Pastor Phil Wyman looks back at 2015 at The Gathering

2015 joins the previous couple years as part of our crazy years of transition. We have taken an epic wilderness journey into becoming a gathering of house (and pub) churches. This year (perhaps) has been even more of a wandering than any previous year of our existence. Then again, having mapped territory no one before us had ever mapped in our work in the city of Salem, maybe it was just another crazy year, but we keep following the Shepherd who leads us on.

2015 started off with a surprise. At the end of January, I (Pastor Phil) ended up with a sudden attack of back pains, which could have been measured on the Richter Scale. By February, this turned into an extended hospital stay and the discovery that the pains had nothing to do with pulled muscles or slipped discs. Rather, a strep infection was found in my blood stream, and pockets of that infection had settled inside my spinal column, and scarier yet, inside my heart. I was effectively down and out from late January until May, and although I was home for much of that time, I was connected to antibiotic drip systems six hours a day, which looked like a medical version of the “Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch.” And, fortunately, like the Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch it worked and wiped out the infection.

The church, and our local friends were wonderful during this time. They brought me food, lots of probiotics, and reminders of love. Boxes of nerds arrived from our geek friends, balloons from bartenders, and meals that made a hospital visit seem less of a drudgery. One of our home-groups even held a service in the hospital room one Saturday morning. I did not feel as badly, as my critical condition, and so I became a bit squirrely, and wandered the hallways playing my guitar and singing to people. This turned out to be enough of a hit, that some of the night crew cheered when I returned for a second visit, and then apologized for being excited to see me back in the hospital again.

Somewhere in this time, our now weekly home and pub groups gathered together for a grand meeting of eating and sharing and I was hooked to my Holy Hand Grenade, and they made it all happen, while I sat like a happy papa and looked on.

The Holy Hand Grenade worked just in the nick of time, and while the church had been meeting and doing its weekly activities without me, there had also been a UK Festival Outreach, which had been in the planning for 6 months. Two days before I was to fly to the UK, and meet Dennis there, I received the doctor’s clearance. So, off I flew to Wales with oral antibiotics in hand. There we built an art project at BurningNest; we worked the doors and debates at a philosophy festival; and we ministered to the 23,000 hippies, hipsters and all around seekers at Stonehenge during the Summer Solstice.

Of course, as October rolled around, we were back on the streets of Salem during our one million visitor month with live music every weekend, and hundreds of friends from around the country joining us for ministry. We bought pizza for some of the homeless youth and elders who like to hang around our stage, we interpreted dreams, we shared the love of our Lord Jesus with locals and visitors alike, and we simply created a presence of acceptance and love during a weird and wild holiday season in our unique city.

Between the time in the hospital and the frenetic pace of Festival outreach from Summer through Fall, this year has seemed like a blur, and does even now as I look back in the rearview mirror.

The hospital stay and prolonged downtime was perhaps a forced sabbatical of sorts. I was able to complete a book I had been working on for a few years, and Burning Religion is now self-published and online at Amazon.com.

Despite all this, we bought ice cream for the kids at the park on the Point in Salem during the summer, and we joined the World’s Largest Eye Contact Experiment in October.

Please keep us in your prayers. Getting back into a regular pattern of spiritual life as a body of people has not been easy, but we continue our ride into Bethlehem and appreciate every person who remembers our labors.

If you would like to help support the mission of the The Gathering, which has moved from a local expression of innovative mission, to something beyond the boundaries of our own country, you can do so at our website --> salemgathering.org. May your Christmas, your Solstiee, your Hannukah, and your New Year be blessed.

Jesus without strings: a look back at 2011

Having a church in Salem, Massachusetts is considered by some to be adventurous enough by itself. Having that church downtown along the historic walk which all the visitors follow, and in the midst of the plethora of witchcraft shops, haunted houses and Halloween knick knack shops, is even more adventurous. Making friends with the Witches, the musicians, the artists, and the homeless in Salem is downright dangerous - or some believe it is. But, Jesus lived dangerously, and we expect that following His example might occasionally have the same adventurous results.

This year there have been some new and adventurous things happening at the church.

There is a a Open Mic every Thursday evening, and a group of local musicians have made the event a regular experience, and it has become a place some have found a home away from home.

Our creative style of outreach reached out as far as northern Nevada this year. With a team from around the US, we led an art installation at the Burning Man Festival. Like Salem, Burning Man is a strange and crazy place. A video of our project, with interviews from the people who came to experience it can be found on Youtube.

Like each of the last 13 years, October was a wonderful time of outreach and stories of redemption. People came from far and wide to minister with us once again - from Texas, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the UK were just some of the places represented. The Vineyard, the Association of Bridge Churches, the Assemblies of God, Youth with a Mission, and people from Baptist and Episcopal churches were just a few of the groups represented. Our desire to become a place for people of all Christian traditions to minister in a unique post-modern, post-Christian environment is becoming more and more of a reality each year.

We believe in Jesus without strings.

The Gathering has also experienced a little growth. New faces, new people, and a sense of excitement with it.

Melissa and Jodi are re-starting the Women's Bible Study on Tuesday evenings. Ian has been recording the services and posting them on our Facebook page. The worship team is an amazing group of musicians, and help make the Sunday services both comfortable and fun. (The song link is Pastor Phil leading worship and Ian says this song sounded like an Irish Pub Song, because we were laughing at the fact that Jonathan stumbled on his way to the piano.)

Thousands have been touched in a variety of ways this last year through our outreach projects here in Salem, and now as far away as Nevada.

Many of you have been part of the support of our unique missional community over the years, and our thanks and appreciation go out to you. May the Lord bless you abundantly this Christmas Season, and in the New Year.

If you would like to help our small church with an enormous mission continue reaching the world with the message of God's abounding love in this coming year you can give securely online on our website.

Salem Outreach 2011

This was a fast paced month with every weekend busy with outreach, visitors from distant places who joined us for ministry, and some wonderful results in the busyness of it all.

The month started off with Mark and Anthea Searle joining us from Cheltenham, UK. They walked with some of the people of our church through "More Light" ministry sessions, and taught a short workshop on the basics of the ministry.

Dennis Huxley was here on that second weekend as well, and would return every weekend - even staying for a full eleven straight days at one point. In the end Dennis was with us in Salem for more days than he was home in Rome, NY.

John Harding joined us from the Bridge Church in Ipswich and led a couple local teams through Dream Interpretation and prophetic outreaches at The Gathering.

Andy Gamble joined us from Pennsylvania on four different weekends, and brought people with him - lots of people with him - and different people each week.

Brandon and Grace Crummer helped lead teams in Dream Interpretation, prophetic ministry, and healing prayers. Matt Keating joined us from Ohio and brought a team with him on the fourth weekend. We were also joined by Jamie Dickson from Crave Ministries, a YWAM missions team, and a variety of people who flew in specifically to join us: April Alario, Alan Drake, Christopher Gaston, Allen Henninger, Peter Parkas, Debora Spotted Eagle, the Matthews family from British Columbia and Enrique who is from Honduras even joined us during his travels across the US.

