Hunt at MFC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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