December 2020
December 24, 2020
October 2021
October 11, 2021
Thank you for your prayers and support during our recent tour to the north of England and Scotland. We would like to share with you what God did.
On the morning of the 6th of August we left our home to embark on a journey to Droitwich, Worcestershire. Upon our arrival at Emmanuel Church we were greeted with big smiles and warm greetings. Pastors David and Malcolm had both met Pastor John Watson in the ’80s in South Africa and the UK respectively and were blessed by the previous team of Vinesong on separate occasions. Although they had never met the current team, they welcomed us as long-lost friends. During the soundcheck we could see that people were already blessed and teary-eyed and we could all sense the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Because most people who came that evening had heard about Vinesong before but hadn’t met the Next Generation team, there was high expectation for the event. The church had prayed for it and there was an atmosphere of faith in the room. As we started to worship the Lord, waves of His presence started to flow. In the end, three people came forward to pray the sinner’s prayer and surrender their lives to Jesus; one of them being the young daughter of their pastor in training. All Glory to God!
The next morning we left early to drive to Romford, Essex for a 5-year celebration service of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Oasis of Mercy. After a blessed time of worship, two people came forward for salvation. A man recommitted his life to the Lord and a young girl gave her life to Jesus. What a privilege to see someone make an eternal decision at an early age.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”Matthew 19:14 NIV
We packed all our equipment and said goodbye to begin our 5-hour journey to York. We thank God for His protection as we travelled and for the prayers of many who were interceding for us.
Just before midnight we arrived at our accommodation to have a quick rest before leaving at 6 am the next morning to travel to Dewsbury Gospel Church for a Sunday morning service. Needless to say, we were relying on God’s strength and energy that day.
After a time of deep worship and an encouraging Word shared by Daniel, the Holy Spirit walked amongst the people as we saw so many starting to respond. Ministry opened up and we had the opportunity to pray for a salvation, healing, marriage restoration, baptism in the Holy Spirit and many other personal needs.
We left for Edinburgh the following Wednesday to visit our dear friends Carlo and Jasmine Crolla on our way further north. We had a great time of fellowship with them and their family, including a short time of ministry.
Following an inspiring conversation with Carlo and Jasmine’s daughter Naomi, we also felt led to record a FridayPM interview with her. She is very passionate about the importance of children and youth in the church. We called this episode “Become Like Children”.
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3 NIV
Upon our arrival in Dundee on Friday afternoon, we were welcomed by the Pastor of RCCG House of Praise and his family. We had a great time of worship and Pastor Sharp told us afterwards that he felt a shift in the Spirit. We believe a spiritual seed has been sown.
From Dundee we travelled to Aberdeen where we held a Worship Workshop at RCCG Fountain of Love. Rachael shared on the origin of worship, Charlene talked about purity in worship and Daniel spoke about the importance of servant’s heart for worshippers. After a Q&A session people were invited forward and we had the opportunity to pray for individual needs.
The next morning we had the privilege to lead the Sunday morning service at the same church and were encouraged by a great turnout as restrictions are slowly easing in Scotland.
Blessed to know that people’s lives have been changed that weekend, we went to enjoy our Sunday lunch provided by the church at a local restaurant. Close to the end of our time there, we got chatting to our waiter Jeremy and found out that he’s from the same area that Zachary was born in America. After telling him a bit about what our ministry does, he told us that he had gone for a mission to India with YWAM and that is where he had met his wife. Though our conversation was very short, we gave him our details and we agreed to stay in touch.
The next day just as we were organising lunch, we received a message from Jeremy inviting us all for lunch at his place. We gladly accepted. After we met Jeremy’s wife Jodi and their beautiful boy Elijah and listened to their life stories, we sang a blessing over their family. A word of prophecy was also spoken which confirmed to Jeremy his calling. It was truly a divine appointment!
Afterwards, we drove back to Dundee to spend some more time with Pastor Sharp and his family. He encouraged us to keep sharing what we’ve learned about worship wherever we go and an impromptu worship workshop was organised for a few local worship teams. Almost half of all worshippers present were under the age of 20. It was very encouraging how serious they were and to see the Holy Spirit touch them as we called those in need of prayer forward following our worship.
“Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
Psalm 8:2
From Dundee we returned to York, and this time our hosts Michael and Trish Askew were home so we got to share a wonderful time of fellowship with them. We are very thankful to them for letting us use their house in their absence as well as their presence. They have become like family to us and their house our home in Yorkshire.
While in Yorkshire, we got to visit a few friends of ours, including Pastors Abe and Lil de Fin. They are the parents of former Vinesong team member Peter de Fin and direct family of the late Smith Wigglesworth. They pastored a church in South Africa that has now grown to 12,000 members over several campuses. After Peter took on the leadership of that church, Abe and Lil were called to start a church in Bradford in the same building that Smith Wigglesworth used over 100 years ago. They have found such favour in their area and they can see God drawing people to Himself along with the stirrings of revival.
We took advantage of the opportunity to interview our dear friend Pastor Reuben whilst we were in York, for FridayPM. He has a very fresh and innovative approach to leading a church in England that carries the heart of his Nigerian denomination, but is very open to people from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds. We believe you will find his testimony encouraging. He has both seen and experienced many miracles which is why we called this episode simply “Miracles”! Stay tuned, because the interview is coming out on Friday 3rd September on our YouTube channel.
On Sunday morning, we ministered at RCCG Hope Centre York, the church that Pastor Reuben pastors. It was great to hear everyone singing their hearts out as we led worship. After Daniel shared about the Great Commission from Matthew 28, he encouraged the congregation to come forward for prayer if they wanted to receive an anointing for evangelism. The young people came forward in numbers.
It was confirmation of the fact that the Lord is moving among young people and that we should never dismiss or take it lightly when they respond to the Lord. We believe many great ministers of the “Joshua” generation fully dedicated their lives to the Lord during the meeting.
Throughout our tour, we saw how young people were responding to the Gospel and giving their lives to Jesus. We were so blessed by the way that God confirmed the importance of children and young people once again when we spoke to Naomi in Edinburgh.
Our tour, though short was very encouraging and uplifting. It was amazing that the Pastors in Scotland said yes to our coming even before the Government had opened the country up. God honoured their faith and the lockdown was eased on the Monday before the meetings we had there. What a faithful God we serve!
