of their careers. They were very active members in their church. Their lives were so filled with the Lord, His people, and His blessings.
In the Summer of 2001, the leadership of their church called the entire congregation to a 90-day period of prayer and fasting...the Purpose: How would God have you serve His church?
Praying humbly before the Lord – in complete submission to Him, Ray and Tressa never expected God to say: “I want you to give Me your lives – full time – leaving the business world and serving Me.”
After receiving this call from the Lord for full-time ministry, they would then spend the next nine months praying, seeking Him and waiting on His direction. God then revealed His Mission: “Encourage My shepherds. Serve My church. My church needs to return to the basics – Prayer; Bible Study; and Evangelism. And, I want you to serve Me in West Virginia.”
God then led Ray and Tressa to establish A Flame for Christ Ministries, an equipping and training ministry who’s mission is to multiply trained lay people within the local church so they are able to exhort the body of Christ into life long, dedicated disciples – on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tressa is from West Virginia, but had been gone 18 years. Ray was not from the area. But, they followed the Lord in obedience and arrived in Bridgeport, West Virginia in August, 2002.
Listen as they tell us what God has done over the past nineteen months in answer to diligent, fervent prayer:
We thought we knew what prayer was before we got to West Virginia, but we would soon learn we were mere infants in prayer. We have learned that prayer – humble, committed prayer – is an absolute must in everything! Everything we do – personally and in ministry – must be saturated in prayer.
God Almighty has opened doors for us since we arrived here. Coming from the business world, Tressa thought we should knock on doors and network anyway we could in order to get in front of pastors. However, Ray, in his prayer closet, was hearing God say: “Wait on Me. I’ll open the doors.”
And open doors He has. In less than two years, God has opened doors with pastors (all across denominational lines)...allowing us to work hands on with almost 20 churches. Over one hundred new prayer closets have been established in the area. Ninety people have now been challenged to study the Word of God every week in inductive bible study. Two hundred and sixty people have been trained how to effectively share the gospel. AND over 170 people have prayed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior!
This is answered prayer!
Ray spends hours in his prayer closet. In May of 2003, Ray felt God impressing upon him to unite the Pastors in the area in II Chronicles 7:14 prayer -- seeking a Holy Spirit-led revival for West Virginia. This was truly a God-sized task for a stranger to the area, not seminary trained, and only living here for less than a year. As Ray submitted to God’s leading, God brought the Pastors together. God would use a Clyde Dupin Crusade coming to the area in September, 2003, to unite His Pastors in prayer. Today, these Pastors continue to faithfully pray together every Monday morning.
And...it’s not just prayer... These Shepherds pray in humility, seeking the face of God. For many, many months now, God has continuously focused our prayers in repentance for not only personal sin, but the sin of God’s church -- the bride. The bride has been adulterous with the world... and this group of united, committed Shepherds has wept before God crying out for His conviction to fall upon His church and for a healing of this land.
In April of 2004, God started leading this praying group to go even farther asking each one to pursue Holiness – a thorough cleansing before a Holy God.
The result? The Holy Spirit is moving in our city. There is a stirring among the people of God desiring a deeper relationship with the Lord. We are seeing a yearning for deeper truths from God’s Word and for a cleansed, obedient heart. God’s people are uniting together in corporate prayer. Every quarter, hundreds of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ from churches all across our city and county are gathering across denominational lines in genuine, heartfelt prayer.
We are seeing the Holy Spirit convicting the Lost of their need for a Savior! Just a few weeks ago, four people were just driving in their cars and fell under an overwhelming sense of conviction. They stopped at the closest church they could find and went to the Pastor asking how to be saved. This is answered, believing prayer!
One of the pastors committed to prayer has seen twenty-four people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ just since the first of this year! His small congregation of 60 hasn’t seen twenty-four people saved in 10 years!!! To God be the glory!
When we see what God has done in this area just in the last nineteen months, we are filled with awe for our holy God. God is holy, and we will continue to call upon the name of Jesus and ask Him to fill our heart with His purity and His supernatural power so we can sow righteousness and seek the face of a Holy God.
We are just two people that obeyed God’s call to leave the business world in Texas and minister to His church in West Virginia. Neither of us has been formally trained. We just stay on our knees, and God continuously provides every need and continuously changes lives all around us, including our very own.
Pray -- God’s people – please, pray. Pray in humility. Seek God’s face. Repent, church, repent of your wicked ways. Call upon the name of Jesus. God has promised He will hear from heaven, forgive the sin and heal the land.
To Him be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
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