Another Hero - Phil Strout (Vineyard USA)

As a young man, Phil did not know or really believe in God. However, one day something bizarre happened. He had a motorcycle accident where a car ran over both of his legs and he just got right back up and kept on riding. This was the beginning of his journey to discover that there was a God desiring to know him and use his life. 

I went to school in Chile with Jenna and Aaron his two kids. It was in Chile where I got introduced to a truly Apostolic and Prophetic work. I remember Phil preaching with his American accent how a healthy church has babies. (It plants churches). This was more than a theory, it took place as now the Vineyard Churches of Chile have spread throughout that country as well as to other Latin American nations. 

It was also at that church in Santiago when I was first exposed to the ministry of prophets and prophetic presbyteries. One guy told me simply how much God loved me and I recall feeling as if I was laying in the hands of God for the next 24 hours. (A great example of how prophecy can be as simply as telling someone that God loves them.)

Throughout middle school and high school Jenna was my pen pal. When it came to college I sent her and Aaron all of the material for considering Oral Roberts University (where we went to college). Throughout those years I always recall hearing how Phil was planting a new church here and then a new church there. This work has been done primarily in Maine and in New England which is as far away from the US church belt as possible. For several years I followed his sermons from Lewiston where the church grew incredibly. 

Then it 2010, I had the opportunity to meet up with Phil and his wife Janet in a conference in North Carolina. It was there that I picked up some books from John Wimber and Gary Best which served as models and encouragements for me to begin operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit (words of knowledge, healing, etc.). Phil Strout has been one of my heroes in that what he has done in Maine and Chile, I want to do in Europe.  Earlier last year I found out that he has become the head of the Vineyard Association of Churches in the USA. I can not say that it was much of a surprise, but kudos to the Vineyard movement for having such a fine leader at their helm. Oh, and a compliment to him for having such a sweet woman as Janet as his wife.  

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