Maranatha Outreach - Vietnam

Philip Meadows and three other guys teamed up with a group called Leadership Strategies to travel into Vietnam and hold leadership meetings to help train and edify the pastors in Vietnam. Leadership Strategies is an organization that specializes in the training up of leaders all across the world for the sake of the gospel. Philip recalls when they first entered into Vietnam. "We had to enter into the country very cautiously because Christianity is not welcome in Vietnam," he said. "The country claims to have freedom of religion, but in reality, Christians are beaten and are losing their lives daily for professing Jesus as their Savior.” This struck a soft spot in the hearts of Philip and the other teammates.

They knew God had called them to Vietnam for a purpose and a reason. “We met up with a group of about 20 Vietnamese pastors who traveled from all over the country just to come and learn from our team. It was amazing to see how eager these men and women were just to grasp a little more knowledge of the gospel.” The first night the team arrived in the small town of Dalat, Vietnam where the first services would be held with a group of pastors that were staying there in the hotel. The night was a success and the team was able to teach and preach to many pastors, but the next day the meetings were interrupted by the local police who came in and shut down the meetings. "This seemed to be an ongoing problem the few days we stayed in Dalat. We continually had to move our meetings as we tried to evade the police and find a place where we could meet safely.” The pastors had to be very discreet about why they were there and would have to run if the police tried to arrest them. If nothing else the police wanted to photograph the pastors so they would know whom to look for.

The teams final meeting came on the last day they were in Vietnam. “We had to move our meeting to the top floor of a small hotel. It was the four of us and all 20 pastors crammed into this extremely small room, but once again, the pastors made themselves comfortable and we began to teach. All of a sudden in the middle of trying to teach, the police showed up at our door, but the leader of the Vietnamese pastors took the police and pushed them back out the room. When he pushed them out the door we knew we had to hurry before we were shut down again so we began to lay hands on the pastors and pray over them. When we did they all began to praise and worship God. The presence of the Lord showed up in that small hotel room, heavier than I have ever experienced it before. Many of the pastors were slain in the Spirit and got an amazing touch from God, it truly was an incredible meeting. On the way out of the hotel, once the police found out that our group was American, they backed off and didn't want any problems. They just let us go, praise God! We left the hotel and prepared to leave the country the next day.