Neville & Richard lead The Elijah Challenge South Australia
June 2013
The Elijah Challenge in Australia
Again God has answered our prayers in very specific ways as we saw Him at work in our midst. Here are some highlights:
When we arrived to set up about 2 pm it was raining. We were so dependent on the Lord to enable us to get through the afternoon without being rained out. At that point a huge rainbow appeared over the city, as though the Lord was reminding us that He would be faithful. And He was. We had only a short burst of rain as Kevin gave the message. The amazing thing was that nobody left. People listened intently, even though we were all getting wet! The rest of the time was fine.
Nick led us in a great worship time and as so often happens the presence of God came, preparing the ground for the word to be shared.
Pastor Kevin Dales spoke of his own addiction to alcohol as a teenager and sense of loneliness and rejection, and how God touched his life and turned him around. It was a powerful reminder of the grace of God and His power to transform.
We were able to minister to one young man for healing, using the authority Jesus gave us. We believe God touched him as we ministered. Others were also ministered to.
A young man with a prison, drug and alcohol background attended. He is very open to the gospel, in fact we believe is on the edge of coming in to the Kingdom. Peter is following him up.
An older man from Iran attended. He is very lonely here after only coming to Australia 7 months ago. He genuinely thanked us for our support and wants to keep in touch. We have promised to do that.
A Chinese couple, who could hardly speak any English, came to the park to play table tennis which has been set up by the council, and is right next to our outreach. The team connected with them and gave them an Alpha booklet in Mandarin. They were very grateful for both the book and the barbeque.
An aboriginal woman and her child were cared for by some of the team during the afternoon. She came and gave one of the women on our team a big hug at the end of the day. She was very grateful for the love and acceptance she found through the team.
Garth and Greg and the catering team had to cope with the rain as they were preparing the barbeque. It turned out a great meal as it always does and people’s plates were overloaded with meat and salads etc. We continue to be very grateful to Oz Harvest for the fresh food they supply to us each month, delivered right on Whitmore Square! Also to Gawler River Meat Company and a Gawler greengrocer who supply meat and fruit at no cost every month.
Right at the end just after the team gathered in a circle to thank God for what He had done, one of the men who attended came over and thanked us and pulled out his wallet and passed on $50 to us for the work of the ministry. He went on to tell us he was going out to play the pokies last night, but at the last minute came to the outreach. He was so grateful, he came.
We look back and see God’s hand in so many ways. There were many other stories that came out of the event, but too numerous to mention.