Like why are you showing up in our building like
this and how do we steward that like what's my?
How then shall we live? What's our response to
this? And I was praying that morning and the
Lord just said, Sean, that's my healing anointing
and I want you to begin to pray for people for
healing. And so that morning I walked down the
stairs, I got the food going on the stove and
at 11 o 'clock I opened up the front doors and
that day changed everything. And as we began
to pray for people, people began to get healed.
And I'm talking everything, everything from arthritis
to diabetes to... You name it. Broken bones.
People, you know, remember a woman, she had no
voice. I have it on video. I'm praying for her
and her voice comes back. She doesn't even realize
it. Then suddenly she realizes her eyes get real
big. But there was one story in particular that
I love to tell and it absolutely changed my life.
Hey there, welcome to the God's Goodness podcast.
We are your hosts, Josh and Shelly Hankins, and
we're here to share real stories of God's power,
stories of hope, healing, and miracles that will
strengthen your faith. No matter what you're
walking through, we want to remind you that God
is good and he's still moving today. Let's dive
in. There are some conversations that don't just
inspire you, they realign you. Today's guest
is one of those voices. Sean Malone is the founder
and president of Crisis Response International,
a global movement of trained responders who bring
light into the darkest corners of disaster and
war. From the rubble of earthquakes to the front
lines of conflict, Sean has carried the hope
of Jesus where few dare to go. He has mobilized
thousands to not only meet urgent physical needs,
but to release the kingdom of God in the midst
of chaos. This is not theory, it's tested faith.
It's obedience in action. It's what it looks
like when someone says yes to God, no matter
the cost. Sean was a personal referral from our
dear friend and past guest, Carmel L. Mooney,
and we are deeply honored to welcome him to the
God's Guinness podcast. Before we begin, we've
asked Sean to open this episode in prayer. So
Father, in the name of Jesus. We just say we
love you and we thank you and we're just honored
to just walk with you and to hear you, to see
you, to move with you. And we just thank you
that you live inside of us. I just pray for this
time and the listeners right now, God, that you
would stir something great in their hearts, stir
up. their personal identity, Lord, God, where
they belong and purpose, Lord, right where they
are today. Holy Spirit, we thank you. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that.
So, Sean, for those who aren't familiar yet with
Crisis Response International, can you paint
a picture of what this ministry actually does
and just how far it's reached? Absolutely, and
it's a great honor to be with you guys today.
Thank you so much for having me on. So we started
CRY, we affectionately call it CRY, even though
the acronym isn't quite right, C -R -I. But we're
basically a global family. We train and mobilize
everyday heroes to help people after crisis shakes
their world. We've been doing this full time
since 2007. The history of it goes back a little
bit further, but basically what we do and...
You know, maybe you felt this way. You've seen
it on the television or maybe it came up in your
newsfeed or you saw it on your phone. You see
some devastating crisis like an earthquake or
a war broke out or a hurricane hit or an earthquake
and you just have that feeling inside of you.
I wish I could do something. I wish I could go.
I wish I knew how to help and we answer that
question and so we train people for the unique.
in urgent spiritual, physical, and emotional
needs that arise in the midst of crisis and disaster.
They're very unique. And then we mobilize them
and we go around the world. And we have a big
belief that everybody can do this. Wow. Everybody
seems to have their own story of how they get
somewhere, like podcasters, like they were passionate
about something that led them to doing that.
So can you tell us the story that led you into
this ministry? Yeah, absolutely. I certainly
didn't head out in life to develop and build
a international relief organization. I entered
the family business, which was the major motion
picture business in New York. I was a grip or
a key grip at times. My father was a rigging
gaffer. My younger brother's a grip. My other
brother's a carpenter. So that was our world.
That was our business in New York. and the events
of 9 -11 unfolded, but there was a little bit
of a pre -story to that leading up to about six
months prior to the events of 9 -11. It was just
in this season of like just real intimacy with
the Lord. Maybe you've experienced that where,
you know, you just say the name of Jesus and
your heart's so tender and I was spending a lot
of time in quiet and what I would call contemplative
prayer, just kind of waiting on the Lord. And
the Lord began to speak to me. And I remember
I was working on the movie The Emperor's Club
with Kevin Klein. And we were in a lot of different
seminaries and universities around New York and
cathedrals. And I would just, I just wanted to
like steal away. another minute of like intimacy
with Jesus just to go be with him and I'd go
up on top of the building top in between takes
and on my lunch break and for several months
I just would go up on top of the building and
I would go Lord here I am I just faithfully take
watch with you today and this strange thing began
to happen I began to weep over New York City
And eventually what that turned into was hands
lifted high up on top of the building, weeping
over lower Manhattan. And this burden really
began to grow within me that something was coming
to New York and I couldn't quite put language
to it. And, you know, if anyone out there is
an intercessor type, praise a lot. You kind of
know what I mean where you begin to bear the
burdens of the Lord. And I actually asked the
Lord this question one day. I said, Lord, and
it was really the only language I could put to
it. I said, Lord, our building's about to come
down in Manhattan. And so I remember one day
I was reporting for a job. It was. in Midtown
Manhattan. And as I was going through this building,
I could feel like I'm a feeler. And so, you know,
I describe myself as a feeler, like a feeler
discerner. And just as I was going through this
building, you got to remember this was, you know,
back in the late 90s, 2000s, obviously. And as
I was going up the elevator in this building,
I just felt like the spirit of the building.
