The coronavirus quarantines have forced us into the twenty-first century in spite of the fact that we were quite happy in the Middle Ages. After having to cancel our personal ministry in Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and Brazil, the people in the Philippines essentially refused to take “No” for an answer and requested that we do their conference via ZOOM. Therefore, we partnered with the missionaries we work with in the Philippines – Kurt and Isabell Minott of I Am Ministries – and scheduled an online conference for them. We also welcomed all our friends from all around the world to join us. In addition the individuals from various parts of the Philippines who logged on, a couple churches were able to have the congregations come to their sanctuaries for the broadcasts by practicing proper social distancing and wearing masks and a number of families invited their friends into their homes to view the video conference. We also had several guests from the US, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, and Africa – bringing the total number of participants to more than a hundred. One participant made the interesting observation that, because of the lockdown, she had time to listen to the broadcast and then go back and hear it a second time – thus the pandemic lockdown was actually a blessing to her!
Delron taught about the authority of the believer from his book Finally, My Brethren and Peggy ministered on overcoming spiritual and emotional strongholds based on her forthcoming book No Longer Bound. We received some very encouraging responses including one especially moving testimony from a gentleman who had been deeply offended and had essentially blamed God for all his distress. As a result, he had all but forsaken the faith. He accepted a friend’s invitation to log onto the conference and was really impacted by Peggy’s teaching on breaking down the stronghold of unforgiveness. He said that he felt a great breakthrough and decided to attend church the next day – the first time in eight years. One of our friends in the Philippines wrote to us to say, “The revelation from this ZOOM meeting was like an explosion! It made me breathless and excited! I could feel God’s love oozing from you both and popping right through the computer screen. It is so real – almost tangible.” Many sent us testimonies of how the teaching had given them the ability to forgive and go forward with their lives, but one participant’s comment was especially touching, “Thank you so much. I am sure you were speaking directly to me. I have had a long string of unforgivable people in my life. But – as a result of your ministry – I have decided to take on the journey of forgiving these unforgivable people. What they did was wrong, but it is not my place to judge and cast punishment. I wanted always to forgive them, but my resentment only ate at me from inside. I knew in my head what I needed to, I just but couldn’t do it. Hatred and anger were pillars and columns holding me captive – but no more! I am starting to tear them down. As a first step, I’ve decided to forgive my wife. She can only hurt me with her words. Although her words are hurtful and caused much pain, I’ve decided that her words can only hurt me when I allow them to.”
When we held a follow-up ZOOM a few weeks later, several of those who tuned in shared with us that their lives had taken dramatic turns for the better after participating in the first teleconference. If you would like to view the broadcasts – along with a series of “Epic Conversation” YouTube interviews that we recorded with our friend Diane Grubis – on the “video teaching” page of this website.
