You Shall Be Witnesses

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

What Have I Been Up To?

-> Discipleship Training School (DTS) : Each DTS consists of 12 powerful weeks of training and 8 weeks in the mission field. Teachers, leaders, and field practitioners from around the world come to teach on how to grow in your relationship with God and equip you to effectively reach the lost & make disciples. After your three-month training, you and your team will be sent to the nations to share the Gospel and serve alongside local believers to advance His Kingdom.

This fall I have been staffing a DTS!! I have personally been helping facilitate in the classroom setting, organizing school events along with other staff, planning and facilitating corporate times of intercession, organizing outreach in the Kansas City area, working with my co-leads to facilitate times of comradery and preparation for the team we will be taking to the Middle East this winter, and discipling students 1 on 1.

This school has been an absolute joy for me! We have a total of 23 students: 18 male and 5 female (it's unheard of to have this ratio of male to female at a missionary training school, but we’ve been praying for God to send men to the harvest field and He has sent them!!). Every single student has come to this school with hearts burning for God and the nations. These students are teachable, hungry, and surrendered to Jesus. They are tender and they are joyful. We have had spontaneous times of conga lines and karaoke, as well as moments of repentance and tears. Both, the Spirit has used to bring breakthrough to us all.

What Has God Been Teaching Me?

We just came out of Holy Spirit week as a school, which is essentially a week of teaching on the person of the Holy Spirit and set aside times of being filled by Him. This time, going through Holy Spirit week I feel God really highlighted our need to be absolutely filled and doused in the Holy Spirit as we go! We cannot go to the nations or even our neighbors without Him.

I think sometimes in the church we cry out for revival or for more of the Holy Spirit, and in our mind we think He’s the fire only for us and our secret place. Which yes, He does love to pray through you and speak to you in secret. Thank God He tore the veil so that we can know intimacy and closeness with Him! He’s the gift given to us as we wait for the return of Jesus.

But when we pray, “Holy Spirit, fill me!”. “Revive us!” What is it all unto? In Acts we see that Jesus commands His disciples to stay in Jerusalem before starting their ministries and to be baptized by fire , and only after that can they be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all the ends of the earth.

In Acts 2, we see that when Pentecost came and the Spirit was poured out, people gathered from “every nation under heaven” heard mighty works of God being declared in their own tongue.

Only a short while after this, in Acts 4, Peter and John were brought in to be questioned by religious leaders because of a healing that had people talking about Jesus! After being released from questioning, they along with others prayed “ Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

They were filled again! They were filled for the sake of the gospel going out far beyond themselves.

In this season I have the conviction that God is filling me fresh again- yes to know Him more, but also to make Him known EVERYWHERE I go. He hasn’t asked me to testify of him passively, but boldly! From the store down the road to the country on the other side of the world, His desire is to be made known. The word “witness” as described in Acts 1 is a spectator who can swear by what He has seen, and we are told that with the Holy Spirit we will be given power to be witnesses to the very ends of the earth!

What have you seen and heard? Be filled fresh again and speak about the mighty works of God with boldness!

Testimonies:

One of our students came here with lots of questions and even doubts that God would speak to her. Now she is sharing about what God is doing in her heart. She even had some fears initially about outreach but now God is giving her visions and burdens for the location He is sending her to that has been leading her into intercession. She’s on a beautiful journey of emotional healing and this girl who once had doubts has become extremely sensitive to the Spirit and has become completely captivated by Him!!

One of our staff came, having previously been a worship leader. He was unable to sing for 11 months due to an injury in his vocal chords. On one of our shabbat as a school we took communion and prayed for healing over those who were sick in body. He led base worship that very Thursday without pain!
Another staff member had been having issues with her asthma since before the students even arrived. She would have a hard time breathing which led to a bunch of exhaustion. The Lord took her through emotional healing that had to do with using her voice and worship, which actually resulted in a physical healing that opened her airways to breathe clearly. It’s been weeks and she hasn’t had issues with her asthma since and threw away her inhaler!
One of our students came really struggling with being fearful of being heard. He was quieter and it was easy for him to isolate from some of the others. During freedom week we touched on being free from the stronghold of passivity. This day during ministry time he got up in front of the class on a chair and boldly repented, renounced things, and received the love of Jesus and truth about his identity and belonging. It was a powerful time and you could almost see things lift off of him! He has been so full of joy and confidence ever since!

Announcements:

We have 4 months left of DTS! 2 of these months we will be on outreach in another nation!
We have 3 outreach teams going out of this school: 1 to the Philippines, 1 to South Africa, and 1 to the Middle East. Please be praying for all 3!! I will have the opportunity to lead the Middle East Team

Prayer Requests:

Our School: more freedom, more healing, more stepping into identity as sons and daughters FIRST before stepping into missions
Our outreach teams: to get God’s heart for the nations they are going to and to be fully funded// preparation of hearts to receive the gospel! Divine appointments and people of peace
health and rest
Wisdom in discipling and leading
Wisdom in personal decisions>>> I believe I will be in transition after dts and am praying about what it is to look like
A close family friend, Karen, whose ministry I was saved under was recently diagnosed with cancer. Please pray healing over her family and strength for the Green family

Give:

I am still fundraising for outreach! If you feel led to give, or have questions at all about this please reach out to me! :)

How much I have left to raise by October 31st:
$3,715

YWAM: https://giving.ywamkansascity.com/support/jessica-lawrence

**** my code: V_L325

Please create an account before donating so that you can have your giving records on file for taxes.

Non tax-deductible ways to donate:

Venmo: @Jessica-Lawrence23

Cashapp: $jessrmarie

Sincerely, Jessica