New Year's Transformational Thoughts

I suppose I will jump on the bandwagon of New Years blogging. But perhaps my New Years thoughts might be a little different from most.... so hang on !

There are two streams of thought here, and in some ways they reflect the two "fires" that are communicated in the Sentinel DVD, "Approaching Fire." The first is the fact that, despite all the secular and church hype, we are not getting any better. Sure there is a lot of "churchy" activity around. We again have a plethora of prophetic pronouncements about the New Year and the new decade, but it all seems to be wrapped in the same old wrappings of "ministry," and for all that has been spoken in the past decade, I personally do not see that we as the Church, here in the West have advanced. We continue to promote our ministries and we continue to be as ineffective as before. We have some who call a small step, "transformation" when it is little more than what we can achieve from our own human efforts. There is little or no societal transformation on the scale that we see in other places in the world. And so far, the trend seems to be that we will continue in the old patterns. I see us in the period of Hosea 5:13 - 15 - Where Israel saw and recognized her "sores" yet turned to human means to try to get healing. We are continuing to do this under the guise of "ministry initiatives." So the Lord basically says, "OK, that's not going to heal you, but while you are finding that out, I'll be over here waiting for you to cry out to me in desperation." I do not think we have yet come to that place of genuine desperation where we are eager to give up our own ideas, solutions, fall backs, and initiatives, and fall on our faces and cry out to Him. So, until we come to that place, I believe the Lord will continue to allow us to drink from our own cisterns that hold no water (Jeremiah 2).

On the other hand, we find places and people who have come to that place of desperation and the end of their own efforts, and are experiencing TRUE transforming revival. The past decade saw a rise in such occurrences from 8 in 1998 to over 800 in 2009. Transforming revival is exploding in other parts of the world, and I believe it will continue. There are those who are embracing the invitation of Hosea 6:1-3, returning to the Lord, leaving behind all the former "techniques" and simply crying out for Him, for His presence (vs. 2). Those who come to that place are finding out the reality of God's promise that as surely as the sun rises, He will come to us, vs. 3. As the sun rises on January 1, 2010, it is a testimony to the faithfulness of this promise from our Faithful God.

Am I hopeful? Absolutely!! Not because I believe we will get there by all our initiatives and efforts, but because even as God will allow us to go deeper into despair, injury and pain, it is because He desires for us to come to that ultimate place of total abandoned desperation for His presence alone. Let's stop pretending we are doing so well. Let's stop pretending that if we just do this program or initiative we will persuade Him... He will respond to our sincerely broken, contrite, and desperate hearts (Isa. 66:2). This will be a challenge to every church, every ministry who feels pressure to "survive" by continuing to come up with appeals, programs, initiatives and "religious efforts." but if we GIVE UP, we will find Him waiting with open arms.

May 2010 be the year we come to that realization.

Learning About Transformational Principles

Let's discuss briefly what can be gleaned from this story of the transformation of Algodao de Jandaira, Brazil.
What can we learn to apply to our lives, and our communities?

1) Never lose sight of the fact that God loves every community. 

Here was a small desert community in the North of Brazil that was not even on any maps at the time. Seemingly forgotten and unknown. But not to our loving and All-knowing God! His love was so great for this "forgotten" town, that He began years earlier to arrange circumstances in lives so that all the pieces would converge at just the right time for His purposes to be accomplished. There are a number of fascinating "back-stories" that I will include in the book I am writing about this amazing tale of transformation. This is an amazing example of the great love that God has for our communities, for YOUR community. No matter what the situation might look like at the moment, God has a destiny for your community in His great heart. He's just waiting...

2) God is looking for obedient hearts

The people of First Baptist Church in Valentina did not even believe in dreams and visions! Yet their hearts were sincere, and as the Lord gently prodded them, they were willing to step "out of the box" in order to obey Him. And when the were confronted with the reality that God was speaking to them, they did whatever was necessary to be obedient to His call. I could not begin to write here the many sacrifices and testings that took place as the leaders and members of First Baptist Church began to make the 3 1/2 hour trip up to Algodao once, many time twice a month. Flat tire, no gasoline, no cash... it didn't matter, as they paid the price, they also found that God was their provider, and their strength. How willing are we to pay any price in order to have God's transforming presence dwell in our communities? Are we willing to give up our preconceived ideas of how He will work, and simply obey?

