Throwing Out A Fleece

On June 10, 2004 two days before our scheduled trip from Michigan to Minneapolis to visit our daughter and her husband, I received a surprise phone call from St. Paul, Minnesota.” This is Bob Hazen. Do you remember me? I was just phoning to thank you.” I sure did. I hadn’t spoken to him since 1975 and he had no way of knowing that we were coming his way. Three days later we were in his home and met his wife. Bob retold his story.

In the early 1970’s Bob was a mathematics student at Macalester College, St.Paul and he became involved in the hippie scene. He described himself as being a “long-haired, dope smoking, acid dropping, draft dodging, radical leftist hippie.” He also took a course in religion which dispelled his nominal belief in Christianity. He believed that life was going along fairly well until his girl friend and then his best friend rejected him. He felt very alone and became depressed over the thought that life was basically meaningless. He also fell into philosophical dispair, believing himself to be just a random mass of molecules. He made a half hearted attempt at suicide and then deliberated as to what his next step should be. He was desperate.

Pondering his options he recalled reading a book that some Christians had given him a few years before entitled The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson. The book was about the Holy Spirit radically transforming the lives of street gang members in New York City. This recollection caused Bob to open the phone book to the listing of churches. He put his finger down and where it landed he phoned that church. He inquired of the pastor,” Do you know anything about the book The Cross and the Switchblade and the work of the Holy Spirit?” The pastor replied that no he did not but that he knew someone who did. The pastor gave him my name.

At that time I was an assistant pastor in St. Paul and overseeing a group of people who were part of the charismatic revival. Bob phoned me and I invited him to a prayer group meeting. He came and he did not look very happy. After coming twice to the meetings he did not return. I phoned him and asked if we could meet. His first inclination was to say forget it, but life being as miserable as it was, he decided it wouldn’t hurt.

It was an evening in February when I arrived at the house where he was living. The new fallen snow was two to three feet high, yet the temperature was mild and I suggested that we walk the streets. As we walked for an hour or so I listened to him and all his questions and then shared with him stories about all the lives I had seen transformed by the Holy Spirit at our church. At the conclusion I challenged Bob. Much to his own surprise he invited Jesus into his life. But immediately he added, “May I throw out a fleece?” (Judges 6:36-40)

He had remembered reading about throwing out fleeces in The Cross and the Switchblade. He wanted some objective evidence that God was truly out there and not just a figment of his own imagination. I responded “Yes” not having any idea of what he was going to ask - but I did sense that he was truly seeking the Lord. Bob then prayed that his friends from Iowa would phone him before the weekend. I agreed with him in prayer. It was a Tuesday night – three days before the weekend. Before leaving he identified his friends as a Presbyterian pastor and his wife who had recently moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa from Bob’s home town of Grand Forks, North Dakota. As Bob retold the story he informed me that the pastor and his wife had always been hospitable to him and they had had discussions about the Christian faith, but they had never ever phoned him.

Driving home it occurred to me to see if I could locate the phone number of the Presbyterian pastor and help God out, but I didn’t pursue that. Instead, when I arrived at home I told my wife and we added another prayer.

The next day at the dinner hour I received a jubilant phone call from Bob: “Praise the Lord! I received the phone call at 8 a.m. this morning!” The pastor’s wife Susie had phoned saying that she just wanted to know how he was doing, that they were thinking about him. Deeply moved, Bob told her of his prayer request. Later that same day at lunch time Susie’s husband – Pastor John - called Bob not knowing that his wife had also called earlier that morning. This was the beginning of Bob’s walk with the Lord.

Attending a campus church with a knowledgeable pastor, Bob was directed to the works of great Christian thinkers who answered his philosophical questions and help ground him in his faith. What a wonderful reunion we had as Bob, now a deeply committed Christian, retold his story. But that was not the end of it.

