Ben & Kelsi Patton | Overland Missions

So glad you're here this evening in for a special time, as Pastor Steph said on the front side if you missed it. But we've got some special friends in the house this evening. Just going to introduce them quickly and then turn it over to them. And then after they're finished, we're going to take a few moments to pray for our love life walk, which is this Saturday. But Ben and Kelsey Patton are here.

They are missionaries on the island nation of Zachary Zanzibar, part of Tanzania there in East Africa. Many of you will remember and or know ron and Carol McDonald. They are also serving in Tanzania, but served on the island of Zanzibar for 16 years. Ish Long time. And we've supported them ever since the refuge began.

And I have the privilege of interfacing with our missionaries and our international ministry partners around the world. Every single week, I talk with them. Matter of fact, I met with three people today. So Pastor Robert and Sandrina in Bosnia give their greetings to you. And Pastor Jean in Brazil sends his greetings to you guys.

But Ron and Carol served for, I think 16 years, if I have it correct, on the island nation of Zanzibar. We sowed into that. And then the Lord opened up a door for them to move to the mainland of Tanzania. And when they did, I remember vividly talking to Carol, tears in her eyes, just saying, man, we've sown for so long. We're just like God, who was gonna come and till the ground.

Like, we've worked, we've planted seeds for so long. Who's gonna come? And she said, you know, Nathan, I was praying. And as we left Zanzibar, we stopped at a little hotel and was saying goodbye to the owners that they knew. And she says, we ran into this group of students.

She called you students. Just so you know. So just receive it as a blessing group of young people. How about that? That were with overland missions and they were bringing a team to build a base there on the island of Zanzibar.

So she told me about that. I was like, that's awesome. A couple years later, I meet Ben. Ben comes and attends one of our services. He was connected through new life in Jacksonville.

And long story, we sat down together and we're talking and he's like, now who were they again? And I was explaining Ron and Carol. He says, wait a minute. We met them in a hotel in Zanzibar. And I'm like, oh, my goodness.

I like, Zanzibar is not a very big place, okay? And it's a long way away. From here. And to have one of the people that was in that group you send met as they were leaving the island, praying, God, who will you send to work this field? Ben, Kelsey, Their team were coming to the island.

They've been serving there for several years now. They're going to tell you about that. Would you guys welcome Ben and Kelsey as they come to share tonight from Overland missions in Zanzibar.

Hallelujah. Good to be here this evening. Thank you. Can we get a second microphone for her? Because we'll be kind of bouncing off each other.

Yeah. So I spoke here Wednesday night, like a year ago, and. But it was just me. And so you're in for a treat today. I got my wife with me, and she is better minister than I am.

First day I met her, we were in college, and she had just arrived at my school. I was there before her, and I saw her. I'm like, this is a beautiful girl. I want to get to know her a little bit. What I didn't know is there was already like three or four guys that had tried to ask her out.

And so she was already kind of a little like, okay, leave me alone. Give me some space. I just got here. So, I mean, on our way back from a class, I started talking with her, asking her, like, hey, so who are you? What are you planning to do in your life?

And she answered me, and she said, I'm going to be a single missionary to Muslims. I was like, okay, okay, I get it, I get it. I'll keep my distance. But she really is my better half and has been heart for missions forever. And the Lord ended up bringing us together.

And now we get to minister to Muslims not as single missionaries, which is a blessing. Amen. But thank you. That worship, just that time of worship really blessed me. It was amazing.

We could do that all night. And really, one of the most beautiful promises in the scripture, I think, is in John 15 for a minister, especially where it says, if you abide in me, you'll bear much fruit. And to us, like, everything comes from that place of worship. Everything that matters comes from that place of looking at the face of Jesus, saying, you're beautiful. Surrendering ourselves to him again and again, abiding in his presence.

And I think one of the most powerful, useful lessons that I learned, thankfully, before going to the mission field was how to drink, how to drink, how to stay, how to get in God's presence, no matter what's going on around you, no matter if state security is watching your house and threatening your visas no matter if there's pressures coming all around us. That refreshing of the spirit and getting to worship and just remember who he is and abide in his presence. Everything's there, everything we need. And yeah, so God's amazing. But today we're going to share just a bit of our story.

Some updates, some different testimonies and stories on the field. We got a short little video that we'll show in a little bit here. And it's going to be fun. So, yeah, so we've been in Zanzibar for almost six years. Since we moved there.

We moved there, we were alone. Now we. We have two daughters, a four year old and a two year old. And my wife is not fat. That is our third baby.

