The Hunt

Prayer on the Square - Update

2011-05-31T13:47:00.003+01:00

Hello friends,

As it's been a while since we uploaded any content or testimonies I thought I would upload our new flyer that we will be taking out with us on our next POTS which is on Saturday, 4th June 2011.

I'm really expectant for all that God will do as the team head out onto Chatham High Street to reveal the love of God to those that pass by.

Hope for the hopeless, rest for the restless, healing for the sick and love for those that have been rejected - God is awesome!

Will post up testimonies as the come in!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

An update of where we are at at MFC

2011-03-11T17:27:00.003Z

Hello Hunters!

Sorry that there haven't been many updates over the last season.

During the last few months we've come into a season as a local church where we felt that God had told us to do the following:

Isaiah 54:2-3
‘Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities’

Part of this we felt was in not spreading ourselves too thinly as a church but prioritising ourselves in particular areas, making them our main focus for the coming season and doing those things well rather than doing lots of things but not effectively.

Obviously there is of course the God factor! - It's not about the effort we put in but there are underlying principles relating to practical stewardship of resources, both with people and time.

With this all taken into account we felt that as we had 2 street outreach ministries in operation (Treasure Hunts & Prayer on the Square) and that both had the same means to an end (praying for people) that we would be best served to really put our weight behind one for the next season, to develop a team and do it effectively.

We decided to emphasise the Prayer on the Square model. It is much like the Healing on the Streets model that the Vineyard churches are using, but with a few adjustments.

We felt it was both visible and targeted, also allowing for use of the prophetic in the same way as a treasure hunt, so as to get clues for people you may meet in the morning.

We've found in previous times we are seeing the same people walk past week after week and are starting to build up some relationships with local people through the regularity and location of it.

I am happy that for this season we have made a good decision and that in the future we will be able to re-engage with the treasure hunt model in some shape or form, but the tools and skills we have learnt as a church, the confidence in moving in the prophetic and approaching strangers has been invaluable.

I long for myself and others not just in our own church but in others to really grasp the fact that God wants to speak to us, to have us living supernaturally, not just on church organised outreach vehicles but in the day to day of everyday life, at the school gates, in the supermarket, at work, in the home, in the park, the tennis courts, gym, wherever - God wants you to reach out and impact the world around you with His mighty power displayed through your compassion and obedience.

I will try and keep the blog updated with testimonies over this coming season and can only apologise for my rather long delay in posting anything up here!

Happy hunting!

Gordon Watson
Medway Family Church

Team B - Feedback

2010-07-18T08:04:00.001+01:00

We went to Chatham this morning, hunting treasure in the highstreet. One of my clues was CRUTCHES, and it didn’t take long when we saw a lady walking on a pair of CRUTCHES. She just went into a shop, so we waited outside till she came out again and then approached her explaining what we were doing. She thought it was all a bit ‘freaky’ but she was quite interested. Her ailment (arthritis) was not on our treasure map, but she let us pray for her. She thanked us sincerely, she seemed to have felt quite honoured by this encounter. Encouraged, we continued and a minute later we saw a man sitting, with a CRUTCH in his hand. I had expected that he would quickly dismiss us, but instead we got into an open and friendly conversation about his life and God. Jenny and Mape gently provoked him to think about God and Jesus, and although he kept saying he dealt with his life in his own way, he also understood what we were saying. We left him in faith that he will remember this encounter and will start to ask himself questions about his beliefs and God.

We continued to the BAKERY, and waited there for a short while but we didn’t see any potential treasure. We continued to BLOCKBUSTERS; for some strange reason I was convinced that this was a clue of one of the others, and they followed me graciously. It turned out later that this had never been a clue on our treasure maps, but we did find treasure... Jenny and I went inside to see if anyone matched our clue, while Mape started chatting with a young mother with BLUE JEANS. She was waiting outside with her children while her husband was inside. When we came out we went through the clues with her. Again, she didn’t find any other clue on our maps that she recognised, but she did say that we could pray for her as she had recently found out that she has brain tumour! So we prayed for her while her husband came back. She said to him ‘Isn’t this amazing, these three ladies just came here looking for someone they could pray for, while I wanted prayer!’ She told us that some of her family were Christians, and others were Muslims, and they were all praying for her healing.

After this amazing encounter, we finally went towards FORT PIT HILL in a hurry as we were running out of time. We had just passed some GATES, and went up into the park when we past a man with BLUE JEANS WALKING DOGS. He didn’t have jeans, but he did wear blue trousers and the dogs convinced us that he was our treasure so we went up to him. He was very friendly and went through our treasure maps. It appeared that he had BACKPAIN and he was quite happy for us to pray for him. He couldn’t feel anything different after our prayer, but he was still very friendly and interested. He also told us that his wife goes to church sometimes, so hopefully this encounter will encourage them both.

We felt quite encouraged; we didn’t find many of our clues, and even went into ‘wrong’ directions, but we did find God’s treasures. We didn’t see any dramatic instant healings or salvations, but the people we approached were really friendly and interested. We went back confident that God had used us to sow seeds into their hearts which He will continue to cultivate.

Helena Posthumus

Treasure Hunt @ MFC

2010-07-17T12:37:00.007+01:00

Hello Hunters,

We had 8 people this morning stepping out in faith to share the Kingdom with those that God led them to.

We worshipped, prayed with one another, got our clues and then split into 3 teams:

Team A - Natalie, Laura, Aurelie

Team B - Helena, Mape, Jenny

Team C - Andrew & Gordon

Myself and Andrew approached several people that matched several clues but the highlight was definitely when we approached a young lady because she had a TAN RUCKSACK, she was in the PARK, near the PLAYGROUND - When we spoke to her we asked her name and it was ELLIE!!! - We encouraged her, she went to a local SCHOOL, her parents are Christians, we told her that God knows her and loves her and encouraged her that He wanted a personal relationship with her - She was really moved that God had led us to her - Praise God!

More to follow...

Treasure Hunt Training at Bedford (Kings Arms)

2010-07-16T15:02:00.004+01:00

Hi Hunters!

On Saturday, 11th September the team over at Kings Arms in Bedford will be hosting another of their excellent Treasure Hunt Training Days.

Click on this link for more information...

http://www.kingsarms.org/cm/component/option,com_events/task,view_detail/agid,538/year,2010/month,9/day,11/

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

A Party in Heaven - Hunt @ MFC

2010-06-19T13:00:00.004+01:00

Hello Hunters,

This morning we had Laura, Jenny M, Aurelie and myself together to bless the people God revealed to us.

We headed off to BLUEBELL HILL, as we had this clue and also HILL.

In the carpark we spoke to some guys in a 59 plate BMW, but nothing really came from that.

On the way there we were joking that because I had BEREAVEMENT and also a clue about FIRE/SMOKE that perhaps we should pop into the crematorium next to BLUEBELL HILL.

Personally I didn't have faith for that but Laura pressed me with a bit of gentle ribbing so we thought we'd give it a go and really step out in faith!

We parked up, walked around the grounds a bit and then Laura approached a lady who had a BLUE JACKET and DARK HAIR.

At the same time Jenny and Aurelie went after a lady on a MOBILITY SCOOTER, again I bottled it so backed up Laura (I had more faith for that then the scooter lady!).

It turned out our ladies name was JULIE and she was wearing GLASSES. We had a chat with her and her sister, encouraged them and then offered to pray for them - It was great to leave them as they drove off with beaming smiles on their faces - God's always in a good mood!

Meanwhile Jenny and Aurelie had spoken to the MOBILITY SCOOTER lady - Her daughters name was SALLY and they got to speak briefly with her.

They then approached an elderly lady and got talking to her - She had been going to church but wasn't a Christian yet. She basically struggled with not being able to be good enough and feeling completely disqualified to come into Gods presence/family.

Jenny explained that to have a relationship with God depends solely on the effort of Jesus, not on our own works or performance (thats legalism!) and that all she need do was move into the grace and mercy of God, accept Jesus free gift of salvation by repenting (changing her thinking) and offering her life to God - Jenny asked if she understood this, she said she did, so Jenny then gently offered her an opportunity to lead her through a prayer of commitment - The lady responded to the essential gospel and heaven had a party!!! - COME ON!!!

God is so amazingly good and gracious - The way He had already primed this lady for Jenny to come along and invite her into the Kingdom was a real inspirational moment.

But the most humbling thing was the way that Jenny just took it all in her stride and loved the lady like Jesus would without even entertaining the fear of man that could have quite easily prevented her from stepping out into the conversation when the time came to act in faith - Praise God!

I love the way that God moves in spite of me, not because of me - It was such a blessing to see Laura, Jenny & Aurelie just doing what they felt the Father was telling them and giving the angels a good cause to have a knees up - Life don't get much better than this! haha - God you're awesome!!!

Be encouraged - Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Treasure Hunt - MFC - May 22nd

2010-05-22T12:37:00.002+01:00

Hello Hunters,

We went out again this morning as one team of 4 people. There was Helena, Mape, Natalie and myself.

We started off at the PARK at the bottom of ROCHESTER CASTLE. We strolled around for a fair while but God didn't open anything up, although Helena was really taken with the idea of starting an outdoor gym (there were people exercising on the grass area).

We eventually headed onto Rochester High St. passed the ARCHES, the COFFEE SHOP and the TREE WITH BENCHES AROUND IT and then Helena noticed a young girl with BRAIDED HAIR who was walking with her mum. Helena & Natalie approached the lady and asked if she had ALLERGIES, which her daughter did! They chatted for a while, talking baout the families faith and questions surrounding it and then the opportunity came to pray for the daughters asthma (ALLERGY!) - It was a really encouraging first encounter of the morning and set the 4 of us up for what was to come!

Helena & Mape approached a guy who was sitting on the wall selling the Big Issue. Usually there is a woman there (she has been prayed for on previous Hunts) - It turned out that the woman is the guys sister. They prayed for him, for him to get a job and encouraged him - More Lord!

As we walked down the street we noticed a temporary ONE WAY SIGN in the middle of the High St.

Mape then saw a guy wearing an ARSENAL top. I originally thought it would be a red on but it was a BLUE one. We chatted with him briefly but he wasn't the treasure but he held us up just long enough for our next encounter...

...as we walked on down the street a woman fell out of a shop, down the step and crashed into Natalie, grabbing her to stop herself falling over. Amazingly the woman had a WALKING STICK. We asked how the lady was, if she was she ok? Then I asked if the reason she had a walking stick was because of her KNEE - It was!!! We then asked her name got to know a bit about her and then commanded healing upon her knee and gave thanks for the lady and her new baby granddaughter.

While we were praying with the lady Helena & Mape were talking with a STREET CLEANER, encouraging him and laughing with him - We were in a real hotspot in that High St.

It was such an encouraging morning, starting off seemingly slow with little happening and the all of a sudden God opened it right up and brought us person after person with impeccable timing.

Our next hunt is sometime in June - Really looking forward to it. God seems to have really changed our outlook and expectancy as a team now and we seem to have a real understanding coming that it's all about what God is wanting to do rather than what we feel we should do.

Be glorified God, you are amazing!

Happy Hunting!!!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

MFC Treasure Hunt

2010-04-17T20:00:00.002+01:00

Hello hunters!

We were only with four of us, two for their first hunt, one for her second hunt, and myself. It is always exciting to go on a treasure hunt with ‘fresh’ hunters and to see God speak through them so I felt quite privileged.

After an amazing time of worship, we asked God for clues. Although not many, we had a few distinct clues and some matching. We went to Rochester, first to the train station, where there were also some roadworks going on. There we saw an Asian man with a beard and dark coat walking purposefully towards Chatham but we were too late to pick up the courage and speak to him. So we asked God that we might meet him again later in the morning. After waiting at the station for a couple of minutes without seeing anyone matching our clues we walked towards Rochester bridge.

Again, here were roadworks going on and we certainly felt we were in the right place. However, we saw no one matching our clues so we moved onto the nearby park where there are trees and bushes. There were also a father and son playing with a ball (cricket) which we felt was another clue for the location. However, again no one matched our other clues. We talked to two ladies on a bench but they didn’t recognise any of our clues and didn’t want prayer so we moved on, back to the bridge.

Then, suddenly Aurelie ran across the road, where a young man with a long black coat and dark clothing was approaching. I catched up with them, and we explained to him about our treasure hunt. He then said that he was Roman Catholic but that he was in a stage of life where he was not sure whether God really exists. Aurelie spoke powerfully truth in his life, encouraging him to be serious about searching God, looking for the truth and also to look for light and not darkness. He then let us pray for him, so we asked God to reveal Himself to this young man.

At the same location near the bridge, we spoke to another man with a beard and dark coat, and his wife, who were visiting Rochester for the weekend. Although friendly, they didn’t want recognise any of the other clues nor wanted prayer so we blessed them. As we were about to go back, we then saw the same Asian man with a beard and dark coat again, crossing the road coming towards us. We were amazed, as he went in the opposite direction when we saw him at the train station earlier on, which is about a mile away. But here he was again, just as we had asked God. So we spoke to him and explained what we were doing. He told us he was a Sikh so didn’t want prayer but we just responded that God loves him.