In August of the same year I attended my DeVilbiss High School Reunion in Toledo, Ohio. There I met my high school band director Jack Tongring, now in his eighties. I shared the story with him and then sent him a copy of Bob’s testimony. A couple of days later Jack phoned me saying, “I thought I recognized Pastor John and his wife Susie as the couple who had moved from Iowa to pastor at my church - Collingwood Presbyterian - a number of years ago.” (Note: This also happens to be the church that I attended until age 10.} Jack phoned Susie, now a widow, and asked her if she knew Bob Hazen. “Certainly!” she responded. The story included Bob’s phone number so she phoned Bob that day and another amazing reunion took place.

For Bob Hazen’s full testimony from his perspective, contact him at bob@AlgebraForKids.com or 651.645.2706

There Is A God

Vera came to church regularly. Her husband Skip never came. I called on them one evening. When I asked him where he was as far as his beliefs he readily responded. I would describe him as being a dogmatic agnostic. He was absolutely convinced that one could not know for sure whether or not there was a God, it was simply beyond human knowing. He spoke for some
time. Even though I had taken a seminary course in apologetics which dealt with responding to skepticism and intellectual arguments against Christianity, I just kept quiet and listened which must have been by the grace of God. When he finished his lecture I simply asked him if he would be willing to read a book. He agreed and I handed him a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Like many other thinkers Skip read and soon after accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. What a joy it was to see Skip and Vera in church worshipping together! For anyone struggling with Christianity from an intellectual philosophical perspective I highly recommend that book. C.S. Lewis was an intellectual, an atheist, and an English professor at Oxford College, England. He described himself as “England’s most reluctant convert.” He is best known today as the author of the popular Chronicles of Narnia. Years later I gave a copy of the book to Bill who described it as “most compelling.” He too came to accept the Lord.

One By One

I remember another recently baptized in the Holy Spirit believer who came to me all excited. She decided to start a neighborhood Bible study. She mailed out invitations to all those in her neighborhood. We prayed for God’s blessing on the study. The next week she returned with a big smile all over her face. She then shared that only one neighbor lady showed up, but she testified to that lady and led her to invite Jesus into her life!

Extinguished

In the seventies I remember a lady sharing an unexpected experience. She attended a charismatic luncheon meeting where Francis Hunter spoke. At the conclusion Francis invited all those who wanted to quit smoking to come forward. Now JoAnn didn’t smoke herself, but her husband did. She wanted him to give up smoking so she went forward as a proxy for him.He was not present and knew nothing of this. Francis had those who came forward toss their cigarette packages, if they had any, into a wastebasket next to the pulpit. JoAnn didn’t have any but she went forward. As people came forward Francis added, ”Now if you start smoking again you will feel sick to your stomach.” JoAnn could hardly wait to get home because in the afternoon when her husband returned from work, the first thing he would always do is to take out a cigarette and light up to smoke. He came home later that afternoon and took out a cigarette. As soon as he started to smoke, sure enough, JoAnn felt sick to her stomach. Later she explained and as I recall, in time he quit smoking.

Lima Blessings

Pastor Bill Salsbery took Bettina and me out behind his house to proudly show off his little garden. The green beans, tomatoes, and a variety of other vegetables were flourishing, everything except a row of small emaciated lima beans. They looked like they were dying. I asked Bill what happened. With a sheepish grin he explained,” When I blessed the garden I blessed every row except the lima beans. I don’t like lima beans.”

In The Spirit

An event that I’ve always remembered took place in the 1970’s. The charismatic renewal was growing in the church where I was an assistant. One night the whole church had a progressive dinner with everyone ending up at the church for dessert. The organist and I were standing outside the sanctuary chatting. As we talked, a recently baptized in the Spirit believer, Linda,
walked out of the sanctuary. Her face was visibly aglow with the Spirit. It was unmistakable. The organist asked her “What happened to you ? You look radiant!” Unaware of the glow (Exodus 34:29), Linda simply responded, “I was just in the church praying.” Thirty years later when we visited Linda and her husband I retold the story. Linda wept. (See Gen
34:29-35, Acts 6:15 and 2 Cor.3:13,18)

Escape From Vietnam

I don’t know what July 4, 1776 felt like, but I think I had a taste of it over thirty years ago on July 4, 1975. I was part of a welcoming committee for refugees at the Minneapolis airport. The steps that led to our being there still amaze me.