That is our third baby coming in June. So, yeah, we're heading back to Zanzibar in April. Just to clarify.

Heading back to Zanzibar, probably beginning of April. And then we'll have our first baby, our first African baby in June. So you can be praying for that. But God has really blessed us and our family. So if you don't know anything about Zanzibar, it is a small island chain off of the east coast of Africa.

So right off the coast of Kenya, Tanzania, that area, you can look it up later. But it's a tiny island chain and most people have never heard of it. We hadn't even heard of it until we got to Africa on a trip and then we started hearing about it. But most people have never heard of it in the west. But it has been one of the most significant locations as far as influence in the history of east Africa.

These tiny little islands have shaped the whole course of history. And part of how that happened is the Arab empire hundreds of years ago came down and they started building a trade center in Zanzibar trade port. And eventually they conquered it and conquered most of east Africa. And the sultan made Zanzibar his capital city. So it became the center of the Omani empire for something like 200 years.

And the Arabs there got extremely wealthy off of ivory trade, but mostly off of slave trade. And so Zanzibar became the biggest hub in the world for a while for slave trade here in the west. We hear about west African slave trade because that's what came here. But all of the slave trade to the east was basically through Zanzibar. And you can read history.

It was brutal. I mean, it was a common practice there to raid different villages throughout Zambia, Congo, and then marched them for months across Africa, half of them dying along the way, Throwing them to the Side for the lions to eat. It was common practice to buy an ivory tusk and then along with that, buy three to five slaves to carry it. And so many of these people were trafficked to the ports, Stuffed under into boats, and taken over to Zanzibar. And to this day, you can see the old slave trade centers and where the slaves would be beaten and held.

And so to be Zanzibari, all of africa, people have a tribal identity. They speak the tribal language, and then they speak, like, the trade language, English or french or swahili. Zanzibar, no one has a tribal language because their history is at some point, they were ripped out of a family somewhere. They've lost their tribal identity, and they only speak the trade language. But the arabs, that was not the only damage that they did.

Slavery was not the only damage. They also, through zanzibar, basically spread islamic all across east africa. And to this day, there's, I think, around 40 million Swahili speaking muslims through Zanzibar's influence. And so this has been a dark, dark nation that has shaped for the worse the history of east africa. But God is moving.

He has begun an amazing work and has opened, just flung open so many incredible doors for us just 30 years ago to walk along zanzibar with a bible, you'd get, like, spit on and beaten. At this point, the door is just open. We literally take mission strips from america to come sit down with muslims. And some of them haven't even shared the gospel before, but they're getting a chance to share with completely unreached people who have never heard the gospel. And we have this open door.

Overland missions became the first ever christian mission organization to get registered in the history of the universe in zanzibar to where we're there to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to raise up leaders. And God has done an amazing work. And really, I want to share one just insane testimony, because much of our path and much of our, you know, the word of God says that the path of righteousness is, you know, God plans our steps and plans what's happening ahead of us. But I wanted to share, like, this crazy thing that happened right as we were getting to zanzibar. So we had heard about it, we had never even been.

So we started fundraising and getting our support to be able to move over there. And during that process, we, One of our spiritual fathers, one of our teachers, he in a worship service, he gets a vision. And after service, he comes and he shares it with. He's like I saw in Zanzibar. I Saw this tower, this dark tower, and I saw just the Lord strike it down.

It fell, it crumbled. And in that place, there was a throne placed there. And then he said, I saw you guys and your team being put on that place as the new authority, spiritual authority for Zanzibar. I'm like, okay. I mean, we hadn't even gotten there yet.

I'm like, I received that. Great. Let's hallelujah. And so, you know, I kind of, like, didn't really think much about it. And then we ended up moving to Zanzibar.

We're getting settled in, learning language, figuring out, you know, how to reach these people with the gospel. And we were blown away by just how many people were wide open. Like some of these Muslims, on the first meeting, they would receive Jesus. And we were just blown away. Like, wow.

When we preach the gospel and boldness and with the power of the Holy Spirit, it's. It's bearing fruit. And later, that same spiritual father of ours and his wife, they came to visit us. And so we're taking him around, like, the old town, the area that the Arabs had built up. And we're walking around the old town area, and suddenly he stops us, and he says, look at that tower.

He's like, I saw that. That's the tower that I saw in my vision. And so we're looking at it. He's like, what is that? And I was like, oh, my goodness.

You won't believe this. That is. That is the sultan's palace. That is where these evil Arab kings that were conducting a slave trade. That was literally where he ruled from where he lived.

