Reflections on our "Pilgrimage" to Brazil

It is perhaps fitting that I am finally getting to put this down here on the blog, six months after the fact. Gives us time to reflect from more of a "distance."

 Again, since it has been so long... there was a lot that went into this at the beginning of the year.
Some of those thoughts were:

• Ever since being in Brazil in 2008, I had always felt my heart drawn back to spend more concentrated time in seeking God in a couple of particular places where His presence was so real to me, and I wanted to take Marilou with me so she could experience those same things.
• We wanted, as a couple, to spend an extended amount of time praying and seeking God's face, and this was a place we knew we would encounter Him.
• In the 36 years of our ministry/marriage, we had never had that kind of extended time together seeking Him.
• Even though we could not afford it financially, we felt like... "what the heck, we are not getting any younger! Why not? What better way to use our time and finances than seeking the face and the voice of our God?"

Observations:

1. Obedience is sometimes it's own reward - For us, one of the primary rewards of the trip was the fact that we did what we felt God was telling us to do. Looking back now, we both remember the ways God touched us and drew us together toward Him in that time.... and it is like a lode stone that draws us over and over again to Him and one another
2. Our God is a lover... He showed us His love in many different ways, but most often it was through His people. The variety of expressions of God's love is really as infinitely varied as the number of people who He calls His own. There is never a point in God's economy for us to compare ourselves to anyone else. He is able to express Himself through us in a very unique way.
3. God is BIG! It was great to see the ways in which God expressed His greatness to us, whether it was in a quiet moment on top of the hillside seeking Him, or among the people of God as they worship Him. We should never get "used to" the greatness, the "bigness" of our mighty God.
4. Finding Him is satisfying and at the same time... it makes us hungry for more! What a paradox, but it is true. 
5. Something happened in our hearts that makes this that benchmark for us, and we both want Him more and more because of what He called us to do in this "pilgrimage."

Well, that will do for now....neither of us will ever regret making this trip. It brought us closer to Him, to one another, and to those we connected with there. It was a "win-win" deal all the way.

Long Time Returning!

It has been quite a while since the last post. So much has happened and the schedule has been really, really busy.

Marilou and I did spend a wonderful month in July in Brazil,

Bags packed and ready to go to Brazil, July 2010

and I will post more about that in the future (really I'll try to be more regular). And as soon as we returned, I was eyeball deep in making preparations for The Sentinel Group for the Hope For America Tours, launching the Premieres of An Appalachian Dawn, the newest Transformation DVD. August and most of September I was consumed with setting up nearly 50 cities and 5 tours across the USA  to tell this amazing story of hope. As I write, there is a Sentinel team doing the Hope For America Tour in Texas. It has really been a whirlwind Fall season.

 If you have not seen the preview trailers of An Appalachian Dawn, you can go to The Sentinel Group's website at, www.glowtorch.org and learn much more about this DVD and the story behind it. Go to The Sentinel Group's webstore to order the DVD at, www.revivalworks.com.

The response to An Appalachian Dawn has been amazing and you can read some of the comments on the website. Personally, I was in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and New York leading those tours.

What a joy to travel with Doug and Linda Abner from Manchester, Kentucky, and work with my dear friend, Jacquie Tyre from Atlanta, GA.

It was a great blessing to observe how God has hungry people in every place.

The greatest challenge for us in America is to recognize our need to be truly desperate for Him, and to realize that His Presence is the key to the true transformation of our communities. That is the lesson in every transformed community including Manchester, KY.  Now we are back at thinking somehow this election is going to do it. Well folks, the reality is we've been here before, and we ought to learn our lessons.  A desperate, praying, united, seeking Church is what is going to turn the tide of this country. The story of Manchester, Kentucky is a great domestic example of this.

Next time - Observations from our Pilgrimage to Brazil.

What Does It Mean?

Over the years, one of the truths that I and many others have spoken regarding Transforming Revival and the Presence of God, is that we are not hungry enough. We do not have a knowledge problem, we have a hunger problem. We know what it takes to attract the presence of God, humility, brokenness, unity, holiness, acts of kindness, etc. Our problem in the West at least, is that we are not truly desperate enough for HIM. But what does that look like? Every one of us must answer that question for ourselves before the Throne and the Face of God. What would it cost us to seek after that "treasure hidden in the field?" What would we be willing to do? To pay? To sacrifice, to seek Him above all things?

In June of 2008, I was a part of a group called a "Fire Tour" sponsored by The Sentinel Group. Fire Tour stands for First Hand Inquiry Into Revival Experienc." At one point, we were on a "prayer mountain" in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The Presence of God was so powerful there, it was for many of us, a life altering experience. I often wondered what it would be like to be able to spend an extended time in that place in His presence. What would He say? How would it change me?

Well, in the plan of God, this July my wife, Marilou and I will have the opportunity to perhaps find the answers to those questions. We will take the month of July to spend in the amazing country of Brazil, to seek His Face, to listen without distraction to His voice, to allow Him to do whatever He wants in and through us.

