 God is good. God is faithful. And he's gonna be faithful to you today. No matter what you're going through, remember that. Have that as an anchor that God is faithful. We're gonna hear about that today in just a little bit. I'm Tom. I'm here with Sydney and Amanda. Amanda, tell me about that. God's faithful, right? He sure is. And you know, I found myself searching for real. You know, God is God in the hills and the valleys and you need to realize you're an influence to those in your life. You're gonna hear those nuggets really found in my story as I share. It's gonna be like launching an airplane and then bringing it down. I'm gonna try to end before the show ends. You got it. You definitely got it. Really looking forward to hearing your story. I know we've been able to live part of your story and be there part of your story. And I think all of us are just so encouraged when we hear how God has brought us through the hills and through the valleys. And before we get into Amanda's God story, we do wanna take a moment and just to pause and to pray about the horrific tragedy that happened in Morocco. Many of you probably saw over the weekend on your news, watching the news, on the news app, more than 2,000 people were killed by that 6.8 magnitude earthquake. So, and there's many more that are injured. I saw there's like search and rescue operations going on. I think, you know, Tom and Amanda, when these things happen, it's really hard for us to fathom just the horrific tragedy, the trauma, everything that's going in. I mean, I've seen pictures that were shot even on Sunday of like women and just travailing and just the mourning and the sadness. So I just think it's, you know, our hearts. You want to lead us in prayer. Could you do some prayer for that? So, Heavenly Father, we just right now, we lift up Morocco to you, Father God. We lift up the people, Father God, that have completely lost everything in a blink of an eye, Father God. Lord Jesus, we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would just descend and that you would fall upon that place, O God, that as they're crying in their mourning as they've lost their children, if they've lost their loved ones, O God, that we just pray that you would just be near to them, Father God. We know that you are near to the brokenhearted and Holy Spirit, we also ask that, you know, when you're with the people that are searching, Father God, and just the devastation, O God, that you would just move, Lord God, that we would even hear God's stories and miracles coming out of the rubble and out of the ashes. And so, Father God, we just pray that we would not turn a blind eye to Morocco, but Lord God, we know that you have it all in your hands and we just pray, Father God, that we would be able to send our resources, our prayers, and our help for those blessed people in Morocco in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, and of course, it is the commemoration of 9-11, 22 years ago, that we all who are of a certain age, it's interesting that some younger people, adults don't really have a memory of that because it was such an incredible tragedy in the heart of our nation, but I'm sure there'll be commemorations and various things today, but just to remember, families still devastated and broken because of that day and still kind of a wound on our country, but God is faithful. So, Amanda, I'm just gonna hand it over to you. Don't leave us with a cliffhanger now. Don't leave us with a part two. All right, well, just speaking of 9-11, I can remember a season in time when Gary worked downtown. He was in the USX Tower working for PNC Bank when that airplane flew over and their building was evacuated. And I can remember how literally real Psalm 91 became to our family. And so we encourage you, no matter what moment you're going through, stand on Psalm 91. God will never fail you. All right, without any further ado, here we go. We're gonna get into the Amanda Brocker. Well, I was Amanda Rayleigh's story, but here is the very first photo I was born in Somerset, PA, and we lived in Confluence and I can remember my mom telling me after I got a job here, of course, I was little then, but there were prayer meetings happening and they were new in the Lord. And so I was born in 76, this was the late 70s, and Russ and Norma came to Confluence. Fred and Diane Mota were involved, the ringers, and there was a cabin, there was a prayer meeting. My mom can remember hearing about the vision of Cornerstone Television. So it was so in awe of her that when I worked here is when I learned that, I never knew that, but I was about that age then. And then the motors, Stephanie and Mark came to our church and they talked about the Holy Spirit when I was six years old, and I never forgot that. And Mark serves, you know, he's part of the hard questions panel, but Stephanie, his wife, was who taught our kids class and that was my first interaction with the Holy Spirit and a prayer language of my mom. I can remember being in awe that I could speak in tongues, I was like, oh, anyhow, God knew I needed it. But then my dad's job changed, so he actually ended up in Ohio for three and a half years and then back to Confluence and then Rockwood. So we moved around quite a bit, but in all of this, I saw my parents