April Connect by Bethel Sarnia

CONNECT BETHEL CHURCH

Welcome to Bethel Welcome to Bethel! We are so glad to have you here! As you look through this Connect Bulletin, we trust that you will quickly find that Bethel has something for you and your family. Our hope is that you will take the next step into our community and get involved. As you do, you will begin to see that Bethel is more than just a Sunday service, it is a family of everyday people following Christ to bring hope and change to the world one life at a time.

WWW.BETHELSARNIA.COM

APRIL 2015

This Month

BETHEL NEWS Elders & Deacons ELDER BOARD: Darwin Armstrong (President), Chris Guerette (Vice President), Dave Strevel (Secretary), Derek Shannon (Treasurer), Louie DeBrum (Deacon Board Chairman), Grace Celaire & Ken Tosh. DEACON BOARD: Steve Berry, Steve Fraser, Brian Gagnon, George Irving, Dave Ouellette & Matt Routley.

Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury, our missionary to Argentina, will be with us on Sunday night April 19th to share about his ministry in Buenos Aires. In 2014, Bethel raised $10,000 to help in the purchase of a building for The Potterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hands Church in Buenos Aires.

Jordan Ouellette Our Media Director/Designer, Jordan Ouellette has accepted a new job position in Ottawa. He will be completing his responsibilities at Bethel the first part of May. Jordan has been working at Bethel for 5 years now and has been a great blessing. He, and his wife LaDawn will be greatly missed. We congratulate Jordan and LaDawn on this exciting new opportunity for them.

Coming Soon

RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE A BIO OF A PASTOR RODNEY & ADONICA Rodney Howard-Browne was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and grew up in the Eastern Cape and Transkei. His wife, Adonica, was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and raised in Johannesburg. Rodney gave his heart to the Lord at the age of five and Adonica gave her heart to the Lord at the age of seventeen. They met and married in 1981 and immediately went full-time together into the traveling ministry. Over the next six

years they traveled across Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe and Namibia, preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1983, they pioneered a church in the Northeastern Cape and pastored there for two years. After that Rodney taught classes in a leading Bible School for another two years. During this time, they had three children: Kirsten, born in 1982, Kelly May, born in 1984, and Kenneth, born in 1987. Rodney and Adonica knew, even before they married, that they were both called to travel around the world to preach the gospel and they had a particularly strong calling toward the United States of America. In 1987 the door opened for them to go to America. Rodney visited America twice that year, preaching in several churches, and in December 1987 the whole family traveled to America to fulfill the call and plan and

purpose of God and to move into the new phase of ministry that God had called them into. The Lord supernaturally

that in the end, they would be a greater blessing to their homeland by living in America, than they would if they had stayed in South Africa. Since, then they have had some wonderful meetings in various cities in South Africa, including some that went for up to four weeks, with thousands of people in attendance. In one week of revival in Johannesburg, they registered over 22,000 people at their South African campmeeting. However, they feel that this word from God has truly been fulfilled through the Good News crusades in South Africa!

provided for their air tickets and they came to America with only $300, 4 suitcases, and their three children, then aged 5, 3 and 7 months.

From January 1988, they traveled across America for fifteen months, all the time praying that God would pour out His spirit upon His people and that they would have a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit that they would never forget. In the 16th month, April 1989 the glory of God was poured out in a Tuesday morning service in a church in upstate New York, beginning a revival that continues to this day. That week, hundreds of people were dramatically touched and changed by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and since then, hundreds of thousands of people around the world have experienced the life-changing power of God.