Here are a few highlights, and strange events from the month:

Enrique tells the story of his interaction with a man with a severe case of arthritis who was prayed for by one of the prophetic ministry teams. He started off with constant pain which he described as "10" in severity, and in a few short minutes of prayer was experiencing painless freedom.

A man from Philadelphia sat in to receive ministry from one of our teams, and told them that he returns every year to Salem specifically for this experience. His wife was not quite as zealous as he was about the experience and wondered at her husband's zeal.

A number of people made solid steps toward walking with Jesus. They made confessions of faith for the first time, and asked for more information on how to get involved with the kind of outreach we are doing. Deliverance prayers were offered at length for people struggling with depression, or temptation to fall into old habits or lifestyles, and by the end of the month a whole crew of friends was part of our little circle at The Gathering.

To make such festival evangelism work properly it requires hard work, creativity and sensitivity.

I can not thank the members of our small church enough: Joyce, Jeff and Diane, Rennie and myself put people up in our homes throughout the month. Carlos organized the crazy schedule of visiting friends. Paul and Carrie handled organizing the massive task of serving free hot cocoa next to our outdoor stage. Jane was there just about every day, making food and filling in wherever she was needed. David helped run the sound on the stage, and performed a couple gigs as well. Jodi helped arrange a concert with the worship band Aradhna, and it was a smashing success. These are just a few examples of the hard work necessary to put on such a large number of events in the month of October.

The creativity this year seemed to be flow beautifully and naturally. Christopher Gaston brought dozens of his pictures to give away to people who came to us, and personally signed them. The music from our outdoor stage was exciting and the number of local bands who show unbelievable talent was striking. Ian Bennet worked hard on video taping responses from some of the people who came to minister alongside us, and soon we will putting together a video of some of our work here in Salem. April joined the festivities by dressing the part, and came in costume as "the fire of God." These are only a few of the creative expressions found this month at The Gathering.

Of course, there is always a necessity for sensitivity. In a small tourist city with over a dozen Witchcraft shops, and a tourist season dedicated to Halloween, one must be sensitive to many things. The Gospel is in its own right offensive enough at times, but there is no reason for us to add to the offensiveness by either rudeness, or a lack of understanding the cultural dynamics we are facing. During the last week we were faced with blaring bull horns and preachers standing outside the church shouting to the crowds about their sins, and telling that they were going to Hell. As every other year, we try to help them see that there might be a better way to reach people, and often we do so in vain, but occasionally some of them understand our concern. This year was as crazy as usual on the final few days of October, and some of our new friends who had just decided to follow the Jesus Way were themselves quite offended by the antics of the noisy street preachers.

Such are the challenges and the joys of ministering at the Haunted Happenings festival in Salem, Massachusetts in October. Please keep us in prayer as we seek to help those who are now recently following Christ to grow in their new faith.

Too many stories to tell. More coming soon, and videos as well.

Coming Up: Last Weekend of Halloween Outreach in Salem, MA

Update on happenings at The Gathering
October 26th, Two-Thousand Eleven in the year of our Lord.

The last four weekends we have held outreach events at The Gathering. Hundreds of people have experienced gracious words of blessing, and received interpretations to dreams. Teams of "prophets" have spoken words over them. This is Halloween in Salem. Our small church has become a major player in setting the tone of Halloween events in the city because of our location, and because of the fact that the city has graciously allowed us to use the fountain on Essex Street to help set a tone of fun and blessing.

Free Hot Cocoa has been active and serving up cups by the thousands on the weekend. Fair Trade Cocoa has been served as a message about the necessity of breaking away from slave dependent sources. We were able to serve out of biodegradable cups for the first few days, but the cost has been prohibitive for doing this throughout the whole of the season. The costs for serving free hot cocoa have increased almost four-fold since choosing the fair trade method, but we are committed to the purpose and its important message. Deep, deep thanks to Carrie Erwin and Paul Drake for making this cocoa service run smoothly. You rock like organic beans.

The Fountain Stage is now moving into its fourth week of music on the streets of Salem. Christine Cooper the Welsh Celtic Fiddle Champion, and storyteller was on the stage and performed from The Vault. She is now a favorite of some locals. Aradhna was here for a weekend concert and brought Christina worship music in Hindi, and some of the best musicianship we've seen here. Paul Duffy, Sarah Van Wyk and others brought us good music over the last few weekends on the Fountain Stage.

Dream Interpretation and Spiritual Readings were happening over the last three weekends. We saw some physical healings when people were prayed for. Gracious words of encouragement brought tears of joy to many people. Many were encouraged in their search for God and truth. This is what the heart of our investment into the Halloween season of Salem is about. It is our desire to impact as many of the 500,000 people who visit Salem in October as we can. The only way to do such a thing year after year is to make sure that Christians are embedded into the fabric of events like this, and that we learn to work with leaders of the events in ways which are beneficial to the event itself, and sensitive to the culture around us. John Harding from the Northshore Bridge Church and Carlos Zeisel from The Gathering will continue to help lead these outreach projects.

This last weekend friends will be joining us from around the US. Allen Henninger is here now from LA. Dennis Huxley is returning. More friends from Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, California, and Texas are coming as well.



College groups from Boston are joining us for outreach, and will walk the streets dressed as monks offering free blessings. The last two years, these events have greatly blessed hundreds of people. A Youth With a Mission Team has asked to work with us this year, and Pastor Phil will be training them in how to minister in unique environments like Salem, MA with large numbers of Witches and other types of Neo-Pagans.

April Alario has been attending a school of ministry at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and will be coming home to lead all night prayer as well. If you are interested in joining the all night prayer contact us and let us know.

Please join us in prayer for this last week of outreach as we seek to serve people from Friday through Halloween Day (Monday).

Jeff shares his experiences in Salem with us

Our new friend Jeff spoke on Sunday last week, and blessed us. This week he shares a bit of his story of the experience in Salem during Haunted Happenings and all the outreach activities of The Gathering.

"Our front door - Half a million, that’s 500,000 if you are counting – people that is, that walk by the front door of the “Vault” – a former bank that was here for 200 years and is now occupied by the “Gathering,” a local church. I say “our” because the pastor assimilates people easily into the local body of believers and extended culture of Salem – so for two weeks, it’s been home.

Home includes extended normal conversations with a gnostic quoting random literature, a local witch who comes into use our wifi and loves just hanging out, a nationally known warlock who rides into the building on a Segway, some really smart intellectuals (Boston area has highest concentration of colleges and universities in the world), and a really diverse collections of people who believe a lot of different things or nothing at all – some come for internet, some for lecto divana a form of meditation on our Scriptures – the Bible – some come for Thursday open mic night, or movie night …

… and as I mentioned 500,000 tourists walk by the door and hundreds have sat for Spiritual Readings – simply asking the Spirit of Truth from the Creator to speak to us on their behalf so we can comfort, encourage, and build them up – and hopefully they catch a glimpse of a loving God who really really Loves the people He created. By the end of the month, the Gathering will have touched the lives of several thousand people thru Spiritual Encounters and dream interpretations, hosting kids day at the park, hosting a stage with eclectic choices of artists from opera to country to a Beatles cover band, hosting an Christian band doing Indian fusion and singing about Jesus in Hindi.

