Mike Gladieux

While I was attending graduate school at the University of Michigan I heard about the community early on. I knew “the 4” from my undergraduate days at Notre Dame. I had gone to Campus Corners to the apartment prayer meetings, because Steve had called me up and invited me. And I had stopped in at St. Mary’s basement for a prayer meeting, but although I was touched, in neither case did The Lord catch me. Then one Thursday evening I went to a Word of God prayer meeting at St. Thomas gymnasium. I went on a lark. As I was there, a man from a motorcycle gang stood up and testified about how Jesus had saved him. As he spoke, I “saw” The Lord Jesus standing next to him. I was astounded!! I spoke to The Lord. “Jesus! You really are here!” Instantly He stood before me, and touched me. I was filled with the Love of God as the Holy Spirit flowed through my body like an electrical current. My whole lousy life was before me like a 3-dimensional mural. Jesus said nothing, but just loved me. I wept copiously. I called on Jesus and told Him that I wanted to be like Him. I was so sorry for my wrong life style. After the meeting Jim Cavnar invited all who were interested to sign up for The Life in The Spirit seminar. I did and was caught up in the wonderful move of the Holy Spirit here in our community, and became part of The Word of God. A few weeks later Ralph was reading a few sentences on receiving Jesus that Billy Graham had written. I specifically asked Jesus to save me and be Lord of my life. I had a momentary vision of Jesus in heaven making a check mark next to my name in some big book. I now know that it was The Book of Life. I think He checked the “Do Not Erase” column next to my name. My life has never been the same. The friendships, the teaching, the fellowship. How God has blessed me!

Paul and Gloria Melton

Gloria and I are eternally grateful for each and every member of The Word of God Community for the following reasons:
1. because you said YES to the LORD when He invited you to come to Ann Arbor, sometimes at great distances and sometimes with great difficulties
2. because you helped form community and built the BODY of CHRIST for me so that I could change my life forever
3. you made all of the sacrifices, tithes, attending lectures, career changes, etc. etc.
4. you grew in the Love of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit and IT is still strong.
Paul and Gloria Melton

Jamie Treadwell

I never would have guessed back in 1977, in my first contact with the Word of God in Mary Markley dorm, that today I would be writing this testimony of God’s faithfulness as a lay missionary, single for the Lord, dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States.

I write this tonight from the Servants of the Word house in London, England. I just finished a skype call confirming plans for my visit to Beirut Lebanon where I will be training a youth group in their new outreach efforts.

I left the USA in 1986 to serve in our communities in Europe for one year, or perhaps longer if the Spirit so directed. It has now been 21 years across the pond, including 12 years in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The work with young people I started doing with the Word of God provided the foundation for international ministry in youth work I am now engaged in across Europe and the Middle East. I am deeply grateful for the incredibly rich life the Lord has given me. It has been a journey through great difficulty and sorrow, but never without the abiding presence of Christ, and the firm vision of community life that was planted in my heart in those early days of the Word of God in Ann Arbor.

Winslow and Elizabeth Fox

Coming into The Word of God 36 years ago and being baptized in the Holy Spirit has transformed our lives. God has generously and continually given us more of His Holy Spirit so that step by step He has changed us and renewed our personalities into more mature Christians who can be confident in living daily by His grace and to His glory, and has called us to serve Him in various ways.

In Psalm 40 it says: "Many O Lord my God are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you."

Praise God for the spirit-filled extended family He has given us in The Word of God!
* * * * *
"The single most tranforming thing about coming into The Word of God for me was receiving The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and at the same time receiving the awareness of the distinction between God and Jesus."
Elizabeth F. Fox
* * * * *
I am amazed at how the Lord used many people to work change in my life.
During high school, I briefly considered going into seminary. I thought I was in a pretty good place in my Christian life. So I was reluctant to listen to Harry MacIntosh, Jim McFadden, my own wife, and small-group people like Sister Renee when they spoke about "something more".

