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Ministry Reports/ Thoughts on Revival | |
It was an awesome two days at the Generations Encounter Retreat. Pastor Daniel set the tone for the encounter retreat by giving an excellent introductory message. During the morning and afternoon sessions, topics like Deliverance, Father Heart of God, Spiritual Warfare and the Believer's authority was taught. It was awesome to see the Holy Spirit working deeper during the course of the retreat. Bondages were broken, hurts were healed and it was really awesome to see the countenance of the kids changing as they encounter God's presence and understand the Father's Heart. On the last night session, it seems like Heaven broke lose...During worship the presence of God was so thick. Preaching was hilarious...i started laughing at my own jokes! Altar and ministry was powerful. Kids were set on fire by God, one told me he was caught into a vision..others received breakthroughs. Newson and Jason, both generation leaders were casting out demons...Kid were just crying and soaking in the glory of God. By the time we ended by chasing the kids back home, it was already about 11 pm...many of us were all drained out. I was exhausted but seeing all the works of the Spirit...I said to myself it was all worth it. Thank you Abba Father for loving your children.
Sorry for not updating on our ministry the last two weeks....ministry has been intensive and thank God He has been sustaining us as we minister at different churches. In the beginning of June we ministered at the youth services of Bethany Church. The youth pastor is Pastor Omar. The services went well and in the second service in particular, which consist mostly of young adults there was a great stirring of the Spirit. The youth service at Centre of New Life was phenomenal. There was such an unction that was upon me as I preached the message. I really enjoyed myself preaching to this bunch of youths and at the altar they were just so hungry for the Lord...repenting, crying, falling under the power of God. Next was the Generation Zone Two camp held at Fairy Point Chalet. There were about 50 campers and they were led by Cameron and Delia. Wow the two nights I had with them was real cool. The Lord was just dropping revelations upon revelations as I ministered the word of God. On the first night, the flies came into the meeting room as was disrupting the meeting. Girls were squealing because of the flies. I was annoyed in my spirit and I rebuked them. Anyway I forgot about them and continued speaking. The next night Cameron told the congregation that the flies left at the rebuke and I did not even know it happened! Isn't God great? Even flies had to depart at the Name of Jesus. During the first night's altar call, there was a strong moving of the Spirit. I challenged the youths to make room for revival, which means they have to adjust their lifestyle in such a way there is time and space for the word and also intercession for revival. It was great to find out that some groups woke up early the next morning to pray. The second evening I continued to shared on the theme of being grounded in the word..and during the altar call I was led by the Spirit to challenge them to seek forgiveness from each other if there are offenses. It was awesome to see these young people moving out of their space and going to their friends to seek forgiveness. As they did that, the presence of God was so tremendous. We then went into a time of intercession for revival, and one by one the young people went on their knees in tears and many were literally weeping and crying out to God for revival. When prayer was about to end, suddenly there was strong winds and soon a storm came out of no where. I felt that God has given a prophetic sign that He had heard the cries of the young people that night. Do pray for us. This week has been intensive and we are ministering at the Generations Encounter Retreat. Please pray that many young people may be set free from demonic bondages and also hurts in their lives.
A big thanks to all who prayed for us, we are back safely....it was an amazing 4 days of ministering at the camp. There was such an awesome move of God amongst the youths... I will post the ministry report up shortly and also videos clips of the camp...God bless!
Dear Friends and prayer partners, Do pray for us (team of 8) as we travel up to Ipoh to minister in an inter-school camp. Students from different schools are coming for this camp and the purpose is to get them ignited so that they will bring the gospel back to their schools. We really desire to see these young people catch the fire and bring revival to their schools and their churches. So do labour in prayer alongside us and be part of what God is doing in Ipoh!
The Oikios Indonesian Church's service is held at Peninsular Hotel. This is my first time preaching in this church and I was invited by my long time friend Pastor Yakub. He was my classmate while I was studying in TCA 10 years ago. The congregation is made up of mostly, youths and young adults and they are are a passionate bunch of believers. Praise and worship was awesome and the presence of God was evident in the room where the service was held. Preaching was relatively easy as the members were passionate and really hungry for God. When the altar call was given, there was such a strong anointing that came, people were crying out in hunger for the Lord, some were on the knees repenting before God. As Lillian prayed for a young lady, demons started manifesting. She started running away and had to be pin down, while being prayed for. Many were gloriously touched and ministered to by God as the fire of the Spirit fell upon them. Thank you Lord for the privilege of being your vessel in this church. All glory be to God!
On Sunday Night I had a rude shock when I recieved a phone call from Bro Daniel of Bethel AG. "Pastor Ben you are suppose to speak to us tonight." I realized that I had recorded the dates wrongly and thought that I am supposed to speak on Monday night instead. I sped down to the venue and thankfully reached the meeting when their worship had just ended. I shared with them regarding "Raising the Next Generation". The next morning I carried on with the same theme and shared with them the importance of interceding for the children placed by God inside the church's fold and also those that are outside in their community. After my message we had a wonderful time praying and interceding for this generation of children. Many were crying and weeping as they were seized with God's burden to see revival amongst the children. There was a wonderful move of the Spirit, and many of the teachers were wonderfully touched by God. Praise God for His wonderful works!
Last Saturday I spoke at Grace 2 AG Youth Service. The Youth Pastor is Ronald. They were a great bunch of youths(About 60 of them), very responsive. Many of them came out either to be baptized in the Spirit or to have the Spirit's flame rekindled in their lives. It was awesome to see these kids filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues, while others were hungry for God to move in their lives. Sunday morning I was at Grace 1 AG Youth Service. There were about 200 youths. I shared basically the same message with lesser jokes as time was limited. Many responded and again it was an open heaven. Those who responded were filled with the Spirit, others were weeping profusedly or soaking in God presence at the altar. I left the service with Ronald and his team still ministering as we have to be at the cornerstone's youth service. Worship at Generations was great as usual. I started out my message with some knots in my stomache as Prophetess Nita Johnson was sitting right in front of me..She wanted to minister during the altar call. Well thank God , the unction came upon me somewhere after my introduction and I just preached my guts out...I gave an altar call and almost all 400 of the young people streamed down the altar. I handed the altar ministry to Sister Nita, as we prayed for all 400 young people to be used by God to bring Revival. Altar ministry was real tiring business...but it was all worth while to see all these young people touched and torched by God. They are the future Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha and I am privileged to be serving them. Thanks to all who have prayed or help out in the ministry...You are all part of our ministry. Lord I give you glory for all you have done, and I pray that you may preserve these youths for your purpose in this last hour. Teach me to be more and more dependable upon you, more and more broken before you and to be more and more desperate for revival. Thank you for using me in your kingdom business. Amen.
Today i preached at Church of Christ the Rock. I last ministered here 2 years ago. I preached on the topic "Dealing with the inner weaknesses of your Life". Though this was only a small group of young people consisting of about 20 in all including some older ones who decided to join in, I preached with the same fervency and zeal as I would regardless of the group size. Size certainly does not matter. Many of the young people present had never encountered the Holy Spirit before. As the altar call was given, many of them streamed forward wanting to be prayed for. Some of them were reluctant as they were persuaded by their parents or friends to come forward. But nevertheless, God was faithful to His Word as Lillian and myself begin to lay hands on them to experience the fire of the Holy Spirit. Tears were shed especially those who were half-hearted not knowing what to expect. Words of knowledge were released as we ministered and the older folks were also touched as they came forward for prayer. I am also thankful that the Lord has blessed me with the first convert in my itinerant ministry as a young man from Nepal who had been attending the services for 3 months said the sinner's prayer for the first time in his life. He too experienced the touch of God as he later mentioned that he felt weak as I prayed for him. His friends had been persuading him to accept Christ for the 3 months and he finally made that decision today. Praise God for on soul saved! Do keep Lillian and myself in prayer as I minister next Sunday at the Generations service at Cornerstone. It's an exciting journey ahead and we are "souled" out for it!
This is the first preaching engagement since I stepped out into the ministry of an Itinerant Evangelist officially on 1st May 2008. I remembered that a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at my calender in May and I laid my hands on the calender asking God to open doors to minister in churches. Immediately after I prayed, Pastor Mark from Emmanuel AG called and asked me if i was free to preach in his youth service in the month of April. It was later changed to the 3rd of May. This came as an instant answer to my prayer. God was assuring me that He hears my prayers. As I entered in to worship hall where a hundred over youths and young adults gathered, I knew that it was a divine appointment and the fire of the Holy Spirit would surely fall. The presence of God was evident as the congregation worshipped the Lord. That evening I shared a message entitled "Torched by the Spirit". At the end of the message I gave an altar call with Louis helping me with the music and altar call song. The altar was packed with youths and young adult hungry for the Lord, repenting of sins in their life. The Holy Spirit began to move in an awesome manner, healing the wounded. Demons manifested and were cast out. The altar was filled with tears of young people who were touched by the presence of God. Towards the end of the altar call, a strong anointing came as Lillian and I prayed for the young people to be filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Many fell under the power of the Holy Spirit as fire came down from heaven. The whole altar call lasted one and a half hour! If we continued, I believed the young people would have stayed till midnight worshipping the Lord. The service ended with Pastor Mark and his young people surrounding Lillian, Louis and myself in prayer for our intinerant ministry. As Pastor Mark and the youths prayed, there was such a strong anointing that came upon us. I am humbled that God has called Lillian and myself and chosen us for His work and to impact a generation to rise up for His end-time purpose. I am excited with this new phase of ministry. Do continue to support us in your prayers as we labour for Him.