trust God, you know, and they were always helping others. That was my elementary picture that you can see. I loved soccer. I was like, that was like my favorite I like to run, which you'll hear, you know, those teen years are coming about me. Peer pressure's there. My dad sits down with me, thank God, and we went through the book of Proverbs and it really helped me to realize I don't wanna be foolish. I wanted to choose the God factor for my life and be wise and so in 1991, we're moving right along because I have so many points and I wanna share it all with you, but I noticed Gary at church all of a sudden, hey, this cute guy and my dad and I would go to like the Bible study and he started hanging out at the Bible study. So we were just getting to know each other a little bit and but God. So the reason soccer, I used that picture is because I loved like running on the field. I didn't like basketball, running in a gym, but what happened to me at age like 14-ish, I started having problems with my knees and I could not run. It hurt, my knees would bloat up. I went through all this testing. They were like, do you have MS? And a lot of blood work and bottom line, my parents took us to a retreat in Franklin, Pennsylvania and Ralph Looper was the missionary that was visiting there. He prayed over my legs and God healed my legs. They, without him touching, my legs vibrated and I will, so I played soccer all through high school I was able to run and that's just God. That's the God factor in my life. So I've known him like as the person who filled me, I know him as my healer and I'm learning to trust him, watching my parents and I can remember my mom and dad, like they would always be doing things to help other people. I just, I think that that's ingrained in me from watching that. One of the things was going to the nursing home and visiting people and I loved it. My dad would take his guitar and he would sing and we'd walk along and my mom had put together like fruit baskets and we would give them. And it was, I don't know, God just used that in my life and I loved it. All right, so fast forward here, we're in 1994 and this girl gets engaged in Pittsburgh on the gateway clipper. And we just, God put a desire in our heart for the city of Pittsburgh. We knew that we were going to come here. I'm from the country, all this was big for me. I was so nervous walking on them city streets. I didn't have my phone, no GPS then. You were just like on your own. But anyhow, the next year we ended up getting married. There's our wedding photo that was September 16th of 1995. So we're celebrating 28 years this Saturday. So exciting. But I went through ICM school business downtown. Got my associates in accounting and married. We have our little apartment over in Whitehall but this is where there was an ugly thing that was in my life and I had this sexual addiction. So, and I dealt with it all through my teen years and I was so embarrassed. My dad was pastoring. I didn't wanna go tell him, dad, I have a problem. And so God met me in that little apartment in Whitehall on April 8th of 1996 and I cried out to him and he delivered me and he used the book of first, second and third John. And I'll tell you, there is no room. If you are choosing to live the life God has you, you cannot have darkness be a part of it because there's no darkness in light. It doesn't mesh. So that was a big leap for me like faith-wise. So that was where I learned God as my deliverer. And then the very next year, my dad was in a band called Jerusalem Ridge and it was my first time we came to Cornerstone Television. Gary and I were part of a little live audience and it was a fun experience. So just, it's neat how Cornerstone is actually in my life. I didn't actually realize that till putting this all together. I'm like, well, huh? But all right, so continuing on, Gary's working downtown at PNC Bank. I graduate from ICM School of Business and I work at Mellon Bank. And just so you all know, this is a fun fact. There's a tunnel that goes underground that connects the two. So when we would have breaks at the same time, sometimes we would be able to hang out together. Just a little fun fact. All right, those tunnels are here in Pittsburgh. But in 1999, you know, we're noticing the need in our city as Gary's going to work. We start buying groceries. He's taking them to work with him because he's noticing the people that were in the city that were in need. And in 2000, we actually got plugged in over here to the praise assembly in North for Sales. And you know, we loved the family connections we were building and we started helping out with youth group and then the young adults. And I can remember we always had this desire where we would take them and do outreach at different occasions. Some at the Salvation Army right here in McKeesport. But we had a desire for more. We wanted to be trained. And this one time, my sister's graduating high school and we were handed an application for Oral Roberts University. And just to give to my sister, but it planted the thought in us. So we started looking up, well, what is Oral Roberts University? So we actually went out for the International Charismatic Bible Ministries that Oral and Evelyn put on. And there were many other ministries a part of that. I