Bayside's Record Breaking FRIEND DAY!

This past Sunday, June 22nd was a record breaking day for our church! I believe that we stepped into something that God has been leading us to for quite a while! Our record was 151 which we broke on Easter in 2005. We have strived to break it so many times, but just could not do it. In December of last year, our church stepped into some new things and it has been building for quite a while. We set the date last year for our Friend Day and for the past several weeks, we have been promoting it. Evangelist Kelly & Debbie Howard came in the week before to help push Outreach. On Wednesday night, at the beginning of his message, Bro. Howard asked everyone to take out their cell phone, the ushers passed out visitors cards from the past few months. We then began to make phone calls right there in church to these visitors to give them another invitation to Friend Day! In a matter of 5 - 10 minutes, we had 7 confirmed contacts for them and their families! By the time church was over, another contact returned the call and said they were coming!! Bayside caught the vision and brought their friends on FRIEND DAY! We broke our record and had 160 in attendance!! We were jammed packed, but my oh my. . .what a great feeling it was! It was so awesome to see all of these lives touched by God's power! Before the service was ended, there were 10 people filled with the Holy Ghost!!!! What a great day!! After the service, there was a meal prepared on the patio in the back of the building for everyone to enjoy! In the side parking lot, there was a jumper set up for the kids as well as rides on a horse! Almost all of these children had never ridden a horse. . . .most of them had never been that close to a horse. . . .even some of the parent's as well!! These are L.A. people. . . . .city people! Now for me, growing up in Texas and Louisiana. . .that is really foreign to me! But there is not much property at all for horses in L.A.!!! This was a fun day for everyone!! We are so excited at all that God is doing at Bayside! It is so exciting!

Here are a few stories of that day:
My Mother-in-law's neighbor, Helen (86 yrs.) was back again. She came on Easter. She actually prayed some and was so touched by what she felt. She said she had read in Acts about speaking in tongues, but had never actually heard someone speak in tongues and today was the first time! We are believing that it won't be long before Helen experiences it for herself!
One of our men, who teaches public high school for LA Unified School District, brought 3 young ladies from his classes. These young ladies were mightily touched. They want to come back! On Wednesday, Bro. Ernest told me about some more that want to come this Sunday! Below is a picture of these 3 beautiful young ladies standing in the alter with their teacher, Mr. 'Pia' behind them. Bro. Ernest & Sis. Joyce are from Ghana and his last name is Appiah, but his students call him Mr. Pia!

Jose's Mom has been praying for him. He came home from Texas for his younger brother's high school graduation. His Mother has been praying and believing God was going to refill him. He was so touched that in the middle of Bro. Howard's sermon, he was so into it, that he stood up until altar call. He came down with his girlfriend who had never been in a Pentecostal church. What a beautiful experience to see Jose filled with the Holy Ghost! God does answer a Mother's faithful prayers! Here's a picture of Sis. Zidia praising the Lord with Jose beside her.

One of our ladies had been working on some of her former coworkers. One of them was Susan, who came on Easter for the first time and has hardly missed since then. God has done some miraculous things in her life. She got her son and family to come on Friend Day. They were so touched and in the altar. This picture of is of Sis. Susan praising God with her hand up and in front of her is her son and daughter-in-law! At our Bible Study last night, when I showed this picture to Sis. Susan, you could see how proud she is of what God is doing in her family's life!