In 1906, Shillong was impacted by the Welsh revival as Evan Robert's sister and Sydney Evans went to minister in Shillong. A hundred years after the Welsh revival, revival hit Shilong again. In May 2006, the Shillong revival began. I was watching the documentary on the Shillong revival which carries the actual footage of what's happening, and my mind was blown away by the awesome moving of the Spirit. Children, youths and adults were passionately worshipping the Lord in the churches, and worship services carried on till the wee hours of the morning. The Church authorities had no choice but to pass down the order that all services have to end by 9 pm. This was because much of life was disrupted by the revival. Amazing signs appeared. In one church the cross in front of the sanctuary started to shine on it's own. This phenomenon began in 5th September 06 and the light slowly faded away in November 07. Many who came to the church to worship during this period fall under the power of the Spirit as their "legs turn to water". Even wild animals and birds were attracted to the church during worship services staying there for 4 hours. Schools were hit by these mighty waves of revival. School students, started crying and repenting of their sins in class while others had demonic manifestation and had to go through and the school authorities did not know what to do with them.Some schools even threaten students with expulsion. Here is an actual eye witness account of the revival that took place in non-Christian schools. 4th Sept '06, 7:00 p.m., Shillong, India Revival in Non-Christian Schools Today at early noon, at about 12:30 p.m., I received a call from a young sister from our church. She goes to a school run by the Bengali Buddhists community. She sounded both excited and urgent as she told me that some children (although only four of them) in her school had come under the power of God. She also told me that the school was declared holiday for the day. This caught my attention because this wasn't a Christian school like the others where students basically from Christian background were experiencing similar things. This was a Buddhist school and now it wasn't just students from Christian background but also Hindus and others who were having a direct encounter with God. As soon as I put down my phone, I told my wife about it, changed my dress, hopped onto my motor-scooter and rushed toward the school. When I reached there at about 1:00 in the afternoon I saw a young man carrying a young girl of about 13/14 yrs old outside the school. Her relatives and neighbors were there too. I quickly recognized that she was from my community – Nepali. They were taking her home. The girl was crying and groaning and seems to be without any strength in her body. At first I thought to speak to them but felt I should see what was happening with the others in the classroom. But all that I saw in one room were some Christians trying to explain to the authorities and teachers of the school what was actually happening. Almost all the students had left the school. I felt no use to be there and felt the prompting to follow those people with that young girl. I ran towards the road and joined them. Her any and a young man were carrying her. I approached them and talked to them and helped carry the girl to her house which was not far from that school. There were lots of houses where she lived and as soon as we reached there some crowd gathered to find out what had happened to her since someone from the school had gone there earlier to inform them what had happened to this girl and to come to pick her up. There was panic in the house and in that compound. Of course, they had been hearing the news everywhere and had actually watched it in the local news channel also that such occurrences were happening with Christians in the churches and schools. Now they were seeing this with their own eyes happening to one of the kids from their own block and that to someone who wasn't a Christian at all. The small room was packed with some people and the rest simply flocked at the door. A little boy, about 10 yrs old scurried to the room with a Bible in his hand. The adults began to ask him to read the Bible. At that moment I told them that I was a Christian and that they need not be afraid or panicky and as such offered to read the Bible too. I came to learn later that the little boy wasn't a Christian at all but had been given a Bible by someone. Their idea was that since this is a Christian "phenomenon" reading the Bible would bring the girl or anyone else for that matter going through this manifestation, back to consciousness. "What's this happening?" asked a lady. Then I opened the Bible and started preaching the Gospel to them. I got a rapt audience. Over and over again I shared to them about the Savior, Jesus Christ and their need of believing and receiving Him into their lives. During some moments of pause I tried talking to that girl whose name was Pratima, but she was crying continuously and seemed to be totally unaffected by her surroundings. Later after over an hour in that house she slowly began to move her eyes which indicated that she had come to her senses. Just to check I asked her if she wanted to drink some water to which she nodded her calling me". I asked her again who the person was who was calling her. "Jesus" she said. At that moment I turned back to her people and reiterated that the Lord had indeed specially chosen her and that probably through her the rest of them. They just kept quiet and simply nodded their head. Her mother who probably was a widow seemed familiar to me. On inquiring I came to realize that she was a staff of State Bank where my father had also served (though in another Branch in town). On inquiring further I came to realize that she and her family actually knows my father very well and calls him "uncle". And also that her old father was actually serving at the same time in the same Branch office with my father. And soon I also came to head. She drank the water and lied on the bed again. I asked her what had happened. She softly answered, "He's learn that the other lady who asked me earlier, "What's this happening?" was actually a distant relative of mine. This made things all the more easier. And as some more other people were inquiring about the whole event I affirmed to them that this was God's divine plan to come and meet with Pratima in such a sovereign way that people would gather in that house, I would, out of nowhere reach there and get the opportunity to share the Gospel to all of them. I assured them that this was God's love for them and His divine plan for their salvation. It seemed to me that they were beginning to see the truth. In the meantime Pratima was hungry and was served lunch. Soon she began to talk with her mother and others. When I asked her how it all began, she told me that she suddenly fainted in her classroom and after that all she remembered were some teachers trying to pick her up. She remembers nothing after that till the time she regained consciousness at home. During that whole time she was only crying and crying in a very deeply emotional manner. Later in that house tea and biscuits were served to the rest of us. And after some more conversation I finally left them but not without offering to visit them again. The surprising thing was those non-Christian crowds that had gathered in that house were also making an uproar about a similar incident in another school not far from that area. This was also a non-Christian, Girl's High school. In fact, it was in a much larger scale here. And so after leaving that house I rushed toward this school hoping to catch a glimpse of what was happening there too. But when I reached there all the students had already left. I only saw a young girl on the road outside the school along with her relative trying to make some effort to walk. Her face too was wet with tears. In the evening I went to visit my Dad and Mom in their house eagerly looking forward to share all this, seeing that those people were actually my Dad's close acquaintances too. Monalisa, a sister from our church was also there along with one of her daughters. When I began to share my story of the day my Mother told me that they actually had also visited the school and had also spotted my motor-scooter parked outside the school premises. But since all the students had left by then, and I wasn't there either, they however had the opportunity to speak to some of the school authorities about Jesus and also handed some gospel tracts to them and left. On the other hand, Monalisa had another interesting story to share. In the afternoon she was actually passing by that same Girl's High school when she heard and saw all the commotion. She noted a girl who also had been touched by the power of God and inquired what had happened to her. She said she actually saw an inferno and Satan was trying to pull her towards the fire. But suddenly in the middle between them a tall man clothed in white appeared and she knew it was Jesus. His face was shining with glory. She saw Him calling her to Himself, "come with me and I'll take you to Heaven." This girl was an Assamese Hindu girl. Before leaving her, Monalisa asked for her contact address and also gave an invitation to come to our fellowship on Sundays. Another, somewhat staunch Hindu school also came under similar experience today. Some students who came under the power of God began to prophesy, "Jesus is coming soon, repent!" Sadly, some of the teachers/authorities (of course, non-Christians) of the school allegedly didn't like what was happening and in fact rebuked and discouraged them by making snide remarks that they should go home and do all the pretensions and dramas. Yes, there'll be those who'll try to oppose or even attempt to thwart the move of God and yet we confidently know for sure that in the end His love and power will prevail over and above everything else. In this revival children and young people were used mightily by the Lord. A three year old girl, would lay her hands on people, and they fell under the power of the Spirit. A 14 year old girl name Unity moves strongly in the prophetic anointing. What is most touching about the Shilong revival is the transformation which it brought to the people. Alcoholics, drug addicts were set free. Families were restored as repentance took place. Parents came to the Lord as a result of the intercession of their children. The cold and boring church became a church on fire, filled with life and the River of the Spirit flows. Watching the happenings of the revival, sparked off a deeper hunger within my heart, to pray and seek God for a move in my generation.
The Awesome Argentina Revival - Lessons in Evangelism and Spiritual Warfare from Argentina
by Peter Wagner edited by Chris Simpson and David Little
One of the most successful models of urban evangelism that I have recently been in contact with is taking place in Argentina. Throughout the history of Protestant missions to Latin America, Argentina has been one of the more resistant nations. With the exception of the Tommy Hicks crusade and its aftermath in the early 1950s, the evangelical movement in Argentina has been pretty lackadaisical.
But this changed dramatically with the Falkland Islands war in 1982 when Argentina tried unsuccessfully to occupy the Malvinas Islands, as they call them. The British victory caused a radical change in Argentine social psychology. National pride, for which Argentines were internationally notorious, was severely damaged. The church had failed them, the military had failed them, Peronism had failed them - they were ready to try something new.
The fact of the matter is that well before 1982 the basis for Argentine pride had severely eroded. Once the world's tenth strongest economic power and boasting a standard of life higher than that of southern Europe. Argentina was the jewel of South America, peaking during the reign of Juan Domingo Peron and his followers through the 1950s and 1960s. As his influence waned in the early 1970s, Peron linked up with a powerful occult practitioner, Jose Lopez Rega, known popularly as "el brujo" (the warlock). Lopez Rega served under Peron as social welfare minister, and after Peron's death in 1974 became the chief advisor to his wife, Isabel Peron, during her two years as president. He erected a public monument to witchcraft (since dismantled), and is said by many to have publicly cursed the nation when he lost power with the military coup of 1976.
Spiritism, principally from Brazil, began to flood the nation. Under the military rulers 8,000 political suspects "disappeared" forever, the bodies of many recently being uncovered in mass graves. Once the tenth strongest economic power, Argentina now finds itself tenth from the bottom by some measurements. Little wonder the nation is ripe for the gospel message. True, in such a spiritual vacuum, any change is seen by many as a change for the better. The power of witchcraft continues to escalate. False cults such as Mormonism are experiencing rapid growth. A huge ornate Mormom temple dominates the highway leading from the Ezeiza airport to Buenos Aires. But with all this, the power of God is being manifested in extraordinary ways.
