In late 2004, I went on a physical diet as well as a spiritual diet. You can read more about the genesis of that in my testimony. I was chasing after God and trying to bring myself out of a long-standing spiritual apathy, but I hadn’t really gotten a tangible touch from Him yet at that time. Then in 2005 my mom started going to the Healing Rooms in Petaluma, CA because of serious health and emotional issues. She had gone a few times without me when one day I drove down to meet her there after her session. I arrived early, so I had to wait a while for them to finish.

Now listen, this was bizarre. I wasn’t there for an appointment. I didn’t even quite understand what they were doing. I had no expectations anything was going to happen to me in the slightest. All I did was show up, and the moment I walked into that slightly-stuffy, aging, medical-like building in downtown Petaluma — WHOOSH! It was like stepping onto another planet.

It’s hard for me to remember exactly what was going through my mind at the time, but to use language I’ve learned since then, I had entered into a spiritual atmosphere. God was there…even though of course He is everywhere…His manifest presence was in that place. I could feel it. It was a tangible reality. I sat down in the waiting room, feeling waves of peace and love and a sense of belonging, of coming home, washing over me. And then the coolest thing happened — someone else was in that waiting room, and we got to talking. I was 22 at the time, she was in her sixties. But we made an instant connection. We were kindred spirits, as Anne Shirley would say. We had an amazing conversation that seemed to last for hours. It was the first taste of holy fellowship in the body of Christ that I had experienced in a long time, and it felt good.

I didn’t just encounter the Holy Spirit that day, I experienced unity in the Spirit. There is nothing like it, nothing like it on earth. It’s incredible. Barbara and I are still good friends to this very day, and currently attend the same church: Grace Fellowship. Interesting aside — the second time I felt the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit, that glorious spiritual atmosphere, was when I stepped foot in Grace’s sanctuary for the first time in late 2005. But that’s a whole ‘nuther story.

I could tell you about when I first started speaking in tongues (right after I was water baptized in late 2006), or when I first started receiving heavenly dreams or visions, or when I first heard His voice calling out to me, but really my entire journey up to this very moment began when I first encountered Him in that stuffy little storefront in downtown Petaluma. I’ll remember that day as long as I live.

Only four months later…the Florida “outpouring” has dwindled to a few hundred people at the original starting church, and the leader of the revival, Todd Bentley, is now in the midst of a marital crisis and fierce doctrinal controversy that has left the broader charismatic movement reeling. Charisma Magazine wrote up in good detail the latest news as we know it.

I want to be very clear: I have been personally blessed by Todd Bentley’s ministry in the past, and some of his closest friends in ministry are people I know and trust (not personally, but in terms of spiritual fruit and teaching). So I don’t want to make light of this tragedy in any way, and I am praying for him and his family’s recovery and healing.

But something is going on in the Body of Christ right now, and we need to discern what is happening and not give way to doubt and hardness of heart. The first question we need to ask is: is the Lakeland revival over? I believe it is. But that’s the wrong question. The real question is: is revival over? And the answer to that is an emphatic NO!

I spent the last several days very distressed about this sequence of events, and as I’ve been seeking the Lord for answers, I’ve begun to sense some things that I think are important to remember and understand. I’ll just walk through some of my thoughts in bullet-point form:

