Praise Report 8-12-10
Dear Saints,
I want to thank all of you who have been holding us up in prayer and I want to thank all of those who fasted for this out reach to Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Our heavenly Father responded in a wonderful way.
He obviously had prepared the way before us, the tent site was excellent, it was located in the down town area but in the east side which is considered the poor side of town.
The timing was excellent because we had a thunder storm that almost turned into a tornado the day before we set up the tent, then a another one, much lighter the last day. Unknown to us the dates that we scheduled put us there during the time of the county fair and we were located only a few blocks from the fair ground.
Our first day we had a visit from a Pastor (Tevis) 
and his wife (Synica) they both really love Jesus, they are colored, in more ways than one, black of course but they reveal the beauty of the Lord in a very special way. They wanted to know why we choose St. Cloud and we explained how the Father had led us in that decision. They didn’t question it at all in fact they believed he had sent us for their benefit in many ways. They explained that they also were preparing to set up a tent for the first time, for evangelism. Tevis said when he told his wife that he had rented the site for two days the 27th and 28th of August, that she said yes but their will be a tent set before that and for much longer time and that it wouldn’t be his. About two days later he saw our tent and he knew God had sent us. They bought our breakfast and saw to it that we ate every morning for the two-week period that we were there. We would have breakfast with him then we would spend a good while discussing the word of God with him. He had been formerly taught the prosperity doctrine but readily received teaching from the word on these things. Before that he had been a Catholic and our Lord Jesus brought him out of that and they both are growing in their faith and understanding of God and his word. He told me after a few days that we had been a rebuke to him from the first time he came to the tent without us saying anything. Just in the way we had set up no big fanfare no name other than Jesus was displayed and we didn’t have a big rock band and or PA system was quite small. He said he thought if Jesus were to come to town he would come in this fashion. Tevis had been planning on having a rock band and doing a lot of different things to try to draw the people in. But now he says he will not do that and he will be content with those whom the Lord sends. He realizes that to think you have to be successful is pride and that our Lord Jesus is more concerned in our obedience to him than he is in our success and the way we do things portrays who we are.
We found out that Sister Synica car had a starter out and that they were going to charge her five hundred dollars to fix it, we prayed over it and Jack and the boys were able to fix it for about forty dollars.
The first week there were three of us Jack Burwell and Ethan a 15 yr old young man ready to serve, and myself. We went house to house sharing the gospel but we kept one person at the tent most of the time to be available to minister to anybody who should come in. Some days it was one after another walking in or riding their bikes in, some had real genuine spiritual needs and wanted to talk others just curious and many just wanted to thank us for what we were doing. Daily we had people coming by and giving us twenty dollars or more just to support what they thought was a good ministry.
The second week Joel Bernard and his brother Jesse came up from Powel Wyoming to help us, the timing was good because this was the week of the fair. The first day of the fair the authorities that manage the fair grounds told Jack and the boys that they could not bring the gospel literature on the fair grounds nor could they talk to people about the gospel. We questioned their reasoning for this but we prayed about it and the Lord Jesus showed us what he told Pontius Pilot on the day they arrested him. “ Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. “ John 18: 36
We were content to not take in literature but just go in and talk one on one with people. One or two would go in and the rest would remain outside where we could give out literature and wear the sand-which board with scripture on it. One would preach at the gate as people were coming and going. The authorities were not happy with this but they tolerated it until the last day and the fair was to close at five pm and at four pm I was preaching at the main gate. Then they came and said that the land out side of the fair grounds also belonged to them and that I would have to leave. I told them ok I would go even though I question there authority to do this but let me say one thing before I leave. If you are wanting Gods blessing on your city and fair activities this was not the way to get it. Besides the preaching of Gods word saves people from hell and if anyone was responsible of keeping the word of God to be preached to their people God would hold them accountable on judgment day. I believe our Lord Jesus wanted these men who are standing in the way of Gods messengers to know they are putting themselves in jeopardy. However we managed to preach right up to one hour before closing.
There is a lot more to report but for now, I want to thank all of you who labored with us in this out reach.
James Lucas for the team.