In 1973 I met Jacob Hatanpaa from Schroeder, Minnesota near Lake Superior. At a church gathering in Grand Rapids, Minnesota he shared his story. Jacob spent two years in prison 1954-1956. In 1958 he married his wife Barbara and they began a family. Although always working and providing financially for his family, Jacob was a very heavy drinker and his family suffered because of it. Then in 1968 in desperation he cried out to God just hoping there might be a God. He experienced immediate relief but that in time faded. Later, while contemplating suicide, the Lord visited him. Jacob began reading the New Testament and soon accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Then Jesus baptized him with the Holy Spirit. Jacob’s life and the life of his family were dramatically improved.

In the early seventies Jacob was increasingly concerned about the plight of Vietnamese children that he saw on the nightly news. One night Jacob and his employer were watching the news together. It showed Vietnamese families with children fleeing their homes because of the war. He employer said sarcastically, “I wonder where all the Christians are who could help
these people? Oh yeah, they’re probably busy making money.” Jacob was convicted that he was one of those Christians who was supposed to help. The Lord seemed to be saying, “Those Vietnamese children are the children that your daughter Rosie has been seeing in her dreams.” His teenage daughter Rosie had told him of having a reoccurring dream (Job 33:14-17) of Asian children seated around the family dinner table having a meal with them. (Luke 14:12-14). God planted a vision in Jacob’s heart, a vision of opening his homeand the homes of other Christians to Vietnamese families fleeing the war (Matt. 25: 31-36). He and Barbara prayed and fasted as the Lord began to make the vision a reality. Jacob, as led by the Holy
Spirit, began sharing this vision with others.

One response to his sharing was the donation of a large lodge building. He merely had to take it down, move it to his property and reconstruct. It was a large task but God provided all the resources and help. Now many Vietnamese could stay with them.

At one church a listener told Jacob that he would never get to Vietnam and that in order to get government approval he would have to obtain a state license to run an orphanage. On hearing this a teenager exclaimed, “Praise the Lord! Now I know what my vision means.” She explained that during Jacob’s talk she had a vision of a white dove flying through the sky with a short strip of red ribbon in its beak.” That’s the Holy Spirit cutting through the red tape!” Overcoming many obstacles Jacob was able to get to Vietnam the summer of 1974.

Many things happened there. He met Nguyen (pronounced “Win) Yuan on a bus. Tuan who understood some English started talking with Jake. In time Jacob led Tuan to the Lord. Tuans wife later shared that she had had a dream in which an angel appeared and told her to tell her husband to get on a particular bus on a particular day. He did. Tuan played a significant role in helping Jacob gather and hold together a group of Vietnamese who wanted to flee to the United States. After three months of making important contacts Jacob returned to the United States.

The autumn of 1974 to March 1975 the South Vietnamese army began to collapse under the invasion of the Communist North army. Jacob came to our church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He met with our prayer group leaders, about ten men. Receiving prayer and financial support, on April 4, 1975 Jacob flew to California. While there he stayed at the church of a godly friend of mine, John David Schofield, now Bishop of San Joaquin. A parishioner there gave Jacob a Bible printed in the Chinese language. The cover on it had a picture of the Communist logo, the sickle and the hammer. On Sunday morning April 6 at our church in St. Paul, the appointed scriptures were read: Isaiah 43:1-8 “But now, thus says Yahweh, who created you, Jacob, who formed you Israel. Do not be afraid, for I have called you by your name, you are mine. Should you pass through the sea I will be with you; or through rivers they will not swallow you up. Should you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched and the flames will not burn you. For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…Because you are precious in my eyes, because you are honored and I love you, I give men in exchange for you. I will bring back your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. To the North I will say, ‘Give them up’ and to the South, ’Do not hold them.’ Bring back my sons from far away, my daughters from the ends of the earth, all those who bear my name, whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, whom I have made.”(New Jerusalem translation)

It was not just the name “Jacob” which caught the attention of the prayer group members present at that service. There was a group awareness, a shared inner knowing, that this passage was anointed by the Holy Spirit for Jacob’s mission. How is it possible that a passage from the book of Isaiah written almost three thousand years ago could have a specific application in our day? We just knew that it did. We phoned Jacob in California that night and shared the passage. The next morning he flew to Saigon.

