Pat McGuffin
Pat McGuffin

Pat McGuffin

Patrick J. McGuffin is a founding member of the Heart of Titus Ministries board of directors.  Pat is an author, pastor, business leader,  and journalist in addition to his work in missions.

McGuffin, a University of Florida journalism graduate, spent the first part of his professional  career publishing newspapers, ending that part of his life as president and publisher of 19 newspapers. Although he owns two printing companies and a book publishing company, his passion is “advancing God’s kingdom by taking what is seen by the eyes of a few and make it known to many.” This little phrase God gave him years ago has propelled him in his efforts as an elder/pastor in his church and as a missionary to many nations.

Website URL: E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sunday, 06 November 2011 11:21

El Salvador Miracles in October

Heart of Titus trip October 11-17, 2011

Here's what happened on Friday and Saturday of their trip:

Friday, October 14
Daniel led devotions in the morning, and we all had a good time of sharing. After that we went to lunch and had a great time getting to know Alberto and his sister Rebecca. This was our slowest ministry day.
 
  Daniel (R) with translator counseling woman at Operation Blessing free medical clinic. Many were saved that day
 
During the day we stopped at The 700 Club offices and Operation Blessing. We gathered the entire staff and prayed of each one. The staff included doctors, a lawyer, media people, and many general staff members. What a privilege for us to pray and minister of these amazing servants of our Lord.
 
That evening, Daniel and Jarred preached at one of Pastor Juan Antonio Recinos’ church missions in a very poor area. I preached to a small gathering at Juan Antonio’s church. People were responsive.
 
By the way, it rained the ENTIRE time we were in El Salvador! Probably there was only a cumulative time of two hours it did NOT rain the entire week – night or day included. This rain resulted in much flooding and mudslides – 26 deaths by Sunday. (Also 40% of the nation’s crops were lost by Saturday. And the rains were still going when we left. It was a national disaster!) Albert and his dad, who work with Operation Blessing, were mobilizing efforts for food, clothing, medicines and more, for so many who have lost much during this crazy non-stop rain.
 
Saturday, October 15
Saturday morning Jarred led the devotions. Breakfast was prepared, as usual, by the housekeeper Rosa. We left to meet Juan Antonio for lunch, then we divided up to preach at three different churches within Juan Antonio’s sphere outside the city. We drove outside the city for a good hour through the rain in and out of mountains.
 
Jarred was dropped off first out of Juan Antonio’s van, way out in the boonies. It was his first time preaching, and he was excited! We stopped the van on the muddy dirt road with the rain coming down and he got out, then had to walk with his guide to the church through the massively-flooded area. A small creek had formed and some of the church members had to take their shoes off, roll up their pant legs or dress and walk through the flood to get in the church. Jarred tore his pants on the brush getting to the church as well. Then the lights went out in the church! So Jarred preached his first sermon in the dark, reading his Bible by the light of his phone in a church in a flooded area. Oh, and without electricity, he also didn’t have a microphone. Wow! He didn’t care. God showed up! People responded, got healed, repented and got saved!
 
Then Daniel and I switched churches. I was scheduled to preach at the larger church of Maximino’s like I did in July, but we discovered it was youth and young adult night, so I thought he would be a better fit. Oh, by the way, his translator cancelled, so he preached his first church service totally in Spanish! He did great! Many young people responded and desired to walk in purity and repented, responding to God’s tug on their heart.
 
So this night was a first for Jarred – preaching – and a first for Daniel – preaching in Spanish!
 
I went to our third church with a pastor who had been preaching for 35 years (longer than my 32 years of marriage). What a great servant of God. The worship was very “country churchish,” but certainly heart-felt. I preached and then ministered to about 35 people who came forward. We had one salvation, prayed for several marriages, and had several instant healings,
 
Pat ministering to pastor after message in a church in San Salvador  
including back pain, sinus and breathing issues, unclear eyesight, and severe stomach pain. Prior to the preaching/ministry time, there was a great drama about a gang killing a boy, enraging a brother, a praying mother, and forgiveness. It was emotional and powerful!
 