As we made our way back, we saw another man with a beard and dar coat near roadworks and a green jumper but he was not very responsive to us. We had an opportunity to pray with the lady who sells the Big Issue in the high street though and had a lovely chat with her.

All in all, we had a great time, enjoying the lovely spring weather. All of us felt we had learned again on how to hear from God, how to act (don’t hesitate, opportunities are easily missed!), but also how to receive God’s grace when we don’t act. His love and grace never fails.

Happy hunting!

Helena Posthumus

Medway Family Church

Hunt at MFC

2010-03-20T15:00:00.004Z

Hello Hunters,

We went on a hunt last Saturday and had a great time. God really spoke to us clearly about a few people and situations and it was a pleasure to pray for a few people too!

We got our clues and headed off to Strood. Adam had the clue BIG WHEEL so we were bowled over when we saw one opposite the train station in a travellers compund. We also had the clue GARAGE and again were bowled over as we pulled over right outside Watsons GARAGE (Watson is my surname!).

Adam & Bola met a lady right near the BIG WHEEL and opened a conversation. They prophesied over her and encouraged her - It was a real God encounter.

Natalie, Colette and myself were near the SHOPS in Strood, outside SPORTS SHOP. There was an elderly lady walking with her disabled daughter, she was struggling to walk with 2 walking sticks, we had 2 clues about opposite knees. We approached her but she said her neck was bad. We prayed for her, she saw a small improvement, then we all prayed for her again and she said it felt better...

We met a few other people. Adam met a man ALL IN YELLOW (wearing Hi-Vis gear) but he couldn't stop to talk. We found many other clues and had a few other conversations but nothing of real note.

Anyway back to our lady with the sticks... She asked how much we charged! We obviously said £10 a prayer - haha - No really we obviously said it's all free, that Jesus loves her and doesn't charge! She asked us for a card and we blessed her and left her there outside the shops.

Anyway on the following Monday I went into the town centre and as I was parking my car I saw this little old ladies daughter walking right next to my car. I couldn't pass up this God appointment so I jumped out of the car and got talking to the daughter. I walked with her to the shops (about 10 min walk). We spoke about God and I asked her about her disability.

I let her know that God loves her and values her, then I asked after her mum and her neck - She started telling me I was a genie! I said "genie?" She said "No - a Genius!" - She then went onto say her mum had been pain free in her neck since our prayers. I explained it wasn't us but that the power came from God in heaven. That Jesus had healed her and he loves her - It was quite remarkable really!

And that was that, I left her outside the same shops we had met at on the Saturday and just pray that God will really get a hold of that family!

Be encouraged - Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Hunt in Oxted - Kings Church

2010-03-13T16:00:00.001Z

Hello Hunters!

Here is a selection of testimonies for your encouragement from a Treasure Hunt in Oxted on Saturday, 13th March.

1. James

Eddie, Ray and I had three location clues between us - spice (which we took to mean an Indian or similar restaurant), station and flower beds - which took us eventually to the area between the Cinnamon Lounge and the pub opposite, near the station and bordered by raised flower beds. We had previously tried some other locations along the High St with a few contacts but no obvious treasure.

We felt it was right to stay in that area and trust God to bring the treasure past us. Again, several contacts but no definite hits. After a while Eddie started talking to one of the people who came out of the pub for a cigarette. He was a young man who was amazed to find that Eddie had his name, James, written down as a name clue. He also felt that Eddie's reference to someone with a heavy burden applied to him. Eddie said afterwards that he'd started talking to James as he felt prompted to do so, having caught his eye a few times (this was following a word that Dale had passed on to the TH team earlier in the week, about following the Holy Spirit's prompting). Ray and I joined them and James explained that he felt very much as though his life was empty, despite being outwardly successful at work and in his wider life (though he'd broken up with his girlfriend a little time ago). We gave him some testimonies - including Eddie's and Ray's - and encouraged him to see God's hand upon him that day, to find abundant new life in Jesus. He said he was really interested to talk more and this was what he needed to hear, and if we could wait he would go inside and finish his breakfast (!) and come out again. We agreed and he duly came back a few minutes later, ready to carry on. We talked more and asked if we could pray for him to feel his Father's love in a new way from that day on, with which he was happy - so we did. We gave him the church contact details and the "Knowing God" leaflet and he agreed to come to church at the first opportunity, this coming Sunday (he lives in Oxted but couldn't come yesterday because of his pub manager work in East Grinstead). We advised him to expect obstacles to that coming up during the week, but he seemed determined to be there next Sunday. It will be great if we can pray him into (a) King's church next week and (b) the Kingdom! We left on very good terms, having told him that it really blessed and encouraged us to talk to him too and we looked forwards to seeing him again, at church.

We all felt greatly encouraged by that encounter. Often we've said that there seems a natural time limit even to a good conversation, but in this case we each felt that he was ready to drink in everything we were telling him about God, and that from his face he seemed very open and ready to move forwards. As a team we had a word as we set out that chains would be broken and we prayed afterwards for James that that would apply in his life, shown by his coming to church and getting saved.

2. Brian

He was a man with a walking stick near the station, who said he didn't think God could help with his "hole in his spine" but we said we'd pray anyway

3. Brazilian family Eddie knew who were reluctant to commit to coming to church but the husband Nelson asked us to pray for their financial/business situation.

4. Alison- her father had died a couple of years ago and her mum lives 400 miles away. Her mother, Kathleen, can be lonely and so we prayed for Kathleen, and also for Alison and her family. She was very open and it was a very positive first encounter of the morning.

5. Caroline- her husband has just got the job as deputy head of a local secondary school and she is looking for a lively Church for her and the family. Pippa gave her the King's Church card.

6. Janice- she is recovering from a hip replacement and asked that we pray later rather than on the street.

7. Harvey- he is a Christian but doesn't go to a Church. Charleigh told him about youth and has invited him along.

9. Emily- looking for a job. Told her about job club and gave her the information about it.

10. Shann - with her mother and brother, had a sprained ankle, was about a 7or8 on pain scale, we prayed for it and she said it was feeling a bit better.

11. Dawn- Had shoulder and neck pain, we prayed for her and chatted to her, she was very open about things such as her beliefs. Said her shoulder/neck was feeling a bit better, and would have had more prayer but she had to go and meet a friend.

12. We were outside Oxted Electrical, and saw a woman with a blue top and red scarf. She said that she was a German Catholic and a Scientologist… one of our clues was confused and this could refer to her spiritual state! She had a bad hip and so we offered to pray for her and ask Jesus to heal her. We laid hands on her and prayed and she said that the pain had gone down and the hip felt better. We also prayed for a young lad who was with her who had a broken arm. We gave them both tracks about the gospel and asked them to take some time to read about Jesus.

Happy Hunting!

Dale Barlow

Kings Church Oxted

Encounter Weekend - Town Invasion Feedback

2010-02-16T19:16:00.007Z

Hello Hunters!

Just wanted to fill you all in on the amazing time that was had by all at the Encounter Youth Conference last weekend over at The Town Church, Sevenoaks.

We had the pleasure of having Julian Adams come and teach/minister to us over the Friday evening and all day Saturday - He spoke on the Fathers heart and many people encountered God in fresh new ways. The worship was electric and it was such a pleasure to see 100+ young people going all out for Jesus!

On the Saturday afternoon we had approx 30(ish) youngsters signed up for the Town Invasion.

We had a short time of teaching and instruction on Treasure Hunting before heading out into Sevenoaks to bless the people that God led us to.

All of the teams came back having found clues and being led to people. Many of the teams had some really exciting encounters where the love and power of God really touched peoples hearts.

Some of the youth had tried this method of evangelism before but for a few it was their first time out and they were all hugely encouraged as they realized that hearing from God can be an everyday occurrence and that it's not as difficult to share the Kingdom with people as they originally thought!

Some of the testimonies will be posted soon... watch this space!

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Oxted Hunt Testimonies - Jan/Feb 2010

2010-02-16T19:12:00.003Z

Here's a few testimonies from Kings Church in Oxted.

Orange Hair in Nero’s

As soon as we set out, David found his first clue and blessed someone whom I had already had contact with through a woman2woman event. She was open to be blessed and prayed for which was an encouraging start.

It was a bitterly cold day so Kate and I were keen to move on to my next location clue which was NERO'S!!!! We were incredulous as we saw our treasure, sitting at the back of the cafe. A woman with LURID BRIGHT ORANGE/ RED HAIR. Bulls eye!! She was deep in conversation so Kate and I decided to sit nearby and wait until we had a chance to talk. When our ‘treasure’ did eventually get up to leave we decided to ask her about her amazing hair colour; she needed no second bidding and sat down next to us with great eagerness and gave us a moment by moment account of her last trip to the hairdressers. We finally managed to explain why we were drawn to talk to her and showed her not only the hair clue but also the words GRIEF which Kate had written on her card. She was astounded that God had spoken so accurately, especially as she had just confessed to her friend to being up to her neck in grief moments before. It transpired that she was a Christian and had been in an abusive marriage for 23 years. She felt bitter that God had saved her on her wedding day but since that day, her life had been very difficult and she was so angry with God and feeling guilty because she had just separated from her husband. We spent some time bringing truth and words of comfort and life and we prayed for her. The tears flowed and we felt that God had made His point - what love He has and what mercy and grace was flowing in spite of her anger and confusion. We really felt that we had brought His presence and that this precious Christian really knew that she was on Father God's heart and that He wasn’t angry with her as she had previously thought.

It was an extraordinary meeting and we are sure that she left us feeling that God would never let go of her and that she was loved.

Rescued by Eddie

After we left Nero’s, Kate and I headed out for our next location, but on the way there, we found our next clue; a lady with JET BLACK HAIR and the skinniest pair of BLACK SKINNY JEANS stood before us. We explained what we were doing and were met with a very suspicious response- partly due to the fact that her English was poor but also because she clearly didn’t trust us. I was fast beginning to wish that we had never stopped her as we could see that the shutters had gone down. At just the right moment, in perfect timing, Eddie and his team walked by and he immediately saw our predicament. He began speaking to the lady in Bulgarian, and assuring her that we were safe. It transpired that she and her family were Bulgarian and Eddie had witnessed to them in the past. The transformation was astonishing, she started to smile and was open to hear what we had to say. We shared about Jesus with her and although she was very busy and life was stressful, she conceded that she might come to visit us one day at church. She left us looking happy and realizing that God sees her.

Flat Cap by the Legion

We made our way to the BRITISH LEGION, looking for a man in a FLAT CAP who had a WALKING STICK because of his bad back and whose name we thought was BERT. Having waited in the cold for a few minutes and seeing no one we suddenly saw a man walking up the hill about 100 yards away. He had a flat cap and was clearly in pain from the way he was walking. We caught up with him and it turned out that his name was David (not Bert) but that he did had a bad back. The doctors thought he had a trapped nerve but were unable to offer any solution and he had been in pain with it for 6 years. We asked if we could pray for him and when he said that was ok we laid our hands on his back and commanded the pain to go and for healing to come. We then asked him how his back was and he smiled and said that the pain had definitely got less. So we prayed again and encouraged him to walk up and down and see how it was. By the end of our time praying for him he said that the pain had been 8/10 but was now below 4/10. We encouraged him to keep thanking God for what He was doing and to keep asking Him to heal his back completely.

Happy Hunting!

Dale Barlow

Kings Church, Oxted

TOWN INVASION - Saturday, 13th February 2010

2010-02-06T20:00:00.001Z

Hello Hunters!

Just to let you all know about the Town Invasion (Treasure Hunt) this coming Saturday, 13th February, that is happening as part of the Encounter Weekend youth conference with Julian Adams.

We will be at The Town Church in Sevenoaks, with the invasion preparation starting at around 1.45pm.

There will be a quick time of instruction and testimony before we get our clues and head off into Sevenoaks in teams of 3/4 people to find the people that God gives us the clues to find.

I'm expecting God to really impact some people on Saturday afternoon through the power of His Holy Spirit!

Each team will be out for about an hour before heading back to The Town Church for a de-briefing session (military stylee!) so we can all hear about what God has been doing.

Feel free to message me via the Encounter Weekend Facebook page (just search for Encounter & you'll find it on there!) if you have any further questions.

I look forward to meeting many of you there.

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Roadshow at Oxted - 23/01/2010

2010-01-23T16:30:00.001Z

Hello Hunters,

Today we had churches from across Kent meeting at Kings Church, Oxted, to bless the people in their town by going out on a treasure hunt.

There were loads of testimonies fed back after the hunt. Needless to say it is amazing just hearing testimony after testimony of how God has given people clear words and descriptions of people and their needs so that we can introduce them to the King of Heaven!

The highlight for me today was going to the SUPERMARKET, where there was a young man walking out of there wearing an ORANGE JACKET. The lady walking with him had HIGH BOOTS on and was also pushing a SHOPPING TROLLEY. I ran over to approach them with Laura from our team and explained what we were doing and the lady said that the young man was autistic. She is his carer, he lives in a home and that his parents were coming to visit him today. I nearly fell over!!! My self and Laura had the words FATHER & MOTHER between us. I explained that I felt that God wanted us to pray for the young man. She introduced us to him and I spoke briefly with him, he kept saying "I'm in charge, I'm in charge!"