You've probably felt this like if you've ever
gone into an empty strip mall, you can kind of
feel the poverty or the hopelessness in the midst
of that. And as I was going up in this building,
I just felt like the greed and the, I don't know
how to explain it. It was just like... It wasn't
a holy feeling per se. And I got up on top of
the building and we were shooting what they call
the plate shots for the movie Spider -Man. It
was the first Spider -Man movie. And we're up
on top of the building with a crane and we're
taking shots of the building. And it was where
they would eventually, you know, with graphic
design, put Spider -Man kind of going through.
And anyway, I realized I was up on top of Trump
Tower. And I'm looking down into Donald Trump's
apartment and I know, and I'm not like trying
to get political here whatsoever. At that time,
he was a much different person than growing up
in New York. He's since what I hear is had an
encounter with the Lord. I was there that day
and I just began to ask the Lord this question
like, Lord, what are you doing in New York and
what's coming? And began to pray and ask the
Lord, are buildings going to come down in New
York? And I know that sounds super strange anyway.
I left, went home, and the Lord asked me to take
a trip around the United States. In the film
business, you can kind of jump around to different
jobs and stuff. And I took this trip around the
United States. I felt like the Lord wanted me
to go, just go visit the different streams. Go
visit the different denominations and the different
hotspots of where God was moving around the United
States. And I came back after this couple of
month trip. And two days later, I was back at
my parents' house. in New York, and I was getting
ready to leave and head north and go up to Canada.
And I remember kneeling at my bedside table,
and I was reading some scriptures from the Old
Testament, Second Kings. And I just was kind
of like, Lord, before I read this scripture,
I just trust that this is you. And even if it's
like gloom and doom, that's literally what I
said. And it was this scripture in Second Kings
about how every stone came down, you know, it
got lit on fire and there was nobody left. And
I was just kind of like, shook that off. I walked
into the next room and I turned on, I went to,
maybe remember these, the TVs that had the VHS
in them. And I hit eject. And as I hit eject,
I was just trying to get a worship video out
and the TV turns on and it's a smoking World
Trade Center. At first I thought it was a movie
but then I was just really confused like oh my
goodness What is going on? Is it did a plane
accidentally do this? What happened and all of
the questions you guys remember that day? It
was just absolute chaos and and that feeling
of all sudden life is out of control and God,
who did this and why? Is this you? Is this the
devil? Anyway, all of those questions come up
in the midst of crisis and disaster. People begin
to ask the big questions. So to make a long story
short, that night, the night of the 11th, as
a nation and the world is watching this unfold,
I'm watching firemen dig with these disposable
99 -cent flashlights down there. You could barely
make out what was going on. I turned to my father
and I said, Dad, we light up New York City all
the time, like daytime. Let's get the movie lights
down there. Why can't we go down there and help?
You know, that's I think that you know really
what people think about. You know when they see
something like this or they see a disaster happen,
they think about the resource that they might
have in their hand or they think about the skills
that they have. Maybe they were in the military
or they were a nurse or you know, maybe they're
administrative or they cook, you know? And so
we made a couple phone calls. We were part of
the Union Local 52 in New York. motion picture
studio mechanics and we made a few phone calls
and that next morning you know we got the green
light to go and paramount pictures and Columbia
pictures and Sony they all donated lighting equipment
and cable distribution and generators and we
made our way down the west side highway and if
you could just imagine the scene You know, it
was ambulances and, you know, bulldozers and
heavy equipment, all just, you know, in deadlocked
traffic trying to get down there and help. And
it was absolute chaos. And we were just sitting
there, one of, you know, thousands of vehicles.
And, you know, we're actually standing outside
the vehicle. And in the movie business, none
of the trucks or equipment are marked, you know,
because they might end up in the shot. So...
It was really strange. What ended up happening
was we were just kind of standing around. We
don't know what to do. Are we going to be used?
Are we going to get down there? A motorcycle
cop came up to us just out of the blue, and he
said, you guys, get in your trucks. Come follow
me. And we were able to get over the median.