But when they prayed, it seemed as though they had a personal relationship with God. I was used to praying, but these people, full of the Holy Spirit,
seemed to address God on a first-name basis.

I wanted that closeness, and received it with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This came gradually, not in one instantaneous flash, but over weeks. I am grateful for the change.
Winslow G. Fox

Martha Darling

These days, there’s a lot of talk about the breakdown of society, the disappearance of relationships, the increasing separation of people from each other other. People lose touch, literally—no one touches them, hugs them, thinks about them, wants to be with them. More and more, people are turning into isolated cells, without families or friends, vulnerable to any societal infection that comes along.

Where’s the social network we all need? I’ve found that net of love in The Word of God.

First, I think of a fishing net. Remember things like household birthday parties and cluster Christmas plays? I think of such activities as simple, safe ways to include strangers in my life, until they aren’t strangers any more. It’s easier to help lonely souls who need more of God when I’m working at it with other people. Prayer meetings, household dinners, The Word of God Guesthouse, Word of God guests in my house—when I live these things, I witness, even if I don’t know I am. “Lord, where are you staying?” “Come and see” (John 1:38-39).

Second, I think of a safety net. It’s tit for tat in society; I scratch your back, you scratch mine; one hand washes the other. You help others with the mindset that you’re piling up IOUs to collect on when you need help. In The Word of God, I learned to help others for love’s sake, to “lend without expecting repayment” (Luke 6:35). We hold hands to make a net for catching each other when one of us falls off the tightrope. We help even when the other person can’t pay back the dinner, or the babysitting, or the yard work. We hold each other’s hands, but more than that—we hold each other’s lives.

When I moved to Ann Arbor in 1975, my only network was my large, close-knit family. Everyone in my family believed that only family could be trusted. I joined the community, and my family felt betrayed. I was actually letting strangers help me and I was helping them, treating strangers as if they were family! For over 30 years, my family bitterly resented my involvement in The Word of God.

It took the most cataclysmic event of my life—my daughter’s suicide—to change their minds. They saw firsthand over many months how the community loved, cared for, and watched over me. They saw both nets—the net that fished me out of the ocean and brought me to God, and the safety net that kept me from smashing on the ground when my life fell apart.

We have a tremendous gift here. We’re part of a stunning work of God. The network of love which the world needs has been shared with us. God, help us keep it, and help us keep sharing it!

Susan and Larry Randolph

First of all, we love the Word of God Community because it gave us the Life in the Spirit Seminars, valuable foundational teachings, and hours of experiencing union with God in the Spirit of praise and worship at the many gatherings we attended. Larry felt drawn by the Lord into the life and work at Christ the King Catholic Church and so we ended our association with the WOG but only because of time and energy conflict not for any other reason. As to the question, "What has the Lord done for you?" He has been completely faithful - even when we were not faithful. He has loved us and blessed us beyond measure and to such a degree that we couldn't help but love Him in return. He so inclined Himself to us to lift us up from the attachments of this world. Slowly but surely He is setting us free - so bountiful is His grace!!

"How has God transformed our lives?" I wish I could say that He has so transformed our lives that we now look and act completely like Jesus, but that is not the case. We do, however, desire and pray for daily conversion and have come to find out that God loves that prayer and will daily send ways to bring that about. It usually and almost always comes in the form of relationships and a deep call to surrender to the unconditional love of God to be poured out first in our marriage toward each other and then to every single person God brings to us. It is a supernatural work that we have finally come to see only God can accomplish if we but ask and say yes!! By God's grace we will continue to daily ask and say yes . "What has God done in our lives?".We have received many miracles of healing from burned fingers that were blistered to pure skin in a matter of minutes to an eye poked with a stick being healed in seconds. There have been so many of those kind of healings with our grandchildren that I am ashamed to say that I think we experience them so frequently we see them as a common occurance that we don't give them the kind of notoriety that they deserve, but when we fall into bed at night we thank God from the bottom of our hearts for His constant faithfulness and mercy. You see, the Lord has blessed us with 17 grandchildren and He has daily taught us and continues to teach us that we are not in control, but that He is. That requires our constant dependence upon Him. We see one of our primary duties in life is prayer and penance for the salvation of these little hearts for Him. And more than salvation we pray that they will be laborers for the building up of the His Kingdom. God is teaching us dependence. That actually is right up there with the miracles because both Larry and I are by nature extremely independent. Larry has also heard the Lord call him to become a deacon in the Catholic Church, so he is undergoing that process right now.

