GEOFF + JILL LUDLOW
FULL SAIL MINISTRIES c/o Tulare County Outreach, Inc. PO Box 1772 Visalia, CA 93279-1772
DISPLAYING GOD’S HEART THROUGH THE ARTS S P R I N G
MALAYSIA OUTREACH
VISALIA CURRENT We are literally counting down the days to April 28-29 when our team will host another Current for Women weekend away – this one in Visalia, California at Radiant Church (515 E. Center Avenue; Visalia, CA 93292). Already 35 churches from around the area are involved in helping to get the word out and we are expecting a full house! The theme is “Living Hope: Finding Life in the Waiting”, based on I Peter 1:1-9. Through worship, real life women’s video-taped stories, dance and painting, reflective stations for prayer and journaling, and teachings from the Word of God, we look forward to offering safe space and un-rushed time to (re)connect with the heart of the Father.
From September 10-24 of this year, we have the incredible privilege of partnering with Dalat International School in Penang, Malaysia for their Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW) – three days of interactive meetings with students from grades K-12, staff, and parents focused on God’s loving invitation into connection. Following SEW, our team will also host a Current for Women Weekend. Our sponsor on the ground in Malaysia characterized the significance of this event like this: “There has never been a women-only event like this in Malaysia, and the intention… is to foster a personal and life-changing encounter with the Holy Spirit.” Be watching for further details on this exciting, unprecedented opportunity and how you can be involved!
HOW YOU CAN HELP...
If the stories in this newsletter excite your heart, and make you want to be a part of what God is doing through Full Sail Ministries, use the enclosed envelope or visit www.fullsail.org/give to make a monthly or one-time financial gift. We are so grateful for your support!
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e went into our 2017 Thailand Outreach (Feb 14 – March 12) with a deep sense that God was planning an Ephesians 3:20 experience - doing beyond what we could even ask or imagine! And He did not disappoint us!! Through all three portions of our outreach, He surprised us with His creative and life-changing Presence!
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“The heartbeat behind our International Outreaches is to pour into the lives of missionaries who spend their own lives pouring into the lives of others, to come alongside them in sharing the Gospel, and to provide safe spaces for life-changing encounters with God.”
One of our first glimpses of this was in the Girls’ Juvenile Detention Center with missionary friends Carmen Owen and Cynthia Friesen, who journey there weekly to offer Bible Study and prayer. Jill reflects: “25 precious girls gathered around on the cement floor as I told my story of God’s rescuing Love, and I literally felt as if I was delivering a personal message from His heart to theirs: ‘You are not alone. I see you. I know you. I am the Source of True Love and I am right here to fill you up with that Love.’ I remember pausing at the end and looking into face after precious face, sensing His invitation going deep. Carmen, who was hearts. I am literally in awe of God! And I’m full of gratitude that interpreting for me, asked for the girls, who wanted to experience Carmen and Cynthia will be there week after week, consistently this Source of True Love, to scoot up close so that I could pray for watering and nurturing those seeds.” them. Nearly every girl hurried in. So vulnerable. So dear. As we prayed, I felt the seeds dropping down into the tender soil of their
T H A I C U R R E N T F O R WOM E N
IN T HEIR OW N WORDS
Finding our Home with the Father
“I don’t even know where to start. This has been such a good, blessed, special time. I’ve been holding so much back for so long and I love the invitation to go deeper and to know Him better and to be more ‘me’ in Him. I loved the music, the stations, the paintings, Jill’s expounding God’s Word so powerfully. I loved sensing God so powerfully and hearing Him. Thank you to all of you. Just THE best 2 days in SO many ways.”
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hat a privilege to offer a two-night version of Current for Women on February 27-28 to women whose primary language is Thai! The music, testimonies, reflective stations, prayer and teaching were all translated so that every woman could hear God’s Word being spoken in her own heart language. After the first night, the pastor of the hosting church posted an invitation on his social media account saying, ‘Come tonight to experience True Love’ and after the second night, he marveled at so many tears (unusual in this culture) and the reports that so many women had “cried all night because they had received so much inner healing.” Several women made solid first time commitments to Jesus and many others received physical healing, laying down huge burdens, hearing God’s Voice for the very first time, and experiencing His personal and tangible Love for them.