Hector Gimenez
The largest church is downtown Buenos Aires is pastored by Hector Gimenez, 33, an ex-drug addict and gunfighter. He started the church in 1983 and now leads a congregation of some 70,000. The official name of the church is The Miracles of Jesus Renewed Christian Church, but it more popularly carries the name of Gimenez's radio broadcast, "Waves of Love and Peace." Their church home is a 2,500 seat theater in which they hold eight services daily, seven days of the week. Gimenez himself preaches five services per day, a total of 35 different sermons per week. A study by a Polish sociologist estimates the attendance at 14,000 daily. I had the privilege of preaching to a packed house at the 8:00 p.m. service on a Tuesday night in April 1990, and saw more than a dozen profess salvation and fifty profess miraculous healing, numbers totally disproportionate to the usual results of my speaking. When we left just before 10:30 p.m., a new crowd had totally jammed the space between the theater door and the street, waiting to get in for the next service!
Gimenez told me that a couple of weeks previously on Easter Sunday, they had rented the largest enclosed auditorium in the city, Luna Park, which seats 15,000. They needed three services to accommodate the 35,000 worshipers, and they baptized 3,200 by immersion in portable pools. Whether they set an intentional goal to exceed the number baptized in Jerusalem on Pentecost Gimenez did not say.
Spiritual Warfare
What is the secret behind such effective ministry among the urban masses? The answers to such a question must not be oversimplified. All church growth is a complex interweaving of sets of contextual factors, institutional factors and spiritual factors. Much of what is happening in Argentina can be explained by well-known contextual and institutional church growth principles. I do not believe, however, that they can adequately account for the sheer magnitude of the phenomena I am describing. My personal conclusion is that spiritual factors, particularly power evangelism and spiritual warfare, are paramount.
I agree with Larry Lea who says, "The devil's work is to blind the minds of men and women. It is our work to pray that the powers of darkness be pushed back from shrouding people's minds." Powerful intercessory prayer is the chief weapon of spiritual warfare on all levels. For instance, backstage in Hector Gimenez's service I saw three women interceding on their knees on the hardwood floor throughout the entire two-hour service. I was told there are usually more. I doubt that Gimenez would see the spiritual power he enjoys without these intercessors. Larry Lea adds, "Until we do the prayer work necessary to defeat the forces of the enemy holding people in darkness, Satan's blinders will remain."
One of today's most knowledgeable Argentine leaders is Edgardo Silvoso of Harvest Evangelism based in San Jose, California. Silvoso did a workshop at Lausanne II in Manila in 1989 on spiritual warfare in Argentina. There he said, "If there is one dominant element that has emerged in the theology and methodology of evangelism in Argentina, I would say it is spiritual warfare. It is an awareness that the struggle is not against a political or a social system. Nor is it on behalf of those who are captives, but it is rather against the jail keepers, against the rulers, those in authority in the spiritual realm." Silvoso contends that understanding this allows Argentine evangelists to get to the root of the problem instead of dealing merely with symptoms. He suggests that the results seem to validate this approach.
Eduardo Lorenzo
The national director of Harvest Evangelism in Argentina is Eduardo Lorenzo, who also serves as pastor of the Adrogue Baptist Church. When I visited Adrogue, an upper-middle-class section of Buenos Aires, I saw a thriving church of 600, a new auditorium with seating expandable to 2,000 and a goal of filling it with church members by 1993. This is not a new church. It has been there for over 70 years, but never had more than 100 members until recently. When Lorenzo took the pastorate in 1974 he saw it grow from 70 to 250 in thirteen years through using standard church growth procedures. But in 1987 the current growth surge began and Lorenzo says, "If we do not make 2,000 by 1993, it will be because we are not trying."
What happened in 1987?
Lorenzo explains that it took them several years to get to the root of the problem and to come to understand the spiritual dimensions of their evangelistic challenge. The process began in the early 1980s when Lorenzo cast a demon out of a woman without really understanding what he was doing. His training and background had not prepared him for such a ministry. At that time one of his church members went to the United States, learned about spiritual warfare and reported to the congregation. Lorenzo then sponsored two spiritual warfare seminars in his church, one led by Edward Murphy of Overseas Crusades and the other by John White, the Christian psychiatrist and author from Canada. Soon afterwards, the battle began in earnest. A new woman who professed Christ was soon discovered to be an undercover agent sent by the enemy. Demons manifested in church services. Satan was counterattacking. Lorenzo says "Satan was happy if he could keep the little Baptist church on its merry-go-round. He had effectively blinded the minds of the unsaved in Adrogue to the gospel. Through the years several other churches had been planted in Adrogue, but ours was the only one which had survived. Now we ourselves were under direct attack."
Through a prolonged process of prayer, ministry and discernment, Lorenzo and his leaders finally identified the chief prince over Adrogue. Sensing God's timing, they recruited a team of 35 to 40 church members who would spend Monday through Friday of a certain week in prayer and fasting. Then on the Friday night all 200 members joined together for strategic-level intercession. They took authority over the territorial spirit. At 11:45 p.m. they collectively felt something break in the spiritual realm. The spirit had left. The church began to grow. Until then virtually no one who resided in Adrogue itself had ever been converted. Now 40 percent of the church members are from Adrogue proper. The year of the victory was 1987.
Carlos Annacondia
After observing the ministry of Carlos Annacondia for several years, I am prepared to offer a hypothesis: Annacondia may well be the most effective citywide interdenominational crusade evangelist of all time. If this turns out to be only approximately true, his approach to winning the masses of the cities to Christ deserves close scrutiny.
Annacondia was the committed Christian owner of a prosperous nuts and bolts factory in Quilmes on the outskirts of Buenos Aires when he was called into evangelistic ministry. It was probably no mere coincidence that the day he launched his first public crusade was the day the British sunk the Argentine battleship General Belgrano in the 1982 Falkland Islands war. He was 37 years old at the time.
When I use the term "effective evangelism" I follow the lead of Donald McGavran and the Church Growth Movement in arguing that biblical evangelism involves bringing unbelievers to a simultaneous commitment to Christ and also to the body of Christ. Making disciples involves bringing men and women to faith in Jesus and into responsible membership in a local church. Carlos Annacondia is highly successful in seeing this happen. On a recent visit to Argentina I worked with pastors of four cities. Without any leading questions on my part, in each of the four cities I heard Christian leaders in a matter-of-fact way refer to recent trends in their cities as "before Annacondia" and "after Annacondia". In more than 20 years of studying urban crusade evangelism I have never heard such consistent testimonials of one evangelist across the board. Single instances of effective evangelistic crusades such as Tommy Hicks in Buenos Aires and Stanley Mooneyham in Phnom Penh have been recorded. But Annacondia's ministry seems to be unique.
Several pastors showed me new sanctuaries they had constructed to contain the growth after Annacondia's crusade in their city. One showed me a basketball stadium they had been leasing for six years. Another church now holds 17 services a week in five rented theaters. Another pastor reports "a notable change of attitude among the people of our city as a result of Annacondia's ministry."
What Is Different?
What is Carlos Annacondia doing that other urban evangelists do not usually do? Annacondia has a great deal in common with traditional crusade evangelists. He preaches a simple gospel message, gives an invitation for people to come forward and receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, uses trained counselors to lead them to Christ and give them literature, takes their name and address and invites them to attend a local church.
Like Billy Graham and Luis Palau, Annacondia secures a broad base of interdenominational support from pastors and other Christian leaders in the target area. Like Dwight Moody and Billy Sunday he has had no formal academic theological training. Like Reinhard Bonnke and T. L. Osborne he features miracles, healings and deliverance from evil spirits in his meetings. He is not the only one who preaches in the open air, conducts three-hour services, or has on-the-spot intercessors praying for the ministry.
If I am not mistaken, the major difference is Carlos Annacondia's intentional, premeditated, high-energy approach to spiritual warfare.
A permanent fixture of Annacondia's crusades is what has to be one of the most sophisticated and massive deliverance ministries anywhere. Under the direction of Pablo Botari, a wise, mature and gifted servant of God, literally hundreds of individuals are delivered from demons each of the 30 to 50 consecutive nights of a crusade. The 150-foot deliverance tent, erected behind the peaker's platform, is in operation from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. each night. Scores of teams whom Botari has trained do the actual hands-on ministry.
I have never observed a crusade evangelist who is as publicly aggressive in confronting evil spirits as Annacondia. With a high- volume, high-energy, prolonged challenge he actually taunts the spirits until they manifest in one way or another. To the uninitiated the scenario might appear to be total confusion. But to the skilled, experienced members of Annacondia's 31 crusade ministry teams, it is just another evening of power encounters in which the power of Jesus Christ over demonic forces is being displayed for all to see. Many miraculous healings occur, souls are saved, and so great is the spiritual power that unsuspecting pedestrians passing by the crusade meeting have been known to fall down under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pablo Prokopchuk
A typical Annacondia crusade will have a radical influence on the philosophy of ministry of many cooperating local churches. A case in point is Pastor Pablo Prokopchuk of the Los Olivos Baptist Church in the city of La Plata. He told me that his church had been plateaued at 30 members for years before Annacondia came. After Annacondia left, his church persuaded him to hold a local church evangelistic crusade. "I don't have the gift of evangelist," he protested. The lay leaders responded, "You preach and we will pray that God gives you the gift of evangelist!"
They held their first service, gave the invitation, and no one responded. Then Prokopchuk felt an inner voice saying, "Try it the way Annacondia does it!" Although it was not part of his Baptist tradition, he began challenging the spirits and praying against them. He gave the invitation again, and 15 to 20 people actually ran up front to receive Christ. He now has 900 in his central church with 2,100 others attending satellite congregations around the city, and his goal is a total of 20,000 members by the year 2000. He has been "doing it like Annacondia" ever since with obvious results.
Winning the Urban Masses
Among the many things we have learned from our evangelical urbanologists is that the masses of people living in the world class cities today belong to the lower social classes: the poor and oppressed. While it is extremely important not to neglect the upper classes and to encourage ministries such as Eduardo Lorenzo's in Androgue, the fact remains that if we do not win the poorer masses to Christ we will not effectively evangelize the cities of the world. The 5,000 to 20,000 who crowd into Annacondia's crusades night after night are lower class. The 14,000 per day who attend Hector Gimenez's services in the Roca Theater are lower class. Omar Cabrera, pastor of the Vision of the Future Church of 90,000 which is Argentina's largest, uses aggressive spiritual warfare in his own style and it filling his meeting places in 40-50 locations with those of the lower class.
