Celebration for the Nations 2007

Looking back...

'Gather the people together and I will give them water'
We did gather together, and the Lord fulfilled his promise and met with us! Some nights there were up to 1300 people in the tent. You will see some testimonies on the website of people deeply touched and changed, and challenged for the future. Hundreds came forward to say to the Lord that they would go where ever He sent them, whenever, no mater what. More than 40 signed up to take bibles into a very challenging Middle Eastern nation with a Korean mission group. Many others committed themselves to short term mission teams. Whatever the Lord spoke to you during that time, receive and act in faith. Let's take a lesson from Abraham:

'You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and hisfaith was made complete by what he did' (James 2:22).

I want to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to so many hidden volunteers who served so faithfully. You did it for the Lord and we all were blessed!

'She has done a beautiful thing to me
'This Celebration was not for us, but for the Lord. He called us together to celebrate Him, His victory, His love, His being. We poured out our worship extravagantly and gladly. Many sacrificed much to come, spending money that others may well say was wasted. However the Lord has accepted the alabaster jar of perfume from us. Halleluyah! How wonderful to be able to thrill his heart!

'Spring up O well!'
We spent a week singing to the wells, and saw the waters begin to spring up. There was not a dramatic breakout of the glory of God, as many of us perhaps had hoped for, but instead a gentle birthing of a new day. We saw in practice, that as we lifted Jesus up, he drew people to himself. Welsh people, many of them young men, were drawn to the tent night after night as a result of the afternoon worship on the streets. Some of these made decisions to follow Jesus, and were lead in prayers of repentance. Some of them are now attending local churches. I believe that we have changed something by our obedience, and as we continue to worship Jesus, more will be drawn.

People in the nearby village of Pwll had only good to say about the Celebration. Many of them visited the tent during the week, and others enjoyed the singing as they walked by or listened from their gardens. As
we were taking the tents down, there were many expressions of sadness, and a hope that we would be there again next year!

Local Christians were challenged by the vibrancy and enthusiasm of the hundreds of young people that came, particularly the Koreans. You have left an indelible mark on us, Korea. We cannot go back into comfortable patterns of the past, but must now push forward to see breakout in our community and to the ends of the earth!

Signs
I believe that there were signs to encourage us, some very simple; a lighted candle from the ongoing revival in Mizoram, some more amazing; the cross of cloud over Stradey Woods on Tuesday evening. One of our
intercessors had seen it in the Spirit that morning just before the electrics blew. She had been battling for months with the witchcraft in the area. Stradey Woods was the centre of it. Someone told me that, after that, witches came to the tent to disrupt the meetings. They couldn't, but stayed instead for the whole time!

Abundance
Financially, everything was covered. It was so amazing! More than £70 000. We went into the week still needing at least £22 000. The first night's offering was around £2000, which was great, but in my human
thinking, knowing that it would be mainly the same people in the tent, night after night, I wondered how the Lord would provide what was needed. The next night the offering went up to nearly £4000, and remained that high the rest of the week. By Thursday we had been given a $10 000 gift that would cover all the remaining costs, but the offerings still poured in. The final offering on Friday was nearly £5000. As Gareth said, 'abundance' was written over the tent. Steve is on a well earned holiday at the moment, but when he returns he will finish all the accounts, and we will know what we have over. We will publish everything on the website for you to see.

Looking forward...

In Korea
An on-line chat room for Korean people who attended the Celebration has been started. I have heard that many people are logging in. There are some things in particular that they are speaking about. The first is that the Celebration has stirred in them a hunger to know more of the anointing of the Lord. The second is a heart for the nations, some particularly have a vision for the UK. There are 5-6 groups who are regularly meeting to worship and pray as a result of these chat rooms.

In Wales
Many Wales based people who have been praying and preparing for the Celebration want to continue to meet. There is a sense that something has begun, and we need to keep singing, worshipping and believing for further breakout! We need to understand what shape and direction those meetings should take. We will continue to worship in the town centre, probably on Saturday mornings.

If you are reading this and are from the Llanelli area, please keep your eyes open for an email about a Celebration meeting, probably early September. Thanks! Also you may like to get along to the 'Latter Rain
Revival Conference' organised by El aine Price on August 29^th 7pm and August 30^th 3.30pm and 7pm at Trinity College Carmarthen, Halliwell Centre, Cothi Suite.

In Mizoram
Pastor Biaksiama writes 'Only yesterday, the 17th August 2007 that I reached home, Mizoram, India to find everything OK. The Celebration was one of the items of local news here in Mizoram as it was put out in the local newspapers and lots of people are still praying for the outbreak of another spell of revival in Wales. As I spelled out during our time in the Celebration, I firmly believe that God will surely send the sought for revival as it is His precious promise to His people. The team from Mizoram are especially thankful for the fresh anointing that we received. More will be coming.'

In London
The Korean Youth Church in London, led by Hoon Jong Lee were strongly represented at the Celebration. Since then they have started to take worship out into Trafalgar Square and near the London Eye. As a dozen or so of them have worshipped, as many again have joined them, and they have been able to pray with people.

Hoon Jung visited Llanelli this week and confirmed something I have been praying about. They are planning to take a few chairs out with them when they worship, and have some kind of invitation for people to receive
prayer, particularly for healing. As I prayed about what we should do in Llanelli, I had felt exactly the same thing! They have seen some remarkable healings in their meetings since the Celebration, and now want to take this onto the streets.

And...
People who have been part of the Celebration from different areas have expressed a desire to meet up with others in their area and continue to worship and pray together. We will try and provide a facility on the website to allow that to happen.

Jason Heilman and his team from Texas, USA have spoken about coming back again to help with a Welsh youth event.

There has been talk of a Celebration in London, and possibly something in Korea. Again we need to understand the Lord's mind and commissioning about this.

A compilation DVD of the Celebration is being prepared in Korea. It will not be ready until some time in September. It will cost £7 (£5 plus £2 post and packaging). If you want to place your order you can send your cheques to Celebration for the Nations, International Centre, Glanmor Rd, Llanelli,SA15 2LU. Remember to give us your address! You can also pay on line on the website. The cost will then be £7.50 to cover paypal charges.

Let's not grow weary in our worship and adoration of the Lord!

'Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom' (Luke 12:32).

Keep singing, the wells are springing up!

Much love to you all in Jesus,

Gail