“You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there’s a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it.” – Leonard Ravenhill
January 1st, 2016 I spent New Year’s Day praying about what the new year would look like. 2015 had been so hard charging that I was sure 2016 would be more of a year of prayer and study and saving up money for another hard charging year in the future. Wow! Was I wrong! We started out the year with nearly no funds but I felt strongly that we should have a mission trip to Colombia in June and I had promised Pastor Ndagijimana the year before that I would come and do a large crusade in Rwanda in July of 2016 so I began to pray for these two and assume that not even those might happen this year. I made three prayer lists. 1. Daily Needs, 2. Crazy Prayers (BIG things like those two trips that I was asking God for), and 3. BIG HARRY AUDACIOUS Prayer List (Stupid crazy big things that I was asking God for but would’ve been embarrassed for anyone to know about). The spring went by quietly as I had suspected but we did get to financially help our friend Pastor Paye in Liberia put a roof on his church and get the plans and budget drawn up for Mercy’s House Liberia so that was good. Then God did some things so BIG and HARRY that they hadn’t even made it onto my BIG HARRY List!
The first thing God did was to gather together the largest mission team we had ever had to go to Colombia and for Lisa and I the biggest shocker was all of our children in the U.S. except Mercy were able to sign up for the trip and then God miraculously supplied their finances. It was mindblowingly awesome to arrive in Colombia and be met by Brooke and Oscar and our Colombian children Juan David, Ginary, and Heidy and granddaughter Adara. To stand in that airport with 8 of our 9 children and two grandchildren on a mission for God was craziness! We had a marvelous week with our sons Luke and Levi rotating everyday giving a wonderful devotion in the morning and then setting out for orphanages and street ministries to love and serve and share Jesus together. Our son-in-law Travis sharing his testimony with the children, and so many other things was surreal. Only God. It was heavenly! The crazy blessing of getting to stand at the top of a mountain overlooking Bogota and have this photo taken of all of us except Mercy, our daughter-in-law Misti, and some grandkids was unspeakably wonderful.
The 2nd mind blower God pulled on us began one night as we drove to go meet some precious friends for dinner. I had been praying hard for 18 months for this large crusade in Rwanda and we were now just 4 weeks away and I didn’t have a dollar to my name. It gave me a headache but as my wife drove us to meet this couple for dinner I messaged Pastor Ndagijimana in Rwanda and said, “I’m so sorry brother. I want to come so bad but I haven’t received the finances I have been praying for so I thought I should let you know now that I can’t come next month.” He almost instantly replied, “I’m sorry too. But I trust God. I’m sad though. There were many many people waiting for you to come.” I cried, pounded on the dash, and put my head in my hands. My wife said, “What’s wrong baby?” I told her and she said, “Well God’s timing is perfect. You did your best. That’s all He expects.” We arrived at the restaurant, had a wonderful dinner and then… our friends handed us an envelope and said, “This is really why we wanted to have dinner. Please open it.” Inside was a card that read, “Dream crazy dreams.” And inside was a check for $50,000 for our work in Liberia and Rwanda!!! My mouth fell open and I exclaimed, “What the heck?” They laughed. It was the most money I had ever held in my hand at one time in my life. We cried and hugged and headed home.
I quickly messaged Pastor Ndagijimana, “Hold it!!! A miracle just happened! Don’t cancel anything! I will be there!” He wrote back, “Praise God!!!” In a rapid series of other miracles my daughters Rebekah and Brooke, and son Levi were able to have provision and time to go and we flew to Rwanda July 13, 2016. Miracle!! We met with Pastor Ndagijimana the first day and he blew our minds with a status report of Mission Critical International Rwanda (MCIR). In the year and a half since Rebekah and I first came and began to back him Pastor Ndagijimana had planted 5 churches in different parts of Rwanda and the government had approved them as MCIR churches named Celebration Church after our beloved home church in the Woodlands, Texas. He had purchased two plots of land around Kigali, the capital city, for Mercy’s House Rwanda and we had crusades set up in each of these new churches and locations. Over the next three weeks so many miracles happened I can’t list them all. We preached and sang all over the country, hundreds upon hundreds were saved and over 100 were subsequently baptized. People were healed, land was donated, and on and on. When we got home we hired the contractor and started building Mercy’s House Liberia! Way bigger than anything on my BIG HARRY list… Yes…
The 3rd BIG HARRY was on my list. We had been praying for a year for our daughter Brooke to marry my best friend, now son, Oscar and God outdid Himself on August 20th, 2016 as our whole family once again traveled to Colombia, gathered in a quaint castle, and I was supernaturally blessed to walk Brooke down the aisle and then officiate at their wedding. Words can’t describe the joy and fun we had that day. A picture is worth a thousand words… Only God!
The first thing God did was to gather together the largest mission team we had ever had to go to Colombia and for Lisa and I the biggest shocker was all of our children in the U.S. except Mercy were able to sign up for the trip and then God miraculously supplied their finances. It was mindblowingly awesome to arrive in Colombia and be met by Brooke and Oscar and our Colombian children Juan David, Ginary, and Heidy and granddaughter Adara. To stand in that airport with 8 of our 9 children and two grandchildren on a mission for God was craziness! We had a marvelous week with our sons Luke and Levi rotating everyday giving a wonderful devotion in the morning and then setting out for orphanages and street ministries to love and serve and share Jesus together. Our son-in-law Travis sharing his testimony with the children, and so many other things was surreal. Only God. It was heavenly! The crazy blessing of getting to stand at the top of a mountain overlooking Bogota and have this photo taken of all of us except Mercy, our daughter-in-law Misti, and some grandkids was unspeakably wonderful.
I quickly messaged Pastor Ndagijimana, “Hold it!!! A miracle just happened! Don’t cancel anything! I will be there!” He wrote back, “Praise God!!!” In a rapid series of other miracles my daughters Rebekah and Brooke, and son Levi were able to have provision and time to go and we flew to Rwanda July 13, 2016. Miracle!! We met with Pastor Ndagijimana the first day and he blew our minds with a status report of Mission Critical International Rwanda (MCIR). In the year and a half since Rebekah and I first came and began to back him Pastor Ndagijimana had planted 5 churches in different parts of Rwanda and the government had approved them as MCIR churches named Celebration Church after our beloved home church in the Woodlands, Texas. He had purchased two plots of land around Kigali, the capital city, for Mercy’s House Rwanda and we had crusades set up in each of these new churches and locations. Over the next three weeks so many miracles happened I can’t list them all. We preached and sang all over the country, hundreds upon hundreds were saved and over 100 were subsequently baptized. People were healed, land was donated, and on and on. When we got home we hired the contractor and started building Mercy’s House Liberia! Way bigger than anything on my BIG HARRY list… Yes… 
The 3rd BIG HARRY was on my list. We had been praying for a year for our daughter Brooke to marry my best friend, now son, Oscar and God outdid Himself on August 20th, 2016 as our whole family once again traveled to Colombia, gathered in a quaint castle, and I was supernaturally blessed to walk Brooke down the aisle and then officiate at their wedding. Words can’t describe the joy and fun we had that day. A picture is worth a thousand words… Only God!