We didn't end up praying for him there and then, I asked him a couple of times, but he didn't want us to, just said "I'm in charge!" and it felt wrong to be forceful and push it further. But I came away from this encounter both humbled and stirred.

Humbled because God had led us to this young man, bound up in himself and not fully engaged with his surroundings. And then stirred because as a church we have had prophetic words about us being a healing centre for autism (amongst other mental conditions).

God won't you please accelerate this promise into becoming reality!

My heart felt so compassionate towards that young man, but I was also aware that maybe whatever was saying "I'm in charge!" wanted things to stay just as they were. If I was a disciple I'd have had a pretty good idea what to do!

Move in power Father and help me overcome my unbelief!

Watch this space for further testimonies from today - I'll post them as I receive them...

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

MFC Treasure Hunt - 05/12/2009

2009-12-05T14:20:00.005Z

Hello Hunters!

It was a pleasure to go out into Rochester this morning with what was one of our largest contingent of hunters to date.

We had Aurelie and Hannah out with us, both on their first hunts. Plus we had the added encouragement of some friends from The River Centre in Tonbridge joining with us following on from last weeks Roadshow in Gravesend.

Helena confidently led us and encouraged us as we met together to worship Father God.

We split into 3 groups and all headed off to Rochester (which wasn't planned!) - It was a great encouragement that today was the Dickens Festival so the town was heaving with people, at points so much so that there was barely room to move!

All of the teams identified people corresponding to the clues that God had spoken to them, approached them and most were afforded the privilege of praying Gods blessing and power into peoples lives.

Personally it was a huge encouragement to see both Peter and Naomi (both from River Centre) stepping out to approach their 1st person in a WHEELCHAIR. After this they were hugely encouraged and approached another 6 people in wheelchairs and were able to pray Gods love and healing power over 4 of these people. It's great to think that God chooses to move through us, to reveal his love to others through our obedience to his word - Amazing!

This was our last planned hunt of 2009 and was a huge encouragement as I look back to when we started Treasure Hunting as a church back at the beginning of this year. We have seen so many people come into encounters with the living God. Many have come and stepped out in faith without knowing what to expect. We have seen networking blossom amongst like minded (and hearted) local churches as we have stepped out united into each others communities and asked God to bless those that live amongst us but so often get overlooked.
We have learnt what it is to serve a God that is compassionate, that knows people by name, who has revealed His plan for the lives of the lost and the broken - I could go on for hours....

God is good and we're looking forward to more, more, more in 2010.

1 Peter 4:11
If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.
If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.
Amen.

Happy hunting & have a great Christmas!

Gordon Watson
Medway Family Church

Roadshow at Gravesend - 28/11/09

2009-11-28T14:30:00.003Z

Hello Hunters!

We had the great pleasure of seeing Treasure Hunt teams from across Kent all descend upon Gravesend for a morning of seeing the presence of God move in the local community for NKCC.

We met at Emmanuel Baptist Church (it was great that they loaned us their building!) in the morning and had a time of testimony and worship (led excellently by Dave Webster) before splitting into teams and getting our clues.

There were around 20 people spread across 6 teams and every team went out and most came back encouraged with testimonies of how they had found clues and found treasure.

One team approached a lady who matched several clues and said to her "God wants to do something amazing for you today" - The lady immediately responded, whilst choking back tears. Recently her experience of life had been really difficult with death and illness running through her family and effecting her in many different ways. The team encouraged her and prayed for her and left her with a massive hug and a beaming smile - God is good!

Really looking forward to the next hunt this coming Saturday at MFC - More Lord!

Happy hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Treasure Hunt Roadshow Flyer

2009-11-12T14:19:00.004Z

Hello Hunters!

Our next scheduled Treasure Hunt Roadshow is on Saturday, 28th November at Gravesend.

We look forward to seeing many of you there!

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Roadshow at 7oaks

2009-10-24T15:00:00.002+01:00

This morning we met at The Town Church in Sevenoaks for our 2nd Kent Treasure Hunt Roadshow.

We had teams from Oxted, NKCC, MFC and also a team from The River Centre in Tonbridge - There was approx 40+ people in attendance representing a varying degree of ages and backgrounds.

We had a great time of worship and wrote down our clues during this time.

We then split up into our teams and headed out into Sevenoaks to find and bless God's treasure.

Watch this space for testimonies....

Happy hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Another great morning! - MFC

2009-10-10T16:32:00.003+01:00

Hello hunters!

Laura, Michelle (1st timer) & Jon (2nd timer) and I went out this morning.

We headed off to Rochester and here are the highlights of Gods leading...

A guy sitting on a bench opposite a PHONE BOX, he had a BEARD, WALKING STICK, GLASSES and a WOOLly hat.

He told us he had CANCER and was open to us praying for him, we shared the Gospel with him and encouraged him that God had led us to him to comfort him and let him know He's there.

It was amazing that afterwards Laura pointed out that there was a shop to his left called the Deaf Cat - I had the clue HEARING PROBLEM and Laura had CAT - God has an amazing sense of humour!!!

Also...

A man near Rochester Castle, with a STICK, 2 of us had his NAME as the clue and we also had his sons NAME. He told us his son is ill and that he is was also LONELY due to recent relationship break up. We had a great time of conversation, encouragement and prayer (the man was already a Christian) before heading off home!

We are coming into a season of increased expectancy and also a much higher hit rate with clues (particularly names), but most importantly God is being revealed to people, which is what it's all about - Glory glory, glory to the Lord God Almighty!

Amen!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Roadshow Testimony - MFC (2)

2009-09-26T16:56:00.000+01:00

Hello Hunters,

Just a quick testimony from the Roadshow at MFC.

Myself and Ian (the older one) from 7oaks approached a man who had a BLUE SHIRT on. We were at Capstone COUNTRY PARK near the POND.

The man was with a young boy and they were fishing. I saw that the BLUE TOP was a Gillingham FC top so asked how the fishing was going and we talked footy for a bit. I then felt compelled to ask if one of them was called JAMES. The man said "That's my sons name!!!"

We then got into a much deeper conversation with them about God, their Christian faith and affirmed the father to the son and encouraged them in Jesus name - It was a pretty amazing time really - God is great!

Happy Hunting,

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Roadshow Testimony - MFC

2009-09-26T16:50:00.002+01:00

I quickly typed up our treasure hunt before I'm off to Bedford this afternoon and forget about it. It was a struggle at first, but we were very encouraged by the ending of our hunt!

Dale, Kate, Emma and I went up to Victoria Gardens first to the playground and bandstand. Dale and Kate approached a boy with a yellow t-shirt and red hair. They chatted with him and two girls for a few minutes, but they said they were alright and didn’t need prayer. We then went over to an elderly man who sat on the bench. Although he didn’t match any of the clues we just started talking to him. I noticed the bandages on his legs and he told us he had a skin problem. He let us pray for him but we don’t know whether God healed him or not. When we finished praying we say that two girls and a boy were hanging around at the bandstand. So we went over to them and I asked them whether the names we had written down meant anything to them. But they didn’t recognise any name so we moved on to Chatham high street.

We went along the music shop, I looked quickly inside but didn’t see any obvious clues, so we walked further. In the second music shop we approached a customer who had a check shirt. I explained to him what we were doing, but he said he was an atheist. However, he was willing to run through some of the clues with us, and then he told us that the owner of the first music shop had the same NAME that we had on our list. “That is as far as I can help you” he said; I found it quite encouraging that an atheist was willing to help us to find the clues given to us by God! ;-)

We went further down the high street but didn’t really see anyone that matched our clues. At the McDonalds, a man was sitting outside begging, with a striped shirt and coins in front of him. I often see him there on Saturdays, and buy him a burger and have a chat with him. So we approached him. He said he prayed himself every day, but I could see he was really touched when we prayed for him.

We went back, looking for our clues. We approached a women with a pink shirt, but she didn’t want to know anything about God or religion. Immediately after, a mother and her daughter came towards us with pink skirts as well. We stopped them, again explained what we were doing. They recognised some of the names as friends, but couldn’t think of anything we could pray for. I asked the mother if she believed in God. She said she believed in something, and perhaps one could call that something God, but she didn’t go to church or anything. We moved on as we had to go back (and now I realise I should have told her about the Alpha course - stupid me). A guy walked passed us, with his elbow in bandage and a sling. So we quickly stopped him, his name matched with one of the names we had, but he didn’t want prayer. He said his arm was nearly healed and the bandage would come off next week.

We had our last stop at the first music shop. There were no customers, but one guy was standing in the doorway smoking, with spiky hair.

That’s NAME I thought, and so he was. I started explaining to him what we were doing and he was very interested. Then he told us he was a Christian and that he and his mate were looking for a church.

Just this week his mate had said that he had heard that there was a good church on Jasper Avenue, and maybe they should to there one day! Hey, that is us!

We chatted with him for a bit longer about the church and gave him the details. He was really amazed and knew this was a sign of God.

He said he would tell his friend about our encounter, and hopefully his friend will come to church. Isn’t God good!?!

By the way, the other encouraging thing was that, as we shared afterwards, I realised that quite a few of the clues we had but couldn’t find, matched with clues of other groups who did find their treasures based on those clues!

Another amazing treasure hunt – I’m looking forward to the next one!

Helena

Medway Family Church

Roadshow at MFC

2009-09-26T15:07:00.003+01:00

Hello hunters!

We had our 1st Treasure Hunt Roadshow this morning and it was great.

We had 20+ people attend, with the majority being experienced hunters and 4 newbies who were experiencing it for the 1st time.

We hosted the 1st of 5 planned events, this one being at Medway Family Church.

Teams from NKCC, Oxted, Sevenoaks and Dartford descended upon Medway under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and every team came into contact with God's treasure, which was found and blessed in Jesus name.

As testimonies are fed back I will post them on here, but I really just wanted to come on here and thank everyone that came out in faith and blessed the people in our local community, thank you all!

God is doing something amazing amongst us and as we meet together and press into what he has for us as a region of churches in unity I'm trusting that the Kingdom that we are all a part of will invade our towns and bring freedom - Yay Jesus!

I can't wait for the next one now at The Town Church, Sevenoaks on Saturday 24th October at 10am.

Happy hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

The Treasure Hunt Roadshow

2009-09-20T12:00:00.000+01:00

We are pleased to announce that the Newfrontiers Kent network of churches is hosting a Treasure Hunt Roadshow from September 2009 through to at least February 2010.

Treasure Hunt teams from Medway, Sevenoaks, NKCC, Oxted & Dartford will take turns in hosting each Treasure Hunt in their towns.

Every morning will start at 10am with tea & coffee, followed by a short period of worship. We will then head out to find and bless the 'treasure' that God leads us to before returning back to base for a short time of feedback and encouragement before ending at approx 12:30pm.

The roadshow kicks off at Medway Family Church in Rochester this Saturday, 26th September at 10am.

All are encouraged and welcome to attend regardless of previous Treasure Hunting experience.

This is the perfect opportunity to step out in faith and give it a try for the first time or even just come along as an observer and see what a Treasure Hunt actually looks like!

Happy hunting!!!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Gods Sense of Humor - MFC

2009-09-13T22:00:00.002+01:00

Hello Hunters!

Here is an excerpt from an email that Helena sent to me after a recent Treasure Hunt:

Just a quick update on the treasure hunt yesterday. Obviously you were there when we found our treasure John who matched many clues. although he clearly wasn't in the mood of talking or praying, I hope that our meeting encouraged him.

Damien and I went to St Margarets church afterwards. it turned out that the church was open because of the Heritage weekend (?). anyhow, we chatted to two people outside (who were involved in this 'open day' event - Peter and another lady, I forgot her name) explaining what we were doing. Although they were interested, we didn't get anywhere, except on the rooftop of the church. because of the open day we were invited to go up the roof and Peter went with us. while enjoying the lovely views, we chatted with Peter and he was telling us he goes to the Salvation Army and they meet on sunday evenings in Emmaus church. He invited us to come along that evening because they were going to 'send out' two cadets.

long story short, I went to Emmaus church (old church) in the evening, and really enjoyed the service. Nice people, good preach on God giving us Christians a purpose and a mission (very much NF style message). Anyhow, I was sitting next to Peter's wife Sue and she was wearing a green skirt. i thought 'that's funny'. Then, it turned out that the two cadets they were sending out was a couple in their 50s/60s with the woman with brown hair. The Salvation Army band was playing, and their choir was singing, so there was a lot of live music in the place. And then I spotted the tattoos on the left arm of the biker sitting in front of me. Believe it or not, he had planets and a small spaceship tattooed on his arm! I nearly fell of my chair! God has a great sense of humour. I didn't feel prompted to talk to or pray for anyone regarding the clues. Obviously, they're all christians and know God, but also the focus of the evening was on this couple that was sent out and people were crowding around this couple afterwards to have a last chance to say goodbye, so I left after having a few friendly chats with people. Sometimes God reveals His clues more to have fun with us (in a positive sense). I felt very blessed during the evening, as the service (with the band and the choir) reminded me of the church in my home village where I grew up, it was a privilege to hear the couple's testimony of how God had broken in when they went through a rough time, and my fear for (or rather, my prejudice of) bikers has now gone! You know these scary bikers with shaved heads, large beards, earrings and tattoos...? Two of them were sitting in front of me, and when the band was playing their last song, these two men were joyfully joining in, singing along with the band and praising God. It was hilariously funny (no disrespect here), it really made me laugh. whenever I see another sturdy biker again, i have to think of these two men and can't help myself but have to smile.