Rodney and Adonica came to America with a passion burning in their heart to see souls saved and lives touched and also with a commission from the Lord. He told them to, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stir up the churches and tell them to get ready for the coming revival.â&#x20AC;? In order to see a great harvest of souls, the Church must be stirred up and a fire must be lit

STIR UP THE CHURCHES AND TELL THEM TO GET READY FOR THE COMING REVIVAL. on the inside of them to see souls saved and the lost brought into the kingdom and family of God. The Lord also told them that He would use them in the same way that He used Joseph in Egypt. He told them

Rodney and Adonica feel that God has called them to teach the body of Christ by example, how to create an atmosphere of worship in the church, so that the presence of God can be made welcome and so that He can touch His children as He sees fit. Jesus said that if He is lifted up then He would draw all men unto Himself. Our job is to lift Him up and not be ashamed of the Word of God or the Spirit of God. Rodney and Adonica teach on how you can have revival in your own life and they have seen the power of God touch and change

people’s hearts, for eternity, on six continents. No matter what their language is, or their customs, or their culture, in the end, they all respond to the Holy Spirit in the same way. Rodney and Adonica have seen mighty revivals break out in North, South and Central America, Africa (including South Africa), the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Israel and run anywhere from one to four consecutive weeks. In one year they held a total of thirteen weeks of revival in Lakeland, Florida. Rodney and Adonica felt that God did not want them to run revivals longer than four consecutive weeks in churches, because their commission is to stir up the churches and the pastors, shake them out of their complacency, fire them up to press in deeper with the Holy Spirit, and then leave them to do what God has called them to do in their city.

Street evangelists, ordinary people who had been touched by revival, from every continent were in New York every day for eight weeks, telling people that God had a great plan for their lives and leading them to Jesus. Altogether, 48,459 people made Jesus the Lord of their lives (recorded decisions). In the summer of 2000, it was Good News Shreveport/Bossier in the state of Louisiana— eight weeks of street evangelism, going doorto-door and six weeks in the Hirsch Coliseum. 59,247 souls were saved this time. In November 2004, it was Soweto, South Africa’s turn—in just 10 nights, 177,600 decisions for Christ were recorded at Good

Rodney and Adonica’s second daughter, Kelly was born with an incurable lung disease, called Cystic Fibrosis. This demonic disease slowly destroyed her lungs and early on Christmas morning 2002, at the age of eighteen, after being on oxygen for fourteen months, she ran out of lung capacity and breathed her last breath. They had held onto her for as long as they could—she almost died at eleven months and again at three years old—and God had spared her life for all this time, but now they felt her slipping out of their grasp. Kelly’s life had always spurred them on—instead of backing off when the devil attacked her body, they pushed back at him! They fought harder, they did more, they gave more, they stretched their faith to see more of God’s power in action, they preached more,

Rodney and Adonica, and their ministry team, under the banner of Revival Ministries International, travel about 46 weeks of the year, holding weekly meetings in cities across North America and around the world. They

also pastor a church in Tampa, Florida, The River at Tampa Bay, which they founded on December 1, 1996 and which now has 3000 members. In the summer of 2001, the Lord blessed them with a beautiful two-year old building on the main highway that is worth twice what they paid for it! In 1997, they started the River Bible Institute, training students in the Word and the Spirit, imparting into their hearts both a spirit of evangelism and of revival. They also started an online version of the Bible School, allowing students of every nation, with access to the Internet, to participate. Rodney and Adonica have never lost their focus on the most important assignment of their lives and ministry—souls. In 1998, God gave Rodney a dream about a huge soulwinning crusade in New York City, so in the summer of 1999, under the banner of Good News New York, they rented Madison Square Garden for six weeks of focused soul-winning.

News Soweto. In May of 2005, they held their second mass crusade, Good News Umlazi near to Durban, South Africa. They had an accumulated attendance of over 539,000 people over 10 nights and had over 286,750 souls saved in the stadium, and many more over the radio. In October of 2005, they returned again to South Africa for their third mass crusade. In just five nights, 113,000 precious people gave their lives to the Lord in Mamelodi, near the capital of Pretoria. In Soweto, the meeting went out live, across Africa on GodTV, and on two local radio stations, one secular, one Christian. Every night they preached a soul-winning message, gave an altar call for salvation,

ministered on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many wonderful healings took place both at the crusade venue and over the radio!

they prayed more, and they believed for more miracles and for even greater miracles! Kelly was their fight! As they held her in their arms, as her body lay dying, and before the devil could snuff out her life, they did the only thing that they could think of doing: they offered their precious daughter, the best gift that they could ever give in a lifetime, to the Lord as an offering on the day the world celebrated His own birthday. They placed her into the arms of her Lord and Savior and then vowed a vow. First, they vowed that the devil would pay for what he had done to their family. Secondly, they vowed to do everything in their power, with the help of the Lord, to win 100 million souls to Jesus and to put $1 billion into world missions and the harvest of souls! Already, they have sowed millions of dollars into other ministries who are in the harvest fields. They financially support Reinhard Bonnke Ministries, Acres of Love, a home for abandoned and AIDS babies in South Africa, and many other ministries.

