Day 6 - Fat Tuesday

Last Days

Fat Tuesday, the biggest day of Mardi Gras. We finished the 24/7 Prayer Room, with about 18 people that wandered in and came to know the Lord. A young man named Benjamin was saved on this day. De'Shon, Stephen & Benjamin were three young men who dedicated their lives to Jesus this week. After midnight on one of the largest party days in the world, these 3 men were baptized, becoming new creations in Christ. (II Cor. 5:17)

The Return

Hours before we were set to return to Kansas City, God opened a door for De'Shon to come back with us. He left his former life in New Orleans, and came to IHOP to start fresh with the Lord. Be praying as he steps into this new life (and culture). God's leadership is perfect

Love 4 Leadership

A true father's heart is rare these days, but I believe we've found one in our fearless leader. Chuck, your compassion is unsurpassed, and as the general of this army you always equipped us with the "belt of truth." You never relented to share the word of God, give a prayer or any of the many other ways you poured yourself out. Thank you, Chuck.

As a leader, one of your main roles is to serve

 people - going under them in order to lift them up. Mary, we felt your prayers in the day as you led the Night Watch. During your waking hours, your caring words and encouraging smile shined  from a pastor's heart.

This prayer warrior did more than just take charge

 of a prayer room in the unique setting of Mardi Gras. He led worship with our great musicians and shared the Lord with the lost. Most of all, I see Peter as a man of character, leading by example and loving with compassion. Thank you, Peter, for your leadership and diligence on this trip.

This man of God flows with the word of God like a

 river flows with water. Sean remained steadfast and strong, regardless of the opposition we faced. He seemed to be a natural at this kind of thing.  Just as God has taught you to share His word with people, so He is using you to teach others. His plans for you are great.

We'd like to say a BIIIIG....

...Thank You! 

To the CRI Team (www.criout.org) who served through transportation, housing and food preparation during the whole trip. You truly are enablers.

To the Intercessors who I believe are a huge part of "preparing the way" for authentic ministry. "Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy." -Ps. 126:5

To Hal Linhardt & the IHOP Evangelism Team for encouraging and enabling us. Not all your work & support can be recognized, but that's what treasures in heaven are for. :)

To Vieux Carre Baptist Church for The Overflow Cafe. You also enabled personal evangelism as we brought people from the streets back to your wonderful dwelling place.

To Vieux Carre Assembly of God for an awesome opportunity to have a prayer room. We never want to do an outreach with a prayer room now. May your ministry be blessed.

To Mark & Robin Drouin with Central City Missions for the wonderful place to stay. You have a beautiful place there. God bless you. (www.centralcitymissions.com)

To the Most High Savior of this world, who will be returning soon. Jesus Christ, thank you for all those that you welcomed into your eternal kingdom this week. Thank you for all the seeds planted and watered, that you will be bringing to yourself soon. Thank you for who you are and the glory that you released on this trip. What's next, Jesus?

Video Updates!

This is a video report of the outreach. The music is from KJ-52's Behind the Musik album.

This is a Picture Slideshow of the trip with Jason Upton's "Beautiful People."

Mardi Gras Outreach - Day 5 (Monday)

Dancing, Drums and a New Son
There was a big Christian concert/worship time in the middle of Jackson Square. There was a stomp team, worship band and a few hundred of God’s warriors. We gave God glory before all going back out to the streets and prayer room. It was a powerful time.
A few years ago at a hotel in Dallas, Clay had met a guy named Stephen. Two days ago they were reunited as Sean and Clay were witnessing to Stephen. God never let him go. Our new friend came to this Christian gathering, rededicated his life to Lord and is off to a fresh start as a new creation in God. He quit his job at a bar and is seeking a new way of life. Last night Clay, Kelly & Kenny did some "night watch" evangelizing and Stephen joined us just to get some experience. He stayed with us last night, as he doesn’t have a place to live. Please be praying.