That was the king's palace. And he was like, that literally is what I saw in the vision. And he had never been to Zanzibar before or seen this thing. And so we're like, oh, my goodness, that's crazy. Like, wow.

This is more confirmation the Lord is really, really going to give us this nation. Well, it gets crazier than that. They go back to the States a few months later. It was shortly after Christmas, and we're going through this old town again, and we're looking around, and we're like, where's the tower? And literally, we're looking and it's gone.

And on Christmas day that same year that we moved there, the tower just crumbled and fell over.

It just crashed down. It's been there for, like, 200 years, and to this day, they still haven't rebuilt it. It's like, six years later, they still haven't rebuilt it. It's got like scaffolding around it. They're dragging their feet with it.

But literally what he saw in that vision, in the physical, like, just crumbled down and crashed down. And I'm like, wow, lord, you're up to something. Something's going to happen here. And really we believe that God's put us in Zanzibar in the heart of this darkness where slavery and Islam and witchcraft has spread all over East Africa from there. And God's put us there to see it reversed.

Because whatever rules and reigns in Zanzibar affects the surrounding nations. And so we believe that we're going to lift Jesus high there. He's going to become the ruler of that nation and he's going to. It's going to bring a revival that spreads back down those old slave trade routes to this day. Where the old slave trade routes were, there's.

There's just dozens of completely unreached Muslim tribes that speak Swahili that were affected through Zanzibar. And there's going to be a revival that sweeps through Zanzibar and reaches those people. And we're starting to see the first fruit of that when we move there. Our team was. We were like a small little band of six people, little team, figuring things out, you know, just open to what the Lord was going to do.

And, you know, later, two years ago, we became the team directors and the team just continued to grow throughout the years. At this point, right now, there's. Our team is 50 full time missionaries. So that's like 15 on the international western side. And we have a missions training center where we're raising up just dozens of national missionaries.

So we have 35, like national full time missionaries that every single day I'm like getting testimonies and texts that people are getting saved, people getting healed, people getting baptized, people getting filled with the holy spirit delivered from demons. And so we've reached this point now where. Amen.

So we're at this point where there's just. The momentum is building and what's happening is amazing. So, okay, yeah, I can. I'm on. Okay.

So you know how you can have like a dream in your heart that the Lord gives you, but you're like, is this just a dream? Like, is it actually going to happen or is it a dream? So when we landed in Zanzibar, we had never seen it until we literally land. We moved there. We're there for a year and a half before coming back to the states.

And when we land, it was just this incredible desire to see. See the islands totally transformed. And it's like, okay, well, we're two people. Our whole team is six people. Like, is this actually, you know, realistic?

And there's these. There's these thoughts and all of that. But for years, like, every single week, we're on our face before the Lord as a team, just like, God, give us this nation. Give us this nation. Give us this nation.

And not because we're qualified or anything like that. It's just having the audacity to be like, okay, Lord. No one else is, like, standing in the gap for this place at this time. We're here, like, give us the nation. And so for.

We've been there about six years. So for about five and a half years, we're just praying every single week, like, okay, Lord, like, we believe you're going to give us this place. We're trying to believe, you know, like, help my unbelief. And then finally last year about. It was in June, so maybe like, eight months ago.

We are at revival services in Zambia and just on our face before the Lord. It had been a really challenging season prior to that. And we're just, like, literally on the floor in the dust. And Zambia, like, okay, God, we need something from you. Like, we just need to be wrecked again with your fire.

We need to know, is, is this going to happen? And he began to speak to both of us, and it was so interesting. It was the same night individually, Ben and me. And we heard from the Lord individually, and he basically said, you have three options in Zanzibar. The first option is that revival will sweep the nation.

It will be utterly transformed. It will be a sending nation that will reach all of East Africa. And we're like, oh, Lord, we like that option. And he's like, the second option is that, you know, you could lose your visa and get kicked out. The third option is that you could die trying, sow your life into the ground.

But there'll be a harvest of people that come up because of that. Just the way that Jesus, you know, he sowed his life into the ground, and all of us exist because of that. And he told us those are the three options. And so we're laying there, you know, in this encounter with the Lord, like, okay, what does that actually mean? And basically what it did was take away this other option of, like, just giving up, or this other option of, like, lowering the vision and, like, being like, okay, well, we've put in our work.

We've done the best we can. It'll be on to the next people he's like, no, it's actually totally feasible. Like, when people are totally surrendered and totally radical and just like, lord, I want you to transform this place through me. Like, a lot of times I believe God is just looking for volunteers to just be like, I'll do it. Like, I'll do it.