think you may have just saw the prayer tower and what an experience and just seeing how God moved. And I remember the hotel, we got it for $33 a night. Where do you get a hotel for $33 a night? But it was like God ordained. Like He wanted us, not everyone has to go 1,000 miles away for your training. But that was what God chose for us. So we went back out knowing this is, we're really desiring this. We're watching ORU, chapel, online. We were watching, well, Cornerstone, y'all had a lot on there. I'm like, yeah, I could talk on that all day. I'm gonna move on. Spring of 2005 was the next year. We went out for ORU days, knowing like this call for Gary go to school was there. And while we were on campus, Victory, as you can see, that's a sign with Victory Church that now built right across from ORU, you can see those praying hands. But they held their service right at Christ Chapel. So we didn't even know what Victory Christian Center was. But we went to this service. All right, this is another moment where me as a young mom, I had a corporal tunnel thing going on. I couldn't even tie my shoes. It hurt to put the diaper on the baby. I was just like, oh God, what am I gonna do with this wrist? And we're thinking about moving. So here we are, we're in this service. Billy Joe is preaching. Sharon and Maryam are leading in worship. And it was all about God's will is for you to be healed. And so there's this one point and it was like just reach out your hand. And literally when I did this, he went through my arm and I was like, oh my gosh, so we didn't have to church shop when we moved to Oklahoma. We knew we're going to Victory Christian Center, which it's now called Victory Church. But what an amazing season, you know, that God, this is part of our story. I was like, oh my goodness. So we come back to Pennsylvania. Now we had some debt from school loans and other things that we had to eliminate before we could make that move to go to Oklahoma. Like God, how are you gonna make this possible? We have all four of our children at this time. So it was a big deal. We were married 10 years. And God sold a car that Gary's dad had left to him. Gary's dad had passed away. And the Lord used a gentleman from Greensburg to give him $20,000. Listen, after we tied off of that, it was the exact amount we needed to remove the debt. Is, and then our house sells in 2005, which like the market was at a standstill. Our realtor was a believer. She said, this is a miracle that the house sold right over here in White Oak. And so anyhow, God actually got Gary a job at ORU in admissions. So we were on our way. We're moving out there. He gets enrolled as a grad student and November of 05, the Brockers went from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma. And we stayed in an extended stay. We didn't know where we were moving. We were there for about four weeks, but God connected us with the showmen's, which was the only family in Oklahoma that we knew. And listen, while we were staying there, the Lord is just so faithful because when we arrived in Oklahoma, we left them know, hey, we made it here. The house across the street put a for sale sign out in the yard. We were able to buy that house and we moved right across the street then. We just, we stayed with them during that process of closing. Miracle after miracle. So we were in Oklahoma from 05 to 2011. We were trained in so many areas. We were part of mobile kids. We were part of the Tulsa Dream Center. We were camp counselors at Camp Victory. We were part of marriage groups. We were leading y'all. We had 20 couples that was so much fun. We did marriage on the rock series. We did fireproof your marriage. We had a great time. And then we helped out at the youth group, which the current pastor of victory is their fourth son, Paul Doherty. He was head over the youth group then and Gary and I were leaders under him for a season. So that was really neat. So then 2009 comes. This is a big transition year. And August, every August word explosion was at our church. And literally every meeting I go to, God sat me by these same people from South Hills Assembly of God and it was Pastor Rick. And it was like, you know who was there? Lowinda Halleberg, who was a prayer partner later on that I would meet Cynthia Melcon. I will never forget these moments. And it was like the Lord saying, don't get comfortable here because I'm gonna call you to Pittsburgh. God, he can do anything. I'm just like, okay, Lord, I'm just gonna follow you. So that year though too, Pastor Billy Doherty passed away in November and we watched Sharon just lead with such humility. She showed me that when your prayers don't get answered, this is what you do. You stand on God's word. You continue to move forward. And then in December, Oral Roberts went home to be with the Lord. And it was just this wrestling. Like we knew we're being sent out. So in 2010, Gary decided to go on a missions trip to the LA Dream Center. And we have two pitchers. That's the LA Dream Center. It's a huge hospital. They have an amazing work going on, but his life was so impacted. And God told him, I want you to go to Pittsburgh and start a dream center. And you know, it sounds trite, but we'd be out there serving at the Tulsa Dream Center picking up trash, but I