Worship as a Weapon
Both for myself as a shield and the lost as a bubble of grace, worship has proved to be one of the most effective weapons I possess. I still love to stop and witness from time to time, but if that causes the worship to stop, I often see a breakdown in the effectiveness of the group, as well as a surge in demonic attack. Thank you Lord for inhabiting the praise of your people! (written by David Prothro)

Intercessory Encouragement
Pastor Greg Pembo, of the Veiux Carré Assembly of God church, where we are having a House of Prayer, gave a marvelous sermon on Sunday morning. He preached on Exodus 32. While Moses was on the mountain, the people corrupted themselves and God was going to destroy them, but because of the intercession of Moses, God relented. Keep your prayers of intercession coming!

Last 24 Hours
It’s Fat Tuesday. Stores are closed. The party is almost over and people are about to go back to their normal lives. However, what happens at Mardi Gras DOESN’T stay at Mardi Gras. What happens here dwells in people’s hearts and unexpectedly creeps back up later in life. God can make them new creatures today. There are still salvations to be had. Pray that God’s will would be done, that people would turn to His kind discipline, and that those who live hear would be empowered to continue the ministry. Most of all, pray as the Holy Spirit leads.

Mardi Gras Outreach - Day 4

Beautiful One
"There is a dimension of Jesus you will never know until you accompany Him into the harvest."(The Fire of God’s Love, Bob Sorge, pg. 59)
Donna was lost and caught in the thicket and the Good Shepherd gave me an opportunity to rescue her. After evangelizing for 2 hours, the team was returning to the cafe/ministry room when I spotted her sitting on the "stoop" of one of the row houses in the French Quarter, I went over to hand her my last tract and to hear her story. 24 hours before she had been deserted by her husband. She spent the night in a bar and was crying out for help. Our encounter gave her grace to realize that God does answer prayer.
We wisked her away from the streets and God wrapped this little lamb in His loving arms. Food, coffee, dialogue... She repented & rededicated her life to Jesus. In our conversation, she spoke of why God was "jealous for her." She thought He was narcissistic - only caring about Himself, but before our eyes a revelation came over her. She beamed as she proclaimed, "It’s because He loves us so much. He’s jealous for our affection!" (written by Mary Ann)

Prayer Room Testimony
As I arrived at the 6am prayer set this morning, Kelly was ministering to a young man named Harold. Harold was addicted to drugs and had come into the prayer room in the French Quarter in the middle of the night. Soon there were several of us praying for him. He asked Jesus to free him from his drug addiction and invited Him into his life. He stayed to pray and read the Bible and was still in the prayer room when I left the prayer room at around 9:30 am.(written by Kenny Miracle)

Crisis Response InternationalCRISIS RESPONSE INTERNATIONAL has been an amazing support ministry for us this week. They have provided most of our meals the transportation, and other things that I don’t even know about! Remember to keep them in prayer, as they are enabling the "street preachers" and Prayer Room Warriors.

Off the Street, into God's Presence
De’Shon was on the street looking for women. He was at first really hard and distant. The Lord Jesus began breaking him down with words of life and 4 prophetic words of knowledge. He received prayer. The Lord’s presence fell and he began to feel God’s manifest presence. All he wanted to do was receive prayer and encounter Jesus. Then he came back to the cafe, repented and received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He will be spending more time with us on this trip. Pray he’ll get water baptized and baptized in the Holy Spirit.

A Kiss & a Crawfish
Happy Birthday Chuck! Yesterday was his birthday, and God used a family to bless us with a fish boil, hundreds of crawfish and a simply blessed time before ministering. It was a “kiss” from God. The prayer room began in the morning and hasn’t stopped since. The nightwatch last night felt like the midnight to 6am shift went astoundingly fast. Praise God for all spiritual endurance!
The Beauty of Holiness creates a pure, spotless, radiant bride. He is creating in us this beauty. It is the thing that will lead us & guide us. Holiness is not something to fear and it’s not unreachable. It is the unending desire of our Father. This was a focus of warfare with Jehoshaphat’s army, and it is ours as well. Praise God for His desire for a pure bride!