What are people like Annacondia, Gimenez and Cabrera doing that others with perhaps an equal desire to reach the urban masses are not doing? Spiritual warfare is part of the answer, but why are power evangelism and spiritual warfare so effective?
The most helpful analysis I have yet seem to explain something of what is behind this has come from my friend Peter Wilkes, pastor of the South Hills Community Church of San Jose, California. As I traveled through Argentina with Wilkes recently, I saw him using a set of scientific skills acquired through a Ph.D. in physics, his vocation before being called into full-time ministry. His analysis of the evangelistic effectiveness of the high-profile Argentine leaders has now been conceptualized in what I am calling (he would be too modest to coin the term) the "Wilkes Spectrum." It amounts to a sliding scale of class preferences for Christian values. One the extremes we find a fascinating and immediately recognizable contrast between personal and Christian preferences of the upper class and lower class. Most individuals, of course, are on neither extreme, buy many will profile toward one side or the other.
THE WILKES SPECTRUM
Class Preferences for Christian Values
Personal Preferences
Intellectual - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Intuitional
Rational - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Emotional
Scientific - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Experiential
Deductive reasoning - - - - - - - - - -Inductive reasoning
Literacy essential - - - - - - - - - - - - - Literacy optional
You control life - - - - - - - - - - - - - Life controls you
Christian Preferences
Faith complex - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Faith simple
Conversion gentle - - - - - - Conversion confrontational
Holiness gradual - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Holiness sudden
Biblical criticism - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Biblical literalism
Systematic theology - - - - - - - - - -Pragmatic theology
Relative ethics - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Absolute ethics
Preaching based on study - - Preaching based on prayer
Weak demonology - - - - - - - - - - -Strong demonology
Notice four important observations concerning the application of the Wilkes Spectrum to urban evangelism:
1. From the point of view of personal and Christian preferences, the middle class in the First World would shade toward the left, but the middle class in the Third World would shade toward the right. This is obviously a function of world view, among other things.
2. If there is a trend worldwide, it would seem to be a movement toward the right side of the spectrum. Ironically, both the charismatic movement and the New Age Movement are nudging significant numbers of former left-side people toward the right. Scientism may have seen its day.
3. The masses of the ties of the world, whether Chicago, Calcutta, Cairo or Caracas are found toward the right side of the Wilkes Spectrum. Effective Argentine evangelists such as Annacondia, Gimenez and Cabrera are skillfully contextualizing their message and methodology to communicate with and meet the needs of the lower classes. One of their discoveries, which less successful urban ministers would do well to look into, is the efficacy of power evangelism and spiritual warfare for that particular audience.
4. I hesitate to mention this, but it is a worrisome fact that most of our theological training institutions in the Western world, and many in the non-Western world, talk a great deal about ministering to the poor and oppressed of the world's urban centers in their social ethics classes, but they have recruited faculty and designed their curricula to train for ministry toward the left side of the Wilkes Spectrum. This may be one of the explanations why a surprising number of the urban metachurch pastors in world class cities are without theological degrees while many with theological credentials are frustrated. I believe that the great days for urban evangelism are yet ahead.
God is helping us understand the nature of the city through our urbanologists. He is providing us with practitioners who are demonstrating that it can be done. He is helping us understand some of the reasons we have not been as effective as we would like to be. My prayer is that we will combine the theoretical with the practical, the technological with the spiritual, in such a way that city after city in our world will be brought to faith and obedience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Source: International Revival Network: www.openheaven.com.
May be freely copied provided source and/or copyrights are included with the text.
The Scottish Revival (Western Isles) When the Mountains Flowed Down - Duncan Campbell Duncan Campbell: Duncan Campbell (1898-1972) was raised in the Highlands of Scotland. He came to know God as a teenager and served congregations of the United Free Church (Presbyterian) and as an itinerant evangelist. In addition to his involvement in the Lewis Awakening, he was much in demand as a speaker throughout the British Isles.
All Scriptures KJV: This article is adapted from a taped message delivered by Mr. Duncan Campbell approximately thirty years ago to the students of the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh, Scotland. It chronicles some of Mr. Campbell's experiences and insights related to the revival from 1949-1953 in Hebrides Islands off the northwestern coast of Scotland. Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. Isaiah 64:1-3 I never read that third verse without my mind going back to what actually happened in the parish of Barvas on the island of Lewis. At the outset, let me make it clear that I did not bring revival to the Hebrides. I had the privilege of being there and in some small way leading the movement for about three years but God moved in the parish of Barvas before I set foot on the island. Revival is still a sign which is spoken against, and you cannot believe every story you have heard about the Lewis Awakening. Down through the years things have been said which have no foundation in fact, however, facts are powerful things. Revival Defined First, let me tell you what I mean by revival. An evangelistic campaign or special meeting is not revival. In a successful evangelistic campaign or crusade, there will be hundreds or even thousands of people making decisions for Jesus Christ, but the community remains untouched, and the churches continue much the same as before the outreach. In revival, God moves in the district. Suddenly, the community becomes God conscious. The Spirit of God grips men and women in such a way that even work is given up as people give themselves to waiting upon God. In the midst of the Lewis Awakening, the parish minister at Barvas wrote, "The Spirit of the Lord was resting wonderfully on the different townships of the region. His Presence was in the homes of the people, on meadow and moorland, and even on the public roads." This presence of God is the supreme characteristic of a God-sent revival. Of the hundreds who found Jesus Christ during this time fully seventy-five per cent were saved before they came near a meeting or heard a sermon by myself or any other ministers in the parish. The power of God, the Spirit of God, was moving in operation, and the fear of God gripped the souls of men - this is God-sent revival as distinct from special efforts in the field of evangelism. A Foundation of Intercession and Vision How did this gracious movement begin? In 1949, the local presbytery issued a proclamation to be read on a certain Sunday in all the Free Churches on the island of Lewis. This proclamation called the people to consider the "low state of vital religion . . . throughout the land . . .... and the present dispensation of Divine displeasure . . . due to growing carelessness toward public worship . . . and the growing influence of the spirit of pleasure which has taken growing hold of the younger generation." They called on the churches to "take these matters to heart and to make serious inquiry what must be the end if there be no repentance. We call upon every individual as before God to examine his or her life in light of that responsibility which attends to us all and that happily in divine mercy we may be visited with a spirit of repentance and turn again to the Lord whom we have so grieved." I am not prepared to say what effect the reading of this declaration had upon the ministers or people of the island in general, but I do know that in the parish of Barvas a number of men and women took it to heart, especially two old women. I am ashamed to think of it - two sisters, one eighty-two and one eight-four, the latter blind. These two women developed a great heart concern for God to do something in the parish and gave themselves to waiting upon God in their little cottage. One night God gave one of the sisters a vision. Now, we have got to understand that in revival remarkable things happen. It is supernatural; you are not moving on human levels; you are moving in divine places. In the vision, she saw the churches crowded with young people and she told her sister, "I believe revival is coming to the parish." At that time, there was not a single young person attending public worship, a fact which cannot be disputed. Sending for the minister, she told him her story, and he took her message as a word from God to his heart. Turning to her he said, "What do you think we should do?" What?" she said, "Give yourself to prayer; give yourself to waiting upon God. Get your elders and deacons together and spend at least two nights a week waiting upon God in prayer. If you will do that at your end of the parish, my sister and I will do it at our end of the parish from ten o'clock at night until two or three o'clock in the morning." So, the minister called his leaders together and for several months they waited upon God in a barn among the straw. During this time they plead one promise, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring" (Isaiah 44:3). This went on for at least three months. Nothing happened. But one night a young deacon rose and began reading from Psalm 24, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation" (Psalm 24:3-5). Closing his Bible, he addressed the minister and other office bearers in words that sound crude in English, but not so crude in our Gaelic language, "It seems to me so much humbug. To be waiting as we are waiting, to be praying as we are praying, when we ourselves are not rightly related to God." Then, he lifted his hands toward heaven and prayed, "O God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?" Then, he went to his knees and fell into a trance. Now, don't ask me to explain the physical manifestations of this movement because I can't, but this I do know, that something happened in the barn at that moment in that young deacon. There was a power loosed that shook the heavens and an awareness of God gripped those gathered together. Breakthrough in Barvas Now, I wasn't in the island at the time. I was in another area when word came asking me to come to Lewis for ten days. I had other meetings scheduled and wrote back that I would put Barvas on my calender for the following year. However, do to circumstances I won't go into, my other meetings were canceled, and I found it possible to go to the islands as requested. Arriving by boat, I was met by the minister of the church and one of his office bearers. As I stepped ashore, the office bearer came to me and said, "Mr. Campbell, may I ask you a question? Are you walking with God?" I was happy to be able to respond, "I can say this at any rate, I fear God." They had arranged for me to address the church at a short meeting beginning at nine o'clock that night. It was a remarkable meeting. God sovereignly moved, and there was an awareness of God which was wonderful. The meeting lasted until four o'clock in the morning, and I had not witnessed anything to compare with it at any other time during my ministry. Around midnight, a group of young people left a dance and crowded into the church. There were people who couldn't go to sleep because they were so gripped by God. Although there was an awareness of God and a spirit of conviction at this initial meeting, the real breakthrough came a few days later on Sunday night in the parish church. The church was full, and the Spirit of God was moving in such a way that I couldn't preach. I just stood still and gazed upon the wondrous moving of God. Men and women were crying out to God for mercy all over the church. There was no appeal made whatsoever. After meeting for over three hours, I pronounced the benediction and told the people to go out, but mentioned that any who wanted to continue the meeting could come back later. A young deacon came to me and said, "Mr. Campbell, God is hovering over us." About that time the clerk of the session asked me to come to the back door. There was a crowd of at least 600 people gathered in the yard outside the church... Someone gave out Psalm 102 and the crowd streamed back in to the church which could no longer hold the number of people. A young school teacher came down front crying out, "O God, is there nothing left for