And we proceeded southbound in the northbound
lane. And just on day two, we got down to the
rubble of ground zero. And, you know, I figured
we'd light up a triage area or, you know, some
satellite area or something. They brought us
right in between the two towers. And it was just
there's really no words to describe what I saw,
what I experienced trucks, fire trucks just,
you know, crushed and burning papers and dust
everywhere. It was more than your mind could
take in. It was just you were on instant overload
and just very overwhelming. And we went to work.
We began to light up the rescue efforts. And,
you know, looking back, you know, you remember
seeing the nighttime shots from down at ground
zero. Most of those lights were our movie lights.
And I look back going, oh, that's what we're
called to do. We're called to bring the light
into the darkness. Hey friends real quick talk
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Curious? Tap the LifeWave link in my About section.
Of course, they're not meant to treat or diagnose
anything. But wow, the testimonies are powerful.
Now, back to more of God's goodness on the show.
We lit up ground zero and ended up doing bucket
brigade and recovery efforts. It was really terrible.
It was very traumatic. It was very, very sad.
It impacted me really deeply. And as I was down
there, and I'm telling this story for a very
specific reason, the trauma was very, very real.
It was very, very scary. I don't have a military
background. I was a grip in the movie business.
What's that? So a grip in the movie business
basically you have a gaffer and you have a key
grip and you have the basically the director
of lighting the director of photography and so
the director He's in charge of the talent manifesting
the script through the talent and then the lighting
director Okay, what they call the director of
photography. He's in charge of making it look
good. And so under the director of photography,
you have a key grip and you have a gaffer. The
gaffer sets up the lights and the key grip will
do all of the rigging to make that lighting happen,
but they'll also cut and shade light and maneuver
the camera dollies or get the camera wherever
it needs to be. And so the key grip works hand
in hand with the gaffer on basically lighting
up the set, rigging and cutting and shading the
light, making it the right color temperature
and diffusing the light. Yeah, so it was just
really, really overwhelming down there. And I
remember calling a friend of mine, one of my
mentors, my lifelong mentor, and I just said,
hey, Jim, I'm really overwhelmed right now. I
felt I was a strong Christian. I had, at that
point, I was leading different ministry endeavors
and taking mission trips and had led an all -night
prayer meeting for one year every Saturday night
leading up to that. And I think that was super
critical. Out of that, In that prayer meeting,
the Lord said to me, at the end of it, he said,
I want you to take the prayer team and go down
to the World Trade Center and pray. This was
pre -9 -11. And it didn't make any sense. Why
would you go down to a building in Manhattan
and lay hands on it and pray? And so there I
was down in the ashes and just crying out, called
my friend, and I was shaken to my core. And I
said, Jim, could you just read me a psalm? I
couldn't recall scripture. It was severely traumatic.
And the Lord spoke to me in the midst of that.
And the only thing he told me down at ground
zero, he said, Sean, this is nothing compared
to what you're going to see in your day in your
lifetime. And so that kind of set me on a journey.
It was very sobering. It was like, this is Sean,
like, I know you're not doing well in the midst
of this, but this is a dress rehearsal of things
that you're going to experience and places that
you're going to go. You were just getting your
feet wet. Yeah, I mean it was really thrown in
the deep end. Yeah Really was I have a quick
question Sure So you mentioned that cop said
you guys you come this way and you're going down
the opposite way that traffic is supposed to
go Were you the only ones that it sounded like
an angel? Were you the only ones that he said
let's go or did he lead like a bunch of traffic
that direction? There were cars on the west side.
Well, I say cars there were Brains and bulldozers
and you know, you name it It was all vehicles
that had some sort of equipment to help out down
there as far as you can see on the southbound
lane of The west side highway and he came up
to us and he said you guys come follow me That
was it. It was just your crew That was it. Wow.
Just us. Yeah you know, that absolutely changed
the trajectory of my life. And that's what crisis
and trauma really does. You know, when you experience
something like that, there's definitely a bad
side to it, but there's a real redemptive side
to it as well. And yeah, so that led us on a
journey, you know, went back to work in the movie
business. And a short time later, we ended up
going and getting some missions training with
YWAM, Youth with a Mission. and we thought we'd
become overseas missionaries, and we had some
invitations to go different places, and instead
the Lord said, no, I want you to go back to New
York. And so we went back to New York, went back
to work in the film business, and the Lord began
to ask me... if I would go down to New Orleans
and bring my family down there. And, you know,
here we were. We were, you know, trained as missionaries.
