Yesterday at REUNION we had a Milestone Day. There was a confluence of events — lots of things happening at once — and we decided to just make it a day of celebration.
It was beyond wonderful.
We began with a time of worship; that is a huge priority for us. One of my favorite songs was included in that worship set… “There is a Redeemer” by Keith Green. The story behind that hymn/song is that Keith was Jewish and came to faith in Christ during the ‘Jesus Movement.’ He was a passionate follower of Jesus but struggled at first to reconcile his Jewish roots (Hear. O Israel the Lord thy God is ONE God) with the concept of the Trinity so essential to Christian theology. He wrote There is a Redeemer as a way to sort out his new understanding of the three-in-one Godhead. The lyrics are powerful, worshipful and a simple theological statement.
During that song one of our Pastors, Nancy Kelly-Hauhio came forward with a praise report. In November of last year she had received a pretty devastating diagnosis of cancer with a not promising prognosis. She had wondered whether that Christmas might be the last with her family. On Friday she took a call from her physician informing her that there is now no trace of the cancer at all. It is as if that cancer never existed. She knows the moment the healing began (or took place) when Pastor Arlene and her daughter Christianne Kawamata prayed for her.
As you can imagine, the rest of that worship time was a great celebration of God’s faithfulness.
Another of our pastors, Christian Brown and his wife Stephanie presented their second son, Elliott James Marshall Pomaika‘i Brown to be dedicated to the Lord.
21-year-old Josue G. Gonzalez became the latest minister Ordained by the Church of God of Prophecy in Hawaii, receiving his ministry credentials and being affirmed by the laying on of hands by the elders of the church and his family.
Seven new covenant members were received with great joy by the church: Brendon Yamada, Christine Ishiki, Edward Stickel, Marisha Stickel, Joyce Juang, Samuel Garner & Eric Oliver.
We adjourned and reassembled at Kailua Beach Park on an absolutely perfect day to Baptize in Water seven people who chose to make a public profession of their faith in Christ: Vladi Hidrovo, Nico Rios, Jason Rios, Darcie Collier, Eric Oliver, Ruthy Contreras and Denise Hidrovo.
The house was packed Sunday — ran out of bulletins and had to put out extra chairs to accommodate the crowd — and there was a huge turnout at the beach to cheer, clap and rejoice with those being baptized.
All in all, a really great day in every way. To GOD be all the glory.