me?" She is a missionary in Nigeria today. There was a bus load of people coming to the meeting from sixty miles away. The power of God came into the bus so that some could not even enter the church when the bus arrived. People were swooning all over the church, and I cannot remember one single person who was moved on by God that night who was not gloriously born again. When I went out of the church at four o'clock in the morning there were a great number of people praying alongside the road. In addition to the school teacher, several of those born again that night are in foreign mission work today. In Church, Meadow, and Moorland >From Barvas, the move of God spread to the neighboring districts. I received a message that a nearby church was crowded at one o'clock in the morning and wanted me to come. When I arrived, the church was full and there were crowds outside. Coming out of the church two hours later, I found a group of 300 people, unable to get into the church, praying in a nearby field. One old woman complained about the noise of the meetings because she could not get to sleep. A deacon grabbed her and shook her, saying, "Woman, you have been asleep long enough!" There was one area of the islands which wanted me to come but I didn't feel any leading to accept the invitation. The blind sister encouraged me to go and told me, "If you were living as near to God as you ought to be, He would reveal His secrets to you." I agreed to spend a morning in prayer with her in the cottage. As we prayed, the sister said, "Lord, you remember what you told me today that you were going to save seven men in this church. I just gave your message to Mr. Campbell and please give him wisdom because he badly needs it." She told me if I would go to the village, God would provide a congregation. I agreed to go, and when I arrived at seven o'clock, there were approximately 400 people at the church. The people could not tell what it was that had brought them; it had been directed by the Spirit of God. I spoke for a few minutes on the text "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent' (Acts 17:30). One of the ministers stopped me and said, "Come see this." At one end of the meeting house, the most notorious characters in the community were on their faces crying out to God. On a trip to a neighboring island I found the people were very cold and stiff. Calling for some men to come over and pray, I particular requested that a young man named Donald accompany them. Donald, who was seventeen years old, had been recently saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit about two weeks later on a hillside. As we were in the church that night, Donald was sitting toward the front with tears falling off his face onto the floor. I knew Donald was in touch with God in a way that I was not. So I stopped preaching and asked him to pray. Donald rose to his feet and prayed, "I seem to be gazing into an open door and see the Lamb in the midst of the throne and the keys of death and hell on his waist." Then he stopped and began to sob. After he composed himself, he lifted his eyes toward heaven, raised his hands, and said, "God, there is power there. Let it loose!" And at that moment the power of God fell upon the congregation. On one side of the room, the people threw up their hands, put their heads back and kept them in that position for two hours. It is hard to do this for ten minutes, much less two hours. On the other side, the people were slumped over, crying out for mercy. In a village five miles away, the power of God swept through the town and there was hardly a house in that village that didn't have someone saved in it that night. In one area of the district there was bitter opposition to the movement because I preached the baptism of the Holy Ghost as a separate and distinct occurrence following conversion. Those who opposed me were so successful in their opposition that very few people came to the meetings. One night, the session clerk came to me and said, "There is only one thing we can do to the correct the situation which now prevails. We must give ourselves to waiting upon God in prayer. I have been told there is a farmer who said we could meet in his home. He is not a Christian and his wife isn't saved, but they are God-fearing people." About thirty of us, ministers and elders from the district, met in this farmer's house. I felt the going very, very hard. I prayed. All the ministers prayed. One felt that the very powers of hell were unleashed. About midnight I turned to one of the elders and told him I thought the time had come for him to lay hold of God. This man rose to his feet and prayed for about half and hour. (Of course, you must remember that we were in revival, and in revival time doesn't exist. Nobody was looking at the clock.) The man paused, lifted his hand toward heaven and said, "God, did You know that your honor is a stake? You gave the promise that You would pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, and You are not doing it." I wonder how many of us could approach God with words like that on our lips? Then he said, "There are five ministers in this meeting, including Mr. Campbell, and I don't know where a one of them stands in Your Presence. But if I know anything about my own heart, I think I can say that I am thirsty for a manifestation of Your power." He paused again, then cried out in aloud voice, "God, Your honor is at stake and I now challenge You to pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground." And in that moment the stone-built house literally shook like a leaf. I immediately went to the Acts of the Apostles where it is recorded that they prayed and the place where they were assembled was shaken. As soon as this dear man stopped praying, I pronounced the benediction a little after two o'clock in the morning and went out to find the whole village ablaze with God. I went into one house and found nine women on their knees in the kitchen crying out to God. One woman saved that night has written some of the finest Gaelic hymns in our Gaelic hymnal. On the following Sunday, the road was black with the people walking two miles to the church. The drinking house in that particular village closed that night and has never reopened since. This is God at work. A God sent revival is always a revival of holiness. Conclusion It takes the supernatural to break the bonds of the natural. You can make a community mission-conscious. You can make a community crusade-conscious. But only God can make a community God-conscious. Just think about what would happen if God came to any community in power. I believe that day is coming. May God prepare us all for it. Amen Source: International Revival Network: www.openheaven.com.
May be freely copied provided source and/or copyrights are included with the text.
Azusa Street: The Fire That Could Not Die - By Rick Joyner
Over the last two millenniums the church has experienced many revivals, renewals, and reformation movements. Each has added a wealth of experience and understanding to the ways in which the Holy Spirit moves to reveal Jesus to His church, and to those in darkness. Almost every one of these movements has been progressive in the restoration of biblical truth to the church, truth that was either lost or was neglected during the Middle Ages. Without question, one of the most significant of all of these movements has been the Pentecostal Revival of the twentieth century.
It is impossible to understand the present state of Christianity without understanding both the past and continuing impact of the Pentecostal Movement. To even call what began at Azusa Street just a revival would be to obscure its true importance. It was a revival, but it was also a renewal and a reformation of the church as well. With the possible exception of Luther's Reformation, there probably has not been another movement in church history which has had a greater overall impact on the entire church.
This impact is not only continuing, it is continuing to increase. Through the Pentecostal Revival, and the subsequent Neo-Pentecostal movements spawned from it such as the Charismatic Renewal, already more ministers of the gospel have been ordained, more missionaries have been sent out, more churches have been planted, and more people have been brought to salvation than through any other movement in church history. If the present rate of growth is sustained, soon the numbers of those impacted by this renewal will eclipse the totals of all other movements combined.
To understand how the essence of this movement has been able to mature, while at the same time staying responsive to new moves of the Spirit, is important for every spiritual leader. Many of its churches, and even whole denominations, have continued to reach for greater spiritual power while at the same time sinking their roots deeper into sound biblical truth, making necessary corrections and adjustments while maintaining a forward momentum. Of course this should be the norm, but its has in fact been the exception to the nature of movements. Understanding what has enabled much of the Pentecostal Movement to achieve this is certainly one of the most important lessons we can learn.
It is often hard to imagine as we read the great impact of many of the previous spiritual movements, but most of them lasted a very short time. Rarely has a movement stayed on the cutting edge of what God is doing for more than a decade, and more often it is but a year or two. Even the apostolic move of the first century church faded rapidly into an increasing apostasy shortly after the death of its first leaders. However, defying all of the previous norms for such movements, the Pentecostal Movement has continued to keep moving for almost a century, and there is no end to its continued advance in sight. It is not only still increasing, impacting millions more each year, but its rate of growth is still increasing. Taken as a group, the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movements are now the second largest category in all of Christianity. If their present rate of growth is sustained, they will, in just a few years, outnumber the rest of Christianity combined.
Of course, there are many individuals, churches, and even whole denominations that were birthed out of this movement which have stopped moving. In many places one can only find the remnants of the past glory, with little or no continuing fire. Even so, around the world there are multitudes of Pentecostal/Charismatic churches that are ablaze with the presence and activity of God. In countries where the greatest advances of the gospel are now taking place, Pentecostals are usually found at the vanguard.
Like most others, the Pentecostal Movement had a spectacular beginning, followed by upheaval from within, and persecution from without. Many mistakes were made that threatened to sidetrack the entire movement, but most of these were resolved in such a way that they gave even greater stability to the movement, enabling it to continue its advance. The lessons we learn from these situations can help any advancing church or movement.
Understanding the mistakes made by others can help us to avoid the same traps, but before we become too concerned with how to avoid the traps of revival, we probably need to know how to start one! Because the most important step in any journey is the first one, understanding how true moves of God begin is crucial. We will also usually find that, just as the genetic code that determines what a grown man will look like is set at conception, the "genetic code" of entire movements is usually set even before their birth. One of the reasons why the Pentecostal Movement is so unique in church history is because it had such a unique beginning. Much of what can be recognized as its present nature was actually already established by the time it was born.
The Beginning
Foundations are important. The strength and longevity of everything that is built will be affected by the strength of the foundation it is built upon. The church that is built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ will prevail just as He did. Any other foundation will have different results. The apostle Paul also warned that we must be careful how we build upon the foundation. He declared that all "wood, hay and stubble" will be burned up, and that only "gold, silver and precious stones will remain." Therefore, in our studies of churches or movements we should look for things that have proven to be "wood, hay and stubble," which do not last, as well as those things which have proven to be "gold, silver and precious stones," which do last.
The beginning of the Pentecostal Movement is usually marked from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street in 1906. There were a number of powerful ministries and movements which both experienced and promulgated the baptism of the Holy Spirit prior to Azusa Street, but none of them had the continuing impact that this one did. It was a true beginning, and it added something to the advancing church that has lasted. The movement has changed, and now has many different streams, but one can recognize what originated at Azusa as the source in most of the moves of God that have set the course of Christianity in this century.
