Greetings!
I had the opportunity to be a part of a week-long school called Wildfires (staff pictured above) in Wilmington this past month. Our students at the school consisted of middle, high, and college students with adults also participating at the school as well. It was a great week of allowing the students to take a week to focus on their relationship with God. We had three tracks for the students to choose from: city, campus, and the creative arts. I was on staff at the school with the creative arts track, teaching a session on hearing the voice of God prophetically and allowing him to give you lyrics and images that can be later used to bless others. There were many amazing moments that happened during that week I would love to share but I will just touch on two testimonies in particular.
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- Every worship session was lead by the students at the school.
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- During the worship times, we had a creative arts corner for the students. The students and stand would sit together drawing and encouraging each other in what God was showing them.
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- I had the opportunity to help lead a worship set. Something I’ve never done before. The school was a time of bringing you outside your comfort zone not only for the students but also the staff.
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- We had a block party for at the end of the school where we invited those we evangelized to for a day of games, face painting, and free food. Our heart behind the cookout was to be a blessing to the community.
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- Testimony- This gentleman received healing in his back during evangelism and gave his life to the Lord.
The first one that I wanted to share is the day that we took the students to various places in Wilmington that were low-income housing to go and evangelize. We spent the first part of the day making goodie bags of hygiene products to pass out. My team was went to downtown Wilmington and we had one of the middle schoolers in my group that was a part of the Spanish youth group. At one of the houses we approached, we were able to prophesy over the tenant there and we asked him if he knew of anyone else who needed prayer and he pointed us to his friends down the street. Down the street were two men sitting on the a porch. We were able to pass them a bag and invited them to the cookout we were hosting for the city at the end of the week. We found out that the older gentleman (pictured above) had back problems and my friend asked if he wanted prayer for it. He agreed and as we all began to pray, I prayed that his healing would be a testimony to his friend and the girl that was in our group because she was not saved. At the end of the prayer, the man was able to walk down the stairs (which he said normally is very hard for him) and we shared with him who caused this healing to take place. We explained the Gospel to him and he accepted the Lord into his heart at that moment. The girl who was with us began to smile (which before this moment, she wasn’t really excited about going out evangelizing) because she had never seen a healing and we were all surprised that the Lord moved in a mighty way in that gentleman’s life.
Another testimony came from the Spanish Youth group. They were not as excited to be at the school and were not finding their footing with everything happening that week. We started to notice a change after everyone came back from evangelizing. All the students witnessed many testimonies and you could see how God was started starting to tear down the walls of a lot of students there. On Thursday, we held our usual prayer time where students are encouraged to pray over each other or events that are happening that week. One of the Spanish youth staff leaders began to pray on the microphone when eventually she began to pray in Spanish. At that moment you could feel the presence of the Lord so strongly because she was speaking from a familiar place and a place where the students could clearly understand her. That moment the Spanish youth students began to weep and as we surrounded them in prayer. Each student’s heart began to break and each one during prayer gave their life to the Lord. That was a beautiful moment. At the end of the school I and one of my friends on staff had the opportunity to speak at the Spanish Service to share the testimonies of their children. Watching each student share how Wildfires School impacted their lives and thanking their parents for having them come was beyond humbling.
The last day of the school the students shared their testimony with their parents and the congregation.
I also wanted to share about the Burn Wagon coming to Greenville. The Burn Wagon is a mission trip provided under the umbrella of the Burn 24-7 and their vision is “…to mobilize believers to release the fire of His presence into our nation through worship, prayer and supernatural evangelism. We believe that partnering with God through these avenues will facilitate another nation-wide Great Awakening.”
We partnered with Building Hope Community Life Center which is a nonprofit, after school program, that caters to the at-risk youth of Pitt County. We worked specifically in the Pactolus Middle School. We taught the students about prophetic arts and how God gives you images. The team would walk around the classroom praying for the students and encouraging them in the images God was giving them while the other team members played worship music in the background.
As each student shared what they drew, others would interpret and give encouraging words over each student.I drew someone who lost a bracelet and one of the girls raised their hand and said she lost hers this morning (pictured above). Then one of the girls from the burn wagon shared she has a bracelet that looked exactly like the drawing I had. Then she said the Lord told her to give the student the bracelet. The joy, shock and amazement on the girl’s face was amazing! She couldn’t stop smiling! At the end of the lesson, we were able to prophesy over each student, encourage them to continue to run after God, as well as affirm their identity that Christ has given them.
Thank you so much for making this all possible! With your donations, you are not only helping to change lives not only in Greenville, but across Eastern North Carolina.
Blessings,
Lauren Smith
Boiler Room Becoming the East Carolina Prayer Furnace
New things are happening to the Prayer House! We have decided after seven years and countless hours of prayer and worship, the Boiler Room needed a new location as well as an upgrade. We decided to move out of our old building, closing an amazing season, to reopen as the East Carolina Prayer Furnace. We will now continue have our prayer meetings in the Collide Building, which also serves as a college ministry. We look forward to what God is going to do in this new season as well as how he is going to continue to grow worship and prayer throughout Eastern North Carolina.
Transitioning Into A New Season
At this time of transition with the Boiler Room, I have been praying about where and how God is continually using me to bring His glory across Eastern North Carolina. I have decided to step down from ministry at the Boiler Room to focus more on city-wide outreach as well as continuing my passion of using the creative arts to bring glory to God. I will continue to minister to young ladies, helping them mature in their identity in Christ. I will also continue to do ministry with the city-wide tent revivals. I am so excited to see how God is going move in North Carolina and I am excited to see the lives that are going to be changed because of His love.
The Burn Greenville
Date: Friday, August 12
Location: Greenville Christian Fellowship
1407 Evans St, Greenville, NC 27834
Time: 6pm-Midnight
The Drop East Coast
The Drop is a gathering championing these grassroots expressions by bringing movements together to amplify the sound of awakening that will touch the nations.
Date: September 23-24, 2016
Location: Falcon, NC
Tickets are on sale now at dropeastcoast.com