Student Ministries

REVO APRIL SCHEDULE HIGH SCHOOL

REVO JR.HIGH

APRIL 2ND STATUS & STRENGTH

APRIL 2ND ACCEPT THE MISSION NOW

APRIL 9TH LOUD & CLEAR (UNITED NIGHT)

APRIL 16TH ENCOUNTER SERVICE

APRIL 23RD WILLING & BRAVE

APRIL 23RD SAID NO FRIEND EVER

APRIL 30TH NO REVO

COMING MAY 1ST SECTIONAL YOUTH RALLY AT BETHEL

NO RESCUE (JR. HIGH) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15TH

FROM ME TO YOU I will always remember the very first time I was in a Rodney Howard-Browne service. It was January 1988 and I was a student at Zion Bible College in Barrington, Rhode Island. Rodney had just arrived from South Africa, with his wife and 3 children, to come as a missionary to America. I had never heard of such a thing. I knew that America had sent out thousands of missionaries to nations around the world. But this was the first time I had ever heard of an African coming to America as a missionary. He said that he had come to bring a revival to the American church. Rodney ministred in our chapel service and then later that evening at our main service at Zion Gospel Temple in East Providence, Rhode Island. I will always remember the move of the Holy Spirit in those meetings. Students and teachers were powerfully touched by the joy of the Lord. I felt blessed to be a part of those meetings. Fast forward 17 years later. It is in the month of October 2005. I had now been the Pastor at Bethel for a year and a half. I had never been to another Rodney Howard-Browne meeting since those days in Bible College. I had heard a few times about his ministry, particularly about a revival that took place under his ministry in Lakeland Florida. But I did not follow his ministry closely. In October 2005, I had booked Evangelist Ted Shuttlesworth to be with us for a few nights of services. 3 weeks before Ted came, for some reason (which I now know was the Lord), I kept thinking about Rodney Howard-Browne. I remember saying to my wife Kim, “This is so strange, but for some reason I keep thinking about Rodney Howard-Browne”. When Ted came to be with us for those services, we went out for lunch. At lunch, I said to Ted, “Do you know Rodney Howard-Browne? For some reason I have been thinking about him.” Ted replied, “Yes, in fact we are good friends.” As we sat at lunch talking for a minute about Rodney, all of a sudden Ted’s cell phone rings. It was Rodney Howard-Browne. Ted said, “You’re ears must be ringing because I am with a Canadian pastor and we have been

talking about you!” The result of that phone call was that Rodney invited me to come down to his winter conference in Florida in January. I jokingly said that I did not have to pray whether that was God’s will to go down to Florida in January. In fact, at the service that night Ted spoke about Rodney calling and his invitation. So January 2006, I went down to Rodney’s church in Tampa for the first time for his winter revival campmeeting. I was very blessed to be in the services. I learned a lot. I was a little disappointed though that I did not have occasion to meet Rodney at that time. But something very unusual happened the last service I was there. As I was leaving the service, I stopped by Rodney’s product table. A woman approached me and said to me, “Excuse me, but the Lord just told me to give you an offering as seed for the Revival that is coming to your church.” I did not know this woman. I was not wearing a badge that identified me as a Pastor. Nothing was said in the service about blessing someone that night. I was somewhat stunned as this woman handed me, a stranger to her, $200 US dollars. A few moments later, a man approached me. He too said, “The Lord told me to give you an offering for the revival that is coming to your church”. A few moments later, a third person came to me with the same blessing. In a matter of minutes I had close to $500 in my hands given to me by 3 strangers who all told me that this is for a coming revival. I used the monies and bought Rodney’s product. In fact, I had so much product that I had to pay a fee for my return luggage being too heavy. That was January 2006, 3 months later Bethel would have a season of revival that resulted in 20 weeks of services with people traveling to Bethel from 15 States and 7 provinces. Charisma magazine, 700 Club, 100 Huntley Street, Faith Today magazine and others, all ran stories about the revival at Bethel church. I always felt that there had to be more to the connection with Rodney. This past May 2014, once again we had a special week of meetings with Evangelist Ted Shuttlesworth.