And then he just, like, comes with this fire. And so he showed us that when I say through us, I'm referring to our whole team. 50 people and growing. Not been in myself, but like, through our whole team. Like, we believe that we're going to see revival come through Zanzibar.

It may lead to us losing our visas. It may lead to people laying down their lives for the gospel. But if that happens, it's going to be so worth it. And, you know, he doesn't actually need us. He needs just this willingness.

And, like, if we or people in our team end up laying down their lives for the gospel, there's gonna be such a harvest that comes from that. And so I shared that story to say that this has been, like, the dream in our heart, that for years, we're like, lord, give us Zanzibar. Give us Zanzibar. Give us Zanzibar. And finally, like, eight months ago, he's like, no, Zanzibar is like, it's happening.

It's coming into the kingdom. It will be ascending nation, and it's happening soon. It's not something that's like, oh, maybe 200, 300 years from now. It's like, no, like, we're on the way. And in light of that, I just want to highlight some stories, a couple of quick stories from our team.

I always make bullet points because if I don't, I will just, like, go down all of these rabbit trails. And Ben is like, Kelsey, like, Kelsey. So anyways, we have. One of our teams is in the north of Zanzibar, and they are going to some of the most difficult, challenging people to reach. It's people, prostitutes, drug addicts, people coming out of prison.

Most of these people are Muslim, bad Muslims, if you know what I mean. Like, they don't actually follow the Quran, but they're just destitute, washed up, like, rejected by everyone. And this team, they've planted themselves in Zanzibar in the north, and they just go into, like, the most scary places and are like, we're just gonna reach people out and bring them into the kingdom of God. And when they first. When they first started, they went to a parking lot, and it's like, really sketchy parking lot.

Like, women just line up at the parking lot at night, kind of like behind cars, against walls. And men, like, know this parking lot, and they'll just come and they'll, like, drive around, shining their flashlights around and like, pick a woman and be like, get in the car with me. And that's like how the prostitution works in this place. And so this team, they go and they do the same thing. And they buy a woman and they bring her back.

Or. Well, she actually brings them to, like, the room that she works in, and they. And as soon as they get in there, they're like, hey, we're not here for the reason you think we're here for. We're here to share Jesus, and we wanted to honor your time. So we're paying you for it, but we're going to share about Jesus with you.

And so they share the gospel with her. They pray for her. It's two guys and a woman that are sharing with her, and she gets radically touched by Jesus. I mean. Sobbing.

The fire of God hits her in this room where she's, you know, she's selling herself over and over and over again every night. And a good salary for these Prostitutes is like $5 an entire night of work. Like, it's awful. And so she gets hit by the fire of God. That was the last night she ever went back to that parking lot.

And she. Yeah, her name is Margaret. And this woman that was like, probably, what, four years ago, we're gonna say we're gonna go with four years ago, three years ago, somewhere in that range. And since then, I mean, she's been water baptized, baptized in the Holy Spirit. She's gone through a training center that this team in the north has for these people coming out of this lifestyle.

And she is one of our most fiery evangelists. Like, she has, you know, when you're touched by the Lord and you have that personal encounter with him, it's like. Like you have to tell people about it. And she goes into bars, she goes into these parking lots, she goes into these places, and she's like, this is what the Lord did for me. Like, he's going to do it for you.

And she'll have everyone in a bar surrendering their lives. I mean, she's had, like, everyone, like, I want that, I want that. And she just leads them in, like a mass prayer. And then, you know, and then they, like, groups are started out of that, like, house churches are started out of this. The life of one prostitute who was touched by the fire of God and gave her life to Jesus.

Another person Who's a radical evangelist with this group in the north. His name is Kibela. He was totally addicted to drugs. Our team found him passed out, like, on the side of the road, like, literally passed out down. And the Lord was just like, minister to him.

Minister to him. So they just kneel down right beside of him, wake him up and share Jesus with them. Well, he was so hungry. And he receives. And I can't go into all the details because it's just such a great story, but long story short, he is one of our fiery evangelists as well.

Ex Muslim, ex addict. Going to all of these places saying, hey, I used to be oppressed by demons. I used to be a drunkard. I used to be so addicted to drugs that I was just overdosing and ending up on the side of the street, homeless, all of this stuff. And the Lord saved me and set me free.