TEAM REFLECTION | JEAN ROWLES
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“Toward the end of the first evening at the foot washing station, a Thai woman involved in ministry, came to a team member and me. We washed her feet and prayed over her, and after we finished, she began to share about her life and ministry, opening her heart to us and sharing some deep wounds and long held anger from events that had taken place 10 years ago! At one point she apologized for talking so much but said that she just couldn’t share this with anyone. I am grateful that Father God knew she needed to unload her burdens, so He sent two women from the States to offer a safe space to express her heart. I am just in awe of the Father’s heart for this woman! He saw her clearly, knew intimately what she needed and loved her through us without condition.”
“God connected some dots for me and showed me how I have allowed the enemy and my circumstances to erode the Truth in my life. Thank you for your message! It has been life-giving in a valley of dry bones.” “Thank you so much for coming. I haven’t had a retreat or space to deeply connect with God in the six years I have been living here. I knew God needed to renew a steadfast spirit within me. This weekend He did that and so much more. I am so grateful a whole team of people would come just for us to encourage and uplift. Thank you.” “I’ve never experienced the creative arts in worship. I’ve known it existed and longed to experience it. Thank you for including the painters and the dancers. I love art. I’ve never experienced a connection through dancers’ moves but this weekend I found my heart saying, ‘This is how I feel’…It was amazing! Thank you!” “The worship dancers communicated the hope of the resurrection in a powerful way! Jill, I can’t thank you enough for allowing the Holy Spirit to move through you this weekend. You truly bared your soul. Thank you for real theological depth. I heard from God through you this weekend. The music and painting also were vessels to pour out the love and joy of the Lord. Thank you to everyone who prayed and prepared this sacred space for us to meet with God. And please express my gratitude to your financial supporters who enabled you to bless us this weekend.”
PRAYER AND WORSHI P WITH THE NATIONS Partnering with friends in Chonburi, Thailand
From March 7-11 we were able to come alongside our longtime friend and missionary serving in Thailand, Andy Owen, to lead worship for the International Conference of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) hosted in Chonburi. Andy asked our team to lead worship with him, and create safe space and un-rushed time for full-time missionaries and Christian workers coming from 35 different nations in the “Oasis Prayer Room.” What a joy and honor it was to run alongside and encourage these faithful missionaries, as we pressed in to all that God had for us that week!
E N G L I SH C UR R E N T F OR WOM EN Finding Life in the Waiting We had the amazing opportunity of hosting our second Englishspeaking Current for Women on March 3-5 for missionaries and Christian workers from around Southeast Asia (our last one being in March of 2015). Our team arrived at the Horizon Resort and began transforming the large banquet room into a world away! With the help of several of our dear missionary
friends who allowed their homes to be confiscated of pillows, carpets, lamps, baskets, candles, and blankets, by the time the attendees began checking in on Friday at 2:00, the Meeting Room felt like Home! About 120 women joined us for the weekend and we were absolutely delighted by their responses!
T E A M R E F L E C T I O N | JA M I E B E C K “This part of our outreach [ICOMB] has far exceeded all expectations I could have ever had. Testimonies of brothers and sisters sharing the Gospel in hard, lonely, dangerous places. The Spirit came in power as desperate hearts asked for fresh filling. I am so, so humbled that God would give us so much favor and connection with heads of organizations, regions and agencies. Humble, contrite hearts receiving significant, deep work of the Spirit. I learned so much more about prayer and intercession. There was no way to outgive or outlove as we come away so, so full!! The days started with leadership prayer and worship practice at 7:45 am and often didn’t end until 10 or 11 each night. And yet refreshment came at every turn. This team (half went back a week ago) has been a delight and joy, truly a mini-church in action. Our hearts are full.”