• True revival is not about a person, a place, or a thing. It is about the sovereign move of Almighty God in response to Jesus followers crying out to Him from the depths of their souls.
• True revival is not about angles, visions, prophecies, miracles, visitations, glory clouds, gemstones, gold dust, oil, and other signs and wonders. It is about Jesus Christ. It is about His power to restore all the that enemy has stolen. It is about transformation. “I once was lost, but now I’m found. I once was blind, but now I see.” That’s revival.
• True revival cannot be beamed across a TV screen or performed on the platform. It cannot be told, it cannot be explained, and it cannot be contained. Because, you see, revival is the violent move of God in glory and power, and God — last time I looked — is not a video feed or a worship band or a talking head with a microphone up on stage.
• True revival is not a church, or a conference, or a tent, or a style, or a method, or a format, or a culture, or a tradition. True revival is timeless and transcendent, because God is outside of time and beyond this universe.
• When true revival comes, it will convict people to go out. All eyes will not be on any person, place, or thing. It will be on Jesus Christ. People will not wait for the “fire” to come to their city in pomp and circumstance before they go out and minister to people in the name of Jesus. They will go out and minister to people in the name of Jesus in order to bring the fire of God down to their city.
• When true revival comes, it will be messy, but it will not be flabby. It will not be frayed around the edges. It will not focus on the biggest and brightest and best and ignore the details. The devil is NOT in the details. God is in the details. The first shall be last, and the last first. When true revival comes, it will not be about flash, it will be about substance. It will be about meeting people’s needs where they are. It will be about speaking to people in a language they can understand. It will be about being all things to all men in order to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
• Oh how arrogant to think that only the superficial gloss of “charismania” heralds the arrival of revival. Lord, forgive us of our pride, our presumption. Forgive us of our need for hype and attention instead of conviction and consecration. Forgive us for looking to men to bring us into your Holy Presence when all we need is a spirit willing to yield itself to you.

There is a shift going on…a shift in the Body of Christ right now where people are beginning to realize that the hallmark of every true revival is a gripping fear of the Lord and a powerful, irresistible yearning for holiness and purification. I felt this already when I was up at the JesusCulture conference a couple of weeks ago. More on that another time. Suffice it to say, it was an incredible, life-changing time, but not because of signs and wonders but because of God’s holy presence and the palpable feeling of intense spiritual hunger in the room that demanded a transformational response from heaven. We got down on our knees and we gave our all to Jesus, everything, without reservation, without hesitation. The conviction of the Holy Spirit was so strong that I was ready to repent of sins I haven’t even committed yet. That was a joke, in case you missed it.

So is the revival over? No! It’s just now truly beginning! Some people are saying the Lakeland “revival” was false and of the devil. I believe it was of God when it initially started. Other people are saying that the revival was real all along and the devil is now trying his best to shut it down. No, I believe that too is of God, although the devil is certainly on the offensive.

I believe God used Lakeland as a catalyst for radical spiritual hunger and has now shut down what was quickly turning into a quagmire in order for real revival to break out spontaneously, earnestly, sincerely, and sustainably across this dry land we call America. This time revival won’t be about Todd Bentley, or Lakeland, or God TV, or apostles, or miracles, or media, or glory clouds, or angelic hosts, or worship music, or prophecies, or anything else. It will be about one thing and one thing only: Jesus Christ. We will encounter Jesus, be saved by Jesus, be delivered by Jesus, be changed by Jesus, be loved by Jesus, be equipped by Jesus, and be sent out by Jesus to go do the compassionate works of Jesus in order for the world to hear about Jesus and see Jesus and be set free by Jesus.

If revival isn’t about Jesus, and Him alone, then somehow, somewhere, we’ve lost the plot.

“On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” — Matthew 7:22-23

I haven’t yet finished the book, so I’ll refrain from judgement until I do, but given my past experience with American “churchianity”, I’m not exactly ready to go burn the authors at the stake. Frankly, I once thought that it was time to take the church out back and shoot it. Stick a fork in it, it’s done. So I find it highly fascinating to discover that all the things I thought were bizarre about church practices actually have little-to-nothing to do with the original Church planted by Jesus Christ and the first-century Apostles.

That being said, I fully admit I love the church I am a part of, Grace Fellowship. I play recorders and whistles in the worship band on Sunday mornings, and I think we have been blessed with amazing, Spirit-led leadership and preaching that has brought forth real transformation in our community. So I’m not ready to give up on the whole kit and caboodle just yet. Although, truth be told, I personally have experienced more spiritual growth and prophetic blessing in our small group meetings and one-to-one interactions than I have in the Sunday services. But I see Sunday as the time when the people of the church can gather corporately to praise God and be challenged in their walk, and it’s a wonderful highlight to look forward to during the work week. Good stuff.

