An exciting report of WHERE God is taking our Missions teams!  

Global Outreach

Hi-Venture missions trips have different purposes.  Our destinations and our goals are determined by God.  Two recent trips to the United Kingdom (England, Wales and Scotland) illustrate.  The first was a speaking trip for several churches.  The second was to encourage leadership and to participate in a great time of worship and teaching at England's Stoneleigh Conference.

The Argentina trip was an expression of our hope that the Holy Spirit would touch us, change us and impart us with something to bless our home communities.  

We visited the churches where God had poured out revival in the past 15 years like the Christian church has not seen since Pentecost!  We had no interest in developing icons of the past.  We had a passion and a hunger to know the Lord in the manner He had chosen to reveal Himself to His children in the Buenos Aires area.  

To learn more about the Argentine revivals connect with the web sites listed in our links feature to Claudio Freidzon's Rey de Reyes Church, and Richard Riss' renewal history page.

Future trips are in the prayer and planning stages for Ireland and to Southeast Asia and South Africa.  As is our practice, we have received invitations to minister and we are waiting on God to put the trips together.  We welcome your inquiries, your financial support and invite you to join us in prayer.

Mission Trip To the Argentine Revival, October 2000

Argentina is everything you have heard.  The western church has been getting reports for more than a decade about the mighty move of God through His servants Omar Cabrera, Carlos Annacondia, Claudio Freidzon and others.  George Otis, Jr.'s Transformations video lists San Nicolas, a town some 3  hours from Buenos Aires, among its list of cities undergoing dramatic community wide spiritual transformation.  Stories have reached us of churches of scores of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of all night prayer sessions of 60,000 plus, of mass salvations and of a move of God calling people to new levels of holiness.  

It is true!  

First, what is not happening.  The revival in Argentina is not characterized by the things we associate with Toronto, Sunderland and Pensacola.  God has manifested a character in the Argentine revival distinct from these other great visitations.  Those inclined to dismiss the stories believing that Argentina is a naive, unsophisticated nation steeped in religious mysticism and inclined to follow anyone with a signs and wonders ministry are dead wrong.  Buenos Aires is a huge city, larger than New York city or London, modern, hi-tech with all the urban, fast paced life style of the US and Europe.  Some Argentine Christians have tended to dismiss the spiritual advances of other cultures because they saw themselves as too modern and sophisticated to embrace the things simpler people accept (like the Koreans, the Columbians and the Africans).  Sounds like an American attitude doesn't it?  And the Argentine awakening is not a syncretic movement with a mixture of Christian teachings and native spiritism or distorted Catholic practices.  Neither is the Argentine renewal worked up emotionalism in a culture of Latin passion.  While we witnessed great demonstrations of exuberance no where did I feel the manipulation so often seen in US rallies.  The shouting, the singing, the crying and the joy was spontaneous and clearly heartfelt.  

Now, what is happening! What we saw in Argentina was "church done right" (No, not perfect but much better than the normal American and English experience).  We met a people who modeled for us a selfless servanthood, a ceaseless devotion to reaching the lost, a passion for the Lord, an abandonment in worship, an unwavering faith and an expectancy that God would move.  These people accept that church services will last 3 to 4 hours.  Hard working laborers stood for more than four hours with absolutely no signs of distractedness.  No fidgeting, no checking the watch, no shifting from one foot to another.  They watched, transfixed, as the preacher spoke.  They prayed and worshipped and when the invitation came, they cried streams of tears and pressed in for more of God.

We spent over 10 days with people whose humility and faithfulness and overwhelming love reduced our team in conviction to tears.  And when these precious saints expressed puzzlement that we would come so far seeking what it seemed to them, we already had and when they asked us to pray for them, it was all I could do to keep from falling on my knees sobbing.  Churches of poor believers provided us meals after nearly every meeting and it was obvious that their service to us came at considerable expense yet they seemed to delight in blessing us.  