3) Desperate Prayer attracts the attention of God

We sometimes think that we can get God's attention by massing hundreds or thousands together to worship and pray with lots of fanfare and hoopla. But look at this story and adjust your thinking. One couple who had moved there from Rio were praying for God to bring a Baptist church to Algodao. And a lone, blind man, sitting in his simple house cried out to God, "Please send someone to help us!" God was attracted not to numbers or flash and stage-managed programs, He was attracted to three simple, desperate people who knew if He did not come through, there was nothing left. No rain for 23 years, a dying population, dying livestock, no crops and a dried up reservoir were daily reminders to them that the needed to pray with desperation to the Only One who could help them. How desperate are we, really? Are we truly, truly at the place were we believe that God coming is our only hope? Or are we still infatuated with our programs, our schemes, our ideas and our plans to "get Him to come?" Until we get past all of that, He waits...He waits to see our desperation, and to hear our desperate prayers.

In the DVD titled, The Quickening, produced by The Sentinel Group you can learn of the seven core principles and seven obstacles to transformation. These are principles gathered as The Sentinel Group has observed hundreds of transformed communities over the years. You can purchase this DVD by going to the Sentinel Groups website, www.sentinelgroup.org. There will soon (hopefully by December 21st) be a new webstore at www.Revivalworks.com. If you purchase the DVD, you can also purchase the companion prayer guide. When you get these, contact me, and I can send you a group study guide to go along with the DVD.

Let's earnestly give ourselves to pursuing transformation in our communities. It is not a pipe dream. It is happening in over 800 communities around the world this very moment. How about YOUR community?

Addendum: On December 19, 2009, First Baptist Church in Algodao de Jandaira will inaugurate their new church building. We had the privilege of praying in that "shell" in June of 2008, and now they nearly fill the building with worship of our Great God. He is still at work.

Transformation of Algodao de Jandaira, (part 3)

In January of 2004, when the team came from Joao Pessoa, something was different. As they stopped at the "Tree of Life" to pray, they noticed the ground was not so dusty. As they drove further, one of the farmers told them they could not continue, and as they drove further, they began to hear a noise... a roaring noise.

As they turned the corner, the saw that where there had once been a dry river bed, it was now full of fast moving water. They could not drive across. So they gathered their packages, put them on their shoulders, walked across the river and began to hike the several kilometers left into the town. When they got to town, the road was washed out, and the once dry reservoir was overflowing! The people of the town had to help them walk across the overflowing spillway.
As they talked with the people of Algodao, the learned that shortly after they left in December, the "Showers of Blessing" began. At first off in the distance. The humidity rose, and for the first time ever, they began to notice mold growing on their walls. Then the rains came, in two great bursts. Off in the distance, water was even coming from the rock, and forming a stream to fill the reservoir!

The people knew it was the prayers of the Christians that had brought the rains.

Today, Algodao de Jandaira is in the midst of an amazing transformation. The population of the city has doubled as agriculture has flourished. Four different kinds of crops are grown. The once dry reservoir produces small fish and shrimp.

People can grow crops in their back yards. Something they could not do before.
The mayor presented the keys to the city to the Lord Jesus Christ, and now after many years of hard work, there is a brand new church building, a daughter church of First Baptist Church in Valentine. First Baptist Church in Algodao will be opening the weekend of December 18-19th.

Algodao de Jandaira is a testimony to what God can do in answer to the prayers of just a few, and through those who are willing to listen to His voice, and obey no matter what He says, or what the cost.

This is just the beginning for this community in transformation.

Transformation of Algodao de Jandaira, (cont.)

The Lord was at work at First Baptist Church, Valentina, even if not everyone knew it at first. Including Pastor Eneas. His wife, Simone was, however, seeing God break into their practice times, and when Vtoria finally came and told her of the dream, Simone did not reject it outright. She said they would pray about it. For one thing, Vtoria could only remember the first part of the name, Algodao, which means 'cotton' in Portuguese. Secondly, they could not find any such  town on any map that they looked at. So Simone suggested that she, and Vtoria and Vtoria's friend Joselie pray and ask the Lord for clarification. That afternoon Vtoria agonized with the Lord and pledged that her family would not eat until the Lord showed her for sure. As she prayed on the living room rug, the Lord told her to go to her daughter's room, and there in a brand new Geography textbook, she found the town...Algodao de Jandaira. When she called Joslie, Joselie had a man at her house from the church who was doing repairs. When Joselie asked him if he had ever heard of such a place, he cried out, "Algodao? Algdoa de Jandaira? I grew up in that place! It is so needy!"

That began the determination that they would go to visit Algodao de Jandaira. However, they had very little money and no one in the choir, the worship team or the dance team had a car. So they held bake sales to pay for gas and borrowed an old Volkswagen, and in summer of 2002, they made the first journey to Algodao.