The next three weeks we made various attempts to bring Jacob and the Vietnamese back, including renting an airplane. Jacob similarly tried on his end. All attempts failed. Jacob and the Vietnamese that he and Tuan had assembled remained together in a house in Saigon. Jacob continued to assure them that God would make a way for their escape despite now hearing the
increasing sounds of battle and seeing smoke in the skies. The North Vietnamese army steadily moved closer. All phone communication was lost. On Sunday April 19, 1975 Saigon fell. With that the Holy Spirit cut through all the government red tape .Our group of Vietnamese were now officially political refugees, but were they and Jacob even alive? After our Sunday morning service the prayer group met. Deeply concerned and questioning everything, we resorted to more prayer. The appointed morning scripture gave us some comfort. James 1:22 “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” For the next
ten days we didn’t hear a word. We prayed and prayed.

Friday night May 12 one of our leaders, the late Bill Severson, phoned Jacob’s wife Barbara. Fifteen minutes earlier Jacob had phoned her from Guam to say that they all had arrived safely by boat. They had been in the final evacuation. Isaiah 43 had been amazingly prophetic. Both the North (Vietnamese who were attacking)) and the South (Vietnamese officials who had never given them official permission to leave) had given them up. They had passed through the waters and not been swallowed up. The fire of bombs and guns all around them had not scorched or burned them. God’s promise to “bring my sons from far away, my daughters from the ends of the earth” had been accomplished. Before leaving Jacob gave that Bible in Chinese to an elderly Chinese man who was in a wheelchair. Elated, the man gladly received the Bible with the Communist
logo on its cover, knowing what an atheistic Communist takeover would mean for the Christians.

The next morning the news was announced to the prayer group at a charismatic renewal conference we were holding. Joy and praise broke out. The first scripture read was Isaiah 49:5-13 which included, “I was honored in the eyes of Yahweh, my God was my strength. And now Yahweh has spoken, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring back Jacob to him. It is not enough for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel. I will make you the light to the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

In late May Jacob returned to the United States. And fittingly on July 4, 1975, Independence Day, there at the Minneapolis airport we saw the critical part of an amazing vision fulfilled. There before our own eyes we saw a stream of laughing happy Vietnamese faces, mostly women and children, heading our way. They were led by the Vietnamese man Tuan, who was handing everyone the now worthless South Vietnamese currency. We welcomed him and some ninety plus refugees. Families from our church invited some forty five refugees to live in our homes. A few other churches took in families and a sizeable number went to live with Jacob and his family in Schroeder. It took a lot of love and work by many people to help them adjust to their new homeland, but we knew that it was God’s plan. They had heard and believed that Jesus would provide for their escape and safety. Now they would be able to worship the Lord in a free country where they could come to better know him.

A week later while reading the Bible, I was struck by verses 1-2 in Psalm 126, “When Yahweh brought Zion’s captives home, at first it seemed like a dream, then our mouths filled with laughter and our lips with a song. Even the pagans started talking about the marvels Yahweh had done for us!” Thanks be to God!

Postscript: In June 2005 we had a 30 year reunion in Minneapolis with Jacob and Barbara and some of the Vietnamese who settled in Minnesota. We are hoping to do another reunion in the future.

Just Another Highway Cleanup?

“There’s no justice,” I said jokingly to the Pastor Bob. “Ryan found a rubber ball. I found a rubber gasket. And Ryan’s dad, Todd, found a twenty dollar bill lying beside the road.” We had just completed cleaning up Adopt A Highway cleanup near our church. However to my surprise the gasket appeared identical to the one that I had on the motor for my musical instrument, the vibraharp. (The vibraharp is like a xzylophone except that it has a sustaining bar and a small motor that rotates discs in the sound tubes which results in a vibrato which imitates the human voice.) Sure enough it was a match. I had never seen one like it before except one I had ordered from the manufacturer years before. I saved it as a spare.