Just a question, but how can you find a way to interact with the lives around you? I am not content to go into a building, sing a few praises, to simply do it again in a local house mid-week. A friend of mine bought a house in the inner city of Durham, is rehabbing it as simply a space to have a presence in the community and interact with those who live there – no other agenda but to provide love encounters – and those go both ways. She gets it. I don’t always get it, but I am growing in walking in God’s grace, practicing mercy, and loving people. God’s truths about eternal live, need for redemption from sin, live in the Spirit now, and even the consequences of avoiding God’s love are real – how we as Christians or the “Church” haven’t always been.

500,000 might not pass by your door this month, but who are the 50 or so you pass by and maybe might touch with new love this week?"


Thanks Jeff. We really appreciate you and all you've done. May God bless you in your coming travels. You are always welcome to make your home here for a few days, a few weeks, or however long.

The Gathering through the year in a glimpse

This year at The Gathering may one day be viewed as the year of blind survival.  We continued in many of the same community outreach projects as we have for many years now.  Christmas Tree Bonfire with the free hot cocoa, Fourth of July face-painting for the kids of the city, the month long Halloween outreach were among the many things we have once again done in our city.

Along with the standard yearly projects The Gathering has seen new faces, written new music for the Advent season, made new friends from far-away places, and like many individuals during this difficult economic season - we have struggled along and yet survived with gentle smiles at the end of the season.

The story of struggle and survival, and of grace in the midst of difficulty is the story of scripture.  It is the story of redemption, which is the story of Christ.  Each of us live through this story in our own way, as God works in our lives over the years.

This year we have stories of blessing which come from those who joined us from afar, and those who are members here at The Gathering.

Taloa Gibson joined us from Tulsa, Oklahoma during the summer and we created a podcast with Taloa reading Bible passages, and singing in his Native American tongue - Choctaw.  Mark and Anthea Searle joined us from the UK during the first days of October outreach, and were a greet blessing to the members of our church with their "More Light" ministry activities.  Mark and Anthea created a wonderful blog about the experience. (user: salem, pass: letmein)

A few of the stories from our Halloween outreach have been compiled here on The Gathering's blog, and include those who joined us from other churches and other states, as well as thoughts from our own gang at The Gathering.

Pub Theology has continued on the last Tuesday of each month with a group from The Gathering as well as friends from outside the church discussing relevant theological issues.  People from every perspective of life have joined us for these discussions, and it continues to be one of ways we network with the people of Salem and share our faith.

Our small church in the heart of Salem, MA continues to be an pilgrimage location for people who travel from afar, and for locals in need of a simple touch from the Lord.  People have found their first touch of God and have experienced His loving grace.  People have discovered an unencumbered and simple Christianity.  People have worked together as a family, and been servants of hospitality to others from around the world, and this is at the heart of this small community called The Gathering.

Our members are learning to serve, to teach, to offer hospitality, and to do this toward all people.  In a city known for its history and its contemporary expression of witchcraft we have had the unique opportunity to accepted by the many different groups in Salem, and still be recognized for our simple unwavering devotion to Jesus.

As this year ends and the next begins we are embarking on a recording project of chants and worship music we have written, and hope to have them available soon in the coming year. 

We recognize that it is many of you:  our friends, family, and fans who help us continue forward in our service.  Thank you for your prayer, and support through 2010.  We are ever indebted to you.

For those who would like donate to help us in our journey of serving the city of Salem you can donate securely online through Paypal on our website at http://www.salemgathering.com

Unedited reports from October

Stories from October:

OK John here goes.  I was teamed with Nelleke and Allie and a couple came in visiting from Chicago.  She was kind of jovial and talkative and he was non-verbal and somewhat melancholy.  After hearing her we turned to him and he told us about a dream he had and it involved at the end, him chasing,with a stick/staff, rodents that were surrounding him.  He was also wearing a helmet.  Allie determined that the rodents had something to do with depression or mental illness, which he said he had for some time.  This is when we asked him if we could pray for him, and I asked if I could pray in the name of Jesus and he okayed that request.  We then layed hands on his head and put some anointing oil on his forehead, which he also okayed.  Now he had NOT been smiling at all up to this point and we asked how he felt and a great big smiley face came upon him, his countenance totally changed, Praise the LORD.  After this, girl A and B came to us.  They were visiting from a college.  Girl A had a pocketbook with three straps on it  and it seemed to me that they were tangled and the word entangled came to my thoughts.  I left it alone for a while because I didn't know what exactly what that meant and if it was for her.  Another word came to me about girl A, afraid, and I asked her if she was afraid of what was going on and she said no, but immediately girl B said to her, "You lie".  We didn't say anything about it.  The word entangled was still with me so I asked girl A, not B who owned the pocketbook. if she was entangled in something or with someone and immediately girl B leaned towards her and whispered into her ear.  Girl A started to let us know about some guy she was involved with but wanted out of it and he wasn't leaving her alone, so we began seriously praying for this to end and that he would be out her life.  After this girl B said to her friend " Do you feel better now" and the answer was "Yes".  I did ask if she had been a little afraid of this all the time and she did admit it and that was all that was said.  See you Sunday and say hello to Sabrina for me.  Jerry.  PS There is one thing I said to the man who was wearing the helmet in his dream which he agreed with but I could have maybe said it differently.  I said that the helmet was probably keeping your head on straight.  What do you think.

Hi John,
Jim said you were asking about what happened to the Saudi guys in Salem yesterday. I was on a team with Fotios and Barry when a Saudi Harvard professor M- in psychology came in with a friend Ma-, an MA student in business.  M- said that he had been in the gathering for a spiritual reading last year and this year he brought Ma- who had just arrived in the US. We first gave Ma- a spiritual reading. Unfortutely Barry and Fotios treated both guys like new age people, talking about the Creator in front of these Muslims. M-, the prof, said to Ma- 'they mean God' but Barry and Fotios did not pick up on it and kept talking about the Creator. They both got very good words for Ma-: they saw him as a royal person who takes good care of others. Ma- said that he doesn't like to be higher than others. We could not understand why that was a problem for him so there was a pause. Then I asked them straightaway if they were Muslims. They said yes. I said that we both believe in Jesus, except they call him Isa al Masih. M- said 'yes but he is a prophet for us but not for you Christians'. Fotios said 'he is the son of God for us' and then the conversation went on another topic. Ma- also asked if there was a spell on him as he has many enemies who are into black magic. (At this point it should have dawned on me that Ma- was afraid of being a royal person as this would attract the jealousy of his friends, or the evil eye or whatever but I only realized this hours later). Fotios said that he saw that Ma- was well protected. Ma- said that that that makes sense as he has had the impression since age 5 that there is some being from another dimension standing behind him, protecting him. Fotios and Barry tried to tell him that that is the Creator who wants to have a relationship with him, and that Ma- can take the initiative to make contact with him. I was afraid that this would affirm them in their belief in Allah so I became more and more nervous. Ma- said that he could see I wanted to say something. So I said that, according to the Quran Jesus will judge the world, so he is very important, so he can protect Ma-. I did not get any further. I'm not sure if I got the order right here, was I first or was Fotios first? Anyhow, I regret that I not having said that the person protecting him was Jesus in my view but on the other hand I cannot disagree with Fotios in front of them. I was also too slow to react because I was intimidated by the idea that I was talking to Muslims. We gave M- also an encouraging word but made no spiritual connection. I will just keep praying for them.