To answer my post title, I don’t think it’s time to kill the typical American church just yet. But it’s very much time to kneel face-down before Almighty God and humbly beg Him to show us where we’ve screwed up in our traditions and how we can move into a new era of Christ-centered, Spirit-led, transformation-focused, empowered, glory-filled, Kingdom-of-God Church!

Honestly, I had no idea who Ben was or practically how this event event got started before I came. I don’t even remember where I found the link to the initial information, but literally my impression a number of months back was like “Hey, some dude thinks he’s gonna put on a conference and Mark Batterson’s gonna show up. Sick.” I figured what the hey and signed up. Of course, the official Web site looked pretty slick once it went online and some of the other speakers were pretty notable as well, so both Shayne and I were jazzed to come.

I got to hear more about Ben and RCC at the conference today and actually was able to meet with him and chat in person which was fun. Seems like a super guy. He said the original idea was that maybe if they were really lucky, they could fill up a partition of the ballroom at the Hyatt with, say, 200 people, and that would rock. Well, it turned out God had other plans. I’d say there were at least 1,000 people there. The whole ballroom was packed. No partition necessary.

Mark Batterson, lead pastor at National Community Church, was brilliant as I expected, but the thing I appreciated more than anything else about him wasn’t what he said but the reasons behind what he said. Here is a man who really cares deeply about chasing after God and doesn’t consider his present condition or that of his team, his church, or his congregation as any kind of role model to emulate like it’s a finished product. He said point-blank that he was a work-in-progress and they’re still trying to figure out what they’re doing, and I believed his sincerity. God is indeed doing a mighty work in their midst, and I have no doubt that as long as Mark and the rest of NCC chase hard after God no matter the cost, without fear, and with conviction of heart and a complete abandonment to the Holy Spirit, they will go places they haven’t even dreamed of yet.

I’ll post some notes on what he talked about along with the other speakers in a (near) future post. Before I close this one though, I’d like to give a shoutout to the other presenters who particularly spoke to me and then finish off with some general impressions of the conference.

Vince Antonucci was a blast. Kind of daft in the head perhaps, but very powerful and God-centered in his exhortation. His personal background was that of an extremely “un-churched” variety, so he had a great and important perspective to share on the sometimes bizarre world of Christendom here in America and how vital it is that we focus on going out and saving people who are truly in need of a savior instead of catering to the weaknesses and comfort levels of seasoned churchgoers.

Darrin Patrick presented a challenging message about idolatry and how we often fall back on the desires of our human nature instead of relying on the One who is greater than anything we might treasure, worship, or give our allegiance to here on the earth. Until we seek out the root sin of idolatry in our lives, we will not be able to accomplish the mission God has for us.

Finally, but certainly not exclusively, I really enjoyed seeing Perry Noble in the flesh. I’d heard of him and heard him in a podcast interview recently, but his preaching in person was off the charts. God is really using him in an awesome way to speak to the state of the Church today. I can’t even go into all that he talked about, but basically his message was that if we’re not walking close to Jesus everyday and intensely seeking revelation from the Holy Spirit so that we can accomplish the work of the Father just like Jesus did, we might as well just give up now and throw in the towel. If we KNOW we are called by God to be in serious church ministry and leadership (and the calling has to be real and genuine), then we have to walk in that calling and claim the authority that God has for us to do what He has called us to do. Powerful, powerful stuff, and it absolutely convicted me to reaffirm what God has called me to do in my own life and not be afraid to chase after it wholeheartedly!

Overall, the conference was very, very good and honoring to God, and I truly hope it happens again next year. A few additional thoughts: these leaders are considered to be on the cutting edge of mainstream evangelicalism today, and being a fervent believer in the charismatic movement and the even narrower world of the apostolic-prophetic movement, I went in with a degree of curiosity mixed with trepidation to see if I would leave excited or frustrated. I’m happy to say that I perceive that the state of the church at large is strong if this is where it’s going. However, I am still somewhat sorrowful that the incredible supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are not given the limelight they deserve and that people generally aren’t focusing on His outpourings in these circles. I see glimmers of hope though, and I know that Mark and possibly a few of the other folks there are “closet charismatics” who really are trying to walk out what the Holy Spirit is showing them, so I’m trusting God to work everything out in his good timing and that revival will not pass by the evangelical church as a whole.