We will spend a good portion of that time on that very same prayer mountain to be with Him without agenda, without plans, only to seek Him. I share this not to lift us up or say that we are better than anyone else, but as a testimony of our own hearts.

We have a burning conviction that if we are to preach and teach the cost of transformation and desperation, then we need to be willing to live that out ourselves. This is a part of seeking to be the kind of people we teach about.

I will have very limited access to internet, but I will be keeping a detailed journal of our times. As I have opportunity, I will post some of those  here either during or after our time in Brazil.

My prayer is that they might be an encouragement for you, not to have to take a trip to Brazil, but to be willing to pay whatever it takes to seek His Face for transformation.

...to be continued

On The Verge....

The beginning of May, I had the opportunity to spend a few days in the beautiful city of Manaus, Brazil. Manaus is the capitol of the State of Amazonas.

The things that are  happening in Manaus are very exciting, and would lead me and them to believe that Manaus is on the verge of a transformational breakthrough.
The events of that weekend, May 6-11 encouraged us all toward that goal.

The weekend began with an all night prayer vigil for Transformation. 14,000 gathered in an indoor stadium to cry out to God. The stage was filled with pastors from the city, standing in unity together. 

The pastors of the two largest churches in the city, who had been at odds with one another for 16 years stood arm in arm together in words and action of reconciliation and unity, pledging themselves to the transformation of their city, their state and their country. It was a powerful example of humility and submission among the pastors. And for all the church to see.

 

There were many other powerful events that weekend. But another event that gave evidence of the hunger for transformation in the church was on Monday night. I spoke to a group of 4,000 who were all cell church leaders from one church. After I spoke on II Chronicles 7:14, and our responsibility for the spiritual climate of our cities, at the invitation to be agents of transformation in their city, and their cell churches....EVERYONE responded and came forward! There was such a hunger.

This was only a part of what God is doing in this city toward transformation in hearts that are hungry for Him, are humble and submitted together for the Kingdom.


Manaus just seems like a city on the verge..... and they are pressing forward.
The pastor of the largest church in town, uses the Transformations DVD's in his devotions in the mornings, and is filling a notebook full of his impressions and what he is learning. He is not a casual observer... this has become his passion. With that kind of leadership in the city, the prospects are very bright indeed.


It was an amazing and humbling honor to be a part of what God was doing in that weekend and beyond.

Recognizing divine visitation

There is a lot of talk I hear about "divine visitation," and God visiting our cities. My deep concern with some of this is that we are claiming a "visitation" where the "bar" is way too low!!  How do we know when we are experiencing the kind of "visitation" of God that will bring true societal transformation?

Is divine "visitation" a time when we simply "feel" His presence? Often, those are times that only last as long as the particular meeting we are attending. When we leave the meeting, there is no lasting impact on the community around us. Sure, we have been touched, but even then, what lasting change has happened in our own lives as a result of that "visitation?" Do we go home pretty much the same as when we came? Do we then say that God has visited us? Visited our community?

The "visitation" of God, or maybe better phrased, the "habitation" of God in our communities that brings true transformation, is something that has a greater impact than a single meeting. In the Hebrides revival, the presence of God was so powerful that people would fall on their knees in the streets crying out to God to have mercy on them. In one case, during WWII, a U-Boat captain off the island of Louise was instructed to do sabotage work. However, within a certain distance from the island, his weapons would not work. Outside that area, they would work fine, but not inside. Supernatural lights would be seen by everyone hovering over houses where people were praying. This kind of "visitation" is pervasive. There is a wide-spread awareness of God's presence. It is powerful. It impacts every area of society in ways that mere programs cannot.

Let us be careful to not "lower the bar" of our expectations. If we settle for a "visitation" simply in our meetings, we will settle for that, and miss the greater thing God wants to do by His habitation with us.

You can see the story of the revival in the Hebrides by going to The Sentinel Group website at: www.glowtorch.org. or go directly to: http://glowtorch.org/FireQuest/HebridesIslandsScotland/tabid/2684/Default.aspx

New Web Site for Transformation

I want to invite you to investigate the new website for The Sentinel Group, www.glowtorch.org.

Please take some time to investigate the main sections of the website, Journey to Transformation - an invitation to communities to begin the journey themselves, Fireplace - an online transformation forum with prayer, discussion forums and teaching from transformation leaders, and FireQuest - a transformation "Youtube" with stories from around the world and updates on what is happening right now.

In particular I would like to invite you to read the story of the closing of a bar by the power of the Gospel in Brazil. Follow this link:
http://glowtorch.org/Home/AlgodaodeJandairaBrazilUpdate/tabid/2723/Default.aspx

As we move ahead, I will share more observations on the state of our own country and church in the context of God's transforming revival.

Again, please explore the www.glowtorch.org website...there's a lot there.

Transforming blessings... more later

Been Gone a while...

