Testimonies from Brownsville Fire Teams

Results: 11,811 received Christ.

Jim Priddy from Maryland: - We went into the office to make arrangements to pray for the people.  The guy who heads that whole deal, his secretary took us, and we shut the door and prayed with them. He said, every employee in the building on that floor that is in that office, into the break room.  The Holy Spirit had everything set up because it was the employees break room.

Now I've worked with the Federal Government for 41 years and I've haven't seen a break room in any government office that had pictures of Jesus Christ in it. It was so exciting, the Holy Spirit was moving there.

We left there and some left to the jail and ministered there and people were coming to Christ and we went into the school where they take the people for INS, the young people. And about 35 accepted Christ over there.

Terry Peters: - If you really want to be blessed go into an orphanage. They had children there from about 3 years old to 17. At 17 they had to leave and they had to find their own way. They are all clean, well fed and beautiful. And it is a Christian organization. I jut felt like I needed to give my testimony and I gave it in a way mostly to the teenagers because when I was a teenager I fell into sin and I did not get out of sin till I was 31 when I got saved. And I also led them into the sinner's prayer.

Brenda talked to them about forgiveness and forgiving those who violated them. They came to that prayer of letting go and forgiving and then we asked them if they knew any songs and immediately one little fellow plays the guitar. In the end all 108 prayed with us. You could feel the Holy Spirit there.

Kenny recognizes all the workers and helpers, 35 in the warehouses and even little children, young ladies working packing food.

Mr. Jim Robinson from Hanford, CA: - The thing that amazed me here in Brownsville is that people were so receptive and the fact that you did not have to say anything except to mention the Lord and people started to give testimonies of the goodness of God and they recognized that God had done good things for them and the only thing we had to do is to introduce them to who God was. Today we went house to house, we had a lady. We passed the house because nobody had been there. And we were about three houses past hers and she calls us back and says: Are you guys the men who are praying for people. She had already known, we went in there, prayed for her, and led her to the Lord.  Then we went in there and instructed her how to pray for her children, and allowed her to do it herself, so that she can get that practice and pray for her husband to come to the Lord.  It was just a fantastic time, the friend that was the laid hands on her; she went under the power, holding her baby. And it was incident after incident like that.

Bill Swad and the Ohio Group: - We had freedom in the prisons and the workers were so friendly down there. The county prison had about 2000 people and so many of those guys we were able to walk right into the cells. I walked over to the ladies prison and that was a tremendous experience. The people were so open to the gospel.

In most prisons you would not have the liberty to do that. There is a Chaplain down there that is a volunteer chaplain, he is fired up, and does 18 services a week down there.

In the women side, right at the end the chaplain got down on his knees and asked how many want to give their lives to Jesus and 5 women got saved. 

Jimmy Rogers:  One young man - 19 years old. His father died and his father deserted him when he was just a kid. As I talked with him he accepted the Lord as his Savior, as we continued to talk to him he was becoming overjoyed and when we were walking away he reached out through the bars and grabbed me. And said:" I did not have anything to give but I would like to give something, and he reached out and he had a little piece of hard candy: I want to give something for covenant with us today. As we were leaving Brad got all the men together and said we want to pray with you, come and grab hold of the bars. We prayed and the Holy Spirit shook the place like never before and then we sang the Chorus, I have decided to follow Jesus.

Roy Brian:  We went to a Christian school and probably 90 % of them saved. We were ministering to the senior class over there, and several of us gave a little testimony and I gave mine and then the Lay asked if I would close with a prayer and I prayed for them like normally I would and all of a sudden this young lady there burst out crying and she did not want to talk about it in front of everybody and so we went outside to another room over there. So she said;" The Lord has told me to pray for you." And of course I was healed from prostate cancer, arthritis and a whole bunch of other things and she laid hands and prayed for me.

Don Mounts: - We had about 40 Fire Team people that went into those jails today and we had such marvelous results and about 500 came to know the Lord today.  

Janet Mounts: - There were 5 of us yesterday. We had some glorious salvations and 5 people that had never even said a prayed before and they all received the Lord and yesterday we had a lady that had 5 children, she was there at a drug charge and she not only received salvation but she received the Holy Spirit and she started speaking in tongues.

Don Richter from Minnesota, a retired legislator, and a dairy farmer: - We went into the prisons and I felt the people were so moved with two powerful testimonies.  We should have anointed them for evangelism they are called to evangelize.

