The vision of God’s Army is the result of a compelling call of God on the lives of Steven James and Barbara Jean Coleman. Both casualties of failed marriages were about to become another statistic in the maraud entanglement of divorce until God intervened. While living in Houston, Texas during the seventies, Barbara rededicated her life to the Lord and was filled with the Holy Spirit. This event soon lead to their separation because Steven was not ready to live for the Lord, but Barbara received audible instruction from God when He told her “I will give you your husband back”. Steven having forgotten his surrender to the Lord as a young child in the basement of a small church when he was about eight years old, lived a life bound by demonic forces. His first encounter with the spiritual realm was as a child having nightmares. The nightmares were the result of his challenging the devil to take some money he had buried in the ground as a test to show other kids that there was not a devil. Much to his surprise after being alone in his backyard turned his back and challenged the devil to take the money, and a spiritual door was opened when the money disappeared in the time it took for him to say smugly “O.K. mister devil, take the money”. After continual nightmares, and fear the night came when a demonic spirit manifested in his bedroom. After reciting the Lord’s prayer as if it were a poem over and over with no results, he finally through desperation began to pray the same prayer earnestly before God, and God delivered him from all nightmares that night.
The Colemans attended Lakewood church under Pastors John and Dodie Olsteen after God eventually brought the couple back together following a three-year separation. They attend Lakewood for over fourteen years. Since that time they began to attend, then join Quail Valley Church under Pastors Curry and Beverly Juneau in 1994. They shortly became Cell group leaders for about two years, then Steven served in leadership of the church as an Elder until late 2004 then resigned to focus more on ministry. Steven and Jean were serving with pastors’ hearts, desiring to do more when this ministry began in their spirits about 1996 when a friend in the church built them a computer and registered it with the name God’s Army. They have been liberating people through the power of prayer since 1981 when Steven was baptized in the Holy Spirit during a deliverance encounter alone in his home one Easter Sunday night. Although the road to where they are now was not paved with a storybook tale, God has proved himself to them in unforgettable ways!