LCO Assembly of God Ministry
Evangelist Tom Vaiterra preached at LCO Assembly of God Church on Saturday afternoon. Only a few people had shown up. But we sensed that there would be many more people at the church on Sunday morning. As it turned out there were about 35 people that attended from LCO Assembly of God and other local churches. (Normally much less attend at LCO A of G on Sundays.)
Carmi and I talked and we believed that it was important to be able to minister to these people, to not lose them since Tom would be leaving after potluck. We approached Pastor Debbie about having a time of Worship/Prayer/Ministry every night until we leave on Thursday. She agreed, but believed there would only be a few people, that was fine for us. All of us were pleasantly surprised. We had 17-22 people attend Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Not only did we have many attend, they brought food every night even when we said to eat at home beforehand. They not only brought food but brought relatives to be ministered to every night. Plus they stayed at the church for up to four hours. Pastor Debbie said it was a miracle for this to take place. They normally only get a few people to come once a week for an evening service. On Wednesday night we had two people get saved and a couple of people recommit their life to Christ.
On the last night a local pastor and his wife attended. They talked with Debbie and they agreed to start having a combined service on Wednesday nights, encouraging people to bring their lost or backslidden friends and relatives.
Those who attended are excited about the body of Christ ministering to people, not just expecting the pastors to do all the work. Pastor Debbie said if this was all that was accomplished in 14 days, it was worth it.
Carmi and I could have stayed for a few days longer and kept meetings going but our goal was from the start to equip the body of Christ and to challenge the church to reach out to their community.