And so the people that are coming up in Zanzibar, they're so hungry, many of them, it's not that they are hard hearted. They just haven't heard. They literally haven't been given an opportunity. And when people go, they're just like, sign me up. Like, I want this.

I want this Jesus. Another story I want to share is we have a teammate named Roderick. He's actually from High Point, just right, right down the road here. Yeah. So he's a neighbor and he.

So we've been ministering for several years in Zanzibar at this point. And he hears from the Lord, like, what you're doing on the ground isn't enough. Like, I need you in the airwaves also. And he's like, okay, Lord. And so he begins to look into going on the radio, which, I mean, radio is incredible in America.

In Zanzibar, it's even a different level because not a lot of people have smartphones. Like, people are always turning on the radio and listening. So he just goes after it. And it's not easy being a believer trying to get on a radio in a 98% Muslim nation. But he finds the largest radio station, ends up buying a slot, and every single week for an hour, he'll get on that radio and he'll preach Jesus.

He'll share about how Jesus heals, Jesus saves, Jesus delivers. And the testimonies that have come from that. I said it's the largest. It reaches several million people across the Anzabar and the eastern coast of Africa. So it's.

It's pretty big for Africa. And when he's preaching on this radio the last 15 minutes, he will, like, be accepting calls and people will call in. And I mean, every single week, it'll be like, hey, how you were preaching? My child fell down manifesting a demon and got fully set free. And so I want to believe in Jesus, like, tell me how to receive Jesus.

And then on the radio, he'll just, like, walk people through receiving Jesus. And every single week, there's testimonies like this. Well, the radio show host, who was a very strong Muslim man, after months of sitting there, you can't hear that and not be touched. You know, you can't be, like, receiving all of these calls every single week of, like, Jesus touched healings. A child was delivered.

Like, I got healed in my body. Like, people calling in with healings all the time. Like, oh, my, I was just healed of back pain. I was just healed of a stomach tumor. Like, all of this stuff.

And so this radio host, after several months, is like, roderick, I need you to come to my house. Roderick goes to his house. He wants to get saved. He prays with them, leads them to Jesus. His entire family is hearing from Roderick these days.

Several people have received Jesus. Several people are in progress, and we're going to see them get saved. But Roderick is going to their house and he's discipling them and he's ministering to them. And this. And I mean, these are just the seeds that have been sown, that have borne fruit that we've heard about.

Like, I don't even know how many people are hearing this in the seeds getting into their heart. And later on, we're going to hear the fruit of, like, hey, I heard this on the radio, or we'll never hear it until we get to heaven. And then Roderick's going to have all of these people coming up to him, like, hey, I heard you on the radio, and I gave my life to Jesus. And so, I mean, these are just some very, very small stories, but these are the type of things that the Lord is doing in Zanzibar, and people are just. They're so hungry for him.

Yeah. And one of the big focuses that we have right now is we have a missions training school where we are training up national missionaries, finding people that have a hunger and desire and passion for Jesus, but don't really have the training yet. Take them through this program. And many of them have now joined our team full time and are out there literally giving their lives for the kingdom. Every year we're running one of these trainings and sending out people.

And just one of these guys, I met him his name is Binuel. I met him when he was 18 at a church service and got to know him a bit. And a few months later I got a call from that pastor and I heard that the church got burned down. So some of the radical Muslims in the area just like set fire to it one night. It was in a very unreached area that we were working in.

And so I was invited there and I was preaching there the next Sunday. And the Lord gave me just a strong word about forgiveness and praying for those who persecute you and just loving them. And literally I'm preaching in this church with like two of the walls kind of completely gone because they got burned down. And just, I was like, is this going to fall over on me? But it was a powerful service and we just like were in prayer for these, these, these Muslims that had done this.

And later I, this guy, this 18 year old Binuel, he tells me a story that he was, he was actually one of the people who was helping to watch the church and was staying at the church because he didn't really have a better place to stay. And during this fire, he had just gone to like charge his phone somewhere and missed the fire and all of his stuff got burned down and he was full of, he was telling me how full he was of rage and he just wanted to go after these people. He's like, I'm young, I'm strong, I'm gonna go just beat them. And I don't know, he's like basically cursing them for what they had done. And he was touched in that service just radically.

And he was like, ben, I realize I need to forgive them and I want to reach them. I want to go preach Jesus to them. And this is one of the guys that then came to our first missions training and went through it. And you know, at 19, he launched back to that same area as a full time minister. And you know, every, every week he's seeing amazing fruit happening there.