I have missed posting here for some time. I had some health issues the Lord had to help me get through... like double pneumonia and congestive  heart failure. But my time is not done here, and I still am called to trumpet the message of transforming revival, so I am back!!

My recent illness gave me cause to pause and think. Back in 1998 when I saw the first Transformations video, I stood before the pastors I had gathered there, and I said these words, "This, is something I could give my life for." Well, it was after a weekend of speaking on transforming revival that I ended up with the pneumonia and congestive heart failure, and you know, I would have felt it worthwhile to give my life for this cause. Not trying to be melodramatic at all, but I cannot think of anything more worth my life than proclaiming the power of God in transforming an entire community by His manifest Presence.

And since I am still here for a while... I will continue to do that. Even more encouraged every day as I hear of what God continues to do around the world. Yet, deeply concerned about our own country here, and the Church in the West.

My concern comes from what are my own personal observations that we just really do not seem to be hungry enough, and desperate enough. I see so many evidences that we are very content, thank you very much, to investigate and debate, and talk about what we want God to do, but we in the West continue to be very happy with our own strength, and our own ideas.

When I see the amazing things that God is doing in and through the humble and "no-body's" in this world, my spirit cries out for someplace that would get on their knees and just seek Him until He comes.

Next time I want to share a couple more examples of what I am talking about.
In the meantime, I continue to gain strength, and determination... somewhere here in our country, there must be a community that is really, really, really desperate and ready....

What Is Transformation?

The word "Transformation" has become somewhat of a "buzzword" in recent  years, and had taken on various meanings and implications. I remember seeing a television commercial for Kohl's that showed all the different clothes you could buy at Kohl's and then ended with the phrase, "Transform Your Life - Kohl's"

In the Christian realm there are also many different interpretations of the term transformation. My problem comes when we end up settling for something far less than what is God's best because we have experienced a bit of change and we call it transformation.

At the Transform World Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia members of the International Fellowship of Transformation Parters came together to present what they would call, "Indicators of Transformation." Authored not by "hopefuls" but by those who are living IN transformation, this is a litmus test, if you will, of what we can look for to see if our community is experiencing true "presence-based" transformation.

Here are the indicators that these members of IFTP came up with. How does your understanding of transformation compare to what they are experiencing?


Indicators of Transformation

 For the term transformation to be properly applied to a community, change must be evident not only in the lives of its inhabitants, but also in the fabric of its institutions. In the end, it is dramatic social, political, and even ecological renewal that sets these cases apart from common experience.

 In short, a transformed community is:

A neighborhood, city, or nation whose values and institutions have been overrun by the grace and presence of God.

A place where divine fire has not merely been summoned, but has fallen.

A society in which natural evolutionary change has been disrupted by invasive supernatural power.

A culture that has been impacted comprehensively and undeniably by the Kingdom of God.

A location where Kingdom values are celebrated publicly and passed on to future generations.

Community transformation is indicated when:

Political leaders publicly acknowledge their sin and dependence on God (2 Kings 11:17-18; 23:2; Jonah 3:6-9).

New laws, curricula, and business practices are put into effect (2 Chronicles 19:4-10; Nehemiah 10:31).

The natural environment is restored to its original life-nurturing state (Leviticus 26:4-5;       2 Chronicles 7:14; Ezekiel 34:27; 36:29-30).

Economic conditions improve and lead to a discernable lessening of poverty (2 Chronicles 17:3-5; Psalm 144:14; Isaiah 60:5; Amos 9:13).

There is a marked change in social entertainment and vices as Kingdom values are integrated into the rhythm of daily life (Ezra 10:1-4; Nehemiah 8:10, 16; Ecclesiastes 10:17; Acts. 19:17-20).

Crime and corruption diminish throughout the community (2 Kings 12:13-15; Nehemiah 5:6-12; Isaiah 60:17-18).

Volunteerism increases as Christians recognize their responsibility to heal and under gird the community (Isaiah 58:10-12; 61:1-4).

Restored hope and joy leads to a decline in divorce, bankruptcy, and suicide (Nehemiah 12:27-28, 43; Isaiah 54:11-14; 61:3,7; Jeremiah 30:17-19; 31:11-13; Hosea 2:15).

The spiritual nature of the growing socio-political renewal becomes a hot topic in secular media (2 Chronicles 20:29; Nehemiah 6:16; Isaiah 55:5; Ezekiel 36:36; Acts 19:17).

Overwhelmed by the goodness of God, grateful Christians take the embers of revival into surrounding communities and nations (2 Chronicles 17:9; Isaiah 61:6; Acts 11:20-26).

This is a matter of faith, not triumphalism. There is, and will likely continue to be, gross spiritual darkness in the world. Our goal is not to make a new heaven and a new earth, but rather to create salty spots on the earth that stimulate a thirst for God. Like many salty appetizers, these temporal transformations point the way to a larger, more satisfying meal to come.

—Taken from International Fellowship of Transformation Partners, Transform World Conference, Jakarta, Indonesia, May 2005