I learned from this that on the one hand I should not be intimidated and take more initiative, but on the other, I don't think we could improve anything as we were trained to help ex Catholics and new agers but not muslims as they are so rare. If you were to train us for Muslims as well the training would take a few more days... Besides that, we cannot correct each other in front of the clients, can we?

Thank you for your training and for leading us. We enjoyed the outreach very much and learned a lot.
Blessings,
Nelleke


Here's a little description of my last two sessions, which were such a blessing to me.
- JJ

Last Two Ministry Sessions, 2010-10-31 (around 9:00- 10:00 PM)

Team:

April (leader)
Dennis (with red headscarf & moccasins)
Jim Johansson

1)    To M- & J-

M- was coming back after getting prophecy last year because he got such accurate revelation last year. He definitely wasn’t disappointed this year in that department. I have seen by now a lot of accurate revelation, but the accuracy and confidence with which things were delivered here went beyond anything I had seen, and really left me in awe, both by Dennis and April.

April described very accurately J-'s personality, even noting that “someone with horns” (M-’s costume) teased her about some to these characteristics. Basically she was very childlike and starry-eyed.

Dennis described M- in great detail, how everything he does is focused on the future, at the expense of enjoying the present, and how he could correct this. Everything was extremely accurate and detailed.

We did a “spiritual encounter” for both of them. J- felt tingling and some heat. M- got some revelation, seeing a forge, and something being built, and some other things.

In the end M- revealed that he believed in the Norse gods. April talked some about this, apparently ineffectively. I wished I had asked him, “You’ve seen that the God of the Bible can give you accurate revelation, and solutions to your problems, showing that he loves you. Could the gods you are now following do that for you?” Unfortunately I didn’t ask that.

2)    D-

D- was quite a case, and quite a gift from God as my final Halloween experience here. He apparently slipped by the screeners, and suddenly just plopped himself down in the chair in front of us when the previous couple got up. He talked very much, and obviously used it as a defense mechanism as well. He turned out to be an ex-con, and he clearly had the ex-con ways of both manipulation and looking for someone’s tricks in everything, not trusting anything you say, always looking for your “angle”. He knew AA inside and out, plus NA (narcotics anonymous). He was using come-on language with April, which she of course ignored. He got up to walk away, when April called out to say we really wanted to do a reading for him, and he came back and sat down again.

April told Dennis to go first, apparently knowing he had something. D- jokingly asked, “So, are you going to tell me about my future?” When he saw how burdened Dennis was to give the word, he said, “Don’t worry, if you see me going to jail, I’m used to that. I’ve been there many times.”

Dennis told him, “I’m not going to tell you about your future, but about your past.” Then he said, with an obvious emotional struggle, “This is totally outside of what we do, but I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. When you were a little child, someone beat you brutally. You can do all the AA you want, but until you deal with this, you ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

Finally D- was caught by surprise, and sat briefly with his mouth open. It turned out even worse that stated. After he had done something naughty, his grandmother told him to come to her, promising that she wouldn’t do anything to him. When she got a hold of him, she beat him bloody, to within an inch of his life. So she had betrayed his trust as well as nearly killing him.

Dennis told him that he would have to forgive his (dead) grandmother. Very surprisingly, D- was not only willing, but seemed to do it quite easily.

About that time, the Spirit came very powerfully on me, in a slightly different experience than I had ever had. It was like a freight train passing thru me, headed for David. As soon as I was about to say something, April said, “Jim, I think you’ve got a word for D-”.

I released this word, “God says he is going to grow you up into the full stature of the man he designed you to be.” I could barely choke out the last words with the overwhelming emotion that gripped me. I expected to see this freight train bowl D- over, but I really didn’t seem much impact on him. I repeated it to try and get him to remember it. I still couldn’t believe how he didn’t appear to be impacted, as it had totally penetrated my soul, and was still doing so an hour later.

After that April revealed that he had made some inner vow that kept him from getting married. It turned out he had done that in 11th grade after an unrequited love, and had dropped out of high school as a result. April discussed some psychological ins and outs with D-, showing, I thought, great insight.

Sometime in there there was more discussion of the abuse, and God gave me a second word; again I was very powerfully gripped by it. I delivered it, with somewhat less emotion than the first, but still it was very powerful in my soul. It was something like, “God says it ends with you. This generational curse of abuse ends with you.” (I motioned a horizontal cutting-off motion with my hand.) I then explained that he could get married with confidence, because now the abuse cycle was broken, and would not go on to his children if had had any. He then told us he had traced it back to his great grandmother; he assumed that it went back for many more generations, but he couldn’t trace it back any farther than her.

They led him to renounce that vow, and break the power of it. Strangely it turned out to be harder for him to do that forgiving his grandmother, but eventually he got there.

At this point Dennis suddenly says, “Now I’m going to reveal your future to you. You are going to be in demand to speak at AA meetings because of your powerful testimony. You will be travelling to different places to give your testimony.”

Several times D- showed he couldn’t believe what was happening, couldn’t believe April and I had just met, etc. His mind seemed to be wildly searching for some “angle”, and coming up blank. I trust eventually he concluded that there was no “angle” – we really were who we said, and were really getting revelation, and communicating the love of God.

Somewhere in all the talk, he had revealed that he prays to Jesus, but we didn’t explore where he was at spiritually beyond that while I was still there. Hopefully April and Dennis did more when I left. I felt I had to leave to get Byarta back home, as well as my wife, so I left D- in their hands.


From Dennis:

Hi, Phil. Here's a write up of a ministry experience I had on Sunday.
Wishing I was still in Salem hanging out with you.

It was late Halloween night and another successful, fulfilling season of ministering to people at Salem was just about over. The team I was ministering with at the time was just finishing up what seemed to be an effective session with two people, a couple. We had said our goodbyes, and they had no sooner stood to leave when a very animated man, gesturing and talking nonstop, came over and sat down, and began flirting with April, the lone woman on our team of three. April tactfully excused herself and walked away, saying she needed a short break, but would be back. The other team member and I (Forgive me, whoever you are, I forgot your name. You’re from the North Shore Bridge and you look a little like Brian McClaren) tried to engage the man in conversation. He never stopped talking in his nervous laughter kind of speech, and never stopped moving either. He sat, then he stood, then he was leaving, then he was walking back, talking nervously and waving his arms the whole time. It sounds like I’m describing someone on drugs, but I was certain he wasn’t. Eventually, he told us he had been shooting heroin prior to going through rehab. He told us how long he’d been clean, but I don’t remember what he said. Around ninety days, if I remember right. He also said he had spent much time in jail. All the while, he kept saying he had to go, he couldn’t stay.