Helena

I was so encouraged to have received this email and also by the fact that on that day we had our largest team out on the streets doing a treasure hunt! We had it straight after our Sunday morning service (which was a first) and noticed an increased sense of expectancy amongst the team - More Lord!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Treasure Hunt - Oxted

2009-09-12T17:30:00.001+01:00

TREASURE HUNT – Oxted Saturday 12^th September 09

Pictures During Worship

Picture of many angels flying up and down the high street. Then I saw them flying over the park and various other places in Oxted. I had a sense that God was saying that he had sent the angels out before us.

1. 30 seconds after leaving the church office going up Amy Road towards the BIKE SHOP we saw a big guy leaning on his car just outside Sainsbury's waiting for the rest of his family to return to the car. He had been a PROP FORWARD and he had a KNEE PROBLEM and was standing on the KERB. This blew us away as the ink was only just dry from our having put these very clues on our list back in the church office. He was so obviously the treasure but said there was no point in praying and would not let us. His family arrived at that moment. Whilst he was taken aback and slightly defensive, he was pleasant. Once we had moved away we prayed for him anyway asking God to keep working on his heart and to keep reminding him that he had been identified as treasure.

2. We found another PROP FORWARD with a KNEE PROBLEM (shortly to be having an operation) this time also with a BLACK TEE SHIRT. He was happy for us to pray for him as he went (but he was carrying a bag of tools and clearly about to start a job).
There were an alarming number big, bald people (!) (including some with black tee shirts) in Oxted on Saturday and we talked to a good few of them - always pleasantly received; never once did people refuse to talk to us.

3. We found a BALD/SHAVEN HEADED guy in the BIKE SHOP with whom we ended up having quite a conversation about Christianity. He muttered that it was interesting that we had "struggling to get free of ADDICTIONS" on his list but was clearly not about to discuss why he thought that was interesting (and as there were quite a few people around it did not seem right to start talking about that there and then). He thought that he was being "more Christian" than a lot of people by going on a bike ride to raise several hundred pounds for a children's charity the next day. We asked for his email so we could sponsor him. We also told him about Alpha and invited him to the Alpha supper which he seemed interested in. We pray he will come. (Alex and Korbus who own the bike shop and are Christians were quite interested to see what was going on. I must explain treasure hunting to them sometime.)

4. Later in the day when sitting with my children on a sleepy train going towards London from Oxted with only two or three other people in the carriage I noticed a BALD guy who looked like a PROP FORWARD wearing a BLACK TEE SHIRT. He looked quite intimidating and I really didn’t want to talk to him - and surely the treasure hunt was over. But I couldn't stop thinking about whether he might be treasure so I did what I thought was a pretty safe deal with God. "OK God we are getting off at Riddlesdown. No one gets off at Riddlesdown on the London bound train. If he is treasure may he get off there too." Imagine my relief - and I confess a twinge of disappointment - when he stayed firmly rooted to his seat when we got up as we drew in to Riddlesdown. We were the only ones to get off. And then there he was. On the platform too! I still had my treasure map with me so told him what we had been up to that morning. He was delighted to talk and had a look at my list. He said he had been a PROP FORWARD at school and happened to have a bit of a BAD LEG. My courage failed me to pray for him there and then (and he was not in any obvious discomfort) and we were both going our separate ways but I did mention that we were having an Alpha event in Oxted and gave him an invitation. We blessed him on his way and again pray that he will come.

5. We saw a lady with a red top walk past Deep Blue fish and chip shop but couldn’t talk to her as we were the other side of the road. After crossing over and standing outside the fish and chip shop for a few moments the same lady came back carrying two bags for the charity shop nearby. She was struggling so I offered to carry the bags which she gratefully accepted. Whilst walking to the charity shop I explained that we were on a Treasure Hunt and she said that she had a bad back. I offered to pray for her back, which she agreed to, and then we walked back to the fish and chip shop where the rest of the team were and we prayed for her back. No immediate improvement but we were able to share some testimony with her and give her an invite to the Alpha supper and course.

6. Our first encounter was with two ladies standing at a bus stop, one was holding a walking stick and had an injured leg. The lady with the bad leg was very happy for us to pray for her when we assured her we weren't Jehovah Witnesses! We didn't have time to ask her if there was any improvement, because the bus arrived shortly afterward. As they were getting on the bus the other lady asked us to pray for her un-saved husband 'Jim'.

7. Dale had bike sale on his list and I had swings on my list so we headed off to the park where there was a bike sale. We had only just got to the park when I looked at the swing and saw a green top with white blobs on it which could be flowers but it was quite far away so I wasn’t sure. Dale said that Emma, Charleigh and I should talk to her. We were all a bit nervous because none of us had ever done the main bit of talking but we started walking to the swings and then I saw a pram in the back ground . This gave us a bit of confidence so we kept walking and just as we got to the gate which leads into the park we saw a party with balloons. When we finally got to the lady Emma said “hi we’re from Kings Church and we’re doing a treasure hunt and we think you are the treasure because you have a green flowery top and your by the swings does anything match with you on our lists?” So she looked at all of our lists and said no so we asked her if there was anything she would like us to pray about. She took a while thinking and then said that her friend has been trying to have a baby but couldn’t so could we pray for that. Then she said that she went to church in Camden and they did something the same at her church. So we said goodbye and walked back to Dale feeling thankful that our first person who we talked to on our own was a Christian and a really nice person.

8. At the beginning, I was worried about starting the treasure hunt because I hadn’t got many clues and everyone else had thirty more than me!! About half way through our time treasure hunting, we walked over to the older part of Oxted. We had the clues post box and bench, so we sat down on the bench by the post office. One of my clues was ‘long blonde hair’, so as we sat there, a lady with long blonde hair was about to walk past, Dale was asking me is that the right person and I didn’t know so I just left it and let her walk past though if she came back I said we should talk to her.

Funnily enough, she walked past again so Dale and I walked over and started talking to her. After introducing ourselves, we showed her our sheets and asked her if any of our clues had anything to do with her. I had ‘Ankle’ on my list and she said that she had broken her ankle and that it had nearly fully recovered but she can’t play football without it hurting. We carried on talking and we asked if there was anything she wanted praying for and she said that she had had lots of family problems earlier, and Dale had ‘uncertainty’ as one of his clues. She then went on to say that her dad had tried to commit suicide and is an alcoholic and that her step dad had had a heart attack which has all cleared up now but she is uncertain all the time in case it comes back. We then prayed for her and gave her an alpha leaflet. As we were about to leave, she mentioned that it was her birthday the next day and that she was thankful that she could enjoy it and not have to worry about her dad.

9. The main clued which attracted us was beard. The chap is called Graham. When I approached and showed him my list of clues he initially said no, nothing matches. Instead of then rushing away I remembered what Dale had once said about building a relationship with your contact, so I then just chatted to him, with Danni joining in. He then admitted that his wife of 48 years had recently died (I had lonely as prayer need on my list of clues, Danni had sadness ). He said that he used to go to church and that his wife sang in the choir at Limpsfield. He told us that he plays the cornet in the local brass band (Danni had musical instrument on her list). He seemed so ready and pleased to stand and chat. We gave him an invite to the Alpha launch and told him that the course would be held in Costa Coffee. He thanked us and as we parted we knew that it had been right to have a conversation with Graham that day.

Dale Barlow

Kings Church, Tandridge

Encouraging Breakthrough - MFC

2009-08-29T15:14:00.003+01:00

Hello hunters!

Today we went out on a hunt with a team of 5 people, Andrew, Laura, Helena, Collete (on her 1st hunt) and myself.

We came into the presence of God and got our clues - Even as we were sharing our Locations, Names, Appearance, Needs & Unusuals it was apparent that something great was going to happen as we had so many similarities!

We headed off to the TESCO in Chatham. On the way there we saw a man carrying a BIG POLE and as soon as we pulled into the car park we noticed there was a GREEN FROG in the car in front. I approached the man and his partner (she had PURPLE HAIR and we spoke with them). It transpired that his RABBIT had died 2 days ago! - They were very open but didn't want prayer so we blessed them and moved on.

We split into 2 teams - Helena & myself in one and Andrew, Laura & Collete in another.

Here is what happened with our team:

Approached a man WITH GLASSES who was sitting on a BENCH that was near a big ornamental CIRCLE and was also UNDER A TREE. His partner is in need of a new job (FINANCES) as they are looking into buying their 1st place together. We said we would pray for them!
As we walked down BUSY HIGH STREET in Chatham we saw a man sitting on a BENCH his daughter had BRIGHT YELLOW gloves on and he had STUBBLE AND A TATTOO ON NECK. It was amazing to see so many clues come together but he insisted that he was fine and had no need for prayer at the moment. I thanked him for his time and moved on.

Here is what happened with Andrew, Laura & Collete:

They approached 2 ladies in a bus stop after noticing that one had marks on her arm that looked like she had been SELF HARMING. They spoke with the 2 ladies for about an hour, discovering stories of terrible abuse, broken families, addictions and many other problems. They had 4 Names that were all on the treasure map, they also had many other clues that indicated that God was pointing this lady out. That He knows her and her situation. Andrew was praying for Laura and Collete as they brought this lady into the Kingdom - She gave her life to Jesus!!! - AMAZING!!! It was so humbling to meet with them in the bus stop as we returned to our car and see and hear what had been happening during their time together. God truly is sovereign and moving in amazing ways. We have given the lady our details and just hope and pray that she will keep in touch with us and walk into a full relationship with Christ leaving behind her troubles and demons from the past.

Today for me personally was the most encouraging time I have had out on the streets. Our team is steadily growing and we seem to be becoming more proficient and accurate in receiving and handling the clues that God gives us through His Holy Spirit. To see someone come into an understanding and acceptance of Christ in their life is a beautiful thing - Praise God.

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson - Medway Family Church :-)

God is amazing! - MFC

2009-08-22T13:30:00.004+01:00

Hello Hunters!

Embarked on another hunt this morning with Helena & Andrew.

Here's a quick overview of what happened...

We went to ROCHESTER and parked near the bridge so we could be by the RIVERSIDE - Walked along towards the apartments that look like a TOWER by a WOODEN FENCE.
Led to an ASIAN MAN in the park, Helena & Andrew spoke with him, he was a new Christian and had a very lengthy conversation about his life and new found faith - Hugely encouraging (in fact this man has since visited our church!).
I approached 2 ladies who were from out of town visiting the Cathedral for the morning - One lady asked gladly for prayer as she recently lost her job and was looking for her soul mate!
Met a man in Chatham, again by the RIVERSIDE - He was wearing a CHECKERED SHIRT & SHORTS - He had recently lost a family member to illness and was despondent about a prolonged series of problems in his family with finances and health - He has no faith in God - Was surprised he was open to us praying for him there and then - Was great to be able to speak truth and hope into his circumstances. One of the words I had from God was JOY, and I felt it was for this man and his family - God is good.
Met a man for the 2nd time (God had led us to him on a previous treasure hunt!) - Had a pleasant chat about his ongoing circumstances and his need for work - Offered to keep upholding him in prayer - Very encouraging!
Met another ASIAN MAN - Again this man was also a local Christian, attending a local church and was a brief encouragement to him that God was moving!

All in all we had a great time, we were led to and spoke with several people, shared the love of God and felt like we were being faithful with the opportunities that were presented.

God has started a good work in Medway and will see it through to completion, of that I'm sure!

I can't wait for next week now - Bring it on!

Happy Hunting! :-)

Gordon Watson - Medway Family Church

Ploughing The Ground - MFC

2009-07-11T13:30:00.008+01:00

Hello Hunters!

We met up at MFC this morning for another Treasure Hunt. There was Adam, Helena, Monica (a visitor from Kings Arms in Bedford) and myself.

We had a great time of worship, got our clues and headed off to Rochester.

We found it an extremely hard day today. We found many clues, and a few people but conversations closed down as soon as we explained the concept of the treasure hunt.

I really felt as if today was one of those times where we have to persevere and keep on pressing in, as it says in Romans...

Romans 5:3-5 (New International Version)
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

It was hard to come away from the morning with any positives, but then I remember that Helena and Adam both managed to have a couple of conversations sharing their faith. This in itself is a big positive and wouldn't have happened had we all been in bed - So praise God!

I'm yearning to see Gods power released out on our streets, but first I know I need to align myself with God and truly understand that it''s all his, none of it is mine - Everything is his! Once this penny finally drops I'm sure that breakthrough will come in increasing measure!

I'd really encourage people to listen to Simon Holley's seminar at the Together on a Mission conference - Click here for the link - It's very inspiring!

I'm all excited now - Onwards to the next hunt!

Gordon Watson
Medway Family Church

MFC Treasure Hunt

2009-06-27T15:38:00.006+01:00

We met up this morning at MFC for what was my 3rd treasure hunt this week! - There was Natalie (my wife), Helena, Damian, Andrew, and myself.

After an amazing time of coming into Gods presence we decided to split into 2 teams. I went with Natalie (it was her first ever treasure hunt!) and the other 3 guys made up a team.

