I can’t possibly even begin to fill you in on all the magnificent testimonies of what God is doing around the world, so my only hope is to peak your interest with personal highlights. The opening night speaker was Loren Cunningham, the 83–year-old founder of YWAM, who is still flying from country to country, leading the ministry in great exploits. We heard Loren for the first time last year at the conference and we can’t hear enough of his amazing testimonies from around the world. We’ve known of YWAM for over 30 years, but we had no idea of the impact that YWAM and Loren Cunningham have made in world events. Last year, we heard him give an account of a current national event that only God could have arranged and that we’ll never forget, but since we heard it at one of the un-taped meal sessions, I’m not allowed to share it here. The next time you see me, if you ask me about Loren Cunningham, I can share this tremendous “God story” with you.
The emphasis at this year’s conference was the impartation of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to the conference delegates in order to enhance their results for transformation in their many different spheres of influence. We were blessed to receive many prayers of impartation from brothers and sisters from around the world, but one such prayer left me with a lasting memory. This impartation came from the very large delegation from Hong Kong, led by retired Judge Barbara Chan, YK Chan and Pastor Wong. When they got up to report what they, as one of the oldest and strongest moves of transformation with TOW, could impart, they gently declared, “We carry humility,” and they−with many influential delegates−certainly did! Humility was an amazing ‘God empowering” attribute to choose to impart to the delegates from other parts of the world.
The next moment that was especially meaningful to Richard and I was to hear Pastor Norberto Carlini from Resistencia, Argentina. Pastor Carlini was, and still is, one of the foundational pastors of the powerful revival that swept over Resistencia in the mid-1990’s. This revival was largely due to the (then) relatively unknown evangelist, Carlos Annacondia. Ed Silvoso was a part of that move. Cindy Jacobs was called to the area in the early days of her ministry. These, along with a handful of believers we have just ‘come across’ in Los Cabos, were all called to the area during this time. Ever since working for an entire year to host the Carlos Annacondia Crusade in Los Cabos, we have been amazed at what God used Carlos Annacondia to do in Resistencia and the change it made in the brothers and sisters who were a part of that move of God.
Ed had Pastor Carlini come to the conference to share what has happened in the city since God began to change the city. Ed asked for the privilege to translate for Pastor Carlini and the power of the presence of the Lord flowed between them like fire. That was at the morning session, with a teaching luncheon following—with Ed again translating for Pastor Carlini. It was during the luncheon that Richard and I rushed over to tell Pastor Carlini about Carlos Anacondia’s crusade in Los Cabos in 2016. We then told him we knew of the unction of the Holy Spirit on the Argentine pastors, and asked if he would be willing to impart the fire to us. He was delighted to pray over us and we are grateful to God for that moment!
In order to share our last ‘special’ experience, I need to quickly share that while we were in Michigan in August for our annual excursion to our home base in Muskegon, MI, I was in a severe auto accident and our mini-van was demolished. I was miraculously spared serious injury, apart from extensive bruising, 18 stitches, a broken left thumb and a broken right arm. We were scheduled to fly back to Los Cabos one week after the accident, and all the American doctors were very helpful and told Richard how to remove my stitches, along with giving him instructions for caring for me during recovery. I only share the story of the accident to tell you that I had a cast on my right arm during the conference and that is key to what I am going to share next…
I had been asking the Lord to have mercy on me and heal my right arm faster than the predicted three to four months but, of course, I did not have confirmation that He would choose to do a faster work of healing. Pastor Kris Valloton, associate lead pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, CA, had just taught in the morning session. Bethel Church originally had a mission school two hours north of us in Mexico in our state capitol of La Paz until not long before we first came to the area in 2010. We heard through the grapevine that there were several encouraging prophetic words spoken over the Baja at that time, so when Richard saw Kris Valloton in the hall after the session, he asked Kris if he remembered any of the words. During that short pause in the hall, Kris, who also runs the School of Ministry, looked at my cast, asked what had happened and said, “I’ll have to pray for you tonight.” This was special because Kris carries a heavy anointing for praying for the sick, even though the purpose of this meeting wasn’t for personal prayer.
The session he referred to was actually late afternoon and we were ready. We ran right up to him after the teaching. He quickly, but gladly, prayed for my arm and then had to rush to catch his plane home. From that time on, my arm felt much better, but we do not have confirmation. My orthopedic surgeon from Muskegon, MI had already told me just to get an x-ray in Mexico and send the DVD via the internet to him and he would read it for me. We still haven’t figured out a comfortable and economical way to get an x-ray yet, but either way, this was a special divine appointment with Kris Valloton.
I need to bring this to a close since I am typing with one hand—and my left one at that. Check out the material on the TOW website and enjoy the photos from the conference. A big thank-you to all of you that made it possible for us to attend this year’s conference!