I believe that the Spirit is doing something great and powerful on this 40th year! I have been hearing, almost daily, in some form or fashion, "This is the year of freedom for God's people". I am excited to be living in these days of great grace!!!! Larry and I are very much looking forward to celebrating with our brothers and sisters in the Word of God!! In His Love,

Susan Randolph

Jan (Mertz) Watson

What a neat idea! Happy anniversary. Here is a short update from me:

I left Ann Arbor and moved to Colorado in September 1990. After my mother’s death in 1987, this move allowed me to connect more closely with my dad and siblings. Since that time, I met and married a wonderful man, Mayo Watson. We celebrated out 10^th anniversary this summer. I happily acquired a grown family which has since expanded to include two incredible grandchildren. In addition to family life, Mayo and I spend a good portion of our time serving through parish life in the Catholic church. We are blessed to belong to a solid, vibrant Archdiocese which has greatly enriched our faith. Our particular parish, Saint Mary’s in Littleton, is cared for by three Spanish priests who have a humble and lively love for the loving heart of Jesus. Mayo teaches 7^th and 8^th grade at our parish school. I volunteer at the library and am president of the Altar and Rosary Society, a women’s service organization. All those years of serving Sunday night district dinners gave me the training I needed to lead these women! I have made a few visits back to Ann Arbor on business trips. It’s always a joy to reconnect with some of my old friends. I am seeing a lot more gray hair and reading glasses and pictures of grandkids with each visit! God bless you all.

Jan (Mertz) Watson

Ron and Liz Ghormley

Dear brothers and sisters,

Our testimonies all differ in details but many are similar in their main points as they touch on The Word of God. Usually it goes like this: "Someone invited me to a prayer meeting, I went, experienced the power of God and my life has never been the same." For Liz and me it went something like this:

While I was out of town on a business trip someone invited Liz to a small charismatic prayer meeting at St. Paul Lutheran School near Concordia. When I returned home I discovered that Liz was all excited and insisted that I go with her to the next prayer meeting. One of the leaders told us that they were closing down for the summer and if we really wanted to experience the power of God we should attend a Word of God meeting down at St. Mary's. Procrastinator that I am I didn't do anything about the suggestion. In September Ted Kennedy, Jr. came to the office where I worked (Townsend & Bottum on S. State St.). Bill Bottum (my boss) listened to Ted's description of the goings on at The Word of God and suggested that perhaps he should talk to me. (God didn't give up on us.) Ted invited us to a Thursday gathering that night. Ted's wife Emily met us there and steered us to an "explanation room" led by Jim Cavnar. Jim also gave the talk that night and I think he may have swept up and put away the chairs. It was my first experience of the power of the Holy Spirit and we were swept up with many of you who were being called to Community in those glorious days. I remember a few names from our Community Weeked down at the Hall of the Divine Child in Monroe. Gary and Barbara Morgan, Dorcee Clarey, Jeanne Kun, Ed Loescher were among those attending the weekend.

