Tuesday, October 09, 2007

The HSI Prayer Family on Yahoo

In September 2006, I had started a forum on Yahoo (hsifamily) with the idea that all the members of the HSI Global Intercessory Prayer Family share their thoughts, ideas, opinions and feelings with one other. We have people from just about every nation on this planet repesented in our prayer family (no kidding!) and I believed that the cross-pollination of cultures would make for some interesting discussions. However, with the exception of three or four people, there was nobody contributing anything whatsoever to the group. Part of the fault for this was undoubtedly mine; a group such as this requires steering, and I had not been able to provide it because of other duties. Though tempted to give up on this, I believe that this forum can be a powerful way to encourage growth (and, consequently, evangelization), so I decided I would give it one more try and write something new every day. Fans of my writing (are there any?) are welcome to visit - and even join the group on Yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hsifamily/)

Monday, October 08, 2007

Discipleship Program, Ghala, Oman

Holy Spirit Church, Ghala, Oman

I had put a halt to all travels from July to December so that I could spend my time building the HSI Community, but a mission to Oman had been fixed way back in January. Out of the mission circuit for three months, I was a little anxious about getting back in front of people, but I needn't have worried; the Spirit was with me as He always is and by the end of the 4 day Program (Oct 4-7), He seemed to be with everybody else who attended as well. The Program concluded with one of the most powerful anointing sessions I have witnessed and even the parish priest admitted to feeling the hair on his head standing. Wonderful this, seeing as how the dear man doesn't have hair on his head!

The parish priest was Fr. John Fernandaz. He was the instrument who guided me in the days following my conversion, and although I hadn't met him since his transfer to Oman a couple of years ago, he remained close to my heart. It was good to see him again and minister to the parishioners under his care. My wife, Glenda, joined me on this mission - the first time she was doing so - in preparation, perhaps, for joining me permanently some time in the near future.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Back to Blogging

I realize, as I make this entry, that the last posting was exactly two months ago. This is a pity as there has been a lot happening with the ministry, and when time allows, I will make the relevant postings, but for now a brief summary will do. Most of the activity has revolved around the HSI Community, which has been more successful than I had imagined. It has grown to nearly 50 people, who in turn, have grown tremendously. Not only have they registered noticeable growth spiritually, they have begun witnessing powerfully to others. I am well pleased.

Also during this time, we had two preachers - Lalith Pereira from Sri Lanka, and Anthony Lobo from India - minister to the local HSI family. The HSI family in Sharjah celebrated its first birthday. The HSI Audio ministry burned its first audio CD - a 15 minute Christmas program for an Australian radio channel. The professionalism of the venture has encouraged us to produce a complete music CD for Christmas and to start producing videos as well. The 150th HSI newsletter went out to nearly 60,000 subscribers. And I started learning to play the guitar! :)