Today, when we were done ministering to them, this one guy started to minister back, he knew the scriptures.

Bruce Anderson from Washington: - The heaven is wide open. God has ignited this. We went into the street, passing out the coupons and I was thinking who I am going to talk to and the Holy Spirit said: " I will get them to talk to you. " and as I was walking down the street the people were walking up to me asking: Would you pray for me. Many of the people were really down and out and there started crying as I gave them those little coupons. One guy was lying along the street and he had tattoos all over his body, he had words Satan on both his arms. He had numbers 666 and he looked at me and said pray for me.  I prayed for him. And there people in the store and there was a woman who came up to me and I prayed for her. I have never seen anything like that before. You are the laborers of the harvest right now.

His vision

About a week and a half ago I was praying for Brownsville and I had a vision of a large warehouse and in this warehouse in the middle there was a stove, and the stove had a gold door on it. I was standing in the room and Richard came into the room. He picked up the wood and put it into the stove and said, "Let's start the fire." Being in the stove business, I thought: " Maybe this is something I just think about, because I am always involved with stoves." I asked the Lord. "Interpret it for me." He said" The stove represents Brownsville, the warehouse represents United States and Richard was putting wood, the vision I gave him, wood represented the word of God into the stove and then he looked at me and said "Let's start the fire, But he did not ignite the fire, He said: The Holy Spirit would ignite the fire, the heat from that fire would melt men's hearts so that they can receive the word, the light of that fire would illuminate, give revelation knowledge to all men around Brownsville. And eventually the heat and the illumination would spread all over the warehouse - being America. Today when I went to the warehouse where Ken had food, it was the same warehouse I saw in my dream.

Ike Andrews: I was in prayer last night; " Lord it is going to be my birthday on Saturday, I will be 48, and I want the best birthday present possible I want to lead over 48 people to the Lord and today we found 21 of them.  I had three brothers with me and we were going down the street and I missed the street I was going to and it wasn't me missing the street, It was the Lord, I went to a one way street and there was a garage sale and the Lord told me that we were supposed to stop there. It was a family of 5 adults and we started ministering to them, and they all came to know the Lord. And they all got baptized in the Holy Spirit.  I spoke to 25 today, 15 saved and I prayed with another 16.

Then I was into the jails and we had 7 salvations. 

Bob Brown: We had a blast in the prisons and Jesus was two steps ahead of us. I've never seen guys who killed people who would cry that much.

Ron Anderson, famous attorney: I saw people healed in front of me. Thank you for coming to Brownsville.

Jeremy Roark: from Maryland - We went to County courthouse today and we got a little hungry at noon so we went to lunch to a little Mexican restaurant and when we were there, we had a chance to pray for some people there. Some of the customers, a boy of 4 months old had an ulcer a case of bronchitis and we got to pray with them and the people already know Jesus but they said: We want prayer and we gave more tickets and as we left there we stooped by Raul Lopez and he is a Christian …… and for every boy that comes to his place of work he has this agreement that goes like this: It says " I ( your name ) accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and give my bad ways and evil doings. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for me. He was raised from the grave and He is alive. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is with me at all times to guide me, protect me, intervene for me before the Heavenly Father, so that whatever I ask the Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ I shall receive. Your Holy Word says that if I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I accept him as my Lord and Savior I will be saved and have eternal life. I thank you Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins and make me a new person in Jesus Christ. And he has every boy to sign it.

Nathan Hostetler: I got out later with Ray. People are hungry for the Lord and all we had to do is just open our mouth. We went on and saw people get saved.

