Hey everyone,
So it’s been a while since our last post
(sorry we’re working on posting more regularly) so we thought we would give you
guys an update on what’s been happening with the Oliveira’s lately!
Ministry Trip
This year we get the opportunity to go on
ministry trips with leaders from Bethel. I went on my first trip just a few
weeks ago to Ventura in Southern California for 5 days with Jason Chin- who
oversees treasure hunts in the Church and various other evangelistic
ministries.
We went to a small church down there who
also have a part-time School of Ministry. They are a really hungry, lovely
group of people who are going after revival in their city. I just loved getting
to know some of them and being able to really encourage them. We did Treasure
Hunts with the Church and ministry school students, three church services and
took the classes at their ministry school also. We did a lot of prophetic
ministry, praying for healing and prayer ministry. God did so many wonderful
things over the few days but here are a few of my favourite testimonies:
- On our way down there which was a 10 hour
drive we wanted to start reaching out to people. So every place we stopped we
would look for people we felt the Lord wanted us to pray for. In this one
petrol station our leader Jason got a word of knowledge that someone had a lot
of knee pain and back pain and so he went around the shop asking people if they
had any pain. Finally the manager of the shop who had just come on shift heard
him and said “that’s me, that’s me…I was just telling my colleagues how much
pain I was in”. And so he brought her over to where we were sitting having
lunch, got her to sit down and checked if her legs where the same length (as
when they’re not can cause a lot of knee and back trouble). It turned out one
was a bit shorter than the other so he prayed a simple prayer and the shorter
leg shot out so visibly, to be the same length as the other. She was so amazed
that she started screaming and shouting saying “I felt that, did you see that?”
and she jumped up and all the pain was gone. It turned out she was a believer
but she’d never really experienced the supernatural before but was so hungry
for it. We prayed and prophesied over her for a bit and the presence of God
really came that she was almost falling over and we had to hold her up- and
this all happened in a petrol station! Her life was radically touched that day
and she told us that she’d been praying on her way in to work asking God to
help her get through the day as she was in so much pain and then He sent us.
-On Saturday night at the church service
one of the word of knowledge’s called out was for flat feet. A lady from the
church who is also in the school came up and I ended up praying for her.
Because she had flat feet it put a lot of pressure on her toes which was
causing her some pain. I’d seen the Lord form arches for a man who had flat
feet last year in the healing rooms and so I had total faith for it. So I
started to pray for arches to be formed and really for a creative miracle but nothing
was really happening. However, I saw the woman again the next evening and she
came up and told me that an arch had formed in one of her feet (the one which
was causing her pain) which was amazing but we still wanted to see the other
one formed. And so I prayed again for the other foot and again nothing really
happened. Then I saw her again on the Tuesday and the other arch had formed and
she had brand new arches!! I really loved this woman’s faith and perseverance
and it taught me that sometimes miracles are gradual and we just need to keep
going after it!
That’s just a few of the things that
happened. I had such an amazing time and really felt that the Lord increased my
capacity to love each person put in front of me! I loved to be able to
encourage, bless and love each person and release some of what we’ve been
getting here at Bethel!
Thanks to everyone who was praying for me
while I was away!
School Planting
A big part of our year here is something
called ‘Tracks’, where we get to focus in on one area of ministry for the whole
year. Daniel and I are both doing the School Planting Track. This includes a
class every week where we are learning how to set up and run ministry schools
similar to BSSM and also schools to influence different spheres of society.
This track covers everything, from vision and mission statements to budgeting
and scheduling. In addition to this our class is split into 3 teams and we are
designing model schools. These model schools are aimed at influencing some of
the different spheres of society- the Political sphere, the Education sphere
and the Business sphere. Over the last 2 years or so Bethel has really felt God
beginning to call them to focus on bringing kingdom influence and revival to
the different spheres of society. Therefore they have started to really explore
how to do that and one of the things they have started to think about is
designing schools for people in these different realms, which bring kingdom
values and principles relevant to their particular sphere of influence.
My team is designing a school for Ministers
of Education and the country we’re focusing on is the DR Congo, and Daniel is
in the team for Political Leaders in Kenya. We are designing 3 day seminars for
these leaders focusing in on different challenges these countries are facing in
relation to these spheres and looking at how we can bring kingdom minded
solutions and values to these problems. As you can imagine this is a very
challenging project which requires a lot of work and research but its been such
a learning experience and giving us real insight into what’s involved in
starting a school as well as how to bring the kingdom of God into these spheres
of society without needing to have a big Christian banner over it! Although
these schools we are designing are model schools (meaning we aren’t necessarily
going to go to these countries and do the school) Bethel has strong links in
these countries and even some ministry schools there, and so, some of the
material we come up with might well be used in the future. It so exciting to
think of how we can bring revival in different, creative, relevant ways and not
just think the answer is to try and get everyone to come to church. The Kingdom
of God is a lot bigger than just the four walls of the church, it can and is
breaking out in every sphere of society, how can we play our part in our
particular sphere of influence?
Mission Trip
We have recently found out that we’ve been
accepted to go on a mission to Columbia with a team of about 20 students for 12
days at the end of March 2013. We
will be going to the city of Medellin where we’ll be partnering with a group of
local revivalists to do crusade style evangelism, lead treasure hunts, minister
to street kids, widows and prostitutes and equip local believers to see lasting
revival in their city. For decades Columbia has been known as a hub for drug
and sex industries but after years of oppression and conflict the nation is
hungry for transforming revival and we are so excited to be a part of that happening
in one of Brazil’s neighbouring countries.
As you can imagine we need to raise quite a
bit of support to be able to go on this trip and so if you would like to sow
into us and the nation of Columbia you can do so by following the link below
and enter one of our names in the Give Today section and follow the
instructions:
We need to pay our deposit to secure our
place on the trip by 7th December so if you would like to give we
would much appreciate it.
So that’s us for us now! As we said, we’re
really working on trying to blog more regularly as we want to keep you more
informed and in the loop of what’s happening here and with us. We really
appreciate your ongoing support and prayer!
Love,
Christine
