REPORT FROM WICHITA

Rusty Thomas reports on the regional event in Wichita. Wichita Eagle article also included.

REPORT FROM WICHITA

October 10, 2005

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Preborn,

The Lord richly bless you!  What an amazing weekend the Thomas Nation had in Wichita.  OSA Wichita held a week long regional event led by our National OSA Director, Flip Benham.  OSA took the Gospel of the Kingdom to the highways and byways, two high schools, Wichita State University, the Central Abortion Mill and of course, the infamous death camp of Mr. George Tiller.  These outreaches turned Wichita upside down.  The community was stirred to the core.  The outreaches made the front page of Wichita 's local paper for three days in a row.  Included in this e-mail message is the last article published that covered the event.

The Thomas Nation arrived late Friday night and missed much of the action during the week.  We stayed at Bob and Donna Lippoldt's house.  Donna helped put together the event and certainly the Lord blessed her efforts.  On Saturday morning we went to Mr. Tiller's death camp to pray, praise, and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.  Fortunately the clinic was closed and no babies were sacrificed to Molech.  Afterwards we visited the neighborhood of a "chaplain" who baptizes the babies Mr. Tiller murders before they throw their remains in the fire of Tiller's on-site incinerator.  Witness teams passed out flyers exposing this heretic and his gruesome "ministry" to his neighbors.  We set up a sound system and preached God's word and prayed that this man would repent of placing God's approval and endorsement upon such an abominable act. 

From there we went to a lovely picnic and ate some good vittles.  That night I had the privilege to preach the Saturday night rally.  The message was "The Gospel of the Kingdom, Invitation, Proclamation, Command, and Warning."  The next day on Sunday, the sparks began to fly.  The enemies of the cross in the different schools that were visited decided to protest pastor Mark's Church.  Of course that was the Church I was invited to preach at.  We had a Sunday morning service unlike I had ever experienced before.  They came out with their whistles, drums, bull horns, and sirens.  The prophets of Baal came to the Lord's house dismayed that Christians desecrated their humanistic temples with the truth of God's word.  They simply wanted to return the favor.

Little did some of them know as they came with wrath that this was to be the day of their salvation.  Ministry teams from the Church went out with a peace offering of donuts.  Afterwards the prayer warriors, the praise and worshippers, and the preacher boys set up church outside the building.  Light and darkness, truth and lies, and heaven and hell collided at Spirit One Church.  We set up a sound system and welcomed them to Church.  There was a lot of one on one witnessing opportunities that transpired as the spiritual battle raged throughout the morning. 

At one point Scott Heldreth called my oldest daughter, Shekinah, to come and sing.  Though she is not a singer, she humbly complied with fear and trembling.  She sang Amazing Grace, Turn the Hearts, I Love You, Lord, and then they put on a new prophetic song called "This Is the Lord's Land."  (Flip said this is our new theme song for OSA.  To those who may be interested in a copy, please let me know.  It is a powerful prophetic declaration)  At that point the power of God fell and literally scattered His enemies.  Their defense departed from them and they had no spirit left.  They dropped their signs and fled.

Meanwhile, at other places people were being led to surrender their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Amazingly, the aunt of the main leader of the protest group prayed to receive the very One she came to protest.  After preaching three sermons outside, I had the opportunity to pray for a young man to receive Christ inside.  He came as a neutral observer.  He was a student that was confronted with the horrible truth that Abortion is Murder, Homosexuality is Sin, and Islam is a Lie.  He was curious to see what was going to take place at God's Church.  He listened to the hate-filled crowd as they blasphemed and mocked the message of their salvation.  They would scream "Stop The Hate" as we preached the love of God.  At that moment, the young man did not see the hate that we were accused of.  He saw something entirely different.  He saw Jesus and what he saw, he wanted in his life.  He is now a brother in Christ and we rejoice in the greatness of our God. 