April came back and sat down, and the monologue continued, with April interjecting as often as she could for the man to stay and sit. Eventually, he did sit, and we were able to get him quiet long enough to go before the Father for him. I immediately got a picture of him as a child and an adult was severely beating him. I didn’t feel the most prudent thing to do would be to just blurt that information out, so I asked Father what I should say to the man. He said, “Tell him you see him as a child and someone is beating him”. I decided that couldn’t be God, so I asked again and didn’t get anything. Experience has taught me that that means I need to do the last thing God told me to do. But I was wrestling with it.
April noticed I was agitated, and suggested I speak. So I said to the man, “I see you as a child, and someone is beating the crap out of you”. The man’s jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. He stared at me, and said, very slowly, “Woooooow!” He repeated it several times. He even said it backwards. He told us it was his grandmother who had beaten him, and that there had been a lot of blood, and he had been injured badly. April and the other man on the team got very comforting, loving words for the man. We all had tears in our eyes. We were able to demonstrate to the man how to release his grandmother by forgiving her, and to ask the Lord to forgive her also, which he did, in his own words.
As we continued to minister to him, he, in his own words, repented of a vow he had made as a child. He had earlier expressed faith In Jesus, whom he had met as a result of the twelve step programs he was using to get clean and sober. The man was transformed before us. His whole demeanor changed. The agitation was gone, the façade was gone. There was peace on his face—all over him, in fact. He talked about Jesus, about recovery, about plans for his future, about bettering himself. April told him about churches he could attend, including The Gathering. Before he left, he hugged us all—big, tight, bear hugs that lasted a long time. Only a few minutes before, he had not been a man you could hug—well, maybe April could have! He left, not with April’s phone number, but mine. He called me yesterday, which was Tuesday, November 2. He was still amazed at all that had happened, particularly that he had forgiven his grandmother. He had told friends about all that had happened, and his friends had not believed it. But he said, “I was there! I know what happened”. He said that the next day would be the anniversary of his grandmother’s death, and that he planned to go to his mother’s to see if he could e a comfort to her, and to tell her he had forgiven her.
Father, you are awesome! Thanks!

The Halloween Cleanup: Stories to Come

This morning the last Essex Street evidences of Halloween were loaded onto a flatbed truck.  A man named "Wind" and myself loaded scaffolding from the Fountain Stage onto the Lynn Ladder and Scaffolding truck.  This is the hard mark of the end of Haunted Happenings events for me each year.  It's not really over until the stage rolls away down the street - not to return for another 11 months.

This is also the time I look back and reconsider the events over the last month, tells the stories, and publish the adventures.

From the first weekend on Saturday, October 2nd the crowds were heavier than usual for the beginning of the month.  The final weekend Saturday crowds were estimated at 40,000 by the police and 60,000-70,000 on Halloween Night.

For four weekends we ran live music on the streets of Salem, we sponsored the 15th annual Salem Halloween Children's Day, we had teams of people doing dream interpretation and "spiritual readings" for four weekends, we gave away free hot cocoa, and hosted the international photography project WDYDWYD? by asking people "Why do you do what you do?" and taking pictures of them with their answers.

People who have served alongside us this year came from as far away as Cheltenham, England and Caernarfon, North Wales to as close as Beverly, Massachusetts.  Many of these people are writing their stories and sending them to us so we can share them with you in the upcoming days.

For now you can see a few favorite moments from our barefoot monk in residence - Jeff Gentry on his blog.

If you would like to see pictures from the Salem news and read about the Halloween season from the perspective of the city newspaper go here.

3 weeks of Outreach and one last week to go

October is the busiest month of the year in Salem, Massachusetts.

This is also true for our little church, which is situated on the red lined Heritage Trail in downtown Salem.  In the last three weeks we have set up a stage, hosted live music from local entertainers on it, organized and ran a Children's Day event on the Salem Common, given away free hot cocoa, offered free dream interpretation and "spiritual readings," and have hosted the international photography project "Why Do You Do What You Do?"

Visitors have come from near and far to participate with us in outreach.  Included in these participants are John Harding and the gang from the North Shore Bridge Fellowship; Mark and Anthea Searle from the Cheltenham Bridge Fellowship in Cheltenham, England; The Streams Ministries internship from New London, New Hampshire; Danette Strandell (a fellow Burner)  from St Joseph's, MO: our longtime friend Dennis Huxley from Rome, New York; another fellow Burning Man outreach team member Alan Drake from Dallas, Texas; and of course the wonderful people from The Gathering.

On Saturday, October 16th we held the 15th annual Salem Halloween Children's Day.  For the last 9 years we have been in charge of it, and sponsor the day with the help of Domino's Pizza.  We organize it, promote it, and run it on the day of the event.  The event is one of the few large events in the city of Salem in October targeted to reach the children of Salem.  This year we were almost rained out.  Instead we were winded out - which meant the wind was too strong for some of our large rides to make an appearance, but we still held the costume parade, and thanks to Brian O'Maerlaigh we just had some plain old fun with the kids on the common.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of people were touched by the personal ministry of the spiritual counseling we offer for free from The Gathering, and from our location near the music stage near the Peabody Essex Museum.

Hot cocoa began its service this last weekend, and at least 1,500 free cups of hot cocoa were passed out on Saturday and Sunday thanks to the teams from The Gathering of Jeff and Kellie Gentry, Carrie Erwin, Rachel and Jonathan Meharry, Paul Drake, Elizabeth Steadman, Joyce Greer, Chris Dugan, and Linda Quadros.  (Hopefully I got everyone!)

Local musicians performed on the stage,and they included:  Paul Duffy's group from the Front Street Coffee House Open Mic Night, Via Perkins, Sarah Van Wyk, Yvan Pierre Marlier, Lily Press and her husband Simon, Black Dog Brother, The Dejas, Clay Ventre, Julian Baptista, Deb Crosby's Talent Show, and Honour Havoc.

The stories of people who were deeply touched by the personal ministry of our spiritual counseling teams came from the interns at Streams Internship, our own members at The Gathering, and our visitors like Dennis Huxley.  Dennis commented that this might have been the most significant weekend of the last 4 years of visiting he has been a part of.

Along with the Spiritual counseling we have been taking photos of people who are answering the question, "Why do you do what you do?"  This project was started by Tony Deifell at Burning Man about 7 years ago.  I met him at Burning Man this year, and asked if we could do the project in Salem during the Halloween festivities.  Thanks to photographers Deborah Twombly, and Ben Corey, we got to the artistry of WDYDWYD? this last weekend.

People who do not have a Christian background have been touched by the gentle guidance of God's Spirit.  We work hard to bring blessing to everyone whether they are Christians, or of other spiritual persuasions, or even perhaps no spiritual persuasion at all.  With the belief that God loves all people regardless of their beliefs we are attempting to show the love of Jesus without bias, and it has been having a positive effect on all who come our way.

Special thanks goes out to The Gathering members who have provided a place for people to stay, and food for the spiritual counselors.  Thank you Rennie Treantos, Joanne Joyce, Carl and Melissa Nystedt, Joyce Greer, and Jeff and Diane Menasco.

This is a short report on the activities of outreach during the last three weeks here in Salem, MA.  Your prayers, and of course, your support in even a small way help make all this possible.  If you would like know more go to The Gathering Website.  There you can make a tax-deductible donation, or find our email address and sign up for our ministry mailing list.

First Weekend of Outreach in Salem, MA

October 9-10 marked the first weekend of outreach and community service by The Gathering during this 2010 October season.