We were ready to go overseas to Africa. And we
were excited about that. We were really disappointed
when that didn't work out. And when the Lord
said, will you go to New Orleans, we really resisted
that. I wept. I cried. I'm like, no, I don't
want to go. And I would say I'm pretty committed.
to just radical obedience, whatever the Lord
said. But this was a big ask. It was the murder
capital in the United States then. There was
like three to five murders a day. And I knew
exactly what the Lord meant. My friend ran an
inner city ministry about a mile from the Superdome.
And I just didn't want to bring my wife and my
daughter into the midst of that. And for two
weeks, we kind of worked through that. We cried
and we prayed and, Lord, make a way. Is there
another way? All of that. And we finally agreed.
We said, OK, Lord, you're really asking us. You
really want us there. So I said, yes. Well, OK,
Lord. My wife and I agreed. And we said, OK,
Lord, we prayed together. We'll go. And literally,
five minutes later, the head of Paramount Pictures
walked up behind me. and tapped me on the shoulder
and he said, hey, Sean, we need you to move down
to New Orleans to go open up a movie studio for
Paramount Pictures. Would you be willing to do
that? I was absolutely blown away. No doubt.
And I immediately called my wife and I said,
I don't believe this, but they want us to go
down to New Orleans. So we ended up going down
there. And five days later, we began to hear
like literally we're putting the pictures on
the walls and unpacking. And five days later,
after we got there, we start hearing rumors of
this massive hurricane coming, which we would
then know to become Hurricane Katrina. And so
it was really bizarre and interesting to know,
like, you know, in New York, you know, we moved
back to New York two days before 9 -11. Here
we were. I was saying, you only have to tell
me twice. Here we are. We moved to New Orleans
five days before Katrina. We evacuated. And I
won't share that whole story, but we ended up
coming back. And the Lord did such incredible
things down there. It really changed our lives
in really dramatic ways. Yeah, it was really,
really, really beautiful. And we saw God show
up in a really incredible way. Jump into that
story if you'd like, but this is this was really
the catalyst for cry Wow So I hear a pattern
that he's moving you where there's gonna be a
crisis Yeah, and it's it's a pattern that's followed
us even up to this day Wow, so look out wherever
you move You're not planning to come to that
Pittsburgh area. Are you? No, no, it kind of
manifests in a different way where you know,
okay Lord What we've realized is, Lord, why wouldn't
you want us there? Why wouldn't you want believers
who want to help and bring your kingdom and share
your love in people's worst moments? And so we
continually seek the Lord. Sometimes we just
stumble into it. Sometimes the Lord speaks and
he says get ready in two weeks. Pack the trucks,
get ready. OK, this weekend and then Saturday.
You know we have this massive tornado outbreak
or the Lord puts a certain country on our heart
and we begin investigating the country and then
you know a month later major typhoon pops off
or we plan a trip to the Philippines and hey,
we're going to. We feel like we're just going
to. Plan this mission trip over here and then
you know three months later You know the week
before the trip a major typhoon pops off. It's
it's happened more times than I can count So
god is clearly using you for this It reminds
me of the Book of Acts, how they all came together
and no one was in need because they gave what
they had. And they're like, here, let us help.
Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it. And that's what
happens in the midst of crisis. When these things
happen, everybody is just the unity that happens
among churches on the ground. everybody's willingness.
People just come together. All of the barriers,
the names, the denominations, they all fall.
A beautiful thing in London, Kentucky, where
we're deployed right now, we have multiple different
groups. You know, we're based out of a Presbyterian
church and the Amish are there with us, you know,
from Pennsylvania and what they'll get it done.
Oh, they're amazing. They're amazing. They're
building my boss's house. Oh, wow. They're incredible
craftsmen. Yeah. Really. And but what we're seeing
is like, it's not us, but it's like God in the
midst of that. He moves in the midst of that
unity. His spirit moves. He's doing things. Lives
are getting touched. God's demonstrating his
love. People are getting healed. and everybody
becomes a spectator including ourselves and we're
just like look at the way god is showing up and
manifesting himself in the midst of this and
everybody is left hungry for more it's beautiful
beautiful you get a glimpse of the kingdom yeah
i saw one of the videos recently in the last
week where a lady was praying over the chainsaw
to get working again and it worked and i was
like yay he shows up in the littlest things Yeah,
I tell people if you want to see God move like
through you Like if you want to see God move
and you want to see demonstrations of his love
come out on deployment You'll definitely see
it, you know, I think of the places where you
where you've been but you just mentioned, you
know New York and New Orleans and I keep thinking
to myself that we especially those places have
become such a godless nation We're no longer
a Christian nation Yet God has not disappeared
on us despite it Yeah, it just blows my mind
that he is so much more faithful than we are
He is so much more gracious than we are I mean
I literally get feeds on different social medias
of how many people mock God in different avenues
It's the majority of people now and the people
that stand for God are not doing a very good
job For the most part, you know They have hateful
things to say as well and I can't help but think
that we were just drifting so much farther away
from him and How much closer he's trying to pull
us to him? Yeah, and that's such a beautiful
paradigm You know, he is the god of connection
like think of when Adam and Eve send in the garden,
the first thing that he did was come looking
for them, you know, and you know, he made a way
through Jesus. Obviously we can be reconnected
and reconciled and we're ministers of reconciliation
and I think that is the biggest game changer
for me and for our ministry and I would say for
any Christian out there. He's the God of connection.