All together there were seven testimonies of precious souls coming to the saving grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Though the battle was intense, the Lord broke through and the ministry of reconciliation went forth.  Please pray specifically for the young man who organized the protest against the Church.  He is smart and has the strength of his convictions.  Its just his convictions need to change by the power of the Holy Ghost.  He would become a wonderful champion for the Kingdom of God if would you turn his life over to Jesus.  I believe he has agreed to meet with Pastor Mark as a follow up.  Please pray he has ears to hear and eyes that see the truth and then let God's truth liberate his soul in Jesus' Holy Name! 

IN KING JESUS' SERVICE,

Rusty 

Students protest abortion protest

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/12863544.htm
Kids object to church's use of grisly poster on campuses

The Wichita Eagle

Posted on Mon, Oct. 10, 2005

Sunday, the protesters were protested. For three hours, a group organized by West High School students demonstrated outside Wichita 's Spirit One Christian Center. The students were expressing their displeasure about the abortion protest the church supported earlier this week at the high school.

Church members responded Sunday with a counter-demonstration. In all, about 300 people were involved, though it was difficult to tell how many were on each side.

The demonstration was sparked by a graphic picture of an aborted fetus that appeared at the abortion protests at West High School and Wichita State University last week.

The West High students were joined by students from North, Northeast and Southeast high schools and Wichita State . There also were supporters from the Peace and Social Justice Center and others.

The event remained peaceful, though emotions ran high on both sides.

Many of the student protesters said they, too, were against abortion but were more against using graphic pictures at schools. During the demonstrations this week at area schools, a large poster of an aborted fetus, which Operation Save America has named Malachi, was on display.

"They're upset about the aborted-baby signs," said the Rev. Mark Holick, pastor of Spirit One. "We're upset about them, too. That's why we're showing them."

Operation Save America, a national group, conducted the abortion protests, and Holick's church supports the group.

At 9 a.m. Sunday, the student protesters showed up and started marching around the church at 1515 E. Harry.

Leading them was Louis Goseland, a senior at West.

Goseland said the anti-abortion group, at the school demonstrations, had lashed out against the Nation of Islam and homosexuals in addition to abortion.

"We will not tolerate their intolerance," Goseland said. "Those pictures were disruptive for our schools."

Members of Spirit One -- some of them teens who attend West High -- stood firm, praying for their peers.

"This is Jesus' battle," said Cobie Morton, an eighth-grader who is a member of Spirit One. She was holding an anti-abortion sign while rocking back and forth, praying.

That was after Rusty Thomas -- a visiting minister at Spirit One from the Church on the Rock in Waco, Texas -- took the microphone to talk with the growing crowd. Behind Thomas was the poster of Malachi.

In front of Thomas were protesters, including a teenager who wore a shirt that read "Atheist." Several rainbow flags -- banners for gay rights -- waved in front of Thomas.

People were yelling.

Still, Thomas preached on: "Jesus Christ has the power to set us free from the sin."

"Stop the hate!" rose from the crowd.

"Do you know why you call the truth 'hate'? You hate the truth," Thomas yelled back. "Only truth can set you free. The truth is with Jesus."

Myles Bone, a junior at West, said church members were talking in circles.

"These people seem to force their opinions on others," he said, adding, "Everyone should be able to make their own opinions on whatever they do."

Behind the protesters, David Hall's fingers tapped out "Amazing Grace" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children" on his trumpet. About 10 feet away, Peter Klug blew a Yemenite shofar -- a ram's horn used as a call to worship or battle.

Many church members stayed outside and lined the streets once the worship service began at 10:30 a.m.

Quieter conversations replaced the yelling.

"I don't want to push my beliefs on you..," started one discussion, while another began: "I am against abortion, like you...."

Goseland said he was pleased with the students and their supporters.

"We are a valid force in this community," he said.

Thomas, the visiting minister, said it was a scene with "no confrontations, just conversations."

The crowd started dispersing by 12:15 p.m.

As cars passed and honked in support of one side or the other, a group of students remained, clapping their hands and singing, "All we are saying is stay out of our schools."