After the service was over at this Assemblies of God church, the pastor came up to me and asked me to pray for him. He had a stroke and couldn’t move his left arm or fingers. I prayed in the name of our amazing Lord Jesus for his fingers to move – and they began moving! Then I prayed for him to grip my hand hard, and for the entire hand to be healed – and his hand was healed in our Saviour’s name! Then I prayed for his wrist, then elbow and they started working. Then I prayed for his shoulder and whole arm, and told him to raise his arm up in praise to the Lord, and he did it! So now he has full use of his formally useless left arm! PTL!
 
We went and picked up Jarred and met at Maximino’s church, waiting on Daniel to finish ministering. Earlier God gave me a word to give Max and he testified that it was a confirmation to an earlier word he received three weeks prior.
 
After we drove home in the pouring rain, we stayed up late sharing about all that the Lord had done.

Here is Pat's journal for the next 2 days of this incredible mission to El Salvador last month:

 

Thursday October 13
This morning I was interviewed at a Christian television station (with the third highest viewership in the nation) at 8:45am by Pastor Navas. It turned out to be a great interview – live – with two 20-minute segments covering being a Christian businessman and missionary with Heart of Titus Ministries. We discussed our ministry’s purpose in San Salvador and also discussed our working in other countries. I really connected with Pastor Navas. After the interview, he invited me to preach Sunday morning at his 4,000 member church, but I already had an 8am and 10am service scheduled elsewhere, so I will preach at his 5pm service Sunday night instead. (Currently that will be my fourth scheduled service for Sunday, and the eighth for our team on Sunday alone!)
 
Jarred and Daniel left at 6am to go to an all-day medical clinic put on by Operation Blessing so they could counsel the patients. The organization, which is a sister organization to The 700 Club, is run in this nation by Albert’s dad; it is the organization for which Albert works. For the free clinic, the people had to go through “Christian counselling” before they could get their prescriptions filled. There were 280 patients and scores got saved during the one-on-one counselling sessions! The guys had a great time. We joked with Daniel because a beautiful single translator paired herself up with Daniel to assist in the counselling time. Jarred got a great translator too, but “Jerry” wasn’t as cute, according to Jarred.
 
At noon, I was supposed to meet with the pastor of the largest church in the nation, but something came up and he didn’t make the lunch. However, it provided a great opportunity to counsel and pray with our translator Albert, and one of his co-workers Elizabeth. Great time!
 
That night I preached at Pastor Romel Guadron’s church – Spirit of Life. Packed church. I ministered to about 30 people at the altar – one salvation, about 5 verified instant healings (including eyes, sinus pain, leg/knee problem with an elderly man). It was good reconnecting with Pastor Romel from our last meeting in July.
 
Also Thursday night Jarred and Daniel went to a youth/singles small cell group from Josue Church. Although the guys enjoyed the time, the leader didn’t want them praying over the people individually. It was weird, and they weren’t given a reason. But otherwise, they had a great time challenging the singles on how they needed to walk a Spirit-led life.
 
Friday, October 14
Daniel led devotions in the morning, and we all had a good time of sharing. After that we went to lunch and had a great time getting to know Alberto and his sister Rebecca. This was our slowest ministry day.
 
During the day we stopped at The 700 Club offices and Operation Blessing. We gathered the entire staff and prayed of each one. The staff included doctors, a lawyer, media people, and many general staff members. What a privilege for us to pray and minister of these amazing servants of our Lord.
 
That evening, Daniel and Jarred preached at one of Pastor Juan Antonio Recinos’ church missions in a very poor area. I preached to a small gathering at Juan Antonio’s church. People were responsive.
 
By the way, it rained the ENTIRE time we were in El Salvador! Probably there was only a cumulative time of two hours it did NOT rain the entire week – night or day included. This rain resulted in much flooding and mudslides – 26 deaths by Sunday. (Also 40% of the nation’s crops were lost by Saturday. And the rains were still going when we left. It was a national disaster!) Albert and his dad, who work with Operation Blessing, were mobilizing efforts for food, clothing, medicines and more, for so many who have lost much during this crazy non-stop rain.