In a prayer meeting before they left, Vtoria had another vision, this time she saw the dirt road and the town, and a little girl with curly uncombed hair, blue shorts and a red blouse. Four of them piled into the car and made the 3 1/2 hour trip north. As they pulled off the pavement onto the dirt road that lead to Algodao, they were silent with anticipation. As they drove further, Vtoria was exclaiming that this was exactly like her dream! When they turned the corner and saw the town they were shocked! The town consisted of two streets, and mostly mud stick houses. The terrain was just grey. They realized that these people were poorer than they were. As they drove slowly through the town, three times, this little girl with curly uncombed hair and blue shorts and a red top walked in front of their car! Quite a confirmation, and quite a welcome!

They parked the car and broke up into teams to visit with the people. As Vtoria came to the third house, she could hear someone inside. As they stood by the window, she could see an old man sitting at a table. He was praying..she could hear him... "Lord we need you, please send missionaries to help us! Please send your angels to help us!" Weeping, Vtoria cried out, "sir, the Lord has answered your prayers, we are here!"

That began what became monthly sometimes twice a month visits from Joao Pessoa to Algodao de Jandaira.
They would go house to house and tell of the love of Jesus. They would bring food and toiletries, but all that they did felt so inadequate compared to the great need. But they remained faithful. Through 2002, and 2003.

As they continued their "mission" to Algodao, God began to bless their church. It seemed that the destinies of these two were linked in a very spiritual way.

At Christmas, 2003, the people of First Baptist, Valentina decided not to celebrate Christmas in their usual way, they would take Christmas to Algodao. They held a great celebration, brought gifts and shared the true meaning of Christmas. As they left, they were glad, but felt again like they had contributed so little to the great need of Algodao. Only God could help, it was too big a task for them.

Next time....God answers in a way no one would have expected !

The Transformation of Algodao de Jandaira

This is the amazing story of two cities, and one church. A small dying community called Algodao de Jandaira in the Northern desert regions of Brazil. A community of 2,000 folks who were barely existing. It had not rained in that region with any kind of effectiveness for 23 years. The water they had to drink was trucked into town and was brown and bitter. Most of the people lived in houses made of mud packed around sticks pounded into the ground. Those who lived there at that time had little to eat, and were often limited to eating cactus leaves. They described the area as "grey."

Because of the shortage of water, the children know nothing of hygiene. One could not even locate it on published maps of the area. It was a community unknown,  unnoticed, and dying.

To the south some 3 1/2 hours drive, there was a small Baptist church in the city of Joao Pessoa. A church plant from a larger church in Sao Paulo. First Baptist Church of Valentina was a very typical Baptist church. It's pastor, Eneas Araujo was a fourth generation pastor, his wife Simone always knew she wanted to be a pastor's wife. Soon the fate of this church and the far away forgotten town of Algodoa de Jandaira would forever be connected.

It was their 7th Anniversary as a church plant and they were going to have 7 days of celebration. Esly, the worship director had picked a couple songs that were a little "edgy" for this conservative congregation. One was called "I want Revival," the other "Dreams and Visions." As they sang, the words, On a dry land, it begins to rain. A fresh rain that God sends down. He opens rivers in the desert, streams in the valleys. The rain of living waters, little did they know what God had in mind.

One Sunday as they sang those words, God began to move. At the end of the alloted time for practice they intended to close with the usual short closing prayer. Instead, the Spirit of God fell upon them and they spent the next two hours weeping in repentance. It was an experience they had never had before. The next week, the same thing happened to the dance team. Simone knew God was up to something.

The third week, instead of practice, Simone brought a CD for them to listen to. It was the testimony of a missionary. They were wanting to be more mission minded, they had made plans for a missions trip to Cajazeiras where Eneas had a pastor friend, so this would be a good thing. 

That night Vtoria was planning on coming to resign the choir. The troubles with her father's ailing health were just too much for her. But as the CD played and she closed her eyes, Vtoria found herself there with the missionary, she could see all the details, everything! It was so impactful that she forgot to resign, and went home unable to sleep. She lay for hours on her bed praying for missions. Finally at 1:30 am, she fell asleep, and the Lord came to her in a dream. She saw a great wall in front of her and as the wall opened up, she saw a rocky, red dusty road...she instinctively know it led somewhere...then she saw the name, Algodao de Jandaira blazened across like a movie screen. Clear as a bell, the Lord spoke to her, It is not Cajazeiras, it is Algodao de Jandaira. I know, responded Vtoria, and the dream ended.

Next time...What God did in the life of this small Baptist church that would bring transformation to them, and a far away forgotten town.

Talking about Transformation

Transformation. The term is used in a variety of ways and contexts, with multiple meanings and implications. If we are praying with a vision for transformation, then we need to define the term more clearly and set our hearts to a common vision.