The Fountain Stage held 4 hours of music in the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday.  Via Perkins from Salem State College was the first performer.  I met Via some months ago while she performed at Gulu-Gulu cafe, and decided we needed to get her great voice and engaging personality up on the stage.  I didn't realize that she was part of the Christian club at Salem State, and her songs were about relationship with God.  So, I was surprised by the wonderful spiritual motif of her music, and impressed by the crowd's interest.  Sarah Van Wyk is a gothic/classical/industrial music with themes on prayer and seeking God - Sarah will be back, including Halloween Night.  These are just two of the artists who played this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon John and Sabrina Harding brought a encounter team from the Bridge Church in Beverly, and they interpreted Dreams and held spiritual encounters Saturday afternoon and evening.

Mark and Anthea Searle have joined us from the Cheltenham Bridge Church in Cheltenham, England.  They shared "More Light" ministry with us, and have been holding spiritual counseling sessions with people from our church.  They have also joined us for Dream Interpretation and "Spiritual Readings." 

We have had people share dreams with snakes, or the death of loved one's, and those who shared their dreams felt encouraged, relieved, and helped toward a deeper relationship with God.

Danette Strandell joined us from Missouri Saturday Night.  Danette and her husband Tom are starting a church in St. Joseph, MO.  She led us through communion on Sunday morning, and joined us in outreach on Sunday afternoon.

Jeff MacDonald, a reporter for a Christian publication has been talking with us over the last few days, and learning about our outreach.  He has been talking with myself, Danette, Mark and Anthea, and the people we minister to.

This is the first of four weeks of outreach.  Next week we will run a Children's Halloween Festival on Saturday the 16th - Hopefully we won't be rained out.  Stay tuned for more information through the week.

What we do, and why we do it each October - a podcast

People want to know what we do each busy October here in the city of Salem, and why we do it.  The month is now upon us, and so here is a description of the events we are involved in, and a few reasons for doing them.
       

   
   
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If this is a dream you identify with, and you'd like to help support our work, consider becoming a partner with us. You can help through donations and prayers and/or joining us.

October in Salem (a podcast)

This is a short description of what it is like visiting Salem in the month of October.  Some people think of it as "the world's largest Witchcraft festival."  That's not an accurate description.  So, you might want to get a feel for what it really is like.
       

   
   
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End of the Year at The Gathering

There are far too many friends we have made in the last 11 years to mention, but if you are one of those who has been a part of this ministry - thank you.  May blessing return upon you in great abundance.

The Gathering has been serving the city of Salem, MA since 1999. During this last decade we have developed into one of the most unique missional communities in the United States.


Why?

For the entire month of October we serve the community of Salem, and the half a million visitors who come for Halloween experiences. The Gathering has become one of the top spiritual experiences in our city.

We train and equip Christians from around the world to help serve in mission alongside us teaching them to serve creatively during America's kooky, second largest holiday of the year.

We have made friends with the Witches of Salem (and in fact Witches around the world) without compromising our Christian faith, and we have trained thousands of people to navigate living their faith authentically in a post-Christian world.

We have been meeting for the last 4 years in a prime location in downtown Salem, allowing us to better serve the community and the tourists who visit here.

Our Most Challenging Year Yet?

Financially this has been our most challenging year, and we are entering the new year in our most vulnerable position yet. If you have been blessed by the work of The Gathering, or have participated in the outreaches we have been doing for the last 11 years in Salem, MA would you consider helping us as the New Year dawns?

The year before us will perhaps be our most challenging yet, and we may not be able to continue as we are currently serving without your help. You can give through paypal by following this link.

The Gathering: Offering Peace, Welcoming Pilgrims, Pursing Gospel Mission

More than a Local Church: A Community Peace Project, a Pilgrimage Location, a Gospel Mission.

Over the last couple months The Gathering at Salem has been engaged in some of the most innovative and culturally appropriate missions work to be found in the United States.

Every October a half million pilgrims pour into our city to celebrate Halloween, experience alternative spiritualities and party with their friends. Every year we welcome these guests by extending hospitality, offering spiritual counsel and inviting them to experience the incredible grace of God. We could not maintain this mission without the hundreds of people serve beside us throughout the season, or without your generous prayer and financial support.

The rest of the year we continue to impact our city through community service, events designed to reach the city of Salem with lovingkindness, which we believe God has expressed to us through His Son.

Although we have been serving the Halloween pilgrims for 11 years, the last 3 we have had the great privilege of serving them from The Vault – a unique location at the very heart of the city. Since The Vault is a “safe place” for people to experience the hope of Jesus, our location has magnified our ability to introduce the city and its pilgrims to the mission of God.

Over the course of these 11 years, hundreds of people have expressed a desire to meet God, and we have helped them to meet Him. Tens of thousands have been counseled about spiritual issues as we teach them to know the voice of God. They have been served free hot cocoa, entertained by live music, and been blessed freely by our roving "monks." They have received apologies for the times when churches may have hurt them. They have learned about some of the most compelling challenges to social justice in our day, and we have all been gently touched by the Gospel of Love.


Preparation for the Coming Season:

Now, we move into the quieter Winter season. We will gather cold weather clothing for the poor. We will serve the families of Salem with music, and free hot cocoa during the holiday season, and we will create opportunities to meet the community in discussion groups and events in The Vault.


Our small church has become a place, which has been utilized for evangelical mission and social service by dozens of churches and hundreds of individuals each year. Our little group has sacrificially responded to make this mission a reality, but we are in need of help from our friends and those who believe in our mission in order to be able to continue the mission.

Would you consider helping to support the work of The Gathering at Salem this season by offering a one time gift, by joining list of friends who support us monthly and pray for us as we serve both our city and its pilgrims, perhaps with an offering at your church on Sunday morning, or adding our mission to the list of missions your church supports throughout the year? We are confident that God has placed us in Salem for such a time as this and we would deeply appreciate your support.

Stories from Halloween (Part 4) Bridge Church Friends

From a letter to John Harding:

I had the opportunity to be on a prophetic team a couple of weeks before Halloween. Not surprisingly, the people who came for the "spiritual readings and dream interpretations" were very open to and hungry for the supernatural. (This made our jobs easy and exciting!) We were able to give several people encouraging words. They all seemed receptive and intrigued by how we got this insight into complete strangers.

A moment that stands-out for me, was when our team leader got a word for one of the young women who came for a reading. The word was that her view of her future was being limited by past hurts that were still affecting her. He then offered to stand in as the man who had wounded her and apologize. She was deeply moved and I think we all shed a few tears. She and her friends have since stayed in touch with our team and have shown an interest in finding out more about the supernatural.

What I personally took away from the day was a deep sense of the Father's urgent yet patient love for His lost sheep and the exhilaration of being able to participate in the revelation of that love to them. Giving prophetic words puts us in a place where we are given a glimpse of God's perspective and it forever changes our vision.

Olivia

Even More Stories from Halloween Outreach '09

Here are three more tales from the October Outreach in Salem, MA. May they bless you as much as the people who were involved in them.