 

It’s Tuesday October 11, 2011 and our Heart of Titus ministry team of Daniel Howell, Jarred Bess and myself are excited to be on our way. We left Orlando in the afternoon, and changed planes in Houston Texas, and on to San Salvador, El Salvador for an amazing adventure serving our Lord Jesus. All of us had prepared our hearts for several weeks with prayer and fasting, expecting the Holy Spirit to lead us every step, and empower us to expand His kingdom throughout this great nation of El Salvador.
 
We were met at the airport by Albert Rodriguez, our coordinator for this trip, main translator, and the one whose house we were going to stay at for this trip. Daniel and I met Albert on our last trip in July. He was educated at Oral Roberts University in the USA, and amazingly went to school with and knew Sarah Nardella, Tony’s daughter! When we arrived at his parent’s house, it was huge and we discovered his dad, Manuel (Memo), was a congressman! So of course Daniel and Jarred started with the jokes about “Pat’s cushy missions trips.”
 
Wednesday October 12
Well we just completed our first day of ministry in El Salvador, and what a day it was! It started early with our first service at the House of Prayer Church at 9:30am. Daniel Howell and Jarred Bess gave a greeting and did a great job helping me minister at the altar. We enjoyed the two-guitar worship team that played in amazing Latin style as we worshiped our Lord Jesus.
After the worship, they had testimony time with many people getting up and sharing what God had been doing in the last few days. Fantastic time! Next we were called to a time of prayer and the whole church knelt and prayed for about 25 minutes. We walked around and prayed over many. By the time everybody had soaked in prayer, the preaching time was wonderful and I found everyone was engaged and ready to respond to the Holy Spirit's prompting at the altar. Salvation, repentance, filling of the Holy Spirit, deliverance and healing were all part of our time.
 
Jarred and Daniel both had many people healed, as did I during our prayer time. I got two of those on video testimony. One was a lady who couldn't move her fingers on one hand, and the Lord healed her! The other was a man plagued by very bad sinus problems who was now able to get a full breath. He was excited!
 
Then tonight (Wednesday) we split into two teams, with Jarred and I going to the Jerusalem Church, and Daniel going back to the House of Prayer to minister and preach. Wow, what a time Jarred and I had! Incredible time of worship -- over the top in anointing! Then I preached after Jarred gave a greeting and half the church responded.
 
We once again had a pouring out of God's Spirit through healing, deliverance, repentance and filling of His Spirit. There seemed to be many who dealt with unworthiness of God's great love, but the Lord lifted their hearts! Daniel reported a great time in sharing in Galatians 3 and 5, with many touched by our Lord at the altar.
 
Then we all met for dinner with one of the pastors from the church where I preached. We had a great night of fellowship. Now for a few hours of sleep, followed by Daniel and Jarred heading out at 6am to minister all day in prayer with over 200 medical patients through Operation Blessing. They are so excited!
 
I leave at 8:30am to be interviewed on Christian television as to our purposes of ministry in El Salvador through Heart of Titus -- great opportunity! Then at noon tomorrow I am meeting with one of the pastors from the largest church in the nation. Tomorrow night Daniel and Jarred tag-team at a singles cell group, and I will preach at Pastor Rommel's church that we preached at in both March and July this year.
 

Well it's 12:30am in El Salvador, so I better get some sleep.

Exciting report, and this is just the first 2 days!  More of Pat's report to follow in the next day or 2. - Editor's note

Thursday, 13 October 2011 12:20

El Salvador Team Hits The Ground Running!

October 14, 2011 - Hi all, We are having a great time in El Salvador -- salvations, healing, deliverance, counsel to pastors and filling of God's wonderful Holy Spirit. See the two video testimonies of healing -- one lady's hand didn't work and another man was healed from sever sinus problems. More later.... pat

Lady's finger gets healed

Man's sinusitus healed

October 12, 2011 - Well we just completed our first day of ministry in El Salvador, and what a day it was! It started early with our first service at the House of Prayer Church at 9:30am. Daniel Howell and Jarred Bess gave a greeting and did a great job helping me minister at the altar.We enjoyed the two-guitar worship team that played in amazing latin style as we worshiped our Lord Jesus.