And with that sentiment, I say Goodnight and God Bless. See you next week!

Before I tell you to go pick up your trusty, well-worn Holy Bible and scan through a pile of verses, I want to back up and try something a little bit different. I am going to extract what I read into a simple summary of points, and as you read through these points, I want to you to ask yourself if this is how Christianity is perceived by the world today (and when I say the “world” I mean the unchurched people in the West who are not particularly friendly towards our faith).

In this passage, Paul extorts Christians to conduct themselves thus:

• Let love be genuine.
• Love one another with brotherly affection. (And of course “sisterly” affection.)
• Outdo one another in showing honor. This one bears repeating: outdo one another in showing honor.
• Contribute to the needs of the saints (i.e., those who are part of the Body of Christ) and seek to show hospitality.
• Bless those who persecute you, and do not curse them. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if your enemy is thirsty, give him something to drink.
• Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
• Live in harmony with one another.
• Do not be haughty or conceited, but associate with the lowly (i.e., the undesirables, the untouchables).
• If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

I have a feeling that if someone walked into a community of people living together in the peace, love, and understanding that is described here, they would think they’ve stumbled onto a hippie commune rather than entered into the presence of the glorious Bride of Christ. Somehow the message of grace found in Christ has been obscured by the pride and arrogance of man, and what was supposed to be a message of freedom has become corrupted and turned into a spirit of bondage. And now those who are enslaved to the desires of the flesh and the schemes of the devil are the ones who are portraying the lifestyle of peace, love, and harmony in our modern culture.

Where did we go wrong? How has the Church stumbled so badly? Why aren’t Christ-followers the most loving, peaceful, harmonious, and understanding people on the planet? Why has Christian become a dirty 9-letter word and Pastor (which means father and is supposed to echo the lovingkindness of our Father in Heaven) become associated with a hypocritical bigot who preaches on Sunday and sins on Monday? How has the Gospel, which means Good News, become Bad News? Why does it seem sometimes like everything Jesus came to proclaim — that the Kingdom of Heaven is now here in our midst; that healing and deliverance and love and grace and joy and peace are now available to all through the redemptive power of the Resurrection of the Son of God — has been completely and utterly lost?

I get that there are hard aspects to the Christian faith, and I understand that we make exclusive and difficult claims about sin, death, and redemption. But it’s interesting to note that the central message of the four Gospels and of much of the other writings of the New Testament is focused on life in the Kingdom of God, not on hell and damnation — or even eternal life in some other plane after we die. Jesus came to proclaim Life — life here, life now. Abundant Life, with deliverance from bondage and freedom from sin and death and every evil thing done by the forces of hell. That is indeed Good News, and that is indeed a Gospel that I am very happy and excited to share with others.

So let love be genuine, as Paul says, and live in harmony with one another. May the word “Christian” become worthy of its grand heritage once again!

(P. S. In case you’re wondering, the passage I discussed above is Romans 12:9-21.)

Where was I? Oh yes, JesusCulture, which is the brainchild of…nope, I already did that part. OK, so we went up to Redding, CA to attend the conference, and in past years, we’ve come away with body, soul, and spirit all reeling from the intenseness of it all. This year was no different. That Bethel Church crowd up there really puts you to work. Don’t ever go check them out if you don’t intend to jump, scream, shout, laugh, cry, stand up, kneel down, and — most importantly — worship Jesus Christ with your entire being and then some.

Now due to a, ahem, misunderstanding with who was supposed to get which tickets when, I wasn’t able to get into the main convention center auditorium. Last time when that happened (yes, I seem to be prone to other people forgetting my tickets), I had to go sit in the overflow room elsewhere in the convention center and watch a video screen. Thankfully, Holy Spirit is bigger than distance, and He did some awesome things in that room, but I wasn’t too keen on missing out on the grand experience.