That was 37 years ago and literally our lives were changed forever. As we all know it was not always easy but we praise God for allowing us to be part of what he was doing all those years ago. We rejoice in what God has done with us and for us over all those years. He remains faithful even though we have not always been faithful. We pray that the Lord will continue to lead all of us in the years ahead. Happy 40th Anniversary! We are truly sorry that we can't be with you and celebrate this great occasion. God bless you all!
Ron and Liz Ghormley

40th Anniversary Testimonies & Testimony Book

As part of our 40th anniversary, work has begun on collecting personal testimonies and stories about what the Lord has done for us as members of the Community.

• What has the Lord done for you?
• How has God transformed your life?
• What has God done in your life – miracles, answered prayers, prayers answered before asking?
• What has the Lord taught you?

Testimonies can be as short as a single paragraph or as long as a page or two. Keep entries focused on a single topic and feel free to submit more than one entry!

We would like to publish testimonies on this blog as well as compile them and publish in both print/PDF format more towards the middl-ish/end of our 40th year.

Please address questions and/or send testimonies to:
Phil Tiews: Phil@TheWordOfGodCommunity.org OR

Stephen Lucchetti: slucchetti@comcast.net / slucchetti@gmail.com

Joint Gathering Prophecies

Brothers and Sisters, here are the prophetic words from the joint prayer meeting. May I suggest you take them into your prayer closet.

Jack Flanagan

September 30^th Joint Word of Life/Word of God Prayer Meeting

Ø Is.42:5-9 This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."

“And the Lord says to us, the Holy Spirit is moving in the world and doing a new thing. I am calling the hearts of many to come to me. I am calling you to come to me. I am building community around the world. Will you come and build with me? Will you come and gather together with me to worship me and reach out to the lost? I am building community around the world; will you come and build with me, says the Lord.”

Ø “I tell you, it delights my heart to see you here today for you are a people formed into my own heart. Those of you who have come from far distances, and those of you who have been near, those of you who have called my name and always know me, I say this to you, you are a people that have been given a great portion of my Holy Spirit. I imparted my Holy Spirit to you unlike any others. Whether you received this in your youth or you received this recently, it is a portion of my Holy Spirit not like any. And I ask you, what have you done with it? How do you use your gifts? When I called you up from your youth, I asked one thing of you – a radical heart. And as you grow in age and grace and wisdom, I ask the very same thing of you – a radical heart. I have never changed my call to you, no matter where you have gone, no matter where you live, no matter how far away you have fallen, I call you up day and I tell you that I have never left you. I have never left you, I have stood next to you and I have called to you. I have called you by name. I say, a radical heart is what I have asked of you. Give me that today.

Ø Psa 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty-- he is the King of glory.

Ø “Break open the vessel. Break it, I said! You think the vessel is precious, but it’s what’s inside that is precious to me. Pour it out. Do not save the vessel because you think it is beautiful, but break it, I say, and pour out what’s inside. For it is beautiful, it is fragrant, it is Me.”

Ø “I gave you my life in the Spirit. I gave you my Spirit as I gave my Spirit to many others for the renewal of my people who confuse and harass my sheep without a shepherd, many of them. I gave you my Spirit in the past for the renewal of my people and you responded. But my wish is that you bear much fruit and not go to the past but go to the present. And today if you seek me, I will give you my Spirit. I will give you my Spirit to bear fruit today to welcome the renewal of my people who are even more confused and more harassed. I want each of you to bear much fruit. I want each of you to work for renewal. I want each of you to obey my Holy Spirit. I want each of you to take peace and joy in believing to those I have set in your life. My wish is that you bear much fruit and bear it now!