After the worship, they had testimony time with many people getting up and sharing what God had been doing in the last few days. Fantastic time! Next we were called to a time of prayer and the whole church kneeled and prayed for about 25 minutes. We walked around and prayed over many. By the time everybody had soaked in prayer, the preaching time was wonderful and I found everyone was engaged and ready to respond to the Holy Spirit's prompting at the altar. Salvation, repentance, filling of the Holy Spirit, deliverance and healing were all part of our time.

Jarred and Daniel both had many people healed, as did I during our prayer time. I got two of those on video testimony. One was a lady who couldn't move her fingers on one hand, and the Lord healed her! The other was a man plagued by very bad sinus problems who was now able to get a full breath. He was excited!

 
Then tonight (Wednesday) we split into two teams, with Jarred and I going to the Jeruselam Church, and Daniel going back to the House of Prayer to minister and preach. Wow, what a time Jarred and I had! Incredible time of worship -- over the top in annointing! Then I preached after Jarred gave a greeting and half the church responded.
 
We once again had a pouring out of God's Spirit through healing, deliverance, repentance and filling of His Spirit. There seemed to be many who dealt with unworthiness of God's great love, but the Lord lifted their hearts! Daniel reported a great time in sharing in Galations 3 and 5, with many touched by our Lord at the altar.
 
Then we all met for dinner with one of the pastors from the church where I preached. Great night of fellowship. Now for a few hours of sleep, followed by Daniel and Jarred heading out at 6am to minister all day in prayer with over 200 medical patients through Operation Blessing. They are so excited!
 
I leave at 8:30am to be interviewed on Christian television as to our purposes of ministry in El Salvador through Heart of Titus -- great opportunity! Then at noon tomorrow I am meeting with one of the pastors from the largest church in the nation. Tomorrow night Daniel and Jarred tag-team at a singles cell group, and I will preach at Pastor Rommel's church that we preached at in both March and July this year.

Well it's 12:30am in El Salvador, so I better get some sleep. More later, and please keep praying for us, as we desparately need the power and intervention of our Lord to carry out His purposes.
 
Monday, 03 October 2011 00:03

El Salvador Again

In just a few more days (October 11) Daniel Howell, Jarred Bess and Pat McGuffin will be traveling to El Salvador for the third Heart of Titus Ministries trip there this year. Excitement is mounting for both the North American team and the pastors in El Salvador preparing to receive them.

   
Street view, San Salvador  

During the exploratory first trip in April Pat and Tony "spied out the land" to

   
Pat and Tony in San Salvador, April 2011  

see what opportunities God would open; He opened the doors wide in serving over a three dozen churches.

In July Pat and Tony were joined by Daniel Howell and by Dr. Byron Lopez and his son Marcel from Ecuador. Even though many obstacles were

   
  The El Salvador team: Marcel Lopez, Pat, Daniel, Tony, Dr. Byron Lopez - June 2011

encountered, the team once again saw many salvations, healings, deliverances, restoration of marriages, and help to pastors throughout the capital of San Salvador. And again, more doors opened with many other churches and Christian leaders in the nation.

On this upcoming trip, we will be expanding our ministry with dozens of churches who fall under the leadership of Pastor Edwin Stephen Guzman, continue working with the two dozen or more churches under Pastor Juan Carlos Recinos, and reach into many other churches through a new relationship with Alberto Rodriguez who works with the 700 Club and Operation Blessing.

Please be praying for this important missions trip to serve our Lord. May the Holy Spirit show His power for life change to a very needy nation. 

Tuesday, 01 February 2011 14:31

Video of Children Dancing

This video was taken at Dios Es Amor Church, and they had a dance team of children that danced during worship. Toward the end of the video there is a lady in a red shirt, it is the same lady God healed of deafness. It is amazing to watch how she worships the Lord. You can see such a hunger in her face. This church was full of people like her, hungry to hear the gospel!

