Counties Evangelist, Lee Marsland, shares how the Holy Spirit moved many to give their lives to Christ.
Lee is the Community Pastor in Oldham working with Encounter Ministries. He’s married to Lesley and has a heart for the lost in the community. He has a real passion for street preaching, regularly going out with members of the local church onto the streets of Manchester, Blackpool, and parts of Wales to sing worship songs and share testimonies, as well as preaching the Gospel and offering prayer. As part of their ministry, they run the Lighthouse, a facility that provides food, support, and fellowship to those in need.
LEE’S STORY
Lee’s childhood involved living on the streets, spending time in prison, foster care, and children’s homes, and using Class A drugs by the time he was 13:
“I was really angry all the time, getting into fights. I think I ran away in the first place because I wanted someone, especially my dad, to come and look for me but nobody did.”
But God had different plans for Lee and after a miraculous conversion, he gave his life to the Lord.
He now runs Encounter Ministries with his wife Lesley. It aims to partner with churches and help them with evangelism.
“We’ve got a real heart for working with churches, to get them mobilised in their communities. We also do outreach. So, on Tuesday nights we work with the homeless and the vulnerable. We’ve been doing that for three years. We’ve seen salvation and baptisms in that time. God’s really been there.
Every Tuesday these guys get a three-course, sit-down meal, donations of clothes, toiletries, they get help filling in forms, phoning the council and, most importantly, they get the Gospel. We’ve already seen people getting saved and three people are attending church on a Sunday.
“These are guys, just like I was – so full of chaos. They are almost begging us to pray before they leave. They come expecting to hear the Gospel and to be offered prayer. It’s really, really taking off. It’s a great hub for the Gospel. God is moving in so many ways.”
Encounter Ministries calls the people they serve ‘VIPs’ because, according to Lee, they are, but it’s just that they have forgotten that anybody loves them.
“We are made up of real people, who have made a real decision, for a real God, who want to make a real change. And these people come because they feel loved.”
Recently Lee shared this great testimony with Counties:
“At Easter up at the Lighthouse, we gave Easter eggs to all our VIPs but before we gave the eggs out, I shared the true meaning of Easter and preached the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit moved. I felt led to give a response and 37 people all accepted Jesus into their hearts and now we are working alongside them to help disciple and encourage in their faith, in fact, every week we regularly see people coming asking for prayer or Bibles - it’s so encouraging, Please hold them all in Prayer.