“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news. Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together…”

On Saturday, April 21, about 30 saints gathered together from Calvary Hill Baptist Church and Lavon Drive Baptist Church to proclaim the “good news” at Northpark Medical Group (aka Meadow).  An army of mostly young people surrounded this mill with praises, preaching, prayer, and great expectation of what our God can do on behalf of the innocent.

It is truly a gift from God to see so many come out to this mill, when for so long, it has been so few.  On this day our numbers were down a bit from the usual 40 or so, but God is not interested in numbers.  He is interested in our hearts.  We are seeing the truth of what Flip has always said, “Operation Save America is the wheels that brings the Church of Jesus Christ to the streets.”  It is wonderful when individual church bodies catch the vision and run with it.   This outreach is not under the banner of OSA.  This outreach is an arm of Calvary Hill and Lavon Drive, which we believe is truly the way God intends – the men of God, leading out the people of God, to storm the gates of hell in their cities. 

On this Saturday, we saw one young man give his heart to the Lord right at the mill, along with three babies saved.  It was incredible!  That makes 5 babies that we know of since we began 2 months ago.  Last month, the mill had their sprinklers going full blast to try to drown out the Word of God as the young people preached.  Try as they might, they cannot stop the onslaught of God’s Spirit and what He is doing at Northpark Medical Group.

It is so refreshing for Becky, Dorrie, Brenda, and me to see reinforcements at the mill we have been at for so long.  Becky’s husband James and my husband Mike, along with Neil Sandlin, Calvary Hill’s youth pastor, have lifted the burden from us and have taken hold of leading others to take their stand at the gates of hell. 

As I watched the young people standing for the Lord on this day, I had to smile at what I saw taking place.  Here are a few details that I cherished in my heart:

1. 1. Perched up in a tree, so as to see over the mill’s wall, were young men reading God’s Word and preaching to the men who had taken women into the mill.  They were not ashamed of their Lord or His Word and because of that, they saw a man repent and come running into the arms of Jesus.
   
2. Standing at the corner of a very busy street in Dallas, more young people stood with signs depicting the horrific consequences of death.  When confronted and shamed by those stopped at the light, these young people stood their ground and spoke for their King.  They admitted to me that maybe they did not have all the answers they would like in order to speak well for Jesus, but they also know that in continuing to stand for Him, God would give them wisdom when they needed it.
   
3. Gathered in a circle around a single guitar player were more young people lifting their voices in praise to the only One who can bring salvation and healing.  Although inexperienced in praise as warfare, they seemed to sense the battle and would sing out or soften their tone as needed.  Before we left the mill, everyone joined with the praise team to give thanks to our God for what He had done.  It was a special time of singing to our Lord and thanking Him for who He is.
   
4. It was very encouraging to me to see several older men of retirement age who know that you never retire from serving the Lord.  May I say to each of you that you are needed.  As these young people continue to take their stand, we will find ourselves in situations where we will need the wisdom God has deposited into your hearts over the years.
   
5. And lastly, I saw one very bold 2 year old (my son Judah) stand at the wall, look through the slats at the women on the other side and say to them, “Peeze ask Jesus in your heart.”  Enough said!

I am sure that my sentimental mothering heart is partly to blame, but I really do believe that we are seeing a picture of the Church functioning at her best.  Please pray for us as we continue, because as anyone who has been out in the streets for any length of time knows, the enemy is furious at what he is seeing, but even so, I believe this group is committed to live out their faith and honor their King.