful…The Father is always leaning toward repentance, redemption, restoration, renewal, sanctification, reconciliation, atonement, rehabilitation, absolution, freedom, and favor”. Not that there will not be a time of judgment. But I saw a merciful and gracious God in Spain who poured out His love on His children. I came away from Spain believing that God is for me and God does really love the world.

Since I have been back from Spain, God has been showing me places in my life that I need ‘improvement’. First, I need to seek His Presence more. Second, I need to strive for and seek from the Holy Spirit more patience. God showed me that anger is rooted in impatience. A big element of my need for patience is related to that part of my heart where the Elder Brother lives (you know him. The older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15). Third, God has called me to put away anything negative. I am to have nothing to do with negativity of any sort. God is not negative. When I embrace or walk in negativity, including gossip and slander, I am not walking with God but with the enemy. Finally, God is calling me to a deeper peace. Of course, this is really another way of saying that I need more of His Presence, because Peace is a Person. I guess you could call these my New Year’s resolutions, although I don’t generally make New Year’s resolutions. I expect that I will be able to grow in these areas as I rest or abide in Him.

Grace and Peace,

John Van Wagoner