Lisa is one of the original members of The Father's House. Lisa and her husband Mike started attending when Pastor Dale and his wife Linda started Huntington Beach Vineyard.  They were members through the transition to Coastview Christian Fellowship in 1990, and now continue with us at The Father's House.  Lisa and her family have quite a long history with our church.

She taught in children’s ministry when Coastview met on Argosy Ave. in Huntington Beach. This is where she found her ministry as a teacher in children’s church.  All three of Lisa and Mike’s children were raised through their whole childhood in the love of this church family. Even recently I have witnessed Lisa attending The Father’s House with her adult children standing by her side along with Steve, her nephew, as part of their family.

Currently experiencing a difficult season of her life, Lisa has chosen to become involved in helping Pastor Pete with the worship power point on Sunday mornings instead of children’s ministry.  One can clearly see a desire in Lisa’s heart to give of herself on some level of ministry, regardless of what she is going through in her personal life. She definitely has a servant’s heart!

 Lisa also shared how important it has been to be involved in a small group throughout the years. She has found great family connection through an active home group, a place where she can share her heart, be ministered to and also reach out to others, who have a need to be loved through family and prayer.

For many reasons, Lisa has not been able to attend a home group recently and has been longing to find a safe place to meet during the week.

Last July, on the last week of the month, the home group that meets at Jim and Virginias house in Fountain Valley, put together a BBQ at Jim’s house. Lisa and her nephew Steve were able to attend. Lisa found herself anticipating a beautiful evening with her church family. There was excitement in her heart, hoping to reconnect with another home group.

Arriving at Jim and Virginia’s home, Lisa entered the backyard through the side gate. What she found was a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere with many of the friends she had known from previous home groups she had attended.

“God knew that I was searching for another home group,”  she shared. Jim and Virginia have a beautiful home, and as she entered the house through the back yard, to Lisa, it felt safe, it felt like home, comfortable.

No sooner had she filled her plate with some of the wonderful food, she received a phone call from her husband Mike. There was a crisis at home and he needed her to return home to help resolve the issue.

Now Steve, also who had loaded his plate up with some of Jim’s fine BBQ food, had settled into a seat in the backyard and began interacting with the crowd.  Lisa, trying to decide what to do, was encouraged by Virginia to take a plate of food and leave Steve with her while Lisa took care of her family situation at home. Steve concurred, being very comfortable and excited about connecting with the home group family. This was definitely a new experience for Steve and he was thoroughly enjoying the gathering.

So Lisa left, not knowing when she would be returning. She definitely didn’t want to leave, I could see she was quite upset.

In Lisa’s absence, the evening progressed; everyone filled themselves with the BBQ feast and settled into the evening. The fire was lit, the sun set, and the Holy Spirit fell on The Father’s House.

We all gathered around the fire and started into some of the most powerful prayer I’ve ever seen. Everyone’s gifts came to the surface as the Spirit fell and the power of God’s glory covered the back yard.

Upon Lisa’s return, about an hour later, she had brought her daughter who chose to sit in the car while her mom entered the backyard through the side gate for the second time that night.

In Lisa’s own words, “It was amazing, the Holy Spirit was illuminating, the fire pit was going and every body was encircled around it and there was intense prayer, I could feel the spirit in the place, it was so thick.”

As she entered the backyard, Lisa heard someone praying for her. To her amazement, it was Steve, her nephew, who is usually too shy to openly pray, let alone in a group setting. His prayer was for Lisa and her family.  He was standing in the gap for them. He was warring in the Spirit for the DuRoss family. Very powerful! His warrior spirit was in full swing.

Lisa was so taken by the miracle of how Steve was transformed in the short time she was absent. We all witnessed this amazing prayer of protection and listened to this beautiful prayer of power.

Steve had lost his mother in 2006. She was Lisa’s sister, and possessed a very strong faith. Over the years she had taught Steve how to pray and shared with him about her relationship with Jesus. So in listening to Steve’s prayer upon entering the back yard, Lisa could here her sister praying through Steve, same style, same passion, same power.

What a beautiful prayer Lisa had heard through Steve. In Lisa’s words; “It was just like the way my sister used to pray, with passion.”

Lisa also mentioned, as a parent, you don’t realize what the children are picking up and what they’re ignoring. So apparently, Steve was impacted by his mother’s sincere prayers as he took care of her when she was sick, before she died.

Lisa shared; “He learned how to pray by listening to my sister.”
“I literally could feel her inside me, she was so proud of Steve and his prayer.”

All through his prayer, Steve was unaware of Lisa’s presence in the back yard. He had no idea how he was blessing his aunt Lisa.  Again Lisa testified, “It wasn’t for show…it was true passion and heart felt prayer.”

Everyone’s gifts were coming out that night. Lisa said, “We were connected, we were in tune and everyone was one!  It was family and that was what I needed. I felt like my nephew was being taken care of. He has never been fed like that…ever.”

As the night came to a close, Lisa and Steve were walking out to their car. Steve made a comment, “Auntie, it was like Heaven, it was like Heaven…I can’t wait to come back.”

Thank you Lisa Duross and Steve Nieto for giving permission to publish this story.