Doug Woolley – News paper: in the front page of the Brownsville Herald it says in bold letters: " Brownsville - a vision from God for man - Full Gospel Business Men International Fellowship distributes food and hope. And it reads: A flame on the southern tip of the United States appeared as a vision to Richard Shakarian, he said, the vision was a message from God, announcing his next good will event. Brownsville, Texas. Shakarian is the president of FGBMFI, a group of Christian professionals dedicated to sharing the blessing bestowed upon them by others with others. The organization founded in 1951 in California by Shakarian dairy farmer's father, Hundreds of members throughout the world. It mostly has rallies, Part humanitarian effort and part non- denominational testimonials, in third world nations. The Brownsville Rally on Saturday is the first in the United States, Shakarian said. The celebrate America Rally includes distribution of food, music speakers and more, it will be at 2 PM Sat at the International Convention center near the intersection of International and BocaC….Blvd. There are many people in this nation that have not shared in the prosperity of this nation, Shakarian said. We believe that it is a new beginning in America and it continues on the back cover. The group just had a Rally in Honduras that helped 400,000 people. The Brownsville event is smaller with food donations estimated to assist 20,000 families. The food give away is being handled by Shakarian’s daughter Brenda who has helped to lead similar efforts in the … neighborhoods of Los Angeles and elsewhere. Volunteers, numbering about 300 come from throughout the United States and Latin America. Groups of them called Fire Teams have been visiting Brownsville and prisons, schools and other locals, to share their experiences. The group symbol is a red flag standing for the power of Jesus Christ and His blood. Fellowship member Ron Weinbender of Southern California worked in the financial services and attended church regularly but he said that he still felt empty inside, helping others has filled this void, " I feel that they have a heart for people, Ken Parks said about the Fellowship he joined about a year ago.  The 46 years old head of Dallas Electronics Company that works with area Macillarodes?? said that he had a God inspired vision 8 years ago, the warehouse on a 14^th street … will one day be filled with food. That vision came true on Wednesday, when more then 7000 food packages were placed there. We are just trying to help the community, Shakarian ended that the rallies boils down to three things: Faith, hope and love. Give the Lord a hand for this.

There were a group of about 20 of us that went to a Baptist school, grades 1 through 8 so 6 to 13 years old, the Lord gave all the ability to relate to people, and the children that were there, in presenting their testimony, and being able to share Jesus with them and praying for them.

George Duggan:  I was in the same prison block with Jimmy Rogers. I would like to emphasize, that the Holy Spirit came down on Brownsville as he did on El Salvador and Honduras.  We went into this cellblock, when we walked there, the people said: "we feel the Holy Spirit in here. Those guys were talking in a language I never heard in prison ministry before, friendly conversations. And they would all come out. Every one of them came out, and we prayed one big prayer. A young guy 19 years old was so touched that he had to give something and the greatest story is that the Holy Spirit came down on Brownsville today.

Bob Dubbins from Charleston, South Carolina, a member for a couple of weeks only.  It is heart moving.

Richard Shakarian: - "We are here from all over America, 300 of business men, and many of the wives will be here with us. And we've come from all over America, they paid all their expense down here, they are not here to take anything out, we are here for only one reason, and that is because we are obeying what the Lord taught in the story of the good Samaritan, and we are getting off our big, white horse and we are getting down into the ditch and we are picking up the people that are falling, and we are putting them up on a horse, we are giving them food, and encouragement, and prayer and a new beginning in Jesus Christ and it works.

I told the story for the first time in front of a Hungarian government leader and she received Jesus Christ as her Savior. _ Magdalena Vonka, she opened up her whole nation, simply because I told the story of the Good Samaritan. I said that it is the time for the great nations of the world to get off their big white horse in the center of the road and get down in the ditch and pick up the fallen nations, and heal them. And she had always rejected the Lord and when I said those words the Lord had opened her heart.

We are doing something here that is not only spiritual in nature. By doing this act of kindness to people, God is going to open America for us.

This fellowship has taken a new step higher in Jesus Christ, we are providing for today generation hands on assignments. Everything is different for every generation. Today you have placed an opportunity to be a Good Samaritan in the world.

George Noland from Washington State. - Much prayer went before; I can tell by the unity, we were ministering in the jails to the prisoners and to each other. We were praying for each other before we would go to each. The men in jail we coming out to talk to us. These men were hungry. Today we were allowed to the women section, and the pastor there was giving the afternoon session. It was about 35-40 women that were there. He was giving a straight salvation message, and as the 5 women came forward I felt led to take my anointing oil and anoint them.  There was one lady there that was dying of sclerosis of the liver from drugs and alcohol and as we prayed over her, the whole body just began to shake. And we are believing that God has healed her and she received the Lord and she received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and when I prayed for her she went down under the power and it was such a witness for the rest of the women.

Milt Thomas from Florida: - Today we went to a school. I went with Terry Peters into a girl classroom. We had 42 prayed the sinners prayer with us in a Christian school. The teacher, when we talked to her after said with the tears in her eyes: We never know what these girls background really is, we do not know what they really are in their hearts.