A Letter From Your Lead Pastor

Again, at lunch Ted and I got talking about Rodney and the time he called back in 2006. The next day, Ted told me that he had been talking to Rodney that night and that Rodney would be glad to speak with me. I called Rodney that day and had a good conversation on the phone. He invited me again to his Ministers Conference in October 2014. Again I found myself in Tampa at The River church where Rodney pastors. This time, however, I had the opportunity to actually meet with Rodney in person. We spent over an hour together in his office as I told him about our church and desire for a greater move of the Spirit of God. Rodney then told me that he would come to Sarnia. “We will do a Great Awakening. I will bring my whole team. We will come for a whole week of meetings and believe God for a great harvest of souls”, he told me. And so here we are. The time has come. Rodney Howard-Browne and the Great Awakening Team will be at Bethel Sarnia for a whole week of meetings (April 12th to 17th). I believe that these meetings have been scheduled by heaven for Bethel Church. Certainly we will have many guests from all over the area for this special week of meetings. I cannot think of a greater blessing that is ours than to be able to host this revival ministry and see people come to the Lord and have their lives and churches touched by the power of God. Let us make the most of this opportunity.

- Pastor Tim Gibb (right) with Rodney Howard-Browne

ARPIL 2015 Sun SUN

Mon MON

Tue TUE

Wed WED 1

Thu THUR 2

Fri FRI 3

6:00 PM Rescue 6:00 PM Prayer 7:00 PM Choir

5 Easter Sunday

10:30 AM Service Pastor Tim Gibb

7:00PM LIFE-Young Adults at Chris & Linda Guerette’s

10:30 AM Service Eric Gonyon

9:30 AM Mom’s Group 6:00 PM Rescue

7:00PM Bible Study at Dalton & Robyn Burke’s

6:00 PM Prayer 7:00 PM Choir

7:00 PM REVO

GREAT AWAKENING 10:00 AM Evangelism

10:00 AM Evangelism

7:00 PM Service Rodney Howard Browne

10:30 AM Service Pastor Tim Gibb

7:00 PM REVO

6:30 PM Bible Study & Hymn Sing-Prayer Room

6:30 PM Service Worship & Prayer

10:30 AM Good Friday Service Communion

Sat SAT

6:30 PM Bible Study & Hymn Sing-Prayer Room

9:30 AM Mom’s Group

7:00PM LIFE-Young Adults at Chris & Linda Guerette’s 7:00PM Bible Study at Dalton & Robyn Burke’s

6:30 PM Service Pastor Tim Gibb Ray Bradbury

6:00 PM ALPHA Introductory Dinner

6:30PM Cancer Prayer Support Group-Board

10:30 AM Service Pastor Tim Gibb

6:30 PM Service Pastor Tim Gibb

Room

6:00 PM Rescue 6:00 PM Prayer 7:00 PM Choir

7:00 PM REVO

6:30 PM Bible Study & Hymn Sing-Prayer Room

6:00 PM ALPHA

7:00PM LIFE-Young Adults at Chris & Linda Guerette’s

6:00 PM Rescue

7:00PM Bible Study at Dalton & Robyn Burke’s

7:00 PM Choir

OUR PASTORS PASTOR TIM GIBB

Lead Pastor Ext. 228 pastortim@bethelsarnia.com

PASTOR TRICIA GIBB

Student Ministries Pastor Ext. 223 tricia@bethelsarnia.com

PASTORS KEITH & PATRICIA PATRICK Pastoral Care Ext. 226 pastorkeith@bethelsarnia.com

6:00 PM Prayer 7:00 PM REVO

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