Our host was Pastor Marcelo Marioni, his family and his church.  We were instantly loved by these amazing people.  Pastor Marcelo has long standing relationships with many of the leaders of the revival and before we arrived he arranged for our visit to 8 churches.  Without exception our team was received warmly, ushered to the best seats in the house, welcomed publicly from the platform, often prayed for, several times invited to participate in the meeting and personal prayer following, fed afterwards, greeted privately by the pastor, and offered every courtesy and affection imaginable.  This occurred regardless of whether the church had 150 members or 10,000!  It was obviously a any-friend-of-Marcelo's- is-a-friend-of-mine sort of thing.  Marcelo was a gift from God.

Our first event was a tent meeting with Carlos Annacondia.  This giant in the revival was holding daily evangelistic meetings and the Saturday night we appeared more than 6000 were in attendance.  C. Peter Wagner says of Annacondia that he is likely the greatest urban evangelist of all time.  Over 600 accepted Christ that night.  Many more received a deliverance in an adjoining tent.  We have no count of the number of healings.  The meeting continued until midnight with no one leaving until the final moment yet every seat was filled, hundreds more stood in every aisle and a big video screen stood outside the tent for more of the overflow.  Annacondia prayed for each member of our team and the anointing was powerful and undeniable.

We spent Sunday at Marcelo's "I Believe in Miracles" Church.  The morning service was a children's outreach.  The children were adorable and team member Pastor Mike Bashor of Vancouver gave a devotional that captivated both children and adults alike.   Following the service we joined with church members to feed the neighborhood children a hot meal prepared by the ladies of the church.

Pastor Raul Gimenez of Portland, and the Argentine born coordinator of this trip, preached for the evening meeting.  An adult service, our entire team provided personal ministry and altar prayer for those responding to the invitation.  As would be the pattern for the balance of our visit virtually everyone approached the altar requesting prayer to experience more of God.  Our prayer ministry lasted another hour and we left exhausted and deeply gratified.

Following a day of site seeing and souvenir hunting on Monday, Tuesday featured an evening service at the Hudson Church in a poorer area of Buenos Aires.  It was my honor to preach that night and I delivered a message calling us to remain open to the ever new works of the Holy Spirit.  The response was overwhelming with everyone coming forward and many coming back for "spiritual seconds."

On Wednesday we traveled 3 hours to San Nicolas, the city undergoing transformation.  During the day we were privileged to talk with a godly woman by the name of Veronica who God used powerfully in the prophetic throughout the awakening of San Nicolas.  She shared with us simple and eternal truths that carried an anointing like I have never experienced before.  After the hour plus long talk several of us felt like lying prostrate before the throne of God and just worshipping.  Our spirits lept within us as Veronica spoke.

The evening service was at Pastor Hugo Weiss' church in San Nicolas.  This service was the signs and wonders experience we had expected!  The platform and altar area was filled with people laying, falling, laughing, praising and more throughout the meeting.  Even some of our team were hit including Andrew Lawrence from Cambridge, England who while very gracious and with a heart after God, has that classic English reserve and is definitely not given to uncontrolled displays of emotionalism.  Andy laughed non stop during the entire 45 minute sermon, even slipping off his chair twice!!  Not very English but entirely Holy Ghost!

Thursday and Friday gave us opportunity to learn about cell ministries.  We visited two churches that feature a cell group structure.  One has about 8,630 people in cell groups and the other has almost 10,000!  They conduct their cell ministries differently but both have found it greatly successful in providing both pastoral care and church growth.  We were very blessed.  In Pastor Guillermo Prein's church we witnessed a gathering of cells that so packed the sanctuary and lobby of the church that I would find it difficult to squeeze between any two chairs.  Hundreds of cells filled every inch.  Yet these were cells of cell leaders!  In all, the church conducts over 900 cells!  Including cells of teens and children.  In Pastor Osvaldo Carnival's church I even found a cell group meeting on the floor of the men's restroom as space was at a premium.  