The experience I had at Salem was one of the most challenging times of my life. I tried to force the Lord to work through me and give each person the kind of experience that I wanted him or her to have. The Lord revealed to me the absolute need to trust in Him. Without His Spirit working through me, I am capable of nothing. The times that the Lord chose to use me as his instrument were so powerful, yet humbling. I realized that the encounters were not for me, but were meant for the benefit of the person sitting in front of me. Feeling the love the Father has for his people was so overwhelming and is something that I will never forget.
-Liz Koch
Intern Streams School of Ministry

A young woman came to our team looking to have a re-occurring dream interpreted.  She had dreamed several times over the last ten years about snakes in her bed.  It would terrify her so much she would jump out of bed screaming.  She admitted that she is generally terrified of snakes even in the natural.  We felt the meaning of the dream was simply that her general fear was so great it was ruining her rest.  Upon sharing this with her, she began to open up to us about her fears.  She seemed to have a great deal of trust in us even before sharing the dream but as we talked further her trust grew.  After talking through some of the sources of her fear, she explained to us that she has recently left the Mormon Church of which her family is still heavily involved and even has family ancestry that can be traced to Joseph Smith, the father of Mormonism.  Upon her sharing this, a marvelous shift came in the atmosphere.  Though her experience was marked with harassment for leaving Mormonism both from the people in her life and from the spiritual realm, we suddenly saw in her a courageous and bold seeker of Truth. And in that moment we watched as her concept of God transformed before our eyes.  He went from being a dictator that cruelly demanded things of her to a great big Goodness that Loved her immensely and knew her intimately! The Presence of God became so heavy and sweet as we communicated this to her that all of us were moved to tears.  I found myself filled with awe as God revealed to all of us (including this precious woman) what He felt about her.  It was truly an honor to meet this over comer and to encourage her that, contrary to what others may have pressed on her, she is on the right path as God draws her into her destiny!
-Ali Carter
Staff Streams School of Ministry


It’s October 31 Halloween and the streets are packed with more people than ever. As the night goes on our lines get so busy the wait become about two hours to receive a spiritual reading or dream interpretation. After ministering all day I begin to break down our tents and a man walks up to me. He asked if I could interpret a dream for him. To be truthful I was far too tired and weak to help him but I still agreed. He started by telling me that he had an experience 25 years ago that he has not understood since he has had it. He said others tried to interpret it but did really understand it. Their interpretation didn’t really stick with him. The Dream started out with Him in the back seat of a cop car in hand cuffs. There was also a cop car in front of him. From the side he saw a Buffalo charging the cop car in front and hit it with extreme force. He was so excited and continued to encourage the buffalo to hit the car. Soon the car was off the road and destroyed. A moment later the buffalo was charging the car he was in but just before it hit his car the buffalo changed into the most beautiful Native American women he had ever seen. She stood next to him with a love readapting from her that he had never felt before. He said this love changed him. It was like he tasted of something that was not from this planet. Since that day he has never forgot the Love he felt. He also told me that since then he has never felt a love so real and fulfilling. This man had given me tremendous favor to speak into his life. I then began to tell him that the Holy spirit had given him Justice where he was imprisoned. I was able to share a visitation I had years ago that was very similar to his experience. I told him how God wanted a relationship with him. He wanted to give him the Love he felt from the Native American women. This story taught me a lot, when I am weak and tired God has those he wants to touch. This man had waited 25 years for a interpretation and it amazes me that Jesus touched him so powerfully that 25 years later he was still searching for the answer.
-Lance Carter
Staff Streams School of Ministry

More Stories from Halloween Outreach '09

The following stories are just a few of the many that come from the gang at The Streams Ministries Internship in New London, New Hampshire. This team has joined us faithfully for the last 6 years, and October in Salem has become one of the life changing events for the interns, and a primary training ground for their prophetic proclamations and blessings.

This comes from one of the Leaders, Brandon Crummer:
I was standing outside of our ministry tents with a group of us that were doing “healings” and “spiritual encounters.” A lady came out from being ministered to and said, “It was okay, but I wish they had said something about my eyes.” I overheard her say that and then I asked her, “What’s wrong with your eyes?” She then began to say, “No, it’s ok I am not going to worry about it.” Again I said, “No seriously what’s wrong with your eyes I really want to know?” She began to tell me how she has Macular Degeneration and is losing her eyesight. I told her that my Grandfather has the same disease and was one of the first people to receive all the experimental tests. This instantly gave me favor. I then asked if I could pray for her. As I prayed she took off her glasses and began to look around. At first she said it was a little better but the second time I prayed she yelled, “Oh my God I can read that guys shirt!” While praying, I watched as the cloudiness in her eyes began to shrink to just a small spot in the corner of her left eye. As we prayed one last time she cried, gave me a big hug and then disappeared into the crowd.
-Brandon Crummer
Staff Streams School of Ministry

My experience at Haunted Happenings in Salem, Massachusetts was a life changing one.  I’ve never felt so much overwhelming love in my heart for complete strangers before.  I went into this outreach doubting the Lord’s ability to move and left with a much greater knowledge of His unconditional love for His people. I remember one woman who came into our tent who was oppressed by a demon, lonely,  depressed, and lost. We got to minister to her for almost 45 minutes and she left released from the demon that was following her, alive in her new life in Jesus, and overflowing with the Joy of the Lord. Her countenance was completely switched around by the time she left our tent.  The funny thing was, she asked for an encounter with Jesus!  She was so open to a touch from the Lord and ended up asking Jesus to come into her heart and change her forever.  I cried for about 20 minutes after that encounter.  It no doubt touched her life, but it surprisingly touched mine deeply as well. All we had to do was be there.  We both left Salem with a new revelation of God’s love, and I am so, so grateful for it.  I will never be the same, and I’m sure every person who walked into our tent, whether by happenchance or on purpose, were forever changed as well.
- Jourdan Meyers
Intern Streams School of Ministry

For me, the Haunted Happenings outreach was a first for many things. I quickly realized that in addition to never traveling to Salem before, it was a bit intimidating attending my first formal outreach and giving my first prophetic words in an environment swarming with psychics and witches. Once we began to minister, however, I saw how the thirst of the people in Salem for deep spirituality drew the presence of the Holy Spirit in such a thick and powerful way. I no longer needed to worry about performing because it was not me touching those people anyway. My weakness, combined with their hunger, was a perfect situation for the Lord to pour out His love on them. Whether it was the lady who walked away with her glasses in her hand after being healed of Macular Degeneration, or the countless people whose jaw hit the floor when they found out that the Lord knows and loves them, God was thoroughly demonstrating love to His people in very powerful and intimate ways. Many who came expecting the typical festivities of an October weekend in Salem were surprised to find that the Lord had other plans. They entered our tents with mere curiosity and exited completely changed from the experience, as was I.
-Kyle Koch
Intern Streams School of Ministry

Stories from Halloween (Part 3) Three short stories

Today's stories come from Mike Crockett from The Gathering, and from one of the Bridge Church gang in Beverly. Below are the posts as they were sent to me. They exemplify the change which often happens in us as we seek to help others.