Tom Packard from Ohio - We went to Cosmetology school today.  There were 8 guys and one lady, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Gil Markarian - This is the first time I have ever been on an outreach with FGB and I was wondering what is going to happen, as I did not feel that I am ready. Ike and I went to talk to some people and we went into the courthouse and had a great time, we had great testimonies, but I want to emphasize that every soul has its importance to God and every person that you led to the Lord and every person that you prayed with, you had an impact on their life

Angie Johnson - The last three days were just one miracle after another. This morning at 10 at the student centre, we believe over 300 or 400 hundred students were saved and it was in a place where they had never allowed anyone to have any religious freedom, they could not say anything. They told me: No they would not let you do it, but God said you can do it and we were able to. There were people who recommitted their lives to the Lord. There were young men and women that were in sin that repented of their sin.

This afternoon we went to Rivera High school where they would not let us in a couple of days ago, so we spotted a piece of land just across the street and we asked the owner: " Would you mind if we have a little music thing on your land. And he said Ok." So we brought the big semi with the stage and the music, this big band from Dallas, and we began to play music and we gave away T-Shirts and potato chips and drinks and the kids just came pouring over and as the band ministered at one point. There was a football team practicing across the way and this man that was witnessing asked for people who were wanting to receive Christ and one of the football players who were practicing, took off his pads and ran across the street and sat down in front of them and said I want to receive Jesus.

Rey Soto - today we were on the TV program and we gave glory to God and we know that many souls were saved as a result of it. We gave an invitation and the phones started ringing and we know that the word got out to the people who needed to hear the word.

After that we went into a convalescent home and we were looking at the people and when you look at what you see you are not going to move but we looked and the people kept coming on the wheelchairs, with withered hands, eyes with eyeballs white, and I am giving the word in Spanish and in English and I am getting zero reaction. It is like chipping ice. But I know that the word is the word and the word is good and God will always honor His word and as we started ministering to the people, the body started moving and the hand started moving and Bob said I want you to minister to this young man, He was in a horrible accident. He has been in the wheelchair ever since and he can hear but he cannot speak. A few minutes later his withered hands were stretched out and he was praising God. He rose up of this wheelchair and walked to the glory of God.

Jim Priddy - We went to a business in Texas and while we were there, one of the people that were there, this happened to be a gentleman who had a large business where they had machines like fax machines and office machines. One of the most successful businessmen in that town. His name was Dan Brown. He was not there but there were people there who wanted to hear what we had to say about the business so we gathered all the employees together and we told them about the business called the Full Gospel Business. And they all accepted Christ and one of the gentleman there had a back problem and as we sat him in the chair and asked God to heal his back, the Lord lengthened his leg about inch and one of the ladies there was watching his leg grow and next guy jumped out and said pray for me I have a liver problem. And it started all over.

God is moving in Brownsville.

Don Brown did not show up because he was in hospital in Brownsville and we went back to the control center and they told us there, go to the hospital and pray for this guy Don Brown.  We went to hospital they showed us which room to go to. We went back to the Courthouse and we prayed for an executive secretary in that courthouse. 

Craig Berg from Houston - the Houston team went across the border today. We had an opportunity to go to a government hospital, where government employees go to be served and we had 45 people from the staff and the administration join us for 1 hour meeting 45 people received Christ.

We were invited by one of the chief nurses to go into the wards to pray for people and the nurses asked to be prayed for two. We went into the wards and prayed for people. We prayed for people going from bed to bed and by the time we went to the third bed in the room the lady was crying and asked to pray the same prayer we prayed with the previous one. We prayed throughout the hospital and ministered to about 100 people that day.

Robert Williams - This morning we went into the juvenile detention centre and before we even got in and before we even got in, we got to talk and pray with 5 people and they accepted Christ. We went into the hall and we were able to minister to these kids who were just dying for love and affection. After that we went into the boot camp, which was right next-door.  The lord opened the door and we had about 25 kids and we got to give our testimonies and 25 kids confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and we got to go around and pray for them individually and these kids were ready to change. And after that they asked us to go around the classrooms and give our testimonies and we went around and prayed with them individually.

Ernie: - The first day, when we walked down town the people were just confessing the goodness of God.  We got to simply lead them to the Lord and have them confess them their sins. The pace was so fast. The second day we went into the colonials into the Camera Park and there spent a little more time with the families and we went door to door. We got invited into the houses, spending half an hour with each family, and they are receptive. There was a man that said he had two rebellious kids and we called the whole family of 8 together and we led the two kids to the Lord and we established the parents the authority of the household and after that we had to teach them how to love each other.