Natalie and myself headed off to the Esplanade in Rochester - Below are 3 highlights of our time on the streets.

The 1st person we met was on crutches. He was next to a LAMPPOST next to the RIVER. I asked him if his ailment was from a BIKE INJURY but he said it wasn't. He had a HIP PROBLEM!!! He had a hip replacement at Medway Hospital but his body had rejected the implant and that's why he was on crutches. Natalie and I prayed for peace and joy to come upon him, for healing and for the pain and discomfort to go in Jesus name - There was no immediate sign of improvement but we left him knowing that it had been a Divine appointment.

The second person was a man sitting on a bench reading in the grounds of Rochester CASTLE. He was wearing a BLUE SHIRT and also BROWN SHOES. I approached and explained our treasure hunt. Natalie noticed the book he was reading was 'Conversations With God'. He responded really well to our offer for prayer and asked if we would uphold his friend who is suffering with M.S. and it is getting worse. He asked if we would pray as we went and encouraged us to enjoy our time!

The last main encouragement was as we were bringing our time to a close. We walked down to the steep park by the old church where there are TALL TREES and also a RED BOX (a post box - I also had POST OFFICE) - A lady walked past us and as we turned around after a few minutes there she was again stopped at the post box posting a letter. We both felt she was the one God was leading us to. As we approached her I really felt led to initiate our conversation with the opening line "Do you believe in God?" So I did, and she replied "Of course!" She stood wide eyed as I explained what we were doing and that we felt she was our treasure. She asked us to pray for her elderly friend who has just been diagnosed with kidney cancer - Natalie was really moved by this encounter - It was a real blessing to see how God had us working together towards finding this lady!

Natalie was encouraged and I think will be more confident next time to instigate conversations herself. She had many clues along the way that lead us to specific places which was a huge encouragement to her and to me!

I'm really excited by the new ground we are breaking into. I'm also frustrated at not seeing any immediate healing but God is so good and so faithful. I trust Him with each and every one of the people we have met - We may not be reaping the harvest visibly at the moment but we are certainly sowing seeds and watering existing plants!

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson

Medway Family Church

Leaders Treasure Hunt @ MFC

2009-06-25T15:24:00.008+01:00

Went out with Dave Webster, Ian Lellington & Adam Voke this morning!

We all met at MFC's base, The Jasper Centre in Rochester, talked, worshipped and encountered God before we got our clues.

We headed off for the local CO-OP SHOP where there were RAILINGS, a BMW CAR, a DOG MESS bin - We were in a hot-spot of clues!

2 policemen walked out of the CO-OP SHOP, Dave approached them and we ended up praying for their upcoming final police exams. Their names were Matt & Luke (We asked if they knew a John & Mark!) - They were very open and let us pray for them there and then outside of the shop.

A man with a BLUE TOP walked past us all. He had a HIP PROBLEM and spoke with Dave briefly. His name was Brian and he agreed for us to pray for him, but not there and then. So we trust God with him!

We then drove up to the Delce and walked slowly along the parade of shops. Adam found a couple of his unusual clues in the shop windows - GIRAFFE and FROG! There were also IRON GATES next to the shop.

Dave had the clues CORAL BETTING SHOP and POST OFFICE, so he headed off with Adam in that direction.

Ian & myself had noticed a mobility scooter outside of the chemists shop. We waited around for its owner but after 5 mins decided to head down to the PEDESTRIAN CROSSING. When we turned around there came the mobility scooter with a lady on it, right behind us. I approached her and asked what her ailment was. It turned out to be her right ANKLE! - Her name was Betty, she was full of doubt but she let Ian & me pray for her there by the side of the road. She smiled as she drove off. I was very encouraged by this one, but saw no immediate visible healing!

Adam & Dave had an encounter with an elderly lady. She cried emotionally as they prayed for her about the illness of her grandson, loss of her own child and also other problems. She too had a HIP PROBLEM. She had been REACHING OUT TO GOD about these things and was left hugely encouraged and impacted by this Divine encounter!

Dave also went into the hairdresser to approach a girl with a GREY SLEEVELESS TOP. She was chatty but didn't respond, even after a second attempt when Dave asked if she also had a IPOD WITH EARPHONES. She did, in her bag!!! - You can't force people but you wonder why it is some people choose to miss out on receiving what God has for them, even when he leads people to them!

We then drove to The Strand in Gillingham as we had WATERFRONT, SWIMMING POOL, WALL (it's walled off area), ENCLOSED AREA and RIVER.

As we parked we noticed the car next to us was another BMW! We walked around with one eye on the watch as our time drew to a close. Adam encountered an old friend called Arthur who was in a mobility scooter (problems with his legs and knees). We prayed for healing. Arthur then prayed for Adam. Dave, Ian and myself left them for 5 mins to chat. As we circled back around Adam then had an Indian man hugging him and asking him for prayer. This man is someone Adam also prayed for about a week ago, he doesn't know him personally but he keeps coming across his path - God is amazing!

All in all the last 2 days have been so encouraging. I really feel like we are starting to see breakthrough in areas that before seemed very dry and hard work - God is good!

The next hunt is on Saturday 27th June, there is one at MFC and also one at NKCC - Contact respective leaders for more details.

Happy Hunting!!!

Gordon Watson
Medway Family Church

Flowery Dresses & Yellow Cars!

2009-06-24T15:26:00.008+01:00

Went out with the NKCC Supernatural School of Ministry this morning.

Dave Webster, Karen, Sisou and myself made up a team and headed off to find our clues.

We went to the CAR PARK to look for a YELLOW CAR, there weren't any there so we went and waited in the BUS STOP and immediately a lady wearing a FLOWERY DRESS walked by. Dave spoke to her briefly but she soon moved on and then a YELLOW CAR came straight into the CAR PARK!!! - I ran up to the car and approached the driver, she said she was in a rush but agreed to speak to me as I followed her. I offered to prayer for her and she asked me to pray for her asthma. Her name is George and she has been near death in intensive care 14 times because of her condition. I prayed for her quickly right there outside of the DOCTORS. She had to rush for her appointment so I asked her to keep Dave @ NKCC informed of any improvement in her condition, but I was amazed at what God had just opened up - He is amazing!

We then headed round to the other CAR PARK and saw a lady with a BEETROOT coloured top over a FLOWERY DRESS. She had a walking stick and was walking her lovely little dog (who I couldn't leave alone!) Her name was Joan (I had the name JO? - can I count that!) and she suffers from scoliosis (curvature of spine) - The team prayed for her, that the pain would go and her back would be healed. There was no immediate change but we blessed her and moved on.

There was another YELLOW CAR (the only one) in this CAR PARK - We loitered around it for a while and then a man walked past with a FRENCH bag over his shoulder (it had French writing and flag on it) - Dave an Sisou spoke to him but he closed up once they mentioned prayer/church and said "Don't go there!" - Obviously there must be some underlying bad experiences - Many people have these preconceptions we must overcome somehow.

The a lady walked past us with another FLOWERY DRESS - Dave spoke to her, her name was Maria. She said she was in a rush but then once he offered prayer she softened up and asked for prayer for her daughter (Debbie) who has had a mastectomy - The lady was visibly touched that we would pray for her!

Then immediately a Dutch lady approached us and said "Are you on a treasure hunt? I've done loads of these, but you're cheating because your asking them for clues!" - This was amazing, and very bizarre! - We explained how our treasure hunts are slightly different to conventional ones. She was another Maria, and it turned out she was the owner of the second YELLOW CAR in the CAR PARK. She didn't want prayer for anything but when she left she looked directly at Karen and said "HAVE FUN" - HAVE FUN was one of Karen's clues!!!

We then moved around to the POST BOX and then to the charity shop that was opposite a GREEN bench, the sign was GREEN and there were FLOWERS in the window as well as another FLOWERY DRESS!! - As we walked n we saw a Bring your BOOKS sign (BOOKS!) - One of the ladies working in there was called BARBARA and we got to pray for her bad back. She noticed an improvement in the levels of pain. Then her friend Pam asked if we could pray for her bad back!!! - She felt a heat on her back as we prayed (as did Dave) - This was a very encouraging encounter. Dave is going to keep contact as they are only a couple of minutes from the NKCC office.

Then as we left a man wearing GREEN SHORTS walked towards us. I stopped him and we noticed he also had SUNGLASSES and a GREY BEARD - He was very friendly but didn't want prayer for anything and was very content, so we blessed him and moved on.

We then walked around the corner and saw another YELLOW CAR with 4 people inside with RED TOPS (we had 2 clues of RED JACKET, so I'm stretching this one!) - They were local painter and decorators, one of them was visibly wearing a cross but they were fine and didn't want prayer, so again they got blessed.

We then finished off by going to the local JET GARAGE and we spoke with the lady behind the counter but she closed up again with the mention of prayer/church.

Today was one of the most effortless and pleasurable hunts I've been on - It was great to see everyone moving in confidence with what they had been given and it was so encouraging, but it still leaves me with a sense of "More Lord, More!!!" - Freedom is a great thing and we're seeing it come more and more as we are faithful with what He gives us, we are dependant on Him alone and His Power being demonstrated!

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson
Medway Family Church

Rochester High Street - MFC Hunt

2009-05-30T13:24:00.004+01:00

Hello friends!

Just a quick report of today's treasure hunt at MFC.

We had 6 people this morning - Andrew, Laura & Esther in one team and Damien, Helena & myself in another.

We hit Rochester High Street and here are a few of our highlights from my team.

Damien had a clue about a right arm problem - As soon as we were driving to our location there was a man in light clothing that had an amputated right arm (i had broken arm, it was kinda broken in a way) so we turned the car round and Damien jumped out and spoke with him - But he insisted he was OK and didn't want any prayer, so without pushing it too far we blessed him and headed back to our location.

There was an elderly man with a straw hat dressed up in 18th century clothes (it was the Dickens Festival today!) - He was in a rush but we got to talk to him but it didn't really develop from there unfortunately.

We approached a man on a mobility scooter, on the street corner, by the large clock - He wasn't interested at all, but I was sure that God wanted to do something, but cynicism and unbelief are a real barrier!

As we were standing in a space that was in between the street corner and the cathedral garden area, near the large clock I saw a group of teenager, one of whom had a baseball cap on back to front. I approached them and started to talk to them. They were all French students and spoke basic English, but luckily Damien & Helena can both speak fluent French!!! - It was most surreal as I spoke through my 2 interpreters, explaining that we were ion a treasure hunt and that I believed that they were our treasure. The lad with the back to front baseball cap said he was a Muslim, and did that matter - We told him it didn't but struggled to develop the conversation as more of their friends came and some of them left. But we blessed them and really felt buoyed up in our spirits that a seed had been planted - Praise God!

We then approached a man sitting on the wall directly opposite the garden area of the cathedral -He also had on a straw hat! - When we explained what we were doing he was very open and when we asked if he wanted any prayer or help he responded "Actually you can help me with something!" - It turned out that he had just bought a new jacket and felt it was too large, and wanted our opinion - Amazed I showed him my clue large coat that we hadn't even noticed on him and the conversation opened up some more - He explained he was a Christian from London and visits regularly, we didn't pray for him but he was encouraged by our divine appointment.

The other team experienced similar encounters that will be posted up soon...

So all in all a would say we hit approx 1/3 of our clues but didn't have any concrete things to report back - But I felt hugely encouraged that our team here is growing, that there is an increased expectancy among us and that we are learning how to host the presence of God and be moved by Him - All in all very encouraging and for me, personally very positive!

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson
Medway Family Church, Chatham

New Life Church - Outside Natwest!

2009-05-22T17:00:00.001+01:00

Hi,

Here are the testimonies that are a result of a few of us venturing out this morning.

We just had one team go out in Tonbridge town centre today (Friday). We’d had a couple of conversations but couldn’t find anyone who matched any of our clues. We were at our last location, OUTSIDE NATWEST having a look around when we spotted someone who matched a description of WEARING A DARK JACKET WITH COLOURED STRIPES DOWN THE ARMS. He was actually a biker wearing a leather jacket but it totally fit the description. His name didn’t fit any we had but two of our needs where BROKEN FINGER and DAMAGED LEG. He had previously hurt his leg and broken his finger in a motorcycling accident, and still gets pins and needles in his arm from when he broke his finger. Our random/miscellaneous clue was A SPADE and we found out his occupation was a landscape gardener! We chatted for a long time and were able to pray for his arm and he said he’d test it when he got back on his bike. We gave him details of our church and he seemed genuinely interested in coming along. I’ll let you know if we see him again or if he contacts us with any improvement in his arm.

After he had left and while we were still OUTSIDE NATWEST we got chatting to someone else. He matched the clue of another need which was HEARTBURN. Again, we were able to pray for him and he said he would contact us to let us know if there is any change.

I wanted to post these testimonies to encourage you! - When we first started treasure hunting in Tonbridge last year it was really hard work. Now we seem to be learning how to hear from God better, and how to be courageous and step out in faith. Week-by-week we are making only small progress but it feels significant.

Craig Spickernell
New Life Church, Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells

New Life Church Testimony

2009-05-15T17:00:00.001+01:00

Hi,

We’ve been doing some treasure hunting in Tonbridge and I have a testimony to add.