God’s “Overflow”
Trisha’s cafe “Overflow” started strong last night. God answered Trisha’s prayer, as the cafe created an atmosphere for the lost people of Mardi Gras to receive ministry and/or baptism. Tanya, Kelly & Nick from YWAM were a great help in serving and doing ministry.
Many of us went out sharing the word of God on the streets last night. There was a team worshipping, as others shared Jesus with people that came to listen. Just we connect worship & prayer at IHOP, we connected worship & evangelism on the streets... and it was great.

Mardi Gras Outreach - Day 2

Walking on the Carpet of Your Prayers
Day 1 is over, and oh, it was good. Heading straight to Bourbon Street and the surrounding area, we covered it in prayer, and claimed our authority in Christ. For He has given us all authority in heaven & earth. We joined a worship service with ANSWERING THE CRY, an outreach ministry also visiting New Orleans. It was a great worship and prayer service. They all prayed specifically over the IHOP Team, too.
Many people had different experiences, but one thing is for sure - God is on the move. We are His army. Lost souls are the battlefield, and the enemy is already defeated.

Going Live
Go to ihopevangelism.blogspot.com. We have set up an online blog that we will be updating daily.You will be able to see all of our updates, and if any of you wish to share anything with us, or if God puts a word on your heart about this trip, then anyone will be able to post comments on the site that we will get that day. You do not have to have an account with www.blogger.com in order to post comments. So feel free to share with us your thoughts or prayers!

Testimony of Tears
Alan Vaughn’s prayer at the beginning of this trip was to feel and connect with God’s heart. This was a major request for him, as he hasn’t felt at one with His heart for a long time. We’ve been here for one day, and Alan has so felt God’s heart for the people, that he has been in tears on and off this whole time. He hasn’t cried for 35 years. God will answer our requests, and when our hearts connect with His, great and mighty things will happen (Jeremiah 33:3). Ministry often happens internally before externally.

Coming Up Soon!
Today we start out strong with fish boil (not a fish fry).We also kick off the 24/7 Prayer Room, led by Peter, as well as street evangelism. We don’t completely know what the evangelism will look like, which means it’s in God’s hands!

Blessings,
Chuck and the Mardi Gras Team

The Adventure Begins!
We’ve safely arrived in the heart of New Orleans. The travel down here was good. We’re ready for the Lord to do a great work. Upon arriving, we were encouraged by a word from God through Chuck that God was giving us a GRANT. A grant is something that is given freely, but only to someone who is worthy to receive it. God was showing us that He has searched our hearts, called us worthy for this work and given us the free gift of being His preachers & prayer warriors.
"My Delight is in Her" (Isaiah 62)
Knowing that God’s delight is in us and ours in Him, we have all lifted up personal prayer requests for this trip.
Chuck - Finding his spiritual birthright (like Caleb)
Mary - To have intimacy & worship before performance
Peter - For people to join in God’s Movement
Sean - Complete physical healing & compassion for people



Trisha - Strong Godly atmosphere with signs & wonders in the cafe
Sally - Inner healing (in her heart/soul)
Stacy - More of God
Clay - Overcome feeling dry & great evangelism
David Michaels - To tangibly feel God
Kelly - Seek & Save Souls
Andrew - Greater Works
Mary Ann - Spiritual Multi-Tasking
Sondra - People to see mercy & supernatural works
David Prothro- Resurrection Power
Leah - For all of us to know God’s heart more
Alan - That his heart would connect with God’s heart
Karl - To find his life calling
Kenny - Masculine initiation from God the Father
Daniel - To love God, the Team & the Lost
Tommy - To have mighty works & power
Praying, Preaching, Partnering
The plan for today is to douse the French Quarter in prayer as we prepare for ministry. We’ll be gathering with the other ministries tonight for prayer & worship. Also, YWAM has decided to join with us in the cafe, providing us with a plethura of coffee. There could be up to three YWAM teams with us this week: YWAM New Orleans, Orlando & Colorado. As you lift us up, please remember our partners in this mission.
Thank you for your prayers. Be blessed, strengthened & empowered by His spirit. We will keep you updated!
In Christ’s Hands,
Chuck & the Mardi Gras Team