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

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.