Visions, Divine Appointments, and Encouragement
Some final thoughts on my journey. Number one I am so thankful that I Pastor a church that is willing to make some sacrifices in order fulfill the great commission. I want to thank the entire Church for sending me and praying for me as I encouraged our missionaries. You have made a difference in the world. Thank you also to my wife for trusting in God’s will knowing that I would be in some dangerous places. The prayer team, the world outreach team, the board and my life group as well as many of you in the that church prayed fervently for me. I could feel your prayers, especially in moments of weakness. Also thank you to my amazing staff for holding down the fort and filling in while I was gone.
It truly is a Church wide initiative when we send out missionaries. We seem to do that a lot and I love that New Hope is mission minded. This is just the beginning as we venture into unchartered territories in new mission fields and initiatives through the Hope Builders Ministries. In both countries the missionaries were so thankful that you sent me. They communicated this to me several times reminding me of how vital our world outreach ministry is.
The power of God manifested in so many ways. I felt the Holy Spirit carrying me through every step. There were times that I was too tired, too scared, too worried, and too inadequate but the Holy Spirit gave me strength as you prayed. God saved at least 100 people through sharing the gospel in drug and alcohol rehab centers, he encouraged, healed, and set the demon possessed free. It was truly amazing to just follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as we ministered.
One of the visions I had before I left was that the Lord was going to put me in front of people who would be connected to people in positions of power. This happened in both Israel and in SE Asia. In SE Asia I met with two men who had just met with the Prime Minister to advocate and bring awareness to Christian persecution. I also worked with another guy there who was campaigning for a high-ranking official who is a Christian and running for office in May. God gave the right words of encouragement for all of them. It was a powerful trip full of divine appointments like that. I also met a couple of other Pastors who had huge impacts on my life.
On our final night there I was reminded of the situation of persecution in that area. We were ministering in a house church and God was moving in power as we crammed about 25 people into a tiny room to worship. During worship a lady who may have been an informant for a radical Hindu group in the area got up and left. She had never been to this house church before. I did not know any of this at the time, but I saw the Pastors I was with begin to get nervous. We continued with the service and three men got saved which was awesome! By the time I got done preaching I was told that we had to get in the vehicle and get out of there. It was fairly intense as several motorcycles had been driving by and it was hard to leave. So many of them wanted prayer so we trusted God and stayed and prayed for many of them for healing before leaving. Thankfully, we got out of there before being discovered.
In 2025, I would like to begin taking one or two teams overseas again. Maybe that means you?! I want to encourage you to begin praying about going. Let’s be brave make a huge impact on this world for the Kingdom of God! The harvest truly is plentiful!
Pastor Matt