From Mike Crockett:

Dennis and I (dressed in a Monk’s robe) met with Nancy, who asked for a “spiritual reading.” Nancy was a committed Christian who was going through a difficult period in her life, caring for a loved one. She also was distraught about what she felt were failures in her life and had been teased and bullied by fellow classmates years ago in High School, something that was difficult to get over. Nancy was also in her 30s and wanted to have children and didn’t see this as a possibility with her spending so much energy caring for a loved one. I shared with Nancy that sometimes, life just stinks, without rhyme or reason. I mentioned the FOOTPRINTS poem and the passage in Isaiah where sometimes all we can do and all God asks us to do “walk and not faint” instead of “run on wings like eagles…” I shared with her the difficult adoption experience my wife and I had which turned out for joy and shared with her that I had gone through difficulties similar to hers, particularly after graduating college, and described God had brought me through. She was so encouraged to know not just I but millions of Christians around the world often feel, like Nancy, that they suffer in silence. Dennis prayed with Nancy and we talked for a while longer. Nancy left the Vault overjoyed. -----

Diane shared with me a dream of her and her two youngest daughters driving in a car. In her dream, a boy her older middle school daughter liked waved from the side of the road. Her daughter, who didn’t want to be embarrassed by having a boy she liked see her, hid in her seat. Suddenly, in Diane’s dream, the car went in reverse spontaneously and landed in a lake. The car began to sink, and water began to come into the sinking car. Diane was afraid. The boy her daughter liked called from the side of the lake, “You guys need help?” Then Diane woke up. She shared with me she was afraid of the dream, and felt it might mean a bad event in the future – event death. I shared with her that even though, in her dream, the car sinking in the water, that it did not mean death. I demonstrated that a dream with an encounter with water, particularly a large amount, even a fearful encounter, can speak to a significant spiritual encounter in ones life. The boy her daughter liked could represent someone, or even multiple individuals, such as a community, who are ready to help her and her family through life’s difficulties. Diane left greatly encouraged, feeling her wonderful experience with us in the Vault was worth any amount of time waiting in line.


From one of the Bridge Church Gang:

I was able to minister to an older military vet who had been through a lot in his past in the war.
He was testing the ministry team to see if we were accurate or not. After we ministered to the others in his group we asked if we could get a spiritual word for him. He agreed and we all were able to connect and give him some encouraging words from God that were accurate. This opened up a little discussion afterward and we were able to encourage him to be the man of God that God had made him to be. We were using his language and I believe that all three in their group were blessed by our encouraging and life giving ministry to where they were in their walk with God that day.

Stories from Halloween (Part 2) from the Prof. Carlos Z

The following stories come from the Prof. Carlos Z., one of the crew from The Gathering. Carlos worked with the Bridge Church gang from Beverly interpreting dreams, and doing what we call Spiritual Readings. Here is what Carlos had to say about his experiences:

Two stories come in mind when looking back and reflecting on Halloween.

The lst instance occurred on Saturday the 24th. I was on a team with Drew and Beth from the Bridge Church and we were doing Spiritual Readings for about an hour. A woman came who said that she had a dream. The dream was an invitation from God to join him on his earthly kingdom. I did not realize that she connected with me, and Drew said "Carlos why don't you begin and help this woman invite Christ into her heart." She had already agreed to accept Christ because of the revelation from the dream and the spiritual readings. You must understand I had never said the sinners prayer or accepted Christ in the typical way, so I felt awkward in trying to do it with this woman. But I went forward like a child trying to not look stupid in front of a class. I was blown away and she thanked us. A week later she returned and thanked me again. I was in awe how the Holy Spirit helped move this woman into a relationship with Christ.

The other story occurred the following evening. Two young ladies from Americorp in Maine had come to us. They wanted a spiritual reading. They had waited almost 30 minutes since I did not feel comfortable doing one by myself. No one was around at that time. because they were tearing down the sound equipment from the stage. I asked Matt the Pirate if he could jump in since these women had waited and I felt bad. He said that he had not done anything like it in almost a decade. I him it was okay just to give it his best shot. I explained to the two young ladies what a Spiritual Reading was as we started. The moment Matt looked at them and opened his mouth the Holy Spirit surrounded us. Unbeknownst to us these ladies needed spiritual healing from a lot of pain. Both the words from Matt and myself helped these girls heal. Tears rolled down their faces and ours. They had pain from their work and from personal issues in their lives. We inspired them to turn to Christ as the Redeemer and Comforter in times of trouble, and we spoke blessings them to continue their work in Maine. I was left speechless and felt blessed to be able to help these two girls. Also I thanked Matt and told him he has gift that he should open.

Stories from Halloween Outreach in Salem (Part 1: those who joined us this year)

Over the next 2 weeks I will relate some short stories, and give thanks to the people who have helped us make this year's outreach over the month long Halloween season in Salem, MA.

Halloween in Salem began on October 1st with the Halloween Parade. We handed out fliers to invite people to the Halloween Children's Day we host each year. During this same time friends from around the United States were preparing to come to join us for outreach at the end of the month during our most busy days.

This year we were joined by Steve Pate and Justin Henk from Church on the Coast (The Carlsbad Foursquare Church) in Carlsbad, CA. Steve has been here on and off since the second year of outreach in 2000, and Justin was here for the first time. Allan Henninger was here as well. Allan is a former YWAM leader, and also a former Foursquare Pastor now living and serving in the Los Angeles area. If it was not for these three guys we would never have been able to accomplish the task of running the stage and live music we provide for the city as smoothly as it went.

Janine and Laura who are teachers of the Streams Ministries Internship Classes were here from Tennessee. The Streams Ministries Internship from New Hampshire, and some of the interns from Canada joined us for three weeks of outreach. Together the internships sent about 15 people to help serve. The Bridge Church from Beverly Massachusetts led by John Harding sent prophetic teams to serve throughout the month of October. The Bridge Church in New London, NH came with their Pastor Scott Evelyn. Pastor Scott is one of the initiators of the dynamic outreach to The Burning Man Festival. Rob from Coeur d'Alene, ID who organizes The Burning Man Festival outreach also joined us. These people were involved with prophetic ministry, healing prayer, and free spiritual counseling services to the thousands of people on the streets of Salem.

Grace Fellowship (a CMA Church) in Danvers, MA under the guidance of Anita Coco sent a group of people to run a Not for Sale event in the basement vault of The Gathering.

The First Church of Salem and their pastor Jeffrey Barz-Snell organized a 350.org event on the 24th.

Other friends who came to serve included: Tim Hawkins and Nine of his group from Sojourn Collegiate Ministries in Boston. Jesse and Liby Browning an Marcos Reyna from a house church in Beverly, Ben Corey who was an awesome Jesus Deck reader from Grace Chapel in Lexington, and of course the infamous James Wilcox.

The musicians who played on our stage included Mamadou Diop and his band (as well as the drummers he has trained who formed a drum circle), Grateful Ted and Peter Tintendo, Paul Phillips with Tom Conlon and The Petty Thieves, Judy C(ooper), Jim Trick, Lisa Press and her husband Simon, Sarah Vanilla who goes by Lush now, Paul Duffy and the Front Street Coffeehouse Open Mic gang, Debra Crosby's Talent Quest TV Show, Hail Plankton, Dave Mangione and the Vic Morrows, Eric Brown and his band Phatmaxx, and Brian Serfes and DJ Xpress with the Salem Beatbox Championships.

The next post will give thanks to all the gang from Church on the Coast who made this year come together, and have been the backbone of outreach for 11 Halloween seasons now.