Aflame For God 22 – Global Evangelism Explosion

“Reckon then that to acquire soul-winning power, you will have to go through mental torment and soul distress. You must go into the fire if you are going to pull others out of it.” — C.H. Spurgeon

Read the beginning of the series HERE

In early 2014 I was sitting in my recliner ordering plane tickets for a preaching tour of Colombia in April. My daughter Brooke, who was working full time and in nursing school came over and sat on the arm of my chair and said, “Hey dad, I want to go to Colombia with you.” I said, “Don’t tease me like that, I would love for you to go.” She said, “I’m serious! I have the money. Please order my plane ticket.” And so I did. We flew to Colombia in early April and met our translator Oscar, whom Brooke had never met. The next three weeks were some of the most miraculous of my life as we preached all over central and northern Colombia. In one of the crusades in Bogota, I preached with an evangelist from Switzerland. After one of my sermons he said, “That is the most powerful message I have ever heard. Are you on TV or the internet?” I said, “No sir.” He said, “You will be. The world will hear from you.” I immediately sensed that God was showing me that this was my personal mission critical from now on. You can read my journal of that precious time HERE. Brooke was so blown away by the Holy Spirit on this trip that she came home, quit her job, quit school, and moved to Colombia full time. Not only that, Brooke and Oscar, my translator and best friend, fell in love on this trip and were married August 20, 2016 but I’m getting ahead of myself 🙂

Brooke began working first in a wonderful orphanage in Medellin, Colombia with our dear sister Enith Diaz, whom I call the Mother Teresa of Colombia. God supernaturally anointed Brooke as she moved into this orphanage at 20 years of age speaking only a tiny bit of Spanish in a place where noone spoke any English and within a few months she was completely fluent in Spanish with a perfect accent. Miraculous! Brooke worked there a year touching scores of lives and then moved to Bogota to work for Mission Critical on our Project Shield. Read her miraculous stories HERE!

We had another wonderful Colombia mission trip in September 2013. God continued to tug at my heart for more crusades around the globe and my phone began to blow up with requests for me to come to all 5 occupied continents. So far I had only been going to Colombia but I knew there was more to come.

In November of 2014 our daughter Rebekah had to come home from Zambia on an emergency medical flight. She had been suffering with pneumonia for months and the antibiotics they were giving her at the village clinic wasn’t helping. She could have died. She lay on our couch for 6 weeks as her mom nursed her back to health. One night in late December 2014 we were sitting on the balcony of our apartment talking and praying and she said, “Daddy, you have to come to Africa with me! I want you to see my orphanage and meet my children, you have to preach for Pastor Mbewe, meet Pastor Tendai, and we have to go to Rwanda and preach for Pastor Ndagijimana! Africa seemed to me as far away as the moon. I had never even crossed the Atlantic! I quickly figured out a budget of what it would take to do all that she asked. “Rebekah, it would take $10,000 to do what you are saying.” I said. She replied, “That’s OK Daddy. God has $10,000. Let’s pray right now.” I sheepishly bowed my head and she prayed so boldly that God would give us $10,000 soon so we could go. Then she lifted her smiling face and said, “There Daddy! We are going to Africa!” I gulped and said, “Yeah, great, sure.” We didn’t tell another soul about that conversation and yet two days later a man mysteriously wired $10,000 into my bank account!!!! We quickly bought our tickets and left for Africa in mid January 2015! Oh the miracles! Oh the crusades! Oh the joy! Below is a summary video of that historic trip.

Things began to really explode in 2015! The Holy Spirit put two words on my heart over and over again… CHARGE HARD! And we did. Rebekah and I came home from Africa, spoke at a Tres Dias retreat, then headed out for more crusades in Colombia. Then we went to Belize and preached a week long crusade in the dump on Ambergris Caye! Wonderful moves of God. Then we went back to Colombia with a mission team. Oh what a glorious trip. We went on to Medellin where we were blessed to speak in the one of the most dangerous prisons in the world! The fire fell! We came home and I received a call from a pastor in Monrovia, Liberia Africa, our daughter Mercy’s birth town. “Matt, would you please come and preach a crusade and do a youth rally and pastors training?” I instantly replied, “Yes! I have been praying for 7 years that God would let me go see my daughter’s birth home! October? Yes I will be there… Oh my! God was ramping this ministry UP!!!!

Aflame For God 23 – Mercy’s House