A month later a lady visitor came to church. She introduced herself to me and said that she was so excited to see the vibraharp on the platform because her dad played one. Then she added that he had lost the gasket to the motor. Without a moment’s
hesitation I went and got the gasket and gave it to her. She was thrilled and said that she would mail it to him the very next day. (Her dad probably hadn't known where to order it from as the manufacturer went out of business in the 1970's.) It was a perfect fit. Sometimes God's hand is so obvious.

Holy Laughter

Several years ago, Pastor Bob asked me to be an elder at New Jerusalem Christian Fellowship. I had not thought about being an elder at all when to my surprise one day I began to think about being an elder. The next day when he asked me I responded that God had spoken to me the day before. I accepted the position as an assignment from God.

Sometime after that we had a men’s mentoring group of about ten men in which we read and discussed Christian books and also were assigned a prayer partner. The final group meeting concluded with a foot washing service. We were in the finished basement of the home of one of the men. It was a rather quiet informal service as we went around washing one another’s feet and praying for one another. Then I came to Pastor Bob. All of a sudden, as out of nowhere for no apparent reason, I started laughing, laughing hard, and then Bob started laughing. It was some time before we could stop. The other men had the look of “what is going on?” But it was good and right. There was some kind of a release. I believe it was a sign from God of his blessing to come upon us and the church in the days ahead, a taste of the joy of the Lord.

God Will Provide

In February 2006 another elder of the church came to me with the church financial statement. It did not look good. Even though I am not an expert at reading financial statements the bottom line was obvious. We were heading into financial problems. It appeared that my part time position would have to be one of the many almost immediate cuts. The senior pastor was out of the country. We approached another church elder. His response was to lead us in a prayer for God to provide for the church. We went to another elder who responded in exactly the same way. In less than a week, following the Wednesday night service the church treasurer called us into the church office and showed us a contribution check for (and I’m not making this up) $100,000.00! Hallelujah!

Warning

One day I drove over to visit Vernice. Her house was on top of a hill. There was a large parking area behind. When I came to the parking are I noticed that the area immediately next to the house was cordoned off by a yellow warning tape. When I got inside the house my first question was to ask her why the area was taped off. She explained to me that weekly, for years and years, when she came home from grocery shopping she always parked her car next to the house. But this week as she went to park she intuited that the Lord was telling her not to park there. That seemed like nonsense to her but she parked away from the house. Later that afternoon a brick fell off her chimney and landed exactly where she always parked her car.

Beautifully & Wonderfully Made

Years ago a couple at our church gave birth to a healthy baby girl who had webbed toes. As she grew up her parents informed her that by simple surgery she could have the webs removed. She declined saying that if that was the way God created her she did not want the surgery. Eventually she married. They hoped to have children of their own but as that did not happen they began to consider the lengthy process of adoption. And then a nearby teenager became pregnant out of wedlock. She asked them to adopt the baby she was expecting. They gladly agreed.

The day of birth arrived. At the hospital the husband and wife were present for the delivery. The husband was even invited to cut the umbilical cord. Shortly before the delivery, the husband and wife were informed that sometimes in the family line a defect occurred. The healthy baby was born with webbed feet!

1-2-3 Dream

My favorite story with our daughter Katrina occurred when she received a phone call from a friend who thanked her for her making a contribution to his ministry. They had worked together on staff at a Christian summer camp. He said that upon his return from the camp his mother had told him of a dream that she had had. From her dream she understood that her son would receive money from three different sources: 1. from someone who owed him money 2.from someone who would give out of the goodness of their heart 3. she couldn’t remember.

As it turned out:1. his former employer discovered that they owed him money and mailed him a check 2. Katrina gave out of the goodness of her heart 3. his Aunt gave him some money instructing him not to tell his mother.