Pastor Prein's church also operates an amazing children's ministry.  We had heard that they had teams of children intercessors.  They said, "No.  We have no designated intercessors.  We teach all the children to be intercessors."  And every Saturday they take children to the local hospital to pray for the sick.  They have had countless healings from the prayers of the children but have also accounted for nine people, pronounced dead, to be raised back to life!!  When they have lead children into the streets to pray they see people come to Christ.  On one day they stopped to pray in front of a house and the family inside came running out shouting that their house was shaking and it must be an earthquake!  It was the prayers of those with the faith of a child!

Following the service that ended at midnight at Pastor Prein's church, a second service began with the closing song of the earlier service being the opening song of the second service.  They explained that this second service would be followed by more cell group meetings!  This is close to a 24 hour church.

My wife Cathy spoke at a ladies meeting on Saturday afternoon.  Her word was very well received as reported by lots of people.  In full characteristic, the ladies laid out a marvelous tea (Argentine style) and they responded with spiritual hunger and personal graciousness.  These people are incredibly giving and loving and it clearly grows from a heart of service to God.

Sunday morning took us to Omar Cabrera's church.  I had heard that Cabrera pastored a church of over 60,000 so I was eager to see what I thought would be a stadium type facility.  We arrived at a renovated theater in downtown Buenos Aires and I learned that Pastor Omar's church was about 900.  When I asked for an explanation I was told that his ministry had birthed so many other churches that he actually operated in an apostolic role for over 100,000 believers!!  The large numbers I had heard referred to occasional mass rallies held when his churches get together.  Pastor Omar was out of the country this day but we received a tour of the facilities, we were given access to a side room for translation and the guest speaker this morning was our own Pastor Raul! 

Our evening service was at "Rey de Reyes" Church...King of Kings Church, pastored by Claudio and Betty Friedzon.  All I can say is, WOW!!  We arrived at the end of the afternoon's second service, listened to the sermon and watched the altar ministry for nearly 40 minutes, then entered for the third service.  Both services were standing room only in this nearly 1000 seat auditorium but the lobby area filled quickly with people waiting to get in.  We were provided headsets to hear the sermon in English and it was wonderful.  The service was on fire!!  It was the BEST worship service I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!!!  Not because of the professionalism of the worship team but because of the passion of the people in the seats.  It ran for over two hours and well before it ended the lobby was filled with people for the 4th service!!  The presence of God was incredibly tangible and His power was overwhelming to many on our team including ME!!  What an amazing night.  What an amazing week!  What an amazing God!!

Our trip included many other special moments.  Daily devotional sessions for our team were powerful.  Especially the presentation of the children's ministry by Marcelo's children pastor, Christian and his wife, Cristina, the "graduation" service when the Holy Spirit anointed our English brother Paul Bridle for apostolic service to England, the unexpected arrival of the pastors from Rawson, Argentina, 1000 miles away, whose town is aflame with revival, the prophetic dance of Bernice Dunn from Portland, and the raising of nearly $1500 to give to the ministries of Marcelo's church.  

We toured the city, enjoyed some of the best food I've ever had (especially the bife de chorizo...STEAK to die for!), saw wonderful shopping areas with street tango dancers and artists, visited the fabulous Catholic Cathedral, and prayed for Argentina in front of their "Pink House" (like our White House and congress).  

We went painfully aware of our own inadequacies and doubting that we had anything of worth to give to the church of Buenos Aires.  We trusted that the God that had poured out His blessing on these people would continue to show His love for them by using us if we just made ourselves available.  And He was faithful!!  He did.  We were so privileged to be included in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the people of Argentina.  And as is so often the case, we received much, much more than we gave.  

"Thank you Lord.  It was an incredible experience and a miraculous trip! And help us Dear Lord to apply the truths we watched and the anointing we felt in our communities in the US and England.  Bring awakening to our Nations, Oh God!"