He's not the God of separation. And to have that
worldview that he's not disconnecting himself,
he never leaves us or forsakes us. And for those
who don't know him, he's made a way through Jesus
and that's his disposition. Like if you look
at God any other way, like he's the angry God.
mad you know like we struggle every morning getting
up because you know we did this or did that yesterday
and you know absolutely we're called to walk
in holiness and righteousness but his heart he's
always he's not willing that any should perish
so we take that concept when we go and disaster
like you know we're not there to you know go
well you know did God do this did the devil do
this you know like that's Way beyond my pay grade
we're there to demonstrate God's love and and
when we have people on the ground that look at
God He is the God that's longing for that human
heart to be connected with him man. We see him
work in such powerful ways So how did it evolve
from so when did you decide to go from the movie
industry world and stuff to? Doing this full
-time Yeah, I'm so glad you asked that question
because this is like my absolute favorite story.
So we're down at Hurricane Katrina, okay. We're
miraculous provision, you know, of how the Lord,
you know, got us out of the city. We avoided
all of the traffic. He showed us to go a completely
different way that didn't make any sense. And
we just followed him and we fasted and prayed
for about a month and a half. And then it was,
you know, there was safe drinking water in the
city and stuff. And anyway, the Lord said, go
back. And so we roll back into town and we actually
had a we weren't doing cry yet, you know? And
so I was still kind of freelancing in the in
the movie business. And we're driving back in.
We had an offer from a ministry on the East Coast
to come work for them. It seemed like, OK, well,
we'll just go recover our stuff and we'll go
back. And as we drove into the town. into the
city, we saw everybody's cars were flooded and
the supermarkets were shut down and all of the
churches were disbanded and the hopelessness
and the despair and our hearts began to be moved
with compassion. You see that often with Jesus.
There's two elements that I see commonly with
Jesus and particularly with miracles. One, there's
an element of desperation. blind Bartimaeus,
you know, Jesus, the son of David, you know,
the woman with the issue of blood pressing into
touches of the hem of his garment. So you get
that element in the midst of crisis. There's
desperation there, you know, and then then on
the opposite side of that, there's compassion.
You know, Jesus was moved with compassion. And
so that's what our hearts began to be moved with
compassion for the city, even though we were
thinking that we would leave. And we just were
like, we have to help. What do we do? And we
really didn't know. And so we just began to pray.
And the first morning we just said, Lord, what
do you want us to do? And he spoke to us. He
just spoke to my heart. And he said, I want you
to begin to cook for the people. And so I went
up to the little only grocery store open. It
was like a little what I would call like a mini
grocery mart. And I was walking around trying
to figure out what to do. I had four number 10
cans of Blue Runner beans because people eat
red beans and rice down there. You want to make
their food. And a guy in a white coat walked
up to me and he goes, who are you cooking for?
And I was just kind of like thought what I was
doing was insignificant and kind of embarrassed.
I just said, well, we're just this little inner
city. we're going to start cooking for the people.
And he goes, well, if you need food, you come
see me. He was the butcher. He buys me $600 worth
of chicken. And within two weeks time, tractor
trailers of food are showing up at our building.
And so we began to have this Jesus party and
begin to feed people and love on them and meet
their needs. About a couple of weeks into it,
we began to host teams from around the country
and we were working 16 hour days and we were
beginning to get tired and we're just like running
around meeting all of these needs. And the Lord
spoke to me and he said, Sean. You're not here
to just make this all go away. That's not your
job. That's not what I want you to do. It kind
of came as a rebuke, like, you know, like, stop,
you're doing this wrong. You're not the Red Cross.
You're not the Salvation Army. That's not who
I'm asking you to be. You have a king and a kingdom
inside of you. And with every plate of food,
with every resource you give away, I want you
to talk about me. I want you to reveal my love.
I want the kingdom to come through you. And that's
what the, it was the problem is we were just
getting busy and caught up in all of the work
and all the need. This crisis and disaster, especially
something the scale of that, that never goes
away, you know? And leads to a lot of burnout.
Anyway. So we repented and we're like, Lord,
we're sorry. You know, we kind of got realigned.