However, apparently I and about 1,500 other people were in the same predicament, so those zany dudes up in Redding (is it something in the water?!?!) decided to put on an overflow CONFERENCE at the church itself. Get this: JesusCulture started out at Bethel Church. Then it outgrew the church, so they moved it to the local convention center. Now, it’s outgrown the convention center, and they had to move part of it back into the church. How long do you think it’ll take before both the convention center AND the church (which is not small by any means) are BOTH too small to fit all the people who want to come? Not long.

Alright, now on to the highlights of the event. It turns out that our overflow conference had some perks that the other people didn’t get to enjoy. Yes, we had video screens with satellite feeds of the main sessions, but we also had a bunch of live presentations and some live worship music for our own group as well, so it was fine. But the cool thing is that we got to have a healing revival right in our midst that they never had at the center!

What happened is that one of the live presentations was about receiving words of knowledge for people with physical or emotional ailments and asking them if they need prayer for those conditions. After talking about it for a while, Scott Johnson (the presenter) decided it was time to give it a whirl. So he asked everyone in the audience to ask the Lord to give them a word. Then he asked people to come forward up to the podium if they had received a word. Scores of people came up, and he started going on down the line asking them what the word was. They would call it out (pain in the left knee, tumor in the abdomen, fibromyalgia, what have you), and then when people would raise their hands in response, the person with the word of knowledge would go out in the audience to pray. This process went on uninterrupted for quite some time, and those of us without words or ailments called out were asked to find someone who needed prayer and join in on that.

Sitting next to me was a young lady who told me she had hurt her ankle while playing soccer, so I prayed for her healing. After a few moments, I asked her how it was doing, and she said it was a little better — but little isn’t good enough, so I prayed some more. She said it was better still, but at that point I felt that it probably needed a bit of time for God to work on it. That, or she was just being polite….but I always try to point my faith towards God when in doubt. Back to this story in a moment…

A whole bunch of people in the audience got healed, and some testimonies were just amazing. Serious injuries were healed, chronic diseases, muscular or skeletal immobility, you name it. Remember, these were audience members getting words for audience members praying for audience members. There was no “big man in a fancy suit” up in the front making it all happen. It was a God thing, not a diamond-studded preacher thing.

The incredible thing that happened, which I’ll never forget, is later when I was sitting on a bench outside waiting for a ride, a girl of, oh, 12 perhaps, came out in an obvious state of emotional turmoil and phoned her mom. I don’t think she realized I was sitting only a few feet away. “Mom, mom, you’ll never believe what’s happened! I’ve been HEALED!!!” Apparently, one of her legs had been longer than the other, and it made it awkward to kneel down or perform certain maneuvers, and she said it had felt “funny”. But now, in this service, her legs had supernaturally evened out (I don’t if one grew longer or the other grew shorter), and by God’s power, they were no longer askew! She could barely talk on the phone out of shock and amazement and excitement, and one can hardly blame her. It’s pretty cool when you get to see how an ordinary person outside of any manufactured hoopla is truly touched by the Holy Spirit.

But wait, there’s more! Previous to this, I had been walking by on my way out of the church when I overheard a women getting prayer from some church ministry folks for a sinus condition. For some reason, I felt in my spirit I needed to wait. So I waited nearby, and when they were done praying, she asked for prayer for her ankle. Now when you’ve prayed for someone in a certain way and they’ve gotten better, it gives you the faith to pray for that condition again for someone else. So I told her I’d just prayed for someone with an ankle problem and I’d be honored to pray for her. So I did, and very quickly she reported a big improvement and started dancing around (she was a dancer). Praise the Lord! This was before I ended up bumping to the young lady I’d prayed for originally who told me her ankle was a LOT better. Just like I’ve said on my blog, faith works.

Speaking of which, when she and her friend came outside (after I’d overheard the even-legs-girl’s phone call), they offered to give me a ride back to the convention center…which just goes to show you that the old saying is true: one good turn deserves another.

So I had a fantastic time up at JesusCulture, and it gave me a spiritual reboot in order to be more effective in my work and daily life. It’s easy to lose sight of God’s magnificence when you get mired down in the doldrums of performing various mundane activities every day. May it never be so, Lord, may it never be so! I pray we will always be aware of how close you are and how much over-the-top love you have for every one of us!