Two Witnesses
William J. Seymour and Frank Bartleman are the two names that are most often recognized as those who were used to start the Azusa Street Revival. They were different in many ways, but they were both young men who had an uncommon desire to know the Lord and see His power restored to the church. Seymour was the unquestioned leader of the revival, and he had the authority on earth, but Bartleman was the intercessor who had authority with God.
Because these men were so different, their stories give us two very different views of the Azusa Street Revival, but ones that do compliment each other to give us a more complete picture. As Seymour was the actual leader of the Azusa Street Revival, we will begin with his story. But first we must go back a little further.
The Grandfather
Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929) presided over a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas. He was a true spiritual father, and many consider him the father of the modern Pentecostal Movement. Even though he would later reject many of his own spiritual children, his part in this movement must be recognized and understood.
Parham was a seeker of God who was constantly challenged by what he viewed as the great chasm between biblical Christianity and the state of the church. He sought the Lord for what he considered to be true, biblical Christianity. As he was keeping a prayer vigil on New Year's Eve, he experienced the spiritual gift of "speaking in tongues," or "glossolalia" in the early hours of January 1, 1901, the precise dawning of the Twentieth Century.
Speaking in tongues, or the use of other spiritual gifts, are by no means unique in church history. Many reformers and revivalists had such experiences. Even so, Parham's experience came at what would be called "the fullness of time," or a time that was ripe for the harvest of a recovered truth. His experience created a great deal of interest, mostly because of the dry and lifeless state of the church at the time. Parham was not known for emotionalism or exaggeration, but rather the opposite. He was conservative and resolute. This gave even more credibility to his experience.
A couple of years after his experience, Parham's health broke down and he was forced to move to Houston where he could stay with friends. His strength recovered and he began another Bible school in the Texas port city. William Seymour became one of his students, but because he was black, and Parham was a strict segregationist, he had to sit outside of the classroom and listen through a door that Parham would leave cracked open for him. Seymour wanted the Lord so much that he would embrace any humiliation to be close to what he felt the Lord was doing, and he was convinced that a new Pentecost was coming to the church.
William J. Seymour was born in Centerville, Louisiana on May 2, 1870. He was the son of former slaves, Simon and Phyllis Seymour. Even after gaining their freedom the Seymours had continued working on a plantation. Young William followed in their footsteps, growing strong in body and spirit, but receiving very little formal education. He taught himself to read so that he could read the Bible. Under the almost constant harassment of the Ku Klux Klan, and the oppressive Jim Crow laws, William became convinced that Jesus Christ was the only true liberator of men. After contracting small pox and losing one eye, he devoted himself to the ministry, proclaiming the gospel of the true liberty of all men through Jesus Christ.
Rejection Marks the Spot
In January of 1906, Seymour left Parham's school to pastor a mission congregation, without having received the baptism that he had sought for so long. Just a week after arriving he was rejected by congregational leaders of the mission who did not like his emphasis on the coming of a new Pentecost. One recurring theme in church history seems to be that most men and women of destiny arrive at their appointed place of destiny because of some level of rejection. We can see the same theme repeated in Scripture, such as in the lives of Joseph, Moses, David, and the Lord Jesus Himself, to name but a few. It seems as if a great disappointment with ourselves or men is simply a prerequisite to being used by God in a great way, especially to begin something new. It could even be said that learning to deal with rejection by men comes on the list of instructions for being a Christian. We should never be surprised by it, but keep our trust and attention on the Lord. He will use every such thing that happens to us for His own good, as well as ours.
Seymour recognized the hand of God in his rejection by the mission, and was content to form a little home prayer group which met regularly for several months. While in the middle of a ten day fast, Seymour and the others in this little group were dramatically baptized in the Holy Spirit, receiving the gift of tongues as well as other charismatic gifts.
Word spread "like fire in a dry wood" about what had happened at Seymour's little prayer group. This was probably caused by the remarkable ministry of Frank Bartleman, who had written a stream of articles and tracts, and constantly moved about the city exhorting churches and prayer groups to seek the Lord for a revival. He longed to see the Lord do in Los Angeles what He had recently done in Wales. After a time, Bartleman began to sense that what was to come to Lost Angeles would be different from what was happening in Wales, and began to boldly prophesy the coming of "another Pentecost." Bartleman's zeal for the Lord at this time was so great that his wife and friends began to fear for his life. He missed so much sleep and so many meals in order to pray that they did not think that he could last much longer. His response to their please for moderation was that he would rather die than not see revival.
He Is Still Born In a Stable
As soon as word got out about the experience that came upon Seymour's little prayer group, large crowds of interested people descended on them. To accommodate the large numbers of people, they were forced to rent a rundown old barn-like building in the middle of a black ghetto. At the time no one imagined that the little street that it was on, Azusa, would soon become one of the most famous addresses in the world.
The former mission had a dirt floor and was once used as a livery stable. Many remarked when they came that the Lord Himself had been born in just such a place. The rent was only $8.00 a month, and it would hold as many as 900 people. Even so, services were soon going almost around the clock to handle the hungry multitudes that were coming.
One of the most remarkable characteristics of this revival from the very beginning was the diversity of the people who were drawn to it. Some considered it unprecedented in church history. Within a week even a prominent Jewish rabbi announced his full support. Soon astounding healings and dramatic conversions were taking place almost daily. The church at the time was very dry, so each testimony went forth like sparks into a dry wood. Newspaper articles would fan the flames even more. Testimonies from the Welsh Revival had stirred multitudes to seek the Lord for revival in America, and the deplorable spiritual state of the country made her ready for it. Because of this, the fire spread faster than possible any previous or subsequent revival in American history.
Seymour started a little paper to teach about the renewal, printing 5,000 copies. They were passed around until they fell apart. Soon he was printing 50,000, but there was no end to the demand.
Within weeks a steady stream of missionaries were coming from every continent on earth. Those who were on the front lines of the battle against the forces of darkness were the most acutely aware that they needed more power. Just as the Lord's own disciples were told that they would receive power to be His witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon them, this had become the only hope for effective ministry that many of the missionaries had. They seized it like a drowning man grasps a lifesaver. They left Azusa with the power they needed, and soon gospel fires were burning brightly all over the world. In just two years the movement had taken root in over 50 nations, and was thought to have penetrated every U.S. town with a population of more than 3,000.
Because missionaries were some of the first to come, missions remain a fundamental part of the spiritual genetic code of the Pentecostal Movement, and one of its greatest strengths. Throughout the Scriptures it is seen that the power of God has always come in its greatest demonstrations where there was the greatest darkness. The first ones to carry the Pentecostal movement abroad were hardened, seasoned missionaries who greatly appreciated what they had been given. They used the power they had been given, and multitudes of men, women and children were delivered from bondage. Soon missionary reports back to home churches read like a modern book of Acts, adding even more fuel to the fire of the movement at home.
When it was discovered that the greatest demonstrations of the Spirit's power usually came in the darkest, neediest places, it compelled many to go on mission trips just to witness the power of God. This added great strength and depth to the new movement, and kept it growing throughout the world. Pentecostal children grew up hearing of the testimonies of God's power from missionaries. Because such esteem was given to these missionaries, they often became the children's greatest heroes. Emulating their heroes, many of these children of the early Pentecostal pioneers grew up to be missionaries so that they could live close to such wonderful activities of the Spirit. Others became pastors and evangelists who founded new churches and ministries all across America. Many of them are now leaders of the great Pentecostal churches and denominations. Each of them is like a vast treasure houses filled with stories of the glory of God. They walked with Him and learned His ways. They learned to be host to the Holy Spirit. They grew up believing that the book of Acts was not just a history book, but a living guide for normal church life. Many of their own stories read like a modern book of Acts as they earned their place as elders of the church.
We do not see in order to believe, but we believe in order to see. Because it is basic Pentecostal theology that God is the same today as He was yesterday, that He does everything today that He did in Scripture, true Pentecostals believe in his present working, and so they see it. Most Pentecostals will begin to wonder where they have gone wrong if they are not witnessing regular demonstrations of the power of God. To them it is blasphemy to think that God was an author who wrote just one book and then retired. They must have a living relationship with a living God, and so they do.
This was the experience at Azusa Street. Believers were in constant awe at the works of God in their midst. People forgot to eat or sleep, sometimes for days at a time, because they were so caught up in the presence of the Lord. Like the manna that came from heaven, every day they expected a fresh experience with the Lord. faith built on faith until the humble little mission really had become a window of heaven.
A House of Prayer for All Nations
At any given time the Azusa Mission would be packed with such a diversity of people that some considered this almost as much of a marvel as the extraordinary miracles that were taking place. It began with a few black men and women in a little home group, but soon most of those who came were white. In one meeting over twenty nationalities were counted. Fine ladies could be found lying prostrate on the floor next to domestic servants and washer women. Prominent churchmen and high government officials sat next to hobos. No one seemed to care. They all had one thing in common - they came to receive the Holy Spirit of God.
A Father Tries to Kill His Children
Charles Parham visited Seymour, his former student, in the fall of 1906. He wanted to see for himself the great work that was already the talk of Christians around the world. Seymour was thrilled to have a visit from his mentor, and warmly welcomed him. However, Parham was deeply offended by what he saw. He thought that the various charismatic gifts were too openly demonstrated, and he was appalled by the way so many fell to the ground in apparent trances (one report described Azusa as sometimes resembling "a forest of fallen trees").
Seymour realized that some were faking the manifestations, and believed that these were tares sent by the devil to foul the field of wheat. Even so, he held to the biblical wisdom to let the wheat and tares grow up together. He knew that if he tried to root out the tares, the wheat would also be uprooted - if he stopped that which was not real, he would also quench the Spirit and the work that was real. He determined that the risk of having some problems was acceptable in view of the spiritual benefits at stake. He was right. When he later succumbed to the pressure and changed this policy, the revival quickly died.