This is fairly low key but there were only two of us on Friday and we only had a really short amount of time. But we were encouraged because we definitely found our treasure…

Some of our clues were OUTSIDE POUNDSTRETCHERS and a name; SHEILA. So we went to Pounstretchers, hung around for a bit but couldn’t see anyone who matched any of our descriptions. Then, right in front of us two women greeted each other, with one saying to the other, “Hi Sheila” (nice one God!) When they finished their conversation we approached Sheila and explained what we were doing, that God had told us to come to that location and we overheard her name. I showed her treasure map and two other clues matched as well; PNUMONIA and JOINT PROBLEMS. She was totally fascinated that we knew her name, knew where she would be and knew her ailments. We talked and she explained that as a teenager she was desperate for a revelation from/of God. She hadn’t received it so eventually fell away from the church. At that point she had to rush off because her bus arrived but we prayed that she would finally receive a revelation.

So no healings or anything but we were really encouraged and she was amazed that God had lead us to her.

Craig Spickernell
New Life Church, Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells

Oxted Church Treasure Hunt

2009-05-09T17:00:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

Below is a selection from the many testimonies from our recent church treasure hunt.
I have included everything... good, bad and ugly!

There were 14 of us that went out from Oxted and we think that we spoke to around 70 people in total. Only 3 of these people were negative and huffed and puffed a bit. About another 20 were quite happy but didn't want to talk/prayer.
The other 50 were happy to talk and many opened up about God and/or struggles in their lives and we managed to pray for a good number of these fifty.

We were out and about for 1 hour 15 minutes.

1 - Two ladies standing under flag outside Chanterelle - had a problem with her left knee and also with her right hand and fingers. Received prayer. Knee healed partially - no longer clicking or painful - prayed again - completely healed! Could not move thumb over onto palm of hand and nerve damage meaning if wrist touched three fingers involuntarily bent.
Received prayer. Afterwards, thumb could move quite freely - her friend said "Christ!" and we said "Precisely!" (She then said "sorry!").

2 - Black woman with headdress - we believe she was the treasure but she was resistant to receiving prayer although clearly had a church background as she wanted to know whether we were Pentecostal, Assembly of God or whatever. She said she might try out our church. We pray God will keep working on her heart. She seemed troubled.

3 - Policeman putting air into his tyres at the petrol station. Mildly depressed. Disillusioned with the violence in society - just finished two weeks back from being on a Murder Squad; still finding it hard to get over the grief of having lost his Dad suddenly 4 years ago. Happy to receive prayer. Whilst praying for him – birdsong started - was able to show him on list that we had birdsong and that I believed this was God's confirmation that he was special and that God wanted him to know that.

4 - Lady wearing a blue jacket, was by the station and was pushing a pushchair. She was very nice, although a little wary. Her nana has a heart condition. She let us pray for her in the street.

5 - One of our unusual clues was 'heart-shaped'. At the cricket pitch we met a young lad named Jack wearing a black t-shirt with a red heart on it. He found sore knee on my list and said that his left knee had been sore for a while. He was quite happy for me to pray for his knee. When we'd finished Danni noticed that he was looking for something and he admitted he had lost a black LG phone. Kate and Josie rejoined us and we all started helping him to look for it, all I'm sure praying hard that we would find it for him. He became a little embarrassed after a while, wanting to rejoin his friends and said goodbye and wandered off. Kate and Josie recognised him from Oxted School and said that they would make a point of asking him how his knee was when they next saw him at school. At this point Jack came rushing up and said he'd found his phone. Someone had handed it in as missing! Praise God!

6 - Well, we were walking along near the station and close to the taxi rank (which is similar to a car park) when I saw a girl crossing the road wearing a fluffy jacket. Two of our group of four had already had their first encounter and I was eager to point out this new treasure… However, when it was suggested that I go up to the girl, I quickly mentioned that I actually hadn’t got any of those clues myself….. (coward, I know!) and the fluffy girl headed off in the opposite direction to us… Moment lost… This was the second time I had chickened out of going up to someone already and I was actually really cross with myself and told myself that I might just as well go home if I wasn’t actually going to take part…..
We proceeded as a group of 4 to go to the other side of the station, close to a coffee shop, and were just coming up to the Morrison’s car park when who should be walking just in front of us but the very same girl with the fluffy jacket!!!! Even more incredible to me because she was on the other side of the station now and this was only 5 minutes after we’d seen her heading off in the complete opposite direction. Well, I couldn’t miss this again. Jo and I dashed after her and Jo explained what we were doing and showed the girl her list. Incredibly, she was suffering from a knee problem and her mother’s name was Fiona. Her mother was dying from cancer and so we offered to pray for her. (I had forgotten to show her my list because I was so amazed that she fitted 6 of the clues already!) We asked her what her name was and she said Denise. I couldn’t contain my amazement when I said that that name was on my list and showed her it written down. Even she said it was an unusual name. A few weeks previously, God had told me in a letter that “I should not be frightened to try new things, as He would surprise me”! Boy, was I surprised!! After praying with her, she shared how her mum was a Christian and her mum’s friends were sure that it was faith that had kept her mum from dying – the doctors had told her 3 years ago that she only had 6 months to live. It was incredible to think that this lady had probably been praying for her daughter for years and here was a divine appointment. Only God knows what will happen next for her… Funnily enough, I saw her again later walking a bit ahead of us… It was as if God was showing me that even if I had chickened out again the second time I saw her, He would have brought her across our path again.

7 - There were two encounters with young women in black v necked jumpers and each received truth and prayer and one a tract. Again it was seed time not harvest but we know that God will answer the prayers we prayed in agreement and faith.

8 - We approached a 90 year old lady at the top of a hill who was wearing a blue top and holding a walking stick. She was very puffed out and struggling to climb the hill. She explained that it was the first time she had been out for a walk for over a month.
We got chatting with her and she was open for prayer. After we prayed for her, she appeared to become completely energised and I would even say she had a spring in her step!

9 - I was walking along with my group and I saw a mother and child and Jen and I chatted to them. They were going to be moving house and we prayed for them.

God bless.

Dale Barlow
Kings Church, Tandridge

The 1st Treasure Hunt in Oxted

2009-04-30T15:00:00.011+01:00

It was good day in Oxted when our intrepid team of three (Dale, Dave and Gordon) set off with our clues (underlined in the following text) on another Holy Spirit adventure. Our first location was the local library where we found a man with a walking stick. He seemed intrigued by our introduction but did not respond to any needs and did not want prayer.

Our next encounter was outside the flower shop with a man in a grey coat and his wife. He had diabetes and agreed for us to pray for him (at another time) but also requested prayer for his sick daughter. They were both happy to talk and laugh with us and had a degree of openness.

Next we saw a lady with yellow top. She was happy to talk and asked for prayer regarding moving house move, which seemed to be ‘stuck’ at the moment. At the end of the conversation she pointed to the clue, ‘grief’, and said that the yellow top she had on was originally her father’s and when he died it had been passed to her mum. When her mum died it had passed to her because of it’s sentimental value… and today was the first day that she had worn it since her mum died. Praise God for giving us such a good clue which meant so much more to her.

Then we headed to the park where there were trees and saw three teenagers sitting on a bench, two guys and a girl. When they looked at the clues the girl said that she had yellow hair and a blue wristband (which was actually a blue top which was under her coat but poked out at the end which meant it looked like a wristband). Her mum had a pain in her right arm and she was happy for us to lay hands on her hand and pray that when she next saw her mum next she would lay her hands on mum’s arm and ask God to heal it. We told her to come and tell us if her mum’s arm was healed.

We headed off to the local park guided by two more location clues: circus poster and under the tree . There happened to be a small fun fair in the park and they had posters all round the town. We wandered towards the funfair but couldn’t see anyone. As we were walking away we did spot one of the workers and went over to talk to him. He didn’t identify with any clues but then the funfair owner’s wife (Christine) appeared and after some initial conversation said there was a lady called Anne who worked for them but she was 85 and wouldn’t want to speak to us. The owner then arrived and a full blown discussion about life and Christianity got underway. Christine then asked us to pray for her. They had had some hard times over the years and wanted us to pray for peace. So we prayed for them to know the peace of God in their lives and shared a little of the gospel with them. Christine then responded to a word about grief, she had lost two grand children in the last few years and we really sensed the presence of God in our conversation with them.

Finally as we were heading back to the coffee shop for a well earned drink we saw a lady with a black/beige dress. She looked at our clues and seemed very interested in the one that said heart trouble. It appeared that she wanted prayer but seemed awkward for her at that moment so we told her where the Church office was and if she wanted prayer to come and see us. We continued into the coffee shop when suddenly the lady in the brown/beige dress approached us and asked for our contact details. An hour later she came into the Church office asking for prayer. It turns out that she and her husband live in England with a 14 month old baby but have another 10 year old that live with her parents in Zimbabwe. Her husband and her pay for parents mortgage in Zimbabwe as well as the rent on their home in England. She wasn’t able to speak to us when we first saw her because she is a support worker and the other girl with her was her ‘client’. She wanted prayer because her heart had been so troubled and worried that her and her husband would not have enough money to send back to Zimbabwe. She was greatly moved and in tears because God had gone to the effort of sending a stranger to her and offer to pray for her.

Overall we had an excellent time and God gave us numerous divine encounters in only 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Dale Barlow

King's Church, Tandridge

Mission Aborted - MFC

2009-04-18T14:00:00.002+01:00

Hi People,

We had a Treasure Hunt arranged today at MFC - Laura, Natalie (my wife) and I were there and ready to go, we got into the presence of God and got our clues.

Just as we were about to combine our maps we decided to abort the mission and had a small team meeting. Discussing personal issues and praying with one another - It was a really beneficial time!

The amazing thing was we hadn't yet got to the point where we actually found out what each others clues were - When we got home Natalie asked for my treasure map and as she scanned it she was amazed that God had given us several clues that were similar if not identical!

We both had the name Thomas, I had watch tower and she had clock tower, I had black scarf and she had head scarf, I had loss of sight and she had blind in one eye!!!

We were both amazed at the similarity of the clues, and although we hadn't actually gone out hunting we were both really buoyed up that we had heard from God quite clearly.

I really feel that I'm going through a period of personal education with God in the ways of treasure hunting. He is showing me lots of things. My main ones though are that my model of success is not necessarily His and that I have to learn to trust that what He has given is enough and how it opens up is largely down to His Spirit moving people, not mine!

I'm raring to go out now on the next one - Yay Jesus!!!

Happy Hunting!

Gordon Watson
Medway Family Church, Chatham

Sevenoaks - Maiden Voyage

2009-04-11T15:00:00.005+01:00

Hi Everyone,

Just to let you know we had our first Church treasure hunt a couple of weeks ago, here at Town Church, Sevenoaks, and it was very successful!
We had 13 people turn up so we were able to go out in 3 groups, everyone that came was very open to the ways of treasure hunting. The only down side of the day was that 1 of the groups were without anyone who had been treasure hunting before, but that didn't stop them!

In my group of 5 there was Ann, another Ian and two young guys from our youth group Sam and Matt. We had several clues on our list and after about half an hour we found someone at the bus stop wearing a long dark coat. We got chatting to him but he was a bit of an odd character, he had a few other clues on our list from the prayer needs but wasn’t interested in being prayed for as he thought God was conspiring against him with evil forces! We put him straight on that but he stil wasn’t up for prayer so we blessed him and let him go on his way.

We had a few other unsuccessful encounters and then made our way to the train station we parked the car then started walking up the ramp towards the station when we saw a black guy walking up it. Ann had the picture of the black guy walking up the ramp so this was of great encouragement to her. We stopped and talked to him and he was a Christian who attended a Church in Sevenoaks. We explained what we were doing and asked if he had any of our prayer needs, he had financial issues so we prayed for him and asked God to bless him and his family in this area and we left him a very happy man.

On our way back to the car we saw a lady wearing a big fluffy jumper at the flower stall (we had a few other clues with flowers on a coat and a handbag so that was good enough for us!) so Sam and Matt when and spoke to her. She didn’t have any of the clues on our list but she did say her sister had cancer and could they pray for her so they did.

Another group led by Adam had a very successful time praying for 4 people on the streets and one guy in a pub who had diabetes, they found that everyone was very open to them and one lady who went with them asked if it was always that easy!

The other group had fewer opportunities to open things up but still had a great time and were definitely up for doing more treasure hunts. They just lacked a bit of direction whilst they were out, but learnt a lot anyway.

Word has spread around the Church now about how good this was and more people want to come next time and 3 or 4 people have ordered the 'Ultimate Treasure Hunt' book (author Kevin Dedmon) from our book stall.

Also we’re having another Church treasure hunt on the 23rd of May if you would like to come and join in, I would appreciate some other experienced treasure hunters to lead a group of those who haven’t been.

God bless

Ian Lellington
Town Church, Sevenoaks

On The Streets Training Day @ MFC

2009-04-05T15:00:00.004+01:00

Hello Friends,

Today we had our training day for Treasure Hunters & Prayer Tents.

We spent the morning talking about getting on mission and sharing our faith in our local community. There were quite a few attendees and when we split up to go out on the streets we had approx 6 people serving the Prayer Tent and 6 volunteered for a Treasure Hunt.