One of the craziest stories he shared with us one day, the, the Lord, he saw this woman sitting there and the Lord told him, go up to her and just like stare her in the eyes. And we teach that one of our pillars of ministry is be led by the spirit. Sounds so crazy, like very inappropriate. And so he's like, okay. So he went up and he just liked, appropriate.

And so he's like, okay. So he went up and he just like stared at her. Well, she just instantly started manifesting a demon and fell over and then, you know, did deliverance. On her, cast the demon out of her and prayed with her. She received Jesus and this young guy.

Just seeing radical stuff happen. Well, this last year, in 2024, we were having an outreach in a very difficult village, and they had an incident with a witch doctor who was saying that he wanted to be delivered, but was actually trying to kind of set a trap for them and ended up causing a mob to form. They attacked the vehicles of our team. Many of them got out, but Binua was one of the people that got grabbed in the crowd and beaten with rocks. And eventually, basically, we couldn't find him.

I got a call. I was, like, an hour away. So we're just coming in. We found everybody, and it's like, where's Binuel? Where is he?

He's gone, like. And till late that night, we were just, like, praying, like, where is he? What happened to him? You know, we had. When these moms form, it can be very, very nasty.

And thankfully, like, later that night, he just. He comes, like, basically limping up, and we find him, and he had. He had been just beaten severely, and they were going to kill him. The Lord. Toward the end, the Lord turned one of the people that was beating him's heart and said, no, no, no, let's leave him alone.

Let's, you know, let's let him go, and basically started advocating for him. He got out of there, and he literally was like. We were like, oh, my goodness, so glad he's alive. Like, the next day, we were going back there and really just like, lord, how do we encourage these people? Like, how do we.

This was just a tough time that with that whole team in that area. We don't want them to end up in fear. We want to be there for them. They had no fear. We got there the next morning, they were like, yeah, this is just part of the gospel.

This is. The Lord is opening a radical door. They're like, we've seen more salvations on this trip than ever before, and that's why it's happening. We're not going to stop. And I look at Bino, and I'm like, how are you?

And he's like, I woke up, and I had basically no pain. I have, like, one little cut here left, and my throat hurts a little bit because someone had, like, stomped on his throat. But he's like, basically, all my pain is gone. The Lord healed me. This morning, that very morning, he had gone back to that village.

He had gone back to that village, shared the gospel with some people, and he said, I'm not going to be, I don't want to be afraid to go back there. So I went back there this very morning. And these are the kinds of people that are shaking the nation that the Lord has brought around us and that we've been able to equip and fund them and help them just step into the calling of God on their lives. And one amazing thing that happened this past year is some of the local missionaries that we graduated like three years ago, they ran their first missions training. And so I just helped basically fund it and coach them through it.

But they just ran a whole mission to training, are multiplying themselves now. They trained up 10 evangelists. They wanted to go. Basically the call to the missions training was come if you're ready to die for the gospel. If you feel a calling on your life and if you are available and you don't have things tying you down, come to this training.

And so some radical people showed up and they went through the training. At the end of it, most of the trainings that come through, if we like the people and, and we feel like there's a call in their lives, we'll help fund them and launch them into ministry. We had already scraped the bottle, the bottom of the barrel for everything. And we're like, okay guys, we can't fund you. But still, five out of 10, we're like, we're just going to go.

And we encouraged them out of, you know, when Jesus sent out the disciples, two by two, he said, don't take a money bag, don't take extra clothes, just go. And they did it. And literally to this day, this is four months later, five of them are still out there. You know, eight of them launched at this point, five of them remain that are still out there, have been received by some people of peace. No salary, no anything.

They're just preaching the gospel. And I just got news not long ago that somehow two of them, these two women actually, somehow they ended up getting onto, there's this tiny island called Timbatu. It has like 25,000 people on it. Completely unreached, completely unreached. And it's a very tough area.

Somehow they ended up getting on that island and leading like six people to the Lord in this very, very closed off area. And so the Lord is just doing an amazing thing. There's like people lining up outside our training, just wanting to come, wanting to be equipped. The Lord's building an army, raising an army there that's going to transform this nation and other nations. And last year the Lord opened a Door for us to do our first training with westerners.

So we had a group of americans come. If you guys know Jeremy, he just went through AMT. So we hosted an AMT in Zanzibar. Graduated 12 Western missionaries that are now going to Senegal, Jordan, Zanzibar, all over the world, and grounds for the kingdom and training grounds for the kingdom. And we're just so blessed to be a part of it.

Yeah. And we have a little video, it's, like, two minutes long that we would love for you guys to see. So I think we'll go ahead and roll that if it's in there. And you'll see this is just our team highlight video. So you'll get to see.