And one night there was a guy on our team by
the name of James. And James is still a great
friend to this day. But this is where James was
at at this point in time. He was from the Midwest
and he was from a conservative rural church and,
you know, healing or. praying a certain way or
raising your arms in a worship time, that was
uncommon to him. It wasn't his experience. He
had never experienced something like that before
and he was pretty against it. I'll just say it
that way. So anyway, I could tell that he was
starting to get a little offended and was maybe
getting ready to leave the mission there, what
we were doing. And one night, we're getting ready
to kind of close up. It was about eight, nine
o 'clock at night. And I'm there with James and
I'm just trying to love on him and I can't answer
all of his questions at the moment and you know,
but I just wanted to love on him. I appreciate
you James and a way to show that. Hey, let me
just give you a ride home and he lived like two
blocks up. It would have been easier and quicker
for him to just walk down the street. So I said
come on, I'll give you. I'll run you up the street
as we turn to walk out the building in the hallway
there in the doorway and this is wild. There
is a 10 foot pillar of cloud in the doorway.
And he just screams and he goes, what is that?
And I go, it's God, you know? And then my next
words were honey, get in here. Like, you know,
what do you do when a 10 foot cloud appears?
And I don't want anyone to think like this is
a normal occurrence. This is nothing like this
had ever occurred in my life. and nor has since
and it was just you know other than and then
slowly but surely the cloud disappeared there
was no you know fire or smoke outside it was
no explanation for it in the physical and james
he's actually a i don't know if you get a certification
for this but he was like he's a genius very very
smart guy and like i could just see him trying
to do the math in his head and like maybe it's
the barometer and the humidity and And he couldn't
explain it away. And we had a team that showed
up from Greenville, South Carolina. And so that
next morning, it was really funny looking back.
We had videoed everybody getting to work that
day, and people were just very emotional about
being there and wanting to help, and different
people crying. I pan over to James. James, how
are you doing this morning? And his eyes are
real big. He goes, well, I'm just kind of working
through and processing a few things right now.
Yeah. How long did that last, the cloud blast?
gosh maybe 30 seconds you know and it was long
enough it was long enough to see it and you know
my wife and another woman had you know come in
because i had yelled and they seen it just as
it dissipated but you know that night i couldn't
sleep you know i'm like wrestling over it and
that next morning i'm praying and asking god
god like there was a fear of the lord on it like
you know like that's really neat and wild but
it was also scary like god why like why are you
showing up in our building like this and how
do we steward that like what's my how then shall
we live what's our response to this And I was
praying that morning and the Lord just said,
Sean, that that's my healing anointing and I
want you to begin to pray for people for healing.
And so that morning I walked down the stairs,
I got the food going on the stove and at 11 o
'clock I opened up the front doors and that day
changed everything. And as we began to pray for
people, people began to get healed. And I'm talking
everything, everything from arthritis to diabetes
to... You name it. Broken bones. People, you
know, remember a woman, she had no voice. I have
it on video. I'm praying for her and her voice
comes back. She doesn't even realize it. Then
suddenly she realizes her eyes get real big.
But there was one story in particular that I
love to tell and it absolutely changed my life.
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I'd love to connect with you. There was a woman
in the neighborhood by the name of Joanne. Joanne,
she was a prostitute, and she was a drug addict.
Sounds like from the Bible. This is the book
of Acts. This is really wild. She hears a voice
tell her, get up. Today's a new day. And she
gets up out of her bed. And the voice tells her,
get dressed. She gets dressed. The voice tells
her, go down the stairs. She goes down the stairs.
Go down the street. She goes down the street.
And just then we were in our morning worship
time coming to an end and the Holy Spirit whispers
to me, go look out the window. And so I walk
across the room, I peel open the blinds and I
look and there's a woman standing across the
street on the curb. Her eyes were as big as like
hubcaps and her mouth is open just standing there.
I don't know. This is the woman, Joanne. And
the voice at that moment, the voice of God tells
her, now go in that building and let those people
pray for you. And I watched her step off the
curb. I didn't think she was going to make it
across the street. I mean, she was just oppressed,
drug addicted, prostitute, like the spiritual
resistance against her in that moment. You could
see it. She struggled to get across the street
and is literally, as soon as she stepped across
the threshold, the power of God Hit that woman.
She began shaking crying sweating and You know
totally blue like my five -step healing, you
know how to set somebody free model and her life
you could tell instantly this woman's life was
radically changed and you know, she accepts the
Lord and And we didn't see her for a couple of
days, and she came back three days later. And
we thought, like, well, what happened to her?
