Fire Conference

At the Freising Marriot Hotel near Munich

• February 4-6, 2000 •

FGBMFI is going for 1 million
souls in Honduras.

With Richard Shakarian will be Hi Tech Businessmen, Fire Teams from Nicaragua and Honduras, Youth Teams that are sweeping their countries, the Ladies of the Fellowship, many businessmen from USA and Latin America and International Officers - John Carette, Kwabena Darko, and Bruno Caamaño. Read what happened last week in a similar Latin America meeting.

The Latin American Fire Conference

Fire Teams and the leaders from all over Latin America were meeting in Miami on January 14, 15 and 16th, at the beginning of this new century. Partici-pa-t-ing were John Carette, our Executive Vice President, and Gery Townson, the Regional Vice-President. On Friday night, Bruno Caamaño gave a testimony of a very unusual dream and its effect on 21 different lives. As they listened, men began to weep. There was great repenting and bonding - a unity of all the men present.

On Saturday morning, our President, Richard Shakarian, explained the structure of how we can reach entire nations for Christ. Many men who are part of the Fire Teams spoke from their experience to give a complete picture. From that point on the miracles began to happen.

Kiki, who is the International Director for Youth, gave his report. In Honduras alone, the youth have twelve radio chapters; thousands of young people have received the Lord. Their radio chapters are now going to El Salvador and other nations of Latin America. Kiki has a master plan to have 500 radio stations, The stations are really excited to have young people give their stories of deliver-ance. The youth are the spark plug for a lot of the Fire Teams.

The radio stations are putting the youth on one station after another and these young people are getting stronger. The FGBMFI youth are planning Coliseum meetings in Honduras, starting in May. The success among the youth is so great, it just blew the guys away.

1 million souls

In Honduras Fire Team Outreach will be held for seven days, from May 15th - 21st . Thousands of Fire Team volunteers, who would like to be a part of what God is doing, are invited to come. There will be meetings in businesses and government centers, shopping centers, schools, universities, prisons, hospitals, orphanages, leper colonies, refugee camps, government offices, and military bases, as well as great Coliseum meetings. We are planning to have 1000 meetings a day for 5 days. Our target is 1 million souls - someone in every family to come to know the Lord.

Every night for seven nights the fire teams, the youth, and the athletes are going to have fire rallies in different cities. On the last two nights, in the two big principle cities, we are going to have Coliseum meetings. Then we are going to blow the trumpet like Joshua and the walls that the devil has built over the nation are going to fall flat.

In Honduras we have 155 chapters, with approximately 4,800 paid members. We have another 5000 men who are not members, along with about 5000 Ladies of the Fellowship and thousands in the youth army.

We also have resources of 10,700 members in the country of Guatemala next door. And from Nicaragua, the big Fire Teams with 3,000 men will be coming to Honduras.

Last year, in five days of outreach in Nicaragua, we saw 97,000 people saved. Since that time, which has been not quite a year, they have seen another100,000 people saved. Now the Christians in Nicaragua are taking their land to such an extent that, beginning this month, they are designating one state or province at a time, one after another, and they are gathering from all over their nation to go to that province and cover every village, every town, every crossroads, every place with Full Gospel Business Men giving their testimonies and bringing people to Jesus Christ. Their vision is that within two years they will have covered every single location in the entire nation. They are believing the prophecy that was given, which said that someone in every family would find Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Now there is an International Finance Team for Latin America. The Chairman is Jose Adrian Valasquez. He is the rice king of Honduras. Another member of the three-man committee is Judge Luis Magolis, the new National President of Guatemala. He is one of the top judges of the nation. The third member is Humberto Aguerra, the National President of Nicaragua.. When I disclosed to them the giving of Latin America, Humberto got up and wept before the men, saying he felt ashamed because the Latinos are now one-fourth of the entire Fellowship, but they have been giving very little to the International. The men agreed that they are not poor. There is much wealth in Latin America. The Holy Spirit began to move upon individuals and a tremendous spirit of giving was released. Three individual men each made the greatest commitment ever in the history of the Fellowship. It is a new day! Others began to say what God had put on their heart to give and began to weep as they did so saying, "The heat, the heat of the Holy Spirit!" The flood of blessing is beginning to come. The year 2000 is going to be a great year of harvest as the men of the Fellowship move out to win souls for the Kingdom.

The BIG ONE in Nigeria

Nigeria, with120 million people, is the largest nation in Africa. The Convention was appropriately named the Big One. There were 20,000 people in attendance every night. On the night that I spoke there was a tremendous wave of healing. 2000 people came forward to tell of their healing, and 5000 people came to find the Lord. It was an awesome altar call. There was a fantastic anointing!

We flew to the capital city to see the President, His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo. With me was Senator Fred Brume, Kwabena Darko, Bunmi Adededji, and several FGBMFI leaders. We had three hours with the president on the same morning that he presented his budget to the Congress.

When we finished our morning time with him in his executive mansion, we went in for breakfast. There was a long table. I was seated on the right of the President and Vangie was on the left. He was sitting at the head of the table with a picture window behind him. There were baby giraffes and other animals going by. The butler was serving the first course to the president - Rice Krispies! Then he asked me, "What would you like to have?" I replied "I will take the same as the president." After the first course, they brought the regular food. Later we went to His office and the President gave me his personal testimony of how he had found Jesus Christ as his Savior in prison. He told me that God had meant for him to be in prison. There he had found Jesus, and he had learned things which he never could have learned anywhere else.