It’s so easy to get sucked into politics…analyzing every single word spoked on the campaign trail, every single eyebrow raised at a debate, comparing facts and who’s got ‘em right or wrong, taking a peak at the “other side” to see what they’re up to. The first political season I really got into due to my being of age and more interested in such matters was the presidential election of 2004. And boy was that a doozy! So far, it seems that this year people are a little more interested in a positive, uplifting message and moving on from the partisan bickering that has stopped anything productive from being accomplished, so my hopes are high for some great discussions of important issues as we move forward over the course of the year.

From a spiritual perspective, I think there is some real shaking and sifting going on in the atmosphere, and I have a feeling that there are going to be some major surprises in store for this country come November. The Spirit of God is moving over this land, and I don’t believe for an instant we are heading towards our twilight years or certain destruction. I agree with what many people are saying both at the podium and at the pulpit: our greatest days still lie before us.

Some people, because they use a computer on the job, want nothing to do with it in their spare time. Not me! Set me in front of a cool Mac, and I’m lost for hours. The problem with that, of course, is that there is something far more worthy of my attention. Yes, by Jobs, there is a Thing that is greater than a Mac, greater than a game, greater than a movie or a book or a symphony or a significant other — greater even than life itself. And this Thing, this mind-blowing, extravagant Being, deservers our rapt attention and our undivided love.

I want to be an effective steward of the resources the Holy Spirit has given me. I want to be continually in a state of worship and exaltation, giving praise and thanks to the One Most High. I want to be constantly at the ready to impart peace, wisdom, understanding, healing, and transformation to any person I come into contact with who needs it. And I can’t be at my best, filled with the glory of the supernatural God I serve, without first spending time in prayer…lots of time…focused solely on the heavenly places and the things above. I can’t operate in the prophetic gift, seeing the unseen realm around me and discerning the spiritual atmosphere of the places in which I inhabit, without first communing with God, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on Jesus and His beautiful countenance. Then, and only then, will I be able to walk in power and compassion; only then will I be able to affect change in the people and environments around me everywhere I go.

I’m tired of just playing and fooling around. I don’t mean rest — that’s very important — but I mean the idle fluff that is keeping me from becoming the person that God wants me to be. So I’m going to take a stand right now and say that I will place God first in my life, and I will turn to him before I turn to any other distracting pursuit that may have its usefulness but is not life’s ultimate objective. Lord, I will spend time praising you and listening for your voice, even if it means I have to look a few less blogs or a few less e-mails every day!

I have no wish to make a judgement on Mother Teresa in this matter whatsoever. I highly respect her efforts to help and give comfort to the poorest of the poor in a foreign land, and I can’t imagine why anyone would wish to malign her character or motives in the face of what she accomplished.

However, I do have to say one thing that I feel very strongly about: it is not good to live out the Christian life and walk the path that Jesus walked without the guidance, empowerment, and in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe we were ever meant to do so. Christianity isn’t a set of rules, nor is it a cultural expression of institutionalized spirituality. It is a relationship between the Creator and His creation…the Lover and the beloved. Without being continually filled with the Holy Spirit, I really am at a loss to understand how we can ever possibly take on the nature of Christ and become one with Him just as He is one with the Father. Being pious, being kind, helping people, giving to the poor, forsaking worldly things for a greater spiritual reality, maintaining a holy lifestyle — those are all very admirable endeavors, but they are also done by Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, and all kinds of people around the world. You don’t need to be a Christian to act holy. And you don’t need to act holy to become a Christian. (Shocking, isn’t it?)

So, while I laud Mother Teresa for her efforts borne out of love for Jesus, I am concerned at any teaching that says it’s “OK” to spend years of one’s life serving God without the empowerment and the relationship that comes though being continually filled with the Holy Spirit and experiencing profound encounters with the living God. As an active participant in the life of my church and as someone who is excited and humbled to look forward to future ministry opportunities, I am resolved to be prepared to step down and take a break from ministry at any point where I feel an extended sense of emptiness and lack of God’s presence and favor upon my life. It is only fair: how can I give away what I don’t have?