Even more than the faking of experiences, Parham was appalled by the unusual social and racial integration. Parham admired the Ku Klux Klan, and especially objected to racial mixing or mingling during worship and at the altar. However, he did not believe this just out of racial pride, but because of a false doctrine. He believed the great sin of humanity that caused the judgment of the flood was racial mixing, and that Noah was chosen to survive because of his pedigree, being "without mixed blood." This is a tragic and diabolical misunderstanding of Scripture that has been the twisted theological basis upon which many racist groups, including the Nazis, have been built.
The Bible does say that Noah was chosen because "he was perfect in his generations" (see Genesis 6:9 KJV), or literally, "perfect in his genealogy," but this had nothing to do with the mixing of human races. The mixture that so offended the Lord was the mixture of the fallen angels with men which had produced the superhuman "nephilim" (see Genesis 6:4). This was a race that the Lord did not create, and threatened the destruction of men who he did create, which He also planned to redeem. This seems to have been Satan's attempt to preempt the "new creation" man that would be brought forth when the Lord gave His spirit to men.
In contrast to Parham's philosophy, Seymour felt that an essential element of Christianity itself was a unity which saw beyond the barriers of race, color, gender, nation, class or status. This was a demonstration that God is no respecter of persons, and that all believers are truly one in Christ. To him, the Azusa Street Mission was becoming a taste of what true Christianity was meant to be, just as the first Pentecost saw the coming together of those from every nation.
Seymour's leadership of such a renewal marked by interracial equality, harmony and unity is even more remarkable when it is understood that this took place during the most severely segregated time in American history. It was also composed mostly of the two most embittered racial groups - the poor whites and poor blacks. When the revival spread, it was also most readily received in the Southern states where this conflict was then most prevalent.
This is another sign of true revival; the waters of God always flow to the lowest points, and He sends His light to the darkest places. A leading British clergyman, A.A. Boddy, wrote, "One of the most remarkable things [about the revival] was that preachers of the Southern states were willing and eager to go over to those Negro people in Los Angeles and have fellowship with them." Frank Bartleman wrote, "The color line was washed away in the blood."
Charles Parham had been mightily used by God at times, but the seeds of deception from some of his doctrines were maturing at a time when the enemy could make the greatest use of them. This has been another tragic way in which history has continually repeated itself. Those who begin a movement will almost always persecute those who seek to take it further, or who are used to start another subsequent movement. One of the worst curses placed upon biblical Israel for her apostasy was that they would eat their own children. The apostasy of the church has brought this terrible curse upon herself in almost every generation. Spiritual fathers seem to inevitably try to devour their own spiritual children.
When Parham could not force his style of leadership upon the Azusa Street Mission, he denounced it, and started another rival mission at the fashionable Women's Christian Temperance Union Building. This was the first schism in the Pentecostal Movement. When this rival mission failed, he spent the rest of his life denouncing Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival. By this he sealed his own spiritual doom. He continually lost influence and followers until his death in 1929.
The Gift
The Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement began under the leadership of a black man, and with a small group of black people. They freely shared what they had been given, and were delighted when they saw the Spirit poured out on those from other races, especially whites. They felt that the Lord had given them the greatest gift, and they were thrilled that they were able to share it with their white brethren. That this great worldwide revival was a contribution from the black community has never been denied by white Pentecostals, but it is often forgotten.
Many of the white leaders who themselves went to Azusa Street to receive the baptism, remarkably still held to the prevalent segregationist beliefs of the times. They took the blessing back home to their all-white congregations in which no blacks were welcome. This was not true of all, but it was of most, and the entire Pentecostal Movement quickly developed into the white and black streams that still prevail today.
However, the separate black and white streams in this movement was not the way it began, and obviously was not the way that the Lord wanted it, but it is understandable. The spiritual battle that began to rage against the baptism in the Holy spirit itself was probably the most fierce persecution that Christians in this nation have ever experienced. Until the Charismatic renewal made speaking in tongues almost fashionable, the price for being a Pentecostal was very high. Caricatures of Pentecostals in newspapers across the country depicted them as anything from devil worshipers to lunatics. Employment was difficult, if not impossible, for anyone found to be Pentecostal. Their houses and their churches were often burned. The children of Pentecostals were ostracized, called "devil worshipers," and subjected to ruthless beatings by other children. Many had to flee from the homes and towns that they had grown up in.
Both the press and historians have turned a blind eye to this persecution against Pentecostals. It was, at times, as terrible and degrading as what African-Americans suffered under segregation. For black Pentecostals it was a double jeopardy, as they were secluded from the white culture because of their race, and then from the black culture because of their religion. Just as the first Reformers risked all that they had so that later generations could enjoy religious freedom, two generations of Pentecostals paid the price for our freedom to know the Holy Spirit in our churches the way that we do today. They did it because they loved the Holy Spirit, and they counted knowing Him and allowing Him freedom in the church as more important than any freedom that the world could give them.
Because of this intense persecution against Pentecostals, to add to this a battle with the powerful forces of segregation and bigotry, was understandably more than many felt they could handle at the time. Military history teaches that it will almost always result in defeat to try to fight a two-front war, so the battle against racism in the church would have to wait for another generation. Even so, the Pentecostal Movement began with those from every race, creed and social position, in unity, seeking the Lord together. The power that was released to impact the world has never been as great as it was in those first years at Azusa when this unity existed. It is apparent that the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, and indeed the church, will never come into its full potential until this unity is permanent. His house will be "a house of prayer for all nations" (Greek ethnos, or literally "ethnic races").
From the first Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has proven that He will only come to the degree that we have unity. Like those who came to the Azusa Street Mission, we must want the Holy Spirit more than we want to hold on to our differences. Christianity was born as a multi-cultural entity, on the Day of Pentecost when men had gathered from "every nation." It was fitting that this is the way that the Holy Spirit came again at Azusa. In the little group at Antioch which sent our the first missionaries to the Gentiles, there was represented those from different races and social positions. When the Lord wants to do something truly great in the earth, this seems to be a dynamic that is required. In its most pure form the church will always be multicultural. That is why Paul had to resolutely confront Peter concerning his hypocrisy of not eating with the Gentiles. Racial equality before God is fundamental to the gospel.
It is debatable whether this multi-racial nature of the church was lost by the church because of her drift into apostasy, or whether it caused that drift. Regardless, it is the true state of the church that was born on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy spirit first came to the church, and we will only be the true church to the degree to which we recover it. This is being realized by many church leaders today, and overcoming racism is now rightly a major thrust almost across the spectrum of Christianity. This is certainly one of the most positive sign of our times.
Where the Spirit Is, There Is Liberty
There is another aspect to Seymour's remarkable leadership at Azusa. it was his ability to discern and trust the Holy Spirit's leadership, and give Him the freedom that He requires, if we will know His fullness. In spite of almost constant pressure from world-renowned church leaders, who came from around the globe to impose what they perceived to be needed order and direction on the revival, for over two years Seymour held the course and allowed the Holy Spirit to move in His own, often mysterious, ways. Like Evan Roberts, who was at the same time leading the great Welsh Revival, Seymour's greatest leadership quality was his ability to follow the Holy Spirit.
Seymour and Roberts both believed that the Holy spirit required the freedom to move through whomever He chose, not just the leadership. They both resolved to allow anyone to be used by the Lord, even the most humble believers. This sometimes brought embarrassment, but more often it allowed the Holy Spirit to do marvelous things among them. If we really want the holy Spirit in our midst, we must allow Him to be the leader. He is, after all, God.
God's Sovereignty Or The Free Will of Man
This has been one of the most ancient debates in the church. However, they are both true, and they are not in conflict with each other. Neither is either of these truths fifty percent of the truth. They are both one hundred percent true. God is utterly sovereign, and He has also, in his sovereignty, delegated authority to men that He will not even violate Himself.
Without freedom there could be no true worship or true obedience. That is why the Lord placed the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden. There could be no true obedience if there were not also the freedom to disobey. The Lord is the unquestioned Sovereign of the Universe, but when He delegates authority, He does not even violate it Himself. Otherwise we would never be able to rule and reign with him. To rule requires both authority and responsibility. Therefore, even though He always knows what we need even before we ask Him, he always waits for us to ask.
For this reason, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Corinthians 3:17). Liberty is required for true worship or true obedience. He has removed the veil into His presence for all, but we must seek Him. Therefore, we are all as close to god as we want to be. We are also as far from him as we choose to be. If His manifest presence is not in our midst it is not because of Him, but because of our own choice. Many give lip service to wanting the holy Spirit to lead their meetings, but really are not willing to give up their own programs, or trust Him in the way that He requires if he is to do this. Seymour was willing.
This kind of "hands off" leadership style has been a hallmark of most of the world's great revivals. However, even a cursory study of church history reveals that outside of revival it has seldom, if ever, worked. God simply moves in different ways at different times. In times of true revival there are usually dramatic and unique demonstrations of His sovereignty, and it is best to just stay out of His way. The rest of the time He seems to delight most in working with and through men. Even so, our goal should always be to submit our will to His, and always follow His leading. The more we can do this, the more He will usually manifest His wonderful presence.
As Vance Havner, one of the great revivalists of modern times, once observed, "Revival is like a sale at the department store. It is more dramatic, and gets more press, but the normal business of the store is the day to day merchandising of products." Revivals are likewise much more spectacular, but they are not the normal business of the church. Much more has been accomplished for the overall advancement of the gospel by the day to day witnessing of faithful saints, and by the service of faithful pastors of local churches, who day by day fight on the front lines of the battle against darkness, than has ever been accomplished by a revival.
Revivals have sparked great spiritual advances, but they are sustained only by the day to day devotion of the saints. This is likewise the story of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement. Azusa was spectacular, as were other subsequent revivals and movements, but the real and substantial advance has come from a multitude of lesser known, but nevertheless faithful leaders and people.
The same is true in our personal lives. Spectacular spiritual experiences are wonderful, and can propel us to great heights of devotion and worship. Even so, the real strength of every Christian's life will usually be found in the degree of faithfulness to the disciplines of bible study, prayer, fellowship and day to day witnessing.