Maybe she went back to the street. She came back
three days later. We were so delighted to see
her. She walks in the room and, you know, Joanne,
how are you doing? She goes, the sky, it's blue,
the grass, it's green. But you probably remember
that, like when you first got, you know, saved,
you know, how everything came to life. You know,
it was just so real. And we go, how are you doing?
She goes, man, I'm doing great. My life has changed,
you know? She goes, but you know, this shikuhara
mamama thing, you know, I haven't been able to
sleep a wink. Obviously, you know, the power
of God hit her. She got filled with the Holy
Spirit. She's speaking in tongues. She completely
doesn't understand. And she can't sleep at night
because she's just laying there speaking in tongues.
And that went on for nine months. And I would
say about 90 % of the people we prayed for. God
touched by God, healed by God. It was absolutely
amazing. And it radically impacted my wife and
I's life. And we just said, you know, we want
to do this. Like, what if we trained up tens
of thousands of people around the world to be
trained to be able to go into these situations
and share the love of God? And that's what we
did in 2007. Wow. It's amazing what God can do
when you're obedient and you just take those
steps like it the power of Joanne like had she
ever heard the voice of God before and Followed
it. Yeah, and then it led to her freedom Yeah,
radical obedience a radical. Yes. I think it's
critical to any believer if you want to see your
life ignite with God's activity around you and
see like crazy miracles and you know just your
day will become so much more thrilling and exciting
if you live a life of 100 obedience. Yeah. Wow.
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it could be someone's answer to prayer. Now back
to the show. It's really cool how she was struggling
to get across the street, but she did it anyway
Without a relationship with God that she was
so determined To follow that voice that that
voice was had so much authority that even though
her flesh was not willing She still made it across
that street She did I didn't think she was you
could literally see the battle going on around
her like what is this like I thought you know
she was just gonna you know fall down or whatever
but you could see the struggle and again the
crazy thing it was is when she was obedient to
the voice of God which she didn't really know
at that point she stepped across the threshold
of the building that's when God acted it was
beautiful wow so I have a new question how do
you decide Now that you're in full -blown ministry
with this cry, how do you decide where to deploy
to and how long to stay? Yeah, that's a great
question. We don't deploy to every disaster.
One, we can't, but even if we can, again, we're
just radically committed to the Lord's leading.
And most times there'll be some sort of sense
of, hey, something's coming. We've been kind
of tipped off one way or another, or there'll
be a string of confirmations, like let's say
the Haiti earthquake. You know, the Haiti earthquake
back in 2009, it was our first international
deployment. We had come back from our Christmas
break. It was early January. And the Lord spoke
to me and he said, I'm about to open up an international
door to you and I got a message on my phone.
Believe it was, you know, I can't remember this
exact size of the earthquake, but it was something
like, you know, 7 .9 earthquake just hit Haiti
and you know. The voice of the Lord and then
the scale of what that event was. We we knew
right away that you know we were going. And then
the second thing that we do is we look for what
we call a man of peace. It could be a woman of
peace, just but, you know, from the term of the
Bible, you know, in the Bible, a man of peace.
We look for somebody who, whether it's a previous
relationship, somebody we know already on the
ground, it could be a city official, somebody
who welcomes us in, invites us in. They could
have property or a building or a church or store
parking lot or a business parking lot to where
we can set up. We're not necessarily knocking
on the door, asking them. We may reach out to
people and they're... it's not somebody who goes
yeah sure you can come this is kind of inconvenient
but you know it's a man of peace is somebody
who opens up doors they celebrate who you are
they open up doors they make a way they celebrate
you it's kind of like we go where we're celebrated
not where we're just tolerated yeah then you
have that flow the flow from god and things fall
into place better Yeah, there's something there.
I don't fully understand it about spiritual authority
as well You know when you're when you're welcomed
in by somebody from the region as well I think
there's some sort of protocol there, so we don't
just go and push our way in you know beyond the
yellow tape typically we're asked to come we
have a place to land a place where we can you
know set up a You know what we call a point of
distribution or to sleep our teams depending
on what the operations gonna look like Well,
and then how long do you stay like you're right
now you guys are helping from a Disastrous tornado.
So how long do you stay? Yeah, and and that is
unfolding right now in real time And so we're
in London, Kentucky. There was an EF for tornado
that touchdown it was about a mile wide and on
the ground I think for 52 miles and 36 people
died So we watch a couple of distinguishing factors.
Obviously, we start and finish every day on deployment
with prayer and worship. So we're doing everything.
through the leading of the Lord. And I think
that's one of the radical things people encounter
when they come to us, like, oh, wow, I didn't
understand that this is the way that you guys
do it. So we're ministering from the overflow,
we're hearing the Lord, and then we're asking
the Lord, Lord, what do you want us to do? Where
do you want us to go? And it makes the ministry
in the midst of chaos so much easier. I tell
anybody, if you want to be successful in ministry
or in your personal life, just find out what
God's doing and join in with it. And so that's
what we just try and do. And so we watch a couple
of factors, though. We look at our volunteer
flow. How many volunteers do we have? How long
are they staying? So we have to have people.