You know, words say a lot more than. Or what is it? Pictures say a thousand words, so you can see just people, what the people look like that are getting impacted. And a lot of our team here. Yeah, can we roll?

Zanzibar, despite being a small group of islands that most of the world has never heard of, has long shaped history throughout east Africa. It was the birthplace of the swahili language, the gateway for islam to enter east Africa, the most significant hub for slave trade. For over a century, it seems whatever is birthed in Zanzibar spreads like wildfire to the surrounding nations. And though for centuries it has been a center for darkness, phosphorylation, religion, witchcraft, slavery, and drugs, now God is turning things around. Revival is stirring in this nation.

An army is rising up. God has placed our team here for such a time as this to see what was once the center of darkness become a light to the nations and hub for revival and missions ending.

Sat glimpse into our everyday lives, what we see there.

So something big that the lord asked us to do this year, which was a first for us, was do open revival services, which we do revival services three or four times a year within our team. But in 2024, he said, okay, I want you to open it up and just invite people. And so we rented out this event space, and it was totally of the lord, you guys. Like, it was on the main road leading into zanzibar city, the same road where all of the major government offices are, where the president lives, the vice president lives Facing one of the most, like, our windows in this event space. We're facing one of the most significant mosques in zanzibar, and the lord totally lined it up.

So for two days, we're worshiping and we're praying, and we're lifting up the name of the lord and interceding. And just like lord we are going to see revival come in this place. And it was very much a face off in the spirit too. Like just coming face to face with the powers of darkness. And like, no, we're putting our stake in the ground.

Jesus is king here. There's no other king, there's no other ruler except King Jesus. And I mean, it was. It was wild. So much fun.

And the Lord had told us previously that this revival week was going to be an unveiling in the spirit. Where we had been under this divine protection and this divine covering for several years. This was being removed because if we want to have the type of influence that he wanted us to have, that he wants us to have, we have to be unveiled. And this revival week was a very significant thing toward that. And sure enough, we began to see just so many manifestations of that unveiling happening during this revival week.

So much pushback, first of all. And it was, it was really funny. But there was this one Muslim guy who came and is just like walking around our event space, like inside with us in circles, doing witchcraft against us. Like the whole time, like, he's just like walking around the perimeter and you know, we. And doing witchcraft.

And we just came keep different people trying to go up to him, trying to minister to him, and he's having none of it, but he just keeps doing his witchcraft. And we're like, well, this is the best place for him to be. I mean, he's in the presence of the Lord here. We had the village leader show up and we had gotten all the correct permits to do this. But a village leader shows up, tries to shut us down.

We get fined illegally, but what can you do? You know, we paid for it and kept going. They eventually turn out the electricity on us where we're just in the dark room because it's at nighttime at this point, like, Ben is preaching and he's just having to like yell because the mic was down and it was a big space. And so there's like all of this different opposition. We're on the third story and on the very bottom story, which was also an event space.

There was a Muslim wedding going on. Well, people are coming up and trying to stop us over and over again because we're worshiping. And they're like, your worship is making everyone manifest demonstration and on the floor. And I had like, I had. I heard this like after the fact, but during.

I had gone down to grab something from the car and I like walk by this wedding and everyone is like rolling around and screaming and I was like, what is going on in there? Sure enough, they, like, come upstairs and try to stop us because they're like, you're ruining our wedding. Like, everyone's manifesting demons. Something you need to understand, like, worship is so powerful. You think it's just you and God.

And it's amazing if it was just. Even if it was just you and God and you know, you're experiencing from him, you're receiving from him, he's transforming you. He's filling you up, he's being lifted up. But when you're worshiping and just looking at him, warfare is happening. Like, angels are moving.

Heaven's coming. And that was literally happening because Muslim weddings there are very tied with witchcraft. Like, they're burning incense, doing all sorts of, like, rituals around it. It's a very, like, demonic activity. And they.

So many areas that we're in. One of the biggest pushbacks that people have. They don't mind if you get together and. Or they don't mind if you do, you know, little Bible studies or if you do, like, you know, kind of talking about the Lord or even, like, quiet prayer. But when you start worshiping, when you start praising and lifting up the name of Jesus and saying that he's king, he's Lord, everyone comes out of the woodwork, suddenly mobs start forming.

Suddenly we're getting kicked out of buildings. It's like, that is the thing. And I've talked to so many, like, a number of ex witch doctors or current witch doctors that talk about how it disrupts. They can't even operate. They can't even do the things that they normally do.