We split into 2 teams of 3. There was Adam, Julian & Lena in one team and Laura, Andrew & myself in the other.

Adam's team headed for Rochester High St. and uncovered approx 18 clues between them that led to 2 people being prayed for (they were both believers of some sort) and they also spoke with approx 8/9 people who weren't interested in receiving prayer or encountering God there and then.

The most notable part of their hunt was that they had clock as a clue and as they hovered around the hanging clock in the High St. a lady with a red coat and white socks walked past. They approached her and got to pray with her - She was visibly moved by God and hugely encouraged that He had sent people to search her out to lift her up - God is amazing! (see the photo)

Andrew, Laura and myself headed up to Rainham Rd in Chatham/Gillingham and as we were walking up the road we started ticking off clues - There was a big red building and then just over the road from that was an electrician's shop with a blue door that was on the street corner.

My faith levels were through the roof until we went up to the little shop and saw it was packed full of people and then fear took hold, and I bottled it. So we walked up the road with our eyes peeled wide open, then saw a sign saying boot fair in a house window. The boot fair just so happened to be the very same day and was in a church about 5 minutes walk away - Yay Jesus!

We walked up to the High St. but nothing materialised so we headed back, and went into the electricians shop we had passed by earlier. Andrew & myself approached the guy behind the counter but after 10 minutes it was clear we were not getting anywhere so we blessed him and went to the church that was running the boot fair.

We went in there (had to pay 60p!!!) and found loads of old ladies. But even though they were in a church it was a traditional one and they weren't very responsive to our approach. So when our time had finished we headed back - We felt blessed to have highlighted so many clues but felt frustrated that there was no immediate signs of movement, but we move on, and learn with each new step!

Happy hunting!

Gordon Watson - Medway Family Church, Chatham

MFC - Treasure Hunters Training

2009-03-28T12:29:00.003Z

I'm starting to get really excited about our upcoming On The Streets - Training Day that we are holding here at Medway Family Church on Saturday, 4th April.

We will be teaching and equipping people to become faith sharers, freely giving what God has freely given them!

Giving practical and theological application on sharing your faith whether it be at home, in the workplace, out on the streets, at the school gates or even in church!

We will then go out and hit the High Street in Chatham and give everyone that wants to a chance to step out and apply the teaching in practical situations with our Prayer Tents & Treasure Hunters ministries - There will be competent leaders in each team helping to guide and support those that are less confident.

It promises to be a great morning and it's only 1 week away now - How exciting!!!

Location, Location, Location...

2009-03-07T14:00:00.004Z

This Saturday morning I had the pleasure of Esther & Jon K. joining me on today's treasure hunt.

We spent 30 minutes praising, worshipping and praying to God with each other and then spent about 5 minutes getting our clues. Both Esther & Jon were on their maiden voyage as treasure hunters so we spent a while talking about how it looks in action and answered a few questions.

It was amazing that when we compared our clues the location was screaming at us... We had to go to the Pentagon entrance in Chatham that is near traffic lights. So we jumped in the car and went off to our destination.

On the way there we passed the Delce and saw a lady from our church named Thalia in a red jacket and her shopping pram waiting at the bus stop. We pulled over and she said she was going to Chatham so we offered her a lift. On the way there we prayed for her joints and also her back and shoulder that were hurting as she suffers with arthritis. She was overjoyed by our God encounter.

We pulled up in the car park, pointed Thalia in the direction of the centre and we headed up the hill along the green area that is also a park with open land and headed along to the river side (the side of the River Medway) where there is a massive metal bar.

We approached a lady sat on the bench as she had a pram but she was quite firm that she wasn't interested. So we blessed her and moved on.

We then headed off across the road where we saw a lady at the bus stop. I could see she had a blue hat on so we approached her. We asked her name, Beatrice, and noticed she also had a yellow bag. Without any prompting she mentioned the pain she get in her hands, joint pain, due to arthritis. I explained what we were doing, to which she mentioned that she regularly goes to church and is a believer. She was very open to us praying for her. So we released the love of God to her and asked His healing power to flood her life through His Holy Spirit. She was visibly overjoyed after we had finished. We asked how her hands were, she said they were OK at the moment but that the real test would be when it's cold as the pain comes and goes. I left her with a massive hug, as did Esther and we moved on.

We then approached a man in a wheelchair who was dressed all in green. He was obviously in need of healing but didn't want to know at all. I showed him the map and asked him if he wanted prayer for anything (Jon mentioned to me afterwards about Jesus asking blind Bartimeus if he wanted healing for anything when he was obviously in need of sight!) but the man declined and we left him as the door closed - It's frustrating when you know that God could break through for someone and their unbelief is just keeping them bound up.

We went past the taxi side entrance to the Pentagon. I noticed a man sat in the corner smoking a cigarette, he was wearing a blue top, he looked down on his luck so I approached him with a simple "Hello!", he responded and without even having to use the treasure map we began to have an open conversation. His name was Dave and he spoke of his alcohol addiction. He was very open and I explained how God had led us to him and that he could be free from the weight of his troubles and that God wanted that for him. He responded well to our offer of prayer, he even let me lay hands on his shoulder. I released the love of God to him. Affirmed him and spoke words of purpose and direction, peace and love into his troubled life. He was grateful after we had finished and we shook hands - It's always difficult to know what happens in these situations. The man didn't receive Jesus as his saviour, but he became aware of God's love for him. I didn't feel it was appropriate to push him into a prayer of salvation. So we leave him with God and trust that as it says in 1 Corinthians 3:6 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." So we pray that God will begin to grow something in that man!

We headed into the centre briefly but Esther felt we should go back outside to where we started so we ventured over to near the library. Esther had had a picture before we left of an elderly lady outside the library, and sure enough, there she was!!! So she bravely approached the elderly lady there. She spoke of Jesus to her and offered prayer but the lady closed the door politely as she said "I'm a Catholic, I normally pray for myself".

We then headed back to the Pentagon centre and went upstairs to the bus station. As we crossed the road a bus with Gillingham on the front went past. We walked around for a bit and felt a real oppression in that place. We spoke against it and called on the Kingdom to invade that place. Then all of a sudden we came across a picture on the wall. Upon studying it we felt that it was prophetic, depicting a battle over Medway between Good & Evil. I was amazed to see dark clouds in the evil side and then Jonathon saw the blue water that was vivid. Earlier when he got the clue he felt it may be Bluewater the shopping centre, but there it was in this picture (see above) - The amazing thing was it was a bright sunny day, and there were no dark clouds in sight, but in the picture there was a very different picture. I had a real sense that there are many spiritual strongholds in Medway. There are many large physical gates blocking access in the area in and around the towns and I felt this was mirrored in the spiritual. That the enemy has built castles and outposts that have dominion in certain areas and that we are to go into these areas and speak truth and love and demolish what the enemy has built!

We then walked back through the centre and outside, past a phone box and saw Thalia again in PoundLand, so I surprised her and gave her another smile!

As the buzzer went on my phone to warn us our time was coming to a close we rejoiced at all that God had done in just under an hour - We headed back to MFC, we prayed for everyone God had put along our path and gave Him all the glory for such a great morning.

It was a real privilege to see Esther & Jon stepping out in this for the 1st time. Many of their initial fears melted away and they showed a great confidence in God not letting them down. They now know for certain that He gives them clues all the time, whether it be out on a treasure hunt or in church or at work. They hear from God and I'm certain they will continue to step out more and more in being faithful with what He reveals to them! - Praise God!

Blue Whale & Dolphin!!!

2009-02-21T13:35:00.006Z

Another day another hunt!

Laura & Adam came along to 'Treasure Hunters' at MFC this morning. We spent a while getting into the presence of God, praying for each other to be inspired and filled with Holy Spirit and then set about getting our clues - Some of which were very odd and random and made us smile a bit as we read them out (all will be revealed).

Both Adam & Laura had boats on their maps so we headed off for the Dockside Outlet place in Chatham. We drove round the marina section and all of a sudden there was a man with a red dog and he was crossing the road right in front of us!!! Well, the dog wasn't red but the smart little jacket it was wearing was very red!!! I leaped out of the car and ran after the man that was walking it. It turns out his name was Daniel and he also had a tattoo on his back! I explained the treasure hunt to him, he was ok though and didn't really want any prayer and looked like he wanted to move on so we blessed him where he was and went back to Adams car.

We parked in the car park that was full of cars (an easy clue to tick I know!) and went into the Dockside shopping centre. I saw a lime green top in the 1st window in front of me and then would you believe it, another red dog!!! This one was one of those coin operated ones that small kids ride, but I've never seen a red dog one before! We wandered around the centre, Laura noticed a young man limping (left limp) but we didn't approach him. She then saw a man with a walking stick so she approached him and his daughter who were sitting on the bench. She shared her map and it turned out that the man had recently suffered a death in the family. His wife had passed away very recently and it moved him to tears. The door closed quickly as his daughter explained it was still a very emotional time for him so we blessed them and left them explaining that God is looking out for them. This was really difficult to deal with and we really felt we should have been able to do more in the situation but it just closed up - So we left it with God and we trust Him with them. It's our responsibility to freely give what God has given us but it's not our responsibility to worry about the outcome or how others receive it - As the Bible says it is God alone who makes the seeds grow!

We prayed for them as we moved on and saw the young man with the left limp going up the escalator so Adam & Laura followed him and approached him as I looked for a lady with a shawl on her head that had gone into Burger King. I didn't approach her as she & her son were buying their lunch, but as I turned back round to see how Adam & Laura were getting on with the young man he had transfigured himself into a security guard!!! So I kept my distance and once the security guard had gone I went up to them to find out he had interrupted their conversation with the young man with the limp. Apparently he had received a report from a shopkeeper or two about our actions in the centre and he didn't want us selling people stuff or giving out any leaflets. Adam explained we weren't selling or giving away leaflets, but that we were on a treasure hunt. This confused the security guard, but Adam offered us to leave if he was unhappy with us 'Treasure Hunting' in the centre. So we left!

Back out in the car park and we saw Pizza Hut, which wasn't on our list but margarita pizza was so we approached the 3 members of staff that were outside smoking as one of them had a ponytail and another had on a black coat (which was close enough to Laura's black cloth coat).
Our conversation with them didn't really go anywhere so after a few minutes we left them to their cigarettes. We were now starting to feel like the hunt was going a little cold so as we were roaming around the car park we realised that our options had closed up after leaving the store so we left and drove to The Strand as there is a park there and also some tall trees.

We wandered around for a bit, the park was quite busy and there were lots of families out. Adam & Laura approached a young mum who had a bob cut hairstyle, her daughter had a long blonde hair in a ponytail and also had a wheelchair/pram and a cuddly toy. They shared their treasure maps with her, she didn't want prayer for anything but was open to conversation and did respond a little when encouraged that God had sent them to bless her and let her know that He knows her and loves her. They blessed her and we walked a bit further up the path.

There was a man with a massive mastiff. It was a very reddy/brown colour. Close enough for my 3rd red dog of the day. I had earlier turned away from approaching the man but ran after him as he left the park. His name was Eddie, he was in his 70's and was hugely encouraged by my approaching him. Just last week his own animal died, his dog. It turned out that the big mastiff with a boxers nose was his friends that he used to walk it together with his own dog who he missed a lot. The conversation opened up easily and he told me of how he had problems with the valves in his heart, but that an operation had seemed to sort it all out but he still had concerns. He was also concerned for the birth of a grandson that is due imminently and recognised God as being the answer to the worlds problems (and indeed his own!). We spoke for about 5-10 mins and I offered to pray for him, to which he agreed instantly and I asked for the love of God to flood his life, to restore his heart, provide his family with happiness in a healthy grandson and also to ease his pain at losing his canine companion. He was visibly moved and thanked me afterwards for my sincerity. I was just as encouraged by our divine appointment as he was and we both felt soo blessed!

I looked for Adam & Laura and saw that they were also praying for a couple next to the park. The wife had previous heart problems but was ok now, but she was a bit down on her perspective on life, quite negative so Adam spoke some prophetic words over her that spoke into her compassionate heart. The husband explained that she had previously cared for special needs children. God had spoken right into her circumstances - Amazing! The couple then went back to their blue car and then Adam pointed out to me that there was a blue whale and a dolphin painted as a murel on the park wall!!! - The truly amazing thing being that Adam had the clue dolphin and I had blue whale, we had even laughed before the hunt that we had no chance of getting those!!!

We went back to MFC and were hugely encouraged by the way that God had moved and displayed Himself through the treasure maps - It is amazing that God would choose to use little old us in reaching out into peoples lives with His clues to unearth His treasure - God is truly awesome!!!

Hunting Off-Duty

2009-02-18T19:30:00.001Z

I went along to the 'Supernatural School of Ministry' (SSM) at NKCC today. There wasn't many there (10 in total) due to the school holidays and many of us weren't overly enamoured with going out hunting, perhaps we were low on faith, just as we were low on numbers? But Dave Webster gave us a rousing lift as he answered questions and lifted our eyes up to God away from all our fears and self doubt (as they say at Bethel - Look at the solution not the problem!)