The Fellowship is going tremendously in his land. The FGBMFI has 13,000 men who are paid members. It grew by 25 % in 1999. There are thousands of people who are connected to it. There are also 8,000 Ladies of the Fellowship and many young business people. Anywhere you go in Nigeria, the people in the business community know about Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International. We also had a Saturday "Excellence in Business Conference", which 12,000 people attended. Praise the Lord!

FGBMFI World Convention 2000

Every member of the Fellowship is a member of the International. Get the world vision by getting acquainted with top businessmen from 155 nations as they get together at this year's World Convention.

The Millennium Success 2000 World Convention is being held at the Miami Intercontinental Hotel, in Miami, Florida, from August 9 - 12th. The Delegates and Directors must arrive the day before to participate in the Directors' meetings.

The rooms cost $89, plus tax, for single and double, and $99 for triple and quad.

We are limited on the number of rooms, so make your reservations quickly. The Intercontinental Hotel is right on the Ocean, at the Bay Side Marina, and has 75 shops and 45 restaurants. Across the street there is an Amphitheater for our Fire Teams area.

Since the new year there has been a change in the spiritual climate in the Fellowship and also in the area of financial blessing; the floodgates that are beginning to open for the Fellowship will be opening for all of our members - success in the spirit, success in our homes, and success in our businesses!

Greasy Joe

1961 World Convention
American Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida

When the Full Gospel Business Men discovered they were in the same hotel as the Teamsters Union, there was a prophecy given, "Fear not! This is the reason I have brought you here – that these men, who know not Christ, might see the glorious light of the Gospel!"

The Teamsters seemed to enjoy making fun of those who loved the Lord. They made many remarks about "Holy Rollers" and "Religious Nuts". They even marched through the Hotel with mocking, singing, blasting horns, and pounding drums in their version of "When the saints go marching in."

Quite a few of our businessmen gave the individual Teamsters their testimonies. Some of the Teamsters young people came to the Full Gospel youth meeting that I was conducting at that time, and many were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. Suddenly the Teamsters leadership began noticing the change in many men and youth right before their eyes.

It was about 2 a.m. when an Episcopalian woman attending our Convention was awakened by the Lord and told to go to "Greasy Joe", who was famous for being one of the loudest of all of the Teamsters. She got dressed and went down, finding him in a bar. They were surrounded by people who were laughing and dancing.

The band was playing loudly. Joe was laughing and smoking. He stopped when he saw her coming towards him. " Joe," she said, "The Lord woke me up and sent me here for a special purpose; He told me to speak to you."

"Well, go ahead and speak," Joe said. "God told me to lay hands on you so that you would be converted and become a Christian, if you believe. Joe said: "All right, lay hands on me. I believe." With that she laid her hands on Greasy Joe and started praying.

The band stopped playing; everyone stopped dancing. A hush fell over the place. Everyone watched as the power of God hit Greasy Joe and he fell off the stool and flat onto the floor.

They thought he had had a heart attack, so they dragged him outside, and then he went up to his room. They chased out all of those partying in his hotel room, and then he showered and changed his clothes; He was completely changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A few hours later, he went back downstairs to where the Teamsters were still celebrating and planning in preparation for the next convention day. When they saw Joe, they ran over to ask, "What happened to you?" At that moment God's power hit him again and he went down right in front of everybody. They heard him speaking in tongues and worshipping God. That started a revival. Before that week was out many of them turned their life over to Jesus Christ and were baptized in the hotel swimming pool. Greasy Joe went on to become a powerful Christian.

Mexico 1999

Independence Day in Mexico brings New Beginning

Six hundred men and women came from every part of Mexico to attend the FGBMFI National Convention on Independence Day weekend. The Convention began with a National Color Guard, along with several members of the federal government and city government welcoming our members and friends from many surrounding nations.

Even before the Convention began, Fire Teams from Honduras, Mexico, the United States, and other nations went throughout the city.

From Bordelo To Christ!

One of the men stood giving his testimony with his wife at his side. Both were in tears as they shared that he had owned a bar in a little town. Little by little he had gone deeper and further into the clutches of satan as he turned his bar into a place of prostitution.

He hired many of the local girls to be a part of his business. Then two FGBMFI men came into his town, and introduced him to Jesus Christ. He was convicted in his heart to change his ways and make restitution for what he had done.

Standing there, weeping, he told us how he had turned his life around. He had paid compensation to the families of the girls for what he had done. He had caused the girls to be retrained so that they could get a proper job in society, and he had closed his bar and entered into a new occupation. (The national president, Lupe Spekoot, cheered.)

He explained that the Lord has placed a desire in his heart to start chapters all over Mexico. His wife is helping with the business and his business is growing tremendously while he is traveling considerably all over the nation, starting new chapters of the Fellowship.

During the Convention, many people found Jesus as their Savior and others were filled with the Holy Spirit as a wave of new anointing began. Finding new life in Jesus Christ, they stood at the front by the hundreds, with hands raised, tears coming down their cheeks.

Florida Men's Camp

Joe Shaia, State Director for Florida, and Daniel Camaaño, along with other directors of all of the chapters in Florida, gathered together for the Men's Camp in Lake Yale.

The main feature was "Unity in the Spirit". Blessings of God broke in men's heart as they repented one to another for the things they had held in their hearts.

They even kneeled and shined each others' shoes in the process of repentance. That was followed by a wave of the Holy Spirit upon the men. Speakers for the Convention were Tommy Tenney, Richard Shakarian, Tom Leding, and Daniel Caamaño.

Many men came on the bus from Miami (about 5 hours) and during the entire time they were singing and giving testimony. Everyone went home encouraged,believing that God is going to use them in a greater way than ever before.