Alto Sax & Ear Wax

Jack, my alto saxophonist friend in Toledo was a powerful musical influence for me in the 50s. He conveyed through his playing the most emotion of anyone with whom I played. A couple years ago he suffered a stroke which left his right hand immobilized. He was not able to play and was depressed. A couple of times Bettina and I visited him and prayed for him. Gradually he recovered the mobility of his hand and was able to start playing again.

One day my guitarist friend Don phoned me. He informed me that he had been playing with a pianist and our friend Jack in a coffee house in Toledo. The pianist who led the group had been asked by the coffee house owner to tell the saxophone player not to play so loud as there had been complaints from the customers. The pianist didn’t want to tell him because he knew that it would hurt his feelings. He asked the guitarist to tell him, but the Don didn’t want to hurt his feelings either. On the phone we went to prayer and asked God to resolve the dilemma. The next week the saxophonist went to the doctor for a check up. The doctor discovered that there was a wax build up in his ears and removed the wax. Since he could hear himself playing so much better he quit playing too loud.

Pepsi Gives Life

One man in our church at about the age of thirty accepted the Lord into his life. A few weeks later he received a phone call late on a Friday night. It was from his business partner who was not a Christian. His teenage son has just been in a terrible automobile accident and had been transported to the hospital. He was in critical condition and it was uncertain if he would live through the night. The new Christian said that he would come right away.

On the way to the hospital he asked God for a sign that his partner’s son would live. On the highway he spotted a large sign
which read “Pepsi Gives Life!” “Thank you,” he said to the Lord. When he arrived at the hospital the family was very upset and fearful. He had them come together and led in a prayer for the boy’s healing. The boy slipped into a coma which lasted several months. By this time many churches were praying for his recovery. Sometime shortly after Easter he awoke form his coma. He awoke singing the Pepsi song.

A Dog Named Missy

My good friend Dick Smith is a retired pastor in Minneapolis, Minnestora. He is filled with the joy of the Lord, just fun to be with.
In the 1970’s a church member of his approached him with a small lap poodle that was sick and asked Dick to pray for the poodle. Dick had never prayed for an animal before but it was a nice dog and a nice church member so Dick agreed.
The dog’s name was Missy. In telling the story Dick added “You never know how the Lord is going to use your prayers.’He laid his hands on little Missy and prayed for healing.

The next day Missy was better. Sunday morning came and at the coffee hour a lady approached Dick. She told him, “I haven’t been in church for seven years, but last week I had an encounter with the Lord and you are going to see me from now on.” The lady became very active in the church. Her name was Missy.

In 2004 when we visited Dick. He requested prayers that he be bolder in his faith. He’s bolder than I am. Is that the secret of his contagious joy?

About jazzPRAISE

jazzPRAISE is a dynamic music ministry. We minister the Good News of Jesus Christ through praise music, testimonies, and prayer ministry. We play everything from Bach to Amazing Grace to contemporary praise music, much of it original , all with melodic improvisations on top of latin and swing rhythms.

When I was 4 or 5 years old my mother read to me about Jesus and I believed. In grade school I became very active as a choir member at Trinity Episcopal Church, Toledo, Ohio. In high school God called me into the ordained ministry. I also enjoyed playing saxophone in dance bands and jazz groups. At the time I assumed that when I entered the ministry I would have to give up playing saxophone (My pastor was a former saxophone player himself). However in seminary I picked up the vibraharp and a few years later I composed and began playing a jazz mass and a bossa nova mass which I performed at many churches.

In 1971 I was introduced to the charismatic renewal and soon after Jesus baptized my wife Bettina and myself with the Holy Spirit. We had a whole new awareness of Jesus and we became part of a dynamic prayer and praise group at the church where we served in St. Paul, MN. During the following years the Lord blessed us with three children, Bettina (Gillen), Michael and Katrina. In 1977 we moved back to Michigan.

In the 90’s I transferred my ordination to New Jerusalem Christian Fellowship, a non-denominational church and became part of the praise team. In 1998, one day I heard in my mind myself playing praise music with a gifted jazz guitarist, Don Hales. He had played a tour of college chapel campuses with me in the 60’s. I hadn’t seen him since. He was living in Columbus, Ohio and playing music. I tracked him down and phoned him. Much to my surprise, but not God’s, Don was moving back to the Toledo area. I shared my vision with him. When he arrived we put together a group and jazzPRAISE was born.

