Good News - May 2019

This one is easy. We have been rebuilding Egbe Hospital (www.egbehospital.org ) in the bush in SW Nigeria. – This project is impossible without divine intervention. As prayers have been answered in God sending vol- unteers, missionaries and donors, we have installed a metal engraved plaque on each completed building, and we built a large cement cross in front of the hospital that will be there for generations to thank God for many miracles, the safety and the provisions we have witnessed in rebuilding a large hospital to be a “Beacon of Hope and Healing.” Don Campion , President, Banyan Air Service Our family still practices this tradition by placing rocks on an "altar" right by our front door. Every time we come home, we pass by handwritten messages over the last four decades that remind us -- God if faithful! Doug Sauder , Pastor, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale For me it would be a beach in Sebastian, Florida, where I accepted God into my life! Fred Scarbrough , DVM, Founder, Scarbrough Animal Hospital and HOPE South Florida The summer of 2014, Gail Stockamp invited me to join the join the Luis Palau National Women's Prayer Team (NWPT) to pray for an evangelistic & City/serve outreach the Luis PalauAssociation was planning for NY and the tri-state area. As I had helped facilitate the prayer initiative for Beachfest with Luis Palau in 2003, I told her I would pray about it. After visiting my daughter in Colorado that summer, on a hike to the top of a mountain, I felt led to pick up a stone and cried out to God for wisdom and prayed Psalm 2:8. I brought the stone back, with a sharpie pen wrote Ps. 2:8 on the rock. A year later I took it to NYC and had one of the workers bury it under the stage where Luis proclaimed the Good News. This historic cam- paign reached 180,000 people in person through more than 115 events, 1,700 churches coming together in unity, 1.2 million reached thru social media, culmi- nating in a Festival with Luis Palau in Central Park on July 11, 2015. That night, with my 4-year-old granddaughter on my lap on the Great Lawn, we celebrated the "great harvest moment" - 3,673 decisions for Christ- Truly, a "monument moment." "We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord." Psalm 78:4 Gita Santangelo , Community Prayer Partner In 1998, in Minneapolis, I was invited to join a mid-size law firm. A few years later, one of my law partners launched a National Christian Foundation affiliate which had offices right down the hall from my office. This was the beginning of a wonderful relationship with NCF that eventually brought me to Fort Lauderdale. JoAnne Larson Daudt , P.A. Many years ago as I was walking through a challenging season in my life. I decided to devote myself to doing a half marathon as a way of not sitting at home feeling sorry for myself. As I was training every day, there was this blue jay that would show up. It didn’t matter if I was on the same route or not, that bird was al- ways there. It was my constant reminder that God was near, not to worry. Now al- most 8 years later this bird, and I do realize it’s not the same bird, has shown up whenever I have been really concerned about something or I had a big decision to make. God would put this blue jay in my path each time. Most recently I came home one evening and, although I left the window of my inside patio open ever so slightly, there was a bird sitting in my patio - just looking right at me. This time it was a white dove. So, birds have a special deep connection to me, as a reminder, God is near and He’s got this! Linda Giambattista , Co-Founder, Executive Director, Taylor’s Closet My encounter with God has always been through the Word of God. It is through His Word that the Lord speaks to me. Before I knew the Lord, I was having coffee with a friend of mine. As we were finishing and getting ready to head out, he asked me to wait for him as he had something for me. He left and returned shortly thereafter with a wrapped gift - it was a NIV Bible. Up to that moment I had never owned a Bible. That said, for years it sat unopened even though there were times when I felt un urge to read it. And then one day, when it felt like my life was spinning out of control, I opened that Bible to Psalm 25 and began reading it. As I did, the Presence of the Lord was such that I fell to my knees and cried out to God. My life has never been the same since. This “stone” has truly become “a lamp to my feet and a light my path” (Psalm 119:105). My guiding scripture - “But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph (as trophies of Christ’s victory) and through us spreads and makes ev- ident the fragrance of God everywhere” (2 Corinthians 2:14 AMP). Oksana Horton , Artistic Director, Revelation Ministries I will build an altar of stones at my previous Atlanta address where our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus appeared to me in a vision in July, 1980. In that vision Christ Jesus reconfirmed my calling into the ministry when He worked on my tongue with an instrument in his hand and used his index finger to shoot an anoint- ing into my forehead and said, “ I want you.” O’Neal Dozier , Pastor, The Worldwide Christian Center I love the tradition of stacking stones representing an altar devoted to a place where God showed up in a big way in my life! A tradition I have practiced for at least the last 30 years.....and I can definitely remember VIVIDLY some times, places and events that prompted me to pile some stones and sticks together rep- resenting my ‘altar’ to thank God for His Faithfulness! The altar I remember the most is when I walked forward at New Covenant Church, in Pompano, 32 years ago and at that ALTAR God ALTERED my eternal destiny forever!! THANK YOU JESUS FOR SAVING MY SOUL!!!! Coach Rick Andreassen , Founder/President, SAINTS of Florida P.E. and SAINTS International Sports Ministry I have laid down so many stones in my life as memory markers that I could build a wall! However, the most memorable ones were for those life changing events in my life were I saw God’s hand and blessings. These include my marriage to Candace 41 years ago, the birth of our sons, Dwight and Cam, working with my Dad in the law firm his father founded in 1925 and now working with my son Wants to Know… JoAnne Larson Daudt Linda Giambattista Oksana Horton O’Neal Dozier Coach Rick Andreassen Dennis DeMarois Don Campion Doug Sauder Fred Scarbrough Gita Santangelo