had this desire in me. I could not wait to be picking up the trash in Pittsburgh. It was like this desire for us to get back here and to be working the streets. And God confirmed that word when we got back from, he got back from that trip to LA. We were camp counselors and, hey, a camp. God just doesn't talk to the kids. He had a word that the person leading gave him. And it said 30 days ago, God told you something and you are not to be afraid to do it. And we've looked at our calendar and 30 days ago was the day he was out in LA getting on the plane and God told him, this is what you're called to do the Pittsburgh Dream Center. So while he's working at ORU, wrapping up that season, Paul King was, he worked with him and he was a professor there. He worked with Linda King who was here at Cornerstone Television, but she also had an East ORU campus school of worship. And Paul King tells her about the brokers that are fixing to come back and she's like, I wanna meet them, you know. So I just put her like in my back pocket. I'm like, oh Lord, I never called her. I'm so sorry, Linda. But in June, Monroeville Assembly of God flew us back here because they learned about this vision that we had of coming back. While we're back here, we were able to get this orange truck. Y'all, this is a ministry truck. There was a gentleman from Victory Family Church at that time and he knew our pastor, Rod Baker from Oklahoma. They connected us and ORU Chapel raised the money under Mark Rutland's leadership paid for that orange truck. Like these moments, we couldn't write. And June when they flew us back is exactly when that gentleman from Victory was bringing down the truck. We had the best show and tell, like this is what we wanna do. So 2011, we finally moved back from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania. That took a little bit of transition time. We stayed with Gary's mom for a season. You gotta do what you gotta do. Then God opens up a rental house in McKeesport and it happened through Corey Gross and Shanwaga to Divine Connections, their kids were at praise, but her in-laws had a house in McKeesport. So an interesting thing is that God kept giving me the word Duquesne when I'd be praying in Oklahoma. And I thought we were gonna move to Duquesne. I'm like, we're gonna live in Duquesne, but it wasn't. The house we rented was on Duquesne Avenue. I'm just like, so you gotta just take what God gives you and run with it. So moving on to 2012, I finally called Linda and in February, we end up on Worldwide Worship Interactive being interviewed by Doug Sellers. There's Gary and I talking about this dream center vision. And then you can see Linda and I and Doug in the next picture. That was my first time y'all going on TV. I don't know what my hair was doing. All right, April 2012, I actually start working here at Cornerstone. This was my first event. So you could see Miss Norma there, Evelyn, Missouri, Linda King, and they just, they poured into my life. And you know, I didn't know that I needed Cornerstone as much as God did. I kept thinking, I'm here to do the dream center. But God said, I have things along the way. And I think it's so important. Yes, you have an end goal, but there are people along the way that God wants to connect you with. So I worked here from 2012 to 2020. And then now I'm full time with the dream center and I still come back. Y'all can't get rid of me. So this is another neat fact. In 2013, ORU Souls of Fire, who learned about us from when their chapel raised the money, they came to visit us and they went to Sunshine Community Ministries in McKeesport. Not knowing 10 years later, that's the building that God gave to us. I'm just so like, God, you're so faithful. In 2015, you know, our family had some struggles. Just the family dynamics, my kids not wanting to love God. And in 2018, we watched God literally save our son Andrew's life from overdose by speaking to our son, Jonathan. It was a miracle. There is nothing apart from that. God loves us, he loves our families and it doesn't mean everything's gonna be perfect just cause you're in ministry. But here we are 2020 and there's my kids. God restored them. Let me tell you, Andrew now works for Recovery Centers of America. He's helping people. Hannah's married, show the next picture. You'll see my son-in-law, Ben. Caleb's in the Air Force, loving Jesus. And Jonathan is a senior this year, loves the Lord. And all I can say is God restores. You can trust God. And just this year, as I said in 2023, we were blessed with that very building that we were in back in 2013. This comes with a restoration home for a women's program and then many other facets that were able to be a blessing in that community. And this year as well, we were given a box truck for all of our food outreach mission. So, you know, God is God and he sees us through every moment of life. So I encourage you to give God your yes and just watch and see what he will do but prepare yourself. Put your place, you know, yourself in a position to be trained because it's part of the preparation that we need in order to do what God has for us to do. Guys, we landed the plane, the show didn't end. You didn't have to like jump in front of me. You have a lot of milestones, markers in your life, don't you? You even