Two years later we added our gifted church vocalist and keyboard player Donna Howland. Thanks to my wife Bettina’s encouragement, I returned to playing alto saxophone as my primary instrument. I can’t tell you how much joy it is to praise the Lord on it.

The Lord provided very good musicians for our first two recordings. However, with our newest members I believe the Lord is taking us to a new level of music ministry. He has provided Pastor Rick Braman on bass and Bill Latocki of PraiseToys on conga drums and percussion. Don Hales moved back to Columbus in 2005. In his place the Lord has provided jazz guitarist and vocalist Pastor Bill Walbridge. Bill also assists with the prayer ministry which concludes our engagements. And the Lord has been giving me many new praise songs which we plan to record in the coming year.

Testimonies are shared, and ourministry concludes with a time of prayer for healing and personal needs. It is intergral to our
ministry and many lives are touched.

For more information about jazzPRAISE, contact Richard Blank at 517.431.2188.

jazzPRAISE Reviews

“I highly recommend jazzPRAISE to your church. We enjoyed a Sunday evening of musical praise, testimonies, and a meaningful time of prayer, and our congregation was touched. The Rev. Dick Blank is sensitive to the Spirit, appropriate in his presentation, and effective in ministering to others, regardless of denominiation. If you want something different, fun, enjoyable and ministry oriented, invite jazzPRAISE to lead in a unique service. The Lord will bless your congregation for it.”

– The Rev. Clark Cothern, Formerly Trinity Baptist
Church, Adrian, MI.;currently at Living Water Community Church, Ypsilanti Township, MI.

“I strongly recommend the Rev. Dick Blank and his group jazzPRAISE. They combine quality Christian music in a professional jazz style with the ability and desire to minister to the needs of those present.”

–Pastor Robert P. Norman New Jerusalem Christian
Fellowship Somerset,MI.

Healing Scriptures (NIV)

Ask your Father in heaven to give you “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation”(ie. the Holy Spirit) as you consider, pray and confess out loud these scriptures.

Ps,103:1-5
Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Matthew 4:23
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease ( dis-ease) and sickness among the people.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Isaiah 53:5-7
( A prophecy about Jesus 700 years prior to his birth.)
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows
(Literal from the Hebrew)
Surely he took up our sicknesses and carried our pains,yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted,
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed.
(Jesus was wounded by being whipped Matt.27:26 and beaten Matt.27:30 and nailed to the cross John 20:25).

Matthew 8:17
He took up our infimities and carried our diseases”.

1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

Mark 9:23-24
Everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed,”I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”

Romans 10:17
Consequently faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard though the word of Christ. (Speak the word ie. the promises so you can hear them and grow your faith.)

Hebrews 4:12
The word of God is living and active…it penetrates...

2 Cor. 1:20
For no matter how many promises God has made they are “yes” in Christ.( Be in Him)
And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death”

Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth ( ie. speak out loud),”Jesus is Lord,”and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.(translation from the Greek,” you will be saved,healed delivered”).

Mark 11:22-25
Have faith in God,”Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if any says( speaks out loud) to this mountain (ie. to your mountain of sickness and/or fear of it),’Go, throw yourself into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

(Unforgiveness is one of the greatest obstacles to healing-Lord, make me willing to be willing to forgive. Write down the names of those you are forgiving and date it).

John 6:63
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

James 5:14-16
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so you may be healed.

Learn the scriptures, think on them, personalize them (ie. by his wounds I have been healed), pray them, confess them out loud ( which will increase your faith), have the elders, those with gifts of healing and other believers pray for you often. Read all the Biblical accounts on healing, pray them and other scriptures. Pray for others that need healing. Read Christian books on healing. Persist until healed and then testify.

A helpful website is Mary Graff’s God’s Word Brings Our Healing
www.stjohnshealingcenter.org