In times of revival, there is also a dynamic, manifest presence of the Holy Spirit that makes deviations apparent to almost everyone, including those who make them. Needed corrections are therefore usually automatic. However, when we do not have this dynamic presence of the Lord that is found in revival, almost every vacuum of leadership will be quickly filled with the immature, the prideful, or the rebellious. The result of this will not be revival, but confusion, or worse.
It is very important that we do not "get the cart in front of the horse," in the leadership we use. Seymour could use the leadership style that he did because he had revival. If he had tried to use this style with the same number and types of people without the dynamic of revival present, he would have had worse than chaos - he would have had war! This had happened to many who have tried to exhibit revival type leadership without revival. The key is to be ready to step aside when the presence of the Lord does come.
Our goal should be to have such a manifest presence of the Lord in all of our meetings. However, the way to do this is not to just sit back and do nothing until He comes, but to faithfully press on to maturity by seeking to increasingly be sensitive to His leading. Occasionally the Lord catches us up in a spectacular manifestation of His presence, but usually leads us to higher ground like a father teaching his child to walk. He will help us to stand, and then back off so that we must walk to Him. As we learn to take a couple of steps, He backs further away so that we have to walk further. He is not just playing with us when He removes His manifest presence, He is teaching us to walk in the Spirit and to pursue Him. When we do not feel Him it is not a time to sit down, but to try to take more steps.
The New Testament epistles are basically the apostles' exhortations to leaders who were serving in times that were not dynamic revivals. They did not expect the spirit to come every day like He did on the Day of Pentecost, so they went about doing the day to day work of the ministry. However, when He does decide to come in a dramatic way that ignites a revival, it's time to drop what we're doing and ride the wave for as far as it will take us.
Wisdom is to know when the Lord is telling us to go forth and take the land, or when He is telling us to stand and watch His salvation. There are times for each, and anytime we confuse them we will have problems. Seymour was called to lead in a revival. for a few years he exemplified the wisdom to just stay in prayer and let the Lord do the leading (he actually kept his head in a box during the meetings so that his prayer would not be distracted by all that was going on). However, the fierce persecution raised up against the movement soon pressured him into an increasingly protectionist stature. Gradually he allowed more and more control of the meetings to be taken over by a few leaders. Soon they were following a program for the meetings. Those who were witnesses said that just as gradually as this happened the Holy Spirit seemed to depart.
This explanation of how the revival at Azusa Street ended could be the case. However, it is also possible that it was simply time to more on, and that the Spirit was withdrawing His presence so that the people would go forth. Just as the sale at a department store would lose its impact if it went on all of the time, it does not seem that the Lord ever intended for revivals to last forever in their initial form.
Even so, most revivals do end prematurely, or in a way that was not preferable, because of human mistakes. We should learn from there, but let us also not fall into the trap of wrongly worshiping revival. We can be a close to the Lord today as anyone ever has been, even in the midst of the greatest revivals.
Without question, the Azusa Street revival was one of the greatest in all of church history. It can be argued that it has not yet ended, but has gone on in many different forms, and in many different places. It is right for us to give honor to whom honor is due, and William J. Seymour must be considered one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time.
The Greatest Miracle
At the height of the Azusa Street revival Seymour prophesied, "We are on the verge of the greatest miracle the world has ever seen." The miracle he was referring to was a true love and unity between races and creeds that he considered to be fundamental Christianity. He did not live to see the completion of his dream, but he fully expected the renewal to ultimately accomplish it. As the movement has continued in a number of different forms, it is still more than possible, it is probable that his dream will come true. When it does, William J. Seymour must be considered as one who sowed the seeds for this greatest miracle of all. Possibly more than any other man in church history, he promoted that which alone can bring it to pass, seeking the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our midst.
Above all things the Holy Spirit has come to testify of Jesus. He alone can truly convict us of our sins and lead us into all truth. When the Holy Spirit does manifest Himself in our midst, we do not see the world in shades of black and white; we only see the glory of the Son of God. He has been given to us to help us see as God sees. God does not look on the outward appearance, but on the heart. God does not just see us as we are now, but He sees us through the blood of His Son, which is to see us as we are to become - made in the likeness of Jesus. We must begin to see each other the same way.
Paul the apostle had said that "tongues are for a sign" (I Corinthians 14:22), and that sign seemed to have been given on the first Day of Pentecost. That day men from every nation heard the glories of God in their own language. This was the first time since the Tower of Babel and the scattering of men's languages that this had happened. The sign was that the church would be the anti-thesis of the Tower of Babel, where men were scattered from each other. In the church, we will all be regathered as one.
Even as fractured and divided as the Pentecostal Movement may presently be, it has the destiny and calling to help bring unity to the whole church. The fire still burns in the Pentecostal Movement. The fire will burn until all of the wood, hay and stubble has been consumed, and the gold, silver and precious stones have been purified. Each movement may be fashioned into a different stone, but the day is coming when we will all be fashioned together into one crown of glory.
The explosive spread of the movement begun at Azusa continued as long as the Holy Spirit was free to move as He willed, and the people sat before Him as one. As the revival drifted from these basics, they also drifted from the source of their power. Where the Spirit is Lord there must be liberty, and where He is Lord there will be unity. Before the Lord we all look the same. The blood of Jesus does wash away all color lines.
It is interesting to note that the very name Azusa was derived from an Indian word that means "blessed miracle." This was first noted by Father Juan Crespi in 1769, while on the Portola expedition to explore California. At that time Azusa referred to the site of an old Indian village south of present day Los Angeles in the San Gabriel canyon. There a young Indian girl named Coma Lee used to pray and fast for the healing of her people. She was gifted with healing power as she laid hands on the sick. After she prayed for a chief who was wonderfully healed, he gave her the name Azusa to commemorate his miracle of healing. For many years., Azusa continue her healing ministry while her fame spread all over southern California. During that time whenever there was suffering, people said, "Go to Azusa and be healed...go to Azusa." Maybe it is time for us to again go to Azusa and be healed of the many wounds that we have inflicted upon one another
| Source: International Revival Network: www.openheaven.com.
May be freely copied provided source and/or copyrights are included with the text.
(c) 1996, Morning Star Publications. Used with permission. | | |
1. THE WELSH REVIVAL OF 1904-05 - Oliver W. Price
2. TRUE REVIVAL (Wales) - P. Fredrick Fogle
3. THE POWER OF EVANGELISM IN THE WELSH REVIVAL - Dr. Alvin L. Reid
1. THE WELSH REVIVAL OF 1904-05 - Oliver W. Price During the spring of 1904 a young Welshman named Evan Roberts was repeatedly awakened at 1:00 a.m. He met with God until 5:00 a.m. The Welsh revival followed. Churches were packed for prayer meetings. In a prayer meeting for young people, Pastor Joseph Jenkins asked for testimonies. A young girl named Florrie Evans, who had only been a believer a few days, rose and with a trembling voice said simply, "I love Jesus with all my heart." The other young people's hearts were melted. A powerful spiritual awakening that brought 100,000 people to Christ was under way.
On November 7th, 1904 Moraih Chapel was filled to capacity for a prayer meeting that lasted until 3:00 a.m. Soul winning spread through the coalmines. Profane swearing stopped. Even the miners' horses were puzzled when their masters stopped cursing. Orders to the Bible Society "for Scriptures from Wales during November and December, were over three times the amount for the corresponding months of 1903..." The Times said this resulted from the Welsh revival, adding that this demand showed no sign of falling off.
"The mighty and unseen breath of the Spirit was doing in a month more than centuries of legislation could accomplish" the pastor of Saint John's-Wood Presbyterian Church declared on Sunday, January 1st, 1905 according to the London Times.The Welsh revival "had a great effect" in healing spiritual carelessness among Christians and "the growing bitterness which has accentuated our unhappy divisions", the Bishop of Bangor declared on January 2nd, 1905. He called "congregations to meet together often for united prayer."
The Times added that "the religious revival in Wales continues...with unabated zeal." Huge crowds were attending the meetings. Bible verses covered the doors down in the coalmines. "At Swansea the Poor Law guardians...dealt with revival cases in which people...have taken their parents from the workhouse. The Welsh revival movement has shown no sign of flagging...", The Times pointed out on January 10th. Entire congregations were on their knees in fervent prayer and "for the first time there was not a single case of drunkenness at the Swansea Petty Sessions."
On January 11th The Times noted that David Lloyd-George, who later became the British Prime Minister, said the Welsh revival gave hope "that at the next election Wales would declare with no uncertain sound against the corruption in high places which handed over the destiny of the people to the horrible brewing interest..." Lloyd-George even saw one of his political rallies taken over by the Welsh revival. He was impressed as a young girl prayed in the presence of 2,000 people. He said in one town the tavern sold only 9 cents worth of liquor drinks on Saturday night!
The Times observed that "The whole population had been suddenly stirred by a common impulse. Religion had become the absorbing interest of their lives. They had gathered at crowded services for six and eight hours at a time. Political meetings and even football matches were postponed...quarrels between trade-union workmen and non-unionists had been made up... At Glyn-Neath a feud had existed for the past 10 or 12 years between the two Independent chapels, but during the past week united services have been held in both chapels, and the ministers have shaken hands before the congregations."
The Salvation Army set apart January 19th, 1905 for a day of confession, humiliation, and prayer throughout England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. All day prayer meetings were held in many of the principal cities of the British Isles, according to the London Times. The meeting was marked by "fervent prayer and any one who felt called upon to pray." Fires of spiritual revival and moral recovery were spreading.
Coal miners crowed into prayer meetings that lasted till 3:00 a.m. and then washed, ate breakfast and returned to work. Many drunkards confessed their sins and received Christ. According to the London Times of February 2nd, 1905 due to the Welsh revival many men abandoned dens of iniquity. Employers noticed a great improvement in the work produced by their employees. A judge named Sir Marchant Williams said that his work was much lighter especially | |
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