And this is something that's so fun for us to share because we saw just this direct correlation right there. But when we. When you guys are gathering and worshiping, like, you can be smiling because some demons getting its butt kicked somewhere, and it's moving heaven and earth, and God's just done such a beautiful thing there, where we delight in him and he fights our battles and things happen. Yeah. And so worship is so powerful.

So powerful. And then so the day after this, revival weekends, Ben, like, through the most divine series of events, ends up getting connected with two members of parliament high up in the government in Zanzibar in Tanzania, mainland Tanzania as well, which is really big. And these members of parliament have so, so much favor on our team and have promised to help push forward paperwork, visas that we've been working toward for six years, building permits, things like that. So it was just. It's been so beautiful to see the Fruit of like, the Lord's like, I'm going to unveil your team.

Pushback, opposition is happening. All this stuff. We're getting favor with the government now. Favor on the one side. On the other side.

Right after the revival week, we also went under investigation by state security. He referenced it before. And for six weeks, they're like, so spying on our team, grabbing one of our teammates. Dark car into an alleyway. Like, totally.

Like a movie. Interrogate. Interrogates him. So our team is also. We are unveiled, we're being observed.

But favor is also happening and what we believed for. For years. And just like, Lord, we're gonna see revival happen. Like, we wanna see it here. It's like it feels like at this point, we're not like believing that it will happen.

We feel like it started. It's like it's trickles. It's like the trickles of. Of it beginning. And I mean, so much fruit has happened.

Like, we had to come to the States for our stateside assignment about in December right after the September revival week. And we're like, lord, we're so excited for what you're doing, but don't let too much happen before we get back because we don't want to miss out. And I'm kidding. Because if the whole island gets transformed while we're gone, of course that's amazing. But like, revival's happening and we're excited.

Yeah. Amen. I think our time is just about up. But yeah, if we can just leave you guys with that encouragement. I mean, the nations are coming to the Lord.

There's increase just happening around the globe. The kingdom is advancing and. Amen. And just one more thing. Just, you know, scripture says that about the kingdom of God, that the violent take it by force.

There's no. There's no sitting around. And it just, you know, like, lukewarm doesn't get you anything. Our. Our heart here is.

You know, we love sharing the testimonies too, but our heart also is to stir people to just hunger and go after him and give him everything. You know, 95%, 98% doesn't cut it with the Lord. He's an all or nothing God. Hot or cold, everything in. Or you may as well be nothing.

You can see that again and again in scripture where someone just partially disobeyed. Someone just compromised a little bit. And the Lord was like, I'm sorry, I can't bring what I want to bring to the world through you and Lord. Guys, it's like, I don't even Know if this world has seen since Jesus, what can happen through one person who goes fully, 100% yielded, surrendered, who just says, doesn't matter what position they are, age, you know where, but they're just like, I am not stopping. I'm not letting go of you until your kingdom comes.

I'm not letting go until you break through. I'm not letting go until. Until revival hits or whatever it is you're going after. And, guys, I just want to stir your hearts toward tenacity. And that is one of the things that the Lord has been teaching our team.

It's like, we think we're radical, and then we realize, like, oh, man, we're not even. We're not even. Not even close to where we need to be. Like, we just need so much more fire and the Lord again and again. You know, I thought surrendering to the Lord is like, once you do it and then maybe rededicate a couple times, surrender to the Lord.

Is this daily like, lord, oh, man, I'm starting to pick up again. I'm starting to trust myself again. Have everything. Have everything. Have everything.

You are king. You are Lord. And I just know, like, God's going to do insane, wild things through your life if you do that. If you're just like, you know what Paul says, presenting your body, a living sacrifice, getting up on the altar and saying, here's my body, every single part of me, every member of my body, all of me. I exist for one purpose, for one mission, and that's your kingdom, that's you.

Is to see you, to know you, to abide in you, and to bear much fruit in this world. And so, yeah, I want to bless you guys with that encouragement. And can we throw up that picture really, really quick?

Hey, so there's our beautiful daughters and. But there's also my email address and my phone number. If you want to join our newsletter, get updates, be praying for us and be a part of it, please, right now, just really quick, you know, you can snap a picture of it or grab. Type that in. Just shoot me an email.

Shoot me a text. If you send a text, send your email address. Also, we'll add you to our newsletter list so that you can be a part of the journey, a part of praying. And we're just so grateful for the refuge and for you guys standing with us and supporting and God bless you guys.