Wines, Stephanie

English

Andrews University

Andrews UniversityDigital Commons @ Andrews UniversityLake Union Herald Lake Union Herald1-2003Divine InterventionStephanie WinesAndrews UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/luh-pubsPart of the English Language and Literature CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Lake Union Herald at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted forinclusion in Lake Union Herald by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contactrepository@andrews.edu.Recommended CitationWines, Stephanie, "Divine Intervention" (2003). Lake Union Herald. 732.https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/luh-pubs/73218 • Lake Union Herald, January 2003 Now you can read the Lake Union Herald online.DivineInterventionBY STEPHANIE WINESIcan remember the scene as if it were yesterday. OurVillage Church pastoral staff in Berrien Springs,Michigan, had assembled once again for the regularMonday meeting, with Larry Lichtenwalter, church pas-tor, leading out in worship. After the concluding prayer,he looked around expectantly at each of us and said hehad an exciting announcement to make. Our circle of “hands and feet for Jesus” didn’t respondwith much life. Most of us couldn’t hide our droopy eyelids or slouched positions. Undisturbed by his life-less crew, Pastor Larry proceeded to notify us that ourpastoral staff would be conducting an evangelistic series in a year. His eyes were wide with excitement, and a wide smile spread across his face. A few grunts of“great” and “wow” echoed around the circle, not matching even half of his enthusiasm. Little did we realize what we were in for.That was a little over a year ago. Now we are at theend of our Hope for the Homeland evangelistic series, notonly seeing miracles happen, but wishing it wasn’t over.The lifeless bodies of last year have been incredibly trans-formed into batteries of energy. When you see the powerof God working around and through you, there’s an irre-sistible urge to share with others and a spark that can’tbe squelched. Before the series began, I’d volunteered to be a rowhostess. Basically the duties of a row hostess consist ofgetting to the meetings 45 minutes early, sitting in thesame general area, welcoming people to the meetings,and handing out registration cards, bulletin announce-ments, coupons, etc. I was glad to be a hostess, becauseI really enjoy getting to know people personally; how-ever, I hadn’t caught a vision of how God was going touse me, so I’d been pretty nominal in my attitude towardthe whole series. About a week into the meetings, I tan-gibly understood God’s purpose for me.I’d seen them come to a couple of meetings the weekbefore, but thought nothing of it. That night, as I watchedthis mother-daughter pair walk up to the front and sitdown, something hit me. Or maybe it was more of animpression from the Holy Spirit. I felt compelled to welcome them once the meeting was finished. After thebenediction, I made my way up to the front of the churchand introduced myself to this little family. The motherintroduced herself as Barbara, and her daughter asJessica. We didn’t chat long before Barbara mentionedshe needed to pick up her younger daughter, Faith, fromdownstairs and get the girls home and into bed.The next few weeks I kept an eye out for Barbara andJessica, but the few times I saw them come, they had dis-appeared by the time I could get to them. In a pastoral meeting during the fourth week of theseries, Bayani Pastrana, our pastor in charge of evangelism,gave me another half-dozen interests to visit. As Iscanned down through the last names, I recognized oneStephanie Wines (right) serves as row hostess at the VillageChurch in Berrien Springs, Michigan.A large Hope for the Homeland banner was displayed outsidethe Village Church, inviting people to come to the meetings.Focus on:Visit our web site at luc.adventist.org Lake Union Herald, January 2003 •  19of them was Barbara’s and Jessica’s. That Thursday, Imade an evening visit to see how they were enjoyingthe meetings. Jessica came to the door with a big smileon her face. I asked how she’d been doing, and she repliedthat she was doing well and was really happy to see me.And before I even asked, she said she liked the “reli-gious” meetings she’d been coming to with her mom.Barbara wasn’t home from work yet, so I left two tapesand said I’d look for her and her Mom that weekend.Sunday night I saw Jess and her mom sit down a fewrows ahead of me. As the evening progressed, I thoughtI saw Barbara get out a tissue, but wasn’t sure. Afterward,I walked to where they were sitting and sat down byBarbara. She had been crying and was blowing her nose.We embraced, and then she said she really wanted toknow more about the Bible. The Holy Spirit was at workon her heart, and it was wonderful to see! Our head elder,Primod Gaikwad, was sitting behind her and had beentalking with her before I arrived. In response to her desireto know more about Jesus, he suggested the three of usget together and do Bible studies.Since that evening, Barbara and I have been meetingregularly to understand who Jesus is and what He teach-es in the Bible. She is desperately wanting to know Himmore and follow Him completely—whatever it takes.What a thrill to see God change other people’s lives.But perhaps even more amazing is to see how God canreignite my own heart and tired soul, and to understandthat if we are willing, He is faithful to complete the goodwork He’s begun in us.Stephanie Wines is an Andrews University English major.Prayer Ministry:Evangelism’s Power SourceBY KAREN PEARSONAt the Village Church in Berrien Springs, we had greatexpectations as we prepared and prayed for our Hopefor the Homeland meetings. As prayer ministries leader,the cry of my heart was for the Holy Spirit to descendwith power and to envelope not just our church, but theentire village.In the months leading up to the campaign, a questionkept repeating in my mind: “What is the essence of evan-gelism; what lies at the core of sharing Christ?” If I wasgoing to coordinate the prayer ministry, I needed to beable to answer that question. One morning, while wrestling in prayer for answers,I found the following statement: “The followers of Christare to labor as He did. We are to minister to the despair-ing, and inspire hope in the hopeless” (Ellen G. White,The Desire of Ages, p. 350). The words on the recently print-ed flyers came to mind: “Out of tragedy rises Hope forthe Homeland.” These words were being seen on billboardsand flyers and heard on radio and TV stations across thenation by millions of Americans.Before we knew it, opening night arrived. Flowers filledthe front of the sanctuary. The church looked lovely. Eachvolunteer had been trained and knew exactly where tobe, and what to do. I looked at the huge screen. It hadbeen found in answer to prayer. The cameras, the pro-jector, the lighting—all provided by the Lord in the mostincredible 11th-hour answers to our prayers. As the musicbegan, I slipped away to the prayer room where I joinedthe volunteers who had already started praying.In the days and weeks that followed, the church wit-nessed amazing answers to prayer. We prayed for ourentire village, and night after night people stopped bybefore the meeting began and shared with us how Godwas working in their lives and in their homes.We prayed for victory over sin, and strength to over-come temptation. We wept over the lonely, hurting onesand rejoiced as we saw lives surrendering to Jesus. We dis-covered that it is impossible to bring others to Jesus, with-out drawing closer to Him yourself. Evangelism is not aspectator sport. I have come to believe that prayer andencouragement lies at the heart of all genuine evangelism.The campaign is over, but as long as we are held pris-oners in this sin-wracked world, there will always be aneed to share the hope that is within us.Karen Pearson is the Andrews University advancementadministrative assistant.Karen Pearson, right, led out in the Village Church’s prayerministry during Hope for the Homeland. Harry Miller, left,was also part of the prayer group.

Divine Intervention

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