To see the video click here ==> Children Dancing

Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:25

Pat's Video Testimony of God's Healing Power

Pat and Marcel at Dios es Amor (God is Love) Church in Guayaquil, Ecuador, sharing about what miracles of healing God has done. Click here ==>

Testimonies

Wednesday, 26 January 2011 16:37

Woman Deaf since Birth Hears!

Tonight at Dios Es Amor Church a women who was deaf in her left ear since birth was HEALED by the Lord. After the service we asked her to share her testimony and we had it translated by Marcel. We serve a Living Lord! Praise God for his goodness!

Jesus Heals Deaf Woman - click here! 

Monday, 24 January 2011 02:42

Incredible Miracles in Ecuador - Report 1

Pat McGuffin just sent this email from Guayaquil.  He and Rick Schuessler just arrived there Friday night. Incredible report of God's love and power!

Hi all,

This is a very brief report of what is happening in Ecuador so far on this trip. I have to change (sweat through my clothes at the last service) and leave in an hour, so this will be short. Rick Schuessler and I made up the team this time.

We arrived in Guayaquil Ecuador Friday night and were met by a great group of our Heart of Titus Ministries Ecuador team. After the greetings, we went to stay at the new Christian embassy in Pastor Francisco Loor's neighborhood. Nice accommodations.

Saturday we preached at a service that I thought was just going to be the Medicine in Christ ministry group of about 6-36 people. Instead about 200 showed up. As I was walking into Centro Evangelistico Church, I was met by a wonderful smiling lady who proceeded to excitedly talk to me, as if I knew the language. I smiled and was nice to her, then went to my seat. Miguel said, "wow that was a great testimony she had." I asked him what she was saying to me and he said she was telling me that last time I prayed for her she had advanced liver cancer, but after the prayer, God totally healed her last year! Praise the Lord. That's how my first meeting started.

Rick has loved everything about this trip so far -- the people, the movement of God, and the incredible Heart of Titus team members. Latter in that same service a 5 year old girl was healed of blindness and testified in front of the whole church with Dr. Freddy Beltran interviewing her and the mom. Twelve people got saved too! About 70-80 came to the altar and we had a great time of ministry with healings, repentance and salvation.

At 6:30 we went to our Heart of Titus (HOT) administrative team leader for Ecuador, Fernando Ubilla's daughter Sophia's wedding to Diego. Great event. All you ladies would have really liked all the details -- so Rick and I shot some good videos and still shots. The reception ended about 1am!

I preached at noon today (my 55th birthday) at Pastor Robilino's church in a poor area of the city. God's presence was so great! The worship Rick felt was over the top in connection with God, and I would agree. God's Spirit moved me even to totally change my message in the middle of the worship time. We had a great time ministering with several healings, deliverances, repentance and movement of God's Spirit.

Got to go now ....
More later...

Pat McGuffin and Rick Schuessler
 

Here's what Pat McGuffin reports from last night:

We had a great night in several ways. The service tonight at the First Baptist Church in Duran went great, with the Holy Spirit moving mightily! Several cool healings and words of knowledge as well as repentance and fresh outpouring of God's Spirit.

The pastor was very encouraged! Our team of the Lopezs, Ubillas, Miguel, Jacquie, Daniel and Marcel did fantastic.

Then we came back to Fernando's house and had an incredible team-building night. Encouragement, ideas flowing, and new people to reach out to were all happening.

Having trouble getting connected to the internet, so forgive the lack of communication.

The immeasurable blessing of God’s grace is one of the most misunderstood gifts He has extended to mankind. Beliefs and corresponding lifestyles indicate that most people tend to fall into one of two extreme polar positions, with the actual truth being played out in the middle.

Interestingly confusing is the observation that both camps would likely accept the truth found in each other’s viewpoint, yet in practice would live two different ways.

In the first camp are those who grab hold of Romans 1:17 where it says “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Those in this camp would say that God’s gift of righteousness and salvation is imparted by grace through faith and there is nothing mankind can do to earn a right standing with God. They are right! There is nothing man can do to save himself, other than call out to God in humble desperation to receive His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.