We split into our teams after worshipping God and getting full of the Holy Spirit - We had Claire, Jonathon & Dave and straight away figured out we were off to Bluewater as Dave had 2 clues John Lewis & the name Anne.

On the way there Jon mentioned that he had the clue horse and that the emblem of Bluewater is a horse! We got parked right outside John Lewis and as we walked into the store we started ticking off clues pretty rapidly. We saw lots of pink umbrellas on separate shelves and wandered around as Jon had seen a man in a white and black striped top but the man lost us and we eventually ventured out of the shop and into the centre.

Claire noticed a man in a bright yellow top so I approached him and introduced ourselves and set about showing him the treasure map, but we didn't really get anywhere and blessed the man as we moved on upstairs.

Claire had a clue about a playdough, so we headed for the Early Learning Centre. I was amazed as right next door was a shop called 'David & Goliath', but again we found no more treasure in either store. So we headed off in another direction. We went past a shop that had denim jacket's for sale and also had 2x yellow tops in the window and I felt like we were heading in the right direction. We went into Weatherstones as Claire had books as a clue. As soon as we went in I noticed a little old lady with a yellow top on, but I didn't approach her. She was with her granddaughter and her husband and basically I bottled it! We wandered around the store for a bit and then the little old lady walked passed us again and Claire pointed her out again. I mentioned she was with her husband and bottled it a 2nd time! Then I noticed a lady in a disability buggy right by the till (that had a few people queued up!) and again I bottled approaching her. This was probably my biggest disappointment of the day. Crutches, disability vehicles or plaster casts are a clear sign that God wants to step in and do some healing, but that's when we are most out on a limb, and I'm afraid my fear of man got the better of me - But not next time!!!

Claire mentioned that there was a pizza shop downstairs right opposite so we went there and then noticed that the little old lady had followed us - This was too much of a coincidence so we approached her and asked her a few questions. She was trying to rush to the toilet and was all but 10 metres away when we interrupted her and she seemed rather puzzled. But she had a yellow top on and that was enough for us. Her name wasn't on the list, but then when I asked her granddaughters name it was Ann-ie which was pretty close to Anne!!! But the conversation didn't move any further. And she slipped away and went into the toilets!

We went back to NKCC a little disappointed that we hadn't seen God move in power and then realised just how many clues we had ticked off - We were definately hearing from God, that's for sure, but no one was visibly moved or touched, but we were still encouraged.

I went back from NKCC to MFC and our over 60's Cameo Club. I was sitting talking to Elsie, a 93 year old widow. I asked how she was doing and she suddenly blurted out that she was having a bad week - I asked why and she explained how she had fallen up her stairs and bashed her head and badly bruised her knee. I suddenly remembered my treasure map and checked it (it was in my back pocket!) and asked her if it was her right knee??? And guess what??? It was!!!
She was bowled over as I explained to her the events of the day and how it had led me to her to pray for her bad right knee. As we spoke more it turned out that she also has glaucoma and she was smiling from ear to ear as I told her of Gods desire to set her free and meet with her. She is already a Christian but was so encouraged by our time together and prayers. I loved it as she said "Oh yes, God does move in mysterious ways!"

It's crazy how God can use us even when we aren't actively looking for the treasure - This one was when I'd clocked off for the day - Very bizarre, but hugely encouraging!

True Freedom (from ourselves???)

2009-02-16T11:50:00.006Z

I found it really interesting listening to Adam's sermon on Sunday about how we can experience the freedom of the Kingdom of Heaven right now, that we don't have to wait and struggle through this life being bound up with different things until we pass on and get our new bodies but that it's accessible now and we need to live out of that place of faith and freedom that Jesus has already 'ransomed' us into with His blood (Hebrews 9:15).

Then it got me thinking - How free am I?

True freedom with human eyes is to be able to do what you want, when you want, however you want with whoever want... no matter what the consequences. God made us with our own free will but we are born into a world that is full of sin, a world that is built around structures that manipulate us, that restrict us with boundaries and suggest to us the way in which we should live and how we should make decisions.
My rambling thoughts got me wondering what I truly see freedom as in my own life (it's all very deep I know!)

God gives us freedom on a plate, we don't have to earn it or struggle for it, all we have to do is ask for it by accepting Jesus into our lives and then we are bought out of slavery and released into freedom in the Kingdom. In the world people have fought and strived for freedom of different people groups, nations, individuals and principles since the day that man was cast out of Eden. The devil has a cunning way of ensnaring people with his devious ways and we soon become our own worst enemies as we become deceived and slowly walk the way that leads us further away from our true freedom and into slavery through sin (the wages of which are death - Romans 6:23) more and more each day.

So what's the big deal with experiencing this 'true freedom' that comes direct from the Kingdom that we have access to now through our position in Christ? (Ephesians 2:6) Surely we just receive it and that's it, God's happy, we're happy, and as a result everyone else around us starts to become happy as they encounter the true freedom of heaven that is with us - The kingdom of heaven is near (Matthew 4:17) & The kingdom of heaven is within (Luke 17:21).

I've had tastes of this wonderful experience of freedom (at least I think I have), but those experiences have been very much moments of glory that end up getting covered up with things of this world like the shine on Moses face when he stepped down off the mountain after encountering God (Exodus 34:29-34) - In my case it stays with me for a while and then becomes more and more difficult to see and hold onto than when it first came, and eventually the memory of the radiance of God's glory and the freedom that it brings can become so distant that I sometimes wonder if I even experienced it at all!

My experience of the Holy Spirit is very similar, I get 'whacked', God impacts me on a deep level and I'm on top of the world for a week and then slowly the world gets its hooks back in and I start to back off from the relationship and I start to lose that intimacy with Him again, just like the last time, and the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that... getting the picture!!!

When I finally look at it I've decided that my experience of Kingdom freedom and of the Holy Spirit are intimately connected - Without the Spirit resting upon me 24/7 I can never expect to truly experience true freedom - It's me that gets in the way of this intimate relationship with the Spirit, it's definately not Him! It's me that makes it complicated, and all I need to do is freely receive and then 'freely give' to others that God brings my way (Matthew 10:7-8).

So I'm off now to go and get close to God, because without that intimate relationship I'm just trying to work it all out myself and denying His Holy Spirit the 'true freedom' it desires and deserves in my life for the outworking of God's love in and around me!

Be blessed!

The Bright Blue Coat

2009-02-12T00:15:00.005Z

Met up with Andrew today to venture out on a little 'Treasure Hunt'.

We met at 9.30am and had a brief chat. We ushered in the presence of God and asked for the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us and then set about filling up our clues in the alloted 3 minutes!

It was strange. Andrew had Chatham High Street as a clue and although I hadn't put it down I felt that we would end up there when I was driving to our meeting!

We bumped into Susie as we left MFC and we mentioned some of the clues we had. We both had piercings as appearance clues and she mentioned that there was a tattoo and piercing shop on the main drag into Chatham.

As we drove into Chatham we realised we had a big problem - parking!!! - I only had 26p and Andrew had a £20 note, so we spent the next 15 minutes driving here and there before settling at Staples where we duly noted the Customers Only sign and set a timer on my phone to let us know when our 1 hours stay would be up so we could avoid the inevitable clamp!

We headed up to a tattoo parlour and ventured inside (nervously) and met a lady named Kim who looked us up and down like we were nut-jobs and after a brief look at our treasure map she suggested we go down to another tattoo place down the road - We did and it was closed!

After stopping a couple of random passers by in the hope they may be able to open some things up for us we ventured into Chatham High Street. We popped into a blue shop that was a paper shop but didn't get anywhere with the rather confused lady behind the counter.

Andrew really felt we should venture up towards the Debenhams superstore, he had a picture of it in his mind and was aware that it had cobbled streets. We made our way there and sat on a bench outside a fish shop. We stopped a couple of people that passed by but again no doors of opportunity opened.

We walked up a bit further and saw a leather coat shop and as we had suede sheepskin coat we felt this place was a must so we made our way inside... but after 5 or so minutes of Andrew very politely trying to explain what we were up to the owner glazed over and we moved on. 2 shops down and there was a lovely bloke called Ahmed in another leather coat shop who had suede sheepskin coats for sale. He tried to be helpful and was very open but we had to cut our time with him short as my alarm on my phone went off telling us we had 10 minutes to make it back to the car before the clamping man could get his hands on it.

We were walking back, rather disappointed that we hadn't had the opportunity to really introduce God to someone. We were discussing the good and bad things we felt we had learned from our time out and all of a sudden we spotted a lady wearing a bright blue coat and she had red hair and a push chair. We wasted no time in accosting her in the name of Jesus and introduced ourselves and our treasure map. I explained briefly that I felt she was our treasure and how God had given us the clues that led us to her. She was very open and seemed to find it all rather interesting, and as she scanned the list for anything that she may need prayer for her mum all of a sudden pointed out that she had back pain and a bad elbow and a bad shoulder. At that point it was apparent that she was the one that God wanted to impact - I asked if we could pray for her, right there in the middle of Chatham High Street. She agreed, we prayed a simple 1 minute prayer, releasing the healing power and love of God.
I asked her how she felt and to try and do something she couldn't do before. Her faced changed as she described the pain that was there in the morning had now gone - Praise God!!!

She then mentioned that she had diabetes, and I explained how that was also on the list and that for sure God had specifically equipped us to meet her there in the street.
She was bowled over and greatly blessed - We explained who we were and what we believed and then remembered the blessed car - So we left, telling her that God loves her and that's why we were there!

We dashed back to the car and there was no clamp and we realised that God's timing in all of our failed parking attempts, tattoo shop visits and wandering around was perfect in us bumping into Doreen so He could display His love in her life - What a great and amazing God!!!

Brian!

2008-11-13T20:00:00.001Z

Hello,

Today Gordon and I went out on a quick treasure hunt, for about 1hr this afternoon. After yesterday we decided to push into the prophetic and take some steps of faith to see what Jesus would do! So, we prayed for a few minutes and then wrote down a few things, 3 names, a couple of colours and other items.

Then we went off down to the Delce area.......................Gordon approached a man of about 50-60 at the bus stop who had crutches and asked if he had a bad left knee (Gordon had burning in his knee yesterday evening and so went with it still today!), the man was open and discussed that it was both legs, particularly his feet, the left leg was the worst. We said that we were doing a sort of treasure hunt and although it sounds wierd, we felt that God wanted to encourage and touch him. He was fine with it and asked what church we were from. We explained that we were from an evangelical, Charismatic church and that we would be praying for Jesus to come and heal him.

This was the really amazing bit..................... we then asked him what his name was, and he said it was 'Brian'. Out of the whole list we only had 3 names, 2 of which were women's names and only one was a man's name What name do you think that was? Yes that's right, it was 'Brian'!
We nearly fell off the pavement as we showed him the bit of paper with his name already written on it! He then said 'I've always thought that there is more to the world than what we see'. We prayed for him, he let us lay our hands on his leg as we commanded healing etc... Then his bus came and so we only managed to give him an MFC card and asked him to let us know if there was any improvement. We left the bus stop encouraged and asking one another 'did that really just happen?' and thinking how bizarre it was that the first person we approached took the only man's name on the bit of paper. We thanked God for the small beginnings and then carried on.

We had another conversation with someone, but didn't have any more. We were walking around praying for a while. When we got back to the Jasper we felt like we had only just started, encouraged, even though it was just one person, it felt good to be out there, just simply with nothing to offer but Jesus and a few tracts in the pocket! It felt like we had somehow pushed the door open a crack! We plan to continue going out more regularly and I will read the book!

Anyway, thought you might like to hear.

Adam

So what is a Treasure Hunt???

2008-10-01T12:00:00.005+01:00

Treasure Hunting is finding Gods treasure that He has hidden in some really special places!

It's stepping out to take the love of God onto the streets, into the parks, shopping centres and peoples homes, with the only agenda being to display God's love!

I really feel that everybody in this world is just one encounter away from their life being changed forever. God loves all of His children and desires to meet all their needs and to manifest His power and glory to them so that they will sit up, take notice and come into an understanding of His Son who paid the price for all sins and encounter His Fathers heart that is not angry or distant but perfect, compassionate and abounding in love.

The model for the treasure hunt is this:
We meet up, get into God's presence and get filled with Holy Spirit. We then seek Him for roughly 3 minutes to give us clues in 5 different areas. These come in the forms of words of knowledge and pictures, all of which we note down on a piece of paper that becomes our treasure map.

The 5 areas are:

1 - Location
2 - Names
3 - Appearance
4 - Prayer Needs
5 - The Unusual

Once the maps are assembled the team then splits into smaller groups of 2-3 people and each group compares maps amongst it's members. They then decide where they feel the map is pointing them to and off we go, out into the community to spread the love of God accompanied with signs and wonders.

I've had the pleasure of speaking to bundles of people in this ministry. Many have been visibly shaken by God, some have been healed and pretty much most have gone away with a bigger smile on their face and deeper sense of joy than before their encounter.

We don't go out trying to convert people, to 'sell' them God or argue them into the Kingdom (if someone can be argued into something they can certainly be argued out of it!) - We just go out brimming over with the love of God and ask Him to do the rest - It is truly amazing to see Him set us up time after time to impact people through the pictures and words He reveals to us.

Remember - Without God it's just form without power!!!