The overall fruit of the conference for me has been an increased confidence to step out in faith in response to the promptings of the Spirit. As a seminarian on pastoral year, I am constantly encountering individuals in desperate need of God’s love and healing. Since the conference, I have prayed with countless parishioners and even facilitated and helped lead a healing service at my parish. I have experienced greater transformation in Christ in openness to living joyfully. I have much deeper faith than I did months ago. I see that all that I am and all that I do must be founded in my encounter and relationship with Christ. Without him, my work, my efforts, and my life are meaningless!
I have also seen a deeper emergence of healing, words of knowledge, and prophecy. Before the conference, it seemed like when I prayed with people, Jesus would only heal about 5% of the time. Since the conference, it seems as though he heals 80% of the time! Healing is usually not immediate, but within a day or two, there is noticeable difference for the person who needed healing prayer. I have seen wrists being healed, great emotional healing, and neck healings. Just a few weeks ago, I helped lead a healing training here at my parish. We did a workshop on words of knowledge. I got a word for neck stiffness and five people out of eighty stood up. Each person who stood received a healing! It was amazing! As for prophecy, the most poignant example occurred at the Encounter Conference. During impartation, I approached a group and asked the Lord for the gift of prophecy. While being prayed over, I received a burning image of a woman with black hair, black glasses, and a red shirt. God told me that he wanted me to tell this woman that her son was going to be ok. I looked around the room for about 3 seconds and found the woman, exactly as she had appeared in my mind’s eye. I delivered the word and the woman’s eyes immediately filled with tears. Her son had been going through a separation with his wife and there was concern over how the children would be taken care of. She said out of all the amazing experiences of the conference, this was the most powerful for her. God is so good!