Spread the Fire - January 2008 - (Page 13)

t was october 2000 when my wife cindy and I paid our very first visit to toronto. We attended the catch the fire conference not knowing that it would alter our destiny and that of our congregation! We weren’t visiting Toronto out of a desperation born of failure. We had been senior pastors since 1986, having pastored three churches successfully. The third church was one we had planted, and we were happy with its growth. We started it in 1996, and it had grown to 150 members by 2000. We purchased our first building after 2 years of existence and our services were lively and meaningful. But we were desperate nonetheless. After years of fruitful ministry, there was a hunger in our hearts for more than “church as usual.” We wanted to experience MORE of God. We had seen moves of God, but we wanted to be part of one. I was flabbergasted. The Lord put His finger on something in my heart that was so subtle. I had never noticed it before. Whenever anyone around me responded to the move of the Spirit, I secretly decided in my own mind whether or not it was of God. I never spoke these things out loud; it was just a habitual thought process. I suppose it made me feel superior in some way, or more “in the know”. But whatever the reason, God wanted to deliver me from something I was doing unknowingly that was blocking renewal from happening in my life and in our church! After I repented, He let me up off the floor. I was a new man! We went home from Toronto with a new zeal, waiting to see what God was going to do, and we were not disappointed. Our very first service following “Catch the Fire 2000” was like a mini TACF conference. As we prayed for our church members, the floor became strewn with people, all enraptured I A DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE Our first week at TACF, God worked me over! The last night of the conference one of the ministry team “The most amazing thing to us was that none of our members had ever been to Toronto; so they were not imitating anything they had seen before.” members laid hands on me and prayed. I fell and was pinned to the floor for more than an hour! I couldn’t move. People all around me were reacting to the Spirit with laughter, weeping, shaking and crying out. I was experiencing none of these; I was simply stuck to the floor. I began to get angry with God and asked Him, “Why am I down here listening to all these manifestations?” I found myself getting irritated with some of the ways people were responding to God’s presence during those moments. The Lord didn’t answer me right away. He let me lie there and “stew in my juice” for awhile. Finally He spoke,” I am delivering you from your need to judge every manifestation that you see. What happens to people is between them and me. It’s not any of your business to judge them.” S TF - 1 3

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Spread the Fire - January 2008 Contents In the River Thriving Between Times of Revival How the River Changed Our Church Taking Our Revival Temperature Therefore, Go... International Itinerary Resource Center Catalogue Upcoming Events Visitor Information

Spread the Fire - January 2008

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