Hostecia Parro from Fresno area, CA: - Along with brother Ernie we went together and people were inviting us over to pray with them and minister to them. I went into public schools and we talked with the staff who were having some problems.

Fabian Kren from Austria & Joel Legrand from Belgium: - we were in the High schools and we spoke to a young guy about 16 years old and asked him what he thinks about Jesus and he said that he is not religious and we explained to him that Jesus has nothing to do with religion and he accepted Jesus Christ. We went to a college and to a jail and today we went to a college again and we saw a lot of young people giving their lives to the Lord today at the Music concert.  We have seen such hunger in their hearts. We have learned a lot and want to do the same in Europe too.

Jorge Segersbol… from Houston - this afternoon we went to a street with a lot of businesses and we went from business to business and testified and went to body shops where the mechanics would stop their work and they would pray with us.  The count was about 59 or 60 people in 3 hours.

Richard Shakarian - Today as I was with the press they all wanted to know about the vision, why came to Brownsville and it was a joy to witness to them and to tell them that when I was in Honduras God just spoke to my heart and as I was praying about America the Lord showed me a vision or a picture of America.  A small fire was beginning at the center of America at the southern most point and the fire grew, went right up the middle and to the coasts. And the fire is the power of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit and then as we looked at the map it was Brownsville. So that is how we got here. We did not choose Brownsville, God chose Brownsville and you folks set the date. For the first time we are uniting and bringing together, not only the great commission but also the works of the Good Samaritan.

Saturday - Children's testimonies

Lora age 13 - took two tracts to the Sheriffs car. "First he checked out first page and he was surprised by the answers on the second page. And I sort of explained it to him and he sort of got it and he prayed the prayer with me. And he said the he took Jesus into his heart and it was a real blessing to me.

The second Sheriff also prayed by him and he did not pray out loud but the first one did.

Doug Raines - Dallas - 1073 souls were saved on our teams today. 

Fire Teams leaders testimonies Doug and Joe:

One of the things we saw that these guys came all the way here to encourage the Mexican The word of encouragement showed them how the ordinary men became extraordinary through the power of the Holy Ghost.

The times are changing and the government rulings here in America have filtered down into Mexico. America is very influential in how companies and schools respond to what we would term as expressing Jesus Christ. Richard has some excellent thought and views as to how we should open the door of opportunity. This is a real learning experience for all of us.

Richard Shakarian:

Humberto will talk about the center piece of the Fire teams. And until we actually learn what he will share with you we are just witnessing, we have not yet got the idea of the Fire Teams. And I believe that the Fire Teams in America will go up to center and up the two coasts.  And I believe that we should have coordinated effort, I will set certain men in the west of the country and certain men in the east coast. And we will train them because there needs to be a certain way to open up the companies. And when the Lord had given me the 7 visions for the nation of Nicaragua, he did not tell me how to do the Fire Teams but Humberto is the one that he told and Humberto not only developed how to do the fire teams but also the way to open up the businesses so that our fire teams can be accepted. Had we used their methods we would be in the factories across the border that are employing thousands of people. Let's pay attention, it is not our American way but it is a successful pattern that I believe God wants us to learn and take around the world. Humberto has a national radio program that was given to them. Now he has a national TV program. The only thing they do is they give a testimony.

Humberto Arguello: - How many of you have been fishermen, When you pick up the bait, is it something that you like or the fish likes? The lord said to his disciples; I will make you fishermen of men, All fishermen need a bait, Lot of times when the Lord asks us to go fishing we use the bait that we like not the one that we like. We may have all the right things but the way we present it. And it is the problem that the Christians have had. Paul said this: - “Speak to the gentiles, Jews speak to the Jews.” When we approach a business we have to think what the owner is thinking about, how is it going to be for his good.  He is not thinking about the spiritual things that his company needs, he is thinking what I can get out of it. What would benefit me, and the business? And that is what the Lord is showing us how to enter the business world in Panama, Salvador, Honduras. All those different countries, and now here in Mexico, the bait is a little bit different.  We have to pray and really ask the Lord to really enlighten what kind of bait is it and the Lord open doors. So when you speak to the owner, about what benefit he is going to get out of this, what would make a difference to them. If it is not going to cost them anything then it becomes more interesting. As we go to all those different places, we want the doors to open.

Brownsville recap food bags for 17,000 families.  4 days of testimonies 11,811 received Christ.