Bus of gamblers breaks down outside friends church in MA and God takes over.
Greetings,
This church is in Worcester, Mass. A Vineyard Church. Read on how God is at work.
So, as most of you may know, snow has been dumping on New England since Friday. Despite the blizzardy circumstance, we decided to press onward and not cancel Sunday service at The Woo, with minimal expectation of what the turn-out might be. What ended up happening is still blowing my mind away - God showed up! Although we had worked hard in planning for this service (esp since it's right before Christmas), His greater plan came into action that exceeded anything that we had originally planned for.
Just 30 min before our service began (we we just finished plowing our sidewalk/walkway and setting up inside), a bus full of people on their way to a Jay Chou (a major Taiwanese pop star, btw!) concert at Mohegan Sun Casino broke down and glided into the side street by our church. It literally stopped precisely in front of our freshly shoveled main entrance. Before we knew it, we were serving coffee (which someone happened to miscalculate the water amount and made more than we usually do), donuts (which ran out quickly), and apple dumplins (the ones that we had prepared in excess and frozen weeks before- hmm, did God know? . . .) to our 50+ unexpected guests! Combined with our Woo members and some other visitors that decided to show up, we ended up with a pretty packed house.
With great excitement, service began as usual, only this time, the worship, video clips, book give-aways, verse readings (by Hilary), candy-canes, lighting effects, and the aroma of frankensence and myrrh were all integrated throughout the message. At the end, when we invited people to receive Jesus into their hearts and also to come up for prayer ministry, about 15 people stood up for Jesus and 30+ came up for prayer! Then the stories of God wooing people in supernatural ways began to surface.
One lady from the bus had prayed last night (1st time she ever prayed to our God) for God to show a sign that He is real, and if he wants her to start going to church. She is a believer now.
Another person was feeling in his gut earlier this morning that he was doing the wrong thing going to Mohegan Sun to gamble. (we later found bags of quarters in our offeratory box)
Someone else got prayer over a health issue for the first time and was deeply touched by the spirit. Other powerful prayers were spoken during the prayer ministry.
As Lucas took pictures of the stranded bus in front of our building, he noticed that the bus number happen to be 777.
A local girl living in desperate, life/death situations, that a few of us had been pursuing for God for months, finally came (although it was after the service) and made some significant steps towards finding Jesus.
One member of our church, by his own initiative, decided to bring ingredients to make enough spaghetti for about 30 to share for lunch after service at church. God must have multiplied the food, because everyone got fed!
And I'm sure that there are more stories that will continue to surface . . . I truly believe that every person that ended up at The Woo this morning (whether a believer or not) experienced God in some life-changing way and was aware of it. God is so GOOD!!! Connections were being made, people were getting blessed. We showed The Nativity Story after our service, and most of the bus people ended up watching it. God, I pray that you would continue the good work that you started!
I am humbled, honored, and overwhelmed with joy that God would choose to use us so significantly on a day that we originally expected so little due to unfavorable weather circumstances. Sometimes you just never know how God will have something unexpected and bigger in plan!
God Bless each one of you this Christmas,
I tagged as many as I could, and I tried to included people from as many places possible, so if I haven't tagged you, that doesn't mean that I love you any less :o)
Patsun
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This church is in Worcester, Mass. A Vineyard Church. Read on how God is at work.
So, as most of you may know, snow has been dumping on New England since Friday. Despite the blizzardy circumstance, we decided to press onward and not cancel Sunday service at The Woo, with minimal expectation of what the turn-out might be. What ended up happening is still blowing my mind away - God showed up! Although we had worked hard in planning for this service (esp since it's right before Christmas), His greater plan came into action that exceeded anything that we had originally planned for.
Just 30 min before our service began (we we just finished plowing our sidewalk/walkway and setting up inside), a bus full of people on their way to a Jay Chou (a major Taiwanese pop star, btw!) concert at Mohegan Sun Casino broke down and glided into the side street by our church. It literally stopped precisely in front of our freshly shoveled main entrance. Before we knew it, we were serving coffee (which someone happened to miscalculate the water amount and made more than we usually do), donuts (which ran out quickly), and apple dumplins (the ones that we had prepared in excess and frozen weeks before- hmm, did God know? . . .) to our 50+ unexpected guests! Combined with our Woo members and some other visitors that decided to show up, we ended up with a pretty packed house.
With great excitement, service began as usual, only this time, the worship, video clips, book give-aways, verse readings (by Hilary), candy-canes, lighting effects, and the aroma of frankensence and myrrh were all integrated throughout the message. At the end, when we invited people to receive Jesus into their hearts and also to come up for prayer ministry, about 15 people stood up for Jesus and 30+ came up for prayer! Then the stories of God wooing people in supernatural ways began to surface.
One lady from the bus had prayed last night (1st time she ever prayed to our God) for God to show a sign that He is real, and if he wants her to start going to church. She is a believer now.
Another person was feeling in his gut earlier this morning that he was doing the wrong thing going to Mohegan Sun to gamble. (we later found bags of quarters in our offeratory box)
Someone else got prayer over a health issue for the first time and was deeply touched by the spirit. Other powerful prayers were spoken during the prayer ministry.
As Lucas took pictures of the stranded bus in front of our building, he noticed that the bus number happen to be 777.
A local girl living in desperate, life/death situations, that a few of us had been pursuing for God for months, finally came (although it was after the service) and made some significant steps towards finding Jesus.
One member of our church, by his own initiative, decided to bring ingredients to make enough spaghetti for about 30 to share for lunch after service at church. God must have multiplied the food, because everyone got fed!
And I'm sure that there are more stories that will continue to surface . . . I truly believe that every person that ended up at The Woo this morning (whether a believer or not) experienced God in some life-changing way and was aware of it. God is so GOOD!!! Connections were being made, people were getting blessed. We showed The Nativity Story after our service, and most of the bus people ended up watching it. God, I pray that you would continue the good work that you started!
I am humbled, honored, and overwhelmed with joy that God would choose to use us so significantly on a day that we originally expected so little due to unfavorable weather circumstances. Sometimes you just never know how God will have something unexpected and bigger in plan!
God Bless each one of you this Christmas,
I tagged as many as I could, and I tried to included people from as many places possible, so if I haven't tagged you, that doesn't mean that I love you any less :o)
Patsun
--------------------
To reply to this message, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox/readmessage.php&t=1073437276899
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