So if people don't put up their hand and volunteer,
we can't do the job. If resources aren't coming
in, whether it be Incon donations like water
and food or tarps or cleanup materials or cash
donations, we look. If we don't have those things,
then we can't continue to work. And then we also
gauge it by the need that's on the ground. And
so every disaster is pretty unique. So like with
a tornado, what happens is when somebody's home
is destroyed, they're only gonna hang around
for a couple of days. And so we'll go in, we'll
provide trauma support. you know, obviously meeting
the unique spiritual need, emotional need, the
physical need. We're gathering, you know, keepsakes
and finding wedding rings and important pictures
or a coffee mug or something like that really
helps people process through what's happened
to them. But as those people begin to leave,
we're there for the ministry and there's other
organizations that come in, you know, longer
term that will come in with bulldozers and then
the insurance companies come in and take over
and there's ministries and organizations that
come in and do rebuilding. We're a mission and
so our goal is to reach the harvest in the midst
of crisis. That's what we're called to, and particularly
in the context of Matthew 24 Mark 13. in Luke
21, where Jesus himself talks about, you know,
wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence.
He's talking about an hour in history where all
of these things are unfolding, but in verse 13,
I believe it is, He says with his own words that
in the context of these things that there'll
be a demonstration of the kingdom of God to every
nation, to every people group. So we believe
that it is again in Jesus's own words. that the
great harvest, that the gospel will go forth
to every nation in the context of crisis. So
the people have to be there in order for us to
fulfill our mission. And so that's what we're
beginning to see in London. We're beginning to
see the volunteers begin to dry up and the resources
begin to dry up. The people are going away. And
so then we say, okay, this is coming to an end.
Our part in this is coming to an end. And so
actually tomorrow we will be done. So that's
kind of how we do it. Praise God for your obedience
and for the work that you do and for being able
to hear Him and acknowledge that it is Him and
do His work. There's not a lot of people that
do what you do for the reason that you do it
and it is something to be commended and praised
and I'm glad that you bring God glory through
all of it and this wonderful miracle after miracle
after miracle. Clearly the Lord working in your
life for the benefit of His children. Well, thank
you. It's absolute honor I say have the best
and the worst job in the world Meaning, you know,
it's I see God do so many incredible things we
meet the most incredible the people who would
be willing to take the time to get trained and
Then volunteer their time take off from work
travel across the world and show up in the hour
of somebody's You know worse pain or loss Those
are the most incredible people. They're absolutely
beautiful. And that is one of the biggest rewards
is the relationships that are formed in the trenches.
And so we say it's a family. It's this family
of responders and people just coming with their
skill sets. It's such a beautiful honor. But
the fact is it's in people's worst moments. So
it's really the best job and the worst job in
the world. So it doesn't just happen. You have
to have the money to get resources to help people
So if somebody wanted to help support you and
all the work that you're doing, how could they
go about doing that? Yeah, 100 % they can go
to CRI out calm and If they are inclined to go
and serve come and serve with us sometime I would
recommend doing that now getting the training
under your belt this way when You know, these
things are sudden and you can't plan for them.
But we know that they're increasing since 2000.
The number of billion dollar disasters in the
US has increased from six to. 28 annually and
that's actually compounded globally and so They're
more and more frequent get trained disinterest
you and come and you will not regret it And there's
a place for everybody to serve in the midst of
crisis. Absolutely everybody can do this I just
want to say this it's so easy to take personal
inventory of our weaknesses of how much money
we don't have and Absolutely disqualify ourselves
from the historic exploits that God has pre -planned
for us. So don't do that. Put your hand up in
the air and say, God, here am I. I'm willing.
I'll go. Send me. So you won't be disappointed.
He does amazing things with our obedience. He
really does. He really does. Wow. Well, thank
you so much for taking the time to share your
story. I love it and all that you're doing. And
I pray that people are led to support you and
your efforts. and just come together in this
mission of yours. Well, thank you so much and
blessings to you guys. Love what you do and just
spreading the word about what God's doing in
the earth among different people and areas. I
love it. God bless you guys in your ministry.
Thank you. And if this has been a blessing, we
ask that you share it with some friends and family
members, and then get this word out because it
takes all of us to get God's will accomplished.
And so be the hands and feet of Him and do what
Jesus would do. And with that, we'll talk to
you next week. Thanks for tuning in to today's
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