The general concept behind the word transformation comes from the Greek word metamorphosis. At the core definition, it is "as connoting a change of nature" (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) The idea is simply that a thing is changed in its very nature. A good example is the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Transformation in this context is quite dramatic and noticeable because clearly something has changed. A clear and dramatic change is the benchmark for true transformation that comes from the supernatural hand of God!

This is indeed the case in more than 800 communities, regions, and nations around the world. The Sentinel Group is documenting case after case there the very fabric of society is being changed by the presence of God in the midst of the culture. Some of these societal transformations have been documented in the Transformations videos. These stories have sparked the imaginations and the hope that what is happening elsewhere could indeed happen here.

But confusion can come when claims of transformation or the process of transformation are made, but yet there are no clear indications that truly something has changed. Those who are experiencing genuine transformation know what it looks like, but most of us can only operate in theory. The very real danger then becomes that we settle for a lower standard than what God has in His heart for our communities. We settle for the changes that we can make and call them transformation instead of pressings forward until God truly breaks through in genuine society altering transformation.

Unknown to most of the world, the construction of a small church building has been completed in the small Brazilian community of Algodao de Jandaira. The significance of this small church in the Northern desert regions of Brazil would be lost to most. Yet it stands today as a testimony of the mighty power of God to bring transformation to the most seemingly unknown, and forgotten places in answer to the prayers of just a few. More on this amazing story next time.

A Transformation Testimony

Prayer and revival has been a part of my Christian life from the very first weeks as a new believer.

As a new believer, a serviceman in Nha Trang, Vietnam, I was brand new to the faith. I came to Christ through the witness of a former High School friend on January 3, 1969 while on leave on my way to Viet Nam. I soon found the Christian Servicemen’s Center, and began to devour books by Andrew Murray, Oswald Chambers, A.W. Tozer and other prayer and revival authors.

Over the years, as a pastor, prayer and revival were always a part of my heart and my teaching.

In fact, the reality is that those who were in my churches did not always embrace the messages regarding prayer and revival.

In 1998, I entered the world of non-profit prayer ministries. It was in 1999 that I first saw the Transformations video. I brought together a number of pastors, and after we watched that first video depicting God’s transforming revival, I stood up before these fellow workers and exclaimed, “This is something I can give my life for.” Little did I know how the Lord would take me up on that statement.

In the years as Executive Director of Prayer Transformation Ministries, I was drawn closer and closer to the amazing stories coming from the Sentinel Group. We continued to work closely with the Sentinel Group. In 2005 I had the privilege of attending Transform World Indonesia in Jakarta. In those years, our ministry published several Prayer Guides on the topic of Transformation and the healing of the land.

2008 was a watershed year in this journey. I was not only able to attend the Torchlight Training sponsored by The Sentinel Group in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, but I was also able to be a part of the Sentinel Fire Tour and visit several communities that are currently undergoing transforming revival. The effect on me was explosive. In my journaling and in later descriptions I likened the change to a change in my very DNA. No longer would transforming revival simply be something that I believed in and taught, but it would be a part of the very fabric of who I had become.

The honest truth is, that I have been ruined now for anything less the completely transforming manifest presence of God. We talk about these things, but until we truly see and experience what the presence of the Almighty God can do, we will settle for the lesser. That is not to put myself in some sort of elevated place, on the contrary, it is absolutely humbling…the things that I have seen. But if you know what a real dollar bill is like, you will never settle to accept a counterfeit bill.

In this blog, I will be sharing stories of transformation, and talking about the principles of transformation as seen now in almost 900 communities around the world, as well as Biblical and historical teaching on this needy subject.

Watch for my next post

A New Beginning

I am beginning a new blog in a new setting with a new ministry. For the past 11 years, I was the Executive Director of Prayer Transformation Ministries in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In that capacity I would contribute to a blog connected with that ministry.
I am now serving with The Sentinel Group (producers of the Transformations DVD's) and am living in Monroe, Washington. So this is a new start, but on the same theme...that of God's work of transforming revival, what is happening in the world today, how we are to understand God's work of transformation, and how our lives must change to welcome God into our lives and our communities.

We in the West talk a lot of community transformation, and revival, yet why is it that we see so little of it...at least like is happening in other parts of the world? Or what has happened in history? These are the questions I will wrestle with here on this blog.

My prayer is that if you come from time to time, God will touch your heart and give you an ever deepening hunger for genuine transforming revival.

My next posting will be a little bit of my own testimony, and then I will weave into that some of how has "ruined" me for anything less than all of God for my life, for our communities... wherever we live.

Thanks for dropping by.