mentioned some of them. God is a savior, God is a healer, God is a restorer, all those things. I think that's so important that we all have that history with seeing the faithfulness of God. That's right, that's right. And I'll tell you that gift of the Holy Spirit that I learned about as a child. When I use that most was when our family was like, oh, in chaos. And all I could do was pray in the Holy Ghost and this God desires to speak to us. And sometimes we don't even know how to pray when we're praying, but I encourage you, if you have that gift, stir it up, and allow the Lord to speak to you because he wants to reveal himself to you. Man, I just love like in your story that you were so sensitive to the Holy Spirit and he would speak one little word and you're like, all right, I don't know where this is going but I'm gonna trust you. And it's amazing that every step of the way you can just see the thread of the Holy Spirit in your life. So thank you for your yes, thank you for your obedience. I just, this is what we love about hearing God's stories and Amanda's stories is because it inspires us in those moments where we do need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We do need to hear what God has to say. And you know, speaking what God has to say, you know, here at Cornerstone Telstra Network, we have been on a journey, a 21 day prayer journey. And if you've been falling along with us right now, we are on day 14. And the focus of our day 14 is to pray for an outpouring in our churches. We heard about the outpouring in Amanda's life. And so now we're just gonna focus on our churches, you know, where you worship and where you fellowship with God. We wanna see moves of God like never before because we know when the power of the Holy Spirit hits your congregation, hits that assembly, things change, you know, lives are changed, things are broken, it's amazing, people's lives get saved. And we not only see that happening at churches, but it flows out into our communities. And we have a scripture for today and it comes from Acts 10, 44 through 45. And it says this, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had also been poured out on the Gentiles. Our prayer for you today, and for all the churches, not only in Pittsburgh, but if you're watching from Alabama or Florida or anywhere in the U.S., is that the Holy Spirit would just come and consume your congregation. Just allow the Holy Spirit to consume. And, you know, one thing I've just recently, you know, Tom just heard, his name is Tommy Iromini, said something is that in America a lot has, we don't tarry with the Holy Spirit. We have this agenda of like, we have to do three songs and then the offering and then we do the message and the altar call. What would it look like if we allowed the Holy Spirit just to blow everything up? Well, it would look exactly like what Peter does that all the Jewish believers are like, what? Look at all of these Gentiles speaking in tongues and the Spirit's poured out on them. They did not expect that, guys, that was a complete surprise and they should have expected it based on everything that we know now, but God was moving in the way he wanted to move and he was doing, he was blowing up everything, right? He was blowing up all our preconceived notions, blowing up everything we think about it. This is the way it has to happen. Hey, it has to go according to the way my church does it. No, it's gonna be the Lord doing it the way he wants to do it. Amanda, that's what God wants to do today. He wants to see moves that surprise us, that change us, that make us like go, wow, I didn't expect that. Yes, and I love in that verse that it says that the Gentiles received. You know, I don't think I have any Jewish in my blood. I'm Gentile, full on, and I am ever grateful for the Holy Spirit that God filled me and I know God desires to fill you today. Just ask him for that free gift of God, Holy Spirit, fill me today, and he will. He loves you so much. I love that so much as just asking the Holy Spirit to fill us, invite the Holy Spirit into your living room, invite the Holy Spirit from where we are watching from, just to feel you, because even when we were sitting here, I just felt like the presence of God and I just pray right now in the mighty name of Jesus that that power would flow right into your bedroom, right into your home, right into your family that we're believing that you're gonna have family salvation, that nations are gonna be changed and I mean not even nations across the country but the different ethnicities that are within your communities in your neighborhood. God is doing something new. Can you perceive it? Do you know it? Are you ready for it? So let's get out of the way and let Holy Spirit do what Holy Spirit do, blow through the room, blow upon you so that you can move and all that God has called you to do. Absolutely, so don't let this moment pass without crying out to God, crying out for the Holy Spirit to fill you. If you've never, you wonder about the speaking in tongues thing, don't get too hung up on that. Just let God flow, let God flow out of you, let God flow and you know what? He's gonna do what he said he was gonna do which is testify of Jesus to the whole world and you'll be part of that. Have a great day.