Ø The Lord gave me an image of a house with all the shades drawn down and the windows locked tight. And I felt like many of us, especially because of difficult times and some of the stuff with community, that the instinct sometimes is to retreat, to build a wall around your heart, to build a wall around your house and protect your family. In the image that I had I saw the shades just flipping up in this house and the doors being thrown wide open. And I feel like that is what God wants to say to each and every one of us. We have been given so much, so much of the Spirit, so much wisdom about how to live lives conformed to Christ, so much support in knowing one another and loving one another. We shouldn’t be ashamed of that, we shouldn’t be apologetic. Even if our lives don’t look like what we thought they were going to look like and things turned out differently for us, we’ve been given so much. And for the younger people, even if things don’t quite look like what we wish they should have looked like in your family or in your community or your churches, you’ve been given so much. We really need to open up the windows and throw open the doors and let people into our lives and literally into our homes. It doesn’t matter if they are dirty or chaotic. Let them in to our hearts and our lives, even if we feel a bit dirty and chaotic. God’s love and mercy is so present in our lives and we have so much to offer. Spiritually and literally the window shades can be lifted up in our homes, and not only can we let people in but it also allows the light and love of Christ to come into us with more and more of his life which is what he wants to do with us.

Ø The Lord gave us a word about being radical and having radical hearts. The Lord brought to mind that the word ‘radical’ refers to roots. The Lord wants our hearts to be rooted in Him, rooted in His Word, rooted in what His Spirit is calling us to. And He does NOT want us to be rooted in the world, in what the world says, rooted in what the world has given us or not given us. He wants us to be rooted in Him. And as we are rooted in Him and rooted in His Word, He will then be able to use us. He will then be able to use us in a way that is radical in the sense that we are more usually think of.

Ø Eph.3:14-19 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ø I have been so greatly encouraged and was struck again by my favorite aspects of this community is that we represent so many churches. We are unified across denominational lines. This is a miracle of the Holy Spirit in our generation that cannot be appreciated too much. As I was reflecting, the Lord spoke to me. “Ours (this generation) is the generation that the Holy Spirit has declared the repair of the Body of Christ. We hold the deposit guaranteeing that inheritance. The Lord has declared that unity enviable. We are like Job who the Lord allowed Satan to shake, and worry and rob and over whom he declared ‘a line over which the enemy could not cross. We have been broken and split and scattered and disillusioned and disappointed and a lot of other things, but our affection for one another, our belief that God resides in one another, our respect for God within one another, remains untouched to this day. We are a foretaste, we are a prophetic announcement to the whole church that ‘the Spirit can do this, the Spirit did do this, the Spirit is doing this’. And the wounds and the amputations that the enemy has inflicted on the Bride of Christ are being healed and put right in our time. And the significance, the witness, the impact of the unity of the Body of Christ from this time forward will have a greater impact than it did in the time of the first Apostles.”

Ø “Indeed the Lord says 40 years ago in a sovereign way I poured out my Spirit upon you and my tabernacle among you. And it was for this very purpose, for the unity of my church. And I have brought you safely thus far and you have remained faithful and my hand is yet upon you. I have yet work for you to do. Today is a turning point. Today is a turning point whether or not you will receive the call that I have yet for you this day, whether each one of you will surrender and go on with me. I will be pleased to take you on into the move I have in this nation and around the world. For indeed I am moving in fresh and new ways, and I call you to be part of it, my people. I love you, my hand is upon you, I have not forsaken you, and you have not forsaken me. Do not tolerate division among you but walk together arm in arm, and I will use you, says the Lord.”

Ø You are my beloved children, and I am well pleased with you. I love you all. I know what you want, I know what you need, I know what’s in the depths of your heart and in your soul. And as your Father I want to give you these things. I want to give you all the things you want and need, the things you need in your daily life, the things you need in your daily lives: your food, your clothing, your shelter, your love of family. And more importantly I want to give you the things that you want – to do my will. I know that you have a burning inside of you, that you want to live for me, that you want to lead others to me, that you want to bring my light to the world. And I am well pleased. And I want to give you all that you need and all that you want. I need only for you to ask for it. Pray. Pray alone for it, but more importantly, pray together. Pray with your brothers and your sisters, with your mothers and with your fathers, pray with your husbands and with your wives, pray with your friends, pray with everyone. Pray, and I will do the things that I have promised. I will help you to do my will in this world