April Newsletter
Hello friends and family,
I hope and pray this letter finds you well. Don’t look now but here comes summer! As the nation begins to heat up in the natural I am believing for a supernatural heat wave to hit America like never before.
This past month has been awesome! I had the opportunity to serve with Dr. Rodney Howard Browne in Los Angeles, CA a few weeks back. It was powerful. The reason for my trip was to see his ministry in action, and action I did see. I picked up many things to implement in my ministry to more effectively bring in the harvest. While I was there I spoke where Aimee Simple McPherson built her ministry. It was a real privilege to speak where the nation was touched in the 1920’s and 30’s.
While in Georgia I was with a good friend of mine, Pastor Johnny Summerall. We had a powerful time of equipping on Friday and Saturday before we hit the streets. During the weekend I was able to equip around 20-25 people, and then take it to the streets. During the weekend we had around 17 people receive Christ outside the church!
Friday night after service, the pastor and I went out for dinner. Before we left I received a prophetic word for our waitress. She stood at our table and began to weep under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. She sat down at our table and gave her life to Jesus Christ. That Sunday night she came to the church and was touched mightily again. Her name is Shawntae and she told me she had already asked her boss about getting off on Sunday nights and is going to make the First Assembly her home church now.
Easter weekend was another powerful time, as well. Three churches participated over the weekend. Friday night was impacting! Saturday around 50-60 were equipped and went out into the harvest field. We had around 15 people saved through the outreach and not in the church buildings. However, many people were saved in the church services, as well. It was a great advancement of the Gospel.
Pastor Gaylan Grant was so touched over the fruit of Easter weekend that he wrote his District Superintendent who oversees more than 500 churches. Here is message he wrote in his e-mail:
“Friday night, Joe and his team arrived and shared in a service here at Bethel and attended by the people of two other churches. It was a good message and a powerful time around the altars. Saturday morning, he taught for about an hour on the "how-to's” of door-to-door evangelism. Then we went into our neighborhoods. Each church reported five or six conversions during the door to door time. Each church also reported numerous people responding on Sunday. Our church had 10 respond on Sunday.
Joe preached for me on Sunday and did a wonderful job of communicating his testimony and the Gospel. The people that went through the training and participated in the door-to-door event are primed and ready to go again. They are wanting to do follow up. I don't know what I could have done that would have been better in helping this people "get it." It's about evangelism.
I don't know what the venue would be, but if this type of thing could be repeated across the district, we would be getting back to our roots of evangelism. I can highly recommend Joe, his wife Trish, and the whole team. Everyone who came was a blessing with one focus: souls.”
I am sure that this will be the greatest harvest of souls that this ministry has ever seen. This next coming month, I will be ministering in Mesquite, TX, San Francisco, CA, Austin, TX, Wilson, OK, Anthony, KS, Mexico, and Brownsville, TX. Thank you for all of your prayer and support! Your help means so much to me.
Together in the harvest,
Joe Oden